"I just graduated yesterday and now I'm in the middle of a war!"

Photo By Cpl. Tommy Bellegarde | Pfc. Justin Gomez (right), a machine gunner with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th...... read more read more

Photo By Cpl. Tommy Bellegarde | Pfc. Justin Gomez (right), a machine gunner with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, provides security for a patrol in Marjah, Helmand province, Afghanistan, while Cpl. Mikah Rust, the squad leader, checks his global positioning system, April 15, 2010. Gomez, from Long Beach, Miss., deployed to Afghanistan with 3/6 in January, less than a month after graduating from the School of Infantry.  see less | View Image Page

MARJAH, AFGHANISTAN

04.18.2010

Story by Lance Cpl. Tommy Bellegarde  

I Marine Expeditionary Force

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MARJAH, Afghanistan — Upon graduation from recruit training and the School of Infantry, infantry Marines usually go to their permanent duty stations where most experience life in the Marine Corps operating forces for months or even years before deploying overseas. While in the operating forces, they are able to practice and improve at their military occupational specialties in a controlled environment. Very rarely will they get to their duty stations and deploy to a combat zone almost immediately after completing SOI.

For Lance Cpl. Joshua Kusar, Pfc. Carson Dodd and Pfc. Justin Gomez, all with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, that is exactly what happened. Gomez arrived to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C., Dec. 11, 2009. Kusar and Dodd got there Dec. 22. The next thing they knew, the three were fighting insurgents in the dusty fields of southern Afghanistan.

The Marines were told they were going to 3/6 when they arrived at Camp Lejeune. They were aware the battalion was deploying, but didn't know if they were going with them.

"We end up going to the fleet and no one knows if we're going to deploy or not because we're so new," said the 18-year-old Kusar. "Some people [thought] we're going to stay back and work on base and others [thought] we're deploying. I called my parents and told them, 'I don't know if I'm deploying or not' and my mom was a wreck."

But the Marines were in fact heading to Afghanistan. Before leaving Camp Lejeune Jan. 5, they hastily prepared themselves by taking pre-deployment classes and receiving issued gear.

"While everyone was on pre-deployment leave, they had a few Marines left over who were [getting out of the Marine Corps] in a few months that weren't deploying," said Gomez, a machine gunner. "They took us to classes, cross-trained some riflemen and had machine gunners do more room clearing. "We learned whatever we could before we had to leave [for Afghanistan]."

Kusar and Dodd had to learn a completely different MOS when they got to the operating forces. At SOI they were trained to be tube-launched, optically-tracked, wire command-link guided missile operators, better known as TOW gunners. When they arrived to Camp Lejeune, they were informed they would be utilized as assaultman in Afghanistan.

"We have a week basically before we deploy and we're trying to cram all this knowledge," said Dodd, from Riverview, Fla. "We were taught (breaching tactics), learned how to blow a door of its hinges and dimensions of a [shoulder-launched, multi-purpose assault weapon] and everything."

While the rest of 3/6 was on block leave, the battalion's newest Marines weren't sure if they would get to see their families before heading overseas. On very short notice, they were granted four days of liberty and went home to be with their loved ones for the last time in a long time.

As if the Marines didn't have enough on their minds already, they still had the enormous task of helping to clear Marjah, the area of Helmand province, Afghanistan that 3/6 was to assault Feb. 13 to begin Operation Moshtarak. Nobody quite knew the type of resistance the Taliban would offer and gossip spread rampantly throughout the battalion about what the coalition troops would face in combat. The new Marines didn't know what to think.

"The worst part [for us] was all of the rumors," said Kusar, from Austinburg, Ohio. "We didn't know what to expect or know anyone we could ask about what a deployment was actually like."

Nevertheless, the Marines quickly learned what Afghanistan had to offer and have accumulated their fair share of memories from the Marjah offensive.

During the initial days of the push, Gomez, from Long Beach, Miss., was trapped in the waist-high deep water of one of Marjah's many irrigation canals when he and his fellow Marines were pinned down by small-arms, heavy machine-gun and indirect fire.

"It was such a bad experience because there was nowhere to move," Gomez said.

In another instance, the 19-year-old Dodd had to run further than the length of a football field under enemy machine-gun fire.

"I thought there was no way I was getting across that field," he said. "Then Staff Sergeant turned to me and said, 'you have to go, you have the SMAW.' I thought, 'Oh. Oh, god!"

"I just got up and ran with every bit of energy I had, pounding across the field," Dodd added. "Machine gun rounds were pouring by. It was unreal."

Now that the push of Marjah is complete, the Marines have taken control of the city. After the early days of Operation Moshtarak, the fighting has slowed down significantly in the area.

Nevertheless, the Marines still have several months remaining in Afghanistan before they return to the United States. Based on what they have experienced so far, they are happy they were able to deploy so early in their careers.

"I just graduated yesterday and now I'm in the middle of a war!" said the 19-year-old Gomez humorously. "It's been a good first taste of combat."

"The thing I really like about (having deployed) so soon is that we'll probably end up getting three deployments [during our enlistments]," said Dodd.

For these Marines, Afghanistan has simply been the latest adventure on a whirlwind journey that has been surreal more times than not.

"This whole experience has felt like one of those movies where [the Marines] go to boot camp in the first scene. The second scene is more training. Then in the third scene, they're in Vietnam," said Kusar. "It's been one big blur."