These are the real stories from Iraq

[FactsOfLife]

Since the media in this country refuses to bring us nothing but doom from Iraq, I guess it's up to us to show what is really going on over there.

As often as I can find these stories, I'll be posting them.

The following story is a bonus for me, this Marine and his family live in my neighborhood.

HOORAH!

[penguinpunk555]

That's our boys.

[Target Practice]

Man, stories like that just make me proud. Damn proud. Keep givin' em Hell, guys.

[WingMan13]

Hoorah!!!!!

[-J�ker-]

that action sounds like he met criteria for/deserves the medal of honor

[devildog]

i posted this in another thread, but ill move it over here. i have loads and loads of these stories, ill keep posting them here.

i know its kind of long, but its well worth it.




The 15 Marines were trapped in a house, surrounded by hundreds of Iraqis
armed with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles, their armored
vehicle in flames on the street outside. Each man was down to his last two
magazines. (that's a total of 40 rounds for both magazines)

"It was in my head, we just got to go. Whoever makes it back, makes it back,
those who fall, fall," said Staff Sergeant Ismail Sagredo, sitting in the
relative safety of Bravo Company's forward base yesterday, as mortars and
machine-gun fire sounded a few streets away.

"That was the decision I'd have had to make, and I'm glad I didn't have to
do it."

It was one of the most dramatic actions of the war.

Sergeant Sagredo, 35, had been in one of two Amphibious Assault Vehicles
running out from the Marines' front-line close to the center of Fallujah,
trying to trap insurgents who had ambushed a supply vehicle.

But as they headed down the narrow, parallel streets of Fallujah, where
Sunni tribesmen have battled the Marines for more than a week, their vehicle
came under fire from rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), the guerrillas'
weapon of choice.

Unable to turn the large vehicle around, the squad charged their attackers,
but lost contact when they hit a bend in the road. They were driving into
unknown territory. Then they turned another corner and saw hundreds of
guerrillas.

"I've never seen so many RPGs. A lot of them were propped up against the
walls with extra rounds," said the sergeant.

The Iraqis, not expecting a lone American vehicle so far behind their lines,
ran frantically for their weapons as the Marines opened up with M16 rifles
and machine-guns.

Rockets started smashing into their vehicle. One pierced the armor at the
front, taking a large chunk out of the leg of Lieutenant Christopher Ayres,
the officer in command. The rocket did not explode, but hit the engine,
setting it ablaze.

Still under intense fire, the driver swerved south along a route known to
the Marines as "Sh**head Alley", desperate to find a turning to the east,
towards their own lines. The gunner was dead from enemy fire, and several
men had been knocked down by the continuing rounds of missiles.

The blaze was spreading toward the stockpiles of grenades when the engine
gave out completely.

With the engine dead, the rear gate would not open. The men had to climb out
of the hatch one by one, still taking small-arms fire. Luckily for them,
their dash down the gauntlet of Sh**head Alley had left their attackers - up
to 600 of them -- behind. But only for a while.

"When we stepped out I was relieved. At least I wasn't going to burn," said
Lance Corporal Abraham McCarver, a machinegunner.

The men had to help Lieutenant Ayres, who was crawling blindly toward the
fire. Sergeant Sagredo and Corporal McCarver pulled him, but his webbing
caught on a rack.

They were still taking fire, conscious that the vehicle could explode at any
moment. Then the webbing ripped, and they carried the wounded officer to a
nearby house, kicking down the door.

The Marines took up firing positions on the roof as more than 150 Iraqi
gunmen converged on the small house.

"All the Iraqis surged south to join the festivities," Sergeant Sagredo
said. He now found himself in charge of an impossible situation reminiscent
of scenes in Black Hawk Down, the film of a doomed US raid in Somalia that
the sergeant had seen back home in America.

"It did remind me of that soldier being dragged through the streets back
then," he said, aware that a similarly gruesome scene had involved four US
contractors just streets away, the trigger for the Marines' invasion of
Fallujah.

Ironically, Bravo Company's call-sign is Blackhawk.

The Marines could hear the Iraqi fighters shouting outside, could see their
feet shadowed under the front gate.

"I opened a window because I heard voices and I thought it was Americans,"
said Corporal Koreyan Calloway. "There was a guy in a headscarf with an
AK-47
standing there looking at me, so I shot him."

The attackers were darting down narrow alleyways beside the house, and
lobbing grenades from neighboring rooftops.

"They were running across our line of fire like we weren't even shooting at
them," the corporal said.

"It was just like a range, we were just shooting them down," said Corporal
Jacob Palofax.

In the midst of the firefight, with the armored vehicle's munitions blowing
up, an ambulance pulled up. The Marines thought they were being rescued.
Instead, 15 men with RPGs jumped out and started firing.

The Americans were almost out of bullets. An Iraqi round hit a kitchen pipe
and gas started whistling out as RPGs slammed into the building.

A guerrilla burst through the gate with an RPG and was shot dead. Another
tried to follow and was wounded.

"Then the men started shouting that they could hear tanks. The first one
went past, then the second," Sergeant Sagredo said.

Horrified that the rescuers would miss him, Sergeant Sagredo radioed to tell
them to back up. They did. A rifle muzzle appeared through the gate, and
Captain Jason Smith of the 5th Marine Regiment came through shouting:
"Marines, Marines, friendlies!"

It took an hour for the tanks to hook up with the burnt-out vehicle, but
they were determined not to leave a dead Marine behind inside it.

Sergeant Sagredo does not want a medal for saving his men. "A decoration
would only remind me of what happened. This is something I want to forget.
Unfortunately, if it doesn't affect me now, I know it will haunt me later."




Pain is Temporary,
...Pride is Forever.

[Steelrat]

That guy deserves the Medal of Honor. That is an outstanding feat.

[t33kyboy]

dang he picked up dead peoples guns, what a stud.

[Wolfen]

It's stories like these that clean out the coagulation of hatred and spite that gets jammed in our heads by the media every single day. I don't understand how stories like these can't bring in ratings they so desperately crave. Every day I hear of another soldier dying, every day I hear of a new scandal, every day I hear of another politician trying to further his career through ANY means necessary, every day more of the bad is brought to light, and more good is shoved away. I'm tired of it.

Army, Devildog, Edweird, Oldsoldier, lopxtc, Yamz, and anyone else who has ever served or is still enlisted; I thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all that you have done for us, for me. Thank you for your sacrifices, and thank your families for their's as well. For those of you still fighting, for those that have fought, you all are in my prayers.

(I'll be adding to the list of those who have served or are serving now as I find them. I want to be able to thank each and every one on these boards.)

[Konigballer]

hell yeah!

That Marine was doing one hell of a Audie Murphy impression, though I doubt the guerillas liked it.

[1stdeadeye]

Forget the medals! Give those guys their own movies and the $$ that goes with them! Real Heros!!!

By the way Sean Hannity has helped to create the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund. It is to provide full college scholarships for the children of military personel killed in Iraq! Great cause! They are even holding a concert at 6 Flags in June! Great cause. here is the link!

[FactsOfLife]

Forget the medals! Give those guys their own movies and the $$ that goes with them! Real Heros!!!

By the way Sean Hannity has helped to create the Freedom Alliance Scholarship Fund. It is to provide full college scholarships for the children of military personel killed in Iraq! Great cause! They are even holding a concert at 6 Flags in June! Great cause. here is the link!

I've donated $1000 to this fund, I am challenging AO as a group to match it.

Come on guys, if each one of you donated the cost of a decent case of paint, we'd do it in record time.

[1stdeadeye]

I donated $100.00 on Tuesday the first time I heard about it on the Sean Hannity Show.

Why give to this cause? Because 100% of the money raised goes toward scholarships for the children of service personel killed in Iraq/Afghanistan. This is not political, this is America taking care of her own.

[FactsOfLife]

Nice 1st

[Python14]

After prom, I'm mailing a check for $50. It will be my first major donation other than the $10 subtracted from my paycheck that goes to the Rescue Mission(that's the benefit of working for the Rescue Mission of Roanoke)