Surrounded in Saqlawiyah: One Marine tells his story

Marine Corps News ^ | Cpl. Ruben D. Maestre

[SandRat]

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (March 28, 2006) -- The planned, insurgent attack against a small police station in Saqlawiyah, Iraq, on the afternoon of Oct. 26, 2005, began with a barrage of machine gun fire followed by rocket propelled grenades slamming against the compound. By the time a Marine Quick Reaction Force from a nearby forward operating base arrived, an estimated 6 insurgents were dead and several more were wounded.

Still standing, were a small band of Marines, Iraqi soldiers and an interpreter who succeeded in holding off the insurgent onslaught. It was a scene which could have ended very badly, instead ending without any loss to coalition troops.

“I stepped outside to check on a Marine in a guard post,” said Sgt. Ronald E. Myers, 41, an instructor training Iraqi police and the senior Marine at the station at a police station that day, recounting the moments before the attack. “Then all hell broke lose.”

Dozens of insurgents arriving in vehicles, with some positioning themselves inside a mosque and a school nearby, opened up with a hail of gunfire followed with RPG salvos. Their aim was to knock out the guard bunkers overseeing the compound.

“Much of the (gunfire) was toward the guard post with the Marine inside,” said Myers a reserve Marine from Charlotte, N.C., remembering sparks igniting from the impacts. “The rounds were eating the bunker up.”

Myers, a civilian detention officer for the Mecklenburg Country, N.C., Sheriff’s office, was assigned that day with Fallujah Police Partnership Program-Reconstruction Team, Iraqi Security Force Directorate, II Marine Expeditionary Force (FWD). With a small unit of infantry Marines from 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, currently still in Iraq, and a few Iraqi troops for added security, Myers job was to train local police in this agricultural suburb located northwest of Fallujah, Iraq.

“Our job was to train Iraqi police forces utilizing our background in law enforcement, bringing them up to speed with the proper tactics and techniques,” said Myers, a training non-commissioned officer stateside with training and operations section, II Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group, II MEF. “I was in the Saqlawiyah Police Station training Iraqi police on that particular day and we had scheduled the police to go to the range that afternoon.”

Instead they were embroiled in a fierce firefight. Guards on rooftops where pinned down by the fire. With bullet ricochets and fragmentations hitting the compound, Myers and two other Marines rushed to the rear of the compound ready to engage the enemy in close quarters.

“I thought they where about to breach us and told the Marines to follow me to the rear of the building,” he said.

After finding the area clear of insurgents, the troops headed for the roof to re-establish fire support where they too found themselves pinned down.

“I thought everyone on the roof was dead so my main focus was to get on the roof and establish fire support,” until assistance could reach them said Myers.

The enemy fire was intense. Crouched in the stairway leading up to the roof with debris from impacts raining down, the sergeant could see the Marine sentry lying motionless on the floor of his bunker. Myers glanced to his left, where he saw an Iraqi soldier lying with his weapon inside his bunker. What followed was a moment he will never forget.

“For a split second we where eye to eye,” he said recalling the visual contact he made with the Iraqi soldier. “He yelled, ‘Aareef Myers! (Sergeant Myers),’ then he stood up laying down fire with his AK (rifle),”

The covering fire by the Iraqi soldier was enough for Myers and two other Marines to make a break. He checked on the Marine lying on the ground, finding him alive and unhurt but shaken.

“I thought the Marine’s (body) was being shredded by the impacts,” Myers said. “I wanted to get his body out of that bunker.”

Exposed to enemy fire, Myers ushered Marines into the bunker with the pinned Marine. The troops regained the upper hand and began laying down fire on the enemy before reinforcements arrived. The coalition forces in the compound suffered no casualties and were able to successfully thwart an enemy attack that could have ended much worse.

“We all did our part,” said Myers of those who kept the insurgents at bay. “I was proud of them.”

Myers has been nominated for the Bronze Star.

[SandRat]

FALLUJAH, Iraq – Sgt. Ronald E. Myers, 41, currently training non-commissioned officer assigned to training and operations section, II Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group, II MEF, poses with Iraqi children here last year. On 26th October, the Charlotte, N.C., native, then assigned with Fallujah Police Partnership Program-Reconstruction Team, Iraqi Security Force Directorate, II MEF (FWD), and a small band of Coalition Forces came under attack from insurgents at a police station in Saqlawiyah, Iraq. Under a barrage of enemy gunfire and rocket propelled grenades, Myers and the troops effectively repelled the insurgents until Marine reinforcements arrived.
Photo by: Photo courtesy of Sgt. Ronald E. Myers

[SandRat]

One Marine's Story.

[rlmorel]

Thanks for posting it. I did like the part about the Iraqi soldier who laid down cover with his AK47. Nice to hear.

[csvset]

Bttt

[ExcursionGuy84]

Another outstanding tale of "Defending the Alamo"!

Hoo-RAH, Devil Dogs!!!

[DanielLongo]

Me too. God give him a long life.

[TASMANIANRED]

Good work.

[SandRat]

Hi-Ya TAS!!!!!

[ExTexasRedhead]

America's finest; may God bless and protect them all. Quite a contrast to the human debris that marched in America's streets over the weekend or to the pathetic airheads in the US Congress.

[SandRat]

Ain't that the truth!

[TASMANIANRED]

Waving back.

[Calpernia]

“I stepped outside to check on a Marine in a guard post,” said Sgt. Ronald E. Myers, 41, an instructor training Iraqi police and the senior Marine at the station at a police station that day, recounting the moments before the attack. “Then all hell broke lose.”

Dozens of insurgents arriving in vehicles, with some positioning themselves inside a mosque and a school nearby, opened up with a hail of gunfire followed with RPG salvos. Their aim was to knock out the guard bunkers overseeing the compound.

[Valin]

OUTSTANDING!

[TomasUSMC]

SEMPER FI!