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Conway unveils new running suit in Iraq

Leathernecks in Iraq were the first to see the lone prototype of the Corps’ much-anticipated running suit redesign, after Commandant Gen. James Conway took the new green duds for show-and-tell during his Thanksgiving holiday trip into the combat zones.

Conway left Nov. 19 for a weeklong trip to meet with Marines in the U.S. Central Command area of operations. Traveling with him were Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent, the sergeant major of the Marine Corps; Lt. Gen. George Trautman, deputy commandant for aviation; and Lt. Gen. John Bergman, commander of Marine Forces Reserve.

At each of his town hall-style meetings, the Corps’ top officer brought out the running suit, which was unveiled Nov. 7. The uniform will begin arriving in bulk issue at the end of the year and the early months of next year, Conway told Marines.

Designers were told to reach back into Corps history for the suit’s color, he said. “Make it the color of what Marines wore into Belleau Wood. Make it look like our dress green uniform,” Conway said, according to recordings of his presentations provided by his spokesman, Lt. Col. T.V. Johnson.

The suit sports highly visible reflective tape, is made of moisture-wicking material, and is emblazoned with “Marines” on the back of the jacket. It’s a not-so-insignificant design detail, according to Johnson.

“‘Marines’ encompasses all of us, not just the institution,” including the people who make up the service, Johnson said.

Conway’s whistle-stop tour of Central Command included meetings with Marines deployed in Kuwait; Taqaddum, Iraq; Fallujah; Al Asad Air Base, Iraq; Ramadi; Habbaniyah, Iraq; as well as those deployed in Bagram and Kabul, Afghanistan.

Iraqis appreciative in Ramadi

While in Ramadi, Conway went on both mounted and dismounted foot patrols through a city that was an insurgent stronghold until recently, said Johnson, who accompanied Conway.

“The Iraqis seemed enthusiastic to have Marines there,” Johnson said.

That was not the case in Hadithah, he said.

“It’s not kinetic, yet not as friendly as Ramadi,” he said of the patrol. “Kinetics are way down in Hadithah. People just didn’t seem convinced there. They’re not as enthused with our presence.”

Present-day Ramadi is an example of what could happen in Hadithah, he added. “If you look at Ramadi 10 months ago, you were ducking building to building to not get shot.”

Conway got a first-hand look at two of the Corps’ newest battlefield machines in Iraq — the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle and the MV-22 Osprey, which deployed in September with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263.

The 10 Ospreys in Iraq are being used to fill the same type of missions typically taken on by CH-46s and CH-53Ds, including troop transport, Johnson said.

The Marine battle in Iraq has changed over the course of the war, and for the better, Conway told Marines gathered in a dining hall in Taqaddum.

“We just got finished with a short visit over at the medical facility here. [It’s] pretty empty, and that’s a good thing,” he said. “It’s just incredible to see what has happened with this place.

“Al Anbar is now, I think, a model for the rest of the country, and there’s a level of optimism about what is taking place here that I don’t think anyone expected to see at this point in time.”

He urged the Marines to find pride in the progress, and he acknowledged the multiple deployments that have kept the Corps returning to Anbar province.

“This is home to us in a lot of ways,” Conway said.