From East Hampton to Anbar
One Marine's Mission in Iraq
Photographs by Ralph Dayton, Anbar Province, Iraq, 2007
Despite a perception gap in the mainstream United States media, Iraq is safer than you might think. In large part, this is due to the efforts of marines like Maj. Conlon Carabine. Born and raised in East Hampton, Major Carabine is a member of a military training team, commonly referred to as a MITT. MITTs serve as military advisers to the Iraqi Army and are quietly changing the course of history in Iraq.
Major Carabine’s team of 10 marines has just completed a one-year tour of duty in the primarily Sunni town of Hit, where they were attached to the First Battalion, Second Brigade of the Seventh Division of the Iraqi Army.
The night I got there, Conlon said, “Tomorrow, when we go out on a mission, you’ll feel very safe, you’ll see.” Then he shrugged his shoulders and said, “And if they shoot at you, we’ll shoot back.” — Ralph Dayton
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Hit lies near the Euphrates River, in the heart of Iraq, in the heart of the Sunni Triangle, in Anbar Province, an area considered the most violent in Iraq until a few months ago. When Major Carabine’s team first arrived a year ago, they took over from an exhausted Marine team that had suffered numerous casualties. The new team was initially holed up in a heavily fortified barracks in downtown Hit, under daily sniper, mortar, and rocket fire.
Major Carabine was no stranger to combat, having already served tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, but this one was different. MITT teams’ role is to help the Iraqi Army stand on its own. And from what I saw in Hit, they are succeeding. The Iraqi Army is making great strides in bringing order back to their country. MITT teams encourage the Iraqi leadership to initiate meetings and negotiations between themselves and local police units, civil government, and sheiks. Through communication, and sometimes threat of force, the Iraqi Army has succeeded in capturing large numbers of insurgents and uncovering many weapons caches.
The MITT teams encourage Iraqi Army officers to make decisions on their own, plan their own missions, develop their own military intelligence, capture and destroy weapons caches, isolate and apprehend insurgents, and utilize United States air support for their troops.
I had a sense while I was there that not only the Iraqi Army but also the Iraqi people are getting fed up with the violence. More and more citizens are volunteering information about local insurgents and foreign fighters from Iran and Syria, which leads to more arrests, and more are tipping off officials about the locations of hidden weapons. The Iraqi Army and Iraqi police are gradually becoming more competent and sophisticated in their operations, and that brings increasing confidence to the Iraqi people.
— Ralph Dayton, East Hampton, Dec. 12, 2007
Read more about Ralph Dayton and his Iraq assignment:
Witnessing The Iraq War Up Close
Embedded in history with a camera in hand
By Russell Drumm