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2nd Recon Battalion Marines keep insurgents on the run

Recon Marines stepped out onto the streets of Fallujah with the keys to the city - bolt cutters and sledge hammers.

Sgt. Sean Manning of B Company, 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 5 holds security over the Fallujah's skyline during Operation Matador, Sept. 13. Marines partnered with Iraqi soldiers and Iraqi Police to disrupt insurgent activity in the Andaloos district of Fallujah, Iraq.

Marines from B Company, 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion cut hundreds of locks, searched hundreds of stores and cleared dozens of buildings in their sector of Fallujah during Operation Matador, Sept. 13. Recon Marines, Iraqi Army soldiers, Iraqi Police and Marines from 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment, partnered for the operation, cordoning off the Andaloos district of Fallujah to disrupt insurgent activity.

All forces are serving under the command of Regimental Combat Team 5.

"We had to have broken more than 200 locks easy," said Sgt. Jason Salvog, a 27-year-old Crystal, Minn. "Some of the doors we got through had five locks on them. We dulled our bolt cutters."

Recon Marines walked onto Fallujah's streets while Iraqi Police, backed by Marines in tanks and amphibious assault vehicles, cordoned the surrounding streets. They crept along the roads, slipping inside the first building they planned to clear.

The two and three-story buildings loomed over the Marines, hundreds of rooms to clear. Gated and shuttered storefronts lined the roads. The normally bustling business area of the Andaloos district was quiet. Only the sounds of Marines' boots on the pavement broke the morning air.

That was until they got to work with the sledge hammers.

"Working in an urban environment is really different than some of the other things we do," said Cpl. Lynn Westover Jr., a 25-year-old from Pinehurst, N.C. "There are so many places people could be. They live there. They know every room. It's like going to your own hometown where you grew up. You just know all the areas."

Marines fanned out throughout the buildings, rifles pointing in all directions. Along the storefronts, others got to work. They pounded locks and cut through steel with bolt cutters to gain access inside. Everything needed to be searched and Recon Marines wouldn't be stopped.

"The toughest part of this operation was the amount of breeches themselves," said Sgt. Chris Zimmerman, a 28-year-old from Austin, Texas. "Every door had locks and it just takes time to get those opened."

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