March 8, 2007

IP Draws Big Numbers in Al Anbar

CAMP ELLIS — In an unprecedented move by local leaders in the town of Barwanah, a village of 20,000 citizens in the Anbar Province of Iraq, the largest number of Iraqi Police recruits ever recruited from the area were processed in a recruit screening this week.

In an area where virtually no Iraqi Police existed before, more than 60 volunteers were rounded up by tribal sheiks to serve as the security force for the village and surrounding area.

According to Capt. Lance Davis, company commander for Fox Co., 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, the success of the IP recruiting screening is the culmination of ongoing security operations being spearheaded by Battalion Landing Team, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment and Fox 2/3.

Because of the secure environment the Marines provided for the Iraqi citizens, tribal sheiks realized now was the time to start their own security force if the city was going to move forward and become a more stabilized environment, explained Davis, a native of Yosemite National Park, Calif.

(PHOTO: Iraqi Police recruits arrive at Camp Ellis, the combat outpost where the Camp Pendleton-based Battalion Landing Team 2/4 is currently conducting operations. The most recent recruit screening yielded more than 60 applicants from Barwanah, a village of some 20,000 on the banks of the Euphrates River in the Anbar Province. The success of the recruiting event is the culmination of months of security operations in the Haditha Triad.)

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