European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 25, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse Sunday March 25 2007 stars and stripes pages revived riverine Squadron to patrol Iraq dam by Sandra Jontz stars and stripes Laditha Iraq few things Are As humbling As making history said 21yearold fireman apprentice Jeff theissing yet Little More than a year into his us Navy career the Hull technician is among the first to make up the navys Brown water forces following a three decade void i cant believe i got Lucky enough to do this he said while taking a cigarette break atop the Mammoth Laditha dam Over looking the euphrates River theissing is one of 230 sailors who make up the navys newly formed riverine Squadron one which officially took control thursday from us marines of the Protection of the Laditha dam and patrol missions on the surrounding Waterways the eight month preparations for the water based Squadron could have been taken from train ing manuals for Marine and army units sailors attended in Fantry courses to learn to counter ambushes mortar fire and insurgent attacks said it cmdr Dou Glas Flannery the squadrons operations officer they also Learned to work the Small unit riverine crafts or surfs and had lessons in Mari time interception operations some even attended a monthlong arabic language course they trained at naval amphibious base Little Creek a and at Camp Lejeune no our primary Mission is to have a waterborne presence to Stop the insurgents from trans porting weapons and explosives across and Down the River flan Nery said the euphrates is a source of sustenance and Means of travel for iraqis but for years has been used by insurgents to ferry arms from Rural areas to cities such As ramada Laditha and Baghdad the dam itself provides critical Power to most of Anbar province and has received constant Protection by us forces since the out set of the Iraq War in 2003 about a year ago the Navy began plans to train sailors to re sume River patrols after letting its riverine Force become dormant after the Vietnam War ultimately the Navy plans to have three riverine squadrons out Here were doing operations and missions not the be Hindt Hestenes kind of Job said Petty officer 2nd class Kevin Shofner 23 a gunners mate i feel like in serving my coun try in a direct Way said Shofner who previously worked at the Pearl Harbor naval shipyard in Hawaii Riv one As its commonly called has three detachments a Headquarters element and human exploitation team that will focus on intelligence gather ing Flannery said they also brought unmanned Aerial vehicles to help patrol from the air Flannery said that Way we can better see whats ahead of us and whats behind us photos by Sandra and stripes above Laditha dam provides a critical Power source for much off Anbar province the navys riverine squad Ron one took Over Security at the dam thursday below Navy fireman apprentice Jeff theissing left of the new riverine Squadron and Marine corps pvt Brandon Quinnell with company f 2nd battalion 3rd marines take a break at the dam mostly take Over equip ment from the Marine corps dam Security units Petty officer 3rd class Rick Necamp 24 said he expected his Liv ing conditions to be much worse and was pleasantly surprised to learn hed be living not just at the dam but in it the dam has a gym Chow Hall social rooms and a soon Oberon line internet cafe i thought id be sleeping in the Sand Necamp said and when they said heres your rack i was pretty Happy email Sandra Jontz at Marine gift shop Raymond to jewelry Hong Kong March 27th april 7th a Beautiful collection of diamonds pearls Jade precious semiprecious stones Gold and Silver jewelry custom orders jewelry repairs 6455194 tuesday fit saturday All sofa status Welcome with valid id location Gate c 1 11 your f visit Rhome Papet k
