by Richard K. Kolb
For the first time since Vietnam, the Navy has gunboats running the rivers of a war zone. Here is the story of the first unit to do so, on the famed Euphrates River. VFW magazine had a unique opportunity to talk with its veterans on-site in Iraq.
Forward Operating Base at Haditha Dam: A massive dam overlooking the Euphrates River built by Communists in the 1980s serves as headquarters for Riverine Squadron 1. Rising 10 stories above the water, it has terraced levels and 286 stairs. Compartments carved out of its walls harbor unit leaders. At the nearby North Facility on the shores of Lake Qadisiyah, Detachment 1 parks its boats, ready for the next mission.
‘Riverines’ form the “tip of the trident”—the Navy’s most forward-deployed waterborne unit. As the first U.S. Navy wartime deployment of such an outfit in 35 years, Riverine Squadron 1 made history when it arrived in Iraq in March 2007, completing a seven-month tour in October.
Part of the Naval Expeditionary Combat Command, riverine squadrons 1, 2 and 3 will be alternating duty in Iraq for the foreseeable future. Their battleground is an ancient one. Rising in Turkey, the Euphrates River flows 2,235 miles through Syria and Iraq to the Persian Gulf. Southern Iraq, or Lower Mesopotamia, was once the center of the world’s oldest civilizations.
Located 148 miles northwest of Baghdad, Haditha is a farming community of 90,000, predominately Sunnis. Once a hotbed of insurgent activity, the “triad region” of Haditha, Haqliniya and Barwana is now a showcase of progress.
Made for the Mission
Riverine patrol boats, formerly known as small unit riverine craft when operated by the Marines, range from the Haditha Dam, down to Ramadi and far out west past Rawah toward the Syrian border, a prime infiltration route. Al Qaim especially has been an insurgent entry point.
Though members of the squadron know the three-pronged spear of the Roman god Neptune is mythological, the symbolism of their unit crest is grounded in reality. Descended from the “River Rats” of Vietnam fame, they chose their colors well. Red represents the sacrifices made in Vietnam, brown conveys the “brown water” navy and blue maintains the connection to the traditional blue-water navy.
Squadron 1 had three detachments in Iraq: 1 operated around the Haditha Dam (a primary hydroelectric source), 2 was based in Camp Taqaddum and 3 used Rawah as a base. Each detachment maintained eight boat crews of five sailors: coxswain, boat captain, engineer (aft gunner) and two bow gunners who also served as lookouts, plus an eight-man maritime interdiction team. A boat can carry up to 15 passengers. Total squadron strength numbered 224 men.
Lt. Cmdr. Mike Egan, the squadron’s executive officer, former explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) officer and veteran of Afghanistan, explained that the Euphrates was long a conduit for insurgent arms smugglers. But that traffic had been substantially reduced by the U.S. Navy’s presence. “We have had a tremendous, positive impact on the local population,” Egan said.
Lt. Kevin Culver, operations officer, pointed out that missions can last anywhere from two hours to several days, depending on the situation. And they vary in risk.“Many members have taken indirect fire, and others small-arms fire around Ramadi,” he said. “Fortunately, the sailors have sustained only minor injuries.”
What really sets these sailors apart from their fellow “swabies” is the training. All crew and interdiction team members receive Marine infantry training. (For good reason: A Marine Dam Security Unit had this duty previously. In early 2005, the unit had 38 firefights in six months.) Learning to handle the weapons of Marine riflemen was an eye-opening experience for most. “We were forced to think and act like grunts,” said 1st Class Gunner’s Mate William Caviness.
Whether aboard a boat or ashore, they have to be prepared to fight at close range. “We are essentially a ground combat unit,” says Lt. John John, officer in charge of Squadron 1. “It is our job to back up forces operating on land.”
Unique Navy Outfit
Squadron 1 crew members come from a variety of MOSs. They include deep-sea divers, weapons repairmen, gunners, small boat drivers, destroyermen, EOD techs, Army Rangers, Marine artillerymen, “boots” and old fleet hands. They range in age from 18 to their early 50s, and some 75% are married. Members hail from across the country.
At 40 feet long and 10 feet wide, the riverine patrol boats (RPBs) carry a lethal load of armaments. Up front are two M240 machine guns or an Mk 44 automatic cannon. Aft is a .50-caliber machine gun or an Mk 19 grenade launcher. With twin 440 horsepower diesel engines, the boats make more than 40 knots. Because it is jet-driven, the boat’s nine-inch draft allows it to operate in shallow waters.
All patrols consist of a minimum of two boats. Typically, a mission is conducted by three boats. Besides interdiction on water, sweeps of villages are designed to root out arms caches. While lakeshores are relatively clear, the river banks are thick with reeds and palm groves. Temperatures have been known to reach 130 degrees while working the river and clearing islands.
This is where the Maritime Interdiction Operations (MIO) teams come into play. A standard team is eight men, but it can vary from four to 12. Boarding craft is one function, but village sweeps predominate. Accompanied by an Iraqi interpreter, arms-cache searches also are intended to establish good relations with locals. But team members always stay within reach of crew-served weapons.
2nd Class Master-at-Arms Reynaldo Tuason, a former Marine artilleryman, says success depends on local cooperation: “We have accomplished a lot as a unit because more Iraqis are confident in our ability to help them.”
Boatswain’s Mate 3rd Class Zachariah Williams brought a wealth of experience to the MIO teams. A former Army Ranger and 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper with tours in Bosnia, the Sinai and Korea, he is a vet of numerous sweeps. “Some 70% of the time our missions were built around ground operations,” he said. This meant working with Army Special Forces, Navy SEALS, Marine Force Recon, Light Armored Recon, straight-leg Marines, EOD de-tachments and Iraqi police and soldiers, he said.
Respect of the Marines
Lt. Keith Paquin, assistant officer in charge of Detachment 1, stressed that the unit’s relationship with the Marines evolved to where they provided unequivocal support for Squadron 1. “When we arrived we had to create a command from scratch,” he said. “The pride and professionalism of the riverines exceeded all my expectations. And the cooperation of the Marines was outstanding.”
Marine Lt. Col. Mike Manning, operations officer for Regimental Combat Team 2, under which the squadron falls, emphasized its role in achieving success in Al Anbar province. On his second tour in Iraq, Manning says infiltration from Syria has tapered off considerably. The so-called “tribal awakening” has had a dramatic impact, too, he pointed out. “The assassinations of the sheiks galvanized locals even more.”
Ground security in the vicinity of the Haditha Dam was the responsibility of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines, for much of 2007. Leading that unit was Lt. Col. James Bierman, a four-tour vet of Iraq and also of one in Afghanistan. “Professionalism was the hallmark of our relationship with Squadron 1,” said Bierman. “Solid and dependable, very capable, a good bunch,” is how he described the sailors.
Maj. Jeffrey Holt, executive officer of the 1st Battalion, said, “We could not have controlled the area without them. The waterborne security they provide is absolutely critical. The riverine squadron and 1/3 are probably the closest in the area of operations. We don’t call them sailors; we call them ‘riverines’ out of respect.” Holt’s first Iraq tour was in 2003, so he noticed a genuine difference by 2007. He also knows something about ethnic quarrels, having served in Kosovo where the clash between Muslims and Christians persists.
Mission Accomplished
Each vet of Squadron 1 took something away from his tour in-country. “Helping lead the first conventional Navy force on the ground in Iraq was most rewarding for me,” said Lt. John. For Paquin, it was proving a point. “People don’t see the Navy as a combat force,” he said. “We have proven that we are a war-fighting outfit that fully integrated with the Marine Corps.”
Caviness especially remembers the 52-hour operation that “tested our limits to the maximum.” He adds, “The riverine mission was accomplished—we achieved integration of the services and denied insurgent movement on the waterways. We helped stabilize Iraq for the future.”
Damage Controlman 3rd Class Matthew Freeman remembers “standing on the starboard gun for 49 hours” during that same 52-hour mission. He, too, brought up the leathernecks: “We gained the Marines’ respect, and in doing so gained the Navy respect.”
Quartermaster 3rd Class Caleb J. Murray believes the “Navy’s presence will help preserve the peace for the honest people simply trying to make a living.”
Lt. Matt Kolb, executive officer of Detachment 2, particularly recalls the convoys. “We spent 10 times as much time on the road than anticipated—sometimes two or three convoys a week,” he said. (Boats had to be convoyed from operating bases to river put-ins.)
Detachment 2 mounted 36 convoys and conducted more than 40 waterborne missions. Detachment 1, though based at Haditha, rode in 15 long-range convoys.
“From a mission standpoint,” Kolb says, “the most critical thing we accomplished was training the Iraqi navy.” After some thought, he added, “Perhaps getting the waterborne Navy into the fight in Iraq was first in importance.”
Superficial Support?
Parting thoughts often revolved around public and media support for the troops in Iraq. For those motivated by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, this was especially true. Murray, a qualified deep-sea diver and coxswain, said, “The media has not shown the war from the serviceman’s perspective. They don’t look at the good things being done every day.”
Engineman 2nd Class Joshua Pfeffer, who had served off Somalia combating pirates, says, “Public support is more superficial now; slapping bumper stickers on your car is artificial.” Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Eric Wilson sees public support as “entirely superficial. Americans have lost track of what we are doing.”
Zachariah Williams believes “the slogan ‘I support the troops’ is cliché. Much of it is simply paying lip service.” Freeman was told by his peers that he was “crazy” and “stupid” for enlisting in wartime.
Can the VFW play a role on the public front in these veterans lives when they settle down stateside? Yes, said several. All agreed that belonging to a group that fights for vet rights is desirable. Caviness said “camaraderie is the most important reason for joining VFW.”
A footnote: On Oct. 13, Squadron 1 turned over the mission to Riverine Squadron 2 and a new chapter in the annals of Navy history was ensured.
Sidebar: Four Navy Branches in Action
In the spring of 2007, 5,443 “sand sailors” were on the ground in Iraq. Sea, Air, Land (SEAL) teams, medical corpsmen, Seabee construction detachments and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) units all play a part in Iraq. As of Nov. 20, 20 corpsmen, 13 Seabees, 10 bomb disposers, six SEALS and one aviator, as well as five support personnel, had been KIA there. Included in these 55 hostile deaths are 17 reservists.
‘We Build, We Fight’: Seabees
Seabee regimental headquarters at Camp Fallujah oversees two naval construction battalions. Missions include runway repair, combat outpost construction and convoy escort. Some 13,000 Seabees have deployed to the Middle East since October 2002. An active-duty battalion has a strength of 580; rotations now last from six to 10 months.
Fourteen (nearly 80% reservists) Seabees have been killed in action and more than 100 wounded in Iraq. Hardest hit was Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 14. On May 2, 2004, a mortar round landed in “alpha yard” of Camp Fallujah in Ramadi. Five reservists were killed in the shower of shrapnel and 28 wounded.
‘Silent Option’: On Sea, Air and Land
SEAL (Sea, Air, Land) missions are highly classified and the veil of secrecy is rarely lifted. But what is known is that six of these elite warriors have been killed in Iraq combat. The first was in an hour-long firefight in Ramadi on Aug. 2, 2006. For single-handedly holding off the enemy as his team rescued a wounded teammate from a rooftop, Petty Officer 2nd Class Marc Lee was posthumously awarded the Silver Star.
On Sept. 29, again in Ramadi, Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor threw himself on a grenade, saving the lives of several other SEALs, two of whom were wounded. He has been recommended for the Medal of Honor. Before this fatal act of courage, Monsoor had already earned a Silver Star.
On April 6, 2007, a SEAL team assaulted a fortified enemy position in Al Anbar province. One was KIA, and another SEAL was shot 15 times in killing three insurgents. Three months later, July 6, a team was pursuing a high-value target in Baghdad when it was ambushed at night. Three of the SEALs died when an IED detonated under their Humvee; two others were WIA.
‘Initial Success or Total Failure’: Bomb Disposers
One writer called the service’s bomb hunters the “Navy’s frontline sailors on the ground in Iraq.” During 2007, more than 100 Navy EOD technicians plied their trade there. Only about 1,100 serve in this entire branch. Operating in mobile unit detachments of up to 20 personnel, they are commonly attached to Army or Marine ordnance battalions.
Ten Navy EOD techs have died in this deadly business so far. Three men of EOD Unit 11, based at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in Washington, were KIA on April 6, 2007. While traveling near Kirkuk, their convoy was attacked and their vehicle hit by a rocket. The EOD Memorial at the joint service training center at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida lists their names.
Though bravery is regularly on display in their ranks, at least one EOD tech, Chief Warrant Officer 2 William A. Bastable, received the Silver Star for his actions in Iraq.
Corpsman Up! Navy Lifesavers
“They’re literally moving in and out of the fight to get to their patients,” said Marine Gen. Robert Magnus. “They are among the first to go into battle, and they are right in the middle of it.” Remarked one Marine sergeant, they are “our security blankets.”
Indeed, corpsmen have been dying in action in Iraq since March 25, 2003. To date, 20 have sacrificed their lives; some individually in firefights, others in IED explosions. “Docs” are understandably placed on a pedestal by Marines.
Their courage is legendary. Hospital Apprentice Luis E. Fonseca, Jr., earned the Navy Cross on March 23, 2003, in Nasiriyah. While part of C Co., 1st Bn., 2nd Marines, he was present for the capture of Saddam Canal Bridge. During the assault, he tended to five wounded (two with lower limb amputations) Marines under heavy fire, carrying one much larger than himself to safety.
Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Joshua Chiarini is a veteran of 20 gunfights, 30 convoys hit by roadside bombs and three suicide bombings. He has treated more than 100 wounded Marines, literally protecting them with his own life.
On Feb. 10, 2006, while serving with 1st Bn., 2nd Marines in Anbar province, he lived up to the well-deserved “Doc” reputation. He cared for several wounded Marines, also providing covering fire. At one point, he personally killed several insurgents with his rifle. He earned the Silver Star. But his greatest reward was the words of one Marine: “Doc, I knew everything was going to be OK when I saw you come through the smoke.”
Sidebar: Marines Succeed at a Price: Remembering Four Who Died
Leathernecks of the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines (1/3), along with a battalion of Azerbaijan troops, were in charge of dam security. Overall, the Marines’ area of operations on the western edge of the Euphrates covered 490 square miles. 1/3 maintained 29 fixed positions during their seven-month tour in the Haditha Dam area. These included eight combat outposts (CPs), in both urban and rural settings, some along highways. Strength at the CPs ranged from company-sized units to platoons and squads.
(Its sister battalion, 2/3, lost 24 KIA and 230 WIA during its seven-month tour.)
A testament to progress in Anbar province, 1/3 had few large-scale firefights with insurgents. But on Aug. 29, 20 insurgents attacked in Haqliniya, meeting resistance from local forces, as well as men of C Company.
Patrolling by Humvee and on foot in Haditha is most revealing. Marines carefully wind their way through the streets, courteously gesturing to young and old Iraqis alike. Signs of change were clearly evident in the people’s responses and expressions. This is true all over Iraq.
But a price is still being paid for this success. In September, 66 Americans died in Iraq—45 in hostile action. In four instances, three or four GIs lost their lives in a single roadside bombing. Far too often, they rate no more than a passing reference on the evening news. So let’s meet four of them who are among the quickly forgotten of the war.
On Sept. 6, a Marine vehicle security checkpoint in the village of Albu Hyatt was obliterated by 1,000 pounds of explosives. As a suicide truck bomber approached, the Marines followed the rules of engagement, this time with fatal results. Fearful of killing an innocent civilian, they may have held their fire until it was too late. Four men of Bravo Company, 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division, were killed in the blast. Their unit was attached to 1/3 at the time.
These men are more than mere statistics. Each had a family and they deserve to be remembered. All hailed from the South and were in their 20s.
Cpl. Christopher L. Poole was a communications specialist who repaired radios and lines. He was engaged to be married.
Cpl. Bryan J. Scripsick was three weeks away from coming home. No one could talk him out of serving in the Marines, according to his brother.
Staff Sgt. John C. Stock, a mechanic and section leader in 2nd Platoon, was an Eagle Scout and devoted husband and father of two sons.
Sgt. Michael J. Yarbrough, an assault vehicle crewman in 2nd Platoon, had been married only two years. He was on his third tour in Iraq.
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