USA Today
April 23, 2008
Pg. 6
Deaths Mark Painful Start Of Mission
Unit reminded that fight for Afghanistan is far from over
By Paul Wiseman, USA Today
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Even before the Marines here began fighting Taliban insurgents in the lawless southern provinces, they were holding a memorial service for two of their own.
Cpl. Kyle Wilks was remembered as a NASCAR-loving prankster. First Sgt. Luke Mercardante, the highest ranking non-commissioned officer in his logistics battalion, was "the glue that held us together," Maj. Keith Owens says. "He helped our small problems from becoming big problems."
"It hit us hard," says Staff Sgt. Liandro Barajas, 28, of Yakima, Wash.
The deaths last week during a supply run — the Marine unit's first major foray outside the safety of the sprawling military base at Kandahar Air Field — are a brutal reminder of an enemy that is tenaciously hanging on and possibly gaining strength seven years after U.S. and allied forces toppled the Taliban leadership for sheltering Osama bin Laden.
The Marines are here to help turn the tide against Taliban insurgents and to give pro-U.S. Afghan President Hamid Karzai a chance to assert his government's authority in this impoverished, ravaged country.
The Bush administration is pushing NATO ally countries to send more combat troops to Afghanistan, especially before the Taliban could launch a spring offensive as the snow melts and roads become accessible.
About 2,400 Marines based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, started arriving here more than two months ago to join more than 60,000 U.S. and NATO troops. Another 800 Marines from Twentynine Palms, Calf., are training Afghan security forces, pushing the total number of Marine reinforcements past 3,000.
The Marines have a proven record of fighting insurgents, earned in Iraq's treacherous Anbar province, says Seth Jones, a counterinsurgency specialist at the RAND Corp., a non-partisan think tank. "They're a much more seasoned force than they were even two years ago," he says. Jones, however, worries that the Marine force isn't large enough to make a big difference in southern Afghanistan.
"The 3,000 is a big drop in the bucket — but it's a drop in the bucket," Jones says.
No ordinary IED
About 100 Marines left Kandahar Air Field on April 15 in a convoy of dozens of vehicles carrying supplies when a powerful improvised explosive device (IED) hidden in a culvert beneath the road detonated around midnight.
"The road was gone," says Staff Sgt. Lauro Samaniego, 30, of Laredo, Texas, leader of a four-man bomb squad who had investigated IED attacks during two tours in Iraq. "This was one of the biggest ones I've ever seen."
The blast gouged a hole 12 feet wide and 6 feet deep, stopping the convoy. Mercardante and Wilks were dead. Two other Marines were injured, one seriously.
"They knew we were coming," says Staff Sgt. Robin Clements, the assistant convoy commander. "We were making pretty good headway. Out of nowhere — a huge explosion. We could see it from the rear of the convoy. Immediately, we knew it wasn't your ordinary IED. … That explosion could have demolished a tank."
The bomb went off beneath Mercardante's Humvee. He was originally assigned to sit in the lead Humvee but was moved farther back, where it was thought he'd be safer, recalls Clements, 32, of Maypearl, Texas.
When the sun came up, the Marines found that they'd been hit in a place of rare beauty — wildflowers, wheat fields, vineyards, streams — in countryside usually dominated by rock, dust and dirt. Samaniego's team traced the detonator to a spot behind a mud wall about 50 yards from the convoy. The insurgent who planted it and set off the bomb was long gone.
Canadian troops from a nearby outpost fed the stranded Marines and filled in the crater, allowing the convoy to get moving again before midmorning, says Lt. Col. Ricky Brown, commander of the Marines' logistics battalion.
'This is what we do'
Afterward, the Marines' commander, Col. Peter Petronzio, received handwritten, hand-delivered condolences from dozens of allied countries — a sign, he says, that despite widespread reports of divisions within the NATO security force, "we're all in this together."
On Friday, the Marines held the early morning memorial service at Kandahar Air Field. Following tradition, the Marines created shrines by hanging the fallen men's helmets and dog tags from their rifles. Marines, some fighting back tears, remembered Wilks, 24, of Rogers, Ark., and Mercardante, 35, of Athens, Ga., who was considered the backbone of the logistics battalion and a mentor to the other Marines. "He had a somewhat persuasive way of putting things," Owens says.
The Marines say they won't be looking for revenge when they launch their operations against the Taliban insurgents.
"You focus on what you can do for the living. You're no good to anyone if you let your emotions get in the way," Samaniego says. "Am I angry? No. Am I sad? Yes. We lost two men who were willing to fight for other people they never knew and for a culture that didn't understand them and that they didn't understand."
"This is what we do," Clements says. "We move on." Her husband is also a Marine back at Camp Lejeune. Together, they have served four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11, alternating deployments so one of them could stay home to care for their children.
"I'm a mother of four boys," she says. "I don't want them over here doing this one day."
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