Posted on 05/19/2006 4:00:46 PM PDT by Gucho
U.S. Marine Corps - 1st Lt. Raymond G. Baronie
U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Peter J. Keating, commanding officer, 1st Battalion, 10th Marines, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force, presents a shadow box to 1st Lt. Raymond G. Baronie in a ceremony in Harmarville, Pa. Baronie received a Marine Corps Commendation Medal with combat “V” for valor for his actions while deployed to Iraq. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Thomas O. Lantz)
By Sgt. Thomas O. Lantz - 1st Marine Corps District
PITTSBURGH, May 19, 2006 — Friends, family, and members of his former Camp Lejeune, N. C.-based Marine unit were on hand as 1st Lt. Raymond G. Baronie received a Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with combat “V” for valor for his courageous actions while deployed to Iraq.
Baronie, a native of Lower Burrell, Pa., and 2002 graduate of Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa., served in Iraq with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force as a liaison officer between the newly created Iraqi Security Forces and the Marines. He oversaw the training and provided guidance to new members of the Iraqi Security Forces and often assisted with critical supply support within his Marine unit.
According to command members, Baronie could have taken a much safer route to the end of his deployment. Instead, he regularly placed himself in harm’s way to better understand how he could be a more effective and efficient leader.
In early December 2005 the same drive that had earned him the respect of his subordinates and supervisors alike put him in danger. While conducting a volunteer mission through one of the worst parts of Iraq, Baronie’s convoy came under fire.
“I call it my bad day,” Baronie said with a smile. His vehicle was hit with a 57 mm rocket.
Baronie shifted his much deserved recognition to another Marine in attendance, Sgt. Delwin T. Davis.
“I just know I wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for the actions of Sgt. Davis,” he said.
Davis was responsible for helping Baronie out of a burning vehicle.
“They could have just as easily put this award in the mail,” said Baronie. “(For me) It’s unfathomable for a company commander to make this kind of trip; hundreds of miles away from base.”
The lieutenant concluded the ceremony by issuing a round of by-name thanks to everyone in attendance and finished with a heartfelt thanks to his father that barely left a dry eye in the room.
When asked why the Marines of 1st Battalion, 10th Marines chose such an unorthodox, and meaningful method of thanking one of their Marines, the commanding officer replied, “That’s just what we do. As Marines we take care of our own.”
“We never thought about not (coming to Pennsylvania). As part of the Marine family, we are always here for our wounded," said Lt. Col. Peter J. Keating, commanding officer, 1st Battalion, 10th Marines, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force. “And most of all, because we still look at him as one of our own.”
Baronie’s love for the Corps is strong.
“I love the Marine Corps and all that it embodies,” he said. “And I can’t thank (my command) enough for visiting me all the way up here in Western Pennsylvania.”
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 19, 2006 – Coalition forces confiscated weapons caches in five Afghanistan locations yesterday, and a U.S. Air Force B-1B bomber struck a terrorist stronghold May 17, military officials reported.
Forces discovered seven mortar rounds, three rocket-propelled grenade rounds and three rockets near Bagram Air Base in Parwan province. A second cache consisting of 100 mortar rounds was discovered near Bagram after an Afghan citizen reported the cache to coalition forces. A coalition patrol sent to the location determined all the rounds were in working order. Afghan National Army soldiers took control of the rounds.
"Recovering and disposing of these weapons increases the safety and security of Afghans, and reduces the danger in the area posed by criminals and insurgents who might use those munitions indiscriminately to cause harm on the Afghan people, Afghan security forces or coalition forces," said Army Lt. Col Paul Fitzpatrick, Combined Joint Task Force 76 spokesman.
During a separate cordon-and-search operation in Puree Khel in Khost province, coalition forces found a small cache of munitions including ammunition, a hand grenade and anti-coalition propaganda.
Near Forward Operating Base Sarkoni, an Afghan citizen turned in a weapons cache to coalition forces. The cache included 29 mortar rounds, 67 mortar fuses, 16 mortar launchers, 22 sighting periscopes, six recoilless rifle rounds and 27 projectile rounds. The cache was deemed unserviceable and destroyed.
The B-1B bomber struck a Taliban-associated compound late May 17 near Kandahar. The bomber responded to an immediate air-support request with one GBU-38, Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM. It destroyed the compound from which Taliban members were attacking coalition ground forces. Officials said 15 to 20 Taliban were killed from the air strike.
Officials said the terrorists were active members of the Taliban network who had conducted attacks against coalition and Afghan forces. They also attacked Afghan government officials and are suspected of building roadside bombs and of training other enemy fighters, officials added.
U.S. Central Command Air Forces officials said this was the first use of a GBU-38 by a B-1B in a combat environment. The Air Force recently added a new software package to the bomber that allows it to carry and deliver this guided weapon, they explained.
The GBU-38, a 500-pound bomb, is a precision weapon that allows warfighters to focus their strikes and minimize collateral damage.
"With the new software package and this precision weapon, we can target and eliminate the terrorist threat in close quarters," said Maj. Gen. Allen Peck, deputy Combined Forces Air Component commander for U.S. Central Command. "We're able to better support our coalition ground forces and significantly reduce the possibility of civilian casualties."
(Compiled from Combined Forces Command Afghanistan and U.S. Central Command Air Forces Forward news releases.)
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American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 19, 2006 – Coalition forces destroyed an abandoned hotel yesterday in Haqlaniyah, Iraq, using precision munitions to deny its use as an insurgent support base, military officials in Baghdad reported today.
Officials said the hotel was a known location of insurgent activity, and that coalition forces have targeted it multiple times since May 7 in response to repeated insurgent activity.
In other Iraq news, coalition forces responded yesterday to multiple insurgent attacks in central Ramadi.
Insurgents attacked Marines from 2/28 Brigade Combat Team multiple times with homemade bombs, medium and heavy machine-gun fire, and small-arms fire from several locations near the Ramadi government center, officials said. They responded with small-arms fire, medium and heavy machine-gun fire, grenades, mortars, shoulder-fired rockets, and precision munitions.
There were no reports of civilian casualties as a result of the incidents, officials said. No information was provided on coalition or enemy casualties.
(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq news releases.)
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By Jim Garamone - American Forces Press Service
BAGHDAD, May 19, 2006 – Traumatic injuries are a tragic fact of life in war. But thanks to the efforts of military medical personnel here, wounded servicemembers have the best chance of surviving their injuries than in any previous conflict.
Army Capt. Virginia Griffin monitors instruments used to treat a patient in the intensive care unit at Ibn Sina Hospital, where the 10th Combat Support Hospital is based, in Baghdad's International Zone. (Photo by Jim Garamone)
"It's like the TV show 'Survivor,'" said Army Dr. (Lt. Col.) Mark Smith. "The characters change each season, but the premise remains the same."
Smith is part of the 10th Combat Support Hospital based at Ibn Sina Hospital in the International Zone here. The previous unit at Ibn Sina - the 86th Combat Support Hospital - is featured in an HBO documentary "Baghdad ER," which premiers on the cable network May 21. The show depicts the way Army medics care for, treat and save servicemembers wounded in Iraq.
The 10th receives about 20 people a day, and treats coalition servicemembers, Iraqi soldiers and Iraqi civilians. The staff also gives medical care to wounded insurgents.
Smith, the hospital's deputy commander for clinical services, said the 10th treats more than half of the trauma victims in Iraq.
"The effects of (improvised explosive devices) and gunshots produce most of the casualties," he said. "IEDs have developed to an extent that they are delivering devastating injuries: amputations, puncturing body cavities, blast (injuries) and now burns." Still, the American survival rate is the best for any war, at 94 percent.
U.S. casualties come in groups, Smith observed. "Americans tend to stick with their vehicles," said the doctor, who served 12 years as a field artilleryman. "Iraqis conduct more dismounted operations, so their wounds are more gunshot (wounds)."
Army Dr. (Capt.) David R. Steinbruner, a trauma specialist in the emergency room, said the teamwork among the doctors, nurses and medics in the ER is a sight to behold. Everyone involved in medical care, "from the buddy using combat life-saving techniques, to the medics and the battalion surgeons" have a part to play in the survival rate, he said.
Army Lt. Col. Patrick Ahearne is the chief of nursing at the hospital. He said the 10th's young nurses, many of them fresh out of college, really came through during their deployment.
"I am so proud of the way our 'baby nurses' have learned and behaved," he said. "The work they have done in the past year, for people new to the field, is incredible."
The hospital staff is constantly seeking ways to improve its survival record, Smith said, consulting with battalion surgeons and giving immediate feedback to units that have sent patients to the hospital.
The hospital uses lots of whole blood products when treating the patients. Smith said medics have found this is better than the saline solutions medical experts recommended in the past. The doctors, nurses and medics continually share procedures and techniques, not only among themselves, but also with personnel back in the United States, he added.
Smith said he's hopeful for a long-term push to capture data from medical experiences in Iraq. He said this process during World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam saved countless lives, both military and civilian. "We should be able to do the same now," he said.
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HBO Film 'Baghdad ER' Examines Combat Hospital
Emergency room personnel work on patients while Dr. (Lt. Col.) Bob Mazur (seated) indicates the treatment plan during a "calm" period in the ER at Ibn Sina Hospital, where the 10th Combat Support Hospital is based, in Baghdad's International Zone. Mazur is the chief emergency room doctor. (Photo by Jim Garamone)
Army Sgt. Sean Brown, a medic with the 10th Combat Support Hospital, checks on blood before delivering it to the emergency room of Ibn Sina Hospital in Baghdad's International Zone. (Photo by Jim Garamone)
May 18, 2006
BALAD, Iraq -- In a small, two-story house resembling a Mexican villa, a unique unit lives. At a moments notice the Soldiers scramble from their beds to grab their gear and race down the stairs to get to their ready positions at Forward Operating Base Paliwoda.
The Soldiers from Mortar Platoon, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1-8 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Band of Brothers resemble firefighters answering a fire whistle as they sprint to the gun to get ready to fire a shell resembling a green football with fins. They are here to protect the FOB and strike fear in the enemy as they return fire onto the enemy positions.
As a mortar platoon we provide indirect fire for the battalion with mortars that fire 120 mm shells, said Sgt. 1st Class Harlan Grabow, a veteran of Desert Storm and Desert Shield and mortar platoon sergeant for HHC, 1-8 CAB.
A fire team is always at the ready for the call of "fire mission!" At that point the team races to the gun which is mounted in an M-1064 A-3 track vehicle. A boxy vehicle, the M-1064 A-3 can hold four Soldiers and the back end opens up to fire a shell from the mounted mortar. From the time a fire mission is called in over the radio to the time a mortar round is actually fired is a matter of minutes. With advancement in global positioning system technology, target accuracy from a fired shell is achieved within a few meters, said Grabow.
In addition to providing fire, the mortar platoon provides mission security in Humvees for the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team from the Air Force’s 332nd Expeditionary Civil Engineers Squadron from Balad Air Base attached to 1-8 CAB. The EOD lives in the same two story house as the mortar platoon.
Not every mission the EOD team goes out on do they have to dispose of a potential lethal device. But the thought of impending danger of securing an IED site weighs heavily in the mind of Staff Sgt. Staff Sgt. David Barnette, section sergeant, HHC, 1-8 CAB.
Sometimes it is luck of the draw. You do not know if there is a secondary improvised explosive device ready to go off after the EOD team detonates the first one, said Barnette. "When I go out I have the attitude of ‘I know that I have God on my side’ and that is all you can hold on to," he said.
Barnette was with 1-8 CAB when they previously deployed to Iraq in 2003. In fact, he was at the same exact house on FOB Paliwoda.
It was a night and day difference back then, Barnette said. We had to sleep on the dirt floor, had one air conditioning unit and not nearly as many lighting fixtures. We were using water bottles for showers then, where as now we have hot showers, hot chow and beds to sleep in.
For some of the mortar men this is their first deployment in Iraq and it has not gone as expected.
"I thought it would be more violence or chaos," said Pfc. Matthew Doyle, mortar gunner, HHC, 1-8 CAB.
Most of the battles Doyle has been fighting lately have been with the hoard of bugs that plague Iraq during the early summer months. Doyle is not exactly complaining, the platoon has not had a casualty so far in this deployment.
During 2003 we shot 4,000 rounds as compared to the roughly 40 rounds we have shot in the first half of our deployment this time, Barnette said. He believes the insurgents have focused more on using their shells as IEDs as opposed to firing them at the FOB.
Grabow sees the decline in insurgent activity a different way. He believes the decline is due to the hard work of the mortar platoon along with the hard work preformed by the line units outside the wire everyday.
They are finding the weapons caches and that is having a crippling effect on the insurgent plans, Grabow said.
By Pfc. Paul J. Harris - 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office
May 19, 2006
An Afghan policeman (L) searches a man at a checkpoint in the city of Kandahar, Afghanistan May 19, 2006. Afghan police hunted for Taliban insurgents on Friday after two days of bloody clashes and the BBC reported a feared one-legged Taliban commander had been captured. (REUTERS/Ismail sameem)
May 19, 2006
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- Coalition forces confiscated weapons caches in five locations on May 18.
Forces discovered seven mortar rounds, three rocket-propelled grenade rounds and three rockets near Bagram Air Field in Parwan Province .
A second cache consisting of 100 mortar rounds was discovered near Bagram after an Afghan reported the cache to Coalition forces. A Coalition patrol sent to the location determined all the rounds were in working order. Afghan National Army soldiers took control of the rounds.
"Recovering and disposing of these weapons increases the safety and security of Afghans, and reduces the danger in the area posed by criminals and insurgents who might use those munitions indiscriminately to cause harm on the Afghan people, Afghan Security Forces or Coalition Forces," said Lt. Col Paul Fitzpatrick, Combined Joint Task Force - 76 spokesman.
During a separate cordon and search in Puree Khel in Khost Province , Coalition forces found a small cache of munitions including ammo, a hand grenade and anti-coalition propaganda.
Near Forward Operating Base Sarkoni, a n Afghan turned in a weapons cache to Coalition forces. The cache included 19 unspecified mortar rounds, 10 82mm mortar rounds, 67 mortar fuses, 16 mortar launchers, 22 sighting periscopes, six recoilless rifle rounds and 27 projectile rounds. The cache was deemed unserviceable and destroyed.
In Ayub Khel in Khost Province , an Afghan turned in 25 anti-personnel mines to Coalition forces.
"In reporting these weapons, these people are doing the right thing," said Fitzpatrick. "Anyone who finds or has knowledge of a weapon cache is encouraged to report it to Afghan or Coalition officials, so it can be disposed of properly, ensuring the safety and security of the Afghan people."
By COMBINED FORCES COMMAND - AFGHANISTAN COALITION PRESS INFORMATION CENTER - KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
May 19, 2006
KIRKUK, Iraq -- Iraqi Army soldiers graduating from an elite junior leadership training program participated in a ceremony today to acknowledge their newly acquired skills.
The training program lasted 29 days and involved coalition Soldiers teaching the Iraqi junior leaders skill-sets that stem from the U.S. Army Ranger handbook.
"This class is actually an attempt to start something that’s going to be here for a long time," said Sgt. 1st Class Scott Hord, a platoon sergeant with D Company, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division and Raleigh, N.C., native. "We’ve pretty much made history."
This course was the first course of its kind to be done with the Iraqi Army, Hord explained. The course take the junior leaders and enhances their skills, increasing their potential as senior Army leaders.
"They’re the future of Iraq and its Army," Hord said.
The course material was actually drawn from the U.S. Army Ranger handbook, which was translated into Arabic and Kurdish for the students, then spread over 29 days of intense physical and mental challenges.
"In this course, we tested them mentally and physically," Hord said. "Then, we taught them everything they need to know to lead well and survive doing it. The Ranger handbook is the standard for tactical operations in the United States Army. It was a great asset in this course."
A graduate from the course is awarded his tab and certificate during the ceremony. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Michael Pfaff)
Of the more than 30 original students, only 20 remained at graduation, a testament to the challenges presented by the training. The final exam, one of the most grueling aspects of the training, was an actual cordon and search mission for insurgents in the 1st BCT area of operation..
"They used everything they learned in the school, and it showed in that final exam," Hord recalled.
One thing the students learned from the course that wasn’t given in a lesson or checked during any test was a sense of camaraderie with each other.
"They actually wanted to hide their faces with masks when we first picked them up," Hord said. "Over the course of the training though, they started taking the masks off and trusting one another. Now, they have Ranger buddies and friends."
Hord explained that most of the students in the course are from different sections of the Iraqi Army, and that he expects that the relationships built here will carry over into the field when the different sections will need to work together on missions.
The future of the Iraqi Army lies in the hands of its leaders, and the impact this training has on these troops is critical to that future.
"The knowledge that these guys have been given from us is something they can pass on to all their fellow soldiers," said Staff Sgt. Tomas Hernandez, one of the primary instructors during the course and Jerome, Idaho native. "And, hopefully all the discipline and training we’ve instilled in them, they can pass on."
Story and photos by Spc. Michael Pfaff - 133rd MPAD
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba - May 19, 2006
May 19, 2006
BALAD, Iraq -- An elite Iraqi Police unit captured a local terrorist cell leader during a late afternoon raid south of Baghdad May 16, disrupting terrorist activity in this critical region.
Members of the Hillah SWAT conducted the operation east of Iskandriyah, targeting Salih Hassan Latif al-Janabi, also known as Abu Sabrin.
Al-Janabi, leader of a local terrorist cell, oversees the operations of several other terrorist cells. His cell is responsible for a counterfeit document and money network and for conducting improvised explosive device attacks in the area. He also has ties to other known terrorist leaders.
No one was killed or wounded during this operation.
By MULTI-NATIONAL FORCE-IRAQ COMBINED PRESS INFORMATION CENTER - BAGHDAD, Iraq
CAMP TAJI, Iraq - May 17, 2006
Civilian bakers take freshly-baked flat bread out of a brick oven at a bakery, which will be served to Iraqi army soldiers stationed at Camp Taji, Iraq. The bakers prepare all the bread from scratch at the site three times per day. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Ballog, 16th Eng. Bde. PAO)
Command Sgt. Maj. Victor Riley, 16th Engineer Brigade, samples freshly -baked flat bread during a tour of the Iraqi army base at Camp Taji April 20. Civilian bakers prepare the flat bread daily by hand in a brick oven at the site’s bakery (rear) for the Iraqi army soldiers. Riley and other 16th Engineer Soldiers visited the base to tour previously completed and upcoming engineer projects for the Iraqi army portion of the base, and attended the Iraqi Army Engineer School Jundi graduation. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Ballog, 16th Eng. Bde. PAO)
Maj. Hugo Silva, 16th Engineer Brigade battle captain (left), and an Iraqi army soldier stationed at Camp Taji, find common ground while comparing flat bread and tortillas during a stop at an Iraqi army bakery. April 20. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Ballog, 16th Eng. Bde. PAO)
Civilian bakers take freshly-baked flat bread out of a brick oven at a bakery for Iraqi army soldiers stationed here April 20. The bakers prepare all the bread from scratch at the site three times per day. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Tracy L. Ballog, 16th Eng. Bde. PAO)
Civilian bakers prepare dough for flat bread, which is then baked in a brick oven at the Camp Taji bakery April 20. The bakers prepare all the bread from scratch at the site three times per day for Iraqi army soldiers. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Ballog, 16th Eng. Bde. PAO)
Civilian bakers take freshly-baked flat bread out of a brick oven at a bakery for Iraqi army soldiers stationed here April 20. The bakers prepare all the bread from scratch at the site, three times per day. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Tracy Ballog, 16th Eng. Bde. PAO)
May 18, 2006
BAQUBAH, Iraq -- Two Soldiers from the Iron Brigade were baptized in the heat of an Iraqi afternoon at Forward Operating Base Warhorse on Mother’s Day.
Privates first class LaTasha Bell and Brian Carrasco, both members of Company A, 64th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Band of Brothers, were dipped into the makeshift baptismal pool by 64th BSB Chaplain (Capt.) Wayne Keast.
"I’m ready to give my life to the Lord," said Carrasco, from Midland, Texas. "There’s always a lot of negative stuff around, not enough positives. I’m ready to get away from the negative and come to the positive."
Bell, from Selma, Ala., was prompted by her mother to get baptized, and fittingly she was baptized on a day traditionally set aside to honor mothers.
"She’s always asking when I’ going to get baptized," Bell said. "I’m going to call her today and tell her that I got baptized."
She wanted to be baptized before deploying to Iraq in late November, but time didn’t allow it. While her unit was in Kuwait waiting to move north, Bell approached Keast to find out if she could be baptized in Iraq.
"Me and Carrasco talking about it when we first got here," she said. "I think I encouraged him to get baptized."
Baptism signifies a person accepting Christ as their personal savior, being pennant for their sins and asking Christ to come in and enlighten them, Keast said.
"It’s an encouragement that a person is truly interested in living and dedicating themselves to God," he said about performing his first baptisms in Iraq.
By Sgt. Zach Mott - 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:
Chaplain (Capt.) Wayne Keast, chaplain, 64th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Band of Brothers, baptizes Pfc. Brian Carrasco, from Company A, 64th BSB, at Forward Operating Base Warhorse on Mother's Day, May 14. Carrasco, a Midland, Texas, native wanted to be baptized while in Iraq to find refuge from negativity, he said. For Keast, a Brighton, Mich., native, this was his first baptism in Iraq. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Zach Mott, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office)
Chaplain (Capt.) Wayne Keast, chaplain, 64th Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Task Force Band of Brothers, reads a Bible verse as Pfc. Brian Carrasco, from Company A, 64th BSB, waits to be baptized at Forward Operating Base Warhorse on Mother's Day, May 14. Carrasco, a Midland, Texas, native wanted to be baptized while in Iraq to find refuge from negativity, he said. For Keast, a Brighton, Mich., native, this was his first baptism in Iraq. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Zach Mott, 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office)
By Donna Miles - American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 19, 2006 – The United States is depending on every one of its Defense Department employees, military and civilian alike, to contribute their talents to winning the war on terror, the defense secretary and top-ranking U.S. military officer said today at a Pentagon town hall meeting.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reminded the Pentagon town hall audience May 19 that the U.S. has to pressure the terrorists. "We can't just play defense," he said. "We have to play offense. ... We have to go after them and put pressure on them and make everything they do more difficult." (Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Chad McNeeley, USN)
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs Chairman Marine Gen. Peter Pace thanked DoD employees at the Pentagon and watching the session on the Pentagon Channel for the role they're playing in war.
They thanked servicemembers and civilians for their hard work and sacrifice, urged them to focus on how they can help make the United States more secure, and even suggested an effort in which troops returning from Iraq share their experiences with their local communities.
"Thank you for doing what you are doing to support our country and to support the troops," Rumsfeld said. "They are doing a superb job and we are deeply in their debt."
Preventing another terrorist attack against the United States brings an incentive and sense of urgency to the task, the secretary said. He urged members of the DoD workforce to use that as their motivation and to regularly "give a thought to & whatever you're doing (and) what you might do differently or better or faster or harder to prevent that from happening."
Terrorists can attack anytime, anywhere using any technique, "and it is not possible to defend in every location and against every conceivable technique at every moment of the day and night," he said.
That's why the United States is putting pressure on the terrorists. "We can't just play defense," Rumsfeld said. "We have to play offense. We have to go after them, weaken them, and capture and kill them. We have to go after them and put pressure on them and make everything they do more difficult."
The war on terror will be a long struggle that demands perseverance, the secretary said. "The important thing to remember is that it is sticking with something and prevailing that is important."
"The tasks we're facing today are important and serious and difficult," he told the group.
"We have a big task ahead of us, (and) I am grateful for what all of you do," he said, acknowledging that "every one of you is here because you want to be here."
As they continue toward that task, Pace urged audience members to look past what some perceive as slanted news coverage that emphasizes negative stories. Don't get frustrated by television news minutes "allocated to the bomb that went off because it's more news(worthy) than the school or road that was built," he said.
"Understand that environment, and then determine to get out to the American people in as many ways as you can," Pace said. He encouraged military leaders to get out to universities and into their communities to share their own personal stories and all military members to "be available to our fellow citizens in as many ways as we can."
To promote this effort, Pace suggested a program modeled on ones the Marine Corps and Army use to support local military recruiters. In the program Pace envisions, troops just back from Iraq would get extra days tacked on to their block leave to spend in their hometowns sharing their firsthand experiences with local organizations.
"They can pick the group - church group, whatever group they are comfortable talking to - and simply in their own words explain to those people in that group what their personal experience is like," Pace said. "Let's get our guys and gals home on leave and let them go out in their communities and talk. Let's not say, 'Woe is me. We're not getting the coverage.' Let's figure out how to get the word out to the American people."
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld makes a point during the Pentagon town hall meeting May 19. After remarks to servicemembers and civilians, he and Joint Chiefs Chairman Marine Gen. Peter Pace took questions. (Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Chad McNeeley, USN)
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