From Mountain Storm to Sea Angel II

By Maj. James McBride - 05/24/2008

I write this as a Butte native, born and raised. I haven't lived in Butte since I graduated from Butte Central High School in 1992, but I'd lived there my whole life up to that point. My dad, Bill, and one of my two brothers, Jon, have lived there their whole lives, too, and still do today.

I wanted to start this article with that introduction so you know where I'm coming from, so you know that I'm not an "out-of-stater" talking to a bunch of strangers, but rather to a group of folks who live in a place a part of me will always call home. Whenever I visit Butte, familiar twinges in my stomach and palpitations in my chest always arise as I fly over the East Ridge at night and look down at the scattered lights of our "little" town cradled by the majestic mountains that surround it in every direction, and which is looked down upon silently, lovingly, by 'Our Lady' night after night as a mother would gaze upon her sleeping baby in its crib.

When I land at the Bert Mooney airport and step off the plane, I lose my breath for a quick moment as the cold, crisp, clean air (well, it feels clean to me) hits me like a snow bank in the gut, and I always regret that I hadn't hand carried my jacket with me on the plane (the origin of my flight is usually quite a bit warmer, and I always think, "Well, it can't be that cold when I get there...I've lived there, so I'm used to it." Trust me, the 'used to it' part wears off after a few years). So, yeah, I know Butte and, though it's been a while, it is still a part of me.

So why the rambling? I felt if I didn't explain my Butte heritage up front, that once I got into the details of what I do for a living, and then on to the point of this article, you might find it difficult to relate, and then reflexively turn a jaded, unfamiliar eye. That's what I don't want you to do.

I am a United States Marine. I started out as enlisted...went to boot camp just a few days after high school. I remember many of my high school classmates - Ryan Murphy, Tim McHugh, Tim Walsh, Corey Muffich, Jeff Williams, Sean Walsh, Kiely Keane, Tori Reardon, Ron Gallardo, Cara Badovinac, Cara Carpenter - and a few others (sorry if I missed a few names) went to the airport to see me and Ben Waleycheski off as we boarded the plane that would take us to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego. I became a Marine Corps officer a couple of years later. Now I hold the rank of major.

I'm very proud of what I've done during my career so far. I've written or been mentioned in a few articles that appeared in the local Butte papers over the years. They have mostly had to do with my promotions, or my service in places like Afghanistan or Iraq. WAIT...see, now, there's that jaded eye I warned you about. I know, I know...many of you (but not all) think the war in Iraq was a mistake, that we should get out now, should have gotten out a long time ago, that we are losing, that our mere presence there is making matters worse, that our leaders on up the chain of command are terrible, etc., etc. OK, maybe I'm generalizing just a bit. But I know that poll after poll has painted that generalization pretty clearly. Plus, throughout my time in the military my dad has consistently sent me articles from Butte's local papers - the Standard, the Weekly, and the Review - and I regularly see the editorials, the letters to the editor. They are generally in pessimistic agreement when it comes to the war in Iraq and, increasingly, Afghanistan.

After reading those articles over the last few years, I get the sense that Butte's historic collective pride in the military is still intact, but waning. The yellow ribbons around town have faded or fallen down, the letters and care packages that the grade school classes put together and send out to the troops overseas have tapered off. Hopefully the prayers haven't slowed a bit...but I wonder. I suppose this is all a natural part of enduring the strain of a prolonged war, especially a non-conventional war against a smart and often unseen insurgency (i.e. everyone sees the improvised explosive devices - IEDs -blowing up on the news, but rarely seen are those who detonate them). However, it is the American people's ability to withstand the strain that will eventually help us win this struggle. We, the military, can do it; there is no doubt of that. You just have to give us your confidence, your patience, and your trust. I think if you look closely at what is happening in Iraq, especially in Anbar Province, you'll see that the tide has in fact turned in our favor. Who except the very rare faithful expected that one year ago? Hopefully you were some of the rare ones who did.

Now there are those who have said that they support the troops, but not the war. The next time you hear anyone say that, or if that is your personal stance, understand that about 70 percent of the Marines you support enlisted voluntarily into the service of their choice since the war in Iraq began in 2003, and an even greater percentage since Sept. 11, 2001. How can that be, you ask? Due to the unique force structure of the Marine Corps, a huge preponderance of its ranks is filled with the most junior Marines (Privates, Lance Corporals, and Corporals). It takes roughly four to five years for the average Marine to make it to the rank of Sergeant, or E-5. And since Operation IRAQI FREEDOM is approaching its fifth year, the conclusion is apparent: An overwhelming percentage of our brave servicemen and women currently fighting on the front lines in the War on Terror enlisted voluntarily, with the full understanding that they could end up in harm's way, putting their lives on the line for a cause that a majority of the American public do not believe in.

I enlisted just after the 1991 Gulf War, in an era of relative peace and no wars on the visible horizon. Those who enlisted in the military since Sept. 11, 2001, have displayed, to me, a heroic selflessness that my personal example pales in comparison to, and of which I am in awe. And what about re-enlistments? The re-enlistment rate since 2001, and especially since 2003, has been at its highest levels in decades.

So what is the motivation? What is it that drives these servicemen and women to enlist and re-enlist in the midst of a largely unpopular war in Iraq and Afghanistan? Every individual joins the military for their own personal reasons. But often those reasons revolve around the desire to make a positive impact on society. There are always exceptions, but collectively we believe in justice, we believe in protecting the innocent, we believe in punishing the 'bad guys' of the world, and we believe in keeping the enemy far away from American soil. Because we, like you, care deeply for our homes, our families, our country, our freedom, and our way of life.

So, for those who say they support the troops but not the war, I guess what they mean to say is that they support the troops in the sense that they value their lives, but that they don't believe in the cause in which the troops themselves believe in very strongly - so strongly that they have willingly offered to put their lives in harm's way for it.

My hope is that those who claim to support only the troops will think carefully before the next time they say that, because America's collective faltering support for the war in Iraq has been a large factor in its ultimate prolonging: Al Qaeda sees from a distance the American public's impatience with the war in Iraq, and in the War on Terror in general, and is strengthened by it. Bin Laden's own written and verbal communications have verified that. However, Al Qaeda has also experienced, up close and personal, our military's professional, iron resolve to defeat them and their ideology. As I write this, Al Qaeda in Iraq is dissolving beneath the weight of our resolve. They are currently down, but they are not out. I ask that you exercise your role in not letting them get back up. Please keep faith with your military until we've finished our mission there, and allow the troops you support to come home with their heads high, having sacrificed so much for a noble cause that they believe in strongly, and that isn't cut short before the result is realized.

So do you, the people of Butte, despite the prolonged adversity of this ugly war, still believe in what the military is doing, and what we stand for? Do you believe that we still exist to protect the Constitution of the United States, to protect the innocent, to go after the 'bad guys' around the world so they can't oppress the innocent, and so that the danger they pose does not again encroach upon our soil?

I am currently assigned to the 22d Marine Expeditionary Unit (22d MEU). I coincidentally was assigned to the same unit in 2004 when it deployed to Afghanistan. What did we do there? To be blunt, we captured and eliminated as many Taliban as we could. And we were pretty darn good at it. We were part of an operation called MOUNTAIN STORM. Nearly every battle we were in started with an ambush by Taliban forces in deliberately set traps. When we were ambushed, we immediately counter-attacked -usually up hill against their protective positions amongst the mountain rocks - and many of them (more than 100) were killed, more than 100 were captured, and the rest of them narrowly escaped by blending into the nearest village in a nearby valley. They wounded many of our Marines and Sailors in the process. And they killed one of our Marines: A tall, friendly, and well respected Corporal named Ronald Payne. That also happened in an enemy ambush, the first of our campaign. You can never truly 'make up for' the loss of one of your own at the hands of the enemy, but I can state with some conviction that that he did not die in vain, and the enemy paid a price for his death. Some might look at this Marine's death as just another number tallied in the daily reporting on U.S. killed in action. However, his sacrifice, put into context, was a piece of the overall effort to defeat our enemies abroad. His contribution made a difference in protecting this nation - he believed in what he did, and we carried on with the mission with vigor after his death because we felt the same way. And we all owe to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to do just that.

That first half of that last paragraph may come across as a bit crass to some of you. But make no mistake, that's what Marines do, and we do it very well. That's what the Corps is rightfully known most for, and I'm not ashamed of that one bit. But, also make no mistake, 'getting the bad guys' is not all we do very well, it's not all we train for, and it's not all we're proud of. And that is a big point of this article. Allow me to show you another side of the Marine Corps that you are probably much less familiar with than the one reported on the daily news, but one to which I'm sure you won't turn a jaded eye.

Since late July 2007, the 22d MEU had been afloat aboard USS Kearsarge, an amphibious aircraft carrier (LHD) that carries a mixture of Marine Corps transport helicopters, attack helicopters, and attack jets. It also carries a battalion of infantry Marines (the 'grunts'), portions of a logistics battalion, and a bunch of other Marines and sailors that support them all.

In early December 2007 we (most of the 22d MEU and everyone aboard Kearsarge) just finished supporting an operation off the coast of Bangladesh named Operation SEA ANGEL II. We were sent there in response to a very powerful cyclone, 'Sidr,' that wreaked deadly havoc upon the people and infrastructure of Bangladesh in late November. Bangladesh is a small country tucked up underneath the eastern part of India, just west of Burma. An overwhelmingly Muslim nation (85 percent), with a total population of more than 150 million packed into a country about the size of Iowa, it is the most densely populated country in the world. (Keep in mind that the whole U.S. population - all 50 state s- is just over 300 million.) Three cyclones that nailed Bangladesh in 1970, 1988 and 1991 killed a combined total of over 600,000 people - 141,000 in 1991 alone. So even before Cyclone Sidr made landfall on Nov. 15, USS Kearsarge received the order to start heading toward Bangladesh to be in a position to provide help if their government requested our assistance.

Cyclone Sidr did, indeed, prove to be quite devastating. Making landfall with winds over 150 mph, hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis were instantly left homeless as their fragile towns were blown away or destroyed by the subsequent flooding. More than 3,000 were killed. Although we were the nearest U.S. naval ship of its kind at the time, we had almost 3,500 miles to cover to arrive off the coast of Bangladesh. We finally arrived on Nov. 22 and waited for approval from the government of Bangladesh to formally ask for our help. After the local government assessed what assistance it needed in addition to the early relief effort in place, they officially requested our help the next day. We were ready and jumped immediately into action.

The critical priority was to get clean drinking water to the most isolated and affected areas of southern Bangladesh. Without clean water to drink, many Bangladeshis would succumb to diarrheal illnesses, dehydration, and death. Marines and Sailors aboard the Kearsarge loaded by hand over 300 gallons of water onto our helos the first official day of our operations, Nov. 23, and eventually reached a peak of over 4,000 gallons of water in one day. This water, filled into individual 40-pound airtight plastic bags, was flown in and dropped off in bundles by our CH-46 and CH-53 helicopters to the most remote areas first, then to more populous areas that were the hardest hit by the cyclone.

The effect was positive, and immediate. Our water delivery was so fast and effective that after three days and over 9,000 gallons of water distributed, the Bangladeshi government asked us to STOP with the water already, and to shift our energy into distributing food and material such as blankets, hygiene products, and medical supplies. Our first lift of these materials was on Nov. 26, when we lifted 16,000 pounds to the most hard-hit and remote areas. The peak of our resupply efforts, Dec. 2 and 3, brought in 56,778 and 43,080 pounds of supplies, respectively, to more than 10 different remote landing zones (LZs). Our pilots were asked to land in impromptu places such as soccer stadiums, school yards, farmers' fields, and other makeshift open areas just large enough for our helicopters to land in and take off safely.

By the end of our operations, our Marine pilots resupplied over 20 different LZs scattered throughout southern Bangladesh. Each time they landed, they were greeted by between 200 and 2000 anxious Bangladeshis. And each time the pilots and the crew chiefs would exit the aircraft to help unload the bags of rice, the blankets, and all the food and supplies on board the aircraft by hand. Usually, several Bangladeshis would come up to start a human chain to help quickly unload the supplies from the back of the helicopter to form a pile a few yards away. The crowds that our aircrew met were always kind and extremely grateful for what they were doing. They were also quite curious and amazed by the large helicopters that landed near their towns - sometimes overly curious, such as when a few of them would jump into the helicopter as our Marines offloaded the supplies, just to get a rare glimpse of the inside of these iron angels from the sky.

We also flew in Navy medical teams from USS Kearsarge to eight remote areas that were cut off by flooding from any kind of medical assistance. These teams of about eight Navy doctors and corpsmen were inserted via helicopter into remote LZs near small villages where there were many victims in need of medical care. The medical teams' expectations were always exceeded by the reality on the ground. On Nov. 28, the first day that two teams of these courageous medical professionals were inserted into two separate areas, alone and without protection, they treated 206 patients. Some were critically ill or injured, some had only cuts and bruises, but all suffered from the powerful impact of Cyclone Sidr. On the second day, inserted into two new locations, the two medical teams treated 432 patients. The third day they treated 360. On the fourth and last day of their mission, this time reinforced with more corpsmen and medical supplies, they treated an astounding 630 patients.

In total, they personally treated 1,628 Bangladeshis suffering from the aftermath of the storm in the hardest to reach locations in the country. The quantity of patients these two teams treated is nothing short of remarkable, considering the conditions they were forced to treat the patients in (well below the standards of any customary, sanitary doctor's office we're used to in the U.S.), the language barrier (each team usually had only one interpreter available to them), and the limited medical supplies they had to work with (only what was readily available on the ship). Despite these limitations, the quality of care they provided was at least equal to the quantity of patients they saw. To hear the accounts of these doctors after their return to the ship every night, there is no question that many lives were spared, and many more improved significantly.

To say that the Bangladeshis we were able to help directly during these operations were simply "thankful" would be a gross understatement. One village elder best summed up the magnitude of their gratitude when he told one of the doctors treating the people of his village that they weren't simply thankful that these doctors and corpsmen came to help the people of his village. He said that, before our arrival, the average Bangladeshi didn't think the world cared about them. He went on to explain that each individual face of the doctors and corpsmen who flew in on the helicopters represented to them the face of the world. And now, finally, they could see that the world cared.

Including my time in Afghanistan, working in support of this mission was amongst the most exhausting periods of my life. But, like Afghanistan, it was also amongst the most satisfying. The positive impact that the Navy/Marine Corps team had on the people of Bangladesh was real, tangible, and significant. Many lives were saved, directly and indirectly, through our efforts, and many more lives were significantly improved. It stands as one of my proudest periods of service in the Marine Corps.

Oddly, throughout most of this humanitarian assistance mission, there was no official name assigned to it. In the aftermath of the 1991 cyclone that decimated Bangladesh, the U.S. Navy and Marines again responded, again helping to save many lives. That operation was dubbed SEA ANGEL because, as in this time, most of the assistance was flown in from naval ships at sea. Largely as a result of that still fond memory in so many of the minds of the current Bangladeshi leaders, near the end of this most recent operation the senior military commander in charge, Brigadier General Bailey, dubbed it Operation SEA ANGEL II. And so it was.

So, what is it Marines truly like to do? You will draw your own conclusion. But if you were to ask me, I'd tell you that what we like is to protect the innocent and the endangered, and to avenge the brutalized, the oppressed, and the victimized. For those committing the acts terror...we are the last people they want to see. But for those on the bitter end of unjust agony and suffering, regardless of the cause, the Marines, when given the call to come to your aid, just may be your best friend.

You, the citizens of Butte, America, have every reason to be very proud of our nation's military, and especially our Marine Corps (OK, so I wear my bias on my sleeve). I hope that after reading this you have a renewed sense of appreciation for the troops, and a better understanding of who we are, what we are made of, what we do, and why we do it. Please remember that the Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen believe in the cause that we are fighting for. We know that global terrorism is an immediate threat to freedom in far reaches of the world, and a growing threat to American freedom and our way of life at home.

We don't want our home threatened in any way, and neither do you. So when you say that you support the troops, or when you hear others say it, please keep that in mind that what we ask from you is more than your prayers simply for our safety; we want to come home safely to our loved ones as badly as you do. But we also want to win, and we want to defeat the enemy and their ideology. And...well, someone's got to do it. The more we defend freedom far away from home, the safer home remains.

- Major Jim McBride, a Butte native and 12-year veteran of the Marines, is currently stationed in North Carolina with his wife and son and may be reached via e-mail at tuck80501@mypacks.net.