I’m swamped with projects for our print edition today, but I wanted to take a minute to share new, long-form BBC clips of Marine operations in Sangin, Afghanistan. The narration is a bit over-the-top at times, but the footage is well worth the time: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJPPrngLCvg[/youtube] And here’s the second half: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pc1CcWUtuo&feature=related[/youtube] The journalist behind the camera is Ben Anderson, who has a documentary, “Battle for Marjah,” debuting on HBO on Feb. 17 at 9 p.m. I watched an advanced copy of it Tuesday night and will have a review in next week’s Marine Corps Times. I actually crossed paths with…
Browsing: Sangin
There’s a regimental headquarters overseeing operations in volatile northern Helmand province, Afghanistan. Regimental Combat Team-8, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., took over for Lejeune’s RCT-2 on Sunday. Photographs of the relief in place ceremony are posted here. The regiment operates out of Delaram II, a forward operating base in neighboring Nimroz province. Commanded by Col. Eric Smith, it will oversee operations in most of northern Helmand province, including violent Sangin district, where dozens of Marines with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., have died since October. Other units that fall under RCT-8 include Lejeune’s 1st Battalion, 8th Marines,…
America’s Battalion is taking over Northern Marjah. Second, Battalion, 8th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., has replaced Lejeune’s 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines, in Afghanistan, Marine officials said. Marines with 2/9 were preparing to return home as of Jan. 30, according to this Marine Corps news release. The deployment wasn’t easy for 2/9, but it yielded a variety of progress. The battalion deployed to the same volatile area of operations that Marine Corps Times joined 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, in last May, and suffered a total of 15 casualties. Marine commanders now tout Marjah as a success story, however. The…
A Marine mom with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, tipped me off to a new YouTube video sharing the sacrifice of several wounded warriors from the unit who made it back, but have a long road to recovery. It’s well done, with new footage of the unit during its predeployment training at the Mountain Warfare Training Center at Bridgeport, Calif., classic footage of Marines spliced in from the service’s 2010 birthday message and scenes recorded downrange this fall. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhJG40Q6RvM[/youtube] A few related updates out of Afghanistan last night, following my blog post yesterday: It was Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines,…
Greetings, readers. It was a slow week on Battle Rattle last week while I covered SHOT Show in Las Vegas for sister blog Gear Scout, but things are back to normal now. I’d like to start by pointing out the excellent piece published yesterday by the Los Angeles Times about the sacrifices made and dedication show by Marines in Sangin, Afghanistan. It’s can’t-miss reading for anyone following the war there with any interest. Several details in the story, by longtime military correspondent Tony Perry, stuck out as noteworthy or relatively new. Some are heartbreaking. Others are heartening. Consider the following: The report puts…
Third Battalion, 7th Marines, deployed to Afghanistan from March to October, but the Twentynine Palms, Calif.-based unit didn’t get much media coverage until the very end of their deployment, when they took over for British forces in Sangin district. We know now what that district means for the Marine Corps. The district in northern Helmand province has been home to some of the fiercest fighting in the entire nine-year war in Afghanistan. With that in mind, I wanted to share this video, featuring raw video footage and snapshots of 3/7’s time downrange. It’s gritty and raw without being gory, and…
The Marine Corps will begin its leadership transition in Afghanistan’s northern Helmand province soon, with Regimental Combat Team 8, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., replacing Lejeune’s RCT-2, Marine officials said. The RCT-8 deployment will begin this weekend with advanced parties of Marines deploying. They’ll eventually replace RCT-2. For those who lead RCT-8, the assignment won’t be an easy one. It oversees some of the most violent territory that Marines patrol right now, including the contested Taliban stronghold of Sangin. Infantry battalions under RCT-8’s control will include 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.; elements of 3rd Battalion, 25th…
Marine Corps watchers paid close attention last week when word spread that the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., would deploy to Afghanistan from Navy ships in the Indian Ocean. That leads to additional questions, though, starting with the most obvious one: Where? Maj. Gen. Richard Mills, commander of Marine forces in Afghanistan, shed some light on his plans for the unit in this video posted online by the Corps on Friday. “Our intent is to use this unit, again, to exploit the successes we’ve had to finish off some very crucial projects that we’ve been developing…
Two news stories published in the last 24 hours include new revelations about the battle in Sangin, Afghanistan, where Marines remain in hotly contested combat. First, the BBC reports that the Taliban kidnapped and beat an Afghan village elder who helped broker the widely reported peace agreement between Marines and the Alikozai tribe, which spans multiple villages in Sangin district. Sayed Badar Agha was beaten after leading a group of 40 elders in negotiations that concluded with seven tribal elders signing the agreement, the BBC said. The BBC also reports that Taliban kingpen Mullah Omar reportedly ordered the killing of all…
Friends and family of Marines in the Taliban stronghold of Sangin, Afghanistan, got a bit of good news today when the top Marine commander in Afghanistan said influential tribal leaders there have agreed to stop insurgent attacks and push out foreign fighters. Maj. Gen. Richard Mills said Marine leaders were “cautiously optimistic” of the agreement, according to this AP report. The deal was reportedly reached with the Alikozai tribe, which controls most of the villages in a 17-square-kilometer region of the Upper Sangin Valley, Afghan officials told the AP. After an awful few months of combat, any promising news out…
