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Tuesday, November 30, 2004

FOB Summerall

Under fire in Bayji: ‘The whole city, from every side, was fighting’
By Steve Liewer,
Stars and StripesEuropean edition,
Monday, November 29, 2004

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SUMMERALL, Iraq — Guerrillas hiding in “gasoline alley,” a fuel and maintenance district on the city’s south edge, opened fire on Staff Sgt. James Tucker’s platoon with grenades and AK-47s as it left Bayji around midday Nov. 9 after a quiet, three-hour patrol.
Tucker’s men — from Task Force 1-7, based at nearby FOB Summerall — jumped out and flanked the insurgents while gunners laid down cover fire with .50-caliber machine guns. When they’d killed or driven off the gunmen, they discovered nine homemade bombs and some rocket-propelled grenades.
“They were setting up for an attack,” said Tucker, 30, of Tulare, Calif. “It could have been a lot worse.”
Within a few minutes of that encounter U.S. and Iraqi troops in several parts of the city came under fire. U.S. patrols and convoys dodged heavy gunfire all the way down Highway 1, the main north-south thoroughfare in Bayji, a city of 125,000 people.
“There was so much gunfire, we couldn’t get through,” said Staff Sgt. Kelvin Manning, 29, of Valdosta, Ga., a platoon sergeant in the unit’s Battery C. “Pretty much the whole city, from every side, was fighting.”
For most Task Force 1-7 troops who were there, it was the longest, fiercest gunbattle they’d seen during nine months in Iraq.
“[Nov. 9] was the first time in a long time we’ve had a straight-up fight,” said Sgt. Melvin Davis of the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, currently assigned to Task Force 1-7.
“Usually [the rebels] just take off running,” said Spc. Greg McMeekan, 23, of Kalamazoo, Mich., one of Davis’ soldiers. “This time, hell no, they stood their ground.”
Task Force 1-7 combat platoons ran a gauntlet of rifle fire to take up positions at the police station and city hall, both on Highway 1. Tanks and Bradleys headed down “Market Street,” the city’s chief shopping area and the insurgents’ favorite spot for mounting attacks.
The armored vehicles blasted away at nests of rebels, inflicting heavy damage on the neighborhood.
“We destroyed a lot of the buildings, the places where they fight,” said Capt. Michael Byard, 30, of Trenton, N.J., the Battery C commander.
At one point, insurgents were firing at U.S. and Iraqi positions from behind a fuel truck on Highway 1. After getting permission from his commander, Tucker fired an AT4 rocket at the tanker.
It exploded in an enormous fireball that was visible for miles.
“It was like a nuclear bomb,” said Davis, 32, of Houston.
McMeekan, on the police department rooftop 500 meters away, said he had to turn his head away from the intense heat.
“I don’t know what happened to those [insurgents],” Tucker said, “but they weren’t there anymore.”
Late in the day, the opposition vanished into the city. Task Force 1-7 counted at least 20 enemy dead and left the downtown in ruins.
Soldiers can’t figure out why the people in Bayji side with the terrorists when the Americans have built new buildings for them and given out toys and school supplies to many of the city’s children.
“You hope they’ll become frustrated with the [insurgents], but they’re intimidated, too,” Byard said. “Why do they always attack the people who are trying to help them?”
“We tried to start out as humanitarians,” said Tucker, who has been nominated for a Bronze Star with Valor for his actions Nov. 9. “We tell these people, ‘we want to help but you have to help us.’”

Soldiers Angels In Landstuhl

He fought the war against the terrorism and died from his wounds



Associated Press told us “…The number of U.S. troops wounded throughout Iraq since the Fallujah offensive began Nov. 7 has surpassed 850, and the wounded total for the entire war has topped 9,000, the Pentagon said Tuesday. That's an increase of 370 from the previous week, reflecting not only the battles in Fallujah but insurgent attacks in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities….”



If you read this, what were 40 backpacks which we have with us this time! Wendy, Rudi and I were in Landstuhl on the 20th November 2004. Ali the assistant manager and Andrew from the Fisher House have given us their time to bring 40 wounded a backpack. The Fisher House Landstuhl helps us so much and we are all so glad that the Fisher House and the manager Kathy Gregory gives us and The Soldiers Angels the great opportunity to visit the wounded Soldiers and Marines in the Hospital.







When wounded troops arrive

at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center here in Germany they often have nothing by themself, often they are wearing the same dirty clothes as they injured in the battle or sometimes just a pair of boxer shorts. I read the troops receive a $250 voucher from the Department of Defense, but they cannot buy something for it, because they cannot go to a store and buy clothes or toiletries which they need. Here in Germany we have now cold, wet winter weather so the wounded need near a backpack large or extra-large sweatpants and T-shirts with long arm. So we look that we have always something to wear in our backpacks, personal hygiene items and a “blanket of hope”. Here we will say thank you so much to all the Angels and friends as still to the Crossroad Community Church, MI, they have donated money or their time, have written get well soon letters or cards or have given all the donations in kind.







Wendy, she is living nearby us hear in Germany she had a big box of single wrap sanitation wipes with her, because a lot of the wounded can use baby wipes or like to have playing cards, gift boxes with baoding iron balls and a bag full of Iraq Freedom coins and get well cards and letters and for the nurses some flavoured coffee.

A flight from Iraq to Ramstein, Germany took about five hours. We can imagine us is not enjoyable. The wounded arrived with dark blue buses with white crosses on the front Ramstein Airbase in Landstuhl. The most of the buses were filled with injured troops just flown in from Iraq or sometimes from Afghanistan. All seriously injured soldiers are carried on stretchers directly to the Emergency Room. Troops who are able to move about on their own, or on crutches, or to wheelchairs are going to the Emergency Room directly. You see always that the most of the wounds appeared to be legs, arms, hands, feet or in their face injuries.






We met a mom in the Fisher House,

after our visit in the hospital Rudi, Wendy and me we went back to the Fisher House to drink a strong coffee and have a few cakes before we went home. As we were by a coffee in the kitchen a lady came in and sat down on one of the chairs for eating something. We try to speak to her and told her something about the Soldiers Angels and what we are doing in here.



She said us that this was a wonderful thing we do. She began to spoke, "…my son died this morning… in Homburg Saar..." I go to her and had problems to find the write words. As I began to speak I had tears in my eyes. This was new for me! Never before I met a lady who son died on this way! She told us she used 2 days to come from California to Germany.



A long trip for a mother, who is waiting to see her son! She arrived Tuesday, but she could not see her son because he was in surgery. She went by bus so often she could from Landstuhl to Homburg Saar a 45 minutes ride by bus. She got to see him on Wednesday and Thursday morning, but she told us he developed problems with his kidneys. The doctors had to amputate both of his legs and he had lung damage. After this all was on a dialysis machine. He had his last surgery Thursday night - but he passed away this Saterday morning.



She was so very proud of her son and told us that she felt that he was at in better place now. She had to stay in Landstuhl till Monday and wait for him so she could bring him home. Another good man has given his live for other people freedom! I hope that the people for who he has given his life will see at anytime which great thing is to live in freedom!







We help a mother to do something for her son in Germany

As I read on the 18th November that a 28-year-old soldier from Granbury resident was in critical condition with a head wound received while in combat with his unit in Fallujah. I wrote the newspaper to give his mother a short note that we are on the 20th in Landstuhl and will bring him a backpack and greetings from the Soldiers Angels. I quick succession I received an e-mail from his mother Vicky, publisher of a magazine and told me her son was shot in the head as he and other soldiers were in a Humvee engaged in combat with terrorists in the large city on Falluja.

She says later on phone to Rudi, “…someone told me my son was hit in the left temple and the bullet exited on his right temple….He was taken in a two-hour Humvee ride from Fallujah to Baghdad to the field hospital where he was under a five hours of neurosurgery. A neurosurgeon in the field hospital had to remove the damaged frontal part of his brain….” As we were on the ICU we could not see him his condition has been described as stable and critical. So we let a backpack for him by the nurse and call his mother about him. He has been in Iraq five months and stationed in a camp near Fallujah and he served a year in Korea before being transferred to Iraq.

It looks that it will not end, to fight the war against the terrorism needs time. A friend from the 1st Armored Division, Germany knows that he has to return to Iraq in 2005. The Division had returned from Iraq in August 2004, after being stationed there for sixteen straight months. To know to go back and fight the war against of terrorism means you must have a lot of courage and more!



We are back in Landstuhl mid December with Christmas stockings for the wounded Soldiers and Marines.



Wilhelmine Aufmkolk, Germany



"May No Soldier Go Unloved“
http://www.soldiersangels.com
e-mail: JosephineFS@aol.com

Iraq War Today

received this e-mail yesterday from a church friend
who’s been in Iraq for awhile. Political and religious
views aside, I’m forwarding it to just about everyone
in my address book so you’ll get a front line
perspective on what our guys are going through over
there. -Heidi

************************************************************************************************

Howdy from the City of Fallujah, Iraq, 28NOV04.


I have to thank so many of you again for your
continued prayers. Your support really does count and
we do appreciate it. I will tell you a little more
about our attack into the city, but I want you all to
know that your prayers have brought great strength,
peace and protection to each of us as you will read.

If you don't know by now, I am a foreign military
advisor with the Iraqi Army and my team has been with
an Iraqi battalion for nearly six months now. On the
eve of our attack, I was comforted at the amount of
peace I had in my heart. I knew that it was going to
be a difficult fight into the city and for many of the
marines and soldiers that participated in the attack
that is exactly what they faced. Quite a few of them
died in this battle, but the evil in this place has
been defeated.

When those heroes are finally laid to rest back in the
United States, their families will here the words from
a military representative, "on behalf of a grateful
Nation" their son died." Please be grateful to those
men who gave their lives to rid the world of evil
people and pray for the strength of their families.

I am not aware of any women that died here, but I know
many of them have given their lives in other places
around Iraq. The evil here is real, I have come face
to face with it on a few occasions. On the first night
of the battle, I could only sit in amazement and think
about Frances Scott Key as he sat and watched the
bombardment from the boat were he penned what would
later become our National Anthem.

I sat on a hilltop about three kilometers away from
the edge of the city. My Iraqi Battalion was lined up
behind a US Marine battalion and we were waiting for
the order to move forward to start our ground assault
into the city. As the sky lit up with artillery, bombs
from F16s, C130 gunships, helicopter gunships, and
whatever else rained destruction, I could only sit and
watch in utter astonishment.

My unit was in the second wave behind a battalion of
Marines. As the morning light came, we advanced into
the city. My Iraqi Battalion had the job of going
house to house, searching for pockets of resistance
and discovering caches of weapons, ammunition and
explosives left behind by the insurgents. The marines
that we followed into the city did such a professional
job of clearing out the bad guys, that all we had left
in my zone were a few stragglers that were more than
ready to give up the fight. We took about 50 bad guys
into custody after they surrendered from various
locations. Civilians were told for three weeks
straight to leave the city, so anyone left in the city
was a bad guy.

Unfortunately, some of them kept their families in the
city to use them as shields and try to say that the
Americans kill innocent people for no reason. Some
families did survive and I have seen U.S. and Iraqi
soldiers go to extraordinary lengths to help them. As
we searched many of the houses, we found a lot of
evidence of the evil that persisted in this city. Many
of the residents had sympathized with the insurgents
until even they were forced to leave their homes by
the bad guys. The insurgents had been "digging in"
since last April when the Marines originally pulled
back from the city. This fight had been brewing since
then, and everyone knew it.

To say we found caches of arms, ammunition and
explosives is a complete understatement. The bad guys
stocked many houses with weapons so they could run
from house to house. They even had makeshift hospitals
and food supplies. These were not a bunch of city
dwellers bent on keeping Americans out, they were well
organized, well equipped and in many cases, well
trained insurgents. We found that most of the groups
of fighting Iraqis were broken down into smaller
elements, but controlled by foreign fighters from
Syria, Jordan, Sudan, Egypt, and Yemen.

The Iraqis that I serve with have been an excellent
source for exploiting the propaganda left behind by
the insurgents. I have seen many DVDs of beheadings,
torture, and other killing films made by the
insurgents. Fallujah was the breeding ground for much
of what is taking place around Iraq. We found evidence
of one of the Japanese hostages that was beheaded here
to include some of his personal affects. We have
uncovered several of the "clubhouses" for the
insurgents where the evil lived and reached out from.

The military advisors took it pretty hard in this
battle as well. My Marine Captain was shot in the leg,
but thanks to your prayers, the bullet went only skin
deep and he was able to rejoin us four days later
after a quick surgery to remove it.

Another advisor was killed during combat and a few
others have been hurt as well. In all, the men you
have been praying for have been safe. As I was walking
through the street one day with the unit, I saw a dove
flying above me and I instantly knew the God had
brought peace here. I thought in amazement how God
used a dove as a sign of peace to me as he uses a dove
in the bible as a sign of peace for the world. There
is still a lot of work to be done here and there is
still shooting that goes on almost every day and night
throughout the city. Many of the insurgents from other
areas are trying to get into the city for more
fighting, but usually get stopped by a bullet before
they get in.

Again, I must thank each of you for your prayers. I
have said many times that we are able to stand the
strongest when you are on your knees praying for us. I
really do believe that we are all in this fight
together. Please continue to pray that the enemy would
be confused and make mistakes that allow our forces to
take the advantage. May God give you a blessing of
peace today and a joy in your heart knowing the world
is a little better off today because evil was defeated
here.


Iraq War Today

The Green Bay News-Chronicle Online - local news

""It's just when you think you have a little more time, even two days, you know, it's a little bit more time with them," she said.

While the deployment in Iraq will be the first for some, Staff Sgt. Doug Lange of Green Bay is making his third trip there. He went to Iraq during Desert Storm. Formerly a member of the 353rd Transportation Company in Buffalo, Minn., he returned from a second deployment Dec. 19. As he prepared to go to Iraq again, Lange recalled lighter moments there, even in the midst of heat and insurgents.

"You go nine months without seeing a rain cloud and then it starts raining and then you go and make mud angels," he said.

"As insignificant as it may sound, that was one of my highlights, to actually see rain clouds," he added.

Most comforting for soldiers is to know their family supports them, Lange said. "That's the best support a soldier can have, is get plenty of mail," he added.

The Green Bay News-Chronicle Online - local news

U.S. Army 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry

A puppy follows a U.S. Army 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry soldier on patrol in Mosul, Iraq Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2004. Fueled by fierce fighting in Fallujah and insurgents' counterattacks elsewhere in Iraq, the U.S. military death toll for November, at least 134, is approaching the highest for any month of the war. (AP Photo/Jim MacMillan) Yahoo! News - World Photos - AP

U.S. Army 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry

U.S. Army 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry soldiers patrol in Mosul, Iraq Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2004. A claim by Iraq's most feared terror group that it is behind the slaughter of Iraqi security force members in Mosul has raised fears that it has expanded to the north after losing its purported base in Fallujah. (AP Photo/Jim MacMillan) Yahoo! News - World Photos - AP

Iraq War News Today

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[in Yahoo]
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[in Yahoo]
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More British troops could be sent to US-run zone in Iraq if needed: ""If we're asked to do it again and the situation makes sense, then clearly we're capable of doing it again," General Rollo told the BBC, referring to the redeployment of Britain's Black Watch regiment...




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Iraq log: 29 November 2004: "What is life like for ordinary Iraqis and others caught up in events? We are publishing a range of accounts here."

In BBC: Conflict with Iraq (UK Edition)



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[in Herald Sun]
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[in Herald Sun]
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[in Herald Sun]
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[in Japan Times]
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[in Herald Sun]
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Iraq's election chief says he can't delay Jan poll: "Hendawi said he had not received a formal request for the elections to be postponed, though a petition organised by Pachachi and signed by the 15 parties is expected to be delivered to him soon. Pacha...




[in Express India]
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Son's Iraq Ties 'Surprised' Annan: "(AP) Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was "very disappointed and surprised" that his son had continued to receive payments until this February from a firm that had a contract with Iraq's oil-for-f...




[in CBS News]
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[in Yahoo]
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[in Reuters]
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Soldiers tough out the hazards of Iraq: "Soldiers tough out the hazards of Iraq 'We see our body count but we don't see theirs. If we could the morale would be better ... You can't find the enemy'




[in The Star]
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US takes 32 insurgent suspects south of Baghdad: "BAGHDAD: US marines said they killed several insurgents and took 32 suspects in a series of actions south of Baghdad overnight (NZT) that included a high-speed riverborne raid on suspected weapons dum...




[in Stuff]
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[in BBC]
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Close-Knit Town Copes With War: "(CBS) In a typical small town with the unlikely name of Paris, Ill., the toll of a faraway war strikes painfully close to home. Bagpipes set the tone of war's impact on its citizens. Five member...




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Spy Ring At Gitmo?: "(CBS) Around this time last year, a U.S. Army chaplain and an Air Force translator were sitting in jail, facing the death penalty. Their crime: supposedly running a spy ring out of the U.S. naval b...




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'Adequate security is unachievable': "Gulf News Editorial, United Arab Emirates, November 28 "The call to postpone the Iraq elections is not just a constitutional problem. More than 15 groups ... have asked for a delay of six months becau...




[in The Guardian]
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Local Hero Returns Home from Iraq: "Riverside Superintendent Larry Nowlin received a homecoming celebration today from his student body. He is considered more than just an authority figure to this school system. Evident by the standing ...




[in K8]
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US To Raise Troop Strength In Iraq By 10,000-11,000 -NBC: "NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Military officials say the U.S. is planning to raise the number of American troops in Iraq by 10,000 to 11,000 to provide additional security as the January elections approach...




[in Morning Star]
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Nightly News: Pentagon to increase troops in Iraq: "Faced with the real threat of terrorist attacks during Iraqi elections next month, U.S. military officials tell NBC News the Pentagon is now planning to raise the number of American troops in Iraq by ...




[in MSNBC]
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Iraq's Allawi to meet with Jordan exiles: "Prime Minister Ayad Allawi will travel to Jordan on Tuesday to meet with Iraqis outside the country as part of attempts to get as many Iraqis as possible to participate in upcoming elections, diplomats and Iraqi officials said."

In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq

nocashfortrash.org