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Isle Marine details
Philippine combat

Christopher Wanat is among
several who describe a
challenging mission against terror


By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

Kaneohe Marine Cpl. Christopher Wanat spent his first month in the Philippines knee-deep in mud with rain steadily coming down.

It was his first combat assignment after enlisting in the Marine Corps out of high school three years ago, and he was part of the largest anti-terrorist operation outside Afghanistan.

Wanat, 21, recently returned to his home station at Marine Corps Base Hawaii after participating as a member of a 180-man security task force sent from Kaneohe Bay to the jungles of Basilan island in Mindanao. The Kaneohe Bay Marines' job was to protect Marine engineers and Navy Seabees from the Abu Sayyaf.

"It was an experience," said Wanat, "but something we had trained for."

At a press conference with other Marines who just returned from the Philippines, Wanat acknowledged that initially, "it was hard to tell who was who since everyone dressed alike. You had to be on your toes. But after a while, you get to know the faces."

Lt. Col. Albert Adler, who commanded Marine Security Element for Joint Task Force 510, said the Kaneohe Marines started arriving in the Philippines in mid-January with some staying as long as six months. There are about 50 Marines from Hawaii still there.

Adler declined to give details about a firefight the Kaneohe Marines were engaged in. A Marine Corps spokesman said that no Marines or Filipino soldiers were injured.

Capt. Jason Perry, who headed a security unit under Adler, said the jungle terrain in the Philippines is "definitely challenging."

Perry said the Marines were spread throughout Basilan, which is the size of Oahu, sometimes providing security at eight construction sites simultaneously.

While Marine engineers and Seabees constructed bridges, roads and landing zones, it was the job of the Kaneohe Marines to protect these sites from the Abu Sayyaf, which is the smallest of the three groups fighting to establish an Iranian-style Islamic state in Mindanao. Leaders of Abu Sayyaf are said to have links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

The Marines were part of the more than 1,200 U.S. troops sent to the southern Philippines to train Filipino soldiers in jungle warfare and counterterrorism to help them defeat the Abu Sayyaf rebels.

The conflict in the southern Mindanao province also involved a bungled rescue operation by Filipino soldiers June 8 -- which led to the deaths of hostages Martin Burnham, an American missionary, and a Filipina nurse, Ediborah Yap.

In June, Adm. Thomas Fargo, U.S. Pacific Forces commander, and Philippine Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Roy Cimatu approved a second round of exercises in the Philippines for 2003 under a bilateral Mutual Defense Treaty.



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