The Longest Morning (paratroopers tell tale of ambush in Samarra -- cover of AmSpectator)

American Spectator ^ | 11/1/2007 | Jeff Emanuel

[Uncledave]

THE DAY OF AUGUST 26, 2007, began like any other for the soldiers of Charlie Company, 2-505 Parachute Infantry Regiment (from the 82nd Airborne Division) -- with a mission in the city. Over a year into its deployment to Samarra, Iraq, and now working on the three-month extension announced by Secretary of Defense Gates in the spring, the company knew the city like the back of its collective hands and had its operational routine down to a science, whatever the mission it might be tasked with.

On this morning, that mission was to establish a defensive perimeter around a block in central Samarra, so that Charlie Company's 3rd ("Blue") Platoon, led by Lieutenant Scott Young, could search a shop where it had information that Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) were being manufactured.

Due to the insurgents' penchant for placing IEDs along the routes used by Charlie Company's vehicles in order to ambush them on their way back, two separate rooftop observation points (OPs) would be established, one to the north and one to the south of the shop, to watch for enemy activity on the roads that were serving as Blue Platoon's infiltration and exfiltration routes. The southern OP, led by Staff Sergeant Jason Wheeler, was manned with paratroopers from Charlie Company's 1st ("Red") Platoon. "Reaper Two," one of the sniper teams from 2nd Battalion's scout platoon, would man the second OP, almost a kilometer to the north. Reaper would be overwatching the area from the roof of a large four-story apartment building, which was laid out with the long axis facing north-south, and which was bordered -- across the surrounding streets and alleys -- by several other buildings.

[aculeus]

Great post!

[reefdiver]

You’ll never read this in the Newspapers across America. That’s why this site grows, and they shrink.

It’s a shame that face-less , name-less, editors, crap on these guy’s daily.

It’s treason that known Senators do it as well.

Tuesday is the day to vote in most of the US - Get out there and do it

[bray]

Best of the Best

Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters

[neverdem]

Airborne!

[denydenydeny]

Amazing story.

There would be no trophy, no public relations victory to thrust in the face of those in America and around the world

I can't stop thinking of the delight with which the Democratic leadership of Congress would have seized on this story had it gone the way AQI wanted.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks M.U.

The few pockets of Satan's boys that are left will now be found and jailed or killed off by newly formed and ever increasing efficient Iraqi police, along with the willing Iraqi neighborhood crime walk groups. None of this would have been possible if these brave American soldiers where not willing to carry out their routine missions over a two year period of time.

Well said.

[Chgogal]

“Jeff Emanuel writes about our Soldiers the way I feel about them.”

Sorry, I was in such a hurry, earlier this evening.

[dighton]

You spoke from the heart and said the right thing.

[Chgogal]

You may like this post, considering your profile. : )

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1919403/posts
Anti-war movies hurt America - and debase the art of film

[Enterprise]

I compare the psychology of the Democrats who want failure in Iraq to that of the people who set fires during the Santa Ana winds.

[freema]

Ping.

[razzle]

“using surveillance aircraft, Captain Ferris was able to identify the house to which over 20 of the surviving terrorists went after leaving the building. Minutes later, a GPS-guided bomb was dropped on the house.”

Payback time Abdul.

[csvset]

A gripping account . God bless them.

[ABN 505]

Payback time Abdul. Brings tears of joy to my eyes!

[aculeus]

During the firefight, which lasted less than ten total minutes, Corriveau and Moser had killed at least ten enemy fighters -- possibly as many as fifteen -- and had not only kept themselves alive, but, against all odds, had prevented al Qaeda from succeeding in their real goal: to kidnap the soldiers on the rooftop, and to make a public spectacle of their imprisonment and murder, just two weeks before General Petraeus's internationally viewed testimony on Iraq before the U.S. Congress. The suspicion that kidnapping was the fighters' intent was confirmed by a final piece of intelligence that Charlie Company received just after the incident: an announcement, crafted by the Islamic State of Iraq (al Qaeda's Iraqi front), stating that nine U.S. soldiers had been kidnapped in Samarra, and had been beheaded and had their bodies thrown into Thar-Thar lake (to the southwest of the city).

Imagine how our disgraceful MSM and shameless Democrats would have reacted if the terrorists had succeeded.

[wallcrawlr]

thanks for posting

[prognostigaator]

^^^^^

[Marine_Uncle]

Roger that.

[razzle]

“Imagine how our disgraceful MSM and shameless Democrats would have reacted if the terrorists had succeeded.”

Our brave soldiers are the only thing standing in the way of democrat happiness and fulfillment, and probable victory in the 08 election.

[reefdiver]

They won’t , Saying something positive about Americans Winning, Metals, Awarded. Doesn’t fit the script. That they sat on their ass, and just partied from Clinton’s “ Monday Morning” Walk in tune in to the towers falling? ??These self absorbed leftist would have us all walking the 17th century walk, than fight.