First Marine Killed By Enemy Fire In Iraq In 100 Days
By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jan 24, 2008 11:32:53 EST
A Marine was killed in Iraq last weekend, the first fatality by enemy fire in more than 100 days and one likely to have a jarring effect on those serving during the recent period of relative calm in Anbar province.
Lance Cpl. James M. Gluff, 20, of Tunnel Hill, Ga., died Jan. 19 while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, the Defense Department announced Wednesday. He was with Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based 1st Battalion, 8th Marines.
For several years, Marines were killed in Anbar province at a rate of several each week. Gluff’s death, after such a long period of calm, is likely to have a far-reaching impact on the way Marines in Iraq are thinking and operating, a former staff noncommissioned officer said.
“It’s going to sharpen the minds of the NCOs and the young officers over there — that this is still real — we cannot let our guard down at all,” said retired Sgt. Maj. Joe Houle, who was the sergeant major of Marine Forces Atlantic in 2000.
“The command over there may have had a stand-down and said, ‘What aren’t we doing that we’re supposed to be doing? Are we dotting all our I’s and crossing all our T’s?”
The young platoon sergeants are “checking the list and checking it twice and making sure everything is in order and the way it should be,” said Houle, now executive director for the Marine Corps Museum of the Carolinas.
The calm in Anbar province, a region once considered the most dangerous in Iraq and the heart of the Sunni insurgency, stems from the Marine Corps’ strategy of forging close ties with local tribal leaders, training indigenous security forces and providing money for reconstruction projects.
The last Marine killed by enemy action was Lance Cpl. Jeremy Burris, 22, of Tacoma, Wash. He was killed by an improvised explosive device Oct. 8 near the Syrian border while serving with 1st Battalion, 4th Marines.
Four Marines have died since Oct. 8, but the causes of those deaths were listed as “nonhostile.”
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I hope the rest of the Marines got the other bastard(s) …
January 24th, 2008 at 6:03 pmLance Cpl. James M. Gluff, 20
RIP
@drillanwr
January 24th, 2008 at 7:39 pmI am sure they did.
RIP
January 24th, 2008 at 11:05 pmRIP and thanks
January 25th, 2008 at 5:29 am“Omigawd! AQI is making a comeback! Get the poor Marines home now!”
Or SLT.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:24 pm