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AL ASAD, Iraq (Dec. 1, 2005) -- In the air Wing, combat engineers don’t normally work a great deal with explosives. But, in Marine Wing Support Squadron 272, a detachment of combat engineers is working with the Untouchables’ explosive ordnance disposal Marines to change that. “Basically what we do is search for mines with a two-man sweep team (using metal detectors),” said Staff Sgt. Desmond E. Washington, the staff noncommissioned officer-in-charge of the mine clearing detachment. If they find one, they destroy it in a safe way that eliminates the possibility of civilian casualties. If they encounter an IED, the...

HAQLANIYAH, Iraq - (KRT) - After an hour of shooting, rocket-propelled grenades were still crisscrossing in front of Sgt. Aaron Hanselman, and he was looking at the horizon for backup as bullets snapped through the air around his men. "It was whizzing by. Our gunner swears that a couple hit the Humvee," said Hanselman, 28, a mobile assault team leader and Marine reservist from Marysville, Ohio. Their vehicle had started the firefight with 1,200 rounds of ammunition, he said, but the five men inside had whittled the supply down to 75 bullets. The four Humvees in Hanselman's unit - named...

Sending in the 'Shahwanis' U.S. Marines build their own Iraqi militia to help them go against the insurgents By Ilana Ozernoy CAMP FALLUJAH, IRAQ--On the outskirts of this U.S. Marine base in hostile Anbar province west of Baghdad, an Iraqi military chant in Arabic cuts through the hazy stillness of the afternoon. "I'm a bayonet, and my strike is hard! I'm ready for death, not for shame!" shout a group of Iraqi men in military garb, their arms swinging and knees pumping to the beat of the song as they march in haphazard formation. "We're the Iraqi marines!" declares one...

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