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Gates of Fire (Michael Yon's report on LTC Kurilla in Mosul) - MUST READ
Michael Yon: Online Magazine ^
| 8/25/05
| Michael Yon
Posted on 08/25/2005 10:35:17 AM PDT by saquin
click here to read article
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To: saquin; All
http://punditreview.blogspot.com/2005/08/michael-yon-interview.html
'America lined up to thank Michael Yon last night on Pundit Review Radio. What an outpouring of support for the great work he does, bringing us vivid, well-written and compelling reporting from his base in Mosul.....snip...
'Remember, you can check out Kevin & Gregg on Pundit Review Radio every Sunday evening at 9pm at WRKO where we will be giving voice to the new media. Each week we will bring you interiews with leaders in the citizen journalist movement, people like Michael Yon who you will hear no where else but Pundit Review Radio. Thanks.'
121
posted on
08/25/2005 8:44:05 PM PDT
by
bitt
('But once the shooting starts, a plan is just a guess in a party dress.' Michael Yon)
To: NonValueAdded; mystery-ak; 68-69TonkinGulfYatchClub; Kathy in Alaska; StarCMC; HiJinx; ...
122
posted on
08/25/2005 9:11:27 PM PDT
by
ckilmer
To: ckilmer
I love this guy's reports. I am on his email notification.
123
posted on
08/25/2005 9:15:11 PM PDT
by
StarCMC
(Old Sarge is my hero...doing it right in Iraq! Vaya con Dios, Sarge.)
To: bitt; neverdem; OXENinFLA
WOW! Intense.
Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley....CSM Robert Prosser, two of a kind.
124
posted on
08/25/2005 9:15:30 PM PDT
by
Valin
(The right to do something does not mean that doing it is right.)
To: Valin
Last detail I'd like to look at, Yon says this:
When Kurilla woke in recovery a few hours after surgery, he called CSM Prosser and asked for a Bible and the book: Gates of Fire. Kurilla gives a copy of Gates of Fire to every new officer and orders them to read it. He had given me a copy and told me to read it. In my book, there is a marked passage, which I thought rather flowery. But I have it beside me on the table by the map of Iraq.
"I would be the one. The one to go back and speak. A pain beyond all previous now seized me. Sweet life itself, even the desperately sought chance to tell the tale, suddenly seemed unendurable alongside the pain of having to take leave of these whom I had come so to love."
The book, Gates of Fire, is written by Steven Pressfield.
(This link to Amazon came through GMT Games, a game company with which I have no affiliation, other than as a customer.)
Why might Kurilla, a leader of men, find special meaning in this book?
The book is fiction, a historical novel, but describes the famous battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. In a narrow mountain pass, 300 Spartans,led by Leonidas, and their allies held back a massive Persian invasion force. This force was wiped out.
It is a brilliant novel. Kurilla must have been touched by the account of Leonidas, and his difficult task of leading men in this perilous situation, one fraught with mortal danger.
In the book, Leonidas says this:
"You are the commanders, your men will look to you and act as you do. Let no officer keep to himself or his brother officers, but circulate daylong among his men. Let them see you and see you unafraid. Where there is work to do, turn your hand to it first; the men will follow."
Kurilla was that kind of man. He was the first man down that alley.
It is instructive that Yon highlighted the passage he did. The passage is taken from Chapter One. The words are from a character named Xeones. Xeones is the narrator of the novel. He survives the battle, and lives to tell the tale of what happened in that mountain pass.
Yon is that person as well. He sees himself as the one who will witness battle and return to tell others about it. He is the one who brings back to us tales of unbelievable courage. Without him, we would know very little of the courage of the men who put their lives on the line for us. God bless Yon, and God bless our Armed Forces.
Today, there is a famous monument at the site of the battle, and an epitaph on the monument says this:
Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by,
that here, obedient to their laws, we lie
Yes, Michael, go tell all of us of the courage of those who serve to defend us.
http://www.jeffkouba.com/myblog/2005/08/dissecting-gates-of-fire.html
125
posted on
08/25/2005 9:18:48 PM PDT
by
ckilmer
To: saquin
Good evening.
This was a superb read.
I will sleep like a baby tonight, knowing that we have war fighters like these people.
Michael Frazier
126
posted on
08/25/2005 9:22:57 PM PDT
by
brazzaville
(no surrender no retreat, well, maybe retreat's ok)
To: saquin
Second to none,our very best.
127
posted on
08/25/2005 9:30:11 PM PDT
by
Boazo
(From the mind of BOAZO)
To: saquin
I heard this on a radio show today. It is an amazing story. I wish our left-wing journalists would have so much loyalty to our men, but they think they can't be part of the American story. They can only "report it".
128
posted on
08/25/2005 9:41:16 PM PDT
by
FreeAtlanta
(never surrender, this is for the kids)
To: saquin
129
posted on
08/25/2005 9:54:57 PM PDT
by
Antoninus
(Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini, Hosanna in excelsis!)
To: NonValueAdded
VIETNAM REDUX. How stinking long will we make the same rotten mistakes we made in Nam? How long. Can anyone in the white house read? Can they read this blog.
We let the terrorist use Syria, use Iran and our own conservative republican President Bush doesn't even lift a pinkie. Our men are being killed by terrorists and when we risk our lives to catch them alive, we turn them over to judges who release them? AND ON TOP OF THAT, WE ARE ENDING UP FIGHTING TO PROP UP A CONSTITUTION THAT MANDATES
I S L A M as the OFFICIAL RELIGION.
Insane is an understatement for whoever is in charge of these rules of engagement.
Tagline:
130
posted on
08/25/2005 11:30:54 PM PDT
by
TomasUSMC
(FIGHT LIKE WW2, FINISH LIKE WW2. FIGHT LIKE NAM, FINISH LIKE NAM.)
To: Choose Ye This Day
If you think the M4 is weak you should see the M16. At least the M4 has full auto, the M16 does not. Which means that the enemy in room to room combat has greater firepower because their AKs have full auto. Why?
Then they said they were worried about too much ammo being used up. So they took away full auto from the M16 and replaced it with a 3 shot selector. I think they took the full auto away from the M16 so they could purchase the S.A.W. More military-industrial Bullcrap Eisenhower warned about. Thats what fire discipline training is for. Combine this with the tiny little 20 round magazine, that can't even handle 20 rounds and you have an our infantry with a FUBARes situation. We need a real rifle.
Something with 100 round mags available, with full auto and with rounds that put the target down for good. We put 12 men and 2 SUVs on the Moon a quarter of a century ago, we should be able to build a modern rifle.
131
posted on
08/25/2005 11:47:23 PM PDT
by
TomasUSMC
(FIGHT LIKE WW2, FINISH LIKE WW2. FIGHT LIKE NAM, FINISH LIKE NAM.)
To: 68skylark
But I think I'm starting to resign myself to the fact that we're simply not serious about winning in Iraq,
You too? Its bugging me more and more. What the heck is wrong with this President Bush that we all busted are butts for to get elected and get him a house and senate too?
How can he allow this crap to go on? I need my President to get rid of these stupid Vietnam combat rules. Michael Yon even states that if an American trooper commands someone to stop and they don't we are not allowed to shoot. What are we supposed to do, change into running shorts and Reeboks and run after them tooting on a whistle?
Is this war or bible study? Heck, might as well arm our guys with spitballs if they can't kill the enemy. Oh and just in case someone says "what if they are just scared", I say this is war, kill them and continue on, its not police work - its WAR.
132
posted on
08/25/2005 11:55:22 PM PDT
by
TomasUSMC
(FIGHT LIKE WW2, FINISH LIKE WW2. FIGHT LIKE NAM, FINISH LIKE NAM.)
To: McGavin999
I believe Yon is prior SF.
133
posted on
08/25/2005 11:57:20 PM PDT
by
TomasUSMC
(FIGHT LIKE WW2, FINISH LIKE WW2. FIGHT LIKE NAM, FINISH LIKE NAM.)
To: roaddog727
More often than not, these "insurgents" are hopped up on so much "S@@t", that even if you hit them 4 or 5 times with a 5.56mm, they just keep on going
Great point.
134
posted on
08/26/2005 12:10:46 AM PDT
by
TomasUSMC
(FIGHT LIKE WW2, FINISH LIKE WW2. FIGHT LIKE NAM, FINISH LIKE NAM.)
To: 68skylark
If we're doing "catch and release" of deadly terrorists, like Yon writes about, that tells me our leaders aren't really serious.
Exactly.
Not to mention that we are allowing the terrorist to use Syria and Iran as sanctuary not our President is doing nothing about it. I'd say, stop building schools in Iraq and start bombing in Syria and Iran before its to late and Iran smuggles into Iraq something like they did into Lebanon that killed 241 Marines in 1983.
135
posted on
08/26/2005 12:14:21 AM PDT
by
TomasUSMC
(FIGHT LIKE WW2, FINISH LIKE WW2. FIGHT LIKE NAM, FINISH LIKE NAM.)
To: Mr. Silverback
Also, there was a Yon post a few weeks ago where the local Iraqi police chief was begging Kurilla to let him have a terrorist suspect so he could work him over for awhile.
There might be another side to that. They SAID they would work some info out of him but there is reason to doubt. You see the article goes on to say that had there been Iraqis with Kurilla men when they caught the terr, then Kurilla could have, under the present dumbazzed rules of engagement, given the prisoner to the Iraqis for interrogation.
The Iraqis refused to go out on patrol with Kurila. Thats why they didn't get the prisoner. Question is why didn't the Iraqi police send one man out with the Americans?
136
posted on
08/26/2005 12:19:42 AM PDT
by
TomasUSMC
(FIGHT LIKE WW2, FINISH LIKE WW2. FIGHT LIKE NAM, FINISH LIKE NAM.)
Comment #137 Removed by Moderator
Comment #138 Removed by Moderator
To: RKV
HUEVOS, MUY GRANDES HUEVOS, amigo
These are the kind of guys we need running for President. For senate For Congress. AND there are thousands of them. Question is why don't the GOP go and get them.
And to think we are hamstringing our troops with rules and procedures that say you can't shoot if they run away, or if you risk your life to capture them, and give them treatment even our own citizens can't get, they are then released to again attack our troops.
Tagline hermano Tagline
139
posted on
08/26/2005 12:38:31 AM PDT
by
TomasUSMC
(FIGHT LIKE WW2, FINISH LIKE WW2. FIGHT LIKE NAM, FINISH LIKE NAM.)
Comment #140 Removed by Moderator
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