European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 1, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 stars and stripes sunday april 1 2007 Marine engineers building amid bombings by Sandra Jontz stars and stripes Karma Iraq their humor is crass but it sustains their sanity in the combat Sand Box that is Iraq look alive boys were about ready to go in the devils butt Hole gunnery sol Richard Tho Mas barked late thursday night As his Convoy of combat engineers and transportation support company marines from combat Logis tics battalion 6 prepared to enter the volatile City of Karma on the outskirts of fal Lujah the tension in Thomas hum Vee was palpable As the Convoy navigated from the Asphalt hard Ball roads that tapered to Nar Row pothole Ridden dirt streets and through the City of Blind Cor ners and narrow alleys i dont like this neighbourhood where weve been hit before Thomas said in fact earlier thursday morn ing the marines and soldiers working and living at outpost 3 in Karma had taken Small arms fire and what some suspected was a rocket propelled grenade attack that fell just shy of the sen try no one was hit later under the nearly full Moon combat engineers of Engi Neering platoon engineering company combat logistics Bat Talion 6 busily hammered ply Wood flooring into place and helped unload Concrete Texas barriers until a nearby Boom momentarily halted their work red several hollered refer ring to an improvised explosive device Thomas a 14year Veter an scrambled to Check on the safety of his Security marines posted outside the wire Gerra cat Squirrel Harvey so named because he can climb really Well hops atop a Concrete Texas Barrier and guides in a Marine who will hoist the Concrete protective barricade from a Flat bed truck Harvey and other Abr employees provide much of the hauling and logistical support for deployed troops photos by Sandra John stars and stripes a Crane lifts a Shower trailer so Marine combat engineers could install it near command Headquarters at outpost 3 in Karma on thursday a land mine planted in the mid dle of the Road leading to the out Post had detonated luckily it Between two vehicles of an element of the army 3rd Battal Ion 509th infantry regiment which operates out of Ops again no injuries that was meant for us rever berated among the Marine Engi neers who spent several Days working at op3 and earlier had driven the very same Road into the Camp it must have been planted after we got Here in Hopes wed use the same route out Thomas said that was meant for us he added repeating the words his marines had uttered then they resumed their work the company has been extremely Busy since arriving in fal Lujah roughly a month ago wednesday the engineers were called in to reconstruct and fortify an iraqi army Barracks that had been blown up earlier that morning when a suicide truck bomb Laden with chlorine and explosives detonated inside the fal Lujah government Center compound and they still talk about the March 18 insurgent attack that brought Down a four Story Down town hotel with ground level shops an attack that killed two iraqi soldiers who used upper lev Els As an observation Post the engineers first worked to pull the dead from the rubble they said the instability of the building proved too risky to recover any weapons so they set explosives and blew it up burying the weapons in Between attacks the Engi neers missions run a versatile Gamut their work includes Rais ing the ground level of Ops to take it out of a swamp area using explosives to level an abandoned House insurgents used to hide snipers building protective Barri ers and stringing sniper screens refurbishing Camps with suitable living conditions and building Roadway obstacles to keep insurgents from having easy escape routes said the company com manding officer capt Walt Carr the Job is the Best of two worlds for Cpl Steve Mitchell 22 of Ludington Mich i love to build things and i love to blown things up he said at Ops the team of 38 combat engineers constructed a second floor in the onetime mansion now used As the army 3rd Bat Talion 509th infantry regiments command Center on its rooftop they Tore Down three bunkers made of of thin plywood and re built them using sturdier lumber to withstand attacks said staff sgt James Guinn 27 the construction Foreman the marines work primarily in doors during the Day and use the night s darkness for outside construction i like building things swing ing a Hammer and making life bet Ter for the grunts said Cpl Brian Wente 20 of Teutopolis i you know fortifying their Little Home of the 38 marines at the out Post there is Only one female Cpl Jillian Masmela 22 you grow some thick skin and try to act like one of the Guys she said laughing you assimilate they laugh a lot in spite of the missions humor helps keep them sane they said Well weve lived to see another one Thomas grunts As the Convoy pulls into the Gates of Camp fal Lujah of god thank you in still alive email Sandra Jontz at got a question 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