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VOLUME 74, EDITION 41
The
GL BE SERVING CAMP LEJEUNE AND SURROUNDING AREAS SINCE 1944
Reunite
Clock C Clo ock does not stop for Marine Expeditionary Unit | 4A
Marine, Seabee meet again in Afghanistan | 6A THURSDAY OCTOBER 11, 2012
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Photo by Cpl. Anthony Ward Jr.
Lance Cpl. Steve Fillmore, a tow gunner with Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, Regimental Combat Team 6, provides security as the rest of the patrol moves through Trek Nawa, Afghanistan, Sept. 27. The Marines work with the Afghan soldiers who provide security for the region from Patrol Base Lambadand.
TREK NAWA, AFGHANISTAN CPL. ANTHONY WARD JR.
Regional Command Southwest
Entering the Trek Nawa District of Helmand province, Afghanistan, Marines with 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 6 made a bold military presence absent to the region for nearly a year. Arriving Sept. 26, the Marines helped occupy Patrol Base Lambadand for four days and patrolled through the area alongside the Afghan National Army soldiers who call the base their home.
“We recently expanded our battle space and picked up that position (PB Lambadand),” said Capt. Glen Taylor, RCT-6 company commander. “So it was kind of an introduction to the battle space and to those ANA soldiers up there. We had to evaluate where they were in their proficiency level and see what the enemy was doing in the area.” Each day, the Marines pushed out patrols with the ANA to get a better feel for their newly inherited area of responsibility and to learn the capabilities of their Afghan counterparts.
During the first patrol, the Marines and ANA soldiers came under fire from an enemy who knows how to play their part all too well. “They’ve been doing this for a while, and they know what works,” said Taylor of the insurgents. “They do a very good job of understanding the rules we need to operate under and exploiting those. They mainly disguise themselves as civilians. They operate out of our view, hiding their weapons and identities until they get into their firing positions. “They look for advantages
against us, try to hit us when we are not looking, from multiple angles,” added Taylor. Despite their tactics, the enemy was no match for the Marines coupled with the ANA soldiers. Once the insurgents were fired upon, they fled. The company will continue to frequent areas throughout their operational zone to include PB Lambadand. They will also continue to aid the ANA as much as they need and equipping the soldiers with the skill set they need to prevail.
BRUSSELS
NATO partners to discuss Afghan successes, challenges
“We’d like to get those guys some new techniques up there, so they can keep the Taliban off their backs,” said Sgt. Tristan Kyzer, with the caompany. “I don’t think the area is going to be completely pacified by the time we leave, but I think we can give them some new tactics to help out.” The company will be bringing their deployment in Afghanistan to a close in the coming months. As they continue to aid the ANA by helping them improve their techniques, the security and future of Afghanistan grows stronger.
News Briefs
CHERYL PELLERIN
American Forces Press Service
When NATO defense ministers meet here tomorrow with representatives of six nonNATO nations that contribute to the International Security and Assistance Force, the topic will be Afghanistan’s successes, its challenges and its future. Representing the United States, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta joined defense leaders from most of NATO’s 28 member nations during two days of meetings held to assess the organization’s missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo and its defense capabilities. A senior Defense Department official, speaking on background, said one sign of success in Afghanistan is an impressive level of commitment by the Afghan partners as the mission transitions toward full Afghan security lead in 2014. The Afghan government is committed to the war’s objective, “which is to ensure that Afghanistan is never again a place that extremist al-Qaida can use to take action against us or our allies,” he said. It’s also important to NATO, the official said, that “this is an alliance that finishes what it starts.” The 50-nation coalition in Afghanistan has “come a long way together and the success we’ve been building for is now within sight,” he said. Defense ministers officially recognized that hard-won progress during the NATO Summit in Chicago in July, he said. As the summer fighting season draws to a close in Afghanistan, “we’ve seen the Afghan forces step up as never before,” he said, in a sign that NATO’s training efforts are paying off. But the official noted that recent media attention has focused on challenges, particularly insider threats, in which Afghan troops turn on their coalition partners, taking about 50 lives so far this year. An important benefit of the NATO meet-
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Photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta greets members of NATO before a meeting of NATO defense ministers and members of the North Atlantic Council in Brussels, Oct. 9. Panetta is scheduled to meet with several defense ministers during the two-day event. ing, he said, will be to help people understand for the government of Pakistan to continue to “the very serious efforts that are being made to take steps to bring those areas under control.” try and address the insider-threat challenges.” The Pakistani government faces serious Efforts by the Taliban to characterize in- challenges, he said. “What’s important to do sider attacks “as some kind of a strategic card is to find ways for both NATO and Afghanihas not worked in Afghanistan and the proof stan to work with Pakistan and help them is in the performance of the Afghan security meet those challenges,” he added. forces,” the official added, “so it is important The precarious relationship between the to have this discussion at a high level. I can’t United States and Pakistan ruptured Nov. 26, predict what’s going to come out of it.” 2011 when a cross-border attack by NATO The second big challenge is the continuing forces at a border coordination center in Afsafe haven that the Taliban have in Pakistan ghanistan’s Kunar province killed 24 Pakistani where they rest, regroup, refit, rearm and refi- soldiers. nance, the official said. Many Taliban fighters “As our relationship has recovered with return there after the fighting season, he said, Pakistan over the past couple of months, and top-level insurgents stay there all year. we’ve seen an increase in border cooperation “I’m not saying that this is (sponsored by at the ISAF level but also increased border the Pakistani government) and I’m not blam- cooperation at the Afghan and Pakistani miliing the government or the people of Pakistan tary level,” the defense official said. for this,” the official explained. That hasn’t solved continuing problems of Several areas in Pakistan lack full governSEE NATO 7A ment control, he added, “and it’s important
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Unique scenario tests emergency response 1D