December 1, 2004
"I'D DO FALLUJAH ALL OVER AGAIN:
Marines: Fallujah Battle a Source of Pride (KATARINA KRATOVAC, 12/01/04, Associated Press)
Maj. Rich Bourgeois says the image of a young Navy medical corpsman rushing to aide a mortally wounded Marine in Fallujah's notorious Jolan district will be forever imprinted in his mind.Posted by Orrin Judd at December 1, 2004 11:31 PM``In the middle of a firefight, there was this wounded Marine, his left leg blown off and just the femur sticking out,'' recounts Bourgeois, 41, of Malden, Mass. ``And the young corpsman ran to his side, oblivious to the battle, applying the tourniquet.'' [...]
``Fallujah is going to be right up there among the most successful battles in Iraq,'' said Maj. Tom Davis, 45, of St. Cloud, Minn. ``It's where the rubber meets the road. That is where our heroes did their best.'' [...]
``Fallujah has been a life-changing event for many of the Marines, fighting in an environment that is just unfathomable to anyone outside,'' said Bourgeois, an explosives expert who retired from active duty two years ago, but was recalled this year.
During the Fallujah battle, he was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment to study enemy tactics and techniques.
Although the fighting was brutal, Bourgeois believes the Marines' morale was reinforced when they found evidence of atrocities committed by insurgents - including emaciated hostages chained to the wall and bodies of those killed execution-style.
``When we saw what the enemy did, what they were capable of doing, we were only more eager to do away with this pure evil,'' Bourgeois added. ``Regardless of how many pockets of resistance are still out there, it will not sway our morale. Nothing can.'' [...]
Sgt. Wayne Doyle, 23, of Neversink, N.Y., said he naturally misses home.
``But I'd much rather be here with my Marines,'' he said. ``And I'd do Fallujah all over again.''
The victory in Fallujah shows that the U.S. military has transcended conventional doctrine. Any other military, asaulting a city of 300,000, would have suffered an order of magnitude higher casualties.
Posted by: jd watson at December 2, 2004 4:09 AMThis battle will live in the memory of Marines along with Belleau Wood, Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima. Having been a Marine I know how real the history of the Corps is to every Marine's image of him/herself as a steward of the honor and fighting tradition that these battles represent. JD is correct, what they have done in Fallujah is an incredible accomplishment. Urban warfare has been the "no can win" zone in the contemporary American psyche. Conventional wisdom had it that we could only have done this at the cost of tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of casualties.
This is also a huge blow to the terrorists of the world, who have one less safe hiding place from American military might.
Posted by: Robert Duquette at December 2, 2004 4:20 AM"Kill Gorgun. Kill Orc-folk. Drive away bad air and darkness with bright iron."
Ghan-buri-Ghan
All I ever heard of Fallujah were American atrocities, Quagmire, Quagmire, Quagmire, Quagmire, Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam...
Posted by: Ken at December 2, 2004 1:44 PMOnce upon a time, the Islamists figured we were to decadent to fight.
Thanks to the Marines (and, less heralded, the Army) they don't figure that any more.
Though being a devotee of airpower, there are certain messages only the grim visage of a Marine can convey with irrevocable certainty.
Robert--my hat's off to you sir. Of all the honorable people I served with, the Marines stood head and shoulders above the rest.
Posted by: Jeff Guinn at December 2, 2004 8:40 PMJeff, thanks. But I stand in awe of what our fighting men and women in Iraq are doing, Marines, Army, Air Force and Navy. I've never been in a combat zone, I feel like any other civilian watching what they are accomplishing with amazement.
Posted by: Robert Duquette at December 2, 2004 9:10 PM