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News From Iraq
Submitted by Sam
Messer
Written by
Lt. Col. D.G. Bellon, USMC,
RCT 1 HQ Co, UIC 40145,
FPO AP 96426-014
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 Regimental Combat
Team 1 built around 1st Marine Regiment and Regimental Combat Team 7
built around 7th Marine Regiment.
Each Regiment
consisted of two Marine Rifle Battalions reinforced, and one Army
mechanized infantry battalion. Regimental Combat Team 1 (RCT-1)
consisted of 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion (3rd LAR),
3rd Battalion, 5th Marines (3/5); 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines (3/l)
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 RCTs 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-Is 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 there 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 and
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 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
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 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 site. 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 (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 door-way and into the enemy fire in order to pull
his buddy back to cover. As he was dragging the wound-ed 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 aid 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
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 and entirely fanatical. Most of the enemy we
have seen have chest rigs full of ammunition, are well armed, and
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. 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." As I came back across the bridge
there was a squad sitting in their Amtrac smoking and watching the
show. The Marines had written their own message below the enemy's.
It is not something that Mom would appreciate but it fit the moment
to a T. Not far from the vehicle were two dead enemies, lying where
they died. The Marines were sick of watching the "Dog and Pony show"
and wanted to get back to work.
Dave
Top Side
Two More Heroes
by Sam Messer
This is what Marines do, and always have done. They are your
neighbors, the kid who delivers your paper, the cop who
protects your block, the high school football star. They are the
best: the few, the proud. They lay down their lives for their
country. They don't deserve mocking; they deserve to be honored and
thanked. Please read this article about a Marine who sacrificed his
life for his comrades in Fallujah:
Reprinted from
The Army Times:
Marine Sacrifices His Life for
Others
in Grenade Blast
by Gordon Trowbridge
Fallujah, Iraq Sgt. Rafael Peralta built a reputation
as a man who always put his Marines' interests ahead of his own.
He showed that again, when he made the ultimate sacrifice of his
life Tuesday, by shielding his fellow Marines from a grenade blast.
"It's stuff you hear about in boot camp, about World War II and
Tarawa Marines who won the Medal of Honor," said Lance Cpl. Rob
Rogers, 22, of Tallahassee, Fla., one of Peralta's platoon mates in
1st Platoon, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment.
Peralta, 25, as platoon scout, wasn't even assigned to the assault
team that entered the insurgent safe house in northern Fallujah,
Marines said. Despite an assignment that would have allowed him to
avoid such dangerous duty, he regularly asked squad leaders if he
could join their assault teams, they said. One of the first Marines
to enter the house, Peralta was wounded in the face by rifle fire
from a room near the entry door, said Lance Cpl. Adam Morrison, 20,
of Tacoma, who was in the house when Peralta was first wounded.
Moments later, an insurgent rolled a fragmentation grenade into the
area where a wounded Peralta and the other Marines were seeking
cover. As Morrison and another Marine scrambled to escape the blast,
pounding against a locked door, Peralta grabbed the grenade and
cradled it into his body, Morrison said. While one Marine was badly
wounded by shrapnel from the blast, the Marines said they believe
more lives would have been lost if not for Peralta's selfless act.
"He saved half my fire team," said Cpl. Brannon Dyer, 27, of
Blairsville, Ga.
The Marines said such a sacrifice would be perfectly in character
for Peralta, a Mexico native who lived in San Diego and gained U.S.
citizen ship after joining the Marines. "He'd stand up for his
Marines to an insane point," Rogers said. Rogers and others
remembered Peralta as a squared-away Marine, so meticulous about
uniform standards that he sent his camouflage uniform to be pressed
while training in Kuwait before entering Iraq.
But mostly they remembered acts of selflessness: offering career
advice, giving a buddy a ride home from the bar, teaching salsa
dance steps in the barracks. While Alpha Company was still gathering
information, and a formal finding on Peralta's death is likely
months away, not a single Marine in Alpha Company doubted the
account of Peralta's act of sacrifice. "I believe it," said Alpha's
commander, Capt. Lee Johnson. "He was that kind of Marine."
Top
Side
More News from Iraq
by Hank Melanson
Another great Iraq SITREP from the CO,
Task Force 2/24 call sign
"Mayhem 6,"
Lt. Col. Mark A. Smith, USMC
Semper FIDELIS!
Don.
Well, the New Year is upon us...and it is my
most sincere hope that this letter finds all of you in high spirits
for the blessings that surely will abound in 2005!
The New Year was welcomed by the Mad Ghosts in BIG fashion. We were part
of a brigade-size operation,
with our "newest, best buddies" from the 2
Brigade Combat Team and Colonel "Fighting' Mike" Formica, as we forayed
into previously un-chartered territory along the Euphrates River.
This was the largest operation to date for the Mad Ghosts and
was a "full-up" round consisting of
helicopter-borne assault, mechanized assault and motorized assault. It involved virtually
every element of the battalion. And, our brothers in the ING were
tasked, for the first time, to operate in a field environment for an
extended period of time (a task they performed
extremely well, I might add!)
The mission was precise: establish a cordon of the area and locate Anti
Iraqi Forces (AIF) and capture them, and to disrupt
their seemingly never-ending supply of ammunition and explosives, with
which they fight their cowardly war of IEDs and VBIEDs. Now, with
all the moving parts, there are about a gazillion things that could
go wrong. NONE did! The Mad Ghosts and our brigade partners were
flawless in execution. They swept into an area, coming from 360', in
the middle of the night, via helos, trucks, HMMWVs, tanks and
Bradley fighting vehicles and at H Hour plus 20 minutes, a stretch
of land approximately 16 km long by 10 kilometers wide was cordoned
and owned by elements of the Mad Ghosts and the 2 BCT.
Many Iraqis woke that day to a situation they had never seen! The
systematic search was begun, and approximately
48 hours later, almost 100 insurgents had
been identified and incarcerated and an unbelievable
amount of cached weapons and
explosives had been located and confiscated. Two VBIEDs were located
that were in the process of being equipped with their
explosives and were destroyed. This was all accomplished through a
massive "team" effort, and I
would like to recognize some key players:
1. The Marines of the Engineer Platoon from Virginia. They hunt
weapons caches like a dog hunts squirrel. Their tenacity in search
techniques has ensured hundreds of explosives that saw their life
cycle completed through a safe
and controlled detonation at the hands of the engineers, rather than at the trigger of a
fanatical Muslim seeking a one way trip to Virgin-land. I will never
be able to say enough about the performance of these Marines and the
unbelievable amount of work they have accomplished for this
battalion. And, more importantly, I will never be able to say thank
you in any manner of sufficiency for the number of lives they have
saved! But, you know what? If you could see the light in their faces
when they find a cache... I think they get
all the thanks they ever wanted.
2. The Marines of the Truck Platoon from Pennsylvania. Now
understand, these Marines are
from Truck Co, 4th MarDiv, and as such are designed to be a
"tactical" asset used primarily to maneuver fighting Marines to the
combat zone. However, reality of counter-insurgency requires that
they also be used in a combat service support role: picking up mail,
repair parts, etc. These Marines
have been tireless in their support and have logged some of the longest
hours known to man. And for
this operation, they seamlessly transitioned into Warrior mode, and
delivered hundreds of Marines to the fight, at night, with night
vision goggles (NVGs) and did so without incident. They also are on the Et. Col. Smith List of
Never-Ending Thank Yous.
3. HET 9 (Human Exploitation Team). These
Warriors come from all over the
Marine Corps, active and reserve, and are the ones who do the field interviews of our
persons of interest. Simply said: they are the best in the Marine
Corps, and all of Iraq. This group of Warriors has produced more
intelligence, saved more lives (both in the Mayhem AO and outside)
than any intelligence asset in the war. They are remarkable,
sleepless, and define "dedication to duty." CW02 Murphy, their OIC,
was a casualty in October after being shot in the foot, and they
have pressed on under the leadership of M/Sgt. Ertz in a manner that
is nothing short of inspiring. Please allow me one second to
digress: Murph, you should
swell with pride and tears right now, for
YOUR Marines have been spectacular... and a testimony to your leadership
and preparation. (Oh yeah, and don't think for a second you are not
in for a rash of — about your letter home following your injury
describing your "ambush dance "...skip, shoot, duck, shoot, hop,
shoot, swim with the fishes, shoot, etc., etc., etc.)
4. The COC Marines. COC stands for
Combat Operations Center. These are the Marines that run the command
and control systems. The radios and computers that on the modern
digital battlefield are indispensable. Each of them does the work of
3 people, run long shifts and ensures the situational awareness and
report/process execution that is critical in this
counter-insurgency. For an operation like this one, I had both my
forward COC and my Main COC in operation, and they were brilliant in
their execution. They are and will always be the "unsung heroes" of
the Mad Ghost deployment. (And for me personally, Cpl. Kostyn and
L/Cpl. Blackford were a source of humor, the importance of which
just cannot be understood unless you have attempted to command in a
high stress environment. But for those who have, and for those who
will, you will cherish the uncanny humor of such Marines...they
helped to sooth the savage beast that is Gy/Sgt. Engram!!!)
5. The fighting Marines of Fox, Echo, Golf and Weapons, who take
precision violence to the enemy, and a spirit for victory that knows
no equal! H&S Co, who provides the security and support to all these
operations, and conducts much of their own patrolling, and "hunting"
of the Muj, and who have taken our FOB and turned it into a
fortress. The Marines of this last paragraph are the Bn proper, and
no Commander has ever had the privilege of leading a better one. My
duty is their mission accomplishment and welfare... and my duty has
been my honor. Now, with all of that said, let me finish by telling
you the best part of the story of this Operation, which was
code-named: Operation River Walk, for it goes without saying, we
cannot do anything without a "code name." It is just what we do,
code names and acronyms. As successful as this Operation was, it
like all others, shapes us for future operations. The hunt will go
on and ELECTIONS WILL OCCUR.
I have stopped watching the news from the US totally. I no longer can
take the maniacal rages it places me in as I swear ungentle man-like
profanities at the TV in my dust-covered cubby-hole of an office,
directed at "pundits" and "experts" who do not, in my very humble
opinion, have a single clue and who report every single incident
that occurs here as if they are color commentating on a football
game. Well, I can barely fog a mirror intellectually, but I think I
know a thing or two about this war thing, and the vast amount that I
don't know, I have certified geniuses like Major Dan Whisnant and
CW05 Roussell to teach me. And what I know...war is a slog. And a
counter-insurgency fourth generation war is definitely a slog. The
only weapon the enemy has IS the MEDIA, and the target is YOU! They
are attempting to win this War by breaking your will. I pray that
will not happen. Because... and this is the moral of the story, the
best part of the story of Operation River Walk is what we discovered
about the people. You see, our belief going into this operation was
that this part of our Western zone (which we had not been able to
foray into much due to other commitments) was the heart of a massive
AIF insurgency, replete with popular support and headed by
Wahabiists (yes, the very people who brought you the slaughter of
9/11).
We found many of the Wahabiists and their caches. They are now headed to
Abu Ghraib and their caches destroyed. But the people...no, what we
found among the people was MUCH support for the US and what we are
doing here. We found a genuine desire to live free and to ELECT who
they want, not who the Imams and terrorists want. See, what we found
is what we always find: a majority of people being intimidated,
terrorized and oppressed by a radical, fanatical and clinically
INSANE few. We found people who want us to finish this fight, no
matter how long it takes, and who were genuinely appreciative of our
efforts. HUH, a little different than what you hear out of NY and
Washington newsrooms. Gotta tell you, would love for my Marines to
actually meet these "fighters who are resisting a foreign invasion
of Iraq," because they might actually fight the way Soldiers do. NO,
what we meet time and time and time again, is radical Muslim
extremists whose sole goal is the defeat of America and the
spreading of their brand of medieval thinking that abhors
technology, enslaves women, cheapens human life and seeks the
establishment of their brand of religion, or death. So I say, let
all the national media talking heads rave on. Rave on about every
single act of insurgent violence and trumpet it as some massive blow
to the MNF effort. Rave on about how we are losing. Rave on, as if
you really care about any of what you are spewing. Just, Rave On.
The ground truth is known by those actually on the ground.
And for those on the ground, we will win, we will bring freedom and
democracy to a land that has EVER known it, and we will suffer and
sustain the hardship required to do it. We will do it and we will
take the time required for such a massive effort in a world that
wants a "drive-through window" war. We will do it in the spirit and
with the best example we have: the spirit of 1776, when freedom and
democracy was also brought to a land that had NEVER known it, a land
that would become known as THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. We will win
because, although the violence is a huge part of what we do,
ultimately this global war on terror will be won by ideas. And YOUR
Mad Ghost, YOUR Marine is the best example of what the best idea in
the history of mankind has to offer. Their never ending decency and
compassion has lit, and will continue to fuel for the people of Iraq
what freedom is truly all about: respect, dignity, hope, love and a
personal quest to find meaning in YOUR OWN WAY! For this, 10 of my
most prized possessions and reason for my existence gave their last
full measure of devotion, on the battlefields of Iraq, and for this,
WE rave on!
May God Bless and Keep the families of 2/24... and may we all offer a
special blessing on the families of our fallen heroes... and those
of our wounded who struggle daily, particularly Regina Simon as she
prays beside the bed of SSgt. Chad Simon, and is a beacon of
strength and grace for us all. God especially be with you, Regina,
and your wonderful husband Chad.
Lt. Col. Mark A.
Smith,
Mayhem 6 CO,
Task Force 2/24
"Mayhem from the Heartland"
Or as the terrorists call us,
"The Mad Ghosts" Mahmudiyah, IZ
2nd Bn, 24th Marines,
H&S Co, Bn Cmdr
Unit 43495 FPO-AP 96426-34
Top Side
At Burial, Love and Remorse
Woodbridge Marine's Wounded Comrade
Couldn't Save Him
by lan Shapira
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 23, 2004;
As friends and relatives bade farewell to Lance Cpl.
Brian A. Medina yesterday at Arlington National Cemetery, one
mourner laid his crutches on the ground and put his fists on top of
the silver casket carrying his comrade. Cpl. Andrew Ethridge, 23,
leaned over, put his forehead on his fists and began crying. Gregory
Medina, the father of the dead Marine, stood next to Ethridge,
patting his back. "He was devastated and he was feeling that it was
his fault, and I was telling him that it wasn't," the elder Medina
said after the service. "He was saying: 'Sorry, I did what I could,
I am sorry, I could have saved you.' " Cpl. Medina, 20, of
Woodbridge was killed Nov. 12 in Anbar province, Iraq, one of two
Washington area Marines to die there that day, according to the
Pentagon.
Ethridge said in an interview that Medina had gone inside a gated home
in Fallujah searching for weapons and was killed by insurgents'
automatic gunfire. Ethridge, who was part of a team of Marines
behind Medina's, heard the shots ring out and charged toward the
house to save his friend, but he was felled by a bullet to his right
leg. "I knew that with the amount of fire that was coming out [of
the house], no one could escape that," said Ethridge, who roomed
with Medina on Okinawa just before they were deployed to Iraq in
September. Recalling how it felt to lie wounded, unable to reach
Medina, he said: "I was just thinking that I couldn't get to him and
that it was weird how getting shot didn't feel like I expected."
Yesterday, about 75 mourners, including high school friends and
teachers from Prince William's Gar-Field High School, paid their
last respects to Medina, who had joined the military because of the
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. "He wanted payback. Something
about that day hit home with him," said Medina's father, a
construction inspector from Woodbridge and a former Navy Seabee.
"But when he got to Iraq, I thought maybe he jumped into this too
fast."
Medina was assigned to the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Marine Regiment,
which is part of the 3rd Marine Division, 3rd Marine Expeditionary
Force, based in Hawaii. He joined the military after graduating from
Gar-Field High in 2002, his father said. Yesterday's funeral was
preceded by a Catholic service at the Post Chapel, where the Rev.
Robert McClanahan, surrounded by a U.S. flag and lighted candles,
told mourners that the measure of a life should be taken by the
quality of the years, not their number. Small one-page programs with
a photograph of the Marine dressed in his uniform were passed out to
mourners. Excerpts of great works and maxims were printed on the
back. The first one, under the headline "Brian's Legacy to His
Friends and Comrades," quoted the famous lines from Shakespeare's
"Henry V": We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. Medina was
laid to rest near the cemetery's columbarium, in the first grave of
a new row, in front of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gregory Medina, who sat next to his ex-wife, Lolita Converse of
Newport News, accepted the U.S. flag. Medina was the 93rd service
member killed in Iraq to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
He left behind three siblings, Jennifer, 19, Patrick, 11, and
Andrew, 8, and a stepsister, Stephanie Converse. Harriett Rowe, a
guidance counselor at Gar-Field High School who attended the
funeral, recalled how Medina was well known for more than being an
ROTC member. Medina, it turns out, was a sweet break-dancer. He
learned the acrobatic hip-hop dance style while living in Italy with
his mother during his first three years of high school. When he
returned to the United States to live with his father during his
senior year, Medina started a break-dancing club at Gar-Field. "When
he started spinning on his head, I said: 'Brian, hold off. I don't
think you should do that. I am not ready for you to break your
neck,'" recalled Rowe, who was the club's adviser. "But he was real
good and serious about it because he wanted to learn and wanted to
teach." And people don't understand why I Love You Marines !!!
Sam Messer
CBMU301
Top Side
My Son, The Soldier,
Comes Home for Good
by Milton
McNeely
An email forward that must be shared with
you all. May our Lord Eternally Bless the Soul of this Soldier and
all those who fall and have fallen protecting their Mates, Family
and our Nation! Semper Fidelis, even unto death! Happy Thanksgiving,
my friends. That we have such sons... and fathers... as this, is
something to be truly thankful for. God bless all our boys, and
their families. And may God bless and watch over my boy in
Afghanistan on his third tour in a combat zone.
From Colonel Tom Sims (US Army Retired): My
son, the soldier, comes home for good. At last report, he had left
Iraq and was awaiting a flight in Kuwait. With luck he will be in
Germany today and then on to Texas. By the way, he is called
"remains" but I know better. He is my son.
I want to tell you about him. Not because he is so great a guy, although
I think so, but because he represents the thousands of sons and
daughters America is sending to far away places to secure our peace
and our liberties at home. Captain Sean Patrick Sims, commanding
officer of A Company, 2-2 BN, 1st Infantry Division, was killed in
action Nov. 13 in Fallujah, Iraq while clearing insurgent occupied
buildings. A tough assignment, clearing an urban area. Dirty,
dangerous work. Sean lost his executive officer the day before, and
I read of the deaths of two Marine captains who were similarly
killed in Fallujah.
It is sad when a father must write his own son's obituary. I don't know
what to say. My son, like others falling in that conflict, was a
hero who believed in his mission, his unit, and his men. He also
believed leaders should be in the front leading, not following. And
that is how he died. He was well liked and respected by his
superiors and the men in his company, who sensed his concern for
their well being. He was also concerned about the well being of the
Iraqi people and did his utmost to guard them from harm. Sean was a
devout Catholic, who lived the tenets of his faith on a daily basis.
There is no doubt in our minds that Sean is now in heaven and in the
hands of our Lord. We grieve for his loss, which is our loss, but
not for his soul. If anything, we ask his intercession on our behalf
as he is now much better placed for that effort.
I don't know what to say or how to describe the sacrifice of your blood
for this country. Having served in Vietnam twice, having a father
who spent 36 years as a soldier through two wars, and a brother who
served in Vietnam twice and is now 100% disabled from his injuries
there, I am encouraged by the awareness of our countrymen for the
sacrifices of our children. I am thankful for the realization by our
citizenry that freedom is not free.
My son was not a rampant political supporter for any party, although he
was probably more Republican by instinct. But he did have an abiding
trust, and belief in the United States of America. He felt we are a
moral nation, steadfast in our principles. This nation does not take
its commitment of its sons and daughters to war lightly. But unlike
many nations in the world, we do not shirk our duties to commit our
blood to just and necessary causes. Because that is what keeps us
free.
I think he understood something which seems to have been lost in the
debates over weapons of mass destruction and poor intelligence
estimates in this particular war. That is that sovereign nations
must be held accountable for their actions. We cannot tolerate
nations that hide behind borders and provide support to enemies who
are intent on our destruction. We can debate on how this war
developed and was executed. It can not be debated that nations now
look carefully at their responsibility and accountability before
providing such support. America has made its statement. If you
support terrorism, we will find you and destroy you, whatever the
cost.
My son understood this and believed what he was doing was right. But he
also believed that you can't go in and destroy a country and walk
away. He was anxious for the insurgents to be quickly defeated so we
could start the nation-building that Iraq so sorely needs. He chafed
at the delays and the debates in implementing aid. He was not a
romantic. He under-stood well the backwardness of the country, the
stranglehold of its religion and more challengingly, the social and
political pressure of the tribal system. They all looked
insurmountable when you add them up. But he had been raised in a
tradition of grit and putting one foot forward at a time, so he was
not deterred by the challenge. He was faced with a difficult, dirty
and seemingly impossible task, but his response was not how do I get
out of it but how do I get it done.
I think his sacrifice to his nation can best be summed up in a message I
received from a friend expressing condolences for his loss: His
sacrifice was made to keep my family, my sons and my grandchildren
as well as all Americans safe and free and for that we will
eternally be grateful. That's nice. My son would agree. That's what
he thought he was doing. In retrospect, the true hero here is his
wife, who is left a young widow with a young son to raise. She is a
woman of grace and grit. She will do well by her son and her warrior
husband.
Regards,
Tom Sims
(Col. US Army Retired)
Top Side
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Q.
Those RPG's — are they the same they used in 'Nam on us and what
are they doing with captured caches of weapons from Fallujah and
other places?