OIF/Transition of Iraq (2003-04)/Camp Marez Mosul, Iraq
From Month/Year
May / 2003
To Month/Year
June / 2004
Description Camp Marez was near the Mosul Airfield, initially home to the 101st Airborne Division rear command post and various other units. It was initially known as Camp Performance, then Forward Operating Base/Fire Base Glory, and then Camp Marez.
The provenance of the nomenclature "Fire Base Glory" was unclear, since no associated units used that nickname, and there did not appear to have been a "Fire Base Glory" in any previous deployment. The fact of the existence of this location was poorly attested, by a single Army News story. The possiblity could not be excluded that this report reflected a misunderstanding of "Firebase Gloria," the subject of the 1989 movie The Siege of Firebase Gloria starring R. Lee Ermey, Wings Hauser, and Albert Popwell. Based on the true story, this film follows the struggle of a group of Marines as they attempt to defend Firebase Gloria during the 1968 Tet Offensive in South Vietnam, even though they were greatly outnumbered.
A quick response by Iraqi firefighters on Fire Base Glory helped ensured the safety of soldiers, as well as save government equipment after an Army front-end loader struck an unseen land mine on post. Specialist Curtis Lee Cashion of 877th Engineer Battalion from Hamilton, Alabama, was driving the loader at the time of the explosion. The ball of fire engulfed the front scoop and hydraulic system, and Cashion immediately jumped out of the vehicle and moved to safety. 1st Lieutenant Jason Sayre, mayor staff officer-in-charge of Fire Base Glory, saw the explosion through his office window and immediately called the fire team into action. Within 3 minutes, the 3-man Iraqi team had sprung into action and extinguished the fire. The men, David Salim Mahmoud, Ausama Amed Ali, and Mahmoud Younis Mahiob, were recommended for the Commanding General's "Hero Program," and were commended by 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Commander Major General David H. Petraeus in a ceremony on 23 October 2003.
In early 2004, FOB Glory / Fire Base Glory was renamed Camp Marez.
On 21 December 2004, at 2:01 PM, an explosion tore through a crowded US military mess tent during lunch service, killing at least 22 people, and wounding 69. 19 of the dead were US soldiers. The explosion was caused when a suicide bomber disguised as an Iraqi National Guard trainee blew himself up inside the mess tent
