Afghanistan

Will Georgian sacrifices in Afghanistan result in NATO membership?

By Dan Lamothe on June 17, 2013 Afghanistan, Infantry, Musa Qala

June has been a rough year in Afghanistan for one of the Marine Corps’ closest allies, the Republic of Georgia. The small eastern European nation has lost at least 10 soldiers in recent attacks, including a June 6 truck bomb ambush that killed seven and wounded nine others in Helmand province’s Now Zad district. Another bomb in May in Musa Qala district killed three Georgian soldiers. It’s at times like these that Americans should remember just how closely the Georgians and U.S. Marines are intertwined on the battlefield. The Georgians began deploying a battalion at a time to northern Helmand…

Dunford outlines heavy casualties to Afghan forces

By Dan Lamothe on June 6, 2013 Afghanistan, General officers, Infantry

Recent news coverage of the war in Afghanistan has zeroed in on the fact that as U.S. force draw down there and shift to advising roles, Afghan forces have been engaged in heavy combat with the Taliban. U.S. commanders have acknowledged several times that Afghan forces have taken heavy losses as a result, but rarely have provided numbers that clarify how serious the situation is. There’s no doubt after Wednesday, however: they’re losing dozens of troops each week, including 104 in one week recently, said Gen. Joseph Dunford, the top U.S. commander, to reporters in Belgium on Wednesday. “The numbers…

Chow hall cutbacks in Afghanistan spark anger for some Marines

By Dan Lamothe on May 31, 2013 Afghanistan, Camp Bastion, Camp Leatherneck, Infantry

Check out this photograph above. It shows the modest chow hall at Combat Outpost Taghaz, a small combat outpost in Afghanistan where I lived with Marines for about a week last fall while gathering information for a couple of stories. The adviser team shared the base with a platoon from 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines, which provided overwatch security in the region. I bring this up after reading today that some service members at Camp Leatherneck, the Marine Corps’ largest base in Afghanistan, are angry that commanders have apparently decided to dump the midnight ration service and 24-hour sandwich bar in…

General: Taliban probing for weaknesses in Helmand security

By Dan Lamothe on May 30, 2013 Afghanistan, Musa Qala, Sangin

As noted here on Battle Rattle last week, the arrival of fighting season in Afghanistan this year has meant a series of attacks in Helmand province, especially in Sangin district. Fighting has been underway there for several days straight, with Taliban fighters attacking Afghan forces repeatedly. Maj. Gen. W. Lee Miller, the top commander in southwestern Afghanistan, briefed the media from his headquarters at Camp Leatherneck yesterday (A transcript of that conversation is available here). A couple key takeaways: Heavy fighting in Sangin is back For much of late 2010 and 2011, the war in Sangin dominated media coverage of…

Behind the Cover: How a commandant’s son escaped controversy to become a battalion commander

By Dan Lamothe on May 28, 2013 Afghanistan, Commandant, The CMC, Washington

Marine Corps Times’ cover story this week dives deeply into an issue that has rubbed a number of Marines raw, following the recent publication of news stories about a pending inspector general complaint filed against Commandant Gen. Jim Amos and several members of his staff. The complaint, among other issues, questioned whether the commandant showed preferential treatment to then-Maj. James B. Conway, the son of retired Commandant Gen. James T. Conway, as the Marine Corps investigated Marines caught on video urinating on the remains of dead Taliban fighters. The complaint, filed by Maj. James Weirick, a staff judge advocate with…

Marines watch fighting as summer arrives in Afghanistan

By Dan Lamothe on May 24, 2013 Afghanistan, Infantry, Kajaki, Marines, Sangin

The start of the 12th fighting season for U.S. forces in Afghanistan has meant continued transition for Marines in Helmand province — including mostly standing by as the Taliban launches attacks in the region. A large number of Taliban insurgents, along with foreign fighters, tried to overrun Sangin district this week, prompting a two-day engagement with Afghan National Security Forces, military officials said. The fight was outlined by a Wall Street Journal reporter in Afghanistan this week, launching it into the limelight. In past years — even last year — Marines would have been in the middle of the fracas.…

From Kangaroo Flats to kayaks in the south of France: Your Marines around the globe

By Hope Hodge Seck on May 23, 2013 26th MEU, Afghanistan, Africa, Australia, Camp Lejeune, Camp Pendleton, Deployment map, Deployments, Japan, Status of forces map

[HTML1] Take a look at what Marines are doing around the globe in our newly updated Status of Forces map! Highlights include: Marines in Darwin, Australia conducting squad-attack exercises at a place called “Kangaroo Flats” Some lucky Marines doing coalition exercises with French partners in kayaks in the Mediterranean Urban crisis contingency training with local counterparts at Mihail Kogalniceanu Military Base, Romania. Major moves: About 160 reserve troops from Camp Lejeune’s R4OG (Retrograde and Redeployment in Support of Reset and Reconstitution Operations Group) deployed to Afghanistan this month, replacing an R4OG from Camp Pendleton. About 200 Marines with Special Purpose Marine Air…

New glimmers of hope for wounded warriors with blast injuries

By Dan Lamothe on May 15, 2013 Afghanistan, Iraq, The CMC, The Sgt. Major of the Marine Corps, Wounded warriors

Commandant Gen. Jim Amos and Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Mike Barrett visited Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore last week, intent on seeing Army Sgt. Brendan Marrocco, the first American serving in Iraq or Afghanistan to survive a quadruple amputation. As I outlined in this feature story, the trip renewed a friendship between the commandant and the soldier, a wise-cracking infantryman with an (unfortunate) love of the New York Yankees. In December, he became the first veteran of this generation’s wars to receive a double-arm transplant, and he has pushed hard with his physical therapy since. Marrocco doesn’t yet…

Wounded Silver Star Marine had unfortunate experience on domestic flight

By Gina Harkins on May 9, 2013 Afghanistan, Awards, Camp Lejeune, Marines

A wounded warrior who was awarded the nation’s third highest honor for valor last week is the same injured Marine Delta Airlines issued a public apology to in December after staff members embarrassed him on a flight. Cpl. Christian Brown, a former squad leader with 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, was awarded the Silver Star aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., on Friday. He is credited with heroic actions during the unit’s 2011 deployment to Afghanistan. On Dec. 7, Brown responded when a designated marksman was critically wounded in the head, calling in a medevac and leading his squad to where it was safe for…

Remembering Cpl. Tick, four-legged war hero

By Hope Hodge Seck on May 2, 2013 Afghanistan, Animals, Deployments

Cpl. Tick was a two-year-old, friendly black lab. She was a decorated Marine. And she was a hero. Last year Cpl. Tick and her handler, Lance Cpl. Bryan Utrilla were attached to Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines at Combat Outpost Shir Ghazay near the town of Musa Qala in Helmand province Afghanistan, assigned to patrol the region for Improvised Explosive Devices. Utrilla told me by email that Cpl. Tick was a natural when it came to getting the job done. “Cpl. Tick was an awesome friend/Marine, and when she wanted to work, she worked,” he wrote. “She knew the…

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