A Glint of Silver at 23

The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal ^ | 27 November 2005 | by Jon W. Sparks

[GBA]

That's great news about Bruce Willis! The time is right for such a movie and either Mel Gibson or Bruce Willis would be the right people to git-r done.

[Valin]

Battle for Fallujah, our warfighters towered in maturity and guts
http://www.talkingproud.us/Military042805.html

No True Glory : A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah (Hardcover)
by Bing West (Valin says, Must read)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553804022/104-4914374-6174369?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance&tagActionCode=satisfactiong-20

From the Inside Flap
This is the face of war as only those who have fought it can describe it."–Senator John McCain
Fallujah: Iraq’s most dangerous city unexpectedly emerged as the major battleground of the Iraqi insurgency. For twenty months, one American battalion after another tried to quell the violence, culminating in a bloody, full-scale assault. Victory came at a terrible price: 151 Americans and thousands of Iraqis were left dead.

The epic battle for Fallujah revealed the startling connections between policy and combat that are a part of the new reality of war.

The Marines had planned to slip out of Fallujah "as soft as fog." But after four American contractors were brutally murdered, President Bush ordered an attack on the city–against the advice of the Marines. The assault sparked a political firestorm, and the Marines were forced to withdraw amid controversy and confusion–only to be ordered a second time to take a city that had become an inferno of hate and the lair of the archterrorist al-Zarqawi.

Based on months spent with the battalions in Fallujah and hundreds of interviews at every level–senior policymakers, negotiators, generals, and soldiers and Marines on the front lines–No True Glory is a testament to the bravery of the American soldier and a cautionary tale about the complex–and often costly–interconnected roles of policy, politics, and battle in the twenty-first century.

[Gucho]

Thanks for the ping - A great story.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

Thank God for corporals with more guts than the generals and politicians.
Fallujah should have been incinerated within two days of the bridge incident as an example.

[Maigrey]

Don't I know. I also think (sunday afternoon quarterbacking here) that we would have had 10x less trouble had we cleaned out the roach hotel back in April.

Alas, we can't change the past, but we can learn from it, so our finest don't blunder again.

[river rat]

Thanks for the ping, I would have missed that story...

Semper Fi

[sam_paine]

Semper Fi from a former Marine.

If you're going to get hoity toity, then remember that there's no such thing as a "former" Marine.

[AlaskaErik]

If you're going to get hoity toity, then remember that there's no such thing as a "former" Marine.

The saying is..."There's no such thing as an ex-Marine. Those of us who no longer serve are entitled to be called former Marines.