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Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Dear Dad - Sept 8, 2004
Dear Dad,
As you have heard, we lost 7 Marines to a suicide car bomber the other day. We also lost 3 Iraqi Special Forces Soldiers. All were exceptionally brave men. The Marines are from a battalion that has fought as hard or harder than any other here in Iraq. These were the guys that were knee deep in the hardest fighting in Fallujah back in April and who have been going hard ever since. Even more tragic is that they were close to getting out of here.
As heart broke as the Marines of the battalion were, last night they really took it to the insurgents inside of Fallujah. Contrary to what might be in the media, the mission was not "retribution" for the suicide bombing. It was part of a regular operation that was slightly accelerated in light of what happened. We had been watching the city for quite a while and killed many, many terrorists last night. The battle lasted for hours and hours later, we were still getting secondary explosions off of objectives that we destroyed. You must have faith that the Marines are giving much better that we get.
Such action does not lessen the pain for the Marines who lost their buddies but it gives them a chance to fight and that is what they want. I saw the SgtMaj for the battalion that lost the seven Marines the morning after the explosion. He told me "there is still plenty of fight left in them"
(the Marines). Sure enough, that night (last night), they delivered. Regardless of what the enemy throws at them, the Marines will always be laying in the tall grass looking to take the fight to them. There is a major effort to "keep the noise level down" and stay out of the news but it does not mean that the Marines are not out there every day performing. I cannot say it enough, they are amazing.
(the Marines). Sure enough, that night (last night), they delivered. Regardless of what the enemy throws at them, the Marines will always be laying in the tall grass looking to take the fight to them. There is a major effort to "keep the noise level down" and stay out of the news but it does not mean that the Marines are not out there every day performing. I cannot say it enough, they are amazing.
The Iraqi Special Forces soldiers were outraged by the attack and were also full of fight afterwards. They wanted to go into Fallujah that day and attack the muj. Their commander stood in front of them and told them to bide their time. It came soon enough. They participated in last night's action and did well. In fact, we just took on 200 more recruits and continue to have high expectations for them. These guys are under constant threats. When they go home on leave, it is not uncommon for them to have to move their families around in order to avoid kidnappings or murders of not only themselves but their entire families, children and all. We just spoke to them today about having faith that we will win and to believe that things will get better. In fact, I am much less tolerant of Americans who are losing their stomach to see this through. These Iraqis have never known freedom and have no idea what life could be life if they see it through, yet they put their lives on the lines based on nothing but faith.
Having seen the tragedy in Russia this week we cannot help but shake our heads here and wonder when the rest of the civilized world will wake up and realize that we are in the middle of a struggle for civilization. History will show that the outcome of this struggle will be no less critical to our collective future than WWII. Islamic Fundamentalism inspired terrorism is mutually exclusive to peaceful coexistence with anyone who does not buy into their twisted view of the world. For the masses of appeasers who are still blabbering on about "dialogue" and concessions, I would simply offer that what transpired in Russia is not an aberration. The enemy we face here is the same one that murdered the children in that school, is the same one that flew the airplanes in the towers, and is the same one that bombed the train in Spain.
Perhaps even more sobering is that as horrific as these events are, they pale in comparison to what they aspire to. Believe me, if they could get into a school in Wichita or Sacramento, they would gladly do it and convince themselves along the way that they are doing God's work as they ape for the cameras before killing as many innocent people as they can. The "recruiting videos" that we capture contain graphic scenes of beheadings, tortured confessions and insanely violent rhetoric. Even after what we have seen, it is hard to watch them. The enemy celebrates them.
History will be unkind to those leaders who do not have enough faith in their people to be honest enough with them to clearly state that the free world is now engaged in a war with extremist criminals who have literally been praying for this confrontation for decades. It is not "life as normal." It is beyond imagination how "experts" can get on the news shows and blame Russia for what happened in that school. Russia is no more to blame than the US is to blame for 9/11 or Spain is to blame for what happened this spring. As ugly as it is, it is a fight to the finish and we must fight it that way or we will pay the price.
My roommate and very good friend left last night. He was the operations officer for the Regimental Combat Team. That equates to the quarterback with the CO being the head coach or owner. We both arrived at the Regiment in January and became fast friends. Truth be told, he was as much a mentor/teacher as friend. Prior to returning to the Fleet, he coached football at the Naval Academy. It amazed me as an entire generation of young Naval Academy grads seemed to worship the guy. We could not go into a chow hall anywhere without having a Lt walk up to him and say "remember me." Several days ago, one of his former players was killed in an ambush. It was not the first of his former students to be killed out here but this one hit Sparky hard. He was very close to the Marine. The officer's father contacted Sparky and asked him to bring his son home. Even though his absence here leaves a huge hole, I know that his presence and strength will be some consolation to the family.
Love,
D***
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