...One Marines letter home!
Over the past several weeks, several letters from various soldiers/marines sent home have been published in papers or read aloud on Fox, CNN, MSNBC, etc. I thought I'd list one myself that I was e-mailed to me from a friend in the service....it's among many that are making their way among the various services...and have instinctivly began finding their way to civilian eyes....in some small way it may allow us humble "Armchair Generals & Coffee-Klutch Diplomats" a look into the dangerous and often uncommended job our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines do from the safe and sterile environs of our homes....
Email from Iraq - 19 November 2004
From LtCol Dave Bellon USMC:
Dear Dad -
Just came out of the city and I honestly do not know where to start. I
am afraid that whatever I send you will not do sufficient honor to the men
who fought and took Fallujah.
Shortly before the attack, Task Force Fallujah was built. It consisted
of three Regimental Combat Teams (RCT). Each Regiment consisted of a Light
Armored Reconnaissance (LAR) Battalion, two Marine Rifle Battalions
reinforced, and one Army mechanized infantry battalion.
RCT-1 consisted of 3rd LAR, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines (3/5); 3rd
Battalion, 1st Marines (3/1) and 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry (2/7).
RCT-7 was slightly less weighted but still a formidable force.
Cutting a swath around the city was an Army Brigade known as Blackjack.
The Marine RCT's were to assault the city while Blackjack kept the enemy off
of the backs of the assault force.
The night prior to the actual invasion, we all moved out into the desert
just north of the city. It was something to see. You could just feel the
intensity in the Marines and Soldiers. It was all business.
As the day cleared, the Task Force began striking targets and moving into
final attack positions. As the invasion force commenced its movement into
attack positions, 3rd LAR led off RCT-1's offensive with an attack up a
peninsula formed by the Euphrates River on the west side of the city. Their
mission was to secure the Fallujah Hospital and the two bridges leading out
of the city. They executed these tasks like clockwork and smashed the enemy
resistance holding the bridges.
Simultaneous to all of this, Blackjack sealed the escape routes to the
south of the city. As invasion day dawned, the net was around the city.
The Marines and Soldiers knew that the enemy that failed to escape was now
sealed.
3/5 began the actual attack on the city by taking an apartment complex on
the northwest corner of the city. It was key terrain as the elevated
positions allowed the command to look down into the attack lanes. The
Marines took the apartments quickly and moved to the rooftops and began
engaging enemy that were trying to move into their fighting positions. The
scene on the rooftop was surreal. Machine gun teams were running boxes of
ammo up 8 flights of stairs in full body armor and carrying up machine guns
while snipers engaged enemy shooters. The whole time the enemy was firing
mortars and rockets at the apartments. Honest to God, I don't think I saw a
single Marine even distracted by the enemy fire. Their squad leaders, and
platoon commanders had them prepared and they were executing their assigned
tasks.
As mentioned, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry joined the Regiment just prior
to the fight. In fact, they started showing up for planning a couple of
weeks in advance. There is always a professional rivalry between the Army
and the Marine Corps but it was obvious from the outset that these guys were
the real deal. They had fought in Najaf and were eager to fight with the
Regiment in Fallujah. They are exceptionally well led and supremely
confident.
2/7 Cavalry became our wedge. In short, they worked with 3rd Battalion,
1st Marines. We were limited in the amount of prep fires that we were
allowed to fire on the city prior to the invasion. This was a point of some
consternation to the forces actually taking the city. Our compensation was
to turn to 2/7 Cavalry and ask them to slash into the city and create as
much turbulence as possible for 3/1 to follow. Because of the political
reality, the Marine Corps was also under pressure to "get it done quickly."
For this reason, 2/7 Cavalry and 3/1 became the penetration force into the
city.
Immediately following 3/5's attack on the apartment buildings, 3/1 took
the train station on the north end of the city. While the engineers blew a
breach through the train trestle, the Cavalry soldiers poured through with
their tanks and Bradley's and chewed an opening in the enemy defense. 3/1
followed them through until they reached a phase-line deep into the
northern half of the city. The Marine infantry along with a few tanks then
turned to the right and attacked the heart of the enemy defense. The
fighting was tough as the enemy had the area dialed in with mortars. 3/5
then attacked into the northwest corner of the city. This fight continued
as both Marine rifle battalions clawed their way into the city on different
axis.
There is an image burned into my brain that I hope I never forget. We
came up behind 3/5 one day as the lead squads were working down the
Byzantine streets of the Jolan area. An assault team of two Marines ran out
from behind cover and put a rocket into a wall of an enemy strongpoint.
Before the smoke cleared the squad behind them was up and moving through
the hole and clearing the house. Just down the block another squad was
doing the same thing. The house was cleared quickly and the Marines were
running down the street to the next contact. Even in the midst of that
mayhem, it was an awesome sight of combat timing and efficiency. Any true
warrior would stand in awe of these Marines.
The fighting has been incredibly close inside the city. The enemy is
willing to die and is literally waiting until they see the whites of the
eyes of the Marines before they open up. Just two days ago, as a firefight
raged in close quarters, one of the interpreters yelled for the enemy in the
house to surrender. The enemy yelled back that, "It was better to die and
go to heaven than to surrender to infidels." This exchange is a graphic
window into the world that the Marines and Soldiers have been fighting in
these last 10 days.
I could go on and on about how the city was taken, but one of the most
amazing aspects to the fighting was that we saw virtually no civilians
during the battle. Only after the fighting had passed did a few come out of
their homes. They were provided food and water and most were evacuated out
of the city At least 90-95% of the people were gone from the city when we
attacked.
I will end with a couple of stories of individual heroism that you may
not have heard yet. I was told about both of these incidents shortly after
they occurred. No doubt some of the facts will change slightly but I am
confident that the meat is correct.
The first is a Marine from 3/5. His name is Corporal Yeager. General
Chuck Yeager's grandson. As the Marines cleared and apartment building,
they got to the top floor and the point man kicked in the door. As he did
so, an enemy grenade and a burst of gunfire came out. The explosion and
enemy fire took off the point man's leg. He was then immediately shot in
the arm as he lay in the doorway. Corporal Yeager tossed a grenade in the
room and ran into the doorway and into the enemy fire in order to pull his
buddy back to cover. As he was dragging the wounded Marine to cover, his
own grenade came back through the doorway. Without pausing, he reached down
and threw the grenade back through the door while he heaved his buddy to
safety. The grenade went off inside the room and Cpl Yeager threw another
in. He immediately entered the room following the second explosion. He
gunned down three enemy all within three feet of where he stood and then let
fly a third grenade as he backed out of the room to complete the evacuation
of the wounded Marine. You have to understand that a grenade goes off
within 5 seconds of having the pin pulled. Marines usually let them "cook
off" for a second or two before tossing them in. Therefore, this entire
episode took place in less than 30 seconds.
The second example comes from 3/1. Cpl Mitchell is a squad leader. He
was wounded as his squad was clearing a house when some enemy threw
pineapple grenades down on top of them. As he was getting triaged, the
doctor told him that he had been shot through the arm. Cpl Mitchell told
the doctor that he had actually been shot "a couple of days ago" and had
given himself self aide on the wound. When the doctor got on him about not
coming off the line, he firmly told the doctor that he was a squad leader
and did not have time to get treated as his men were still fighting. There
are a number of Marines who have been wounded multiple times but refuse to
leave their fellow Marines.
It is incredibly humbling to walk among such men. They fought as hard as
any Marines in history and deserve to be remembered as such. The enemy they
fought burrowed into houses and fired through mouse holes cut in walls,
lured them into houses rigged with explosives and detonated the houses on
pursuing Marines, and actually hid behind surrender flags only to engage the
Marines with small arms fire once they perceived that the Marines had let
their guard down. I know of several instances where near dead enemy rolled
grenades out on Marines who were preparing to render them aid. It was a
fight to the finish in every sense and the Marines delivered.
I have called the enemy cowards many times in the past because they have
never really held their ground and fought but these guys in the city did.
We can call them many things but they were not cowards.
My whole life I have read about the "greatest generation" and sat in
wonder at their accomplishments. For the first time, as I watch these
Marines and Soldiers, I am eager for the future as this is just the
beginning for them.
Perhaps the most amazing characteristic of all is that the morale of the
men is sky high. They hurt for the wounded and the dead but they are eager
to continue to attack. Further, not one of them would be comfortable with
being called a hero even though they clearly are.
By now the Marines and Soldiers have killed well over a thousand enemy.
These were not peasants or rabble. They were reasonably well trained,
equipped and entirely fanatical. Most of the enemy we have seen have chest
rigs full of ammunition and are well armed are willing to fight to the
death. The Marines and Soldiers are eager to close with them and the
fighting at the end is inevitably close.
I will write you more the next time I come in about what we have found
inside the city. All I can say is that even with everything that I knew and
expected from the last nine months, the brutality and fanaticism of the
enemy surprised me. The beheadings were even more common place than we
thought, but so were torture and summary executions. Even though it is an
exaggeration, it seems as though every block in the northern part of the
city has a torture chamber or execution site.
There are hundreds of tons of munitions and tens of thousands of weapons
that our Regiment alone has recovered. The Marines and Soldiers of the
Regiment have also found over 400 IEDs already wired and ready to detonate.
No doubt these numbers will grow in the days ahead.
(I thought this was important to note as such I used bold/italics for it to stand out-Couchman)
In closing, I want to share with you a vignette about when the Marines
secured the Old Bridge (the one where the Americans were mutilated and hung
on March 31) this week. After the Marines had done all the work and secured
the bridge, we walked across to meet up with 3rd LAR on the other side. On
the Fallujah side of the bridge where the Americans were hung there is some
Arabic writing on the bridge. An interpreter translated it for me as we
walked through. It read: "Long Live the Mujahadeen. Fallujah is the
Graveyard for Americans and the end of the Marine Corps."
(The Americans in question for those who forgot were members of Blackwater security who were butchered-Couchman)
After the fight in Fallujah, as I came back across the bridge there was a
squad sitting in their Armored Vehicle. The Marines had written their own
message below the enemy's. I am not going to rewrite it here, it is not
something that Mom would appreciate, but it fit the moment to a T. Not far
from the vehicle were two dead enemy laying where they died. Words do not
do justice to the bravery and courage of the Marines and Soldiers that
fought the battle of Fallujah.
Dave
There are more letters out there, and I intend to post them as well when I find them.....to this article....if nothing else it's a very small part on my behalf to say thank you to those who serve a nation...and I believe a world that at times belittle their sacrifices, victories and at times defeats all for the sake of being en vogue with those who would rather criticise instead of commend...
..........Couchman