Dapartment Of Defense News
A Marine assigned to 1st Marine
Expeditionary Force died due to enemy action in Iraq's Anbar province today.
The Marine's name is being withheld pending notification of next of
kin.
The Defense Department also released the identities of three
servicemembers who were killed recently supporting the war on terror:
- Marine Lance Cpl. Geofrey R. Cayer, 20, of Fitchburg, Mass., died
July 18 from a non-hostile incident in Anbar province, Iraq. He was
assigned to 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1st
Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.
- Army Sgt. Mark R. Vecchione, 25, of Tucson, Ariz, died July 18 in
Ramadi, Iraq, of injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device
detonated near his M1A1 Abrams tank. Vecchione was assigned to the 1st
Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment, 1st Armored Division, Friedberg, Germany.
- Army Staff Sgt. Robert J. Chiomento, 34, of Fort Dix, N.J., died July
17 in Khwaya Ahmad, Afghanistan, when his patrol encountered enemy
forces using rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. Chiomento was assigned
to the 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team,
10th Mountain Division, Fort Polk, La.
Military aircraft and sea vessels will
evacuate more than 4,000 Americans from Lebanon today, DoD officials said.
Officials expect the USS Trenton, the USS Whidbey Island and the
contract carrier Rahmah to carry around 4,200 American citizens to safety,
Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Gary Keck said. The Navy ships will carry
evacuees to Cyprus, and the Rahmah will carry roughly 1,400 Americans to
Mersin, Turkey.
Cypriot officials said they expect roughly 60,000 evacuees of all
nationalities in the country, and the evacuation is straining its resources.
Turkey has offered the seaport of Mersin as an overflow area. Once
American evacuees arrive in Mersin, they will bus to nearby Incirlik Air
Base, where the State Department will have chartered air lines to
transport them back to the United States.
In the last 24 hours, slightly more than 2,100 Americans reached safety
in Cyprus, Keck said. Most arrived on the island nation aboard the USS
Nashville.
The last ship to join the evacuation flotilla is the fast ferry
Vittoria M, an Italian-flagged contract carrier. It is scheduled to arrive in
the next 24 hours, Keck said.
Almost all assets to be used in evacuating U.S. citizens are now in
theater, Keck said. With the addition of the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike
Group, U.S. officials have the capability of transporting 7,000
evacuees a day. Keck said the ships and aircraft will remain in place until
all Americans who want to have left the combat zone.
Around 6,100 American servicemembers are participating in the operation
-- about 5,900 ashore and the rest in Beirut and Cyprus. The Defense
Logistics Agency is assisting with the evacuation effort by immediately
shipping 24,000 individual military meals by military air to Cyprus. The
agency also is providing 2,000 cots and blankets and ensuring fuel is
available for U.S. military planes and vessels involved in the
evacuation.
