April 2004
The 6th and 7th
On the morning of the 4th, I woke up with some serious pain in my right eye. After going to BAS, I was told that I would be riding the logistics train to the medical center at the Army's Division HQ at Junction City. They told me that there was a serious infection in my eye and I would need to go to Baghdad to have an optometrist look at it. I got to the 31st CSH on the 5th and saw the doctor who gave me some steroid-based eye drops. There was little to do at the hospital so I ended up wandering around a lot. On one such trip on the evening of the 6th, I was walking through the hospital and as I passed some stretchers in the hallway I heard my name called. I turned to see the Squad Leader from the Engineer squad attached to my Company laying on a stretcher. He relayed a story to me that instilled in me an extreme urgency to get back to the Outpost. There had been a massive insurgent offensive all over the Sunni Triangle and Ramadi had been a major focusing point. They ambushed several platoons scattered around the city, one of which had lost nearly an entire squad. A platoon from Golf was surround for several hours taking many casualties. I utilized the advantage of e-mail and the phone to let my family know that I was alright and started getting my things together in order to jump the next helicopter back to Ramadi. I found a bird going to Ramadi the next day and, disregarding an order to check in with the optometrist, hopped on to head for 'home.' I got back to Junction City, along with two other Marines from the Outpost, in the dark hours on the morning of the 8th. After a couple of hours to rest we linked up with the log train. Now, for some reason they don't allow personnel going to the hospital to take their weapons with them, whether they are fit to use them or not. This left me with only my survival knife. I tried to talk the convoy commander into letting me ride one of the turrets, since I am a machine gunner, but had no success. Fortunately, one of the Corporals in the convoy happened to be a friend of mine and was driving one of the HMMWVs. He lent me his rifle so I could ride shotgun in a 7-ton. That was the eeriest trip through the city I can recall. There were no people out, no cars on the road, I expected to get hit at any moment. Thankfully, we made it to the Outpost with no problems and I checked back in with the company. I was told about the ambushes and experiences of the Marines while I was gone. The enemy had seriously upgraded their tactics and utilized fire and movement and fire suppression to great advantage, something they hadn't done in the past. The squad that was nearly eliminated was ambushed at a crossroad with two heavy machine guns that ripped through the two HMMWVs they were in, killing the Marines inside in a matter of seconds. To their honor, the few who were not killed immediately died on their feet giving everything to push the enemy back. Another platoon had been divided and surrounded in the city. They had been able to retain squad integrity but were pinned down by heavy automatic weapons fire. They had taken several casualties and there was no way to get them evacuated until the blocking forces could be removed. They spent the majority of the day pinned down. Finally, out of water and running low on ammunition, the reaction forces destroyed the insurgents and pulled the battered platoon out. The following day, the battalion was out in force and routed the insurgent forces in a massive day-long gun battle that raged throughout the entire city. It was estimated that in two days the insurgents lost hundreds killed and wounded. Mind you, all this was going on while I was in the hospital in Baghdad, so I got this information second-hand and may not have relayed it in it's full accuracy.
The 10th
We mounted a massive battalion cordon-and-search operation and Echo Company made contact with insurgent forces before the cordon element could get into place and engaged the enemy for 2 hours, killing or capturing many of them. During this time, the platoon I was driving for spotted several RPG rockets on top of a shed and went in and searched the house taking 4 detainees and 5 or 6 rifles, a machine gun, a few pistols and an RPG launcher along with the rockets. During the rest of the day, the battalion confiscated piles of rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers, explosives and insurgent propaganda. It turned out to be a very successful endeavor.
Overall, these few days were some of the heaviest fighting that the battalion had seen in theater... and I had missed the worst of it. Understand, I was glad to be alive, but couldn't help but feel that I had let my brothers down. None bore me any ill will due to the fact that my absence was out my hands, unlike another Marine who went home under other, understandable, circumstances but fought to not come back. But that's another story for another time.
On the morning of the 4th, I woke up with some serious pain in my right eye. After going to BAS, I was told that I would be riding the logistics train to the medical center at the Army's Division HQ at Junction City. They told me that there was a serious infection in my eye and I would need to go to Baghdad to have an optometrist look at it. I got to the 31st CSH on the 5th and saw the doctor who gave me some steroid-based eye drops. There was little to do at the hospital so I ended up wandering around a lot. On one such trip on the evening of the 6th, I was walking through the hospital and as I passed some stretchers in the hallway I heard my name called. I turned to see the Squad Leader from the Engineer squad attached to my Company laying on a stretcher. He relayed a story to me that instilled in me an extreme urgency to get back to the Outpost. There had been a massive insurgent offensive all over the Sunni Triangle and Ramadi had been a major focusing point. They ambushed several platoons scattered around the city, one of which had lost nearly an entire squad. A platoon from Golf was surround for several hours taking many casualties. I utilized the advantage of e-mail and the phone to let my family know that I was alright and started getting my things together in order to jump the next helicopter back to Ramadi. I found a bird going to Ramadi the next day and, disregarding an order to check in with the optometrist, hopped on to head for 'home.' I got back to Junction City, along with two other Marines from the Outpost, in the dark hours on the morning of the 8th. After a couple of hours to rest we linked up with the log train. Now, for some reason they don't allow personnel going to the hospital to take their weapons with them, whether they are fit to use them or not. This left me with only my survival knife. I tried to talk the convoy commander into letting me ride one of the turrets, since I am a machine gunner, but had no success. Fortunately, one of the Corporals in the convoy happened to be a friend of mine and was driving one of the HMMWVs. He lent me his rifle so I could ride shotgun in a 7-ton. That was the eeriest trip through the city I can recall. There were no people out, no cars on the road, I expected to get hit at any moment. Thankfully, we made it to the Outpost with no problems and I checked back in with the company. I was told about the ambushes and experiences of the Marines while I was gone. The enemy had seriously upgraded their tactics and utilized fire and movement and fire suppression to great advantage, something they hadn't done in the past. The squad that was nearly eliminated was ambushed at a crossroad with two heavy machine guns that ripped through the two HMMWVs they were in, killing the Marines inside in a matter of seconds. To their honor, the few who were not killed immediately died on their feet giving everything to push the enemy back. Another platoon had been divided and surrounded in the city. They had been able to retain squad integrity but were pinned down by heavy automatic weapons fire. They had taken several casualties and there was no way to get them evacuated until the blocking forces could be removed. They spent the majority of the day pinned down. Finally, out of water and running low on ammunition, the reaction forces destroyed the insurgents and pulled the battered platoon out. The following day, the battalion was out in force and routed the insurgent forces in a massive day-long gun battle that raged throughout the entire city. It was estimated that in two days the insurgents lost hundreds killed and wounded. Mind you, all this was going on while I was in the hospital in Baghdad, so I got this information second-hand and may not have relayed it in it's full accuracy.
The 10th
We mounted a massive battalion cordon-and-search operation and Echo Company made contact with insurgent forces before the cordon element could get into place and engaged the enemy for 2 hours, killing or capturing many of them. During this time, the platoon I was driving for spotted several RPG rockets on top of a shed and went in and searched the house taking 4 detainees and 5 or 6 rifles, a machine gun, a few pistols and an RPG launcher along with the rockets. During the rest of the day, the battalion confiscated piles of rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers, explosives and insurgent propaganda. It turned out to be a very successful endeavor.
Overall, these few days were some of the heaviest fighting that the battalion had seen in theater... and I had missed the worst of it. Understand, I was glad to be alive, but couldn't help but feel that I had let my brothers down. None bore me any ill will due to the fact that my absence was out my hands, unlike another Marine who went home under other, understandable, circumstances but fought to not come back. But that's another story for another time.
posted by Hank0331 at 22:41
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