Marine Corps Cpl. Kimberly Crawford, a combat correspondent stationed at Camp Lejuene, N.C., reviews the day’s top news stories prior to a newscast at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, Feb. 14, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Matthew Thompson

It’s not unusual for servicemembers to find themselves in new jobs during deployments. But what sets each one apart is how they handle those transitions.

Those who work with Marine Corps Cpl. Kimberly Crawford say she is an example of how to make the most of changing situations – and impress those around her.

“Not many people can walk into a job and hit the ground running, and do what she has done,” said Air Force Staff Sgt. Jeff St. Sauveur, an American Forces Network producer who works with Crawford here. “She takes everything you throw at her and makes it awesome.”

When Crawford arrived in Afghanistan five months ago, she discovered that a Marine Corps combat correspondent is a multitasking career. After reporting to the American Forces Network detachment here, the print journalist from Camp Lejeune, N.C., discovered that the skills she knew were not the only skills she would need.

Crawford said the job description cited a need for a combat correspondent, which she took to mean a print journalist. But about a week before she got here, she said, she realized the need was for a broadcaster.

“They almost pulled me off the deployment,” Crawford said. “But the Marine Corps’ chief of public affairs said that I had been training for this, so I got to deploy here.” Just as any other servicemember would be expected to do, the 24-year-old Oswego, N.Y. native quickly learned to adapt to her new surroundings.

Crawford demonstrated her commitment to becoming a solid broadcaster while covering her first solo project, the Super Bowl telecast at Bagram. That one story, according to Air Force Tech. Sgt. Deidre Hines, AFN Afghanistan’s station manager, was seen by millions of viewers worldwide and demonstrated how far Crawford had come as a broadcast journalist.

“She’s shown drastic improvement from what she was doing when she first started,” St. Sauveur said.

When Crawford became a Marine, she wasn’t interested in being a broadcaster.

Marine Corps Cpl. Kimberly Crawford, a combat correspondent stationed at Camp Lejuene, N.C., prepares to read the news for the Pentagon Channel news report at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, Feb. 14, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Matthew Thompson

“I avoided broadcasting when I was at the Defense Information School,” Crawford said. “I didn’t think I would like it, [and] didn’t see the artistic view. But [then] I saw that the video camera wasn’t much different from a still camera.”

Crawford not only had to learn how to use a video camera and broadcast-editing equipment, she also had to lose her accent, something she describes as a cross between southern and upstate New York.

Crawford remains humble despite the praise she has been given by her co-workers.

“They have all helped me out. They were nice and patient and made it fun to learn,” she said.

“We count on her, depend on her and we know she will get the job done,” Air Force Senior Airman Thomas Kennedy, another producer who works with Crawford, said. “It’s been remarkable working with her.”

DoD
By Army Spc. Matthew Thompson

Please note that the star of this story is not named. I wonder what medal he’s been nominated for.

In the city of Shewan, approximately 250 insurgents ambushed 30 Marines and paid a heavy price for it.

Shewan has historically been a safe haven for insurgents, who used to plan and stage attacks against Coalition Forces in the Bala Baluk district.

The city is home to several major insurgent leaders. Reports indicate that more than 250 full time fighters reside in the city and in the surrounding villages.

Shewan had been a thorn in the side of Task Force 2d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force Afghanistan throughout the Marines’ deployment here in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, because it controls an important supply route into the Bala Baluk district. Opening the route was key to continuing combat operations in the area.

“The day started out with a 10-kilometer patrol with elements mounted and dismounted, so by the time we got to Shewan, we were pretty beat,” said a designated marksman who requested to remain unidentified. “Our vehicles came under a barrage of enemy RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) and machine gun fire. One of our ‘humvees’ was disabled from RPG fire, and the Marines inside dismounted and laid down suppression fire so they could evacuate a Marine who was knocked unconscious from the blast.”

The vicious attack that left the humvee destroyed and several of the Marines pinned down in the kill zone sparked an intense eight-hour battle as the platoon desperately fought to recover their comrades. After recovering the Marines trapped in the kill zone, another platoon sergeant personally led numerous attacks on enemy fortified positions while the platoon fought house to house and trench to trench in order to clear through the enemy ambush site.

“The biggest thing to take from that day is what Marines can accomplish when they’re given the opportunity to fight,” the sniper said. “A small group of Marines met a numerically superior force and embarrassed them in their own backyard. The insurgents told the townspeople that they were stronger than the Americans, and that day we showed them they were wrong.”

During the battle, the designated marksman single handedly thwarted a company-sized enemy RPG and machinegun ambush by reportedly killing 20 enemy fighters with his devastatingly accurate precision fire. He selflessly exposed himself time and again to intense enemy fire during a critical point in the eight-hour battle for Shewan in order to kill any enemy combatants who attempted to engage or maneuver on the Marines in the kill zone. What made his actions even more impressive was the fact that he didn’t miss any shots, despite the enemies’ rounds impacting within a foot of his fighting position.

“I was in my own little world,” the young corporal said. “I wasn’t even aware of a lot of the rounds impacting near my position, because I was concentrating so hard on making sure my rounds were on target.”

After calling for close-air support, the small group of Marines pushed forward and broke the enemies’ spirit as many of them dropped their weapons and fled the battlefield. At the end of the battle, the Marines had reduced an enemy stronghold, killed more than 50 insurgents and wounded several more.

“I didn’t realize how many bad guys there were until we had broken through the enemies’ lines and forced them to retreat. It was roughly 250 insurgents against 30 of us,” the corporal said. “It was a good day for the Marine Corps. We killed a lot of bad guys, and none of our guys were seriously injured.”

Marine Corps News
By Cpl. James Mercure, 2nd Battalion (2/7)

Lance Cpl. Jennifer Shell, a military policewoman who is currently serving as the chow hall manager at a combat outpost near the Port of Trebil on the Iraq-Syrian border, enjoys a visit with children at an Iranian Kurd refugee camp in the region on May 15. Shell is with Military Police Company B, 4th Marine Logistics Group, based in North Versailles, Pa. The Marines at the combat outpost routinely bring food and other items to the camp’€™s residents to augment the supplies they receive from the United Nations. Shell formed close bonds with some of the camp’€™s residents and even helped cook dinner on one of her visits. Photo ByLine: Dhurgham Takleef Abdulzahra

When you step into the chow hall here, the first thing you notice is the smell of gourmet coffee. Next, you notice an orderly array of shelf-stable meals displayed in cubbies along the plywood walls, available to the post’s Marines 24-hours a day.

If you come during morning or evening chow hours, you will find home-cooked meals, made mostly from scratch.

These amenities were made possible, in large part, by the knowledge, skills and experience of one of the post’s most junior Marines, Lance Cpl. Jennifer Shell, who is currently serving as the chow hall manager.

Shell, a 31-year-old military police officer and reserve Marine from Uniontown, Pa., joined the Corps at the age of 27 after graduating from culinary school in New York in 2003 and from Pennsylvania State University in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in hotel and restaurant management.

According to Shell, she enlisted in the Marine Corps “because of the pride associated with it, and more importantly because of my dad, who served on MSG [Marine Security Guard] detail in Singapore during the Vietnam War.”

Although she was well qualified, Shell was not interested in Marine Corps Officer’s Candidate School.

“I love the camaraderie of being an enlisted Marine,” said Shell. “You can’t find this anywhere else. Sitting on post, staring out into the desert for hours on end, you learn a lot about each others’ lives.”

The first five months of Shell’s tour here were spent serving in the role of military police officer, responsible for the outpost’s security and supporting the various U.S. military advisor training teams and convoy escort personnel that the base houses when they aren’t out on missions in this remote and barren region on the Iraqi-Jordanian border.

The military police officers describe their seven-month tour here as “one long Groundhog Day.” The standard routine is six hours on guard post, followed by six hours on patrol. After returning from foot or vehicle patrols, the MPs have six hours on stand-by as a quick reactionary force. They then have six hours to sleep, awake and begin the schedule all over again.

A member of Military Police Company B, 4th Marine Logistics Group, based in North Versailles, Pa., Shell and four other reserve Marines from her unit deployed as individual augments to 3rd Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment’s Task Force MP.

Five months into her unit’s tour, Shell’s squad leader, Cpl. Kristyn Stewart, from Pittsburgh, recommended that Shell be appointed to take over management of the chow hall from a more senior Marine.

“She’s a restaurant manager and graduate of culinary school,” said Stewart, 26, who is on her third mobilization and tour in Iraq. “I identified a need, and (Shell) was a perfect fit for the job.”

Cpl. Nathan Dahlheimer, 28, is a military policeman and squad leader from Monticello, Minn, attached to 3rd Bn., 10th Marines. “The menu became really monotonous after five months and everything was boiled, usually in a bag,” said Dahlheimer. “Lance Corporal Shell prepared real meals from scratch. She helped improve morale, as her meals gave us something to look forward to every night.”

Not only did Shell’s experience create better meals, her work has enhanced the overall service of the chow hall in a number of ways.

“The difference in the organization of the chow hall was amazing,” said Gunnery Sgt. Jason Stephens of San Diego. Stephens, 35, arrived here in mid-August and is serving as team chief for the Port of Entry Transition Team.

“She’s kept the shelves restocked every day,” said Stephens. “The overall cleanliness of the chow hall is excellent. People actually want to sit down and eat there now, as it is a nice place to hang out. I think she brought here everything she learned in the civilian community and applied it to the chow hall. Her experience in managing restaurants in the civilian world was key to this success.”

Stephens explained that because of the aesthetic transformation in the atmosphere of the chow hall, it became the outpost’s social hub, where Marines congregate in the evening to play cards and watch satellite TV.

“I thought it was outstanding,” added Stephens. “I was very impressed with Shell, as a junior Marine, taking over the job and running with it.”

Shell is scheduled to return to her home town in late October. After demobilization, she will go back to her career as a restaurant manager in western Pennsylvania.

Although she will arrive in time for her favorite time of the year, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ hockey season, she will miss the camaraderie she feels with her fellow Marines here in Iraq.

“Cooking for people here is much more fulfilling than cooking in the civilian world,” said Shell with an ear-to-ear smile. “The Marines simply appreciate it more.”

US Marines
By Capt. Paul Greenberg
Regimental Combat Team 5

SAN FRANSISCO, Guatemala (May 13, 2008) Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Vanessa Feliscian, embarked aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4), paints the interior walls of San Fransisco De Assisi’s Church in Guatemala during Continuing Promise (CP) 2008. Boxer is deployed supporting the Pacific phase of Continuing Promise 2008, an equal partnership mission between the United States, Guatemala, El Salvador and Peru. U.S. Army photo by Specialist Brian R. Williams