Letting Go Of The Reins

My unit was not unlike most others in the battalion. We worked hard when it was time to work, and we played hard when the time was offered. Our camaraderie was good, morale was stable, and we were getting back into the swing of everyday life back in garrison.

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Anonym, Thursday, July 18, 2024

Kick In The Door

While serving as an Infantry Company Commander in Baghdad, my company conducted an air assault raid in support of another battalion. After landing, we were to clear a small part of a village and capture a mortar team and their equipment.

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Anonym, Thursday, July 18, 2024

Local Ethics

While serving as an advisor to the Iraqi Army in June 2005, an Iraqi officer proudly announced that his unit had captured four insurgents three days earlier. When asked where they were, he replied "in my jail that I have created".

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Anonym, Thursday, July 18, 2024

IEDs And The Security Company

In Ad-Dawr, Iraq, where there had been heavy insurgent activity in the last month, Soldiers on patrol observed an adult male walking by himself after curfew near the center of town. Though an interpreter, the platoon leader ordered the man to halt, but he continued to walk away.

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Anonym, Thursday, July 18, 2024

Mal-Nusur Square (Blackwater)

Private security companies have aided US Forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom since the summer of 2003. By December 2005, the US Government paid in excess of $750 million to such firms. Further, private security contractors account for the second largest military presence in Iraq with approximately 8500 personnel.

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Anonym, Thursday, July 18, 2024

LTC West

On 20 August 2003, at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Gunner (vic. Taji, Iraq), during the interrogation of Mr. Yehiya K. Hamoodi, an Iraqi Police Officer, LTC Allen West, Commander of 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Battalion (2-20 FA), 4th Infantry Division (4ID), fired his side arm into a clearing barrel while Mr. Hamoodi's head was held over the barrel.

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Anonym, Thursday, July 18, 2024

I Will Not Let Another Man Die

We had an incredibly rough start. We lost four men before we began to feel more settled and secure in our assigned sector. We learned the enemy's tactics and became familiar with the area. As violent conflicts and non-battle related incidents decreased, our spirits began to rise.

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Anonym, Thursday, July 18, 2024

My Lai at 50

In March of 1968 a platoon of Soldiers from the Americal Division, led by 2LT William Calley, commited atrocities in the village My Lai. This case study examines the My Lai massacre 50 years later.

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Anonym, Thursday, July 18, 2024

Mukaradeeb

A wedding party Mukaradeeb, a small village in Iraq near the border with Syria, was the site of American shooting and bombing on May 19, 2004. The ceremonies began on Tuesday morning and stretched through until the late evening.

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Anonym, Thursday, July 18, 2024

Missed The Mark

The Troop deployed back to Fort Campbell from Afghanistan exhausted after fourteen months of combat operations. I had taken command of the Troop mid-way through the deployment and I would take them back to combat in approximately one year.

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Anonym, Thursday, July 18, 2024

Hooking and Crooking

From 2004 through 2006 I served as a company commander in a recruiting battalion in Southern California. Before arriving, I had no idea what recruiting conditions were like in the area and reality came as a shock.

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Anonym, Thursday, July 18, 2024

New Leader, Old Problem

This situation is still not resolved. I am a new Battalion Command Sergeant Major at a TRADOC post. I arrived at my unit in June and have been getting to know my way around on my own. My predecessor was well-liked but left very quickly.

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Anonym, Thursday, July 18, 2024

Necessary Force

In February 2005 in the Al Dora neighborhood of Baghdad, an insurgent cell ambushed an Iraqi Police patrol from the rooftops and ground level of a narrow street. An American patrol heard the shots being fired and approached from the flank/rear of the insurgent position.

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Anonym, Thursday, July 18, 2024

My-Lai

On March 16th 1968, Chief Warrant Officer Hugh Thomson, Jr. was piloting a Scout helicopter providing air support for ground elements engaged in combat around two hamlets of Son My Village, Quang Ngai Province, Republic of Vietnam.

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Anonym, Thursday, July 18, 2024

Haditha, Iraq

In September of 2005, Marines of Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, First Marine Division manned Forward Operating Base 'Sparta' in the Anbar Province of Iraq near the town of Haditha; an area known to harbor insurgents. This was the company's third deployment having participated in the Invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the battle for Fallujah in 2004.

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Anonym, Thursday, July 18, 2024

Not-So-Funny-Money

It was March 2007 and I had been working with the 1-75th Iraqi Infantry Battalion on a military transition team (MiTT) for just over six months. Tensions were running high as insurgent violence in Baghdad was at historic levels.

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Anonym, Thursday, July 18, 2024

Real PTSD

I am a former battery commander who served in an armored cavalry regiment for five years. During my time in command, I deployed with my battery to Iraq on two separate occasions.

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Anonym, Thursday, July 18, 2024

Preventing A Revenge Killing

I was the Team Chief of a Military Transition Team assigned to an Iraqi Army (IA) Infantry Battalion in Iraq. One evening, I noticed two of the officers in the battalion were leaving the Forward Operating Base (FOB) with four other Iraqi Soldiers to travel to their homes.

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Anonym, Thursday, July 18, 2024

Planted Weapons

You are in an infantry unit serving in Iraq. You have been serving there for eleven months and frankly you are burned out and battle hardened. You have lost several good men to the insurgents and a few to accidents. Your unit has a reputation for being fierce in battle and has become very skilled in urban combat.

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Anonym, Thursday, July 18, 2024
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