Journey to Iraq

Let the journey begin. After months of training working up to this point we are finally shipping out. After getting our rifles and other sensitive equipment items out of the armory we loaded buses for Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Cherry Point, North Carolina where we loaded a North American Airlines charter jet. We flew to JFK NY for a 3 hr layover for refuel and crew change and then flew to Shannon Ireland for a 45 minute tarmac refuel stop to get us to Leichsteig Germany for another 2 hr layover and crew change and finally to Kuwait.

Upon arrival in Kuwait we rode a bus for an hour to Camp Virginia where we were each given 60 rds of live ammunition and told to carry it with our rifle at all times. This one act, above all else, helped really make it feel real for me. I was now in a combat zone. After a night’s stay in air conditioned tents we flew on a military transport jet (C17) in the tiniest seats ever (made tinier by our wearing flak jackets and Kevlar helmets) to Al Taqquadam (AKA "T-Q") Air Base in western Iraq (Al Anbar province) only 10 miles from Al Fallujah and camp Fallujah. After a couple nights we flew once again (this time on helos) to camp Fallujah.

Despite it only being 10 miles away, the road from T-Q is well worn (by worn I mean nearly blown to hell by repetitive IED attacks) and fraught with danger. Finally, under the cover of darkness, by early morning Sunday September 30, our 30 minute helo ride got us to our final destination and forward operating base for our tour here in Iraq—Camp Fallujah!

The symbols we adorn ourselves with

While the Lt. General was here, one Marine made a gripe in the form of a question about the Marine Corps’ new policy concerning tattoos: Marines cannot get any new tattoos that are visible while wearing PT gear. This pretty much bans tattoos on the lower arms and legs. While the wording of the policy seems expansive and restrictive, I am told there are a number of exceptions to include a caveat that you can have tattoos in those areas so long as they don’t cover a certain percentage or portion of the extremity. This basically means they are outlawing ‘sleeve’ style tattoos which cover large swaths of the extremity. The interesting part though was how the General approached the topic in general. He didn’t discuss the nitty gritty of the policy rather he discussed the philosophy behind why the Corps was interested in banning something which seems so quintessentially military. His reasoning was that Marines should not seek to adorn their bodies with symbols unbecoming a Marine. He continued saying that as a Marine there is only a few symbols which all Marines have on at all times, one being the Eagle Globe and Anchor symbol on the uniform. Having excessive tattoos would take away from that simple symbol which defines each of us as one of the few and proud. He further spoke of professionalism and how we should look professional in our uniform and tattoos might distract from this professionalism. His comments and style reminded me of my mission president who warned the missionaries against wearing loud and busy ties because they could distract our contacts and investigators from the message and the spirit we bore. How interesting that this General would have such deep insight about the way outward symbols may define who we are. I am reminded of many symbols people wear and how these symbols define them. For example, Jews are circumcised as a symbol of covenants made with God. Additionally, they wear special headgear and clothing to symbolize their faith and their relationship to God. I also wear LDS Temple garments which do the same and similar things as Jews. The symbols that define us are worth pondering.

Camp Lejeune: The General's Visit

We had a gathering of all the activated reservists who will be a part of 1st Battalion 10th Marines’ Task Force Military Police (TFMP) while in Iraq in order to hear from Lt. General Bergman of the 4th Marine Division (the Reserve Division). He had a lot of motivating things to say and helped remind me that there are very smart and competent leaders in our military (sometimes a few errant NCO’s and SNCO’s give me doubts!) The general came primarily to check up on us reservists to see how we were doing and how we were coming along in our mobilization pre-deployment training.

He said that it was good that many of us had not deployed before because "multi-deployers have the potential to be the most dangerous." This is because the war in Iraq changes so often that what worked 6 months ago may not work today and those who have already developed habits or a ‘know-it-all’ mentality about that war would be at a greater risk to themselves and their fellow Marines. This came mostly as a warning to us that we should all keep an open mind and seek first to understand the nature of the war and our task before developing and sticking to arbitrary SOP’s (standard operating procedures).

The General also spoke of the vitality of cultural awareness training for this particular conflict. He emphasized the necessity of winning the hearts and minds of Iraqi’s as the way out of Iraq and as personally important to our safety because the Iraqi you offend today may become the terrorist that kills your comrade tomorrow. He also put our minds at ease about the political turmoil over pulling out: "if we pulled out tomorrow we’d be somewhere else, we (The Marines) wrote the book on small wars," meaning that as reservists we would be effected the same way by pulling out because of the many micro-fronts on the war on terror (to include Indonesia and the Philippines) which would still require our service. The Marine Corps has a rich and vibrant history and successful record of fighting small conflicts all over the globe in ‘every clime and place.’

He went on to say that "the American people believe in you" and that we should walk with our heads held high despite the seeming out lash everywhere that is created by the loud cacophony of a liberal minority. Finally he exhorted us to live by our Marine Corps values and assured us that if we do we would not have any problems in Iraq like those that have dominated the recent media spotlight (Haditha, etc.). He asked us "would you do the right thing while alone?" I was surprised that he spoke in these terms. In a way, the General reminded me of a wise Bishop or Stake President in my church.

A few questions were asked, two in particular that caught my attention. The first was about tattoos which will become the topic of my next blog entry and the second was about the accessibility of Tricare health care benefits to our dependents while on active duty. Apparently, as reservists we are entitled to Tricare benefits for ourselves and dependents for up to 90 days prior to our mobilization (activation date). However, those benefits are only accessed once you have been issued your official activation/mobilization orders. In our case we were notified that we were being activated way back in January, a full 5 months prior to our activation date, however we were not given our orders until approximately 2 weeks prior to our actual date of activation. The problem here is that many people had to quit jobs or make serious life re-arrangements prior to our activation date because there were a number of training days and annual training for 3 weeks right before our activation date. This would potentially leave many people without health insurance coverage for a time. According to the General, we were supposed to be given our orders around the 90 day prior mark and thus yield the health insurance benefits. He wasn’t sure why our orders were not issued in a more timely fashion but he promised to find out. All in all it was neat to have an afternoon with the stars! Oh, by the way, Camp Lejeune is very hot and I think I sweat continuously every minute of every day here.

Arriving in Camp Lejeune

We were activated and amid gear inspections and paperwork we prepared for our departure to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. I was chosen to go ahead of the rest of the company in order to assign rooms and iron out any other details prior to the rest of the company’s arrival. This ‘advance party’ assignment only meant I ended up spending a few less days in Utah with my wife (to include a weekend) and a few more days in the VERY muggy Camp Lejeune! The base is located right on the Carolina coast and includes a large river/inlet which increases the coastline bordering parts of the base. This means I sweat A LOT. I think I have my father’s gene for sweating, he sweats a lot too. The advance party duties are not difficult but the NCOs here on base that we work with to iron out these details would say otherwise. You would think it was the hardest thing on earth for some of them to find room keys or missing furniture for the rooms. I think really they just pick the Sergeant or Corporal that they don’t want around or doing anything important and put them in charge of things like barracks. When we first got here the rooms they wanted to assign us looked like a hurricane came through. They were torn apart and dirty. I was shocked and appalled that anything military related could look like this. Half of the damage looks to be the result of stupid drunken behavior or just mere carelessness. Boy am I glad I haven’t had to live the barracks life for very long in my Marine Corp career. I would go nuts. The people here are loud and obnoxious and are constantly throwing beer bottles and cigarette butts off of the higher floors. The grass in between buildings is littered every morning as if the back to school fall frat party just took place. While there may be some adjusting to do and some kinks to work out here, I think Camp Lejeune won’t be that bad, once everyone gets here I think we will make it livable and accomplish our training schedule. Our company gunny/ops chief is also good at hooking up lots of great things like rental mini-vans for each platoon to use to drive around base and town. All in all it won’t be so bad and could definitely be worse. The only complaint is that we have 3 months to accomplish the tasks we could complete in 1 back in Utah. I guess that is part of being on active duty. Wasted time and resources and lots of inefficiency.