BRUISER
12-19-08, 09:53 AM
Outnumbered 8-1: 'A good day for the Corps' Afghanistan By Peter Bronson
"Our vehicles came under a barrage of enemy RPGs and machine gun fire.
One of our humvees was disabled from RPG fire, and the Marines inside
dismounted and laid down suppression fire so they could evacuate a
Marine who was knocked unconscious from the blast." That's not from an
episode of The Unit or 24. It's not from an anti-war movie. It's not
from any newspaper or TV news reports I could find. The quote comes from
a "designated marksman who requested to remain unidentified." He was
reporting what happened recently in the city of Shewan, Afghanistan. The
story was told in a Marine Corps
News report by Cpl. James M. Mercure.
"The day started out with a 10-km patrol with elements mounted and
dismounted, so by the time we got to Shewan, we were pretty beat," the
marksman said. Mercure reported, "Shewan had been a thorn in the side
of TF 2nd Bn, 7th Marine Regt, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground TF
Afghanistan, throughout the Marines' deployment here in support of OEF,
because it controls an important supply route into the Bala Baluk
district. Opening the route was key to continuing combat ops in the
area."
"The vicious attack that left the humvee destroyed and several of the
Marines pinned down in the kill zone sparked an intense 8-hour battle as
the platoon desperately fought to recover their comrades. After
recovering the Marines trapped in the kill zone, another platoon sgt
personally led numerous attacks on enemy fortified positions, while the
plt fought house to house and trench to trench in order to clear through
the enemy ambush site."
'"The biggest thing to take from that day is what Marines can accomplish
when they're given the opportunity to fight,'" the sniper said. '"A
small group of Marines met a numerically superior force and embarrassed
them in their own backyard. The insurgents told the townspeople that
they were stronger than the Americans, and that day we showed them they
were wrong."'
"During the battle, the designated marksman single handedly thwarted a
co.-sized enemy RPG and machinegun ambush by reportedly killing 20 enemy
fighters with his devastatingly accurate precision fire. He selflessly
exposed himself time and again to intense enemy fire during a critical
point in the 8-hour battle for Shewan, in order to kill any enemy
combatants who attempted to engage or maneuver on the Marines in the
kill zone. What made his actions even more impressive was the fact that
he didn't miss any shots, despite the enemies' rounds impacting within a
foot of his fighting position." '"I was in my own little world,"' the
young corporal said. '"I wasn't even aware of a lot of the rounds
impacting near my position, because I was concentrating so hard on
making sure my rounds were on target."'
"After calling for close-air support, the small group of Marines pushed
forward and broke the enemies' spirit as many of them dropped their
weapons and fled the battlefield. At the end of the battle, the Marines
had reduced an enemy stronghold, killed more than 50 insurgents and
wounded several more.
'"I didn't realize how many bad guys there were until we had broken
through the enemies' lines and forced them to retreat. It was roughly
250 insurgents against 30 of us,"' the corporal said. '"It was a good
day for the Marine Corps. We killed a lot of bad guys, and none of our
guys were seriously injured."'
Such an amazing story of heroism and victory would have been on Page One
in every paper in the country during World War II. Just 30 Marines
giving 8 hours of hell to 250 insurgents, is the kind of story that
would make a good movie - if that kind of movie still could be made.
But these days, it did not even make Page 10. I couldn't find a story
about it anywhere. The only mentions were on conservative blogs and
military Web sites. The soldiers who are fighting for their lives and
our country might as well be in another dimension. News from the
battlefronts in Iraq and Afghanistan is apparently not important.
It reminds the jaded anti-war crowd that they were wrong. We're
winning. It reminds a self-centered nation that some Americans are
making sacrifices much bigger than a loss in their 401(k)s. So we don't
hear about it. But we need to hear news like that, because a good day
for the Marine Corps is a good day for freedom. And that's a good day
for America.
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE
"Our vehicles came under a barrage of enemy RPGs and machine gun fire.
One of our humvees was disabled from RPG fire, and the Marines inside
dismounted and laid down suppression fire so they could evacuate a
Marine who was knocked unconscious from the blast." That's not from an
episode of The Unit or 24. It's not from an anti-war movie. It's not
from any newspaper or TV news reports I could find. The quote comes from
a "designated marksman who requested to remain unidentified." He was
reporting what happened recently in the city of Shewan, Afghanistan. The
story was told in a Marine Corps
News report by Cpl. James M. Mercure.
"The day started out with a 10-km patrol with elements mounted and
dismounted, so by the time we got to Shewan, we were pretty beat," the
marksman said. Mercure reported, "Shewan had been a thorn in the side
of TF 2nd Bn, 7th Marine Regt, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground TF
Afghanistan, throughout the Marines' deployment here in support of OEF,
because it controls an important supply route into the Bala Baluk
district. Opening the route was key to continuing combat ops in the
area."
"The vicious attack that left the humvee destroyed and several of the
Marines pinned down in the kill zone sparked an intense 8-hour battle as
the platoon desperately fought to recover their comrades. After
recovering the Marines trapped in the kill zone, another platoon sgt
personally led numerous attacks on enemy fortified positions, while the
plt fought house to house and trench to trench in order to clear through
the enemy ambush site."
'"The biggest thing to take from that day is what Marines can accomplish
when they're given the opportunity to fight,'" the sniper said. '"A
small group of Marines met a numerically superior force and embarrassed
them in their own backyard. The insurgents told the townspeople that
they were stronger than the Americans, and that day we showed them they
were wrong."'
"During the battle, the designated marksman single handedly thwarted a
co.-sized enemy RPG and machinegun ambush by reportedly killing 20 enemy
fighters with his devastatingly accurate precision fire. He selflessly
exposed himself time and again to intense enemy fire during a critical
point in the 8-hour battle for Shewan, in order to kill any enemy
combatants who attempted to engage or maneuver on the Marines in the
kill zone. What made his actions even more impressive was the fact that
he didn't miss any shots, despite the enemies' rounds impacting within a
foot of his fighting position." '"I was in my own little world,"' the
young corporal said. '"I wasn't even aware of a lot of the rounds
impacting near my position, because I was concentrating so hard on
making sure my rounds were on target."'
"After calling for close-air support, the small group of Marines pushed
forward and broke the enemies' spirit as many of them dropped their
weapons and fled the battlefield. At the end of the battle, the Marines
had reduced an enemy stronghold, killed more than 50 insurgents and
wounded several more.
'"I didn't realize how many bad guys there were until we had broken
through the enemies' lines and forced them to retreat. It was roughly
250 insurgents against 30 of us,"' the corporal said. '"It was a good
day for the Marine Corps. We killed a lot of bad guys, and none of our
guys were seriously injured."'
Such an amazing story of heroism and victory would have been on Page One
in every paper in the country during World War II. Just 30 Marines
giving 8 hours of hell to 250 insurgents, is the kind of story that
would make a good movie - if that kind of movie still could be made.
But these days, it did not even make Page 10. I couldn't find a story
about it anywhere. The only mentions were on conservative blogs and
military Web sites. The soldiers who are fighting for their lives and
our country might as well be in another dimension. News from the
battlefronts in Iraq and Afghanistan is apparently not important.
It reminds the jaded anti-war crowd that they were wrong. We're
winning. It reminds a self-centered nation that some Americans are
making sacrifices much bigger than a loss in their 401(k)s. So we don't
hear about it. But we need to hear news like that, because a good day
for the Marine Corps is a good day for freedom. And that's a good day
for America.
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE