War On Terror News

Memorial Day 2013

A friend (h/t to Don) shared this video in an online veteran's group.  It is called "The Path of the Warrior."

 

 There is a post up here that you really should take time to read.  Here is a partial excerpt from the Madness of the Combat Medic.

"Before 2004, Memorial Day was just a time to relax, mess around and barbeque. 
Before 2004, it was something of a celebration to mark the beginning of summer
and the end of school.  Before 2004, I knew intellectually that a lot of people
had died for this country, but it had never connected with me.  Before 2004 I
would never have understood how worth fighting for this country is."

 

Please plan to take time for a Moment of Silence today (Monday May 27th) at 3pm to honor our great warriors!

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"Incident in New Baghdad," & What Really Happened on 12 July 2007

On 12 July 2007, an Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment embarked on a mission to clear Al-Amin District of New Baghdad of Anti-Iraqi Forces, aka Mehdi Militia, aka Jayish al-Mahdi in order to provide freedom of maneuver to Coalition Forces.  By 10:20 AM, Baghdad time, they had taken significant amounts of SAF (small arms fire) and RPG (rocket propelled grenade) fire, sporadically.  Two AH-64D's were in the area and responded.  What would happen next would inspire a movie, that would be nominated for an Oscar, but not win one.

"Now the war is over and in a lot of ways we're still fighting it. It is my accretion that despite what many leaders of this very government said publicly or otherwise, we won. We won through the blood sweat and tears of the troops on the ground, that refused to give up."  Doc Bailey

To understand the situation, one must realize the Mehdi Militia was led by Moqtada al-Sadr, a relative of Bani al-Sadr, who had mentored the Ayatollah Khomeni.  Moqtada's father had been assassinated, allowing the firebrand mulllah to take the reins of power his father had once held.  Moqtada was at the time, for all intents and purposes, the dictator of a Million Man slum in North Baghdad controlled 100% by his Mehdi Militia. 

Saving Lives on a Deadly Road in Baghdad - 17 July 2007

by Doc Bailey, The Madness of a Combat Medic

I dozed in and out of consciousness. There were points where I was very alert, and points where I simply can’t remember. I remember coming in sight of the old COP. The power station. It gave me a small smile. I had a lot of good memories there. It was almost the half way point to Rusty. I suppose there are some places that stick out in your memory. It was perhaps three hundred meters past the road to turn into Riyassa that it happened.

BOOOM

(Pictures, courtesy of SGT Cannon & Doc Bailey. All Rights Reserved Cannon & Bailey)

“FUCK!” I knew it meant one thing and I already dreaded what I would find.

“2-2 is hit” called the LT.

“Get me up there” I yelled at SGT Johnson.

2-4 started to close the distance to the vehicle ahead of us, and instantly we tensed up, ready for whatever we saw.

“Dismount!” I heard SSG Davidson order.

I opened the door, and threw my aid bag on my back and grabbed my weapon. I sprinted once I got around the vehicle in front of me I saw to my horror that 2-2 was fully engulfed in flames. Already I could hear the insane popping of rounds cooking off. LT was standing by the Burn blanket, and saw me as I came running up on the scene

A Deadly Ride Home - 17 July 2007

by Doc Bailey, The Madness of a Combat Medic

The day had already been busy, but it wasn't over. It was just gotten started.

But it was perhaps an hour or two before LT came in and gave us the mission brief. It took only a few minutes and it was mostly a formality. If there was one thing that 2nd platoon was good at, it was pulling shit out of our collective asses. However it was important that everyone know the route. In the past, people had been known to take the wrong road when everyone didn’t know the route (Jessica Lynch anybody?) The number of safe routes back to FOB Rustamiyah had significantly decreased since Craig had died. We wouldn’t go through the Mishtals, Fedalayah or most of the built up area between Rte Predators, and the Outer Berm Road.

Today we‘d be going through the “upscale“ part of Kamilayah, a less urban area where houses weren‘t jammed together in the crazy mish mash jig saw puzzle their architecture usually ended up becoming. It was a ½ Km section of almost rural houses set in a palm grove. Then we’d hop on outer Berm road, a raised up berm of a road, that straddled a river, before passing palm groves. The southern most end of outer berm road was usually not taken because of the IP checkpoints (a dead magnet for IEDs) and also, there were also a lot of places that insurgents had been spotted. We never went south of the old COP at the power station, but the week before we had made it all the way on outer berm to Pluto, so we’d try it again today. We thought, at the time, it was better than running Predators or through the Mishtals.

Once the briefing was over we got the order to mount up. I grabbed my bags. One 3 day assault pack, my big aid bag, and a laundry bag. I suppose that I pack a little heavy, but the Aid Bag I have is something I couldn’t get away without, and I couldn’t put all my entertainment stuff in the assault pack that was packed with all the clothes I needed for the rotation. I was going to be in 2-4, fourth vehicle in the convoy. Island would be the Driver, SGT “Old Balls” Johnson would be the TC, I was in the TC side dismount, and on the drivers side dismount was Bishop, Lewis was the Gunner.

Mortar Attack On a Baghdad COP - 17 July 2007

by Doc Bailey, The Madness of a Combat Medic

Five days after the 12 July incident, this happened. One more reason I hate talking about that whole month.  But, now, I have to.  Our Honor is under attack and we have to get the Truth out.

We were just waiting for the changeover to be complete. 1st platoon was going to take over COP security. All of us were assembled in the Gym/Mess/Aid Station/briefing room. Basically the largest partition of the downstairs part of the ice cream factory. It served as the multi purpose room close to the sleeping quarters. The nice thing about it was it was spacious, the bad part was that it served just a few too many purposes, and more than once, a group of people would be engaged in one activity, say eating, while another would be working out, or someone else would be giving a briefing while someone was grunting and straining on the bench press.

I suppose that there are some things that never change. Over the last few days we’d drifted apart, basically stuck on whatever shift we were on. One of the downsides of COP security was that you never really interacted with the rest of the platoon, and even the guy you were on it with (if you were lucky enough to be on a two man post), you didn’t really do anything except talk, and sometimes even that sucked.