Patrons take aim at archery tournament Page 1B
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Battle Color Detachment finishes annual tour with visit to Camp Lejeune Page 1C
Community celebrates with Saint Patrick’s Day Festival Page 1D
GLOBE Serving Camp Lejeune and surrounding areas since 1944
THURSDAY MARCH 22, 20 2012
WWW.CAMPLEJEUNEGLOBE.COM
VOLUME 74 EDITION 12
II MEF (Fwd.) returns from year in Afghanistan STAFF SGT. JEREMY ROSS II Marine Expeditionary Force
More than 300 Marines and sailors with the II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) command element returned home after a yearlong deployment to Helmand province, Afghanistan, over the last several days. The troops were more than happy to finally be home with their families and friends, hundreds of whom turned out for homecoming events March 8 and 15. During their deployment, the unit served as the command element of NATO’s Regional Command Southwest, which includes Helmand and Nimroz provinces. Maj. Gen. John A. Toolan, the II MEF (Fwd.) commanding general, led the final flight of Marines and sailors to a homecoming event in the early morning of March 15. This last group of 155 service memPhoto by Lance Cpl. Geoffrey Scarborough bers was met at Marine A Marine with II Marine Expeditionary Force hugs his wife in the middle of Corps Base Camp Lejeune a homecoming celebration. Marines with II MEF returned home to Marine by a crowd of cheering Corps Base Camp Lejeune after a recent deployment to Afghanistan in family members. “I’m just looking forward support Operation Enduring Freedom, March 15.
Photo by Lance Cpl. Geoffrey Scarborough
A Marine with II Marine Expeditionary Force hugs his two children for the first time since he left for Afghanistan more than a year ago. Marines with II MEF returned home to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune after a recent deployment to Afghanistan in support Operation Enduring Freedom, March 15. to eating my own homecooked food and spending time with my daughter,” said Lt. Cmdr. Rihard Ogniewski, the II MEF (Fwd.) medical planner. As the commander of II MEF (Fwd.) and RC (SW), Toolan led all NATO forces in southwest Afghanistan more than 30,000 Marines, soldiers, sailors, airmen and a host of coalition forces from other NATO countries. “We always said it was long days and short
weeks,” Toolan reflected at the homecoming. “It was hard work but Helmand province is a lot different from how it was when we found it.” The return of II MEF (Fwd.) signifies the end of the East Coast-based Marine Corps forces’ turn at the helm in Helmand. Over the last two months the 2nd Marine Division (Fwd.), 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Fwd.), and 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing SEE HOME 4A
CAMP LEATHERNECK, AFGHANISTAN
Secretary of Defense visits US, coalition partners during trip to Afghanistan STAFF SGT. BRIAN BUCKWALTER Regional Command Southwest
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta gave a strong message of support to service members during a town hall meeting at Camp Leatherneck, March 14. “We will not fail,” said Panetta to the nearly 200 Marines and Afghan forces in attendance. He made his remarks before visiting a nearby combat outpost and Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, where he was scheduled to meet with the country’s president, Hamid Karzai and other senior leaders. “This is probably the broadest and the deepest international military co-
alition that we’ve seen in a long, long time,” he said. “Fifty nations that are working together to bring together a very strong international effort to try to bring some peace, some justice and hopefully some security to Afghanistan and to the world.” Camp Leatherneck is in Helmand province, which is a part of the Regional Command Southwest area of responsibility. Violence in the region is down 31 percent from this time last year. In some areas of RC (SW), the secretary said, violence is down 80 percent. “This was the Taliban’s stronghold,” Panetta said. “And because of your work, because of your dedication, because of the tremendous sac-
rifice you’re making, the reality is that we are achieving greater stability and greater security in this area.” The efforts, successes, and sacrifices in the region aren’t just made by the U.S. and other coalition nations. Afghan forces are playing an increasingly larger role in their own security. “The Afghan forces are doing an outstanding job throughout Afghanistan because of the partnership you’ve built out here,” said Panetta. “You train, you fight together, and you’re willing to put your lives on the line together. Afghan forces continue to take Photo by Chief Petty Officer Leslie Shively charge and head up operations, and you’ve made that possible. By working U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta visited Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan, March 14, to speak to coalition troops and thank them for their service. SEE SECRETARY 4A
Veteran’s lost dog tag returned
INSIDE THE GLOBE
LANCE CPL. PAUL PETERSON
Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune
SUPER SQUADS COMPETITION BRINGS OUT WARRIORS PAGE 3A LEJEUNE SPORTS 1B INSIDE LEJEUNE 1C CLASSIFIEDS 3C CAROLINA LIVING 1D
Photo by Lance Cpl. Paul Peterson
John Crazy Bear, a three-war veteran and retired Marine gunnery sergeant, shakes hands with Brig. Gen Thomas A. Gorry, commanding general, Marine Corps Installations East, prior to receiving his lost dog tag at a ceremony aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Saturday.
It is a story of distant travels, perseverance and time, but one more name has made it home from Vietnam: John Crazy Bear. The three-war veteran and retired gunnery sergeant was reunited with the dog tag he lost during the Vietnam War in a ceremony held aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, March 17. Crazy Bear, a Lakota Sioux Native American who was orphaned as a child, enlisted in the Marine Corps at the age of 14. He hitchhiked more than 400 miles to join a service he admits he knew almost nothing about. “One of the biggest mistakes I made really paid off,” said Crazy Bear, remembering the circumstances that began his 22-year career as a Marine. “That was the proudest moment of my life when I was called a Marine. I was called a lot of things before that, but Marine meant more than anything.”
Crazy Bear enlisted in 1945 after lying about his age. He began his career in World War II, went on to endure the biting cold of the “Frozen Chosin” in Korea, where he received a Purple Heart, and served in Vietnam. On his 81st birthday, he watched the morning colors at MCB Camp Lejeune, unaware that only minutes later he would be reunited with a piece of his past. It was a moment made possible by a humanitarian mission to Vietnam in the 1990s. Ray Milligan, a former Force Recon Marine, collected several hundred dog tags while working with a medical mission designed to help children in third-world countries. Milligan, bothered by the fact that American dog tags were being sold as souvenirs in the streets of Vietnam, purchased the tags in the hopes of returning them to the U.S. Over the years, Milligan and others worked to return as many of the dog tags as they could. They eventually handed SEE RETURNED 7A