AL ASAD, Iraq -- As Iraqis took to the polls for the third time this year, Marines from the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing and other units stationed in Iraq, supported Operation Liberty Express, filling vital roles in the security, transportation and livelihood of Iraqi poll workers.
At Camp Liberty, Iraq, a makeshift city that housed nearly 700 election workers and officials, Marines provided security and comfortable living conditions for the poll workers, while others at Al Asad, Iraq, ensured their safe transportation, by air and ground, to polling sites around the country.
“Our basic goal was to provide a secure environment with basic life amenities for the poll workers and (Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq) poll captains,” said Gunnery Sgt. Stephen Ahern, a Castle Rock, Colo., native and staff noncommissioned officer-in-charge of the security element at Camp Liberty.
The security detachment included Marines from every conceivable job specialty and background. After brief refresher courses in basic security tactics, the Marines took to their duties with enthusiasm and skill, Ahern said.
“We were 100 percent successful,” Ahern said of the election process. “This was phase two of the process, the first being the constitutional referendum. Turnout was incredible this time. In one city, only one person voted last time. For these elections, more than 4,000 people turned out.”
The city Ahern spoke of is indicative of the nation as a whole. Spurred largely by significant increases in turnout by Sunni Iraqis, the percentage of Iraqis who voted rose by an estimated 10 percent.
The historical implications of the Iraqi election were not lost on the Marine participants in Operation Liberty Express, who all said they were proud to be able to play a part.
“We’re going to go down in history,” said Cpl. David Fiocco, a North Homestead, Ohio, native. “My daughter will read about this one day.”
Others said they were honored to be part of Iraq’s democratic evolution.
“I feel great to be involved in a process like this,” said Sgt. Jason McClaskey, a Peoria, Ill., native. “We’re taking a country that’s been torn apart and helping put it back together.”
The operation was hard work, but a rare opportunity for the diverse group of Marines to employ skills first learned in recruit training. They patrolled and manned checkpoints, and most of them enjoyed the change of pace.
“It’s good to get out here and get back to the basics,” said Lance Cpl. Carlos Chilla, a Wai Ko Loa, Hawaii, native. “Out here, everyone’s a rifleman. That’s pretty cool.”
Ahern said he likes to see his Marines so excited about a mission and all the work it entails.
“This is a good thing for these Marines,” he said. “Marines like to do Marine things. They were tasked with a mission and they accomplished it well.”
Nowhere was that success more evident than in the faces of millions of Iraqis, raising their fingers in jubilation after voting in their nation’s first parliamentary election.