Posted on 12/26/2004 12:36:12 AM PST by JohnHuang2
BAGHDAD -- The men of 1st Lt. Michael Anderson's platoon thought their Christmas Day patrol would be an easy one: just drive through town and photograph friendly local leaders for a guidebook to hand to the company that soon would be taking over their sector of southwestern Baghdad.
Despite gray skies and a cold, steady rain, Lt. Anderson, 28, and his convoy of three armored Humvees pulled out of Camp Falcon cheerily, with guitar-heavy sounds of Metallica blaring from Sgt. Brandon Shaw's CD player.
Spc. Steve Bobb, 24, of Meigs County, Ohio, gripped an M-16 and a mounted machine gun at the rooftop portal of his Humvee.
"It basically [expletive] being here Christmas," said Lt. Anderson, a native of Griffith, Ind. "But now I feel good."
A few minutes into the mission, their hopes for an easy afternoon were dashed. Headquarters radioed in with a new order: head to Route Irish, the deadly road leading to Baghdad International Airport, and secure it for an hour.
The mood soured. The conversation ended. Two of the battalion's men had already been killed on the road and nearly two dozen injured. Sgt. Shaw, 23, a State College, Pa., native sitting behind the wheel, sullenly made his way toward the airport. He turned off the Metallica.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
I am still in shock over the suicide bombing in Mosul, but we really have to keep our troops in prayer. I suggest a day of prayer and fasting...just for our troops and our president and his advisors...to ask for mercy and strength, to request success in our mission, and to deliver to the Iraqi people a democracy soon. I think this is not too much for us, to lay down our lives in this way, as they put theirs on the line!
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