Seattle Times
March 17, 2006

1,000 More Sailors Expected To Join Ground Forces In Iraq

By Alex Fryer, Seattle Times staff reporter

Three years after Baghdad fell, the Navy is poised to dramatically increase the number of sailors in Iraq and Afghanistan, filling gaps in Army and Marine Corps units.

The seamen, called "individual augmentees," support ground operations thousands of miles from the nearest port, in deployments that can be far different from the Navy's traditional role.

Last year, about 400 sailors from naval bases at Everett, Whidbey Island, Bangor and Bremerton were called to fill specific jobs ashore. Most involved security, communications, construction and administrative duties, on yearlong deployments. For example, some helped staff prisons and others drove trucks.

New requests for Navy personnel in the Middle East and Afghanistan are coming in weekly. There are 4,000 sailors in Iraq - a number that is expected to increase to 5,000 in the next few months. It is unclear how many more sailors will be called to serve ashore by the end of the year.

"Ground forces have been in a very tough rotation over the last several years, and if we can pitch in to help relieve some of that, we're going to do that," Adm. Michael Mullen said during a recent interview with reporters. "We are replacing some of the Marines and soldiers who are on the ground. ... I couldn't tell you exactly what it's going to grow to."

The sailors do not perform raids or attack insurgent positions. But some of their missions, particularly defusing homemade bombs, can be dangerous.

Though most sailors sent to Iraq and Afghanistan volunteer, Navy officials say everyone should be prepared to serve.

"If you're wearing a uniform, you're a volunteer for whatever the military needs from you," said Lt. Trey Brown, a Navy spokesman. "We want to take the people who are more eager, but everybody has got to be ready to go."

Not all sailors are enthusiastic about the Navy's support role.

A Naval Academy graduate based in San Diego received orders on Wednesday to report to another base in 12 days and ship out to Iraq, even after he specifically turned down a request to volunteer. To him, the program refutes pronouncements by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that the Army is "battle-hardened" but in good shape.

"Rumsfeld says the Army is not stretched too thin, but you have sailors relieving the Army," said the officer, who wished to remain anonymous. "A little straightforwardness goes a long way. We'd like the same from the folks on high."

There are 356,429 Navy personnel on active duty; about 36,500 are deployed around the world.

Requests for naval manpower in the region come from Central Command, which oversees all military operations from the Horn of Africa to Central Asia. The requests pass through Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk, Va., where it is determined which naval regions will be asked to draw sailors. Navy Region Northwest includes facilities in Washington, Alaska, Oregon and Idaho.

Selecting officers and enlisted personnel from ships and shore duty is a delicate balancing act, said Brown, the Navy spokesman.

"They don't want to decimate a certain area. We want to manage this so we don't inhibit the Navy's mission at sea."

The Navy asks for service members with specific training or skills such as electronic warfare officers. But the call also goes out for "Any Rate" sailors with indeterminate skills.

"They need a body to fill a spot," said Petty Officer Dustin Hill, who is assigned to the USS Alabama, a ballistic nuclear submarine homeported at Bangor.

There is a lot of talk on base about going to Iraq, he said, but so far, most submariners aren't worried that they will be selected against their will.

"People feel like they're safe," Hill said. "We trained to be on submarines. It just doesn't make sense" for the submariners to support combat operations.

Master Chief John Gross, stationed at Naval Station Everett, volunteered to go to Afghanistan from October 2004 to April 2005, joining an operations center that followed the movement of ground forces and summarized daily events.

For him, the duty offered a unique opportunity to participate in war.

"It's a slice of life I would have never gotten to experience if I hadn't put my arm in the air to volunteer," he said.

When a Navy vessel heads out to sea, the sailors on board have trained with each other. But when sailors deploy to land combat, they often go alone and serve under a different branch of the military.

Gross said he worked well with the other services, but there is evidence not all deployments have gone smoothly.

In January 2003, nine medics assigned to Naval Hospital Oak Harbor left to serve with the 1st Marine Division in Iraq.

During an interview with Navy Criminal Investigative Services, which was investigating a report of prisoner abuse by the medics, one corpsman said the Navy guys were not well-liked among the Marines.

"I cannot say I was well-received by the Marines with which I was assigned," said the medic, whose name was blocked out in the file. "I believe they think of us as lazy [Navy] Corpsman who do not do a thing."

Investigators later determined the allegations of abuse were false.

Christine Wormuth, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., said individual sailors risk being the "odd man out" when they integrate into other units.

Over time, she said, the stress of such deployments could erode the attractiveness of the Navy, and present a recruitment and retention problem.

The Pentagon "is trying to find ways to put Navy personnel in jobs that are muddy-boots-type jobs," she said.

Gross said volunteers at Naval Station Everett were easy to come by, particularly for general deployments that appeal to lower-ranked sailors.

Depending on their pay rate, service members can double their salaries by working in combat zones, though it's not money that motivates most volunteers, he said.

"You can read something in a news article or see something on TV, but there is no substitute to actually being immersed in a 360-degree view with all the sights and smells," Gross said.

"Money is money. The experience overrides it."

yeah, I would like to, but I have this whole thing of having to be released from the nuke program in order to go. Now one of the guys I work with is getting orders to do this (he requested). I think it's because the admiral saw him drive a forklift (poorly).

Personally, I don't see why Sailors haven't been assigned there long ago. Sailors have long gripped about endless sea duty, and many would sell thier left nut for some long term shore duty. Soooo here it is boyz.

gunny -I was wondering what comments this would bring Saliors have been there since the re-building began Saliors are not Combat trained I would trust a Salior to protect me just as much as I would trust a Marine when I went to Battle Stations on a Navy Ship.

Understand your sentiment concerning combat training, however, I don't think these guys are gonna be knocking down doors and searching for insurgents. Plenty of tasks that can be assigned to Sailors so that those that have the combat training can go and do that sort of mission.

gunny- if the so called Green Zone is well covered they will not have any problems Navy Personal are capable of taking care of themselves but according to the Seatle Times they are only adding 1,000 more men so it will work US Navy stood peremiter guard in Vietnam when the Marines went out on a sweep I don't think they will take Specialist off of Ships to go to Iraq maybe MAA and trained personal for duty on Convey duty I think a lot of those Guards are already Navy.Maybe Prison Guards.

People of all rates will most likely end up going. Don't need to be a MAA to know how to drive a truck. The guy that I work with that I mentioned earlier is a nuke EM.

nukemech1-Yes but what is his Pay Grade.

His Rate is EM, like I posted. Electricians Mate. Now Rank, he's a Second Class.

nuke- I will say this he either is not very good at his job or is on someone's shit list or his billet is to full .

Nah, he just kept pushing to get these orders. Now, the rest of us have been told that we don't apply so don't even try. And yes, he is also trying to go to the surface side of nukedom as well.

nuke- that sounds about right the Navy has always been pretty secure about giveing their people good schooling but also protecting their interest in those same.Sounds like he is trying to get in Surface Duty.

Yep, the only thing right now is that surface nuke EM is full. There's another guy I work with that is probably going to be disqualified subs, and they won't let him go surface EM as a nuke because of that. So he's just going to take the med discharge out.

nukemech-apparently you are a Machinist & the EM is Elect. what kind of training do you have that other MM & EMs don't have.

We go through an almost conventional A-schooling. There is some stuff that they have pulled from the curriculum, but not much. Then there is a 6 month Power School. Take 4 years of nuc engineering and crunch it into 6 months, and you about have it. Then there is the 6 months of Prototype. This is where nukes learn to qualify, stand watch, and operate a nuke plant safely. Sounds stupid about the prototype, I know, but it was developed to ease fears from congress, and the people. It all adds up to about a year and a half of schooling.

nukemech- was your A school simlar to regular MM A- school.I was a EN but MM &EN A- school were almost the same.Was not much difference until C- School and then of course B- School was a Specislist.

I have never been to the actual conventional A-school, but I can't see it being too much different. We learned boiler steam plant stuff in the A-school down in SC.

nukemech-I was wondering what Rate are you the only Rank the USN has is Officers . Not trying to be a Hard Ass or anything just trying to find out your Rate.

MM1

nukemech1-just wondered is your Crow the same as a regular MM