Serving his country in triplicate
Marine volunteers to go back to Iraq for third tour
http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070120/NEWS01/701200339
Keith Matheny
The Desert Sun
January 20, 2007
Twentynine Palms Marine Cpl. Walter Price III spent time in some of Iraq's most dangerous hot spots during two tours of combat duty in 2005 and 2006: al Anbar province and Fallujah.
Price's four-year enlistment in the Marines was to conclude this summer. But he's extended it by four months in order to voluntarily go on a third deployment to Iraq beginning later this month.
"A lot of my friends who came in after me, who I served with during the second deployment, are going back," said Price, 21.
"We have a lot of junior Marines who are going for their first time. And they need that senior leadership, Marines that have a little bit of experience, one or two deployments under their belt, to help lead them into combat."
Price's unit, the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, trains Iraqi army and police forces and acts as a sort of national police, patrolling neighborhoods, raiding suspect houses, and "seeking out and finding the bad guys," he said.
About 10 other Marines from his unit also are voluntarily redeploying to Iraq, he said.
Born and raised in Manhattan and the son of a Marine, Price's thick New York accent was immediately discernable as he sipped a drink and smoked a cigarette at the Owen Coffman American Legion
Post in Palm Springs last week. It was a last long weekend for members of his unit to relax and visit family and friends before the flurry of preparations to redploy to Iraq before the end of the month.
Though Price believes redeploying is the right decision for him, he said he has misgivings about President Bush's decision last week to send more than 21,000 additional American troops to Iraq. The Iraqi people are relying too much on American forces, he said.
"We're holding their hands and babying them right now," he said. "It's time for them to let go and take their first steps on their own."
But Price said he has seen progress in his time in Iraq. He called the Iraqi army and police "greatly improved."
"I noticed a big difference during the second deployment from the first," he said. "What we're doing over there is making a difference."
The best things Price has seen in Iraq get little or no media coverage, he said - building playgrounds at three schools in the Baghdadi area of Al Anbar; rebuilding two all-girls schools.
"The Iraqi people are very supportive of what we are doing," he said.
Asked what's the worst he's seen in Iraq, Price gives a date: Dec. 1, 2005. On that day, in an abandoned flour factory in Fallujah being used as a patrol base, 10 Marines from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines were killed and another 11 wounded by an improvised explosive device.
Deployments to Iraq are typically about seven months. After this one, next October, Price said he will leave the Marines, with fond memories and strong relationships forged in war.
"I've found that the bond, the fellowship and the brotherhood that I feel with the other guys I've served with in the Marine Corps is very strong," he said. "The esprit de corps is very moving."
Price is among more than 50 Marines stationed at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms who've become involved with the local American Legion post. "Before we start making a difference in another country, we need to make a difference in our own," he said.
Post Commander Lee Gussler said members are "very proud" of the young Twentynine Palms Marines who are revitalizing the organization.
"They're going back (to Iraq) to do a mission," he said. "Whether we agree with the mission or not, it's a mission that they are tasked to do."