Marines in the Garden of Eden

Richard Lowry's new book on the Battle of Nasiriyah will be available on June 6th. If you go to www.marinesinthegardenofeden.com you can still get it for $15.72. This special price won't be around much longer. If you have any desire to read the definitive account of the first major battle of Operation Iraqi Freedom you'll probably want to pick this up.
S/F
Mooch

A Marine Corps Hero Retires

A true Marine Corps hero retired on March 1st 2006. Colonel Timothy Howard retired after 28 years of service. What makes Colonel Howard's service special is not the amount of time he served, but how he served. You see Colonel Howard only has one arm. His right arm was shot off during combat operations in Grenada during Operation Urgent Fury in October of 1983.

The Colonel was flying a Cobra helicopter supporting Navy SEALs who had gone in to rescue Governor-General Paul Scoon, the British Administrative Representative on Grenada.

Then-Captain Howard had brought his Cobra into a hover in order to allow his Weapons Officer, Captain Jeb Seagle, to line up a shot with a TOW missile. As they hovered the ship was bracketed by gunfire from a ZU-23 23mm Anti-Aircraft gun. Shells exploded around the ship. One shell hit the port side engine and another blasted through cockpit side. That second shell almost severed Captain Howard's right arm and also peppered his right leg, breaking it in a number of places. In addition, the violet impact had knocked Captain Seagle unconscious.

Howard using his functioning limbs, managed to land the aircraft in the middle of Tanteen Field without rolling it. The force of the impact activated the canopy release system and also woke Captain Seagle.

Seagle jumped out of the aircraft and pulled Howard free. He then tied his helmet communications cord around the stricken pilots arm to stop the bleeding. Howard feeling as though he was slipping away, told Seagle to leave him and save himself. Seagle refused and instead, grabbing Howard's pistol, moved away to lure Grenadian forces, who had begun advancing on the crash site, away from his grievously injured pilot.

While a medevac CH-46 was landing to rescue Captain Howard, Captain Seagle was captured and executed by Grenadian forces. As the CH-46 sped out of St. George's Harbor, the gunship covering its withdrawal, crewed by Captain Pat Giguere and Lt Jeff Scharver was hit and plunged into the harbor.

For their actions during the rescue mission the following Marines were decorated:
Captain Tim Howard - Silver Star
Captain Jeb Seagle - Navy Cross

Captain Pat Giguere - Silver Star
1stLt Jeff Scharver - Silver Star

Major Melvin DeMars (Piloted the medevac CH-46) - Silver Star
GySgt Kelly Neidigh (rescued Howard from the crash site) - Silver Star

Colonel Howard after a series of operations requested to remain on active duty. As you can see in the article below, he is a remarkable man and his retirement is a huge loss for the Marine Corps.

Thank you for your service Sir,

Semper Fi,

Mooch

Marine hero leaves legacy of determination, retires after more than 30 years service

Submitted by: Marine Forces PacificStory Identification #: 200631203014Story by Lance Cpl. Ethan Hoaldridge

U.S. MARINE CORPS FORCES, PACIFIC, CAMP H. M. SMITH, Hawaii (March 1, 2006) -- Grenada, 1983--Helicopters being shot down, men sacrificing their lives for their fellow warriors, American medical students being rescued and a Silver Star are all elements of a story that echoes of heroism and inspires greatness.

Col. Timothy B. Howard, a veteran of this encounter, retired in a ceremony at the Pacific War Memorial at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, Feb. 24. Howard was one of many men during Operation Urgent Fury on the Caribbean Island of Grenada that displayed those characteristics that uphold the highest traditions of the United States Naval Services.

Even after receiving a Silver Star for his courageous actions in Grenada, the real feat of awe-inspiring determination was his triumph over the severe wounds he received on Grenada, the same wounds that would almost cost him his Marine Corps career.

Even after suffering the loss of his lower right arm, and enduring more than ten surgeries on his right leg, Howard refused to give up.“After that crash it took me a year of rehabilitation just to walk with a cane, and another year to jog,” said Howard. “I worked out two hours in the morning and another two in the evening, sometimes with tears running down my face.”“I remember a nurse from the hospital who cautioned me not to work so hard and inflict so much pain on myself,” said Howard. “The doctor said the harder I push myself, the faster my rehabilitation will be.” “She said that nobody else was working as hard as me, and that I should slow down,” said Howard. “I said, well ma’am, if you were an MIT graduate in a room full of morons, would you act like a moron, too?”

Since Howard’s first physical fitness test after recovery, he has never scored lower than a first-class PFT score.In that same spirit, Howard loves the Marine Corps, because Marines strive to improve and stand out.As an intelligence officer, Howard used the rule of three to maintain organization and readiness, so why should his retirement speech be any different? Howard shared the three things that he stuck to throughout his Marine Corps career.“Do the right thing, never miss an opportunity to shut up and listen, and if you’re not having fun, then you’re doing it all wrong,” he said.

With this determination and attitude, Howard earned three different commands throughout his career.In August 1986, Howard was selected to command the 1st Remotely Piloted Vehicle Company at 29 Palms, Calif. There he was instrumental in the integration of remotely piloted vehicles into the Marine Corps Air Command and Control System. He then served in the intelligence directorate at the Pentagon, and later assumed command of 2nd Intelligence Battalion, II Marine Expeditionary Force.

After being promoted to colonel, he was given command of Weapons and Field Training Battalion, Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Paris Island, SC. His battalion trained more than 36,000 recruits and 12,000 more Marines and Sailors in rifle training, gas mask confidence, rappelling, basic warrior skills and the Crucible.Finally, in 2003,

Howard made it to his last duty station, serving as MARFORPAC’s Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence.Howard’s career spanned three decades in the Marine Corps, more than half his life. “The reason I stayed in so long was because I never had a bad command or a bad duty station,” said Howard. “The Marines always came through.”

Brig. Gen. Steven A. Hummer, the commanding general of Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, called Howard a hero and an example of true dedication to Corps and country. His perseverance through the challenges he’s conquered or the foes he’s faced, whether it be a physical disability or a new command, was not endured alone.“My wife is my number one supporter, and I couldn’t have done any of this without her,” said Howard as he lost his voice in emotion gazing at his wife Bethany.The support of Marines will always remain in his heart as Howard retires from active duty, and the seeds that Howard has planted in the Corps will continue to grow.

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/ac95bc775efc34c685256ab50049d458/efd0798c67d5881d85257125000842ff?OpenDocument&Highlight=2,Grenada

Mail Bag

I know it's been a while. Captain S has been on me to post more.
Recently I had been contacted by Matt. Matt has been researching the Battle of Nasiriyah. More specifically he's researching anything that had to do with the 507th Maintenance Company and it's ambush in Nasiriyah and the subsequent rescue of PFC Jessica Lynch.
Here are some of Matt's questions, with my lighty edited answers in italics.
S/F
Mooch

Matt,
The Battle for Nasiriyah was subsequently overshadowed by the Thunder Run/Assault on Baghdad and the First and Second Battle for Fallujah. Part of the reason for that I believe is that when we staged for the ground war, nobody, especially the journalists, thought we (RCT-2 and TF Tarawa) would see any action therefore nobody really wanted to embed with us. If it weren't for Joe Raedle, Kerry Sanders, the late Dennis O'Brien and later Art Harris our story would have never gotten out. I'll take a shot at your questions.

1) How soon after the ambush did TF Tarawa know about the attack on the 507th? The official report lists the attack time on the 507th as ~0700hrs. We (TF Tarawa) stepped off from our laager site at the Route 7/Route 8 Interchange at ~0500 (I don't have my journal - it's at home - or I'd tell you the exact time). We were a couple of hours drive time south of Naz (it was probably only an hour or so, but we had a 3700-man RCT and you are only as fast as your slowest vehicle). We arrived on the southern outskirts of Nasiriyah sometime between 0730-0830. We were the 3rd element of the convoy to come into contact with the enemy (1st was Alpha Company, 8th Tanks, 2nd was 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines or 1-2 [One/Two] and we [HQ, 2nd Marines] were third). As we proceeded up Route 7 we kept passing destroyed Army vehicles. I distinctly remember a 5-ton maintenance-type vehicle with quadcons (large aluminum storage boxes) on the back. The quadcons were open with gear (mostly tools) falling out of them. The vehicle was facing south and we passed it on the left. One of the rear tires was burning. My captain (Captain S) looked at me and mouthed "what the f**k?" He had an incredulous look on his face. I said to him, "I don't know Sir, but those aren't ours. (Jokingly) We don't have the money to pay for all that tan paint." Radio contact with our forward elements was spotty at best but I believe it was around 0800 when Alpha Company, 8th Tanks first came upon the small lead band of 507th troopers. We were unaware of their presence until that time.
Did you talk to any of the Army survivors? I was sort of on the outside looking in. I saw one trooper (later I found out it was CPT King) having a very animated conversation with General Natonski. I also watched our corpsmen treat and medevac a number of the 507th troopers. But no, I did not speak to any of them directly. I do recall as we made our approach to the city and 8th Tanks made contact, we got a call from TF Tarawa asking if we had located "the captain". Apparently they had received a call from 3ID who was very concerned because of the sensitive nature (Patriot tech) of his/their jobs.
If so, what kind of shape were they in? Most of the troopers were injured. Several were ambulatory, but a couple were placed on stretchers and medevaced on General Natonski's C&C Huey or CH-46.
How soon was the number of MIAs tabulated? We received a pretty complete list in less than an hour. But our forward units got it earlier than us. The recovered survivors were the source.

2) After the ambush, and in the days that followed, when did the possiblity that a survivor or survivors from the lost convoy were being held as POWs in Nasiriya start to surface? Well we immediately put that as priority because we knew that the longer waited/took, the higher chance the Iraqis would have of getting them out of Nasiriyah. We started getting reporting from Iraqi civilians immediately that there were Americans who were captured still in the city. They were being moved often, etc. I'd say the reporting started on the 24th of March and didn't stop until after the rescue occurred.
Was the info general or specific? (I'm very familiar with Mohammed's account (don't believe everything you read), as I have his book, and in several other magazine and newspaper articles other Iraqis came foreward with info as well). There have been other books alluding to some of these other sources as well, so... Many times the info was bogus; mostly just hearsay. It was very tough distinguishing between what was real and what was BS.

3) Military Hospital: When was it taken? There were two. The Ty Kar Hospital south of the Euphrates (southeastern Nasiriyah) and the Saddam Hospital, which was north of the Euphrates (western Nasiriyah). Obviously you know when the Saddam Hospital was taken. Fox Company took the Ty Kar on the 28th of March IIRC (actually it was the 24th).
I've seen the NBC piece on the hospital, and am wondering if there was anything you saw that wasn't in the piece. It alluded to bloody U.S. Army female uniforms found there, and a bedframe hooked up to a car battery. Was there anything else? Based on video and still photos I saw there was a ton of NBC (Nuclear/Biological/Chemical) defense gear (somewhere in the neighborhood of 3k gas masks/suits, actually about 300), an armory with a battalion's worth of arms and ammo, an immobile, but operational tank in the courtyard (violation of the Geneva Convention), torture chambers (with blood splattered walls, "I" hooks/bolts in the wall, etc), a command post where we captured a number of company and field grade officers from the 23rd Infantry Brigade (Iraqi 11th Infantry Division). In the morgue there 2-3 corpses of regular Iraq Army deserters that the Fedayeen had executed with point blank pistol shots to the head. We also recovered some US Army uniform items, including a flak vest.
Because I'm thorough and I didn't want to rely on my faulty memory, I went back and read through some of the command journals for RCT-2.
From the CJ of 2/8 regarding the raid on TyKar Hospital which was conducted by Fox Company:
The Marines also recovered evidence that American POWs had been held at that location. This evidence included two flak jackets adjusted for wear by females - one of which bore the name "Lynch" - American utility uniforms, American chemical protective suits marked with Lynch's name, and two pairs of size five desert boots.
Both Jessica and Lori were roughly the same size so that would indicate we had recovered both their gear from the same place in TyKar.
I recall that her uniforms were missing the nametapes but had her name written in ink in the collar/waistband. Her boots and uniform were covered with rips and dried blood. I could tell by the sizes that she was a tiny, little thing. We also recovered Lori's and one other trooper's gear but I don't recall the name. It may have been Hudson's. I bagged them and kept them in my vehicle for three days before turning them over to graves registration. I remember that the Marine who gave me the gear was very concerned that he didn't want the uniforms to become some kind of freak show, with folks coming over to look at them. Knowing this, I kept it close hold that I had them except with regard to my chain of command.

4) The raid itself: When was the decision to launch made? I don't know. I wasn't part of the operational planning only the intel support.
What did TF Tarawa do to support it? We conducted diversionary attacks to get the Ba'ath/Fedayeen to focus north of the city.
Kerry Sanders of NBC remarked in a book that he was told 12 hours before the mission that it was going down, and a Marine Recon NCO told his cameraman where to point the TV camera. Again I wasn't around for that. I find it hard to believe that it was a Marine Recon NCO who told Kerry to do that since he was embedded with 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines. 2-8 (Two/Eight) had no organic recon assets (other than Scout/Sniper teams). Then again Charlie Company, 2nd Light Armored Recon was part of the site security for the raid so it's plausible that an LAR Marine instructed him to do that.
Was the diversion just ground fire or was there an actual attack? It was a full on attack conducted by 15th MEU, 1/2, 2/8 and Alpha Company, 8th Tanks.
News accounts say the target was the Baath Party HQ-is this correct? It was a number of targets, one of which was the Nasiriyah Ba'ath Party HQ.
What was the reaction of the staff to your arrival? I wasn't there but from what I was told, the hospital staff was very compliant ie they were scared s**tless and did what they were told.
Were they angry or relieved? See the prior answer. One doctor did inform the search team that she had been moved from her original room to a pre-op room and that doctor led them right to Jessica's room.

5) I'd like to get a feel for what you guys were hearing/feeling. What kinds of rumors were going around about Jessica and the other POWs? We knew she was alive. There were many reports of a blonde female POW. There were also reports of a blonde male POW, which I believe was Sgt Walters. We had no other reporting other than that she was too injured to move and that's why she wasn't moved with the other POW's who were later rescued.
One CNN reporter said that when he heard "Precious cargo secured" there was a big cheer from the Marines he was with. Did you get a chance to listen in on the raid? I actually watched the raid force go in. I remember when the rescue force went in, my good friend Bob called me back to TF Tarawa HQ's. He pointed me to the station we viewed our UAV's feed from. In it I saw a group of Blackhawks heading into the courtyard of a building. Bob said "they're going in to get your girl". He said I had a huge smile on my face.

6) Military Hospital: some published accounts say the staff there was very cooperative, telling Marines that POWs had been held/treated there but had been moved; were they as cooperative as the press and books say, or were they reluctant to say much? (Fear of Fedayeen and Baath loyalists still very present?) I don't recall getting alot of statements from hospital staff from the military hospital. I know that the Iraq Army officers we captured made statements saying that the POW's had been there but the Fedayeen moved them. Being regular Army, they didn't have any control over anything the Fedayeen or Republican Guard would do. The post-mission reports from 2/8 didn't mention speaking to hospital staff. Some of our intel Marines said that the staff showed them where the torture rooms were and showed them the executed Iraqi Army troops in the morgue.

7) Other locals: filtering the wheat from the chaff must've been a real pain? You could say that. The whole country runs on heresy and what we in intel jokingly call RUMINT (rumor intelligence). These people were poor and neglected by their government. They took advantage of our lack of local intel. It didn't take us long to get savvy about the situation then we developed a set of qualifying questions that really put a hold on the false reporting.
I can imagine trying to sort out rumor from fact....trying to calm folks who think Marines got into the service by killing a family member must've been trying to say the least (I've heard that story from a Gulf War I book). I recall that the Iraqis were calling us "Angels of Death" and that every Marine was a "sniper". They also called the M1 Abrams "whispering death". They had a name for the Cobra but I forgot what it was.

8) A general question: How did the sandstorm on the 25th affect you guys? I can remember watching the news and they said that everything was virtually shut down for 48 hours until the storm passed. The sandstorm was biblical. It severely curtailed our activities but it did not stop them. The reason that everyone paused was to allow our logistics tail to catch up. The sandstorm was a convenient excuse because we felt the bad guys would hunker down as well. That's exactly what they did. With that said, the sandstorm made even the most mundane tasks difficult (such as taking care of mother nature, weapons maintenance, etc). But we did patrol at the local level. We did not conduct any large scale repositioning of forces, attacks, etc. Again the pause was to allow the loggies to get a much needed resupply to us.

9) Two of the books on the war say the Iraqis in Nasiriya were a mix of the 11th Infantry Division, plus the Fedayeen and Baath Party/Special Security people. Is this accurate? That is exactly who we were facing. Up to 3000 Fedayeen were able to infiltrate the city during the first couple of days because theater command would not let us drop the bridge at the northwest of the city. There was a constant flow until we were able to push 1/2 to a "T" intersection out there and they were able to interdict that road/bridge.
Any others-Iraqi AF or Republican Guard types? (AF running from Talil AB, for example, and RG to stiffen the regular Army-or did the Fedayeen bully-boys perform that role?) There were only a few odds and sods of RG. Mostly they were deserters who got caught trying to return to Nasiriyah. They were infiltrating for the most part because they were from Naz.
T-55s or T-59s; makes sense. T-72s were for RG/SRG only. Yep, I never saw a T-72 until I got north near al-Kut, al-Hillah and such. All the crappy southern units got T55/T59/T62 tanks.
Any SAM sites around? (SA-2s, SA-3s, SA-6s, or Rolands?) I believe there was a SAM site at Tallil but it was blasted during Operation Southern Watch and then again right before we kicked off. Or just triple-A only? There was AAA everywhere. It was never utilized properly and our Cobra jockeys had a field day blowing the crap out them. Heck even some Huey crews blew some ZU-23's away with there port/starboard mini-guns.

"Jarhead"

As many of you know, the movie "Jarhead" is out. Based off the highly acclaimed best seller of the same name, the memior was written by Anthony Swafford. When books/movies/shows come out about the military, if I don't have first knowledge of the event, etc, I usually will try and find some folks that did have experience with it. I was able to track down through friends, some people who served with Swafford. Their opinion of him has almost universal...turd of the first order. Taking that into account, I knew his book would likely be another one of those "I hate the Marine Corps" books. I was told that my initial thoughts were correct. After hearing so many negative reviews from many veterans I respect, I decided to boycott both the book and film.

I would like to post a review of the book as done by another Desert Storm Marine Corps veteran who served in a sister unit of Swafford's.

Enjoy.
Semper Fi,
Mooch

* Wow, it all starts on page two. Anthony Swofford .... Super Marine lays out the details of where he gets his extra spending cash. Swofford goes into detail about how he steals MREs (meals ready to eat) from supply and then sells them to an army/navy store in San Bernadino. He also describes how he steals from other Marines, their gear and sells it in much the same way. Impressive Swofford, but if you were such the Super Marine why didn't you get promoted and earn a higher paycheck to supplement your income? This is all on page two and it really motivates me to keep flipping the pages of this "Chronicle" (as Swofford calls his book).

* Page seven is where we find out that Swofford is rather obsessed with the Vietnam war movies that dotted his childhood. As his fellow Marines and himself are staging for deployment to Saudi Arabia, they watch war movies to motivate themselves for killing and Swofford can only come up with this statement, "I want ammunition and alcohol and dope...." Damn Swofford, you make me so proud!

* Let's look at page 13 and this is where we find out that Swofford was absolutely in a different Marine Corps than (at the time) 196,000 other Marines "Knowing that reporters will arrive soon, we shave for the first time in a week." Wow, this must be some super, secret, high-speed STA Platoon thing. Perhaps they were so high-speed that they were to blend with the locals and grow beards? Hey Swofford, I have never seen, at any time in my eight years as a Marine Grunt a more "anal" time in the Marine Corps than that first month in country in Saudi Arabia. We were polishing boots, shaving AND keeping mustaches in regulation. Swofford, come on man........... we were in sister units, a few miles apart and you are telling us that 2/7 just gave up on grooming regulations for over a week? Let me guess...... it was only a STA Platoon thing?

* Very interesting story starting on page 17 to page 23. It's the famous MOPP Suit Football Game where Swofford knows that civilians will believe they played for an hour in 112 degree+ temperatures. Of course a Marine knows that Swofford is back to his exaggerations again. Even more interesting is how he describes them all pouring water over themselves after the game at the straddle trench, naked and/or wearing only underwear and female Boston Globe reporter is just standing there soaking it all in. Great fantasy Swofford, but you had been in theater less than two weeks and we both know that holy hell would have come unglued if ANY Marine would have run around naked OR in underwear around a female, US reporter. Great for a book but let's remember Swofford, there were many Marines around. Are they getting royalties to keep quiet about your delusions?

* Perhaps 2/7 was also a Super Marine Unit that didn't have the same rules, regulations that the rest of us had. Perhaps STA 2/7 were such hard-ass, perfect Marines that they got to keep all their porno and alcohol in Saudi Arabia? One must figure that being snipers, they were outstanding at hiding themselves so it only seems reasonable that that they could all hide illegal contraband as well. Page 25 is only the first reference (there are many) that "chronicles" the massive and bottomless pit of porno that STA 2/7 keeps in theater.

* Once again, Swofford shows us all what an outstanding Marine he is in basic character. On page 33 Swofford is so proud to inform us that he wore earrings while on leave and EVEN grew sideburns. For sure, as a sniper he would be so stealthy on his return to active duty that absolutely no one would have noticed the holes in his ears.

* Also on page 33 I believe we hear for the first time (there are more) that Swofford likes busting up bars (Kadena AFB on Okinawa). With outstanding prose, Swofford outlines all the broken skulls, bones, chairs and tables. Of course, being a sniper he was able to sneak out the back before getting caught. Also in here we find out that he likes to hang with gay Navy folk because they knew of the best bars. Actually, I've very surprised that Swofford hasn't thrown some gay or bisexual crap into his book. Surely that would enable a few more copies to be sold? "Jarhead" could have been the military version of "Less Than Zero."

* Swofford again counts on no Marines actually ever reading this trash so on page 36 he tells us that he had his Japanese girlfriend sleep in the barracks with him. He even tells us that it's Camp Hansen on Okinawa. We all know that this probably never happened in the open squad bays of Camp Hansen but this book is a best seller with a movie being made, so there is no doubt that it must be true. * Page 45, "But after 14 weeks of bootcamp......." If this is such a "come clean, honest chronicle" then why doesn't Swofford tell us why he spends an extra week in bootcamp? Again, almost 200,000 Marines (active duty in the late 80's early 90's) all spent 13 weeks in bootcamp but our Super Marine Anthony Swofford is there for 14. I'm betting he was so outstanding of a Marine that they kept him there for an extra week so that he could show the Drill Instructors what they were doing wrong.

* Swofford the hard ass tells us on page 45 that he called his Captain a *beep* addict cumsucker bitchmaster dickskinner *beep* *beep* nopecker lilywhitebitch." This Captain, we are told, "Laughs as he signs my orders to the Seventh Marines." Sure Swofford, you call a Marine Corps Captain all this stuff and he just laughs. Interestingly, this may in fact be the single largest crock of *beep* in this book.

* Still on page 45 we see more of Swofford's character. He fakes a stomach flu the first week of reporting to Camp Pendleton, chewing Ex-Lax gum and flirting with underage candy stripers. Swofford, we're all so impressed.

* Page 47, Swofford is on theater marquee duty and spells *beep* IT, SHOWING ALL DAY" on the movie theater marquee. (If this is where ALL Marines inprocess to Camp Pendleton, it would make it the Mainside Theater, but perhaps Super Marine Swofford inprocessed somewhere else.) Sure Swofford, sure you did.

* Still on page 47, Swofford tells us that the Seventh Marines were stationed at San Onofre. You know I'll hate informing you all but Seventh Marines were stationed at San Mateo until they were moved to 29 Palms. You would think that a sniper would have these kinds of details covered?

* Swofford runs into the ONLY Staff Sergeant in the entire Marine Corps, past or present that tells him to "Stop calling me Staff Sergeant" on page 49. It was Swofford's first day with Seventh Marines and him and the Staff Sergeant got so tight in those few hours that they must have reverted to first names but we can only speculate as Swofford just tells us that a Staff Sergeant in the US Marine Corps doesn't like being called Staff Sergeant.

* Page 50 is where the branding takes place. It may have happened, it may not have but chances are, with Swofford's current trust level........... I bet it didn't.

* "I learned from Graycochea that just because you are a Marine, it doesn't mean you must like other Marines or even care about them," is from page 53. This is lovely Swofford, just plain lovely.

* Page 65 is the famous video care package from a Marine Wife. We all heard the story while we were over there. It may have actually happened in Fox 2/7 as Swofford claims. It was an urban legend and may have actually happened but did it actually happen to Swofford's unit? Again, Swofford is more than likely including it, happening to him to sell books.

* On page 70 Swofford is tongue kissing the muzzle of his M16. He goes into great detail describing the taste, texture and such. Guess what? Swofford is one serious retard. Period!

* How many times does Swofford expect us (Marines) to believe that he was in some DIFFERENT Marine Corps than the rest of us? On page 72 he describes Troy being busted for failing a drug test. They busted him from Corporal to Private but left him in STA Platoon. No way, Swofford! At this point, only page 72 out of 260 why haven't you PULLED that trigger and spared us all the BS... JESUS !!!

* On page 74 Swofford tells us that he and Troy ran all night, the perimeter.... until the sun came up. Sure you did Swofford. You just got bored and ran all damn night.

* Page 75 starts the crap about Troy dying. One more time, Swofford tells us about busting up a bar and nothing happening to him. This time the cops do show up and he leads us to believe that the cops were glad the locals got beat up. We are lead to believe that no charges were filed and of course he goes into great detail about all the skulls, bones, tables and chairs getting broken. This was all because some local actually approached them in the bar and told them that they were glad that Troy had died. Wow......... I'll bet you were just minding your business and some locals just approached you to exclaim, "Hey Jarhead, don't you think you need a haircut, just like your *beep* dead friend?" Of course, they got their hair pulled as well. Maybe if Swofford had his earrings in and sideburns the locals wouldn't have known he was a Jarhead? Yeah Swofford, what happened to the earrings and sideburns?

* On page 78 we hear about some reservist Marines who did Troy's funeral asking them about their ribbons. Marine reservists do that all the time. They'll just come out of nowhere, closets, from under your car and down your chimney to confront you about your ribbons and medals.

* OK, something credible from the book. On page 87 Staff Sergeant Siek tells the STA Platoon Marines, "I am here to tell you that you Marines are considered an undisciplined group of showboats." It appears that perhaps 2/7 has only ONE Marine that actually isn't some freakshow with his head completely up his ass as Swofford goes into great detail wanting us to believe. OOH RAH Staff Sergeant Siek, finally someone I respect in this "chronicle."

* Swofford tells us on page 90 that they just blow off orders from Staff Sergeant Siek to train while he is gone and of course they all start drinking alcohol as well. This is the mighty, elite STA Platoon of 2/7. I would soooooooooo want them working with me.

* Page 94, STA 2/7 is passed out drunk when Staff Sergeant Siek returns.

* Page 95, "STA Marines don't grow mustache." Hey Swofford, mustaches are taboo but your earrings and sideburns are "good to go?" Swofford, you need help!!!

* STA Platoon misses their range time on page 98 because their firewatch fell asleep. Mighty, Mighty STA Platoon, Super Marines, Anthony Swofford, hard as nails and they can't stay awake on firewatch.

* Page 103 Swofford points a loaded weapon at a fellow STA Marine. It's a completely retarded 3-4 pages of Swofford acting all macho and of course nothing happens to him. Nothing happens because Swofford is an elite, sniper, STA Platoon Marine.

* Page 116, Fergus comes to visit Swofford after both were out of the Corps and Fergus has hair down to his ass. You see, since Fergus was a Super, sniper, STA Platoon Marine he could grow hair to his ass in just two years. Swofford claims his hair is now past his shoulders.

* On page 128, Swofford tells us that him being a paperboy as a kid and developed an aiming technique that would later help while tossing grenades. Swofford, how many grenades have you thrown? Probably quite a few as I remember when I was in we'd throw 50-100 of them every single day. We'd steal them and trade them for earrings out in town.

* Page 139 Swofford starts this retarded crap about sucking on bullets. Why doesn't he suck on his earrings?

* Back to the female reporter from the Boston Globe earlier in the "chronicle," on page 140 Swofford tells us that while riding in a Humvee one of his Marines makes an obscene gesture at a passing Mercedes with female Saudi Arabians. As with how the Corps (the Corps that I belonged to) handles this type of thing. Swofford and his entire STA Platoon would have gotten punished beyond belief for this type of behavior. But....... Because I wasn't a STA Platoon, Super Marine.......... Perhaps they were all given a free ride on their behavior?

* Page 143, Swofford tells us again that he was unshaven for weeks. Sure you were, Super Marine.

* Page 179, the first night of the air war, Swofford tells us that the Mighty, Mighty, Super Marine STA Platoon sleeps without a fire watch. I guess it was intentional as he never says it was an accident again. I'm thinking that enough time had passed that the enemy had heard of STA 2/7 and they didn't need a firewatch because no one in their right mind would have the nuts to attack a unit as hard and tough as STA 2/7. I mean, they never shaved for weeks at a time, drank whiskey, and carried sniper rifles. Yes, STA 2/7 was a crack, elite Marine unit for sure. I forgot, they never sipped whiskey, they always finished the entire fifth. That's impressive.

* Page 185 tells us that their Corpsman, Doc Duncan always passed out sleeping pills to anyone who wanted them. Yeah, I sure remember that. We could just approach any Corpsman and he always had sleeping pills, speed, whatever drugs we needed.

* Page 190, Swofford cries (for about the 93rd time in the book) and I believe it's the first time he pees his pants (there are more times). He's crying because he's finally earned his Combat Action Ribbon. Yeah, we all cried when we got the ribbon. Swofford, you are a retard!!! * Page 191, "Like an E-tool striking a skull." Swofford, have you heard an E-tool striking a skull? Please tell us about it.

* Page 194, Swofford tells us about his first patrol and how they had no support. He tells us that as he's leaving friendly lines, the local Sergeant knows of his plight. Sure Swofford, during patrols, especially ones where STA Platoon was involved, we always knew everything about the patrol. I knew you weren't wearing underwear. Pleeeeeeeeease !!!!

* Page 197, Swofford pees his pants for the second time. Cool, makes the "chronicle" seem so real. I want to read it again.

* Page 198, "The rest of the team returns to battalion and Johnny and I patrol the final click alone." This of course is because Swofford is so tough that only two STA Marines are needed. Did I mention that he's bulletproof as well.

* Page 204 tells us that Swofford's recruiter sold him the Marine Corps by telling him about all the ass he could get overseas. Actually two recruiters told him that at different times. Swofford is underage, a minor, still in highschool and still these Marine recruiters will sit all day and tell him that he can buy a threesome overseas for $40.00. Sure they did as they didn't value their jobs at all. With Swofford, perhaps they could have bought him big, hoop earrings and saved the sex stories.

* Pages 208-209, more Marine Recruiter *beep*

* Page 214 at the bottom, Swofford does this retarded, touchy-feeling thing with leaning his head back, opening his mouth and tasting the rain with oil mix that was falling from the sky in Kuwait. It's very special and reading it makes me cry, pee my pants and want to put earrings in.

* Page 219, Swofford is again talking serious smack as he describes an exchange over the radio where Johnny cusses and rips into the Battalion Executive Officer. I'm very sure it happened as Majors in the Marine Corps just love when junior enlisted Marines call them *beep* and Lousy Dicks" especially over the radio.

* Page 230, Swofford tells us that he and his team are not being used because they are so deadly and that they rifle company commanders want to make sure there are targets for their companies when they get there. So, Swofford and his team are told to stand down because of how dangerous, deadly and after all, they were Super Marine STA Platoon.

* Page 239, Crocket plays with dead Iraqi bodies. This whole thing, maybe a couple of pages worth is absolutely retarded. Who knows, maybe it happened but more than likely our Marine Swofford is just getting stupid again.

* Page 242, Of course there has to be a booby trap thing in the book. Nice going Swofford, you really have it all covered.

* Pages 244-245, Swofford tells us about shooting captured weapons into the air. These guys are STA Platoon and certainly bullet proof as no one gets hit when the rounds return to earth. The end of 245 is so cute, "I weep, screams, carry mad screams home with us.........." This is really good. Great job Swofford, this will sell many books......... maybe a movie will even get made.

* Page 250, one more time, Swofford is so bad that he can just order alcohol when told by a Colonel to NOT do so. This Swofford guy is BAD. Scary Bad, STA Marine.

Sorry, only trying to keep it REAL.......... very much UNLIKE what Anthony Swofford composes, has published and then generates a movie. I really have to say it again, but Swofford's book is NOT about the psychology of men in combat. I'd say it's more about a man who needed help, and still needs help. One thing is for sure, Swofford would have never made it 60 days in MY Marine Corps as we would have identified him as unstable and untrustworthy right off the bat. Last, if he would have EVER pointed a weapon at me for any reason, I would have killed him before the sun went down that day. Does that sound tough? Macho? No one points weapons at other Marines and nothing happens about it. Of course for Super Marine, Anthony Swofford....... the guy who busts up bars and never gets charged, who can run all night till the sun comes up, who likes to french kiss the muzzle of his M16, chew/suck on bullets and cry about every 8 hours, YES, I'm sure it was all so real.

I don't hate Swofford.... he was a Marine and did his time. What you and most others aren't taking into consideration is the truth. Absolutely, not just in combat or the military but even in a 9 to 5 work environment those standing next to each other would have completely different perceptions and memories of events. That is understandable. BUT........ what isn't being taking into consideration is how personal it is to us. What if it hit closer to home for you all? What if it was about YOUR high school football team, dance squad, band, softball team or even church congregation? What if someone wrote a book about an aspect of YOUR life that after you read it you wanted to puke?

Something else that you all can't seem to get through your heads even though it's been absolutely hammered home in the above posts is that Swofford doesn't just "get things mixed up." It's understandable to mix dates up, who was there and who wasn't, the name of a bar or the name of a town. We all do that due to memory and time gone by. This is to be expected and no foul called. BUT........... Swofford's errors are calculated falsehoods. All veterans absolutely HATE the blowhard sitting at the bar telling embellished war stories (guess why kerry lost this election). Swofford is exactly to us what Kerry was to the SwiftBoat Veterans. Just like the SwiftBoat Veterans, we just want the truth to be told. What I've listed above in my page by page tearing of his book is mostly stuff that we (Marines) know to be HUGE tall tales and BS. This stuff IS NOT stuff that that gets mixed up in memory over time but stuff that someone has to intentionally create. The theme to all of this BS is absolutely someone puffing his chest out and playing hardass retard.

NOW.... I'm going to throw Swofford a bone as it's only fair. First, Swofford DOES accurately capture the drinking, whoring and brotherhood that the Marine Corps truly is. Most of us would agree with that no questions asked. He and I were in the Corps at the same time and ironically, his banter about the t-shirt iron-on and parents not wanting him to join are exactly the kinds of things that I went through. I also decided to be a Marine after seeing the Beruit bombing on TV and wanted to be part of these Marines carrying their wounded Brothers out of the rubble. That was my defining moment along with Swofford's.

So, as we all keep arguing about this book. Swofford may be a good writer, but his book could have been tweaked in many ways. The bottom line is that a large portion of the book is embellishment and it VERY MUCH turns off those of us that were there. There are enough TRUE stories and incidents from that era of the Corps and Desert Storm to write 100 books and make 10 movies but it's sad that Swofford's stuff may end up being the definitive reference of it all.

The Sullen Faces of the Vanquished

23 March 2003 - 2200hrs local
Major M and Gunny M arrived back at our position after being gone a couple of hours. They had been back earlier in the day to inform us of the destruction of the Army convoy and the enemy resistance around the Euphrates River Bridge. Gunny had spoken with some of the rescued Army folks and had managed to coble together an ad hoc roster of the convoy's personnel. Later he and the Major linked up with a Special Operations unit and gave them a quick brief on the convoy. Apparently someone had given information to the SOF folks that American prisoners were being held at the Tykar Hospital, just southeast of the Euphrates River Bridge. The Major and Gunny were in the process of briefing the SOF leadership when he received a call saying that the prisoners had been moved. The SOF troops departed soon after getting that call. The Major and Gunny left the roadside meeting place and linked up with us shortly after.

24 March 2003

I awoke feeling a bit better than the night before. I was still pissed off about our casualties. The night before I wrestled with conflicting theories on how we could have taken so many casualties until the combination of mental and physical exhaustion had taken its toll and I passed out about two hours after I had flopped into my skirmishers trench wrapped in my poncho liner.

The 24th started out a bit overcast. I sat up and took in my surroundings. I could see and hear the SCAMP generator humming away next to the SARC. I could see a few of the boys moving about taking care of their morning routines.

I rolled out of my poncho liner and checked my rifle and pistol. I checked the chamber on both and swapped out both magazines for fresh ones. I did this every morning to insure that there would be no stoppages in case we got into a fight before I could give the weapons a good going over. After that I brushed my teeth and shaved. I had to maintain some semblance of normalcy in the middle of this, plus I wanted to set the example for the guys.

I ambled over to the SARC to get the latest word. 1/2 was still holding the Saddam Canal Bridge. They were still having trouble locating all of their Marines, so we still didn't have an accurate accounting of casualties. I also got word from the S-3 folks that some EPW's (enemy prisoners of war) would be coming in soon. Since we were fully manned and there were only reports of brief firefights across the AO (area of operations) I decided to finish cleaning up and then link up with the interrogators. I wanted to make sure they were up to date in what questions we needed answers to.

I saw the lead interrogator, I'll call him D, over near his vehicle. "Hey D, I heard we're getting some EPW's soon. We need to talk for a minute," I yelled over to him. "Sure thing Mooch. Just let me talk to my guys first and then we'll link up," he replied.

I walked back over to my vehicle, reached inside to my pack and grabbed a fresh roll of TP. I figured it'd be better if I made my morning visitation before it got exciting. I walked just outside of our position and found a nice gully which gave me cover and concealment and began the ritual. As soon as I began to do the do, a CH-46 comes thwacking over head. 40 feet over head at that. I had forgotten that the makeshift LZ was about 200 feet off to my left flank. Great. I hoped those AirWingers liked the sight of my pasty, white ass as they settled into the LZ.

No sooner did the A/C settle into the LZ, did Doc Passanen take off running with litter crews. Apparently, they had cross-loaded some of our wounded with the EPW's. Two or three of our casualties came out along with four EPW's. Doc hustled the wounded away for continued treatment and the HQ Company folks from the S-3 provided security for the EPW detail. Fletch went with them along with Tobin, one of my other analysts. The EPW's were herded over to a spot behind a small berm outside of the internal HQ perimeter. D and I conferred over the questions to be asked. There would be the obligatory "WMD" questions and of course, questions about their units, command structure, etc. But now we also had the added questions about where the American EPW's were.

He and I walked over to them. We ordered they be separated. We didn't want them to be able to confide in each other and weave a tale of bullshit before we could talk to them. We checked their EPW tags and found that two were from the Iraqi 23rd Infantry Brigade and the other two were captured driving an ambulance full of Fedayeen dead and wounded. They told the capturing unit that they were just ambulance drivers but the idiots had forgotten to take their uniforms off. They had still been wearing their uniforms and boots under their dishdashas (which we derisively called "man dresses"). The four ranged from 5'8" to 6' tall, medium build, moustaches, trimmed hair and all were between 25 and 40. We undoubtedly had some officers in the group.

As D and his boys set about questioning them, I could see over my shoulder someone with a camera. I didn't recall any embedded reporters with us so I sent Fletch to investigate and tell the guy to knock it off. It was against the Geneva Convention to videotape EPW's for exploitation and even though I knew we wouldn't exploit them I didn't want it happening. Fletch went over and told the guy to cut the camera. I could see both talking rather animatedly. Finally the guy dropped the camera to his side. Fletch walked back over. "He said he's with some news network I never heard of." "I don't give a shit if he's with CN-fucking-N, I don't want him shooting pictures of EPW's," I replied. Fletch went back to his position of overwatch. No sooner did he take up his position, did I see the camera go back up. That's it. I've had it already. I've never had a love for newsies. In my opinion they never report anything correctly or accurately and usually they just take advantage of the subject (military members in particular) to get some senstational bullshit story and don't care about whose life is left in shambles. Well I wasn't going to be part of it.

"HEY! WEREN'T YOU JUST TOLD TO STOP FUCKING SHOOTING PICTURES OF THEM!" "Yeah, but I'm with..." he stammered. "I DON'T GIVE A FUCK, PUT THE CAMERA DOWN!" I was now moving towards him at a good pace. The camera wasn't coming down and he was backing up quickly as I approached. I grabbed the lens. "Its against the goddamn Geneva Convention for you to shoot pictures of them, plus I don't know who the fuck you are!" "You are violating the embed agreement shithead!" As I swung the camera down the lenshead came free. "You broke my fucking camera," he yelled back. "I don't care. Go tell the CO. We'll see what happens. I can guaran-fucking-tee your ass will be on the first chopper back to Kuwait!" I screamed back. He stomped off and I never saw him again.

I never heard anything about the incident either. Most of the media-types will try and intimidate the junior troops or buddy up to them. I would have neither. The media has never been a friend to the military and will likely never be.

I took a minute to cool off. I didn't want to go back to the EPW's with my blood pressure up. A couple of minutes later I was back with D.

D had identified the most senior officer and he and a MSgt were getting good info from him.
He was the Battalion Commander for 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Brigade, 11th Infantry Division. His battalion had four companies but many of his troops had run away. The only company to muster most its troops was the 2nd Company. 2nd Company had four infantry platoons, one support platoon and a HQ platoon. His battalion's mission was to secure the northern perimeter of An Nasiriyah. Since he had only one full company and the remnants of two others, he had decided to use the terrain around the Saddam Canal Bridge to his advantage. Off to his western flank the Saddam Fedayeen would secure the northeastern bridge and would reinforce him as necessary. The companies had AK-47 rifles, RPG-7's, 60mm and 82mm mortars. Before the war started, his unit had been busy preparing positions along the main avenues of approach throughout An Nasiriyah. Now they were just grabbing their weapons and falling in on these ready-made positions. He also said that the brigade and division leaders had abandoned them, fearing that the Americans would kill them in battle and the Fedayeen would kill them if the Americans didn't. He said the Fedayeen had been roaming the city shooting deserters and one group had driven the dead body of an American around An Nasiriyah in an attempt to rally the troops and citizens. There was no mention of WMD so we pressed about the status of chemical munitions in his unit. He stated that there were none and if they had them, the permission to deploy them would come from Baghdad. He emphatically stated that no commander in their right mind would use chemicals against the Americans and that every leader he knew would have ignored the orders from Baghdad if they did come. They feared the wrath of the American military if they did so. Besides, there were only a handful of gas masks in the unit, so it would have meant sure death for his own troops as well as the Americans.
After that, we pressed on about the American EPW's. We were being pressured from higher echelons about their whereabouts. Despite another good hour of questioning we came up with nothing substantial.

Not long after the four were sent to a makeshift EPW compound to be processed and we received word that we'd be displacing and heading north towards An Nasiriyah.

Prayers for "Lucky Lima" and 3/25

Please take a moment to say some prayers for our brothers in "Lucky Lima" Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines (3/25), their parent battalion 3/25 and especially for the families of those 21 Marines that have been killed over the last few months in al-Qa'im and Hadithah. They deserve our help, prayers and most importantly our respect. Although I don't have a listing of all their casualties, I do have a listing for the the Marines from Scout/Sniper teams 7 & 8 who were killed in Hadithah:
Sgt Rock
Sgt Coullard
Cpl Boskovitch
LCpl Castleberry
LCpl Deyarmin
LCpl Montgomery
Rest easy brothers. You have been avenged and will never be forgotten.
S/F
Mooch

"Over There" Update

At the urging of friends and relatives I decided to send my thoughts concerning "Over There" to the folks at FX. Some of it is a rehash of what I posted previously and the rest are additional thoughts. Truthfully I was pretty impressed with the 2nd episode. It was much closer to what I remembered but the third episode, well let's just say it wasn't up to snuff. Here's what I wrote prior to the 2nd and 3rd episodes airing:

To whom it may concern,
I'm sure that you folks have been getting more feedback on "Over There" than you'd like to address, but I felt it necessary to at least send you an email regarding it. I'm sure that you have received quite a bit of negative feedback at that. I'd like to say that I won't do that but I truthfully can't. I promised myself I would watch the show with an open mind. I did so but I feel that my thoughts would be better served by sending them to your network. I hope that these comments will be viewed or used constructively and not just filed in the round filing cabinet. :-)

I have written quite a few comments on my blog and some on a message board I frequent. I will paraphrase some for you.
-Overall I gave the pilot a D-
-The dialogue and acting were subpar.
-The stereotypes were right out of a 'Nam movie and not really applicable, especially the "militant", dope smoking black kid. He would have been caught, especially smoking dope in front of the Maint. Depot. Trust me.
-The military utilizes a unit replacement system not individual so having a squad come in as replacements is unrealistic.
-I didn't see very much racial stuff while I was there. We were all preoccupied with the mission and staying in one piece.
-There were a few things I saw that reminded me of Iraq...the soldier eating the coffee grounds, crapping in the field, sand storms, etc. But other than that I was too annoyed by the dialogue, crappy sound track and acting to pay much attention.
-Why didn't they just JDAM or have the Abrams (so prevelant in the background shots) assault the enemy position. When we came across an enemy fixed position it got leveled, mosque or no mosque. In fact most of the time the locals told us to do it.
-The IED emplacement was incorrect. The bad guys would never leave little flag markers for us to spot. If the producers/director wanted to show an IED accurately they just should have had the truck explode with no warning, that's more like what have really happened anyway. Then follow it up with small arms fire. Also there wouldn't be any time for the "Dim" character to start wigging out. He'd be on flank security. The breakdown would have come later when he had time to sit down and think. And it wouldn't have been as bad if he'd only known the wounded kid for a few days (unless they were unusually close).
-They don't use Huey's for medevacs anymore and the one used was even painted incorrectly, skids were wrong and it wasn't configured for litters as a medevac would normally be. Plus it wouldn't have had a door gunner because it violates the Geneva Convention rules (no weapons on medevac flights-non-combatant status violation).
-The chatter between the troops was "plastic". When I was there we talked about alot of different things while rolling across the desert but it was simple stuff...getting laid, good food, a soft roll of TP, etc. We never tried to analyze each other or the war or why we joined the military.
-There was little to no use of flank security.
-There was no use of battle buddies when taking a crap.
-There was no use of reflex shooting when coming back with the female soldier. I'm mean come on, the kid stops, drops to a knee and then shoots the tango. This isn't a firing range. We normally take the shot while moving and ruck on.
-The Sgt standing, fully exposing himself from the abdomen up during the firefight to tell them to "get some" was just too much. Totally campy and not accurate, not to mention unprofessional.
-The tangos advancing in massed formation in the open. Never happens.
-The soldiers advancing on line with no base of fire/fire and maneuver. And please don't tell me that the two female soldiers (with one operating rifle) remaining in the rear were the BoF element.
-There was no need to attempt to establish all of the characters in the first episode. If its a series you have plenty of time to do that. They should have just given a cursory "drive-by" intro to all but the Sgt. Since he's the focal character, he needed to have more time spent on him. Then work the character development of the squad into subsequent episodes.

I could go on for days with things that were wrong with this show. Yes, the uniforms and weapons were on, but hell that's one of the easiest thing to get right. Most airsoft wannabees could perform that advisory function for the show. Get the tactics and dialogue right. Don't make us into walking cartoons. It just infuriates me to no end that you don't portray these kids as mission oriented. That's just about every troop/Marine I ever knew. They almost to a man (and most of the time women) want to mix it up with the tangos and prove their metal. Its after the first few months you begin to feel mortal, especially after you see people you know get hit. Even then it becomes a question of getting payback/revenge.

They (the producers/director) really need to take a good look at the comments coming in from the vets and make the necessary changes to turn this into something valuable and worthy of honoring the folks that serve/served there.

These are my observations based on 5 months in theater including 2 weeks straight of heavy fighting in Nasiriyah during the beginning of the war. I hope they will provide you with some guidance for improvements.
Semper Fidelis,
M

As of this post there has been no response from FX. I gave them all of my contact info so they have no excuse. Hell even an email saying, "we got your critique, thanks and f**k off" would have been nice. I can see by the episodes that there is an agenda with the show and the producers/director can say "we want to memorialize the troops and their efforts" all they want, you don't have to be a genius to see where they are going with it.
S/F
Mooch