LTC Erik Kurilla (front right), the moment the bullets strike.(2nd LT front-left; radioman near-left; "AH" the interpreter is near-right.)
Posted on 08/25/2005 10:35:17 AM PDT by saquin
[...]
About fifteen seconds later our ramp dropped. We ran into combat.
Folks who haven't done much urban fighting might take issue with the wild chases, and they might say that people should always "stack up" and do things this or that way, but men in Delta Force, SEALs and the like, all know that when chasing wild men into the labyrinth, soldiers enter the land of confusion. If soldiers don't go fast, the bad guys simply get away. Just a few minutes ago, these three guys were going "105 miles per hour," and outrunning a helicopter.
There were shops, alleys, doorways, windows . . .which to me screamed: death, death, death, death...
The soldiers with LTC Kurilla were searching fast, weapons at the ready, and they quickly flex-cuffed two men. But these were not the right guys. Meanwhile, SSG Konkol's men were clearing towards us, leaving the three bad-guys boxed, but free.
Shots were fired behind us but around a corner to the left.
Both the young 2nd lieutenant and the young specialist were inside a shop when a close-quarters firefight broke out, and they ran outside. Not knowing how many men they were fighting, they wanted backup. LTC Kurilla began running in the direction of the shooting. He passed by me and I chased, Kurilla leading the way.
There was a quick and heavy volume of fire. And then LTC Kurilla was shot.
LTC Erik Kurilla (front right), the moment the bullets strike.(2nd LT front-left; radioman near-left; "AH" the interpreter is near-right.)
Three bullets reach flesh: One snaps his thigh bone in half.
[...]
Kurilla was running when he was shot, but he didn't seem to miss a stride; he did a crazy judo roll and came up shooting.
The Commander fights...
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.'
this piece by michael yon was posted this morning from Mosul:
http://michaelyon.blogspot.com/
I love this guy's reports. I am on his email notification.
WOW! Intense.
Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley....CSM Robert Prosser, two of a kind.
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
Second to none,our very best.
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".
Mega-bump.
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:
I believe Yon is prior SF.
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
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