Magua
04-12-2004, 04:10 PM
Philadelphia Inquirer April 12, 2004 Pg. 1 By David Swanson, Thomas Ginsberg
Anguish Over Fallen Comrades
The 16 deaths fell most heavily on Echo Company of the Second Battalion, Fourth Marines Regiment.
RAMADI, Iraq - Finally back in the safety of his bunker, looking at the empty beds of dead comrades, Lance Cpl. Deshon Oety began to cry.
His Marine company had just lost more members during several days of fighting than any other company so far in Iraq. Seven members of his own platoon were now gone, their bunks vacant before him.
"I didn't sleep. I laid in the bed," an exhausted Oety recalled yesterday, sitting alone with a cigarette after a Marine memorial service.
The 16 deaths fell most heavily on Oety's company of the Second Battalion, Fourth Marines Regiment, a storied unit known as "the Magnificent Bastards" that now has another fierce battle on its resume.
From just one 13-man squad, five died after being ambushed along a road they patrolled every day on the outskirts of the Sunni city of Ramadi.
"I can't stand that area," said Oety, 24, of Louisville, Ky. But then he did what his battalion is known for: He plunged back in. "I went right back on patrol the next day."
World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm. Now, in Iraq, the "2/4," as the battalion is called, has fought in what may be a new and bloody turn. "We have experienced the great joy of brotherhood and the sinking emptiness of grief," said Lt. Brian Weigelt, the 2/4 battalion chaplain, at the camp's memorial service.
One by one, Marines paced to the front of the hangar and paused at a makeshift shrine made of a single M-16 draped with 16 dog tags, topped by a helmet.
"I want to kill these guys more than when I first got here," Pfc. Gregg Arneson, 19, of Janesville, Wis., said afterward. Speaking of one fallen comrade, he said: "It was one of the hardest things losing him. It was like losing a brother."
Ramadi, 30 miles west of the embattled city of Fallujah, has been a baptism by fire for many of the roughly 400 men from two companies who are serving their first combat mission.
Echo Company, a 165-man unit of the battalion based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., now is down by 50 dead or wounded, mostly since a devastating series of ambushes on Tuesday.
"It was the worst day of my life, I tell you that," said Lt. Tom Cogan, 23, commander of Echo's Third Platoon, which lost five men. "It's my job to take care of these guys and get them home as safe as possible. It's my duty to them and their families.
"It makes me feel like I failed," Cogan said, "like I could've done something better or different."
Cogan is from Philadelphia's Lawncrest section. He tried to compare parts of Ramadi to old towns around Philadelphia, then gave up. There is not much like Ramadi, a dusty river city of 420,000.
Arriving in early March to replace a departing Army unit, Echo Company had spent most of its time upgrading its base, patrolling supply routes and access roads, and dismantling or destroying insurgents' bombs that the Marines call "improvised explosive devices," or IEDs.
At first, it was calm. Marines patrolling on foot had found and detonated dozens of the devices, usually made from single 100mm or 105mm mortar rounds wired with a blasting cap and triggered remotely by a cell phone or garage-door opener.
Then, on March 25, a week before the ambushes, they had their first real firefight after a squad took a wrong turn on a road and accidentally came up behind a group of Iraqi fighters who appeared to be waiting in ambush formation.
"We took them out," said Cogan, who led the operation. "It's a motivating thing. Even the guys who took hits were joking about it. We were pumped up... . It created bonds that weren't there before."
But then a week later, it all went very wrong. The Third Squad from Cogan's Third Platoon was patrolling one section of the city when word came of another unit under fire. When it raced to try to link up, Third Squad also got hit. Bullets and rocket-propelled grenades flew from all sides.
"You're fighting for the guy on your left and right. That's what it really comes down to," Cogan said.
While many details were still hard to reconstruct, one of the squad's humvees was hit and destroyed, and five men were killed. A corpsman was also killed.
Cogan said it took the squad "a couple hours to move a couple hundred feet. We killed numerous enemy; we slaughtered a lot of them."
Several platoons were hit that day. Eventually, 12 Marines were killed and at least 30 wounded. The confidence and morale felt from the first firefight in March was under assault as well.
"It hurts when you lose your buddies and friends. And it did hurt morale," Cogan said. "It was tough on them. They were hurting pretty bad. They won't tell you that, but they were hurt."
Short of armored vehicles but bucking to reassert itself, Echo Company regrouped as best it could. During the ensuing three days, the Marines searched homes for insurgents, "trying to take the fight to the enemy," said Capt. Kelly Royer, commander of Echo Company.
Then on Saturday, the Marines engaged another group of insurgents with far different results: Many insurgents killed or wounded, and just one Marine casualty.
"We lost another from my platoon. He was a good Marine, but you feel better because we beat the crap out of the enemy," Cogan said. "We lit them up. It made everybody feel a lot better."
But for Cpl. Ryan Pape, 21, of Phoenix, it was the bonds he established with his fellow Marines that he will take home. "I'll forget the battles, but I will always remember my fallen comrades."
Anguish Over Fallen Comrades
The 16 deaths fell most heavily on Echo Company of the Second Battalion, Fourth Marines Regiment.
RAMADI, Iraq - Finally back in the safety of his bunker, looking at the empty beds of dead comrades, Lance Cpl. Deshon Oety began to cry.
His Marine company had just lost more members during several days of fighting than any other company so far in Iraq. Seven members of his own platoon were now gone, their bunks vacant before him.
"I didn't sleep. I laid in the bed," an exhausted Oety recalled yesterday, sitting alone with a cigarette after a Marine memorial service.
The 16 deaths fell most heavily on Oety's company of the Second Battalion, Fourth Marines Regiment, a storied unit known as "the Magnificent Bastards" that now has another fierce battle on its resume.
From just one 13-man squad, five died after being ambushed along a road they patrolled every day on the outskirts of the Sunni city of Ramadi.
"I can't stand that area," said Oety, 24, of Louisville, Ky. But then he did what his battalion is known for: He plunged back in. "I went right back on patrol the next day."
World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm. Now, in Iraq, the "2/4," as the battalion is called, has fought in what may be a new and bloody turn. "We have experienced the great joy of brotherhood and the sinking emptiness of grief," said Lt. Brian Weigelt, the 2/4 battalion chaplain, at the camp's memorial service.
One by one, Marines paced to the front of the hangar and paused at a makeshift shrine made of a single M-16 draped with 16 dog tags, topped by a helmet.
"I want to kill these guys more than when I first got here," Pfc. Gregg Arneson, 19, of Janesville, Wis., said afterward. Speaking of one fallen comrade, he said: "It was one of the hardest things losing him. It was like losing a brother."
Ramadi, 30 miles west of the embattled city of Fallujah, has been a baptism by fire for many of the roughly 400 men from two companies who are serving their first combat mission.
Echo Company, a 165-man unit of the battalion based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., now is down by 50 dead or wounded, mostly since a devastating series of ambushes on Tuesday.
"It was the worst day of my life, I tell you that," said Lt. Tom Cogan, 23, commander of Echo's Third Platoon, which lost five men. "It's my job to take care of these guys and get them home as safe as possible. It's my duty to them and their families.
"It makes me feel like I failed," Cogan said, "like I could've done something better or different."
Cogan is from Philadelphia's Lawncrest section. He tried to compare parts of Ramadi to old towns around Philadelphia, then gave up. There is not much like Ramadi, a dusty river city of 420,000.
Arriving in early March to replace a departing Army unit, Echo Company had spent most of its time upgrading its base, patrolling supply routes and access roads, and dismantling or destroying insurgents' bombs that the Marines call "improvised explosive devices," or IEDs.
At first, it was calm. Marines patrolling on foot had found and detonated dozens of the devices, usually made from single 100mm or 105mm mortar rounds wired with a blasting cap and triggered remotely by a cell phone or garage-door opener.
Then, on March 25, a week before the ambushes, they had their first real firefight after a squad took a wrong turn on a road and accidentally came up behind a group of Iraqi fighters who appeared to be waiting in ambush formation.
"We took them out," said Cogan, who led the operation. "It's a motivating thing. Even the guys who took hits were joking about it. We were pumped up... . It created bonds that weren't there before."
But then a week later, it all went very wrong. The Third Squad from Cogan's Third Platoon was patrolling one section of the city when word came of another unit under fire. When it raced to try to link up, Third Squad also got hit. Bullets and rocket-propelled grenades flew from all sides.
"You're fighting for the guy on your left and right. That's what it really comes down to," Cogan said.
While many details were still hard to reconstruct, one of the squad's humvees was hit and destroyed, and five men were killed. A corpsman was also killed.
Cogan said it took the squad "a couple hours to move a couple hundred feet. We killed numerous enemy; we slaughtered a lot of them."
Several platoons were hit that day. Eventually, 12 Marines were killed and at least 30 wounded. The confidence and morale felt from the first firefight in March was under assault as well.
"It hurts when you lose your buddies and friends. And it did hurt morale," Cogan said. "It was tough on them. They were hurting pretty bad. They won't tell you that, but they were hurt."
Short of armored vehicles but bucking to reassert itself, Echo Company regrouped as best it could. During the ensuing three days, the Marines searched homes for insurgents, "trying to take the fight to the enemy," said Capt. Kelly Royer, commander of Echo Company.
Then on Saturday, the Marines engaged another group of insurgents with far different results: Many insurgents killed or wounded, and just one Marine casualty.
"We lost another from my platoon. He was a good Marine, but you feel better because we beat the crap out of the enemy," Cogan said. "We lit them up. It made everybody feel a lot better."
But for Cpl. Ryan Pape, 21, of Phoenix, it was the bonds he established with his fellow Marines that he will take home. "I'll forget the battles, but I will always remember my fallen comrades."