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A Death in the Family
Los Angeles Times ^ | 3-5-05 | David Zucchino

Posted on 03/08/2005 1:28:17 PM PST by lilylangtree

MUQDADIYA, Iraq — When his battalion took charge here in mid-February, Lt. Col. Roger Cloutier made a vow to himself and his soldiers: If one of them was attacked, the entire battalion would respond swiftly and violently.

"We will hunt down the enemy if he attacks us," the colonel told his staff. "I don't want to give him any rest or refuge. I want to haunt his dreams."

A week later, Cpl. Jacob Palmatier, a 29-year-old administrative clerk, asked to be relieved of desk duty to man a grenade launcher on a convoy headed south. He was in the turret of a 5-ton truck when two slivers of shrapnel from a roadside bomb tore into his midsection.

Minutes into one of his first combat missions, Palmatier bled to death on the side of the road, the 1,481st American troop to die in Iraq.

It was the first combat death in Iraq for the Battle Boars of the 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, and it set in motion a series of events that transformed the battalion's very presence here.

It triggered a manhunt that penetrated an insurgent cell, leading to the capture of eight suspected cell leaders. It precipitated a showdown that redefined the relationship between Cloutier and local sheiks and mayors. It forged tighter bonds between the Battle Boars and the local Iraqi army battalion, energizing an investigation into that unit's infiltration by insurgents.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-fg-jacob5mar05,0,2914912.story?coll=la-home-headlines

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: 3rdid; fallen; iraq
This was sent to me be a patriotic cyberfriend. Plus, this article may have already been posted but I checked and couldn't find it. However, this story is a must read by every patriotic freeper.
1 posted on 03/08/2005 1:28:21 PM PST by lilylangtree
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To: lilylangtree

Good Read, thanks. May God bless em' all


2 posted on 03/08/2005 1:45:38 PM PST by the conservative bean (Viva la Reagan Revolucion!!!!!)
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To: lilylangtree

Get some ping


3 posted on 03/08/2005 1:49:40 PM PST by 506trooper (No such thing as too much guns, ammo or fuel on board...unless you're on fire)
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To: lilylangtree; eyespysomething

Good read, good story. Cloutier understands how wars should be fought, and I'm certain his soldiers would follow him anywhere after this.


4 posted on 03/08/2005 1:52:37 PM PST by SittinYonder (Tancredo and I wanna know what you believe)
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To: lilylangtree
Great article -- very moving. Thanks.

I'm not surprised this was written by David Zucchino -- I'm reading a book he wrote right now, and it's great

The book is Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad .

5 posted on 03/08/2005 1:54:47 PM PST by 68skylark
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To: lilylangtree
For nearly an hour, he railed at the Iraqis. "I told them I have money in one hand and tanks in the other," he said. "I asked them what they wanted: the money or the tank."

Sounds like a well grounded CO.

Personally...I think he was being unusually generous.

6 posted on 03/08/2005 1:57:36 PM PST by Focault's Pendulum
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To: lilylangtree

Thank you for posting that. My cousin was killed in Iraq on Jan 4. We need more commanders like the one described in the article. Commanders who see it as their duty to ensure that as few American soldiers are killed as possible. The terrorists in his area of operations will think twice about their cowardly attacks.


7 posted on 03/08/2005 2:05:07 PM PST by Jackson57
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To: lilylangtree
Lil,

A very touching story. God bless them all.

8 posted on 03/08/2005 2:07:58 PM PST by RAY (They that do right are all heroes!)
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To: lilylangtree

A great story & great commander. Men like that encourage our Iraqi friends and discourage our Iraqi enemies. Thanks for posting this.


9 posted on 03/08/2005 7:56:40 PM PST by mark502inf
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