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'Betio Bastards' take time out for Iraq's next generation

Marines here will tell that if there is no other reason why they're in Iraq - it's for the kids.

An Iraqi boy looks up to Sgt. Michael D. Grant in his house Husayba, Iraq, during Operation Rubicon, Aug. 25. Grant 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 visit the kids. Grant is a 30-year-old combat engineer from Norman, Okla., and is currently serving a seven-month deployment in the Habbaniyah area under Regimental Combat Team 5.

Marines assigned to K Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment met with neighborhood kids in this small city west of Habbaniyah to show them there is a bright future for Iraq. They made their stop during Operation Rubicon, a company-sized combat mission, Aug. 29.

The "Betio Bastards" of 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment is on duty in Iraq with Regimental Combat Team 5.

"I think kids are the future of this country," said Sgt. Michael D. Grant, a 30-year-old combat engineer squad leader from Norman, Okla., attached to K Company. "If the kids get a good upbringing they are going to run this country when they grow up."

Marines, U.S. Army soldiers and a sailor stopped at houses to find out how they can help the local children. The gruff Marines broke their stern stares for smiles when they got around the pint-sized children.

"You do it for the kids," said Sgt. Jeffrey J. Swartzenfruber, a 25-year-old rifleman from Coral Springs, Fla.

He said they kids remember the watches, candy, high-fives or handshakes they got from a Marine.

At one house Marines went into, they were changed forever. The group met an Iraqi English teacher who was the mother of two children. She invited the men in for something cool to drink but it was her two-year-old son that refreshed them the most.

"I thought he was the cutest kid," Grant said.

He said saw a promising future in the kid's bright-brown eyes.

"His mom is teaching him English so he'll grow up doing something good for his country or the people that are around him," Grant said.

Read more at: http://192.156.19.109/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/1E68CABF01B55F6F852571DC0032A71B?opendocument

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