Marine Unit Sails From Flood to Desert to War to Home

Marines and sailors of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit returned home Sunday after a six-month deployment that included patrolling the streets of Baghdad and protecting rural villagers from insurgent attacks.

But the unit’s first direct action of the deployment was not in war-torn Iraq but rather on the tranquil island of Guam, where it conducted an assault on an Ace Hardware store.

The Navy flotilla carrying 2,200 Marines and sailors to the Persian Gulf was nearing Guam when word was relayed Dec. 26 that an earthquake and tsunami of unbelievably destructive proportions had just struck the Indian Ocean region.

The ships were ordered to Guam to take on supplies necessary for a massive rescue and cleanup mission to devastated areas of Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

Rather than wait for the normal supply system, the unit’s commanding officer, Col. Tom Greenwood, ordered Marines to buy whatever was necessary from civilian stores on Guam.

That led to a high-speed shopping trip to Ace Hardware, where Marines bought more than $50,000 worth of lumber, carpentry tools, chain saws, tarps, shovels, wheelbarrows and other items.

“We cleaned out the shelves,” said Capt. Jay Delarosa.

Within eight hours of arriving in Guam, the Marines were back at sea.

By New Year’s Day, the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit had joined Marines dispatched from Okinawa to help the international humanitarian effort in the Indonesian cities of Banda Aceh and Meulaboh and the coastal communities of Sri Lanka.

Navy medical personnel put together an ad hoc clinic. Marines and sailors used helicopters and combat landing craft to bring 3.5 million pounds of supplies ashore -- mostly rice, water and toilet paper.

Water purifiers provided by the Spanish government were maneuvered into position by U.S. helicopters.

Even military personnel hardened to battle damage were stunned by the extent of the destruction, particularly when viewed from the air.

“It looked like a Christmas village that some giant had stepped on,” said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Eric Hoog, a Roman Catholic chaplain.

“The place was one gigantic swamp,” said Lance Cpl. Dustin Folkes. “I never walked in so much water and mud.”

The Marines were prepared to stay, but after several weeks, the Indonesian government, bowing to domestic political considerations, ordered foreign military personnel to leave.

“It was very frustrating initially,” said Lt. Col. Matthew McEwen, executive officer of the Marine unit. “We could have done more for them.”

Once they reached the Persian Gulf, the Marines went to Kuwait for a desert training exercise. Orders soon changed, and they were sent to Baghdad to reinforce troops from the Louisiana National Guard.

The shift from the safety of Kuwait to the ever-present danger of Iraq increased the anxiety of family members.

“When they call home, you try to stay brave and not cry until you get off the phone,” said Jennifer Haynes, tightly embracing her newly returned husband, Sgt. Shannon Haynes.

Despite Iraqi duty, the 15th suffered no fatalities and only one moderate injury, a Marine wounded by shrapnel.

Marines say the swift shift from a humanitarian mission to war zone duty is proof of the flexibility of the expeditionary unit concept under which ship-borne troops are deployed for months, prepared to respond to a variety of duties.

“We’re Marines,” Delarosa said. “We do windows.”