ANBAR PROVINCE, Iraq - The Marines of the three military transition
teams assigned to 2nd Quick Reaction Force, 1st Iraqi Division live on
Iraqi military camps often far from U.S. bases.
They eat, play and sleep among the Iraqi soldiers they are here to
advise. There are no dining facilities, military exchanges or other
amenities available at most of the camps. Yet some say this has been the
best experience of their careers.
A small unit like this creates strong bonds among the enlisted troops
and officers, said Lance Cpl. Nathaniel Gillingham, 22, a radio operator
from Lakeland, Fla.
It's unusual for lance corporals to have daily interaction with majors
and lieutenant colonels, but it happens here, said Lance Cpl. Daniel
Nicholson, 20, an infantryman from Robindale Heights, Pa.
Gillingham and Nicholson, part of the 2nd Quick Reaction Force MiTT, are
assigned to an Iraq camp near Camp Fallujah in Anbar province. The team
is so small that everyone pitches in to do jobs usually done by junior
Marines, such as man turret guns on convoys, Gillingham said.
"We work so closely together that we are all on the same page and can
predict each others' actions," said Lance Cpl. Erik Tirado, 27, a
machine gunner from Jacksonville, Fla., with the team advising reaction
force's 3rd Battalion.
"It is so much better than being in an infantry battalion," he said.
Junior Marines here do more too, the three agreed.
"It's much better than a regular battalion as far as being a radio
operator in the back-in-the shop scenario," Gillingham said. "Back in
the shop, all you do is prepare the gear for others to go out on the
convoys. Here I go out a lot and do and see things that only a grunt
used to get to do."
Nicholson is his team's intelligence chief, which is not the "run-of-the
mill job" for an infantry lance corporal, he said.
The junior Marines have also taken on more responsibility such as being
vehicle and convoy commanders even when higher-ranked personnel are on
the convoys, Nicholson said.
Interaction with Iraqi soldiers has added to the experience.
The Iraqi soldiers are very interested in the Marines' lives, said Pfc.
Zach Young, 21, an infantryman from Pittsburgh working with the 3rd
Battalion's advisory team. "They want to know where you are from, what
your father does, are you married," Young said.
He said he was surprised at "how much they blamed the Iraqi government
for all the problems in the country."
Talking to the Iraqi soldiers, "it gives you a sense of humbleness of
what you have back home. They are oblivious to what they have and could
have," Gillingham said.
By Cindy Fisher
Stars and Stripes
August 3, 2008
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