Free Republic

LITTLE ROCK — Capt. John Stubbs of Searcy, commanding officer of Charlie Company of the 39th Infantry Brigade's 3rd Battalion, is proud of his snipers. He has some reason to be. In a 20-minute engagement Thursday, the company's snipers, with help from a backup platoon, killed seven insurgents mounting a mortar attack on a U.S. military encampment at Baghdad, Iraq, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Friday. "They fought very aggressively," Stubbs said of his soldiers, in an interview with reporter Michael Wood, embedded with the Arkansas National Guard troops in Iraq. "These guys did really, really, really great. I'm real...

FORT STEWART -- The bulk of Charlie Company is expected to receive a joyous homecoming later this afternoon as it and other units from the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) return home from Iraq.A flight carrying 294 3rd Infantry Division soldiers, including 58 from the Charlie Company group that led the thunder run into Baghdad, touched down at 1:50 p.m. today at Hunter. The soldiers have gone through Customs and have turned in their weapons. They now are waiting to board buses for the 35- to 40-minute ride to Fort Stewart. Some members of Charlie Company, a unit that led the...

AMARAH, Iraq -- The Marines of Charlie Company did not sleep well Monday night. The next day's mission was their most serious yet -- a probable tank battle with an Iraqi armored division in this city on the Tigris River. That night and the next morning, many Marines talked openly about the possibility of dying. At dawn Tuesday, the company rolled out, a vanguard of a task force planning to attack the Iraqi tanks. But not much goes according to plan these days, and that's not always such a bad thing. When the convoy approached this alleged enemy stronghold, the...

AMARAH, Iraq -- The Marines of Charlie Company did not sleep well Monday night. The next day's mission was their most serious yet -- a probable tank battle with an Iraqi armored division in this city on the Tigris River. That night and the next morning, many Marines talked openly about the possibility of dying. At dawn Tuesday, the company rolled out, a vanguard of a task force planning to attack the Iraqi tanks. But not much goes according to plan these days, and that's not always such a bad thing. When the convoy approached this alleged enemy stronghold, the...