Lance Cpl. Ken Torok of Reading, Pa., of the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion kneels before a memorial for two slain fellow Marines — Cpls. Scott M. Vincent and Joshua S. Wilfong — at Camp Baharia, Iraq. Vincent and Wilfong were killed April 30 by a car bomb while on patrol. (Charlie Coon / S&S)
Lance Cpl. Ken Torok of Reading, Pa., of the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion kneels before a memorial for two slain fellow Marines — Cpls. Scott M. Vincent and Joshua S. Wilfong — at Camp Baharia, Iraq. Vincent and Wilfong were killed April 30 by a car bomb while on patrol. (Charlie Coon / S&S)
Sgt. Richard Jibson of Muskegon, Mich., and Company D of the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance at Camp Baharia, Iraq, was recently selected as noncommissioned officer of the quarter for the Camp Fallujah-based Regimental Combat Team 1. (Charlie Coon / S&S)
Lance Cpl. Gilbert Pascua of Molokai, Hawaii, and D Company of the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, was recently selected Marine of the quarter for the Camp Fallujah-based Regimental Combat Team 1. (Charlie Coon / S&S)
CAMP BAHARIA, Iraq — A memorial has been built at the 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion camp to remember Cpl. Scott M. Vincent, 21, of Bokoshe, Okla., and Cpl. Joshua S. Wilfong, 22, of Walker, W.Va.
The two scouts with 3rd Platoon died April 30 when a car rigged with a bomb pulled alongside their patrol as it was parked east of Fallujah near Abu Ghraib. At the time, the platoon was checking some artillery pieces that they had spotted along a road.
“I didn’t know Wilfong too much, but I know he really liked his country music,” said Lance Cpl. Ken Torok, 20, of Reading, Pa., also of 3rd Platoon. “Vinnie was a big Sooners football fan. I’d get on him when they lost, but he’d throw back in my face that Penn State didn’t make it to a bowl this year.”
The memorial is about 10 feet square and ringed with barbed wire and includes a white wooden cross, folded flag, two unopened cans of Budweiser N.A., and a can of pistachios, which, troops said, Vincent liked to munch on.
A whopper first year
BAGHDAD — The Burger King at Baghdad International Airport marked its first anniversary on June 11 — and that first year was a busy one.
During the year, the staff at the Army and Air Force Exchange Service’s fast-food franchise has flipped more than 1.2 million burgers, baked 240,000 apple pies, cooked 250,000 pounds of french fries and served 700,000 cans of soda, AAFES officials announced in a recent new release.
“Over 100 warehouse deliveries were made from Kuwait to Baghdad,” AAFES vice president Richard Sheff said in the release.
Currently, AAFES oversees four Burger King and two Pizza Hut restaurants in Iraq.
No language barrier
KARBALA, Iraq — Troops with the Multinational Division Center South in Karbala are a mix of Polish, Thai and U.S. forces working together under Polish command.
On Camp Lima, rows of air-conditioned conexes used for sleeping are filled mainly with men and are like mini ethnic neighborhoods, with different cultures bleeding into one another at the borders. Troops from the different armies naturally mix together, learning new sport skills or about differences in cultures.
One thing all the troops have in common is a lack of female companionship. There are only a handful of women on Camp Lima and throughout the camps in Karbala, which makes them the target of stares and remarks.
Everyone becomes quiet and all eyes go up when a woman enters any tent or room on Camp Lima for the first time. Then comes the barrage of “hellos” in every language present.
Marines honored
CAMP BAHARIA, Iraq — Two Marines from Company D, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, won regiment-level awards last week.
Sgt. Richard Jibson, of Muskegon, Mich., was selected as noncommissioned officer of the quarter for the Camp Fallujah-based Regimental Combat Team 1. All sergeants and corporals in the regiment were eligible.
Lance Cpl. Gilbert Pascua, of Molokai, Hawaii, was selected the regiment’s Marine of the quarter. Privates, privates first class and lance corporals were eligible.
Jibson and Pascua were singled out among hundreds of their peers, and nominated based on past job performance and on how well they answered questions and interviewed with members of a selection board.
