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William Rigby and his identical twin brother John were in 4 Rifles. On their 23rd birthday, John was up in the hatch of a Bulldog when a bomb detonated and a piece of shrapnel struck his head, mortally wounding him. William was by John’s side when he passed, and accompanied his brother home. The Regiment gave William the choice to stay home or return to Basra. When he elected to return to see the mission through, William’s personal strength added fiber to the Battle Group. I’d heard soldiers—including senior officers—mention his name with admiration. On October 8, I was eating...

SGT Richard Edwards, a 12-year veteran from Newport, South Wales had served in Iraq during Telic 6 without firing a shot during those six months. During Telic 10, Edwards found himself down at the PJCC, where Iraqi police outnumbered British soldiers by a significant ratio. In late July, while they were waiting for the Brigade Commander Brigadier Bashall to arrive, a couple of shots came in from a neighboring and overlooking building used as a wheat factory. Shots also began coming in from the “Hole in the Wall,” a lateral slit several inches high and about three feet long...

Men of Valor Part II First Mission [1] [Inside Basra Palace: Telic 9]To interpret events in al Basra, context is critical. When we invited the British to join us in this war in 2003, the U.S., with the bulk of troops and assets, was the senior partner. In essence, we were the driver of a bus filled with several dozen partners: Poland, Australia, Japan, Georgia, Korea, Albania and so on. Although several key countries had opted to stay home, no nation stepped up to the task like Great Britain, taking responsibility for southern Iraq. But they could not have not...

Men of Valor: Part III The 4 Rifles first trip into Basra brought more than 15 hours of fighting that left a Pakistani driver killed, dragged away and never seen again by the British. Two British killed in action and many more wounded, a convoy of banged-up vehicles that ran the damage gamut from flat tire to complete destruction, and almost no break before it was time for Major Steve Webb to saddle up and move on again, his Welsh Warriors always taking point on another convoy. Major Steve Webb fought through those 15 hours two days before. Webb...

- Michael Yon : Online Magazine - http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp - Men of Valor: Part I of about VIII November 20, 2007 “Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valor, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar.” —Winston Churchill “Bizarre” is an accurate word to describe how quickly a man can fly from, say, Orlando and land smack in the middle of a minefield. Not a metaphorical minefield, but a big, real minefield. The transition occurred in a matter...

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va(Aug. 22, 2005) -- Throughout the annals of Marine Corps history, inspired quotations have framed the heroics of great Marines, transforming passing moments into epic legends to be forever retold and celebrated by the generations of warriors who follow. Never to be forgotten is the rallying cry of Gunnery Sgt. Dan Daly at the Battle of Belleau Wood, France, on June 4, 1918: “Come on you son’s of bitches! Do you want to live forever?” [snip] So too will a contemporary Marine be remembered, not only for his extraordinary act of courage and composure under...

"A Marine Came For Me" David J. Danelo Proceedings, October 2005 Discuss this article in the eForum. The odyssey of Marine Corporal Ross Craft (center) began with his hunt to find his aunt and uncle, Diane and Richard Angelico, who were missing in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR On 30 August, the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, shattered two levees, and flooded New Orleans, a local television station ran footage of a Marine on a jet ski zipping through the floodwaters guiding rescue boats to safe evacuation routes. Corporal Ross Craft, a...

The Tohono O'odham Nation is grieving the death of a 20-year-old tribal member killed in action in Iraq. Pfc. Seferino Reyna, an Army combat engineer and father of two, died Sunday when his vehicle was hit by a homemade bomb near Taji, about 20 miles northwest of Baghdad. "This is a tragic loss for the Reyna family, and the entire Tohono O'odham Nation mourns," said Vivian Juan-Saunders, chairwoman of the nation. Reyna was the first O'odham member killed in Iraq. He is the 21st service member of American Indian or native Alaskan descent to die in Iraq or Afghanistan, according...

Special operations forces eye terrorists By Rowan Scarborough THE WASHINGTON TIMES August 12, 2005 U.S. Special Operations Command has drafted a war plan that sets up procedures for how its commandos will work with other regional commands across the globe to hunt for senior Islamic terrorists. The complex plan from SoCom in Tampa, Fla., has been in the works since summer 2002, when Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld signed a secret directive authorizing it. His memo directed SoCom to come up with a plan for dispatching special operations forces on quick notice to virtually any spot in the world to...

HIT, Iraq (August 5, 2005) -- Marines with 3rd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment have a new weapon in the war against terrorism and it is simple, effective and voluntary. The tip lines provided by Regimental Combat Team-2 allows citizens here and in surrounding communities to assist in the fight to make their city safe and secure while remaining anonymous and safe from reprisal from insurgents. Since March, a tip line was provided for the Hadithah area, which proved ineffective and unsecure. Two new lines were installed a few weeks ago and are ringing off the hook. “We have been advertising...

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (August 5, 2005) -- Coming to Iraq, the Marines of Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment knew they would be fighting as ‘street cops’ on the roads. The job includes locating hidden bombs before the enemy could use them against the Marines, Iraqi Security Forces and civilians. Their most recent find on a combat patrol brought their total number of bombs found to nearly 200. Over the past six months, they have maintained a ratio of three found to one detonated. “We are successful at this because we are outsmarting them and they’re very predictable,” explained...

New York (July 29, 2005) -- Marines from 6th Communication Battalion joined officers of the 101st and 75th precincts of the New York Police Department in teaching children about leadership and drug awareness through the Drug Education For Youth (DEFY) program held at Floyd Bennett Field, recently. The Marines ran the program from July 5 to July 15. The program, which focuses on building the self-esteem of inner city children ages nine through 13, was created to help the children resist the temptation of drugs and gangs. During the program, groups of children from Far Rockaway and East Brooklyn participated...

In battle, one of the hardest challenges is saving the wounded. Medical professionals encounter injuries not normally seen in peacetime, and many times see multiple life-threatening injures requiring immediate treatment on the battlefield. Another problem is moving patients across hot desert sands on bumpy roads in Iraq, which can be logistically challenging and uncomfortable for the patient. And there is always the danger of roadside bombs. To solve these problems, military aeromedical planners developed what is now an efficient medical evacuation system that moves patients from where they were injured to definitive care quickly and safely. Along the way, patients...

BALAD, Iraq, July 29, 2005 – Bernd and Virginia Zoller are two full-time Army Reserve officers with a lot in common, pulling military duty in an uncommon place. First off, the Zollers share the same rank -- lieutenant colonel -- and both are public affairs officers. "We were promoted together here on Dec. 24 in this room," Lt. Col. Virginia Zoller said during a July 27 interview with American Forces Press Service here. And the pair has the same last name, because they're a couple. The Zollers will celebrate their first year of marriage Aug. 29. Virginia, 42, acknowledged she...

Servicemembers and veterans were among those who got a sneak peek of the film that promotional materials say tells the story of the "most spectacular rescue missions ever to take place in American history: 'the great raid on Cabanatuan.'" The raid was conducted to rescue the more than 500 U.S. prisoners of war who had survived the Bataan Death March through the jungles of the Philippines. Lt. Col. Henry A. Mucci, working from 6th Army Headquarters in Luzon in the Philippines, was charged with figuring out how to free the POWs before the Japanese army's "Kill All" policy was enforced....

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (July 29, 2005) -- The average day of a Marine deployed to a combat zone is filled with dangerous situations. Marines prepare on a daily basis to ensure that each situation is handled skillfully and diligently. Today’s Marines face tough and unexpected situations on a daily basis in combat zones throughout the world in the Global War on Terrorism. Staff Sgt. John M. Kennedy of Junction City, Ohio, was awarded the Purple Heart medal here, July 25, for wounds received while deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom with 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion,...

Turn on your audio and set back on watch this. This is about a real American hero, Captain Brian Chontosh, USMC. Unfortunately our biased news media doesn't cover items like this.

TAHOUA, Niger — Heat exhaustion, dehydration, diarrhea. “Stuff” happens when soldiers spend days in 120-degree desert heat in Third World conditions. That’s one reason soldiers from the 160th Forward Surgical Team were brought to Niger for Flintlock 05. There might still be dust from Iraq on their medical tent, one said, because that stuff is hard to get out. But inside it’s nearly as clean as a hospital. One week into their mission in Niger, the doctors and medics of the 160th FST had treated three cases of heat- or food-related misfortune. Flintlock 05 is a monthlong training exercise for...

<p>KARABILAH, Iraq — U.S. Marines and Iraqi forces battled insurgents on two fronts Saturday in a restive western province, killing about 50 militants in a dusty frontier town in the military's latest campaign to stop foreign fighters infiltrating from neighboring Syria (search).</p>