ANA, Marines patrol Now Zad, ensure safety

NOW ZAD, AFGHANISTAN

04.30.2010

Story by Cpl. Daniel Blatter 

II Marine Expeditionary Force   

NOW ZAD, Afghanistan – With the streets of Now Zad being a known hideout for insurgents, Marines combined with the Afghan national security forces are slowly pushing the Taliban fighters out.

As the Marines of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 2maintain a constant presence in Now Zad, the illegal activity is kept to a minimum; however, there are still threats of Taliban activity.

"By us being out here and patrolling on a regular basis, it gives the locals confidence that we are here to help," said Staff Sgt. Leonard Corbett, the communication chief with the Embedded Training Team for the Afghan national army attached to 1st Bn., 2nd Marine Regiment, RCT-2. "It also helps that we always take members of the Afghan national security forces with us."

The two teams patrol the Now Zad area numerous times a week.

"Many patrols we go out on are joint patrols organized with the Police Mentoring Team and the Embedded Training Team," said Cpl. Alex Smith, a team leader with the Police Mentoring Team, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, Regimental Combat Team 2. "On the patrols, we take Marines with both teams as well as several Afghan uniformed policeman and Afghan national army soldiers."

As PMTs and Afghan police teams plan a patrol, they make sure they have all the assets needed to equip themselves to better accomplish their mission. With them are corpsman, translators and members of the Afghan national police and ANA.

"We patrol the area of the bazaar almost every day," Smith said. "We are doing everything we can to make sure the bazaar is as safe as possible, so the people here know there is at least some place that they can go and conduct life as usual."

These security patrols are just one reason the locals of Now Zad choose to stay in the area, raise their children and continue to work.

"With us here, we are denying the enemy the chance to freely roam and carry out acts of violence," said Corbett, 36, from Camden, S.C.

Now Zad is a small city where many of the locals know about insurgent activity and the local patrols are a chance to interact and pick up what they know.

"We are trying to establish a better relationship with the local people, that way they know that they can trust us to do what we can to protect their families and their land," Smith added. "If they know that they can come to the AUP or the ANA with their problems and that the ANA or ANP will take care of them, then they are going to feel safer and come to us with more information or problems."

Each day, the Marines increase the area of their patrols to expand the coalition presence and security outward to some of the more rural areas.

"We are trying to establish a better relationship with the people so they can come to us, trust us and work with us so that we can improve not only the security in the area, but also improve their quality of life."

As the Marines and ANSF continue to work together and improve the security of Now Zad, the area of Now Zad will continue to flourish.

• Date Taken: 04.30.2010
• Date Posted: 05.19.2010 11:20
• Story ID: 49952
• Location: NOW ZAD, AF