FW: Outnumbered 8-1: 'A good day for the Corps' Afghanistan

[Soulinha Chanthavong]

Very good piece to read.  Wouldn't be a bad idea as well to pass this on. Take care.   SC       IF YOU HAVE TIME, PLEASE READ.  THIS IS DEFINITELY WORTH IT.  THE WORLDS GREATEST, FIERCEST FIGHTING FORCE RAISIN' HELL IN THE SANDBOX. I woke up this morning Texas on my mind Thinking about my friends there And a girl I'd left behind.                PAT GREEN- TEXAS SONGWRITER -----Original Message----- From: Wheelbarger MSgt Steven B (TQ ESB Alpha Co Ops Chief) [mailto:Steven.Wh...@tq.mnf-wiraq.usmc.mil] Sent: Wednesday, December 24, 2008 4:23 Subject: Outnumbered 8-1: 'A good day for the Corps' Afghanistan Combat Marksmanship at its best. Outnumbered 8-1: 'A good day for the Corps' Afghanistan By Peter Bronson "Our vehicles came under a barrage of enemy RPGs and machine gun fire. One of our humvees was disabled from RPG fire, and the Marines inside dismounted and laid down suppression fire so they could evacuate a Marine who was knocked unconscious from the blast."  That's not from an episode of The Unit or 24. It's not from an anti-war movie. It's not from any newspaper or TV news reports I could find. The quote comes from a "designated marksman who requested to remain unidentified." He was reporting what happened recently in the city of Shewan, Afghanistan. The story was told in a Marine Corps News report by Cpl. James M. Mercure.   "The day started out with a 10-km patrol with elements mounted and dismounted, so by the time we got to Shewan, we were pretty beat," the marksman said.  Mercure reported, "Shewan had been a thorn in the side of TF 2nd Bn, 7th Marine Regt, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground TF Afghanistan, throughout the Marines' deployment here in support of OEF, because it controls an important supply route into the Bala Baluk district. Opening the route was key to continuing combat ops in the area." "The vicious attack that left the humvee destroyed and several of the Marines pinned down in the kill zone sparked an intense 8-hour battle as the platoon desperately fought to recover their comrades. After recovering the Marines trapped in the kill zone, another platoon sgt personally led numerous attacks on enemy fortified positions, while the plt fought house to house and trench to trench in order to clear through the enemy ambush site." '"The biggest thing to take from that day is what Marines can accomplish when they're given the opportunity to fight,'" the sniper said. '"A  small group of Marines met a numerically superior force and embarrassed them in their own backyard. The insurgents told the townspeople that they were stronger than the Americans, and that day we showed them they were wrong."' "During the battle, the designated marksman single handedly thwarted a co.-sized enemy RPG and machinegun ambush by reportedly killing 20 enemy fighters with his devastatingly accurate precision fire.  He selflessly exposed himself time and again to intense enemy fire during a critical point in the 8-hour battle for Shewan, in order to kill any enemy combatants who attempted to engage or maneuver on the Marines in the kill zone.  What made his actions even more impressive was the fact that he didn't miss any shots, despite the enemies' rounds impacting within a foot of his fighting position."  '"I was in my own little world,"' the young corporal said. '"I wasn't  even aware of a lot of the rounds impacting near my position, because I was concentrating so hard on making sure my rounds were on target."' "After calling for close-air support, the small group of Marines pushed forward and broke the enemies' spirit as many of them dropped their weapons and fled the battlefield.  At the end of the battle, the Marines had reduced an enemy stronghold, killed more than 50 insurgents and wounded several more. '"I didn't realize how many bad guys there were until we had broken through the enemies' lines and forced them to retreat.  It was roughly 250 insurgents against 30 of us,"' the corporal said. '"It was a good day for the  Marine Corps. We killed a lot of bad guys, and none of our guys were seriously injured."' Such an amazing story of heroism and victory would have been on Page One in every paper in the country during World War II.  Just 30 Marines giving 8 hours of hell to 250 insurgents, is the kind of story that would make a good movie - if that kind of movie still could be made.  But these days, it did not even make Page 10. I couldn't find a story about it anywhere. The only mentions were on conservative blogs and military Web sites. The soldiers who are fighting for th eir lives and our country might as well be in another dimension.  News from the battlefronts in Iraq and Afghanistan is apparently not important. It reminds the jaded anti-war crowd that they were wrong. We're  winning. It reminds a self-centered nation that some Americans are making  sacrifices much bigger than a loss in their 401(k)s. So we don't hear about  it.  But we need to hear news like that, because a good day for the Marine Corps is a good day for freedom. And that's a good day for America. Semper Fidelis.