AL ANBAR PROVINCE _____
LCPL GRANT T. WALKER
KIDS ARE KIDS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD—Bryce P. Moheit, a Navy corpsman, watches a child attempt handstands during a March 11 patrol by members of “Kilo” Company, 3d Battalion, Fifth Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 1 in Fallujah, Iraq.
So how long did it take the 19-year-old
leatherneck to get accustomed to the dirty,
bumpy and slow driving required to navigate the unique landscape? It was about
halfway through his first mission.
“I was a little nervous at first, but once
I got out there, especially once we started
heading back, it got a lot easier,” he said
with more than a hint of pride.
Sergeant Cordy Gaeta, a radio operator
and an Iraq veteran, explained that confidence is contagious and exercises like
this help it spread. “If I see my guys have
more confidence, then it will build more
confidence in me towards my guys, knowing I’m doing a good job training them
on what they need to do.”
Gaeta experienced the fear of leaving
camp for the first time when he was a lance
corporal in Iraq.
“I was pretty scared,” he said, but noted
that his first mission was slightly more
disorienting than the midday movement
to a machine-gun range. “I was with a
recon battalion, so we did a little bit more
than a normal battalion. Plus, we went out
at night, and it’s a lot harder to go out at
night because you can’t see.
“On the way out there, it was a little
tense because it was my driver’s first time
14 LEATHERNECK JUNE 2008
ever having to drive in this [outside the
wire], and then on the way back, he knew
there wasn’t anything that was going to
happen. It was a tension breaking that
eased his mind a little bit,” explained
Gaeta.
Focusing the Marines on their upcoming tasks also was on the mind of Corporal Timothy McLaughlin, the commanding
officer’s driver. “It is kind of hard, because
you need to keep their mind the right way.
Don’t let them get complacent. [Going
outside the wire], it keeps them where they
are not bored,” he said.
Standing exposed, miles away from your
fortified base, is a feeling shared only by
those who have done it, a right of passage
in an infantry unit. The experienced train
the next generation of fighters, prepare
them as much as possible, but it seems to
be understood that some things need to
be experienced, not taught.
So when PFC Hudson thinks about an
inexperienced turret gunner turning to
him for guidance, he quickly responds,
“Make sure your weapons work, and make
sure you have eye protection because of
the dust. There are sandstorms that come
out of nowhere.”
It’s nothing profound, just the basics,
because the last thing a Marine needs to
do is overthink the situation.
“Basically you just have to experience
it for yourself,” he reasoned.
McLaughlin understands that axiom
now, after having lived it in Iraq.
“I didn’t know what to expect until I
got out there and my training kicked in,
and then you are used to everything,” said
McLaughlin, a field radio operator during his last tour.
First Lt Steinpfad, with combat experience from BLT 1/6’s Iraq deployment, explained that the entire battalion can learn
something from stepping off base.
“I don’t think it matters what deployment you are on. You build off past experiences, and I think every time you push
outside the wire you learn something new.
Whether it be on your first deployment,
halfway through your first deployment,
doesn’t matter if you are halfway through
your third deployment,” he said. “The
enemy is always adapting, and you always have to adapt to those changes. As
the enemy continues to change, we will
continue to learn as we push out … every
single time.”
Cpl Randall A. Clinton
Combat Correspondent, 24th MEU
