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Marines pause combat patrol to show goodwill to Iraqis

Marines made their intentions clear to Iraqis during Operation Rubicon, a company-sized combat operation here.

Cpl. Adam T. Williams, a 24-year-old motor transport operator from Mexico, Mo., hands out bottled water to the neighborhood kids of Husayba, Iraq during Operation Rubicon, Aug. 25. Williams and other Marines, U.S. Army and a sailor assigned to K Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment were on a combat mission when they stopped to give the refreshments to the kids. Willliams is currently serving a seven-month deployment in the Habbaniyah area under Regimental Combat Team 5.

They're here to help. It was a clear as the bottles of water they passed out to Iraqi citizens.

Marines and a sailor assigned to K Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment handed out drinkable water to Iraqi women and children during Operation Rubicon Aug. 28. It was an answer to a chronic problem here. Locals have no drinkable water because of water treatment facilities damaged by insurgents and years of neglect under Saddam Hussein's dictatorial control.

"It puts things in perspective," said Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Adam R. Brandon, a 24-year-old hospital corpsman from Nacogdoches, Texas, assigned to K Company. "In the states everybody's got running water. But here, some don't have running water or water that's safe to drink."

Before Marines came along many families resorted to drinking unfiltered water coming from the Euphrates River. The river is full of pollutants. Farm runoffs are dumped directly into the river and in many cases, it is cesspool of human and animal waste.

Most Iraqis get sick from the water. Their communities can't afford to fix their any of the water treatment facilities there.

Marines halted their patrol to answer the call. It wasn't a permanent fix, but at least a gesture of faith. They saw the suffering eased it where they could.

One Marine rushed to his seven-ton truck to pass out refreshments to the thirsty neighborhood kids.

"They were pretty happy to get it so it was nice to give it to them," said Cpl. Adam T. Williams, a motor transport operator assigned to Headquarters and Service Company.

The 24-year-old from Mexico, Mo., said he was glad he could make a difference handing out water to kids.

Marines' turning point came when they were setting up a vehicle checkpoint at a gas station. There, they met an Iraqi family with mentally disabled children.

The family had been there since morning trying to gather up the last of their belongings to before they moved out of this city and away from insurgents, Brandon said.

Read more at: http://192.156.19.109/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/CF31A7B13FC3278C852571DC0033FABB?opendocument

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