From the ’stan

As all of you know, the MEU will be staying in Afghanistan longer than originally planned. Here’s the official word from Maj. Dave Nevers, who is with public affairs at Headquarters Marine Corps (some of you may remember him, he used to be the PAO for the MEU):
“The 24th MEU will continue conducting full-spectrum operations in Afghanistan for an additional month at the request of the International Security Assistance Force, and with the approval of Secretary Gates. This will afford the MEU the opportunity to continue building on the tremendous success it has achieved during its tour there. The Marines are now scheduled to return home in early to mid-November.”
I know all of us are extremely un-thrilled with this news, but it will be interesting to see what happens now, and if other Marines will end up replacing them.

President Bush has promised to send more troops to Afghanistan, according to this AP story in the Baltimore Sun

Earlier today, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he wants to send more troops to Afghanistan, but can’t do so without reducing the footprint in Iraq. Read the
Washington Post story here or the
Armed Forces Press Service story here.
Watch the video of the press briefing:


Or read the
transcript of press briefing

There has been a lot of discussion here about how people are notified when things happen within the unit, and I wanted to let you know about the parent network.
The command element of the MEU has a parent network that works similarly to the Key Volunteer network for the spouses.
When a Marine or sailor is injured or killed, the next of kin will be notified by the military, regardless of what network they are or are not a part of. However, members of the parent network and the KV network also get calls if anyone else in the unit (i.e. not their son/daughter/spouse) is hurt or killed.
Parents/members of the parent network also are on the distribution list for the family newsletter. Apparently the Marine or sailor was able to sign up whoever they thought would like to be involved, and that person was contacted at the beginning of the deployment.
I understand that 1/6 also has a parent network, and I believe it works in a similar way. I am not sure how people were added to the network, though, or whether people are still able to sign up. I am not sure what is available for CLB or ACE parents/family members.
If you are not a part of the parent/family network and you would like to be, I would encourage you to ask your Marine or sailor, and/or contact the family resource officer.
The Marine Corps as a whole is trying to move to having more communication available for all family members , so hopefully everyone will have more information, even when their Marine or sailor isn’t able to call.
Please feel free to post or e-mail me with additional information you may have about parent/family networks and how people can get involved.

Just received this photo, courtesy of one of 1/6’s communications chief.
UPDATED: I made the photo a little smaller since it was showing up insanely large before.


I also am planning to post some information about the parent network, but I have misplaced the e-mail I had about it. If anyone has information about how people can sign up for the parent network (which I understand is similar to the KV network), please let me know. Thanks!

One of the MEU’s CH-46E helicopters had a hard landing at about midnight today (July 1) outside of British Forward Operating Base Dwyer in a remote region in Southern Afghanistan, according to a press release I received this morning.

The helicopter was traveling from Bastion airfield to resupply U.S. forces. Eight Marines and one British soldier were on board at the time of the accident, but no one was hurt.

The mishap was not the result of enemy action, and it is under investigation by military authorities, according to the release.

My husband sent some photos today, and I wanted to share two with you.

Also, my friend Molly wrote this column about what she learned during her husband’s deployment. I think you will enjoy it.

The Department of Defense has announced that Staff Sgt. Christopher D. Strickland, 25, of Labelle, Fla. died Wednesday in Helmand province.
Strickland was supporting combat operations. He is with 7th Engineer Support Battalion, which is part of 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton, Calif. I believe he was working with 2/7 in Afghanistan.
If anyone has any more information about Staff Sgt. Strickland, please feel free to post it here. I couldn’t find any articles online yet about him.
May God bless Staff Sgt. Strickland, his family and his fellow Marines.

A few of you have posted this link, or e-mailed it to me, but I wanted to make sure everyone gets a chance to read the story and go through the photo gallery (there are a bunch of photos — with faces!)
Click to read the story from the East Hampton Star

For the 2/7 folks, just saw this blog entry by a guy who talked to Lt. Col. Hall.

Also, here is the full text of that Wall Street Journal article from yesterday. I would still recommend searching for “24th Marine Expeditionary Unit” in google news and clicking on the WSJ link there to see the photos. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get a link that will actually take you to the full article. (The links I posted and other people posted keep bringing non-subscribers to the page with three paragraphs).

At the Front of the Front Line:
Tense Sentry Duty in Afghanistan
In Taliban Country, Lance Cpl. Santiago
Stands Guard Against Suicide Bombers
By MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS
June 26, 2008; Page A1

GARMSIR, Afghanistan — A few days ago, U.S. intelligence officers intercepted an ominous Taliban order: “Prepare the martyr.”

It’s Carlos Santiago’s job to shoot the martyr before the martyr can martyr himself.

As one of his platoon’s most junior Marines, it falls to the 20-year-old lance corporal to guard the outer security post at this front-line patrol base. There, he’s supposed to spot suicide bombers among innocent shepherds, farmers and children, and kill them before they explode. Even if he fails, he and his sandbagged guard post will take the brunt of the blast so the rest of the Marines don’t.

“You send the pups out, and you leave the big dogs inside,” Lance Cpl. Santiago said, watching Afghans walk past the base’s concertina-wire perimeter, 25 yards in front of him. “You can’t have a sergeant out here because he’s a squad leader. If he gets offed, who’s going to take over the squad?”

During a month of fierce combat, the 2,400-strong 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit drove the Taliban from Garmsir, a district along the Helmand River that insurgents had called their own for two years. (Please see related article.) Penetrating deepest into Taliban country were the 180 men of Alpha Company, First Battalion, Sixth Marines, who commandeered a series of mud-brick compounds, reinforced them with sandbags and razor wire, and now use them to launch foot patrols through poppy fields and villages.

The defeat has pushed the Taliban to give up on frontal attacks here for an Iraq-style campaign of roadside explosives and suicide bombs. This month, a bomber blew himself up next to a British foot patrol north of here, killing three soldiers. Taliban militants have also stepped up attacks this week over the border in Pakistan.

Villagers in Garmsir report the bazaars are abuzz with rumors of impending attacks in the district. According to U.S. intelligence reports, would-be bombers are planning to attack on motorcycles or dressed as women. But thus far there have been no suicide attacks on Marine positions here.

A few weeks ago, Lance Cpl. Santiago was kicking down doors and launching mortars. Now he pulls three-hour shifts in a sandy no-man’s land. The base is 15 yards behind his guard post. The opening in the razor-wire perimeter lies just ahead.

Hundreds of locals have come to the main Alpha Company position since the fighting tapered off at the end of May. Outside the perimeter, a few sell blocks of ice and bottles of orange soda to the troops. Some ask for food and medicine. Most are seeking compensation for damage done to their homes. To get inside, each must first pass inspection at Lance Cpl. Santiago’s post, where a makeshift blanket awning provides the merest hint of relief from the 130-degree midday heat.

“When the bullets are flying, you know where they’re coming from,” Lance Cpl. Santiago said, watching a small group of men watching him. “But a suicide bomber — you don’t know who the hell it is. It could be one of those guys.”

First Line of Defense

Lance Cpl. Santiago doesn’t tell his girlfriend that he’s the first line of defense against suicide attacks. He doesn’t tell his mother much of anything.

He completed a two-year associates degree in architecture in his native Carolina, Puerto Rico. But he admits he was too fond of the night life there and too vulnerable to the drug culture that came with it. He has a long scar on his neck that he hints was the result of a fight. One day early last year, he found himself signing papers at the Marine recruiter’s office. “The first reason is because people didn’t think I could make it,” he said.

On the sandbag wall of his post, Lance Cpl. Santiago and the other junior Marines who share his duty keep a sheet of yellow legal paper with a few English phrases translated into Pashto, the local language.

“Come.”

“I don’t have any.”

“Go wait over there.”

“Shut up.”

“Run.”

Just before he deployed to Afghanistan, he had a blue crucifix tattooed onto his left forearm. It was, he thought, something to “remind me of God” in time of crisis.

“Obviously his life is as important as anyone else’s, but someone has to be out there,” said Sgt. James Blake, 25, of Merrimack, N.H., the lance corporal’s platoon sergeant.

Every so often the Marines move the concertina wire that surrounds the base, pulling its razor-sharp coils across the sand road that runs between the base and the Amir Agha Bazaar a hundred or so yards away. Sometimes the Marines allow car and truck traffic; sometimes they don’t. The idea is to make it harder for aspiring car bombers to plan. It also confuses the local donkeys, which frequently get trapped.

Each Afghan visitor must go through a two-step search. At the outside wire, with Lance Cpl. Santiago watching, the men must pull their loose ankle-length robes and pants tight around their chest, back and limbs to reveal the outlines of any mines, pipe bombs or other explosives hidden beneath.

Hokey-Pokey Inspection

Only after the visitor clears the hokey-pokey inspection, as the Marines call it, can he approach the outer guard post. Lance Cpl. Santiago leans the man up against the sandbags and frisks him, all the while keeping a hand on the man’s collar for control. The guard is always supposed to remain behind the visitor on the theory that suicide bombers usually blow up forwards.

Lance Cpl. Santiago has his doubts. Asked what would happen if a bomber detonated during the pat-down, he showed no hesitation. “I’m dead,” he said, fingering his sparse moustache.

While he frisks each visitor, his cover man, Cpl. Bruce Brorsen, 21, from New Bern, N.C., stands to the side, pistol in his hand. “If he moves quick or anything, I shoot him,” the corporal said. The cover man is supposed to aim for the head, because it’s the surest way to kill a bomber before he can trigger a device.

After years of war, most every civilian in Iraq or Kabul knows how to behave around heavily armed troops. Garmsir, however, was ignored or in Taliban hands for years, and the Marines know there’s a risk of misunderstandings.

Marine commanders invited village elders to a meeting this month where they explained the hierarchy of force that grunts use if approached by a speeding vehicle. First they shout to stop. Then they fire a flare, followed by a warning shot into the ground. If the vehicle still doesn’t stop, they shoot to kill.

The public meeting was a radical departure for the Marines. Normally such details are closely guarded, for fear of letting the Taliban know exactly how far they can penetrate Marine defenses before they risk getting shot.

Marines still find themselves firing flares at people who stray close to their lines, either innocently or as a way to probe the base defenses. A sentry at another Marine outpost this month shot and killed a young man on a bicycle who ignored warnings; he was unarmed, but apparently mentally impaired.

Recently, Marine commanders were more worried that heat and boredom were making their troops sloppy.

“Santiago — watch the friggin’ people you’re searching,” First Lt. Steven Bechtel, 24, from Naples, Fla., yelled on a recent day as he watched the lance corporal’s attention wander. The lieutenant ordered Sgt. Blake to organize a refresher course in frisking.

“He’s the furthest one out there,” Lt. Bechtel said with a sigh. “You’d think he’d be more careful.”

I know a lot of you have been posting links, so some of these may already have been posted. But just in case, here are a few I saw today.
From NPR:
After long exile, Afghan returns to aid U.S. Marines
Marines in Afghanistan weigh in on a life at war (definitely watch the video that is there with the story)

From the Wall Street Journal:
(I can’t figure out how to get a link that will go directly to the full version of the story, but if you type “24th Marine Expeditionary Unit” into Google and choose the “News” search option, this is the first story that comes up.
Here are the first few paragraphs to give you an idea. I still would not recommend that Lance Cpl. Santiago’s loved ones read this.

At the Front of the Front Line:
Tense Sentry Duty in Afghanistan

By Michael M. Phillips

GARMSIR, Afghanistan — A few days ago, U.S. intelligence officers intercepted an ominous Taliban order: “Prepare the martyr.”

It’s Carlos Santiago’s job to shoot the martyr before the martyr can martyr himself.

As one of his platoon’s most junior Marines, it falls to the 20-year-old lance corporal to guard the outer security post at this front-line patrol base. There, he’s supposed to spot suicide bombers among innocent shepherds, farmers and children, and kill them before they explode. Even if he fails, he and his sandbagged guard post will take the brunt of the blast so the rest of the Marines don’t.

“You send the pups out, and you leave the big dogs inside,” Lance Cpl. Santiago said, watching Afghans walk past the base’s concertina-wire perimeter, 25 yards in front of him. “You can’t have a sergeant out here because he’s a squad leader. If he gets offed, who’s going to take over the squad?”

During a month of fierce combat, the 2,400-strong 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit drove the Taliban from Garmsir, a district along the Helmand River that insurgents had called their own for two years. (Please see related article.) Penetrating deepest into Taliban country were the 180 men of Alpha Company, First Battalion, Sixth Marines, who commandeered a series of mud-brick compounds, reinforced them with sandbags and razor wire, and now use them to launch foot patrols through poppy fields and villages.

UPDATED: Thanks to the reader who sent me this link about the rocket attack. Based on that and the feedback I have gotten from other spouses, I think we can safely assume all of our Marines and sailors are OK.

To watch the video of CNN’s Nic Robertson getting ready for going outside the wire, click here.

This is the last batch of photos I have right now, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal’s Michael M. Phillips.





Lance Cpl. Santiago


Lance Cpl. Burkhart


Lance Cpl. Cicciociopo


Lance Cpl. Sitzman


Sgt. Blake

The following information came from a 24th MEU press release:

Marines and the British forces of Task Force Helmand opened a Joint Civil Military Operations Center on Monday near the British Forward Operating Base Delhi, in Garmsir district. The CMOC had 31 visitors and paid 15 claims on its first day open.
The Marines opened the CMOC, provided the initial administration, command and control to run the center and will maintain a secure environment for the center to continue operating.
The Marines will focus on battle damage reparations and coordinating with other agencies to continue reconstruction and development.
Task Force Helmand will focus on building an enduring capability to support stabilization, reconstruction and development.
The British forces have already assigned a stabilization advisor to Garmsir. The stabilization advisor will work with the local government, military and support agencies to assist and coordinate reconstruction and development efforts as they apply to governance, law, security, and the economy.
The Afghan government is also committed to Garmsir’s reconstruction and has assigned a representative from their Ministry of Reconstruction and Rural Development. Afghan locals will be hired for administration and support roles in the CMOC. Other governmental and non-governmental agencies will come online as needs arise and capabilities become available.
“We need to have a measured approach to the influx of supporting agencies,” said Col Peter Petronzio, commanding officer of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. “If we aren’t careful, we will do more than can be sustained upon our departure. Our guiding principle needs to be the needs and desires of the people of Garmsir.”
Chief Warrant Officer Rene Cote, civil affairs officer for the MEU, agreed.
“The ultimate purpose, aside from assisting the Afghan citizens, is to make the eventual departure of the Marines as transparent as possible to the local community,” Cote said. “Our approach is to work with alliance partners and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to build capacity in a manner that is sustainable after the eventual departure of Marine forces.”

Here’s another batch of photos, courtesy of Michael M. Phillips from the Wall Street Journal.















More coming tomorrow!

2/7 has suffered another loss.
Sgt. Matthew E. Mendoza, 24, of San Antonio, Texas, died Friday while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
As mentioned in comments earlier, Hospitalman Dustin Kelby Burnett, 19, of Fort Mohave, Ariz., also died Friday, while conducting combat operations in Farah province. The DoD press release says he was assigned to First Marine Division Detachment, Twentynine Palms, Calif. I think he was assigned to 2/7 as a corpsman.
Read more about Mendoza here. Click here to read an LA Times story about the ramp ceremonies. (The link was also provided in a reader comment on an earlier post)
May God bless Sgt. Mendoza, HN Burnett and their families.

More photos, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal’s Michael M. Phillips.












There are still more… will post those later today.

I got a bunch of photos today, all taken by Michael M. Phillips.
Thank you, Michael, for sharing these! There will be more posted later.

As friend of Marine posted, the DoD has announced the deaths of two 2/7 Marines who were conducting combat operations in Farah province.
Capt. Eric Daniel Terhune, 34, of Lexington, Ky., and Lance Cpl. Andrew Francis Whitacre, 21, of Bryant, Ind.
Both Marines died Thursday.
A little bit more about Terhune is available here and here.
A little more about Whitacre is available here.

To answer the question about when information is updated: The DoD usually does not release the names of the fallen until 48 hours after the families have been notified, and they don’t update the Web site on the weekends. So it can be quite a while after before anything is posted. However, if you would like to check that site for updates, click here. Casualty releases are posted in the top box on the left part of the page, under “News Releases.”
As far as my blog goes, I do get press releases directly from Camp Lejeune and from the 24th MEU public affairs officer (which sometimes are sent before the DoD updates its site), but those also have to wait until the DoD has authorized the release of the names. I do not receive press releases from 2/7 or 29 Palms, but I can try to find out about getting on their distribution list.
When I do receive a release or find out about information, I will post it as soon as I possibly can. If it is a day when I am working or at home, that usually won’t take more than a few minutes. But if I am out of the office working on a story or out of town, I may not have immediate access to a computer. Please feel free to continue to post links to releases and information, but remember to keep OpSec in mind. And if you are the spouse or parent of a Marine, the military will contact you as soon as possible if your Marine has been injured or killed. Spouses will also hear from their KV about anyone injured or killed in the unit, before I get the information. So although it is very difficult, try not to panic if you see something on the news and don’t hear from the military or from your KV. No news is quite often good news.

There is a pretty cool new thing I just heard about called “Websites for Heroes.” The basic idea is that since Marines are not supposed to use MySpace and Facebook and other such sites when they are deployed because of bandwidth and opsec issues, they need another way to share photos, videos and other information with loved ones.
The service members have to set up the Web sites themselves, so many of the MEU guys will not be able to do it for a while. But it looks like it may be really cool for future use — the sites are password protected and also compress the content, so they don’t use the same bandwidth that social networking sites do.
Check it out:

UPDATED: Apparently I am not very smart, because I tried to access this story on the WSJ Web site and couldn’t figure it out. Luckily, Sgt. Blake’s dad is a little more savvy and sent me the link, so you can read the story straight from the source (and see the photo). You just have to look within the next week. Here is the link.

Here is the first part of the story:
Wall Street Journal
June 18, 2008
Pg. 1

After Battle In Afghanistan Villages, Marines Open Complaint Shop

To Win Over Civilians, Soldiers Take Claims for Damages; a Free Wind-Up Radio

By Michael M. Phillips

GARMSIR, Afghanistan — During a month of house-to-house combat, First Lt. Steven Bechtel’s men fired about 500 mortar rounds at Taliban insurgents.

Now, he’s paying the price.

Just two days after the main Taliban force was routed, Lt. Bechtel put aside his weapons and opened what amounts to a wartime complaints desk in a mud-brick hut. The lieutenant and his men spend their time cataloging the destruction and issuing vouchers to compensate villagers for their losses, whether caused by U.S. missiles or Taliban grenades.

“We’re very sorry for the damage to your doors, but we had to make sure the Taliban didn’t leave any bombs or weapons inside,” Lt. Bechtel last week told Abdul Majid, a 70-year-old with a weathered face, a dense white beard and a cane made from a tree limb.

“It’s no problem,” Mr. Majid responded. “You’re paying for it.”

The First Battalion of the Sixth Marine Regiment was recently deployed to Afghanistan as part of a force, 3,000-strong, helping to turn the tide against a resurgent Taliban. What resulted was a conventional battle that raged through the villages and poppy fields of Garmsir District, a major waypoint for insurgents leaving safe havens in Pakistan, a sign of how far Western gains have slipped recently.

Click here to read the rest.

New MEU videos taken by the Marines are posted on dvidshub.net. I am cutting some clips now, but in the meantime, here are links to the full-length videos.
Sgt. Rian Madden
1st Lt. Shaun Miller

South Helmand part 1
South Helmand part 2
South Helmand part 3
South Helmand part 4
Alpha Battery
Convoy ops (CLB)

UPDATED: I tried to cut some of the video and post it, but the blog was not letting me upload it. Then the program we use to write stories ate the story I was working on all day, so I had to completely rewrite it, and I need to go home now. I will try to finish cutting the video short enough to upload tomorrow, but you can still watch the entire thing via those links.

Just found some ABC news videos. Apparently their chief foreign correspondent is embedded with the MEU right now. Many of the videos are just short voice-overs — about 25 seconds each. But there are a few full-length “packages” (the longer stories).
Click for the latest report.
One that ran right after the IED this weekend.
It looks like they are running something every day, so you will probably want to check out ABC news every night for a while.

L.A. Times story today mentions 2/7.

And, as Monica mentioned in a comment this morning, there are new photos posted on the 24th MEU photo site.

Here is the latest AP report about what’s going on in Afghanistan.

By NOOR KHAN and JASON STRAZIUSO
Associated Press Writer

ARGHANDAB, Afghanistan (AP) — Backed by helicopters firing missiles, hundreds of NATO and Afghan forces hunted Taliban militants in villages outside Kandahar on Wednesday, killing dozens of insurgents.
NATO reported only light resistance in Arghandab district, a lush river valley filled with fruit groves that offer militants bountiful defensive positions. The Afghan army says up to 400 militants poured into the area on Monday, just 10 miles northwest of Kandahar city, the Taliban’s former power base.
U.S. and NATO officials have repeatedly played down the scope of the Taliban push. But the swift military response — 700 Afghan soldiers flew to Kandahar on a moment’s notice — and the fighter aircraft dedicated by NATO suggest that keeping Arghandab free from militants is an urgent priority.
Arghandab is considered a gateway to Kandahar. If militants can gain a foothold there, attacks become easier on the city once commanded by fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, militants killed six NATO soldiers and wounded 10. Just last week Defense Secretary Robert Gates called attention to the worsening situation in Afghanistan, noting that American and allied combat deaths here in May surpassed the monthly toll in Iraq for the first time.
The Afghan Defense Ministry said more than 20 Taliban fighters were killed Wednesday in NATO airstrikes in the Arghandab village of Tabin and 16 more were killed in the village of Khohak. Two Afghan soldiers were also killed, the ministry said in a statement.
Twelve other militants were killed in fighting in Maiwand, a separate district also in Kandahar province.
The governor of Kandahar, Asadullah Khalid, said the Taliban had controlled 10 towns in the Arghandab district, but government and NATO forces took back four of them.
Khalid said that “a large number” of Afghans have been displaced by the fighting — other officials estimated thousands had fled. He said officials have requested help from the U.N.
Helicopters and jets patrolled the skies and smoke rose from fields after exchanges of fire, an Associated Press reporter in Arghandab said. A helicopter landed in a field near the fighting and appeared to evacuate a casualty, he said. Large Canadian military vehicles and Afghan police trucks moved through the region.
NATO and Afghan forces were moving carefully through Arghandab to minimize civilian casualties and to avoid any bombs planted by insurgents, said Maj. Gen. Carlos Branco, a spokesman for the NATO-led force.
“We are not in a hurry,” he said. “The resistance that we face so far has not been significant.”
Gen. John Craddock, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander of Europe, wrapping up a visit to Afghanistan, pointed to the Afghan army’s response to Arghandab as “an excellent example of its increasing capability,” a NATO statement said.
“The fact of the matter is that in less than 24 hours notice the Afghan National Army moved a battalion of soldiers to Kandahar, by using both their own airplanes and ISAF aircraft, from a cold start,” Craddock said. “There are not too many nations in the world capable of such a response.”
Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the director of the Kandahar provincial council, said more than 1,500 families had sought refuge in Kandahar out of fear, many staying with relatives.
Meanwhile, the British Ministry of Defense said four British soldiers were killed when an explosive was detonated against their vehicle during a patrol in neighboring Helmand province on Tuesday. At least one soldier was wounded.
It was one of the deadliest attacks of the year on international troops in Afghanistan. Four U.S. Marines were killed in a roadside bomb in earlier this month, but prior to that, no more than three international troops had been killed in any one attack in the country this year.
Two NATO soldiers died and 10 were wounded Wednesday in Paktika province, NATO said. No other details were released, including the soldiers’ nationalities. Most soldiers in Paktika are American.
The Taliban assault on the outskirts of Kandahar was the latest display of strength by the militants despite a record number of U.S. and NATO troops in the country. The push into Arghandab came three days after a Taliban attack on Kandahar’s prison that freed 400 insurgent fighters.
The Taliban regime ousted from power in a 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan regarded Kandahar as its main stronghold, and its insurgent supporters are most active in the volatile south of the country.
———
Associated Press writers Jason Straziuso and Amir Shah contributed to this report from Kabul.

I got some more photos of the ACE (Air Combat Element) guys today, and realized I never posted some I got from Alison of some CLB (Combat Logistics Battalion) 26 guys.
Also, there are a ton of great new photos posted by the public affairs guys on this Web site.

I looked all day long on the Department of Defense Web site for the names of the 2/7 Marines who died Saturday. I know someone else saw them on David Wood’s blog, but even after that I kept looking at the DoD Web site and they were not posted.
This morning, I see that they are finally available.

Sgt. Michael Toussiant-Hyle Washington, 20, of Tacoma, Wash.
Lance Cpl. Layton Bradly Crass, 22, of Richmond, Ind.
Pfc. Dawid Pietrek, 24, of Bensenville, Ill.
Pfc. Michael Robert Patton, 19, of Fenton, Mo.

All four died “while supporting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan.”

Washington was a third-generation Marine, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The story also has information about a memorial service and how to send condolences.

More information about Crass, who a friend described as “a true friend and an extremely brave man,” is available here.

Pietrek was a Polish immigrant hoping to become a U.S. citizen and a police officer, according to The Daily Herald in suburban Chicago. Click here for that story.

Patton had talked about joining the military since he was 5 years old, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Click here to read more about Patton.

My sincere condolences to all of the families, and to all of 2/7 for this terrible loss.
I know many of you have already posted comments on my previous post about these Marines, but i wanted to try to put everything together in one post in case someone does not read through all the comments. Thank you for your help and your support of the Marines.

I have been out of town all weekend and wasn’t able to blog. By now, all of you know that 2/7 lost four Marines this weekend in what CNN says is the deadliest single attack on American forces this year in Afghanistan.
David Zucchino, who covers Iraq and Afghanistan for the L.A. Times, is in Helmand province now. He helped write this story (this story also talks about the prison break)
The Department of Defense has not released the names yet, but I did find this story from the News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash. about one of the Marines who was killed.
I know some of the 2/7 families read this blog, and I just want to say I am so sorry. The whole 24th MEU family is grieving with you.

The MEU has some new embeds, including the person from NPR (read/hear story here), so that means more stories coming soon. Here are some photos, courtesy of Andrew Lubin. Most are from Alpha Company, and some are from when General McKiernan — the new commander of ISAF — visited Garmsir. (ISAF= International Security Assistance Force)

Proof they are writing letters

I received these two photos of ACE Marines today, e-mailed from the same Marine who sent all those previous photos. Thank you!

Also, I am not sure how many of you saw this story in the New York Times, but there is a correction.

Here is the text of the correction:
Because of an editing error, an article and a headline in some editions on Tuesday about a successful effort by Company C of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit to pacify a Taliban-infested area of southern Afghanistan misidentified the foreign forces that failed to achieve the same result in that area earlier. They were soldiers from NATO and the United States Army — not the Marines.

There are a few other NYTimes stories, as well.
U.S. reports gains against Taliban fighters
Optimism grows as Marines push against Taliban

And I saw this on the AP wire today:
PARIS (AP) — International donors have raised $21 billion to help desperately poor, insurgency-wracked Afghanistan.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner says the final sum raised at a donors conference in Paris was beyond his “dreams.”
The figure exceeds the $15 billion to $20 billion Afghan officials had hoped for.
Donors said in a statement at the end of Thursday’s conference that the aid must be better coordinated than in the past and that Afghan officials must tackle corruption.

Which is a follow-up to this:
By ANGELA CHARLTON
Associated Press Writer
PARIS (AP) — The United States set the stage for an Afghanistan fundraising conference that begins Thursday by announcing it would pledge $10 billion, upping the ante for the other 80 countries and donor organizations expected to attend.
The pledge by the U.S., announced Wednesday night, will go a long way toward fulfilling the Afghan government’s goal of securing $15 billion to $20 billion at the conference for its poor, war-scarred nation.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai will present a development plan saying his country needs $50 billion over the next five years to boost an economy shattered by a quarter century of war.
Donors agree the needs are urgent and enormous.
Most Afghans still live in mud-brick homes without proper sanitation and 80 percent have no electricity, despite receiving $15 billion in international aid since the Taliban’s ouster in 2001. Life expectancy remains under 50 years, and food shortages over the past year have pushed many Afghans to the brink.
The Taliban still recruit in desperately poor rural areas, and their insurgency continues to claim lives more than six years after U.S.-led troops invaded in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Some 65,000 foreign soldiers patrol the country.
Drugs are a key part of the economy. The world’s top opium producer was also the site of what U.S. officials Wednesday called one of the world’s biggest drug busts: the seizure of 260 tons of hashish hidden in 6-foot-deep trenches in southern Afghanistan, worth more than $400 million.
But there is plenty to deter donors.
Corruption is endemic, and the World Bank says it’s crippling the legitimacy of Karzai’s government. Graft and thievery are bleeding badly needed aid dollars and influencing what gets built and where.
“If the donors just offer more of the same and ignore the need for systemic reform, including a commitment to take on warlords and address impunity, then the situation in Afghanistan is likely to deteriorate,” said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch.
Security questions loom over every aid project. Karzai’s Western-backed administration has only a fragile grip on much of the country.
“It is a mistake to think of security and reconstruction as somehow different parts of the problem,” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday. “They are actually part of the solution together. Without one or the other you’re not going to solve the problems of Afghanistan.”
The Bush administration wants to spend about $10 billion for development and related aid to Afghanistan over two years, an amount roughly on par with recent U.S. donations, Rice said. The money is a mix of what Congress has already approved and what the administration is still seeking.
Germany has pledged $653 million to support reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan through 2010. Norway’s civilian aid to Afghanistan will remain at $145 million a year for the next five years.
U.S. and French diplomats said they would be content if the contributions Thursday reach the levels of the London donors conference in 2006, which gathered pledges of $10.5 billion.
The U.S. is the single largest donor to Afghanistan, not counting the cost of the ongoing war against insurgents.
That war is unlikely to end soon: The Afghan government, in its development strategy to be unveiled Thursday, envisions peace by 2020.
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AP Diplomatic Writer Anne Gearan and Jason Straziuso in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this report.

As you can see, the blog is back up after a temporary snafu. The thingy (that is a technical term) that hosts our blogs for the Eastern North Carolina papers in our company went down this morning, and a bunch of you e-mailed and called to see if the blog was going away. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for your concern and e-mails — it was because of them that I was able to report the problem to computer people early — and let you know that I plan to keep up this blog until the guys (and gals) come home. So don’t worry!

I just got this photo from the wife of a 2/7 Marine, it is of some of the guys from H&S company.


And a few more 2/7-related things you may be interested in….

The Department of Defense has this story about what 2/7 is doing.

Some of the Corps’ top generals just visited 2/7 in Afghanistan, according to this story from usmc.mil.

Not sure how old this is, but found this story in Pendleton’s newspaper.

Also, in case you didn’t see it in the comments of another post, click here to listen to a talk radio segment about 2/7.

I have gotten a ton of photos from Marines, wives and other loved ones. Here are a bunch from the ACE and 1/6 Bravo.