Gunnery Sergeant Yaphet Jones' watch showed exactly midnight as he led a convoy of humvees across the Iraqi border on March 22, 2003. Jones, a classical trumpet soloist and small-ensemble leader, was functioning as security chief with a quartering party scouting out advance sites for Division Main.
The quartering party, among the northernmost Marine units in the invasion, rolled up Highway 1, passing through the intense heat of oil fields torched by fleeing Iraqi troops. Their advance was soon halted by military police who warned them to hold up until the area ahead was cleared of hostile troops.
Bandsmen were securing the perimeter during the delay when the party discovered it had been halted in the middle of a minefield. "We very carefully but quickly moved our perimeter back to the vehicles," CWO-3 Edmonson recalled, "and hightailed it out of there promptly."
As the division moved northward, the bandsmen suffered along with the regimental units as they were blasted by the biting sandstorm, followed by torrential rain that temporarily paralyzed the advance.
As Saddam's statue came tumbling down in early April, the tired unit rolled into Baghdad and established residence in the former secret-police headquarters, which promised new comfort. The euphoria ended when distraught Iraqis began arriving to plead for information about loved ones last seen walking into the building. Their appeals underscored the evil of a tyrant whose reign the Marines had helped end.
Before long the bandsmen relocated to a small town called Ad Diwaniyah, in south central Iraq. Although Saddam's army was destroyed, terrorists were a growing threat. The band maintained a Quick Reactionary Force for the Division Main, conducting vehicular patrols "beyond the wire" and ready to step in should terrorists breach base security. Staff Sergeant Ken Douglas, a trombonist, led that critical force.
Despite occasional incoming rounds, band members soon received word that they could move their instruments up from Kuwait, welcome news to brass players who had resorted to "buzzing" their mouthpieces to keep in shape. Retrieving the instruments was assigned to the bandmaster, Master Gunnery Sergeant Steve Schweitzer. Schweitzer had been supervising embedded reporters from the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, National Public Radio and an Italian newspaper.
The instrument-retrieval chore was a different challenge. Schweitzer had to finagle a seat on an aircraft headed south to Kuwait to locate the instruments and find a C-130 that could fly them to Ad Diwaniyah.
Accompanying them were three women and a late-arriving male who had remained at Camp Commando in Kuwait when the rest of the unit headed north. Although Corporal Victoria R. Ortiz, Cpl Heather Salazar, Lance Corporal Victoria E. Fetterly and Cpl Aaron C. Morgan didn't have to face hostile fire, their assignments weren't for the weak of heart. LCpl Fetterly served as a heavy-equipment operator, the others as hospital liaisons.
"The hospital liaisons probably saw more blood and casualties than the men who traveled up Highway 1," as one male bandsman observed.
The liaisons spent countless hours with the injured at the 86th Casualty Support Hospital, which received the wounded direct from combat. After the wounded were given initial treatment in the emergency room, Ortiz remembered, "I would try to ease their pain and take their minds off the injuries by talking to them about their home, their wife, girlfriend?whatever would keep their mind off the pain."
During two months at the hospital, she comforted not only Marines but also Iraqi children and adults who were victims of the war. The injured children left her with some of her most troubling memories.
Despite the suffering they observed, the bandsmen were inspired by Marines who remained motivated even when wounded. "One Marine had been shot four times, each time in a different part of his body," Ortiz said, "yet he was always positive and happy to see me."
Back at Ad Diwaniyah, Ortiz and the other three rejoined the band as members happily reclaimed their instruments. For some, it would be the first time they had played since December 2002. It took several rehearsals to "get their musical chops back" in time to support the Fifth Marine Regiment's change-of-command ceremony.
By May, it was time to return to Camp Commando in Kuwait, where they played a Memorial Day concert. Flying home June 1-3, they had just enough time to unpack instruments for a Stateside change-of-command ceremony at Camp Pendleton on June 7.
In October, the band led the jubilant parade through Oceanside, Calif., as 10,000 returning Marines from I Marine Expeditionary Force were welcomed home by cheering well-wishers and confetti cannons that fired red, white and blue streamers into the California sky. Martial music reverberated along Oceanside's business district.
Even before the 1stMarDiv Band headed home, the 3dMAW Band boarded a transport and flew north from Kuwait to play for a special celebration: the first Marine concert in liberated Iraq. It was only the band's second concert since arriving in the Mideast in February 2003, for the bandsmen had been working 12-hour days in the desert heat, five to six days a week, as a security force.
The historic concert at Al Hillah was staged in the Babylon Coliseum on the grounds of one of Saddam Hussein's palaces. Brushing off limited rehearsal time, the band delivered an hour-long concert celebrating the U.S. military's overthrow of a feared dictator and the promise of freedom.
Led by CWO-4 Ron Fucuals, the concert featured patriotic and military service songs and even a tune dedicated to Saddam titled "It's All Over Now." Nobody overlooked the significance of the message.
Lieutenant General James T. Conway, commander of I MEF, noted the irony of listening to a Marine band play at one of Saddam's palaces. Memorably, he said, "One of the first songs they played was 'Let Freedom Ring.' "
After an R&R break in the States during early summer 2004, the 3dMAW Band returned to the Mideast in August to provide security at Al Asad, a remote air base in the western Iraq desert. First, though, the band made a stop at Camp Fallujah to play for the I MEF change-of-command ceremony.
"With all the challenges of playing while in a war zone, we did exceptionally well," said CWO-2 Thomas Mangan, named band officer after the retirement of CWO-4 Fucuals. "We're not exactly thrilled to have rockets shot at us, but the experience and positive crowd response were very rewarding."
Their 1stMarDiv Band colleagues had returned to Iraq in February 2004, based with Division Main at Camp Blue Diamond on the outskirts of Ar Ramadi in the heart of the Sunni Triangle.
During the deployment at Camp Blue Diamond, intelligence warned of a likely terrorist attack. Marines stepped up patrols around the perimeter to defuse the enemy's next move. On guard with them were both fellow U.S. Marines and Royal Tongan Marines, South Pacific islanders whose kingdom joined the fight against insurgents.
Alerted to the threat of an attack, bandsmen were ready when it came. Cpl Geoffrey Goerke, a saxophonist, was on duty when insurgents began firing automatic weapons and RPGs at his guard tower. Goerke along with a Marine from Communications Company and a Royal Tongan Marine returned fire with a barrage from their machine guns and M16s.
The attackers slipped away in the darkness, their assault foiled with no casualties. For his performance, Goerke became the first bandsman to win a Combat Action Ribbon in OIF; he would not be the last.
The 1stMarDiv Band headed Stateside in September 2004, the month after the 3dMAW musicians returned home. Replacing them were the 2dMarDiv and 2dMAW bands. The 2dMarDiv Band provided security at Camp Blue Diamond until redeploying to the States in mid-September.
The deployed half of the 2dMAW Band is at Al Asad. Half of the 2dMAW Band initially remained at Cherry Point, under CWO-3 Mike Laird, to cover all the assignments both bands would normally share. Those who remained at Cherry Point have replaced the initial contingent of 2dMAW bandsmen in Iraq. (The Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego and Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms bands also shouldered additional tasks while the other two West Coast bands were forward.)
Bandsmen now in Iraq bring the same commitment as those they succeeded.
"I have been looking forward to this ever since I joined," said Sergeant Kristine A. Streng, a clarinetist for the 2dMAW Band, who was transformed into sergeant of the guard for the tactical command center security platoon (consisting of band personnel) at Al Asad. "I've always known that Marine Corps bands provided security in times of war, so as soon as I found that the 2dMAW was going, I was in my boss' office begging to be part of the deployment."
If the commitment hasn't changed, the training has.
Building on prior bands' experiences in Iraq, their replacements are benefiting from a new approach that allows bandsmen and other noninfantry personnel to train together before they leave for Iraq. To improve teamwork and collaboration, the 50-member 2dMarDiv Band was augmented at Camp Lejeune by Marines from the 2d Combat Engineer Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, Truck Co and Communications Co. Those units trained from November 2004 until they all deployed?100 Marines strong, the number needed to accomplish their security mission?in February.
"To my knowledge, this is the first time a band has been beefed up in the rear and then deployed with attachments that will remain with us throughout the deployment," said CWO-2 Mike Smith, officer in charge of the 2dMarDiv Band.
That cooperation paid off as the security force frequently received indirect mortar and rocket fire and had to fight off occasional direct attacks. Their combat mission has left little time for concerts or even organized rehearsals.
"Several of my Marines will be leaving here with a Combat Action Ribbon," said CWO-2 Smith. "Some are musicians; some aren't. It's hard to tell them apart now. To me they're all TFB [Task Force Blackbeard], basic riflemen with the same mission. They are my family here, regardless of MOS [military occupational specialty]."
