Memories of a Leatherneck
Dispatches from Iraq
My time with the 1st Marine Division in Al Anbar in 2004.
In early 2003, the 1st Marine Division lead the assault into Iraq with the mission to take Baghdad. It was a mission they accomplished with the usual United States Marine Corps flair. A straightforward charge up the middle. In late 2003, with their combat mission completed, the Division rotated back to its home base in Camp Pendleton, California. Their stay at home was to be short. The Division was ordered back Iraq with the mission to support the reconstruction effort. I was to be part of that proud organization when it returned to Iraq.
In 2004, the Bush administration redeployed 1st Marine Division to Iraq’s Al Anbar province. The mission facing the division now was the mission to bring stability to that region as part of the Coalition’s efforts to establish a stable, compliant democratic country. Their sector was the Al Anbar province, a large swath of unpopulated desert in the western part of the country bounded to the east by a most agrarian Euphrates River valley. Cities dotted the river starting with Al-Qa’im on the Syrian border, followed by Hit, Ramadi and Fallujah. The population was mostly Sunni had been a source of loyal follower for Saddam Hussain.
The Marines would have a harder time. It was now, as one of my fellow officers commented, “a thinking man’s war”. The mission would be to set the conditions for a democratic country. It required a measured touch. Maj. General Mattis, the Division commander, reflected that in the Marines messaging to the Al Anbar population “No better friend, and no worse enemy”. He was telling Al Anbar to give the Marines a chance. A chance to let the Division create a better life in Al Anbar. But he was also saying that Marines would not hesitate to use force when needed. It seemed to me a reasonable approach for those times.
A large part of the “no better friend” was the Marines mission to rebuild the crumbling infrastructure of a country long in neglect and reestablish a functioning local government that could provide basic reliable services of power, water, and public transportation. It also included where workable support to industry and businesses scarred by neglect and war. The Marines are not normally in the business of rebuilding a country, so they elected to reach out to its reserve officers that had skills in engineering, finance and banking and other skill sets needed for this mission. I was one of those officers asked to join the 1st Marine Division headquarters as a special staff officer and head up the reconstruction portion of the mission. I was a civil engineer in my civilian life. I was a colonel in the reserves. The combination was unusual and seemed to meet the Division’s need.
While serving with the 1st Marine Division, I wrote back to my friends and family of my experiences. I also recorded my notes and observations in government issued green cloth notebooks. All of which I kept after my return in a scruffy plastic filing box. The words “Iraq” written on the side. I jammed it into the back corner of a dark closet many years ago. I reached into that box in the last year. Why? To remember and understand who I was during that time. Memories that have grown sharper as I watch the world change around me.
They are memories worth sharing. My experience differed from that of the combat Marine. Their stories are well told in books such as “No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah” by Bing West, or “Echo in Ramadi: The Firsthand Story of US Marines in Iraq’s Deadliest City” By Scott A. Huesing. The works look at battles that happened around me. I was there, but that was not my role for this war. It was a quiet war for myself and those around me. The Division had tasked us with the job of reconstruction. It was a job that flowed around and away from the battles fought in cities of Al Anbar during that year. I and my team sought to fill the quiet spaces between firefights with positive contributions to the Iraq population as best we could. Our success in 2004 was less than desired, but we gave it our best. We lived day to day, taking our success where we could, and learning from our failures with a pragmatic sigh.
The following are my stories of those days. I do ’t intend these stories to convince the reader that the war was correct. Nore are these stories to glorify or vilify combat. These are simply snapshots of what I was seeing and feeling, as we worked to make things better in Al Anbar. I try to take the reader with me on my daily travels. I want to give a fairly measured presentation of what those times were like.
To read, just click on the links below. They are not necessarily in chronological order but dated to mark when they occurred throughout my nine-month tour that stretched from mid-January 2004 through mid-October 2004.
As always thanks for reading, and God bless our men and women in the service for our country.
