This story touched me.....
shack
Posts: 11,154
Regardless of your thoughts on the War In Iraq....
DO NOT forget about these guys. Say a prayer of thanks every day to for what they are sacrificing and to ask God to keep them safe....
I'm glad these "young people" are on our side!
Weary GIs endure relentless combat
Sat Nov 13, By Tom Lasseter Knight Ridder/Tribune news
Jump out. Kick in door. Spray machine-gun fire. Run to rooftop. Kill enemy. Jump back into armored vehicle. Move to new location.
Repeat.
So goes the battle for Fallujah as experienced Friday by the exhausted and bewildered soldiers of the 3rd Brigade of the Army's 1st Infantry Division. Flanked by Marines, the bleary-eyed troops led the southern push to corner die-hard Sunni Muslim insurgents who were the last obstacles to full American control of the city.
"Our goal right now -- we feel we've broken their back and their spirit -- is to keep the heat on them," Marine Lt. Gen. Thomas Sattler, commander of the offensive, said of the militant holdouts.
That is where the 1st ID comes in. Hyped up on No-Doz and survival instincts, the soldiers thrust toward rebel strongholds with four days of relentless combat showing on their faces. They lost their sense of time and place. They did not know 22 of their colleagues had died or about 170 were wounded in other parts of the city. They did not know what day it was.
They were not certain what they were accomplishing.
"I'm not sure about stabilizing Iraq (news - web sites)," said Spec. John Bandy, 23, of Little Rock, Ark., sucking on a cigarette as bullets ricocheted nearby. "I'm not sure it will be better when we're gone, but it's gotten to the point of retribution for all the things that have happened. The beheadings, the bombings and everything."
In the face of death, little things took on importance. Soldiers wondered how their favorite football teams were doing or where their wives took their kids for dinner.
Sleep virtually impossible
When it rained, they trudged through mud that dried and turned to dust flecking skin, hair and gear. None of them had bathed or changed clothes in nearly five days. Sleep became impossible. Crammed six to a bench in the back of Bradley Fighting Vehicles, they were a sweat-soaked, blood-spattered stinking mess.
The 3rd Brigade, normally based in Vilseck, Germany, came to Iraq eight months ago. A microcosm of America, the brigade includes Midwesterners from Sheboygan, Wis., city kids from East Los Angeles and New Jersey and Southerners from Augusta, Ga. They are white, black and American Indian. Spec. Frederick Ofori, 24, is from Ghana. Their base in Iraq is Muqdadiya, a mostly Sunni city 70 miles northeast of Baghdad.
The brigade's rank and file was given just a few days' notice of their role on the front lines of Operation Dawn. Many have not even told their families that they are in Fallujah. After days of relentless fighting, the soldiers no longer winced through a symphony of rifle fire, artillery booms, AK-47 bursts and grenade explosions.
Seemingly interminable Bradley rides ended suddenly.
"Dismount!" a soldier yelled. The back gate dropped and troops poured out, running as fast as they could toward the nearest wall. They dropped to their knees and got ready to shoot. After a big fight, gunners emptied their turrets and sent bullet casings clinking to the ground.
Reporters embedded with the military are not allowed to report American deaths or injuries in much detail. But bad news sometimes crackled across a radio, silencing the laughter and grumbles inside the Bradley.
Other times, death was closer. A soldier outside his tank was directing traffic when he dropped dead of a sniper bullet. Another was killed by a grenade injury to his chest. Fragments of a rocket-propelled grenade shattered the ankle of a third.
1st Lt. Jeff Emery, 24, of Ramsey, N.J., voiced the frustration of many soldiers when he complained Friday about bursting into a house only to find it empty. The Iraqi home he stood in had lost a large chunk of its roof to American artillery. Rain fell through the hole, and soldiers tried to doze on the concrete floor.
Emery's Bradley was hit by rocket-propelled grenade shrapnel Friday afternoon. So were two others in the platoon.
`Hard to maneuver'
"It's hard to maneuver against [the insurgents] because we have so many guys and vehicles, and there's just a few of them, who can drop their weapons and run," Emery said. "Every tim
e we do a mass invasion, it seems like most of them are gone."
The soldiers shared laughs during the more surreal moments, such as when a psychological-operations truck rolled through the city blaring the theme song to the movie "Team America: World Police." In the film, Rambo-like puppets hunt terrorists and blow up the Eiffel Tower in the process. There is no need to thank us, the puppets tell outraged Parisians.
Later that night, 500-pound bombs fell on Fallujah.
DO NOT forget about these guys. Say a prayer of thanks every day to for what they are sacrificing and to ask God to keep them safe....
I'm glad these "young people" are on our side!
Weary GIs endure relentless combat
Sat Nov 13, By Tom Lasseter Knight Ridder/Tribune news
Jump out. Kick in door. Spray machine-gun fire. Run to rooftop. Kill enemy. Jump back into armored vehicle. Move to new location.
Repeat.
So goes the battle for Fallujah as experienced Friday by the exhausted and bewildered soldiers of the 3rd Brigade of the Army's 1st Infantry Division. Flanked by Marines, the bleary-eyed troops led the southern push to corner die-hard Sunni Muslim insurgents who were the last obstacles to full American control of the city.
"Our goal right now -- we feel we've broken their back and their spirit -- is to keep the heat on them," Marine Lt. Gen. Thomas Sattler, commander of the offensive, said of the militant holdouts.
That is where the 1st ID comes in. Hyped up on No-Doz and survival instincts, the soldiers thrust toward rebel strongholds with four days of relentless combat showing on their faces. They lost their sense of time and place. They did not know 22 of their colleagues had died or about 170 were wounded in other parts of the city. They did not know what day it was.
They were not certain what they were accomplishing.
"I'm not sure about stabilizing Iraq (news - web sites)," said Spec. John Bandy, 23, of Little Rock, Ark., sucking on a cigarette as bullets ricocheted nearby. "I'm not sure it will be better when we're gone, but it's gotten to the point of retribution for all the things that have happened. The beheadings, the bombings and everything."
In the face of death, little things took on importance. Soldiers wondered how their favorite football teams were doing or where their wives took their kids for dinner.
Sleep virtually impossible
When it rained, they trudged through mud that dried and turned to dust flecking skin, hair and gear. None of them had bathed or changed clothes in nearly five days. Sleep became impossible. Crammed six to a bench in the back of Bradley Fighting Vehicles, they were a sweat-soaked, blood-spattered stinking mess.
The 3rd Brigade, normally based in Vilseck, Germany, came to Iraq eight months ago. A microcosm of America, the brigade includes Midwesterners from Sheboygan, Wis., city kids from East Los Angeles and New Jersey and Southerners from Augusta, Ga. They are white, black and American Indian. Spec. Frederick Ofori, 24, is from Ghana. Their base in Iraq is Muqdadiya, a mostly Sunni city 70 miles northeast of Baghdad.
The brigade's rank and file was given just a few days' notice of their role on the front lines of Operation Dawn. Many have not even told their families that they are in Fallujah. After days of relentless fighting, the soldiers no longer winced through a symphony of rifle fire, artillery booms, AK-47 bursts and grenade explosions.
Seemingly interminable Bradley rides ended suddenly.
"Dismount!" a soldier yelled. The back gate dropped and troops poured out, running as fast as they could toward the nearest wall. They dropped to their knees and got ready to shoot. After a big fight, gunners emptied their turrets and sent bullet casings clinking to the ground.
Reporters embedded with the military are not allowed to report American deaths or injuries in much detail. But bad news sometimes crackled across a radio, silencing the laughter and grumbles inside the Bradley.
Other times, death was closer. A soldier outside his tank was directing traffic when he dropped dead of a sniper bullet. Another was killed by a grenade injury to his chest. Fragments of a rocket-propelled grenade shattered the ankle of a third.
1st Lt. Jeff Emery, 24, of Ramsey, N.J., voiced the frustration of many soldiers when he complained Friday about bursting into a house only to find it empty. The Iraqi home he stood in had lost a large chunk of its roof to American artillery. Rain fell through the hole, and soldiers tried to doze on the concrete floor.
Emery's Bradley was hit by rocket-propelled grenade shrapnel Friday afternoon. So were two others in the platoon.
`Hard to maneuver'
"It's hard to maneuver against [the insurgents] because we have so many guys and vehicles, and there's just a few of them, who can drop their weapons and run," Emery said. "Every tim
e we do a mass invasion, it seems like most of them are gone."
The soldiers shared laughs during the more surreal moments, such as when a psychological-operations truck rolled through the city blaring the theme song to the movie "Team America: World Police." In the film, Rambo-like puppets hunt terrorists and blow up the Eiffel Tower in the process. There is no need to thank us, the puppets tell outraged Parisians.
Later that night, 500-pound bombs fell on Fallujah.
"Just because youre offended doesnt mean youre right." - Ricky Gervais
"For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible." - Stuart Chase
"Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago." - Bernard Berenson
"For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible." - Stuart Chase
"Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago." - Bernard Berenson
Post edited by RyanC_Masimo on
Comments
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Later that night, 500-pound bombs fell on Fallujah.
my favorite part -
I agree Airplay, my favorite parts as well!- Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
