'Thunder Run' - Iraq

[NcDeuce]

Today, we went over the 'Thunder Run' by the 3rd ID into Baghdad. There was a lot of stuff that I didn't hear on the news and whatnot in our after-action report on the events. We watched some video of the vehicles pushing into the city driving past destroyed enemy cars/trucks as well as friendly tanks. Saw some long-haired dudes with caps on backwards speeding about in pickups...hmm...I wonder. We actually almost lost the foothold in Baghdad before the 101st and 82nd arrived on the scene.

The 3rd ID guys who drove in on their tanks and Bradleys went through some tough shi*. Mogadishu - conventional on unconventional style.

Kinda funny how some of the OBJs were named after the Three Stooges...

If I find the 10 or so page article, I'll post it on here.
Edit: I think Ivy will like it

[JMooch]

If I remember correctly, 3ID had tanks in the Pres. Palace square and 4th Marines had captured a substantial portion of eastern Baghdad prior to the 101st or 82nd being anywhere near the city (I think the 82nd was still holding Najaf at the time).
Semper,
Mooch

[Ichhabe]

You would not by any chance see a guy in OD-uniform holding a press conference in the back ground by any chance?
;)

[Merik]

3rd ID was in Saddam's palaces spending the night on April 7th or 9th, cant remember which one.

[NcDeuce]

Thunder Run is the story of the bold assault on Baghdad by the Spartan Brigade of the Third Infantry Division. With fewer than a thousand men, and facing Iraqi forces dug into bunkers and buildings, the brigade punched a hole through the heart of Baghdad with a high-speed charge to Saddam Hussein's Presidential Palace and Republican Guard headquarters. Many Iraqi soldiers fled or surrendered during the onslaught, but significant numbers stood and fought. Iraqi forces destroyed the brigade's command center, ambushed the brigade's resupply column, and even as it appeared that the brigade was seizing control of the capital on the battle's second day, a fierce counterattack across the Tigris River trapped an American company under withering fire and forced a retreat. Many Americans believe that Baghdad was taken with a minimum of effort. But for the Spartan Brigade it was a brutal and terrifying three days of urban warfare. The product of dozens of interviews, and with a foreword from best-selling author Mark Bowden, Thunder Run is a riveting firsthand account of how a single armored brigade of fewer than a thousand men was able to capture an Arab capital defended by one of the world's largest armies.

Turns out it's actually from a book. David Zucchino's Thunder Run: The Armored Strike to Capture Baghdad...I guess I'm going to have to order it. TFR member Robert Gallagher (battalion CSM now) makes a guest appearance, ;)

[defunct]

that lessons learned document would be a great read....and what I wouldn't give to see some of that video! Hook it up ncduece!