Defend America Photo Essay ~ Fallujah

Defend America ^ | April 16, 2004

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Fallujah Ambush

Lance Cpl. Richard A. Maria, a truck driver with Combat Service Support Company 113, guards his cargo - ammunition being rushed to support Operation Vigilant Resolve in Fallujah, Iraq - while his supply convoy halts momentarily April 6, 2004. Later that night, the convoy was ambushed by insurgents. Eight service members were wounded and several vehicles crippled, stopping the convoy for more than 12 hours before it could continue on to the Marine base of Camp Fallujah. The ammunition survived the attack. Maria is a 21-year-old native of Linden, Calif. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Bill Lisbon

Marines and soldiers begin to load a crippled truck April 7, 2004. The vehicle was damaged the night before when a convoy carrying supplies to Marines in Fallujah, Iraq, was ambushed by insurgents. Eight service members were wounded and several vehicles severely damaged. Nearby a metal container of mail burns after being hit with a rocket-propelled grenade. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Bill Lisbon

A Marine patrols a berm April 6, 2004, that overlooks the stretch of road where a supply convoy was forced to halt for more than 12 hours after being ambushed by insurgents the night before, in Iraq. The convoy, loaded with critical supplies for Operation Vigilant Resolve, was attacked with roadside bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and machine gun fire. Eventually, the troops and their vehicles got back on the road and reached their final destination, the Marine base of Camp Fallujah. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Bill Lisbon

Lance Cpl. Nicholas R. Bruce, a landing support specialist with Brigade Service Support Group 7, stands watch over a convoy delivering critical supplies to Fallujah, Iraq, in support of Operation Vigilant Resolve April 6, 2004. Later that night, the convoy was ambushed by insurgents. Bruce is a 20-year-old native of Blythewood, S.C. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Staff Sgt. Bill Lisbon

Fallujah Duty

Infantrymen from 1st Platoon, Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, look on from a rooftop as M-1A1 tanks from 1st Tank Battalion fire on buildings where enemy snipers took positions. The company entered Fallujah, Iraq, April 6, 2004, to combat enemy fighters who were attacking Coalition Forces from the city. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Jose E. Guillen

A Marine with 1st Platoon, Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, watches over a terrorist captured with tools used to make improvised explosive devices April 6, 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Jose E. Guillen

Machine gunners with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, return fire at insurgents firing from a mosque in Fallujah, Iraq, April 6, 2004. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Jose E. Guillen

Machine gunners with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, fall back for repositioning after a brief firefight with insurgents inside Fallujah, Iraq, Apr. 6, 2004. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Jose E. Guillen

An infantryman with 1st Platoon, Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, aims into the city as the company takes heavy small-arms fire from the enemy in Fallujah, Iraq April 6, 2004. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Jose E. Guillen

Marines with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, patrol into Fallujah, Iraq April 7, 2004. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Jose E. Guillen

Marines with Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, patrol into Fallujah, Iraq April 7, 2004. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Jose E. Guillen

A Marine with 1st Platoon, Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, acts as a "Guardian Angel" in Fallujah, Iraq Apr. 8, 2004, keeping watch over fellow Marines on a patrol. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Jose E. Guillen

Sgt Jeremy Miller, a squad leader with 1st Platoon, Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, draws a floor plan of a building the platoon seized Apr. 7, 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Jose E. Guillen

Capt. Doug Zembiec, commanding officer of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, gives orders to his men over a radio prior to leaving their secured compound for a short patrol in Fallujah, Iraq, April 8, 2004. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Jose E. Guillen

 

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[proud American in Canada]

I meant to thank you for posting the pictures of Eric's homecoming party.

You must be so proud of him!!! I'm so glad he's home safe and sound. :)

[proud American in Canada]

"Dear God I love our guys, I love our stuff, I love the fact that the Lord has prospered this nation with men and material and the will to fight for the right things, and that He helps us. I do not have the words to express it well enough."

I think those words express it very well. :)

Thank you for your post on my prayer thread, btw.

[ohioWfan]

I'm so glad he's home safe and sound. :)

Oh, so are we!

He is adjusting beautifully back to his 'normal' life, and looking forward to starting college in the fall............a little older and wiser than his peers, I think.....

We're all praying for wisdom for him as he tries to determine how God wants the military to fit into his future.

[Taxman]

You are well informed on these matters -- why are these convoys going into Indian country without top cover and tanks, and getting caught in surprise ambushes?

I mean, we own the airspace over the entire country! I would think that every convoy would have air and armour looking out for and protecting it.

[archy]

You are well informed on these matters -- why are these convoys going into Indian country without top cover and tanks, and getting caught in surprise ambushes?

I mean, we own the airspace over the entire country! I would think that every convoy would have air and armour looking out for and protecting it.

Two guys or three are not best dealt with by air support. We'd lose more of our own to short or over close rounds, and in crashes- remember that for every hour flown, a helo requires a minimum of ten hours of maintenance, and we don't need crashes of aircraft due to either maintenance shortcomings or overextended hours for those busy maintenance crews.

Neither are tanks always the answer, and neither do we want to give a few teenaged shooters the moral and propaganda victory of making us hide inside 60-ton armored vehicles, when for the last decades Saddam's gestapo routinely toured the countryside in sopftskinned civilian vehicles as they went about their nastiness. As equipment for response teams when it's very much more than just a couyple of shooters with AKs and an RPG or two, yes, heavier equipment is valuable and needed, just as air suport and medevac capabilities are. But as a routine part of every supply convoy and mail clerk's run, nope, that's an overdependence on equipment when the problem is of another character.

Our Marine's junior officers and NCOs are not without a considerable body of personal and institutional professional knowledge about small unit operations in such conditions, and my tendency is not to teach the Marines their business nor to criticize their way of taking care of business from 12,000 miles away. But there might be a detail or two about which I could offer them a helpful hint or two should I notice such glaringly absent in their conduct of operations, and if I* do, I'll pass it along to them the most effective way I know how...which can be particularly responsive and effective.

-archy-/-

[Antoninus]

God bless our gallant warriors!

[Taxman]

Thanks for you comments, Archy.

I'm just trying to understand the situation. Your comments make sense, but it really bugs me that our convoys seem to be easily ambushed and our soldiers/Marines shot up in the process. The "mainstream" press presentation, naturally, makes us seem unable to do anything about these ambushes.

[Though the ones that are not ambushed (and they are probably in the majority), of course, are not written about: "Convoy to Fallujah Succeeds! No Marines Killed." does not have the same impact that "Convoy Ambushed. Three Dead, Six Wounded."]

Overwhelming force of arms would make sense to me, at least in this period of insurrection and random ambushes, and, being an Airdale, eyeballs and weapons overhead the convoys seemed a plausible answer.

Would a UAV make sense? At least the convoy would have "Scouts Forward!"