April 29, 2004

Small Moves, the Spirit of America, and Doing What You Can

But what can I do?
Do what God puts in front of you.

On the radio news at 3 AM this morning, the phrase "Camp Pendleton Marines today in Fallujah.... "

Its early and dark, but Im awake and sitting down with coffee when I hear those words. I hear them often these days. News of a brutal firefight in and around that forsaken city on the far side of the world is always attached to that phrase. Less often, but more distressing, the phrase includes ...were killed in action.

I always wonder if among those killed were any of the young marines I stood next to for a day last January. ( Small Moves ) It was a fine day and we helped the Marines pack up Spirit of Americas free school supplies and medical equipment for distribution to the people of Iraq. It was something I could do, so I did it.

I always think of those Marines whenever I hear the phrase. The private who asked me what I thought about God. The other who talked a lot about the big wheels he was planning to buy for his new Jeep. The ones who cooked us hamburgers. Brave men and, as always, very young.

Most of them are gone from Camp Pendelton now. Only a third of the bases compliment remain there. The rest are somewhere else ...today in Fallujah.... They and their brothers in arms are always in my thoughts these days, as I know they are in the thoughts of hundreds of millions of other Americans. I wish them all God speed and a safe return home. And yet I know that not all will have those things.

Like millions of others I want to know what, in any small way, I can do to help their mission, support their sacrifice, and hasten the day when they can return. Like millions of other Americans, I am frustrated by the fact that whatever I can do or give is small and unworthy compared to what they are prepared to do and give. Still, I look for ways to help, as I think all decent Americans do now. And so today I found myself driving back to Camp Pendleton in Southern California.

The purpose was to attend an event in which Spirit of America would turn over some of the video equipment theyd purchased as a result of their amazing fund-raising activities of the past month. The idea was to raise money to equip a few people in Iraq with the basic means of creating and broadcasting their own television. A kind of grass-roots antidote to Al-Jazerra, the project suddenly, with the help of big medias Wall Street Journal columnist Daniel Henniger, took off. What began with a goal of $100,000 ended with a sum in the region of $1,500,000. As I write a loose coalition of bloggers is still plugging away hoping to add another $50,000 to the pot. As I drive into the entrance to Camp Pendleton, Im thinking that this has to be one of those small miracles you read about but seldom get to witness. Why am I here? Im not quite sure. Im just doing what God put in front of me. Lately Ive found thats not a bad route to follow.

Its a small group gathered at the main gate waiting for our escort back into the base to Camp Margurita where the event will be held. Jim Hakes, the guiding force behind Spirit of America is there with the usual suspects and more suspects still the way. Its a smaller group than last time because, frankly, there wont be that much to do. In time everyone arrives and we convoy back into the other America behind the hills thats the Camp Pendleton Marine Base in Oceanside.

The first thing you notice is that Pendelton is quiet these days. Training continues and the life of the base goes on, but at a lower level of intensity than last January . Everything seems emptier and it is. In January you could see the helicopters moving about in the near and far distance. They seemed to be everywhere. Today, only about four all day. In January, there was artillery practice visible against the hills and a lot of machine gun fire from the practice ranges. Today, just one range with small arms fire.

The barracks and the parking lots at the Camp are almost empty. The base Exchange holds, at 10 in the morning, just the woman assigned as cashier. Instead of patrols of Marines and platoon formations, you see Marines at most in groups of three or four. Theres activity here and there, but once off the main road its hard to avoid the feeling that the Camp is, for the most part, on hold --almost, but not quite, holding its breath. After all, considered as a town, Camp Pendleton is a town that gets very bad news every day. It has learned, long ago, how to deal with that news, but that doesnt mean that dealing with it requires more courage and heart daily than the comfortable suburbs that ring it on three sides use in a decade.

Our small convoy of about a dozen or so cars pulls into a virtually empty parking lot. We walk back behind the deserted barracks to the warehouse where a lot of the video equipment is being stored before shipment to Iraq. Down the hill and across the valley, a platoon or two is having small arms practice. Sharp popping bursts of fire punctuate the morning. Then as I walk into the warehouse, I have one of those strange moments weve all had to get used to in the last few years.

In the warehouse, the Marines on duty are pumping Pink Floyd into the speakers. Its an odd 21st century American moment. If I stand edgeways in the doorway one ear hears rapid bursts of gunfire in the distance and the other hears:
No navigator to guide my way home
Unladened, empty and turned to stone
A soul in tension that's learning to fly
Condition grounded but determined to try

I know it is best not to make too much out of a random epiphany, but there it is for what it is.

A friend of mine in who worked in rock and roll for years once told me its dangerous to listen rock too closely in emotionally charged situations because it will just come and get you. I think that I know now what he meant.

With the arrival of the rest of our group, the Marines turn off the music and we get on with the business of the morning. Unlike the January function with its packing and collecting, todays much more of a media event and, after putting a few Spirit of America stickers on boxes and equipment, theres really not that much to do.

Still, Im glad to be there. In a bit a group of about 15 school children show up. Four and fifth graders, theyre up for anything their day brings. What it brings them right away are Spirit of America tee-shirts and baseball hats. Bonanza! All the boys and girls put them on right away. A few minutes later group of five extremely cute girls are standing around talking among themselves and as I pass them I remark, Ah, you must be the Spirit of America Cheerleaders.

We are?, says one. Okay. Whats our cheer?

Im caught. Not prepared for that. I think for a minute and, in my befuddled state, can only come up with:
Were the Spirit of America!
The Spirit of America!
The Spirit of America!
Now!

Pretty lame. Until you see five small American girls doing it with real heart. Then it takes on a whole new dimension. It is, after all, the singers and not the song.

The boys, by the way, a busy chasing the Marines around and begging them to autograph their baseball caps. The Marines are initially non-plused by this, but politely comply to the delight of the boys who immediately set out to collect the whole set. The Marines do not disappoint.

Fred Brookwell of Greystone TV Productions got wind of the Spirit of America project via the Wall Street Journal, and has organized a full production crew to cover the event. In time other media, local and national turn up. Jim Hake handles the questions with aplomb, and the elegant Lady Doughan of Spirit of Americas umbrella organization Cyber Century Forum is lucid and charming and sharp as well.

Seeking to be vaguely useful I volunteer to go off and find some coffee, but driving through the base I just seem to pass one mostly empty barracks and deserted shop complex after another. Theres no doubt about it, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force is not, for the most part, at home. I manage to find some coffee and return, but things are pretty much wrapped up. We chat about what more we can do and we all promise to carry the work forward. I say my goodbyes.

On the way out, though, it is clear that the Marines are not quite finished with me since, as the small arms practice continues, theyve gone back to Pink Floyd in the warehouse -- although at a lower volume. The last thing I hear over the gunfire is:
He's haunted by the memory of a lost paradise
In his youth or a dream, he can't be precise
He's chained forever to a world that's departed
It's not enough, it's not enough

On I-5 heading north out of Oceanside, you have to drive though a 20 mile stretch in which Camp Pendleton takes up both sides of the road. About five miles into this stretch you pass a group of airplane hangers. In front of the hangers is a large concrete wall about fifty yards long. On it, in large letters, are three words: DUTY. HONOR. COURAGE.

Thirty miles later Im home in the Laguna Beach Hills. From my deck I can see north to Long Beach and out to sea beyond Catalina Island. Its a good life. A safe life. A beautiful life.

And tonight, Im going to tune into the news and no matter where I turn Im going to hear Camp Pendelton Marines today in Fallujah....

And I have to think that no matter what I am doing to help, no matter what I ever manage to do, Im still going to hear:

Its not enough. Its not enough.

Posted by Vanderleun at April 29, 2004 4:40 PM
Bookmark and Share

Comments:

HOME

"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

The hangers you see from the freeway are are the LCAC hangers belonging to ACU-5.

The aircraft hangers are tucked away in a valley on the east side of I-5.

They should be at normal staffing levels since the amphibs are currently at (more or less) normal rotational levels.

Posted by: Kevin at April 29, 2004 6:13 PM

Noted and corrected. Thanks for the information.

Posted by: Gerard Van der Leun at April 29, 2004 6:58 PM

Am surprised more SOA contributors have not wandered by and waved. Nothing like a Marine to cheer folks up. :)

Posted by: Steve at April 29, 2004 8:00 PM

Laguna? Cool. Lovely beach city, but a pain getting in and out of when the weather's remotely nice, or near rush hour. My girlfriend works as a server at the restaurant at Hotel Laguna. Her brother is with the Marines, 1st MEF, combat engineer, Bravo Company I believe, and he just returned last week due to shrapnel wounds--mortar explosion as they were setting up a checkpoint, apparently. This was his second tour. Looks like he's going to be okay, but he's got some tough physical therapy ahead of him. We're just glad he's home, and as his mom and many other loved ones have been telling him, we hope his wounds take plenty of time to heal. I just hope to God the political powers that be let our guys go in there and finish the job; I don't want Fallujah in the headlines anymore, nor do I want to hear any more "...today in Fallujah..." radio reports. At least now that our Marine is home, we have less to worry about.

Thanks for being a part of Spirit of America!

Posted by: Andrew at April 29, 2004 8:20 PM

A wonderful story, thank you. Keep doing what
God has put in front of you, it is working.

Posted by: Carole at April 29, 2004 8:25 PM

It may not be enough, but it's a very good start. Thanks!

Posted by: Matt S. at April 29, 2004 8:26 PM

I am a former Marine, stationed at Mainside at Camp Pendleton from 1979-1985. Even now, when I hear or see the 1st MarDiv in action somewhere, a part of me longs to be there, with my brothers-in-arms. You may feel you're not doing enough - just FYI, we former Jarheads feel like we didn't do enough - our tours may be over, but our duty to our God, our Country, and our Corps never ends. I can only be in Fallujah in spirit, but my 43-year-old body wants to be there in person. God Bless, and Semper Fi.

Posted by: Wigwam Jones at April 30, 2004 8:23 AM

Met you briefly during a break while packing bags and boxes last January. It was a small contribution but I was glad to help.

Well put. Well put.

Posted by: Ed Nutter at April 30, 2004 10:55 PM

What a wonderful way to be involved! So far, all I can do is send money! Let me know if my friends and I can do more here in Canton, Texas. God bless you on your path.

Posted by: Bonnie Cade at May 1, 2004 12:38 PM

GREETINGS FROM WWW.AMERICANAUTOPARTS.COM
WE HAD A PARTS STORE IN KUWAIT CITY 3 MONTHS AFTER THE GULF WAR IN 1993. SO WE ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE LOCALS IN THE GULF. IF WE CAN HELP YOU AT HOME OR IN IRAQ. HOLLER.
TOM O'DONNELL PRES.

Posted by: TOM O'DONNELL at May 1, 2004 6:35 PM

I think the equipment was a great idea. I get tired of hearing all the negative things that all the media spouts. Hence why the only time I touch our idiot boxes at home is to shut them off or dust them. Also, I have two nephews that are marines, one is still serving in Japan (logistics) and the other just completed his time and came home without going to Iraq. However, my sister just informed me, he went in last week and signed all the paperwork to re-enlist and asked to be sent to Iraq. Mainly, because his two best friends one army and the other a fellow marine were sent to Iraq and he doesn't feel right being home and they are there. He was out of Pendelton and was in Amph Asslt. He got out before the new year started and started school to be a fireman and EMT but had a hard time adjusting. He is quite a young man, we are all very proud of both of them and pray that this will end soon so they and the others can get home to their loved ones. Also, a quick note, he had stated that several times when they were deployed to the Philipines, and other hotspots during his service, that hearing all the news about IRAQ all the time and all the focus on IRAQ and Afghanistan started bumming them out because the media NEVER mentions or has stories about all the good things our military men and women do all over the world but are never praised for any of them. Nonetheless, there are thousands of young men and women that are serving our country all over the world. Not that they wanted to be glorified but just recognized for the efforts and sacrifices they all make daily by being in the service. Just thought I would add that so that people realize there are other places these kids are sent but are not mentioned or heard about on the idiot box. :) God bless and keep the faith.

Posted by: Angela Blandino at May 4, 2004 2:39 AM

Here’s my latest military.com column, with a note regarding SoA pix at the end.

Small Wars Manual in Vietnam and Iraq

The contrasts between the uses of Small Wars Manual inspired operations in the Vietnam War and Iraq are stark. In the Vietnam War, the top ranking Marine Corps General in the Pacific, Lieutentant General Victor “Brute” Krulak, USMC, recommended using combined action platoons to secure the coastal hamlets in South Vietnam in order to deny these economically significant areas to the enemy. Krulak was overruled by General Westmoreland and Secretary McNamara’s Defense Department. Instead, the United States pursued an attrition strategy. By contrast, in Operation Iraqi Freedom 2, there is ample evidence that Marine Generals who are trying to implement lessons from the Small Wars Manual are meeting with success.

In 1965, the U.S. was trying to deal with how to combat the Vietcong in South Vietnam. The salient point is that most Vietcong supplies and manpower were appropriated from the peasants in the South. General Krulak advocated a “spreading inkblot” strategy based on the Small Wars Manual. The goal of this strategy was to slowly expand American control from the seacoast by pacifying one hamlet after another. Krulak’s plan drew on the lessons of Marine campaigns in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua, which had been handed down to him by veterans of those small wars.

The goal of Krulak’s scheme was to cut off the Vietcong from the population centers along the Mekong Delta and the coastal plain, where most of the South Vietnamese population was located. 80% of the people lived in 10% of the country, most in small farming communities. “The key to winning the war was to provide security for these villagers, to reassure them that it was safe to side with the government and to resist the Vietcong’s attempts to ‘tax’ them, seek information from them, and enlist their young men to carry arms against the government,” writes Max Boot in The Savage Wars of Peace. Krulak quoted General Giap, the North Vietnamese commander, “Without the people we have no information… They hide us, protect us, feed us and tend our wounded.” In order to achieve these goals, Krulak recommended a focus on aggressive small-unit foot patrolling, while forgoing big unit operations in the highlands, which did not have much in economic value.

Krulak argued that gaining control of the highlands was pointless because the people and the food in South Vietnam are located on the coastal plain. “A key point is this,” wrote General Krulak, “the conflict between the North Vietnamese/ hard core Vietcong, on the one hand, and the U.S. on the other, could move to another planet today and we would not have won the war. On the other hand, if the subversion and guerilla efforts were to disappear, the war would soon collapse, as the enemy would be denied food, sanctuary, and intelligence.” In addition to Boot’s book, Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie, and Krulak’s own, First to Fight, are excellent resources for further research on this topic.

This clash of strategies between LtGen Victor Krulak, USMC, and General William Westmoreland in 1966 shaped the rest of the Vietnam War. The US and its allies conducted big-unit search and destroy missions, but the enemy rarely gave battle on the terms the Americans wanted. The Vietcong kept the initiative. The American military did not field a force designed for counterinsurgency operations – American units lacked the highly skilled light infantry with the ability to deal with civilians. The Americans flexed their high tech muscles and produced a dazzling array of weapon systems. Systems Analysis equated war to a business school production line problem: kill the enemy until a cross over point is reached when the enemy is being killed faster than he can reproduce his forces.

But, the Marines did conduct a limited amount of Combined Action Platoons (CAP). A CAP consisted of a 12 man squad of American Marines and two squads of South Vietnamese Popular Forces (PF). One such Marine squad was drawn from Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines (C/1/7). It garrisoned a village named Binh Nghia in a year chronicled by Bing West in The Village. “No village ever protected by a Combined Action Platoon was ever repossessed by the Vietcong,” General Krulak wrote.” But the CAP program was never deployed in a large enough scale to be decisive in the overall conflict – at it’s peak, the program involved fewer than 2500 Marines.

Now, the United States finds itself in Iraq in a situation which may be similar to Vietnam in many crucial respects. First, there are sources of economic power which can be analyzed and known. There is, of course, oil. But there are also regions in Iraq that derive much of their wealth from date farming. Because of its importance in the Islamic religion, a city like Najaf will always have a ready source of income from religious tourists. The Battalion Commander of 1/7, which occupied Najaf immediately after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, told me that Saudi and Kuwaiti concerns were already anticipating the uptick in religious tourism to Najaf with investments in hotels. On the ground in Iraq, there are doubtless many American officers who are making a detailed survey of the various economic centers of power, just as Krulak surveyed South Vietnam, 38 years earlier.

But, in contrast to the situation in Vietnam in 1965, there now seems to be a much wider appreciation in the military and in the American government for developing and deploying the necessary skills to win the several distinct, and parallel, small wars which have emerged in Iraq in the wake of the big war of early 2003. My old unit, Lima Company, 3d Battalion, 7th Marines, is deployed out on the Iraqi – Syrian Border in a small town. Spread out in the rest of the Sunni Triangle, the rest of the units of the 1st Marine Division are similarly dispersed into local communities. These units have systematically gone through a work up package which begins with high intensity, live fire training in convoy operations and company attacks. This training is followed by a week of Stabilization and Support Operations (SASO) training which emphasizes the role of politics, economics, social relationships, and other quasi-military skills, in dealing with a native population.

In fact, I was just out observing 1/7 in its SASO work up. Charlie Company, 1/7 had given up a platoon to form a Combined Action unit with an Iraqi police unit. “I picked that platoon for that mission because that platoon has 3 honest to goodness, sergeant squad leaders – good experienced sergeants – and, of course, a good platoon commander,” the Battalion Commander told me. “But the squad leaders are the key to why I gave that platoon the CAP mission.” The fact that a Lieutenant Colonel/ Battalion Commander of 1200 Marines is aware of the quality of the Sergeant/ squad leaders who command 13 Marines is one good indication of a highly skilled infantry unit. Ironically, squads from the very same Infantry Company profiled by Bing West in 1966 may again have a similar mission when they return to Iraq later this year.

What will happen in Iraq when the new government take control, the trial of Saddam takes place, and the American election occurs? Like breaking a rack of balls in a game of pool, uncertain consequences dictate ever unfolding, and unpredictable situations. Iraq in its present form was a creation of imperialist map making, anyway. Even if it shatters into a few distinct states, it is what happens in the towns, cities, and neighborhoods that is most important. And that is where Marine small unit leaders are acting as “no better friend, no worse enemy,” in the words of Major General Mattis, the Commanding General of the 1st Marine Division. There will be opportunities to develop pockets of economic strength where the cultural ties between America and Iraq are strong and sustained. Maybe not in this generation of Iraqis, but perhaps in their kids.

On a last note, I received a few pictures from service members in Iraq last week – very different pictures from the prison pictures which dominated the news. These pictures come from LtCol Colin McNease, a Civil Affairs Officer with Regimental Combat Team 1, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, near Fallujah. More details on these pictures are available at http://www.spiritofamerica.net/blog/archives/000073.html. Is it just me, or does anyone else wonder why these pictures don’t make it around the world 100,000 times in an hour and cause the Senate to call Secretary Rumsfeld for a little “Come to Jesus” meeting?

Posted by: janar wasito at May 8, 2004 11:28 PM

HOW IRONIC, THAT THE FIRST PICTURES THE NEW UP AND RUNNING REFURBISHED IRAQUI TV STATIONS WILL BE OF SOLDIERS ABUSING IRAQUI PRISONERS.

I PERSONALLY BELIEVE THAT THE NEWSPAPERS HEADLINES SHOULD READ AND IN BOLD LETTERS.

AMERICA SHAMED AND ASHAMED!

I AM CERTAIN, THAT THE GOOD THAT OUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ FAR WILL OUTWEIGHT THE BAD PICTURES NOW BEING SHOWN.

I PRAY THAT YOUR MISSIONS WILL CONTINUE AND THAT I MIGHT BE ABLE TO BE OF HELP.

THANK YOU FOR GIVING US A CHANCE TO SPREAD OUR FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS.

MARGOT RENAUD

Posted by: MARGOT RENAUD at May 9, 2004 7:36 AM

HOW IRONIC, THAT THE FIRST PICTURES THE NEW UP AND RUNNING REFURBISHED IRAQUI TV STATIONS WILL BE OF SOLDIERS ABUSING IRAQUI PRISONERS.

I PERSONALLY BELIEVE THAT THE NEWSPAPERS HEADLINES SHOULD READ AND IN BOLD LETTERS.

AMERICA SHAMED AND ASHAMED!

I AM CERTAIN, THAT THE GOOD THAT OUR SONS AND DAUGHTERS IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ FAR WILL OUTWEIGHT THE BAD PICTURES NOW BEING SHOWN.

I PRAY THAT YOUR MISSIONS WILL CONTINUE AND THAT I MIGHT BE ABLE TO BE OF HELP.

THANK YOU FOR GIVING US A CHANCE TO SPREAD OUR FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS.

MARGOT RENAUD

Posted by: MARGOT RENAUD at May 9, 2004 7:36 AM