At midday here during the hottest month of the year, it's an unseasonably cool 100 degrees, and a light breeze is filtering the effects of the scorching sun. A squad of Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is nevertheless inside an uncooled tent, where Capt. William M. Vessey of Fort Collins, Colo., is issuing a patrol order. When Vessey finishes, fire-team leaders gather their Marines for initial gear inspections. After checking for their requisite ammunition, first-aid kits, water and flak jackets, they move outside to rehearse their responses to a variety of possible enemy actions. The platoon sergeant, Gunnery Sgt. Michael V. Listopad of Canton, S.D., asks his team leaders to check their Marines' gear one last time.
Two hours after the patrol order was issued, the Marines step off, leaving the relative safety of the base, where the primary threat is mortars and rockets, for the more ominous other-world of snipers, improvised explosive devices and ambushes. On the road, they quickly form a pair of columns, staggering them to deny the enemy even a cluster of two. The Marines immediately begin scanning the area, noting the different terrain and looking for any suspicious activity or possible threats.
While this may resemble a typical drill for any infantryman in Iraq, one thing was missing, though perhaps not so noticeably - the infantrymen. Where one might expect to find grunts, the men whose job it is to close with and destroy the enemy, there walked a motley group of Marines from the MEU's command element, the yeomen who compose the commander's staff sections. From the platoon commander to the point men, they spanned the spectrum of military occupational specialties. Their ranks included an AV-8B Harrier pilot, personnel clerks, signals intelligence communicators, maintenance management clerks, satellite technicians, and a forward observer. Each was a manifestation of the Corps' guiding philosophy: every Marine a rifleman. |