Commander details U.S. Marines' role in taking back Ramadi from ISIS

Marines who fought one of the toughest battles in the Iraq War were close enough to hear the Iraqis retake Ramadi from the Islamic State group, evoking strong emotions as leathernecks rooted to see the city where they lost friends retaken from the terror group.

Col. William McCollough, who led the Marine Corps' crisis response force for the Middle East through, credits his troops with helping the Iraqi army retake Ramadi during their six-month deployment to five countries in the region. He had advise and assist teams on the ground in Iraq, pilots dropping bombs on ISIS targets and Marines prepping allies to fight the terror group.

"It's great to be able to tell the Marines and sailors as we come back, 'Listen, you were there during such an important time,'" McCollough said Thursday during a media roundtable at the Pentagon. "...Those were our advisers, our support helped them do that."

There were 2,300 Marines deployed with the third rotation of Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force—Crisis Response—Central Command, which wrapped up its deployment last month. It included members of 1st Battalion, 7th Marines; Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 165; and Combat Logistics Battalion 7. They were recently replaced by members of 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines; 2nd and 3rd Marine Aircraft Wings; and Combat Logistics Battalion 5. Those Marines will complete an extended nine-month deployment.
Several of McCollough's Marines operating at Al Taqaddum Air Base had deployed to Ramadi a decade prior. While seeing the capital city of Anbar province fall to ISIS in 2014 was heartbreaking to many Marines, McCollough said they can take pride in being there to see it won back.

“For some, it was very poignant to have ... the Iraqi army at one point losing Ramadi — you have emotions associated with that," he said. “You have equally good emotions when you see the Iraqi army take Ramadi back."
The Marines at Al Taqaddum were getting daily updates on the Iraqi's months-long fight to retake Ramadi. When they arrived in October, the Iraqis had surrounded the city, but the real fight hadn't yet begun.

There were also Marines about 100 miles away at Al Asad, advising more troops there. The Marines also provided logistics, communications, intelligence and air support in Iraq, he said.

“We helped them do their plans, prepare for the battle, and then obviously air support as they are in the fight,” McCollough said.
Aviators deployed with the unit dropped 667 bombs on more than 500 ISIS targets, he said. They logged more than 4,100 combat hours while flying roughly 570 sorties.

Even though the Iraqi forces were able to retake Ramadi in December after a seven-month slog with ISIS, it didn't come without cost. The city was completely leveled, and more than 50,000 Iraqi civilians were displaced.
The fight is also far from over, too, as the Iraqi military shifts its focus toward retaking the northern city of Mosul, which is at least four times the size of Ramadi.

McCollough said the Iraqis are up for the fight though — they gained a lot of confidence after crushing ISIS in Ramadi.

“They look taller, they act taller,” he said. “We’ve seen a reversal: [ISIS] at one point was 10 feet tall, now the Iraqi soldiers are 10 feet tall.”

Matthew L. Schehl covers training and education, recruiting, West Coast Marines, MARSOC, and operations in Europe, Africa and the Middle East for Marine Corps Times. He can be reached at [login to see] .