WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon has extended the tour of 2,200 Marines in Afghanistan, after insisting for months the unit would come home on time.
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WASHINGTON, July 3, 2008 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has approved a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force request that the 2,200 Marines of 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit remain in Afghanistan a month longer than planned.
Continue reading "U.S. Grants NATO Request to Extend Marine Unit’s Afghanistan Tour" »
June 26, 2008 · At 53, Abdul Torabi is a soft-spoken man with gray hair, a short gray beard and a quiet chuckle. He was born in Afghanistan, but has lived most of his life in exile in America.
Continue reading "After Long Exile, Afghan Returns to Aid U.S. Marines" »
(6/26/2008) Every marine prepares for battle in his own way. These were the Marines of Alpha Company, Third Platoon, First Battalion of the Sixth Marines. They were preparing for a fight.
All Things Considered, June 25, 2008 · When compared to Iraq, the conflict in Afghanistan is often described as the forgotten war.
Continue reading "Marines in Afghanistan Weigh In on a Life at War" »
It has been a month and a half since a force of some 1,500 U.S. Marines attacked the Taliban stronghold of Garmsir district in the Helmand province of southern Afghanistan.
Continue reading "Marines Try to Improve Image in Taliban Stronghold" »
NUKHAYB — Marines with Alpha Company, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 5 visited the town here June 24 after assuming operations from Team Mustang, 2nd LAR.
NUKHAYB — Marines with Alpha Company, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 5 visited the town here June 24 after assuming operations from Team Mustang, 2nd LAR.
GARMSER, Afghanistan — Marines are trading gunfire and artillery shells with Taliban militants in the volatile southern province of Helmand, the world’s largest poppy growing region.
Continue reading "Marines make headway in southern Afghan town" »
ARGHANDAB, Afghanistan — Taliban militants destroyed bridges and planted mines in several villages they control outside southern Afghanistan's largest city in apparent preparation for battle, residents and officials said Tuesday.
Continue reading "Taliban Prepare for Battle Outside Kandahar as Thousands Flee Area" »
Afghan Army on High Alert After Increased Activity by Taliban Militants
Afghanistan's army chief, Gen. Bismillah Khan, is in Kandahar preparing his men for a potentially major battle with the Taliban.
Afghan Army on High Alert After Increased Activity by Taliban Militants
Afghanistan's army chief, Gen. Bismillah Khan, is in Kandahar preparing his men for a potentially major battle with the Taliban.
CAMP KOREAN VILLAGE, Iraq — “I started from nothing to making something of my life,” said Cpl. Andrew E. Nelson, a personnel clerk with 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 5. “I was broke then, and now I have goals, my credit cards are paid and I can go to school again.”
MUSCATATUCK URBAN TRAINING CENTER, Butlerville, Ind. — Stalingrad, Berlin, Hue City, Baghdad, Fallujah. To most people, these are just places on a map, some of them nice places to vacation. But for students of history and war, these places evoke a far different meaning.
These cities played host to some of the fiercest fighting ever seen in battle. With the birth of large cities came also a new form of combat: urban warfare.
Continue reading "Marines leave their box, get into their ‘lanes’" »
CAMP KOREAN VILLAGE, Iraq — A shorter wait for phones and internet is at hand for service members and civilian contractors here.
Continue reading "Mission: Connecting Marines with families" »
NATHARA, Iraq (June 13, 2008) -- A good deed was provided to residents of a small village outside of Rutbah, Iraq, June 12.
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In Afghanistan, tens of thousands of NATO-led U.S. and foreign troops are battling a Taliban insurgency across eastern and southern Afghanistan. NPR's Ivan Watson and David Gilkey spent the past four days traveling across the network of NATO bases in southern Afghanistan and sent this postcard about the journey.
Continue reading "Trip Illuminates Life on Bases Across Afghan Desert" »
RUTBAH, Iraq — Over the course of two years, the city of Rutbah has encountered change towards its people and government. With Coalition forces support, the town has been able to rebuild its structure and remain safe from insurgency.
Continue reading "Guardian Angels: Security Platoon protects rebuilding of Rutbah" »
CAMP KOREAN VILLAGE, Iraq — Unexpected visitors greeted an infantry battalion of Marines, sailors and other residents here June 6.
Continue reading "Cheerleaders give LAR a glimpse of home" »
KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan are fleeing to the Pakistani border after being routed in recent operations by the United States Marines, the American commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan said on Monday.
Continue reading "U.S. Reports Gains Against Taliban Fighters" »
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - U.S. marines clawed their way south along the Helmand River valley over the weekend in an ongoing push that the commander of the battle-hardened assault force hopes is easing the pressure on the Canadians in neighbouring Kandahar.
Continue reading "U.S. offensive in Helmand taking pressure off the Canadians in Kandahar" »
KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — The highest-ranking U.S. Marine in Afghanistan is worried he's losing the battle when it comes to getting Americans interested in the war.
RAMADI, Iraq (1 June 2008) - Warehouse clerks with Headquarters and Service Company, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 5, support the scouts and crewman of the battalion with the supplies and equipment they need to stay in the fight.
“Without supply, there wouldn’t be any operations,” said Lance Cpl. Joseph M. McDonough, a warehouse clerk with H&S Company. “We are the logistic backbone of every company in the battalion.”
SINGAPORE, May 31, 2008 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates continued his quest to get more Asian countries to step forward and help in Afghanistan during a series of bilateral meetings here today at the International Institute of Strategic Studies’ Asia Security Summit.
Talks about operations in Afghanistan as well as Iraq played prominently in most of Gates’ six formal and informal “pull-aside” sessions today, a senior defense official told reporters. The same issues are expected to arise again during three additional bilateral meetings.
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GARMSER, Afghanistan — For two years British troops staked out a presence in this small district center in southern Afghanistan and fended off attacks from the Taliban. The constant firefights left it a ghost town, its bazaar broken and empty but for one baker, its houses and orchards reduced to rubble and weeds.
Continue reading "Optimism Grows as Marines Push Against Taliban" »
GARMSER, Afghanistan: For two years British troops staked out a presence in this small district center in southern Afghanistan and fended off attacks from the Taliban. The constant firefights left it a ghost town, its bazaar broken and empty but for one baker, its houses and orchards reduced to rubble and weeds.
Continue reading "In southern Afghanistan, the marines clear a little space for optimism" »
Lance Cpl. Sam Hansen was on a Mother’s Day vehicle patrol in Taliban-heavy Garmser, Afghanistan, when insurgents opened fire.
Continue reading "Marine recovering after being shot in head" »
AL ANBAR PROVINCE, Iraq (May 24, 2008) – It was a special day for Marines with 1st Platoon, Delta Company, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 5, who delivered tables to a school outside of Rutbah, Iraq, May 23 with assistance from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion-17.
Continue reading "Marines become big brothers to local kids" »
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — When the warriors of the Marine Corps deploy to foreign lands, they often leave behind family members. While they may not be on the front lines, these loved ones are no less important than the Marines who serve.
Continue reading "The hardest job in the Corps: wives spend day in husbands’ boots" »
CAMP KOREAN VILLAGE, Iraq (May 22, 2008) – In the middle of the Iraqi desert, there is a Marine who helped create a device that would affect approximately 40 million people worldwide.
AL ANBAR PROVINCE, Iraq — Sneaking through the shadows of the cool desert night, Navy SEALS have a mission to find and capture a suspected insurgent in western Al Anbar province. Without hesitation, the special operations team grabs the suspect, knowing they have a powerful and mobile infantry platoon to back them up at a moment’s notice.
ANBAR PROVINCE, Iraq — The Iraqi civilians that reside in the deserts of western Al Anbar province range from traders to farmers. The Marines with Delta Company, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 5 ensure those people receive proper care.
Eupora High graduate, 22, shot to death Sunday during combat in Afghanistan
On Sunday, Marine Cpl. Justin Cooper of Eupora was killed in combat in Afghanistan.
RAMADI, Iraq —
RAMADI, Iraq — Step after step, combat boots hit the pavement. It’s been a few hours for the Marine squad walking the Ramadi streets. Fatigued yet steady, the young men push forward on their routine foot patrol despite the mid-day desert heat; each squad member maintaining a constant alertness with eyes scanning the environment in every direction. The squad leader passes by a familiar face; a local vender who he sees almost every day. Instantly, the look of exhaustion washes away, and a smile is brought to his face. Lifting his hand, he warmly greets the vender with, “Al salaam a’alaykum.”
RAMADI, Iraq —
RAMADI, Iraq — It was a typical quiet morning on April 22, with the temperature intensifying as a bright orange sun emerged high from the horizon.
Continue reading "Heroic last stand, Marines thwart enemy attack" »
GARMSER, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. Marines who once planned to be in this southern Afghan town for just a few days are extending their mission by several weeks after facing an influx of Taliban fighters.
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AL QA'IM, Iraq — The “Warlords” of Task Force 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 5 began a seven-month deployment to Al Qa’im, Iraq, in mid-April.
Continue reading "‘Warlords’ gets acquainted with Anbar province, Iraq" »
UK troops working as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in southern Afghanistan have been taking part in a joint operation with US Marines aimed at disrupting Taliban activity in the volatile Garmsir area of Helmand province.
Troops from 16 Air Assault Brigade joined the Marines, from the US 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), as they pushed south of Garmsir where currently, but for a few border security police, neither ISAF nor the Afghan Security Forces have a presence. The purpose of the operation was to extend security authority further south towards the Pakistan border.
Continue reading "British troops help US Marines tackle the Taliban in Garmsir" »
GARMSER, Afghanistan (AP) — The Marines of Bravo Company's 1st Platoon sleep beside a grove of poppies. Troops in the 2nd Platoon playfully swat at the heavy opium bulbs while walking through the fields. Afghan laborers scraping the plant's gooey resin smile and wave.
Continue reading "Marines ignore Taliban cash crop to not upset Afghan locals" »
There is only silence in Garmser, a ghost town on the edge of the desert in southern Afghanistan. The bazaar is a lonely line of abandoned shops and debris-strewn streets. There is just one trader - a baker - whose sole customers are British soldiers and Afghan police.
Continue reading "In ghost town where Afghan war begins, UK fights losing battle" »
KOREAN VILLAGE, Iraq —
KOREAN VILLAGE, Iraq — When a Navy hospital corpsman becomes “green,” he is placed on the front lines with the trust of the Marine Corps infantryman. He runs through the trenches, engaging the enemy, all while putting his own life on the line providing medical care for the wounded.
GARMSER, Afghanistan: Gunfire rang out at Sgt. Dan Linas' patrol, pinning his squad down against a dirt berm. The Marines looked across the field on their left, at three mud huts and a grove of trees, in search of the muzzle flash.
BEVERLY — A U.S. Marine Corps colonel who grew up in Beverly is leading the first major military operation in years in a dangerous section of southern Afghanistan populated by Taliban fighters.
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GARMSER, Afghanistan — U.S. Marines contended with 110-degree heat, rugged terrain and an increasingly savvy and war-hardened enemy as they pressed deeper into a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan on Thursday.
Heat, heavy loads, lack of water slow attack on Taliban
GARMSIR, Afghanistan - For the Marines fighting in southern Afghanistan, a shortage of drinking water turned out to be nearly as big a concern as Taliban insurgents.
RAMADI, IRAQ (April 29, 2008) – It was a typical quiet morning on April 22, with the temperature intensifying as a bright orange sun emerged high from the horizon.
Continue reading "Heroic last stand, Marines thwart enemy attack" »
Several hundred U.S. Marines engaged in a dramatic firefight Tuesday with an army of rebels in a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan.
The battle against insurgents came during the first large-scale American operation in the area in years.
Bush has come to shove in southern Afghanistan. The U.S. commander-in-chief has sent in the marines.
Continue reading "Canadians enlisted in new American-style Afghan war" »
OUTSIDE GARMSER, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. Marines exchanged gunfire with militants Tuesday after pouring into a Taliban-held town in southern Afghanistan in the first major American operation in the region in years.
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In first operations, U.S. forces also aim to intersect weapons and drug routes
GARMSIR, Afghanistan - U.S. Marines assaulted into this Taliban stronghold early today in a series of pre-dawn strikes, seizing a major insurgent command center and killing a number of insurgents.
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The first US Marines of a new expeditionary force were deployed in Afghanistan’s troubled Helmand province yesterday, promising new and more aggressive tactics in an implicit criticism of the British operation there.
Continue reading "US Marines to ‘stir things up’ in Helmand" »
Hundreds of U.S. forces backed by airpower enter Taliban-controlled South
OUTSIDE GARMSER, Afghanistan - U.S. Marines in helicopters and Humvees flooded into a Taliban-held town in southern Afghanistan's most violent province early Tuesday in the first major American operation in the region in years.
Continue reading "Marines launch massive assault in Afghanistan" »