Stranded Marines Fight To Last Bullets

London Times ^ | April 16, 2004 | James Hider

[sean327]

THE 15 Marines were trapped in a house, surrounded by hundreds of Iraqis armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles, their armoured vehicle in flames on the street outside. Each man was down to his last two magazines.

“It was in my head, we just got to go. Whoever makes it back, makes it back, those who fall, fall,” said Staff Sergeant Ismail Sagredo, sitting in the relative safety of Bravo Company’s forward base yesterday, as mortars and machinegun fire sounded a few streets away.

“That was the decision I’d have had to make, and I’m glad I didn’t have to do it.”

It was one of the most dramatic actions of the war.

Sergeant Sagredo, 35, had been in one of two Amphibious Assault Vehicles running out from the Marines’ frontline close to the centre of Fallujah, trying to trap insurgents who had ambushed a supply vehicle.

But as they headed down the narrow, parallel streets of Fallujah, where Sunni tribesmen have battled the Marines for more than a week, their vehicle came under fire from rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), the guerrillas’ weapon of choice.

Unable to turn the large vehicle around, the squad charged their attackers, but lost contact when they hit a bend in the road. They were driving into unknown territory. Then they turned another corner and saw hundreds of guerrillas.

“I’ve never seen so many RPGs. A lot of them were propped up against the walls with extra rounds,” said the sergeant.

The Iraqis, not expecting a lone American vehicle so far behind their lines, ran frantically for their weapons as the Marines opened up with M16 rifles and machineguns.

Rockets started smashing into their vehicle. One pierced the armour at the front, taking a large chunk out of the leg of Lieutenant Christopher Ayres, the officer in command. The rocket did not explode, but hit the engine, setting it ablaze.

Still under intense fire, the driver swerved south along a route known to the Marines as “Sh**head Alley”, desperate to find a turning to the east, towards their own lines. The gunner was dead from enemy fire, and several men had been knocked down by the continuing rounds of missiles.

The blaze was spreading toward the stockpiles of grenades when the engine gave out completely.

With the engine dead, the rear gate would not open. The men had to climb out of the hatch one by one, still taking small-arms fire. Luckily for them, their dash down the gauntlet of Sh**head Alley had left their attackers — up to 600 of them — behind. But only for a while.

“When we stepped out I was relieved. At least I wasn’t going to burn,” said Lance Corporal Abraham McCarver, a machinegunner.

The men had to help Lieutenant Ayres, who was crawling blindly toward the fire. Sergeant Sagredo and Corporal McCarver pulled him, but his webbing caught on a rack.

They were still taking fire, conscious that the vehicle could explode at any moment. Then the webbing ripped, and they carried the wounded officer to a nearby house, kicking down the door.

The Marines took up firing positions on the roof as more than 150 Iraqi gunmen converged on the small house.

“All the Iraqis surged south to join the festivities,” Sergeant Sagredo said. He now found himself in charge of an impossible situation reminiscent of scenes in Black Hawk Down, the film of a doomed US raid in Somalia that the sergeant had seen back home in America.

“It did remind me of that soldier being dragged through the streets back then,” he said, aware that a similarly gruesome scene had involved four US contractors just streets away, the trigger for the Marines’ invasion of Fallujah.

Ironically, Bravo Company’s call-sign is Blackhawk.

The Marines could hear the Iraqi fighters shouting outside, could see their feet shadowed under the front gate.

“I opened a window because I heard voices and I thought it was Americans,” said Corporal Koreyan Calloway. “There was a guy in a headscarf with an AK47 standing there looking at me, so I shot him.”

The attackers were darting down narrow alleyways beside the house, and lobbing grenades from neighbouring rooftops.

“They were running across our line of fire like we weren’t even shooting at them,” the corporal said.

“It was just like a range, we were just shooting them down,” said Corporal Jacob Palofax.

In the midst of the firefight, with the armoured vehicle’s munitions blowing up, an ambulance pulled up. The Marines thought they were being rescued. Instead, 15 men with RPGs jumped out and started firing.

The Americans were almost out of bullets. An Iraqi round hit a kitchen pipe and gas started whistling out as RPGs slammed into the building.

A guerrilla burst through the gate with an RPG and was shot dead. Another tried to follow and was wounded.

“Then the men started shouting that they could hear tanks. The first one went past, then the second,” Sergeant Sagredo said.

Horrified that the rescuers would miss him, Sergeant Sagredo radioed to tell them to back up. They did. A rifle muzzle appeared through the gate, and Captain Jason Smith of the 5th Marine Regiment came through shouting: “Marines, Marines, friendlies!”

It took an hour for the tanks to hook up with the burnt-out vehicle, but they were determined not to leave a dead Marine behind inside it.

Sergeant Sagredo does not want a medal for saving his men. “A decoration would only remind me of what happened. This is something I want to forget. Unfortunately, if it doesn’t affect me now, I know it will haunt me later.”

[Terabitten]

What are they terms used to define the enemy here? Sh**heads? Ragheads?

Rags or hadjis.

[COBOL2Java]

Most worthwhile thing from that article:

"My son was where he wanted to be, doing what Marines do," said Kevin T. Kolm's father, Thomas Kolm, yesterday from his Hicksville home. "He was with his brothers, defending other Marines."

[LoudRepublicangirl]

With each passing day of this war, these men make me more and more proud that I am an American. They represent the best the world has to offer! Semper Fi!!!!!!

[reagandemocrat]

Thank your son for all of us FReepers. And thank you.

Semper Jihad.

[headsonpikes]

'...from his Hicksville home'.

There's irony in here, somewhere.

God bless America.

[TomasUSMC]

Every day we wait makes the enemy stronger. Every day the enemy is obtaining better armament. Soon they will have anti-tank weapons that CAN destroy a tank with one shot. They then won't be bouncing RPGs off our tanks. THEN, we won't be able to send tanks to rescue our men.

We need to throw this Vietnam Rules of engagement crap out the window.

When you have the edge in war, you use it or you are giving time for the enemy to take the technological lead and use it.

What will we do when a WMD causes 5000 kia in Iraq?

The administration thinks that there are only two possible outcomes - stay and win or leave and lose. Nope, the third is stay and lose. We are giving the enemy time - and this enemy has NO RULES OF ENGAGEMENT.

When the enemy starts dressing in our uniforms and driving our stolen hummers and buying and using real AT weaponry, we will see Vietnam on our TV again.

Use maximum force before the enemy starts too. If you want to save civilians, better that we kill a few thousand of them now than a few million are killed later.

Do not be afraid of emboldening the enemy, make the enemy fear emboldening US.

[cavtrooper21]

Started to read sort of like Camarone...
We don't need one of those, and I don't think that the rag-heads would have been nearly as civilized toward our dead as the Mexicans were to the Foreign Legion's

[TexasRepublic]

Totally agreed; we need to flatten that rebellious town and to Hell with world opinion!

[TomasUSMC]

I read today that an F16 dropped a 2000 lb bomb on some outhouse in fallujah today.

That should be happening 24/7 by the hundreds, Dresdenize.

[wolicy_ponk]

This is an awesome story, there is another incredible one from the rescuers perspective, they had to fight through blocks and blocks of Jihadis to rescue these heroes. These Marines are outstanding individuals.

MARINES: Rescue mounted after mission goes wrong

They weren't about to let these "blackhawks" down. They sent a quick reaction force of 4 tanks, six humvees and 25 grunts , they also had some air cover from air force fighters. In the 6 block area of the rescue, two AC-130 SPECTRES woke the Jihadis in a punitive raid at dawn.

Below is a link to a video of an AC130 in action in Afganistan.
(If you have already seen this, it's the one with the memorable line "you are clear to level the building" good stuff) It's 5.4 Mb but worth every bit of it, in windows media format...

7 and 1/2 minutes of video featuring an AC130 in action

[TomasUSMC]

"Just before dawn Wednesday, however, AC-130 Spectre gunships launched a devastating punitive raid over a six-block area around the spot where the convoy was attacked, firing dozens of artillery shells that shook the city and lit up the sky. Marine officials said the area was virtually destroyed and that no further insurgent activity had been seen there."

Why stop there? On to the next 6 blocks.

[Keme]

I've seen a couple articles where our guys have called them "jihadis".

[firewalk]

Thanks for the pings
bttt

[Reborn]

It took an hour for the tanks to hook up with the burnt-out vehicle, but they were determined not to leave a dead Marine behind inside it.

This says it all.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

I hear the Marines are not waiting, but are fighting back, and running out of room to put the enemy corpses...."quietly" so Al Jazeera, BBC and AP aren't as involved.

Today:

8 Military Force May Be Next Option In Fallujah, Myers Says ~ + "Fallujah Standoff Can't Continue, CPA Official Says" ~ Dan Senor, Gen. Kimmitt ~ Godspeed, troops! ~ DoD-AFPS | 4/16/04 | Sgt. Doug Sample, Gerry J. Gilmore

8 General: Marines Not Hampered by Rules of Engagement ~ DoD-AFPS | 4/16/04 | Kathleen T. Rhem

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

IMHO we haven't had a Free Press since the 60's.

Bump!

Makes me want to hug Jim Robinson and our FR allies, lol.

[infowarrior]

And the designer didn't think that this would be a problem?

The rear door on any armored personnel carrier is extremely heavy, almost half a ton in weight, or more. It needs hydraulic pressure to quickly and safely raise or lower it, obviously. Your solution is?

the infowarior

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

The vehicle veered east and then suddenly broke down. Marines bolted out of the top, knowing it could explode any second and set off its ammunition. The gunner's hatch was locked shut. They could hear Kolm moaning and screaming.

May he rest in peace.
______________________

Amen.

Thank you, saquin.

Corporal Kevin Kolm

[MindBender26]

Spectre is great, but you need a Little Bird (OH-6 or OH-58) with an M-60. Gets there in less than 4 minutes when fight is still going good.

Pilot in right seat fwd, gunner in right rear seat. Both are looking out right side of A/C. Only two guys on board, the M-60 and a spare barrel. Plenty of room/weight for plenty of 7.62 for the M-60.

Pilot and gunner both talking to guys on ground, to the leader of the ENGAGED ELEMENT level, even if it's a 4-man fire team with a SP4 in charge. Forget the highers. They aren't on the ground with 20/20 battle vision.

Woggies trying to hide, the old raghead in the window trick, isn't too hard, but when you get two observers, it's much harder for them. It becomes very hard when the observers are separated in the vertical. Get three points of observation, (two guys on ground, one airborne) it's almost impossible for Iraqi Irv.

Ground elements should always carry one mag of 5.56 pure tracer per man to point out targets.

(door gunner) "Ok, this is Chicken Man 44, where is the bad guy?"

(reply from ground) "He's the top floor, 3d window from the corner.... watch my 3 shot tracer burst!"

BangBangBang. Instant target ident!

It's even more fun with two Little Birds, because they can both fly 360s around target, 180 out from each other and target is always under fire and observation. If bad guy tries to bug out the back door.... bad move... Chicken Man is Everywhere!!!!

The secret is getting this done at the lowest levels possible. Co Cmdr, or at max, the Bn S-3/FSO should be able to call for the Little Bird on target ASAP... with no need for clearance from highers.
Tell higher Hq what you did... after you did it, when the fight is over. If you can't trust an 0-3 to launch a bird, get a new 0-3, or a wiser 0-5.

Bottom line... it's very hard to shoot at the ground guys while 7.62 is coming through the window from above.... especially if the pilot is talking to his friendly neighborhood Cobra/Apache pilot about putting a few rockets or 30mm HE through the same window...

Secret. Give the guys on the ground the ability to get supporting fire of some kind.... right now!