Claremont Independent

Last Updated: 12/6/08 Section: Campus Features

In an attempt to scare some sense into me, and troubled by my academic slacking, my dad took me to a Marine Corps recruiter in my junior year of high school. At the time, I was not in the mindset to listen to anything he had to say, nor could I foresee what I would be doing in the upcoming weekend let alone a year and a half down the road. At the conclusion of the meeting, predictably, he was trying to sign me up then and there; but I told him to contact me in a year and I would see how things were going.

Fast-forward to the end of 2003. Having long forgotten the meeting with the Marine recruiter, I was attempting to join the U.S. Army with a friend on the buddy program. During this process, I got a call from another Marine recruiter that had since taken over the station I had visited and had all the notes from the previous recruiter. He persuaded me to come in and hear him out, no strings attached. I figured I owed them that much, not to mention their attention to detail impressed me. After about a thirty-minute meeting, I signed the papers. I had always been interested in the military from a young age; as bad as my performance in high school may have seemed at the time, I still had other options besides the military. At the time, however, it seemed the most appealing choice. I felt that the discipline and experience would pay off in the long run.

January 6th, 2006. I got on a United Airlines flight at March Airforce Base, CA; a few stops and aircraft changes later, I eventually ended up at Al-Taqaddum Airforce Base in Iraq. From there, under the cover of darkness, we were trucked to our more permanent residence. It consisted of two adjacent Iraqi homes on about a quarter- to half-acre of land surrounding them, and our defenses setup all along the perimeter. We were just outside the western exit of the infamous city of Fallujah; one of our permanent tasks would be to control traffic flowing in and out of the city.

Though I cannot reveal as many details as I would like - the government still "owns" me for a few more years - I would like to share as much as I can about my time there, which I spent deployed with Lima Company of the 3rd Battalion 5th Marine Regiment. Being a forward deployed unit, I felt privileged to have what I would consider a "real and unfiltered" experience in Iraq. From daily interactions with the locals to my involvement with our operations - which included everything from setting up water and food distribution points, delivering state-side donated toys (mainly the 5,000 soccer balls we had to inflate), to the actual offensive military operations - I felt my tour had a purpose. Some of the more defining moments of my time there would be capturing the abductors of Jill Carroll (an American journalist who was captured in Iraq), discovering one of the largest weapons cache in the country, and securing one of the most dangerous stretches of road that connected the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. By mid-August, I had returned back to the states safely.

Since my time overseas, I have heard steadily encouraging reports both from media outlets and good friends on their second, third, or even fourth deployments sending news back. The number of IED attacks on troops as of early 2008 has dropped back to the levels witnessed during 2004; recently, the number of weapons caches discovered and destroyed has increased significantly; and civilian fatalities have also declined without any concurrent increase in coalition fatalities. Are these evidence of the success and effectiveness of the two-year surge, or mere coincidences?

Because of the surge, I feel that we are on the path to an obtainable victory in Iraq. By victory, I don't mean pure military might; I am referring to a stable Iraq that is a friend to the United States. Some may argue that the country was "stable" before our invasion; though they may be correct, we still invaded and that is now unchangeable. We must now leave a healthy and intact Iraq behind. From the citizens of Iraq with whom I personally interacted, I know that they do not want terrorists to have control of the government. They do not enjoy living in a war zone; but for the most part, they have appreciated the coalition forces. I saw this when they brought their sick and wounded to our base for the medical treatment they could not otherwise receive, or when they would inform us of bomb locations and terrorist hideouts so we would not get ambushed.

Tying all of my thoughts on the war into this past election, I think most people assumed that because I am a veteran I automatically sided with the veteran running for president, regardless of either candidate's plan. But I did not make up my mind over such an arbitrary fact. I highly respect Senator McCain for his service and hardships, but as anyone in the military would (or should) tell you, "You signed the mother-fucking contract." No, it was not veteran loyalty that dictated my vote; it was what they had in store for Iraq.

When looking at either candidate's plan for Iraq, Sen. McCain was upfront about the unknown length of time it will take to "finish the job," but he would see to it that we did exactly that. Nobody, not even those in the military, really wanted to hear that - but they always respected that he was upfront about it. Speaking both from my personal and professional experience, I am confident that you cannot put a timeline on military operations: nothing ever goes quite as planned, and we do not want the enemy knowing our exact movements. On the other hand, President-elect Barack Obama has said that he wants to remove troops immediately with a phased withdrawal. He believes it is possible that one to two brigades can be removed per month over a 16-month period. Obama still claims that we would need to leave a residual force, the quantity of which is unknown.

In the short term, I would have to say Obama's plan definitely sounds better: not having to deal with future deployment would be welcome to most members of the military. Considering the long run, on the other hand, I am not so sure. If we were to leave the country as rapidly as we could, there would no longer be any emphasis on counter-terrorism and other related military operations; rather, everything would be focused on protecting the supply trains as we compacted all personnel and equipment into fewer and fewer bases. We would no longer be training and developing a stable military for a fledgling country.

Such developments would give a free pass to our enemies to move in and reaffirm their rule over the locals and continue training and recruiting new members for their ranks. Even worse, they would have knowledge of our tactics and equipment, as well as time to figure out the weaknesses in both. It would be a shame to lose young American lives for the same land we had already cleared and the same objectives we had already achieved. I may be wrong, and perhaps none of that would happen; but I only speak from what history has shown to happen in the region, like what occurred during Operation Vigilant Resolve.

In April 2004, Operation Vigilant Resolve, or "The First Battle of Fallujah," commenced. The main catalyst for this operation was the highly public killing and mutilation of four Blackwater contractors. The Coalition invasion was halted when it reached the center of the city at the request of the Iraqi government and turned over to an Iraqi-run local security force. The local security forces, however, were under insurgent control and began to construct defenses, stockpile weapons, and recruit more personnel for their ranks, and had complete control over the city and surrounding areas from which they were launching daily attacks with great effect.

Catching Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi was considered to be of the highest priority, and he was believed to be residing in Fallujah at that time also. Come November 2004, there had been no American presence in the city since April; but now U.S. Marines had to prepare for another invasion. American UAV's observed insurgents conducting live-fire training exercises in the city in preparation to repel the coming invasion. Shortly after, Operation Phantom Fury began, and this time it was successful and control of the city was regained by American forces. Control of the city was successfully turned over to the Iraqi forces in the fall of 2007. I can see that scenario, in which American forces prematurely withdraw from previously secured locations, playing out on a much larger scale within the whole country.

Now that Barack Obama has been elected president, one can only hope that he put politics aside and ensure the interests of both American forces in Iraq and the Iraqi people themselves. We cannot afford to reverse the progress we have made. We all have the freedom to elect our representatives and leaders without fear of prosecution, as we did this past November; but that freedom only exists because of the men and women of previous generations, and men and women of this generation, who sacrificed greatly so that we could all exercise that right. That is something we should never forget.

Semper Fi

Eric Yingling is a freshman at CMC. He served in Iraq as a United States Marine.

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