During his visit, the Commandant spoke with Col. Lewis A. Craparotta,
commanding officer, RCT-1, and surveyed progress service members are
making in Fallujah and the surrounding regions.
“I
don’t think anyone would have predicted that the al-Anbar Province
would become a model for elsewhere in the nation,” said Conway, during
atown hall meeting aboard the camp.
In the morning, Conway and Craparotta convoyed with a group of Marines
from Camp Fallujah to Camp Blue Diamond in Ramadi, where he met with
several commanders and other staff to discuss joint efforts between
service members and Iraqi Police and Army.
Afterwards,
they had lunch with members of the Iraqi Army and spoke with several of
their senior leadership officials about security throughout the region.
Following the meeting with IA officials, Conway returned to Camp
Fallujah for a town hall meeting at the Chapel of Hope. Marines and
other service members aboard Camp Fallujah packed tightly into the
chapel to listen to what he and Sgt. Maj. Carlton W. Kent, the Sergeant
Major of the Marine Corps, had to say.
The Commandant delivered a message to Marines and other service members about developments in the region.
Conway
also spoke to the crowd about repeated deployments to combat
environments Marines are currently facing today. He said he is pushing
for longer periods of time for Marines to stay in the United States
before deploying again to places like Iraq or Afghanistan.
After Conway and Kent addressed the service members, they opened the floor for questions.
Marines
in the crowd took the opportunity to inquire about numerous issues
ranging from the new Marine Corps physical training uniform and the
Combat Fitness Test, to how November’s presidential election result
might effect future deployments.
Conway
closed by thanking the service members for their continued efforts and
service in Iraq, and reminded those present remain vigilant and stay
alert.
“This is still a dangerous place; you are still drawing combat pay,”
said Conway. “You can still get killed out here if you don’t go about
your business in a serious fashion on a day-to-day basis.”
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