Posted on 06/23/2004 4:08:28 AM PDT by kattracks
Four Marines killed in Ramadi were elite snipers sent on a dangerous mission into the hostile town to pick off terrorists, the family of one of the slain troops said yesterday.The four - highly trained marksmen who were one of the U.S.' most lethal weapons against insurgents in the restive Sunni town and in the infamous siege of Fallujah - were killed Monday, far from any backup. One of the soldiers had been the sole survivor of another attack in Ramadi last April, an incident that led him to take on the more dangerous role of a sniper.
"All he ever dreamed about was being a Marine," said Robin Otey, 45, mother of Lance Cpl. Deshon Otey, 24, of Hardin, Ky.
"He was the consummate Marine - reserved, soft-spoken, would only speak when spoken to. He lived for the Marines," she said.
"I know he's been successful . . . in shooting a lot of people."
The heavily camouflaged sniper teams operate independently, often in hiding for days at a time.
They were so effective in Fallujah in April, insurgents put a bounty on their heads.
Otey and three other Marine snipers - including Cpl. Tommy Parker, 21, of Cleburne, Ark., and Lance Cpl. Pedro Contreras, 27, of Harris, Tex. - were found shot to death Monday in a walled compound.
It was unclear how the crack unit met its end, but the four were operating without nearby backup in Ramadi, a center of unrest in the Sunni Triangle about 20 miles west of Baghdad.
When they failed to make radio checks, a reaction force raided the town and found their bodies. Video given to Associated Press TV News showed the Marines sprawled in a courtyard and stripped of body armor.
"They haven't told me anything yet" about the circumstances of her son's death, Robin Otey said. "The Marines came early Monday morning but missed me, since I was at work.
"When I got home that evening, I saw them and knew what was coming - I know what their blue dress suits mean," the mother said.
Otey, whose 20-year-old son, Ronald, also is a Marine - waiting to go to Iraq - said when she initially saw the Marines on her doorstep, "I just didn't know which son of mine was gone.
"When they said it was Deshon, my world felt like it was ending," she said. "I am devastated and so hurt by what those monsters did to my son."
Otey said the April ambush killed five of her son's buddies.
"His Jeep was ambushed, and he was the only member to make it out alive," she said. "I thought it was a miracle, but now he's been taken from us."
The corporal called home once a week, and spoke to his mother two days before he was killed, thanking her for a package of food, Gatorade and horror-movie DVDs.
"Don't worry, I'll be safe - I always am," Deshon told his mother. He then told her he loved her, his last words to her.
"I don't want my other sons to go to Iraq now," Robin Otey said. "I don't think I can handle losing another."
Originally published on June 23, 2004
Please bump this thread..
I bet there's been a change of tactics by the enemy. This is the second 4 man team to go down recently.
Sounds like the tangos got somebody inside.
Heroic to the very end.
God bless them. Prayers for their families.
Radcliff Marine among 4 killed in Iraq (Radcliff is in Hardin County)
A Radcliff man was one of four Marines killed in an ambush Monday in Iraq's Al Anbar Province, the Marine Corps said yesterday.
Lance Cpl. Deshon E. Otey, 24, was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force based at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Otey had transferred to Iraq in February, said his mother, Robin Mays of Radcliff, who works for the Army at Fort Knox.
Otey was single and had no children. His brother, Ronald Otey, also is in the Marine Corps and is in California, Mays said.
Deshon Otey joined the Marines in 2001 after graduating from North Hardin High School, Mays said. The family had moved to Radcliff from Louisville in 1980.
The Marines offered her no information about how her son died, Mays said, and told her that it would be two or three weeks before his body is shipped home. She said her first reaction was to ask what happened.
"Then it hit me and I got upset and cried," she said.
Otey often called home from Iraq, his mother said. "When I talked to him, his spirits were up," she said. "He never was down or nothing."
Mays said she often prayed for her son's safety and knew there was little else she could do. Working for the Army, Mays said she knew the dangers her son faced. "You just have to accept a lot of things, ... and you know what goes along with the Marines," she said.
"It's not like you're looking for it to happen, but it's possible things can happen. It's happened to a lot of families and now it's hit my home."
Mays said she's worried that her other son might be shipped to Iraq. Ronald Otey "is in shock" about the loss of his brother, she said.
Deshon Otey was unsure if he would make a career of the Marine Corps but was considering transferring to the Army for special operations or possibly law enforcement, Mays said. She also said he did not want his brother to come to Iraq.
"He said it was not safe enough for him," she said.
God bless them and keep them. Prayers for them and their families.
God bless them.
My prayers go out for our fallen warriors and their kin.
Can you expand on this? Thoughts?
Article here several weeks ago stated an "Iraqi or foreign sniper was responsible for a significant number of Marine deaths in/near Falluja." Some may recall the sniper in Israel that killed several and exfiltrated. Sounds like an import to me...
I agree...there is a lot missing from this story.....
life/freedom bump
We cannot sustain the losses we have taken at middle NCO indefinitely, takes too long to make new ones.
It was a miracle, not "buts" about it. Only God knows how many terrorists are no longer walking around because of this brave Marine and therefore how many lives he saved in between the ambush and his death.
Oh brother. Hey Unc, I think our military somehow managed to survive such losses during WWI and WWII, Korea and Vietnam, so they just might manage to make it through this campaign as well.
Go look at our losses broken down by rank. I doubt any force in history has ever taken casualties this rank-heavy over an extended period. It's amazing.
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