Marines quietly wrap up ops in Iraq

By mid-February, Marines will be out of Iraq.

After almost seven years of bloodshed, 850 Marines killed in action and a pedigree of hard-won victories that toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime, propped up a new government and quelled a tenacious insurgency, Col. Scott Aiken’s boots will be among the very last in the sand.

But before he can step on a flight home, Aiken must lead Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force – Responsible Drawdown and coordinate shipment of thousands of pieces of remaining equipment and Marines out of Iraq.

In late January, Maj. Gen. Richard Tryon, the Marine commander in Iraq, transferred authority over Anbar province to the Army’s 1st Armored Division, which also oversees Baghdad. The ceremony in Ramadi leaves the Corps without an area of operations in Iraq and marks an official end to the Corps’ large-scale commitment in the country.

All remaining U.S. combat troops are slated to withdraw from Iraq by August, President Obama said during his State of the Union address Jan. 27. The only Marines who will continue to operate there include a handful of embedded trainers, the Marine Security Guard detachment at the U.S. embassy and limited administrative staff in Baghdad.

With combat operations in Iraq over for the Corps, the mission is now a logistical one. As of Feb. 3, about 900 Marines and just a few thousand pieces of equipment remained, and those numbers continue to plummet daily.

“Getting people to go home is the easy part,” Aiken said. “But getting them to go home correctly takes a little more finessing. You only have one time to do it right.”

Aiken, an infantry officer who has commanded the II Marine Expeditionary Force Forward Headquarters Group in Iraq for almost a year, describes the process as something more complicated than bubble wrap, boxes and moving trucks. In a three-pronged approach, equipment must be accounted for and shipped to various locations. Personnel must be logged, scheduled for flights and tracked as they ship out. And facilities at Al Asad Air Base must be cleaned and prepped for the airmen and soldiers who will take over.

Adding to the job’s complexity, equipment ranging from behemoth trucks to minuscule radio components must be rated as “in need of repair” or “suitable for use” and directed to the U.S. or Afghanistan. So far, almost 16 million pounds of gear have been flown to Afghanistan. About 25 percent of what still remains may also be flown there as Marines intensify their fight against the Taliban.

Still, Aiken said he is confident he will meet his February deadline.

The number of personnel will drop off by the hundreds “as flights come and go,” he said by phone from Al Asad Air Base on Jan. 22. “It has been surprisingly smooth so far, and we’ve been hitting the deadlines right on.”

In fact, the number of Marines left in Iraq could drop to just 600 by early February, he predicted.

That’s a drop in the bucket compared to the more than 20,000 Marines who operated in Anbar province during that war’s most violent years. Mayhem reigned there from 2004 to 2007 when Marines clashed with insurgents regularly, highlighted by epic battles in Fallujah and Ramadi.

Now, just one infantry unit remains. Third Battalion, 24th Marines, a Reserve battalion based in St. Louis, Mo., arrived in September primarily to conduct convoy security, guard border crossings and train Iraqi troops. They have not fired a shot in anger since arriving and have been hit by only one improvised explosive device, which caused no injuries.

When the last piece of gear has been packed and properly labeled, Aiken’s unit will be the last to leave the country, something he called a privilege.

“For me, I would say that it is definitely an honor to be among the last few out. I’m proud of our efforts since we’ve been in Iraq,” he said, citing security improvements since his first deployment to the country in 2005 as commander of 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines.

“We have lost fine Marines and sailors out here, but given the people of western Iraq a fine chance to carry on here.”