Near Fallujah, Marine metal workers weld life-saving vehicle armor
Marine Corps News
Story Identification #: 20051315935
Story by Staff Sgt. Jim Goodwin
CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (Jan. 3, 2005) -- Standing on top of a Humvee, blowtorch in hand in the middle of Iraq, Cpl. Ray C. Rollins contemplates why he joined the Marine Corps nearly four years ago.
Putting down the blowtorch he was using to weld a steel plate to the backside of the truck, he smiles and gives his reply: "I was told I couldn't make it in the Marine Corps," he said. "I hate being told I can't do something, so I did it just to prove I could."
The 23-year-old Marine reservist from Dublin, Texas, is a welder by trade back in the civilian sector for a local company called Welder Riggs Machine and Welding.
In the Marine Corps, he is a mechanic, but often can be found crossing the short distance of gravel which separates his work area from the two tents which house the welders' work area. He loves welding, he says, and frequently stops by to see if his fellow Marines has any welding work he can help with.
The welders are part of Combat Service Support Company 122, a unit that provides vehicle recovery and maintenance services for Marine units operating throughout western Iraq.
Since arriving in Iraq with the rest of CSSC-122 in September, Rollins' skills have come in particularly good use. CSSC-122's welders - six Marines in all - worked around the clock to weld armor on more than 115 military vehicles used for convoys and patrols during the height of Fallujah combat operations.
Using both pre-fabricated kits of armor and scrap metal from inoperable vehicles, these Marines have welded extra armor onto doors, back panels, gun mounts, and undersides of everything from trucks to bulldozers to help protect Marines operating inside the "City of Mosques."
"We're the guys who protect the rifle carriers and make sure they come home to their families," said Sgt. David M. Liske, the welding shop's noncommissioned officer in charge. "They want to come home to their families just like the rest of us."
From a distance, Liske's Marines could be mistaken for a crew of mechanics in an automobile shop in "Anywhere, U.S.A." Instead of the tan and brown digital camouflage uniforms most Marines wear, these Marines don dirty, faded coveralls and boots sprinkled with random burn marks, a trademark of their welding operations. Tools line the racks inside one of two tents the Marine welders use as a workshop. Country music echoes throughout the tent
"Hell, I've been through quite a few coveralls and boots," said Liske, who serves as a full-time firefighter back in Rock Island, Ill., when he's not serving in Iraq. "It comes with the job."
"How many coveralls you been through?" Liske asks one of his metal workers, Lance Cpl. Adam L. Schroeder, a 20-year-old Plattville, Wis., native.
Placing a piece of a Humvee engine on one of the workshop's tables, Schroeder takes the cigarette he's smoking out of his mouth to answer: "At least five or six," he said.
Welders they may be, but they are Marines first. As they are working, a Marine from a nearby shop calls out to Liske, "Man the berms!"
Upon hearing these three words, the Marines put down their tools, extinguish their cigarettes, put on their helmets and body armor, grab their rifles and hustle to pre-staged fighting positions along the fenced-in perimeter which separates CSSC-122's lot from the outside world.
Although insurgents are not attacking the base, the combat drill keeps the Marines alert and ready for action in the event of an impending attack. Just several days before Christmas, an explosion inside at a dining facility at a U.S. military base in Camp in Mosul killed more than 20 people.
"It's a reminder we're still in a war," said Liske, 34.
Like many reserve Marines throughout the United States, Liske was activated and served during the initial phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom last year. A 15-year veteran of the Marines, he originally signed up to serve within the crash, fire and rescue field of the Marine Corps, putting his fireman skills to use in the military. However, according to Liske, a mistake on his recruiter's part put him on the path to becoming a metal worker following boot camp, a mistake he says he's glad was made, in retrospect.
"Instead of putting out fires, they've got me building them," he said, leaning on the hood of a Humvee currently being outfitted with additional armor plating for CSSC-122's sister company, CSSC-115.
While armored vehicles have been a recent concern for some U.S. servicemembers serving in the Global War on Terrorism, it has not been a large concern for Marines here. CSSC-122's welders were putting armor on vehicles up to an hour before Marine infantry units invaded Fallujah on Nov. 8, ensuring Marines didn't face the city's dangers, such as improvised explosive devices and enemy small arms fire, unprotected.
Lance Cpl. Able G. Rodriguez, a 29-year-old military policeman with Combat Service Support Battalion 1's MP detachment here, is certainly thankful for the armor he had on his Humvee during a vehicle recovery mission Nov. 7, 2004 - the day before Operation Al Fajr began.
The MPs provide security for convoys and vehicle recovery missions outside the base, and have experienced their fair share of attacks by insurgents. Rodriguez was manning a 50-caliber machine gun when he and the other Marines' vehicles began receiving enemy rifle fire. Before the MPs could locate the insurgents and return fire, the shield plate mounted around Rodriguez' machine gun was hit by rifle fire at least four times, he said.
While the Marines' vehicles have armor to some degree, some units like to have their vehicles' armor up-graded for additional protection, especially when facing the unknown dangers of Iraq.
IEDs have been one of the deadliest threats to American servicemembers operating on Iraq's roadways. For the Marine truck drivers and military policemen of the various combat service support units that convoy supplies to Marines throughout Iraq, extra armor on vehicles can mean the difference between life and death on Iraq's roadways.
Without the armor on his machine gun mount Nov. 7, armor installed by CSSC-122, Rodriguez would not be standing here today, he said.
"They (enemy rounds) would have been dead on me," said the Brookshire, Texas, native. "You could hear the impacts of the rounds against the shield. Without that armor, the whole situation would have played out a lot differently."
In addition to welding armor, CSSC-122's welders have also constructed more than 140 "hedgehogs" - spiked barriers used to impede vehicle movement.
For the MPs, the welders cut hooked shards of metal, sharpened them, and welded them to a steel plate base - instant road spikes.
"They call us 'Fallujah's Monster Garage,'" said Schroeder.
The other Marines laugh at the comment.
"Yeah, we can make just about anything," said Liske, who admits the Marines have had to be creative when improvising armor plating and constructing various other tools to assist Marines' operating inside the city.
Using two large metal doors from a 7-ton truck, the Marines are currently constructing a back panel for the Humvee to provide additional rear protection for the driver and passenger. They are also adding sheet metal to both doors for additional protection against an attack from either side.
Lance Cpl. Juan F. Montellano, a 6-foot, 2-inch, Marine from Tucson, Ariz., and metal worker, is busy measuring and marking a piece of sheet metal which will later be cut into smaller pieces and used to help up-armor the Humvee.
Montellano recalled the long hours he and the other welders worked to ensure his fellow Marines in the city have protection on their vehicles, a task he is glad to have been a part of, he said. Montellano lost three close friends in Iraq, including his best friend from high school.
His father told him the news of his friend's death over the phone, said Montellano, a 21-year-old first-generation American who speaks with a slight Hispanic accent. When asked about his reaction to the news, Montellano, known as "Monty" to his fellow metal workers, pauses a moment with a sullen look on his face before answering.
"I was angry at the insurgents. I wanted to go out there and kill them, but I got to stay focused," he said. "I'm here to make a difference. That's why I'm in (the Marine Corps.)"
Though the Marine Corps has taught him to work well with others, Montellano plans on getting out of the Marine Corps after his four-year enlistment is over to pursue other interests. Lighting up another cigarette, he explains that he plans on attending an apprenticeship school to pursue welding full-time.
When he returns home from Iraq, he plans on going on a much-needed vacation with his wife, Suzette.
Like many Marines here, Montellano tries not to dwell on the future to much, but rather stay focused on the task at hand - serving his time in Iraq, an experience which he has forged new friendships as well as steel plates on the back of Humvees.
"We're brothers here," he said, speaking with the same conviction he uses when speaking about his wife and daughter back home at Camp Pendleton, Calif. "Stick close, and if you have a problem, let me know. I'll take care of you. That's the way it is out here."
As Schroeder and Rollins continue to fuse steel plates to the CSSC-115 Humvee, two U.S. soldiers drive up in a tan-colored Humvee. They talk to Liske about making an addition to their Humvee.
"They want armor, we give 'em armor," said Liske. "You hear about a vehicle being attacked by an IED, and then you hear that the armor saved three guys in the back of the vehicle. As long as these guys come back alive, that's gratification enough for us."
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