Of course, this sounds like like a great opportunity to feed THE HOGS!!
Posted on 11/05/2004 2:05:06 PM PST by Former Military Chick
WITH U.S. FORCES NEAR FALLUJAH - The number of dead and wounded from the expected battle to retake insurgent-controlled Fallujah probably will reach levels not seen since Vietnam, a senior surgeon at the Marine camp outside Fallujah said yesterday.
Navy Cmdr. Lach Noyes said the hospital here was preparing to handle 25 severely injured soldiers a day, in addition to walking wounded and the dead. The hospital has added two operating rooms, doubled its supplies, added a mortuary, and stocked up on blood reserves. Doctors have set up a system of ambulance vehicles that will rush to the camp's gate to receive the dead and wounded so units can return to battle quickly.
The plans underscore the ferocity of the fight the U.S. military expects in Fallujah, a Sunni Muslim city about 35 miles west of Baghdad that has been under insurgent control since April. More than 1,120 U.S. soldiers and Marines have died in Iraq since the war began, more than 860 of those from hostile fire.
The deadliest month was April, when fierce fighting killed 126 U.S. troops, largely at Fallujah and Ramadi, before a cease-fire virtually turned Fallujah over to the insurgents. Even then, the number was far below the many months during the Vietnam War when death tolls passed 500 or more.
U.S. forces have been building up outside Fallujah for weeks in preparation for taking the city back, and many here believe the assault will come soon.
Military officials say they expect U.S. troops to encounter not just fighters wielding AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades but also heavy concentrations of mines, roadside bombs, and possibly car bombs.
"We'll probably just see those in a lot better concentration in the city," said Maj. Jim West, an intelligence officer with First Marine Expeditionary Force.
West said he thought that there were 4,000 to 5,000 fighters in Fallujah and nearby Ramadi and that they may try to draw troops into cramped urban areas in Fallujah that have been booby-trapped.
The toll in human suffering already has been grave.
Staff Sgt. Jason Benedict was on a convoy heading to the Fallujah camp Saturday when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle into the truck Benedict and his platoon mates were traveling on. A few minutes later, mortar rounds and bullets rained down on the survivors. As he rolled toward the safety of a ditch, Benedict saw one of his friends crawling on all fours, blood pouring from his face. Eight Marines were killed in the bombing.
"You've got to expect casualties," said Benedict, 28, who is now recuperating in the field hospital with burns to his left hand and the side of his head.
The fight for Fallujah, he said, "is overdue."
In the six weeks Noyes has worked at the Fallujah camp, his team has operated on Marines with eyes gouged by shrapnel and limbs torn by explosion. A rocket strike outside the hospital killed two staff members and left deep pockmarks across the white concrete walls.
Noyes said some bodies had been so badly mangled that they had to be shipped home for DNA identification.
As he was speaking yesterday, two Marines and an American photojournalist were rushed into the hospital after a roadside bomb hit their vehicle. The Marines had shrapnel cuts and burns; the photographer's teeth had been pushed back into her mouth. The bomb was attached to a tank of gasoline that was meant to create a fireball but failed to ignite.
Capt. Melissa Kaime, another Navy surgeon at the hospital, said seeing trauma wounds in medical school was one thing; seeing them come off the battlefield is something altogether different.
"To treat a patient when brain is coming out...," she said, her voice trailing off. "There are things that I will never understand. It's beyond my comprehension. A higher power will have to explain why these things have happened."
FMC... good post on the price of what we do in the world...
I pray that all or soldiers in the Fallujah area have God by their side during the battles to come.. In reading this and other articles on the comming battle there it sounds like our folks are prepared for the worst and are ready and willing to take on the challenge... God Bless them and Godspeed.
Prayer bump.
Friend of mine (retired, Army) called Walter Reed Army Med Center today to sked a CT scan. He was told there was a long wait, even though it's a 24/7 facility. Clerk told him they were keeping the sked open for wounded soldiers for next weeks. Many seriously wounded soldiers are eventually medevac'ed to WRAMC.
I have always appreciated how thoroughly the military can plan for contingencies.
prayer bump for all our brave fighters - Godspeed.
Zing!
Bump for the prayer bump.
This is the Brovao Surgical unit. They are good. This is where the Navy doctor was killed back in March when a rocket hit the hosptial building. He was abut a week from rotating back home.
These are not all the same guys that handled the April casualties since most of them rotated out earlier this fall. But they've had time and too many opportunities to learn.
The pockmarks are real and there are many scarred walls and barriers from the incoming ordnance. It is really odd how anyone that's been there for a few days can get used to the incoming. No one panics (excep the newbies, and no one laughs at them... much!).
I was there in April when the first wave of wounded came in from the first major engagement and I've been inside Bravo Surgical when incoming rounds came in.
And there is much that one can see that is best not described on a forum like this.
Watched the big guy on Fox - Had a young, blond big mouth still harping on Iraq -
I wish the networks would keep those kind off - don't need them to continue to try to divide this nation. And they talk about President Bush reaching out - Bull - they are the ones who need to put this nation first and stop crying -
Duty called - Iwo Jima - in the first "2 days", 4,000 US soldiers died. Since War in Iraq started - 1,200+
Duty calls again - God bless our troops -
Of course, this sounds like like a great opportunity to feed THE HOGS!!
Our hospital at Landstuhl Germany is always prepared as well.
The media can dwell on this all they want--but we will lose Marines, and some will be injured.
It is the price of war--but this election proved that Americans and our brothers and sisters in arms are prepared to pay that price.
Once they are hurt--we give them the best care on this side of heaven. After that, we should honor them in every way as heroes forever.
I don't understand the reasons that the command structure on the ground there is going to deviate from standard air-land battle doctrine for the neutralization of Fallujah. This operation should make the initial "Shock and Awe" of taking Baghdad look like a training mission. There is absolutely no point in using our ground forces without extreme preparation of the battlefield from air assets.
There is a good cordon around the city, the friendly residents there know we are coming as well as the enemy, so why not tell the friendlies to leave for a few days? Then use our air assets to make sure that no two bricks are cemented together in the main target areas. No friendly civilian casualties this way, and utter destruction of the enemy. Merely use the infantry to sweep in behind the heavy ordnance and double tap anything that is still bleeding.
As a 10 year vet of the infantry, I don't appreciate seeing our troops being used to clear urban areas, or minefields under enemy fire. That's why we have close air support as well as bombers and artillery. If it offends the local populace of Fallujah that we don't just march into the city and become targets in a shooting gallery I don't give a $hit. The command needs to place a higher value on the lives of our soldiers than on the sensibilities of the local terrorists.
Good afternoon.
It seems they are going to do as you say. The locals have been warned. Precision bombing is underway, Spectre gunships (what a sight that must be!), Abrams tanks walking point, snipers doing their good work and Marine grunts cleaning up. All this and live TV too. If we are lucky the bad guys will be truly shocked and awed.
It would be nice to be 19 again.
Michael Frazier
It'll be almost as many casualties as Philadelphia election injuries suffered at the hands of pro kerry Union thugs
It is messy---but it has to be done. Warfare is not pretty---but is sure as beats trying to subdue evil with reason that they cannot fathom.
Well said and true.
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