Posted on 03/10/2020 7:08:22 AM PDT by huldah1776
Gunnery Sergeant Diego Pongo and Captain Moises Navas are the first US service members killed in Iraq since August
The U.S. Defense Department on Tuesday, March 10 identified two Marines killed near Makhmour, Iraq during an mission against Islamic State.
Gunnery Sergeant Diego D. Pongo, 34, and Captain Moises A. Navas, 34, both of 2nd Marine Raiders Battalion, Marine Special Operations Command, were killed on Sunday.
The two Marines were accompanying Iraqi security forces “during a mission to eliminate an ISIS terrorist stronghold in a mountainous area of north central Iraq,” a Defense Department statement read.
It took six hours for a quick reaction force to recover the bodies, said Colonel Myles Caggins, the spokesperson for the U.S.-led Coalition against ISIS.
The New York Times reported that the Marines and ISF were clearing a “well-defended” cave complex of ISIS and that Delta Force operators were called in to recover the bodies.
The two Marines are the first U.S. military personnel killed in operations against ISIS since August and their deaths come nearly a year after the U.S.-led Coalition claimed the recapture of the group’s territory in Syria.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedefensepost.com ...
Democrats are smiling, keeping their fingers crossed.
“Whoever does not have the stomach for this fight, let him depart. Give him his money to speed his departure since we wish not to die in this mans company. Whoever lives past today and comes home safely will rouse himself every year on this day, show his neighbor his scars, and tell him embellished stories of all their great feats of battle. These stories he will teach his son and from this day until the end of the world we shall be remembered. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for whoever has shed his blood with me shall be my brother. And those men afraid to go will think themselves lesser men as they hear of how we fought and died together”
Prayers out for the souls of the men and for their families to find the strength to get through this most difficult of times for them.
God Bless and Keep our military.
Shows how far behind the times I am, last I heard the Marine Raiders were disbanded back in 1943 or so.
RIP
Semper Fi.
Prayers for their souls and their loved ones.
Why are we on ground looking through caves? Good lord what a waste of two beautiful men.
They brought the name back a few years ago. They never really went away. They used to be called Marine Special Operations.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
We hope and pray Iraq deeply appreciates the sacrifice and uses it as a guiding principle.
IOW the Iraqis hauled ass and hung them out to dry. We really need to build a gallows in front of the Pentagon and start hanging State department pukes every time this happens.
I like Shakespere better in the original...Klingon!
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All kidding aside, Semper Fidelis and Rest In Peace, Marines. Your service and sacrifice will not be forgotten.
If it is such a well defined cave complex than we should Moab it.
The swamp is truly deep. The swamp creatures are not unlike the cave dwellers.
My first thought, too. Drone versions?
How is this the fault of State?
We can just hang them on general principles. Each time one is hanged, put a sign around their neck reading “One less Communists.”
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