A crowd of Nawa citizens forms a along the bank of the canal as Marines of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, prepare to recover a stuck car near Forward Operating Base Spin Ghar Dec. 22. Photo by Sgt. Brian Tuthill

When the unoccupied car of a Nawa citizen careened down a steep canal embankment and splashed into the swift, cold waters just outside Forward Operating Base Spin Ghar Dec. 22, Marines quickly came to the rescue.

A squad of Marines with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, were on scene within minutes to assess the accident. A humvee was brought out to tow the vehicle back up the embankment.

“The car was parked on top of the hill and the emergency brake wasn’t on,” said Lance Cpl. Adam D. Masle, rifleman, 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, who was standing his guard post and saw the car plunge into the water. “It started to roll forward and then went over the side and right in. The little kids there were watching it and then the owner came out and he looked really mad.”

The car came to a stop with the front right tire and bumper submerged in the canal and the other front tire sunken into the muddy embankment. When the car’s owner first saw it, he quickly made his way down the hill and tried to reverse the car, only making his predicament worse, Marines said.

As Marines positioned their humvee to pull the car out, a crowd of children and local residents began to form on the road to watch the events unfold, but were asked to stand back for their own safety.

Once the car’s rear axle was rigged for tow, Lance Cpl. Lance Cpl. Edward J. Stevens, III, a rifleman with 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, slowly drove forward as his fellow Marines guided him.

The car jutted backwards as it freed from the mud, but was eventually pulled back to the high ground of the road to the driver and crowd’s rejoice.

“I had good directions and Marines were watching all around so it wasn’t very difficult,” said Stevens, 19, from Potaski, N.Y. “We’ve towed out our own vehicles, but not a local national’s.”

The Marine patrol and humvee quickly packed their gear and returned to their normal duties at the forward operating base as the car drove away.

“We helped the people out and showed our support here, that really improves relations and wins hearts and minds,” said Masle, 20, from Fulton, N.Y. “And I think that guy will use his brake from now on.”

DVIDS
Story by Sgt. Brian Tuthill

The Aryan race conquered India centuries ago, giving it many positive attribute. Perhaps the most important of these was the beauty of their women. Oh, and a warrior spirit. So, here’s a beautiful Indian woman with a warrior spirit.

Sonika Kaliraman

Sonika Kaliraman is a rarity – she is one of 200 Indian women who wrestle professionally, and one of only about 50 women who can represent India in international championships.

She is tall and graceful – and it’s hard to imagine her tossing opponents onto a wrestling mat.

But Sonika, 26, is the daughter of India’s wrestling champion, Chandgi Ram.

She has been living her father’s dream for 10 years now, and hopes for success in next year’s Commonwealth Games in Delhi. She won gold at the Asian Women Wrestling Championship in 2000.

BBC

Sonika proudly talks about her family of wrestlers and her father, “I belong to a family of wrestlers and my father has been a very well known name in the Indian wrestling community. It was because of my father that I was forced to learn the game. Women’s wrestling is not popular in India. Since kushti is considered a male domain, my father encouraged me to excel in the game.”

SonikaKaliraman.com

Able Seaman Kate Nesbitt, Royal Navy: Nesbitt was awarded the Military Cross for her heroism under fire with 3 Commando in Afghanistan. The MC is the British equivalent of the Silver Star and she is only the second woman to ever be awarded it.

She dressed L/Cpl John List’s neck wound and kept him from losing blood while bullets and rockets flew overhead in Marjah district in Helmand.

Earlier this month, L/Cpl List said no words could describe what Ms Nesbitt had done, but without her action he would not have lived.

Her citation said: “Under fire and under pressure her commitment and courage were inspirational and made the difference between life and death.

“She performed in the highest traditions of her service.”

Kimberly Munley, Ft. Hood Police Department: Munley was one of two police officers who responded to a terrorist attack at Ft. Hood. She engaged the terrorist and was badly wounded in the engagement.

The task on Thursday fell to the petite Ms. Munley, a civilian police officer employed by the Army at Fort Hood. Munley had taken part in intensive active-shooter training during the past year.

One of the first responders, she exited her car and entered the building as shots rang out. She rounded a corner, identified the shooter, and fired four times. He returned fire and hit her at least twice in the legs and once in the arm.

Army Chaplain (Capt.) Rebekah Montgomery, Chaplain of the Year award from the Military Chaplains Association:

After an 18-month tour in Afghanistan, Montgomery returned to Maryland and took on two jobs. One weekend a month, she is the brigade chaplain for the 58th Troop Command, a job that she said keeps her grounded in the “M-day” unit mentality. An M-day unit one in which troops serve one weekend a month and a two-week annual tour each year.

“With my state, that’s where the real nuts-and-bolts mission is,” she said. “I feel like I’m staying in touch and serving at the local level.”

During the week, she focuses on a broader mission at the readiness center, advising high-level officials on spiritual issues.

Spc. Heather Lemanski, New York National Guard: Fought off a rapist in the shower and held him until help arrived.

Upon entering the shower, Lemanski heard someone come into the trailer after her.

“I didn’t hear another shower start, so I called out to see if anyone was in there,” she said. “No one answered.”

With a knife in one hand and a can of pepper spray in the other, Lemanski began checking each shower. Soon she found herself face-to-face with a male Soldier, dressed in his army combat uniform, crouched in another stall.

“I managed to restrain him, and I called out to a sergeant passing by to notify the [military police],” she said.

Sergeant First Class Helen Gillespie, WAC and tuba player: Helen is a new found friend this year. She told us her story, joining the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) to play in the band, and then making the transition to the “new” Army.

From early 1971 until my recent decision to retire I’ve strived to be a valuable part of what I consider the strongest military organization in the world, the US Army. Running into and breaking through brick walls of limited opportunity for women has soured my view of the US Army. However, the benefit I received over the years has strengthened my belief that the Army offers great opportunity and growth to anyone who has the ability and strength to embrace it.

Megan Schlotthauer and her mother Lisa Altoon: This cheerleader needed a change and the Army offered her that change. Mom wasn’t sure, but before it was all settled, Mom had enlisted, too.

She presented the idea to her mother, Lisa Altoon, who wasn’t receptive to the notion of her cheerleader daughter joining the Army.

“I was dead set against it from the beginning,” she said.

Altoon, like many parents, was concerned about the possibility of Megan deploying to a combat zone. That is, until she met her daughter’s recruiter, Army Sgt. 1st Class Jessica Dean of the Fremont, Calif., recruiting station. Dean proved to be a persuasive recruiter.

Jaeda Sichel, honorary Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer: Jada inspired us in 2009 by being unwilling to let her illness determine her life’s boundaries. In early July, we covered Jaeda as she was given the basics of being a Coast Guard rescue swimmer at the Aviation Training Center Mobile, Ala. Jaeda’s diagnosis of Cystic Fibrosis didn’t slow her down at all and we posted a number of photos of her training. She is attending the University of Colorado at Boulder and is majoring in Aerospace Engineering.

Lance Corporal Sally Clarke, 2nd Battalion the Rifles: The second Brit to appear in this year’s list, Clarke rendered aid to her fellow soldiers under intense enemy fire.

L/Cpl Clarke applied field dressings and a tourniquet, and then waited for the emergency response team to arrive. The medic, who has served in the forces for three years, treated each soldier before helping to move them to the helicopter landing site so that they could be flown to Camp Bastion.

Despite being entitled to get on the flight she refused, insisting she would not leave the rest of the patrol without a medic. She said: “I didn’t feel like my injuries were bad enough to go back to the hospital, particularly as I was the only medic on the ground at the time.

“I couldn’t leave them on their own – I came out here to support the troops on the ground and give them medical care when they need it the most.”

Spc. Amanda Cleveland, Task Force Keystone: Still a teenager, this soldier is a teacher and a medic.

Cleveland is humble about her teaching ability, but is quick to acknowledge the importance of the subject matter.”I really enjoy teaching, but it’s not always easy keeping a student’s attention, because I’m not a dominating person,” said Cleveland. “I just keep reminding myself that what I am teaching these Soldiers will not only affect them, but also the people they may have to save. I may be helping my students save a life!”

Cleveland is the primary instructor of the 28th CAB’s First Aid Refresher Course at Contingency Operating Base Adder which is taught monthly to a rotation of Soldiers. When she is not training, she is receiving clinical experience in her unit’s medical clinic. She takes vital signs, screens patients, performs asthma treatments and even stitches sutures.

Maj. Gina Sabric, 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing, and the Women Air Force Service Pilots:

It’s been more than 60 years since the Women Air Force Service Pilots or WASP took the skies by storm as the first women in U.S. history trained to fly American military aircraft, overcoming inequality and changing the face of aviation forever. On July 1, these aviation pioneers were recognized by President Barack Obama, who presented the Congressional Gold Medal as long-overdue recognition of the historical “Fly Girls.”

Here at JBB, a 21st-century “Fly Girl,” Maj. Gina Sabric, an F-16 fighter pilot, couldn’t be more pleased with the recognition.

“I think it is amazing that they were presented [with the Congressional Gold Medal],” said Sabric, currently deployed here as the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing flight safety officer from Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. “It is definitely well-deserved and probably a little overdue, but it is amazing that they are finally being recognized for their service to our country.

“They are definitely pioneers in aviation and an inspiration to those of us that fly now,” she continued. “We would not be here if it wasn’t for the work that they did before us. They paved the way and opened up doors for the rest of us.”

Pfc. Shaquille Fields with Company A, 307th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division (Advise and Assist Brigade), fills a water tower constructed by Sgt. 1st Class Mark Anderson, non-commissioned officer in charge of supply for Company D, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, and his soldiers at Contingency Operating Site Ubaydi, Iraq, Dec. 11, 2009. Unlike many larger posts in Iraq, Ubaydi's sustainment activities are all performed by soldiers. Photo by Spc. Mike MacLeod

You can tell by his hands the sergeant is not a gym rat. His hands are workingman hands, not compact, muscular barbell clamps, but rather, hands that strip, ply and twist; hands that smooth, hands that hammer.

Sgt. 1st Class Mark Anderson, non-commissioned officer in charge of supply for Company D, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division (Advise and Assist Brigade), uses his carpenter skills to enhance the living conditions at Contingency Operating Site Ubaydi, Iraq, Dec. 5, 2009. Originally from southern Louisiana, Anderson grew up on a farm and worked construction for many years before joining the Army. Photo by Spc. Mike MacLeod

Informally known by a few as “Uncle Andy,” Sgt. 1st Class Mark Anderson is the non-commissioned officer-in-charge of supply for Company D, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division (Advise and Assist Brigade), stationed at Contingency Operating Site Ubaydi, Iraq. The company of paratroopers supports a host of Iraqi security force “enablers” that include military transition teams, police professionalization teams, provincial reconstruction teams, border transition teams, port of entry teams and others.

Six platoons (the company’s four infantry platoons plus elements of Headquarters and Headquarters Company and a mortar platoon) rotate in roles of camp security, quick reaction force, security details for travel off the post, and partnered operations with the Iraqi department of border enforcement. Approximately 100 paratroopers provide all the sustainment functions for the other 400 enablers that live there.

Anderson belongs to that breed of American farm boys that can do anything with almost nothing, and whose influence makes others want to grab shovel and hammer and pitch in to get done what needs doing. Time now, American forces in Iraq almost exclusively live on large bases where Ugandans provide security, laundry and food service is provided by contractors, and any nail need driving gets work-ordered out like Chinese food. Not at COS Ubaydi. Here, Army cooks still cook, sustainment troops provide water, fuel and clean laundry, and soldiers man the machine guns that guard the perimeter. Whatever needs building gets a visit from Uncle Andy and his crew of nail-bending carpenters.

“We built a new sanitation center to fix a problem where water was flowing into the tent where they washed dishes,” said Anderson. “We also built a water tower, installed doors, made walls and completed numerous small repair projects.”

Anderson, who turned 50 in early December 2009, most often works with Sgt. Tanner Packer of Flamingo Heights, Calif., and Spc. Jason Jeffers of Tallapoosa, Ga. Anderson is from Natchitoches, La. Together, they have reshaped a base that had gone unimproved for years by previous units.

“We all sweat together. We all ‘suck’ together. Everywhere I’ve deployed with this battalion, we have improved it,” said Staff Sgt. Aaron Dyer, who works in the company’s operations center. “It’s a family. I haven’t seen any battalion like it.”

Anderson and company provided walls for enlisted barracks that were previously just earth-filled Hesco barriers holding up roofs, and now, everyone on the post has their own living space.

According to the COS assistant “mayor,” Sgt. Matthew Colello, soldiers collect their own garbage, distribute water and maintain their showers just as they did in the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and just as they are likely to do when they are deployed to Afghanistan in the future.

Additionally, more than 8,000 tons of gravel were hauled in and spread by local contractors, stabilizing the loose, dusty soil and preventing it from turning into constricting mud when it rains. Finally, the helicopter landing zone was treated with a lacquer to further reduce the amount of airborne particulates.

All of these improvements were made in just a matter of weeks, said Colello.

Anderson just finished building 30 target stands for the 28th Brigade, 7th Iraqi Army Division, based in Hamsa. Next, he and his crew will construct a new laundry facility so that the laundry crew doesn’t have to work in the open during inclement weather.

The old salts in the company remember the early days in Iraq when they lived out of tents or in the dirt under the stars. Paratroopers are tough, but not stupid. For Anderson’s birthday, they didn’t give him a gold watch. They gave him a tool belt.

DVIDS
Story by Spc. Mike MacLeod

Spc. Matthew Mortensen (center) of Olathe, Kan., a combat medic with 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, shows high spirits, with Pfc. Juan Ortega (left) of Belen, N.M., and Pfc. Jorge Cruz of Waterbury, Conn., after he was shot in the shoulder by sniper fire while on a presence patrol in Baghdad, Dec. 10. Mortensen was sent back to the United States for rehabilitation and recuperation and anticipates returning to his platoon in Iraq in February. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Ryan Nolan, 2nd BCT, 10th Mtn. Div.)

“I was probably two feet from my door of my truck when I heard gun fire and it felt like someone just cracked me in the right shoulder blade with a hammer,” said Spc. Matthew Mortensen of Olathe, Kan.

The combat medic with 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, was part of a presence patrol conducting a neighborhood search, Dec. 10, in an area historically known for weapons caches, rockets and mortars.

As the patrol walked the streets, a mounted element went from check point to check point providing security for them. Having reached the last check point, Staff Sgt. Manoj Prasad of Watertown, N.Y., and Mortensen dismounted to maneuver the trucks into a static security posture, when shots were fired.

“I saw a bullet hole in his shirt, and when I cut it open all I could see was blood,” said Prasad. “I looked for an exit wound and couldn’t find one.”

Being the medic on scene, Mortensen provided first aid care to himself after he was injured until he reached the Joint Security Station Loyalty aid station. Combat medics are responsible for providing first aid and frontline trauma care on the battlefield with the primary role to provide medical treatment to wounded soldiers.

“After I was shot, I had my platoon sergeant examine for a wound and he found one on my right shoulder blade,” said Mortensen. “Then I jumped into the truck, threw off my kit because I couldn’t reach my right side with my kit on. After I took it off, I started cleaning up some of the blood with gauze then I used the package for the gauze and created a pressure dressing over the wound just in case it penetrated my chest cavity. I didn’t know what happened to the bullet so that was the only thing I was really worried about”

After the initial treatment, Mortensen was medically evacuated to another JSS. Mortensen kept his composure throughout the event and was able to provide Prasad with the proper medevac procedures for entering the JSS.

The day following the incident, Mortensen was awarded a Purple Heart and a Combat Medical badge while he was in the hospital at Victory Base Complex.

The Purple Heart is awarded to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The Combat Medical Badge is a decoration of the United States Army which was first created in January 1945. The badge is awarded to any member of the Army Medical Department, pay grade colonel or below, who are assigned or attached to a medical unit (company or smaller size) which provides medical support to a ground combat arms unit during any period in which the unit was engaged in active ground combat.

Mortensen was sent back to the United States for rehabilitation and recuperation. After spending a month back in the States, he anticipates he will return to his platoon in Iraq sometime in February.

DVIDS
Story by Sgt. Jennie Burrett