26th MEU LAR responds, presses on, and does turn-over
Submitted by: 26th MEU
Story Identification #: 2002116223712
Story by Sgt Thomas Michael Corcoran



KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Jan. 13, 2002) -- When the Light Armor Reconnaissance detachment of Battalion Landing Team 3/6, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), comes back from a six-hour patrol, they don't know what to expect when they get 'home' to the airport. Some new tents might have appeared or a whole other nation's coalition force could have moved in, or disappeared.

The normal excitement of daily vehicle patrols was recently added to by a night probe of the lines at the airfield. Once Cpl. Kell Harden and his light-armored vehicle were in position and identified the target, they were 'sending rounds down range.' Harden, a Light-Armored Vehicle-25 gunner, was excited to actually engage the enemy.

"We were the QRF, Quick Reaction Force, so we jumped in the vehicles," said Harden. "We pushed off and got on line with the people up there in the holes."

Harden said they identified some flashes and they had impacts around the vehicle.
"I saw two to three different bursts come from different areas," Harden said.

A few hours later, LAR patrolled the area of the attack, and found some ordnance and shrapnel from his 25mm chain gun. The crew also searched a local house. "The clearing of the buildings was pretty high-speed," recalled Cpl. Eric Luker, an LAR communications scout. "It was a pretty good adrenaline rush" said the modest Marine.

Luker said one of his strangest patrolling memories occurred a few days before when they were rolling past an observation post of Anti-Taliban Forces. "Those guys flagged us down and they had bloody clothes," said Luker. The observation post is located at an old enemy surface-to-air missile site. From what the patrol gathered, one of the Anti-Taliban personnel made the fatal decision of picking up an unexploded bomblet, a leftover from a previous attack on the area .

Later, some of the local men guided one of the Marines to the top of a ravine. There, the locals started throwing rocks and pointing at the 'now clearly visible' bomblets. The Marine explained, in a crude form of charades, that it might not be such a good idea. When the locals realized what he was telling them, they ceased their rock throwing, and instead took turns trying to convince the Marine to shoot at the bomblets with his rifle.

They did not fire, but before the patrol left, they made it clear that they would send someone back [Explosive Ordnance Disposal] who would take care of the unexploded ordnance.

Only minutes into another recent LAR outing, some locals stopped the patrol. They had marked what they thought was some kind of mine with a circle of red rocks. (In Afghanistan everything that's metal and in the ground appears to be a mine.)

Staff Sgt. Greg Snyder, the patrol commander, jumped from his vehicle to investigate. He quickly recognized that the 'mine' was actually a somewhat expensive sensor placed by Marines to gather information. The locals watched with amazement as Snyder dusted off the top of the 'land mine,' dug out the edges with his fingers, and plucked it from its hole.
"They shot it," said Snyder walking back to the vehicle. "I doubt it still works."

Of course the Afghans watching Snyder appeared to think that Marines, this one in particular, have the ability to go around pulling land mines from the earth while remaining unharmed. "They think I'm 'the man,'" said Snyder waving to the villagers as the patrol rode on.

Villagers who have seen LAR patrols before often run out from their mud homes looking for candy and other food that the Marines often toss them from their Meals-Ready-to-Eat. The now familiar scene seemed to mirror the way children in the U.S. run down the neighborhood ice cream truck. "Choco-lot," called some of the children as they made hand-to-mouth eating gestures.

Sometimes however, there is a different reaction from the villages that are new to LAR patrols. Rolling through a previously never-patrolled village, a Marine threw out some crackers and peanut butter. The initial reaction from the few young girls was shocked yell. By the time they realized it was food, their older brothers had already snagged it.

When a patrol reaches a centrally located village, they stop to interact with the villagers and hand them papers that keep them informed of military activities in the area. The lead patrol vehicle carries two Muhjedeen fighters from the area. These men keep the patrol informed of rumored Taliban movement and they give them the 'inside' on the 'behind-closed-doors' opinion of the people toward U.S. and coalition forces.

Of course, the Marines gather their own opinions on the locals' support of the U.S. presence. As Harden says, the same people they are handing food to during the day could be plotting the next attack on the airfield at night or could have been part of the group that pelted some Marines' positions with small arms fire Jan. 10.

But, there is a strong positive reaction much of the time. The Marines themselves often receive food from the Afghans. This was the case when a farmer the LAV had just passed on the highway tossed a fresh carrot to a Marine, with his complements.

"Yeah, I definitely look forward to going on these patrols," Luker said. The LAR Marines have been in country much longer than the average unit. But some patrols now carry soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division, who will eventually replace the Marines here, to familiarize them with the environment and terrain. Sergeant 1st Class Steven Kolb, the 101st's anti-tank platoon sergeant said during one of his patrol visits that soldiers would soon assume the positions as the anti-armor teams and man the patrols. He said that the Army is very happy thus far with the turnover procedures and the initial encouragement that the soldiers get from their Marine counterparts. It gives the soldiers a chance to learn the lay of the land and get assimilated as well as make new friends.

"I just enjoy working with the Marine Corps," said Kolb. "We get to know the similarities and slight differences in operating procedures. It's a good learning experience." "The patrols are doing a good job of establishing presence," Kolb said. "If somebody out there is truly friendly, I think it's reassuring to see us and if they're not friendly, it's going to be a deterrent for them to see us."

Kolb said he was most impressed with the communications procedures and individual skills that the Marine patrols demonstrated and used.

"We cover north, south, east and west," said Luker. He said the LAR Marines have gone non-stop since they hit the beach 460 miles south of here a month-and-a-half ago. They have collected vast amounts of information that was generated into intelligence. They have found large caches of ordnance and were an ever-present force since they arrived in country.

"Losing hours of sleep, getting dirty...that gets kinda hard," said Luker. "But I always look forward to my job."