Dana Osterhout, a graduate of Burley High School (86), agreed to address the Burley Lions Club on November 12, 2004. He typically shies away from interviews and speaking requests, but his sister, who is employed by Bill Parsons, (a member of the club) convinced him that the Lions were worthy of his time. That and the fact he was going to get a free lunch out of the deal, convinced him to agree.

Dana joined the United States Marines after graduating from High School. He has been deployed in numerous locations across the world and has a broad base of experience.

When Turkey, at the last minute, denied the coalition forces access to a base in their country from which to launch the attack into Iraq from the North, using tanks, special forces were deployed in the North instead. They proved so effective in their campaign that it inspired the Pentagon to make a request for more special unit forces. The Marines, who used to have a special forces unit called the "Marine Raiders", back in World War II, re-established a unit of special forces and were deployed to Iraq.

Dana was encouraged at this point to transfer to this special unit based on his wealth of experience and abilities. He passed through their screening and joined a uniquely qualified and experienced group of approximately 100 men in Iraq. If this unit proves useful, the apparent plan is to make them a permanent fixture in the Marine Corp.

Dana was able to give the club members and guests, a feel for what life and war has been like in Iraq without getting into any classified details that he is not permitted to speak of.

He talked about the advancements and technologies that are now available to the soldier on the ground. The modern soldier, in Iraq, for example, doesn't rely on a paper map and magnetic compass as they once did, but sophisticated satellite mapping capabilities tied to computer technology, that give the soldier a real time view of terrain they need to navigate.

Significant advancements have been made to body armor. It is now lighter, more flexible, and can prevent a much larger caliber projectile from penetrating. It also covers more of the soldiers body than it used to. All together however, this body armor and equipment can weigh around 70 to 80 pounds. Many of the soldiers become less vigilant about wearing all of their protection after awhile. Dana believes that casualties would be reduced beyond what they have been, if the soldiers were fully armored up. He personally admits however, that he too, after a few months, would start to shed some of the equipment in favor of comfort.

Instead of the common canteen, the modern soldier has pouches built into the uniform where a 100ML plastic bladder can be slid into, with a tube that can hang over the shoulder close to the mouth. These camel backs are similar to what mountain bikers commonly use.

Dana mentioned that all of the rifles they use have a "railing system" to which they can attach various optical assists, according to the situation and their personal preference. The assists and the advancements in weaponry, make even the bigger "fully automatic machine guns" typically thought of as more of a "spray" weapon, to be surprisingly pinpoint with its accuracy.

The snipers in Iraq are playing a large role. They have been employed a lot in the past several months in light of the political desire to lessen the broad destruction of certain areas and lessen the chance of hurting unintended targets and also lessen the destruction of buildings. Dana described participation in some of those missions.

When Dana arrived in Iraq in April it was about 115 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. By the time the winter arrived and the temperature was in the 80's again. By then 80 felt cold.

His living quarters for much of the time were servant quarters of Saddam's former palaces. The food was plentiful and good. Their living space was air conditioned and comfortable. Phones and Internet connections were always available to help them maintain contact with their family at home. Not everyone had such nice conditions all the time but in general, most of the living conditions are very good.

Dana felt that his 6 month deployment was just right and felt bad for those in other branches of the service that have had to stay for a year or more. He said they are getting those longer deployment schedules changed to 6 months.

Dana believes that most of the people our troops are fighting in Iraq, are not actually Iraqis. He believes they are foreigners from neighboring countries such as Iran and Pakistan.

He respects the religion of Islam and the right of a people to have a different faith.

The majority of people in Iraq, he says, want us there and want our assistance. He believes some of those that say they don't, are threatened by those that would do them harm if they said otherwise. Dana didn't meet anyone outside of the city that didn't just love them being there. These people were typically poor. He suspects that some of those that are angry, are those within the city that used to be rich, under the former regime, and are now mad that they are not as financially comfortable as they once were.

Dana was shot at but fortunately the Iraqis proved to be poor marksmen.

The Burley Lions Club is very grateful for Dana's presentation and his service to our Country.

The question and answer session proved very interesting. If you were not there, I bet you now wish you were.