P
pappy
Guest
Rather the the pundits on the "nightly news"....
Alwayd nice to hear it from the people at the sharp end of the spear, Semper Fi Col. Tucker.
" 29 October
MILINET: A Marine Regimental Commander's Eye-View of Iraq
======================
From the Commanding Officer, Col. C. A. Tucker - Regimental Combat Team 7
(RCT-7) - Letter to Families - Dated 19 October 2004
Hello again, after a long hiatus. Last 6 weeks or so have been busy as we
worked to establish the new battalions in their areas of operations and
worked to get the "old' battalions home. 3/7, 2/7, and 1st LAR are all
safely home and on their block leave period. 1/7, 1/23, and 3d LAR have
assumed their battle space and continue to perform superbly. The enemy, as
we expected, is surging as we approach the U. S. and Iraqi election period
and enter Ramadan. Enemy activity in this AO has picked up, to the enemy's
detriment. They are not very smart, and when they decide to come out and
fight, are easily killed. His patterns remain the same as we saw in April:
move 50-150 terrorists into a city or community, use terror and intimidation
to assume control, kill and maim local citizens, get his picture taken with
is RPG and AK-47, then wait to see himself on the evening news. Interesting
side note to ask how often you see pictures of these guys posturing and how
often you see pictures of them fighting. Then compare that to how often you
see pictures of U. S. servicemen fighting and how often you see pictures of
them posturing. Provides a good metric for who is winning this thing: the
enemy postures when the cameraman is present, but when it comes to fighting
he is the most base of cowards. You don't see many images of these guys
fighting because they're too busy hiding or running once the fighting
starts. They're much more comfortable beheading innocents. Side note also
demonstrates how, with the best of intentions and within the rightful bounds
of our constitution, the press becomes unwitting collaborators in the
enemy's information operations campaign. This is a fight for the will of the
American and the Iraqi people. He targets the Iraqis through murder and
intimidation; he targets you through the images. Anyway.. we have fought him
well in a number of engagements over the past week or so. TF 1/23,
1/8 and 2d Force Recon Co performed magnificently in an operation in
the city of Hit that killed 30 or so terrorists without harming an innocent
Iraqi and restored both security and governance to a city taken over by the
bastards for a 72 hour period last week. Of greater significance, the 503d
Iraqi National Guard Bn fought as the RCT-7 main effort, were the first ones
into the city, and remains there today providing security for the community.
The enemy chased out of Hit moved into the city of Rawah about 50 miles
west, TF 1/8 and an Iraqi Army Unit hunted them down there, killed 10-15
more and restored that community to its citizens. In other parts of the AO,
Iraqi police and National Guard and Border Police have fought off numerous
attacks on their own... in my mind the most striking example of the progress
we continue to make across the AO. The enemy cannot maintain this surge for
long: the Iraqi people are rapidly tiring of him, the Iraqi Security Forces
are fighting back, and we are killing them with stunning regularity. He
surges in order to influence the American and Iraqi elections; when both
proceed as planned, his efforts will begin to crumble. We now have 2 police
academies, 2 ING training academies, and 2 Iraqi Border Police Training
Academies operational. We continue to see the fruits of these efforts in The
increasing professionalism, confidence, and competence of the Iraqi Security
Forces. Firefights are dramatic and make the news; but where we are going to
win this is through the establishment of viable Iraqi Security Forces. It is
a challenging road, fraught with friction, but every day we see progress.
Training ISF remains our main effort and will continue to be both our main
effort and our ultimate ticket home with victory. The civil effort continues
apace also. Our most significant current effort is the construction of the
hospital in Ar Rutbah.. a $1M effort that will provide medical services to a
community currently 4 hours away from the closest medical care. Your Marines
and Sailors continue to perform with courage and intellect in this most
complex and ambiguous of conflicts. We are anxiously awaiting election day
in the hopes that the media picture and national dialogue will transition
from the subjectivity of politics to the objectivity of national interest.
Building a democracy is a dirty business-has been throughout the history of
democracy from ancient Greece through the present day. Regard our national
effort here through the prism of that reality. RCT-7 remembers the
sacrifices of LCpls A. R. Boyles and R. Mateo, KIA 24 Sep 2004 vic Fallujah;
Cpl. I. T. Zook, KIA 12 Oct 2004 vic Husaybah; Cpl W. I. Salazar KIA 15 Oct
2004 vic Husaybah; Sgt Owen, U. S. Army, KIA 15 Oct 2004 vic Husaybah; SPC
J. Santos, U. S. Army, KIA 15 Oct 2004 vic Husaybah. Please remember their
families in your prayers.
Share your Courage. And stand fast.
C. A. Tucker
Colonel, U. S. Marine Corps
CO, RCT-7. "
--
"Some people live an entire
lifetime and wonder if they have
made a difference in the world.
Marines don't have that problem."
Ronald Reagan 1983
Alwayd nice to hear it from the people at the sharp end of the spear, Semper Fi Col. Tucker.
" 29 October
MILINET: A Marine Regimental Commander's Eye-View of Iraq
======================
From the Commanding Officer, Col. C. A. Tucker - Regimental Combat Team 7
(RCT-7) - Letter to Families - Dated 19 October 2004
Hello again, after a long hiatus. Last 6 weeks or so have been busy as we
worked to establish the new battalions in their areas of operations and
worked to get the "old' battalions home. 3/7, 2/7, and 1st LAR are all
safely home and on their block leave period. 1/7, 1/23, and 3d LAR have
assumed their battle space and continue to perform superbly. The enemy, as
we expected, is surging as we approach the U. S. and Iraqi election period
and enter Ramadan. Enemy activity in this AO has picked up, to the enemy's
detriment. They are not very smart, and when they decide to come out and
fight, are easily killed. His patterns remain the same as we saw in April:
move 50-150 terrorists into a city or community, use terror and intimidation
to assume control, kill and maim local citizens, get his picture taken with
is RPG and AK-47, then wait to see himself on the evening news. Interesting
side note to ask how often you see pictures of these guys posturing and how
often you see pictures of them fighting. Then compare that to how often you
see pictures of U. S. servicemen fighting and how often you see pictures of
them posturing. Provides a good metric for who is winning this thing: the
enemy postures when the cameraman is present, but when it comes to fighting
he is the most base of cowards. You don't see many images of these guys
fighting because they're too busy hiding or running once the fighting
starts. They're much more comfortable beheading innocents. Side note also
demonstrates how, with the best of intentions and within the rightful bounds
of our constitution, the press becomes unwitting collaborators in the
enemy's information operations campaign. This is a fight for the will of the
American and the Iraqi people. He targets the Iraqis through murder and
intimidation; he targets you through the images. Anyway.. we have fought him
well in a number of engagements over the past week or so. TF 1/23,
1/8 and 2d Force Recon Co performed magnificently in an operation in
the city of Hit that killed 30 or so terrorists without harming an innocent
Iraqi and restored both security and governance to a city taken over by the
bastards for a 72 hour period last week. Of greater significance, the 503d
Iraqi National Guard Bn fought as the RCT-7 main effort, were the first ones
into the city, and remains there today providing security for the community.
The enemy chased out of Hit moved into the city of Rawah about 50 miles
west, TF 1/8 and an Iraqi Army Unit hunted them down there, killed 10-15
more and restored that community to its citizens. In other parts of the AO,
Iraqi police and National Guard and Border Police have fought off numerous
attacks on their own... in my mind the most striking example of the progress
we continue to make across the AO. The enemy cannot maintain this surge for
long: the Iraqi people are rapidly tiring of him, the Iraqi Security Forces
are fighting back, and we are killing them with stunning regularity. He
surges in order to influence the American and Iraqi elections; when both
proceed as planned, his efforts will begin to crumble. We now have 2 police
academies, 2 ING training academies, and 2 Iraqi Border Police Training
Academies operational. We continue to see the fruits of these efforts in The
increasing professionalism, confidence, and competence of the Iraqi Security
Forces. Firefights are dramatic and make the news; but where we are going to
win this is through the establishment of viable Iraqi Security Forces. It is
a challenging road, fraught with friction, but every day we see progress.
Training ISF remains our main effort and will continue to be both our main
effort and our ultimate ticket home with victory. The civil effort continues
apace also. Our most significant current effort is the construction of the
hospital in Ar Rutbah.. a $1M effort that will provide medical services to a
community currently 4 hours away from the closest medical care. Your Marines
and Sailors continue to perform with courage and intellect in this most
complex and ambiguous of conflicts. We are anxiously awaiting election day
in the hopes that the media picture and national dialogue will transition
from the subjectivity of politics to the objectivity of national interest.
Building a democracy is a dirty business-has been throughout the history of
democracy from ancient Greece through the present day. Regard our national
effort here through the prism of that reality. RCT-7 remembers the
sacrifices of LCpls A. R. Boyles and R. Mateo, KIA 24 Sep 2004 vic Fallujah;
Cpl. I. T. Zook, KIA 12 Oct 2004 vic Husaybah; Cpl W. I. Salazar KIA 15 Oct
2004 vic Husaybah; Sgt Owen, U. S. Army, KIA 15 Oct 2004 vic Husaybah; SPC
J. Santos, U. S. Army, KIA 15 Oct 2004 vic Husaybah. Please remember their
families in your prayers.
Share your Courage. And stand fast.
C. A. Tucker
Colonel, U. S. Marine Corps
CO, RCT-7. "
--
"Some people live an entire
lifetime and wonder if they have
made a difference in the world.
Marines don't have that problem."
Ronald Reagan 1983
