February19, 2007: As part of the effort to give all marines an opportunity to serve in Iraq, the U.S. Marine Corps is sending the 1st Stinger Battery, Marine Air Control Group 18, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing. The 130 marines and sailors in this unit normally provide dozens of Stinger teams, each using shoulder fired Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to take down low-flying enemy aircraft. But since the bad guys in Iraq have no air force at all, the 1st Stinger Battery will use their rifles to help provide security around air bases in Iraq. Both the army and the marines have been sending all sorts of support units to Iraq, even if their specialty is not needed. The troops can help out with "force protection" duties. The effort to protect U.S. bases has been a massive, and largely unreported, one. It is one of the big success stories in Iraq, because there have been only a handful of successful attacks inside these bases, while thousands of terrorists have died trying to get in.