The Long War Journal: Featured Report from Iraq: The Intellectual Grunt – Part One
Written by Bill Roggio on May 29, 2007 11:14 PM to The Long War Journal
Available online at: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2007/05/featured_report_from_2.php
By Gene E. Blanton, who is currently embedded with the Multi-National Forces West Training Center in Habbaniyah. Support for Gene's reporting was provided by Public Multimedia Inc.
Special Forces Officer in Iraq, 2005
COUNTERINSURGENCY
Marine Corps Warfighting Publication 3-33.5
CAMP HABBANIYAH, AL ANBAR PROVINCE, IRAQ: According to Mr. Webster - the guy that wrote the dictionary - an intellectual is one who is “engaged in activity requiring the creative use of the intellect.” From the Commanding Officer to the newest Marine fresh out of the School of Infantry, today’s fight demands each Marine in the unit be an “intellectual grunt” who can think on his feet. Nothing could better describe the job of the infantrymen of 3rd Battalion 6th Marines (3/6) in Al Anbar Province.
The normal mission of a United States Marine Corps infantry unit is “to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver, or repel the enemy's assault by fire and close combat.” Make no mistake the Marines of 3/6 know how to do just that.
The 3/6 earned the title “Teufelhunden” from their German opponents in the Argonne Forest during World War I, thus paving the way for all future generations of Marines to carry the “devil dog” moniker.
From the battlefields of World War I to bloody fights of the Pacific in such places as Tarawa and Okinawa and previous deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, these “devil dogs” are professionals at locating, closing with and destroying the enemy.
You don’t earn the title “devil dog” by winning hearts and minds.
Now the Marines of 3/6 are in a different fight. Rather than regular warfare against state sponsored forces like the one fought on the initial march up to Baghdad, the Marines are fighting a counterinsurgency, also know as COIN. COIN is not a new phenomenon to Marines.
Recently, I had the privilege to spend two days with Lieutenant Colonel James M. McGrath, Commanding Officer of 3rd Battalion 6th Marines and the men of his Jump Platoon has he visited the combat outposts in his battle space between Fallujah and Ramadi.
LtCol. McGrath took an unusual route into the Corps having first served in the Navy’s submarine force as an enlisted guy. He was then appointed to the Naval Academy where he earned a degree in mathematics.
According to LtCol. McGrath, the insurgency in Al Anbar is fought in four distinctive elements:
Disruption. Recent operations such as Operation North Forge and Operation River Walk, the Marines of 3/6, “denied the enemy this terrain and disrupted his ability to plan and equip to target both the Coalition Forces and the Iraqi Security Forces in and around the city of Fallujah,” said LtCol. McGrath. “Disruption is only until you get sufficient combat power.”
Permanent Persistent Presence. “When you get sufficient combat power, you go for permanent persistent presence,” LtCol. McGrath noted. “Then you start your patrol base ops. You stake out your piece of the ground and say, ‘Hi, I’m your new neighbor and I’m staying.’”
Transition. “That starts to develop the security situation pretty significantly to a point where you can think transition to the ISF (Iraqi Security Forces) be it the IA (Iraqi Army) or the IP (Iraqi Police),” said LtCol. McGrath. The transition element involves joint operations and training with the ISF.
Handover. As we toured the battle space, I saw areas totally controlled by the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Police. In areas where there were no police forces, the Marines have helped stand up “neighborhood watch” units, “indigenous forces” made up of the locals who know who the bad guys are.
There are nuances unique to each area, village and neighborhood, however the Marines have developed a model that they believe can be franchised throughout the country.
In the coming dispatches, we will take a look at the challenges faced and how these “intellectual grunts” are working tirelessly toward the ultimate goal – handover.
Gene Blanton is a Marine veteran and the author of the soon to be released book, “Semper Fidelis Leadership: From The Corps To The Corporation.”