Time: The View from the Front Lines ("'We are not pulling out of here")

[Barrett808]

The View from the Front Lines
The fighting men of Blue Platoon have taken a horrific beating, but no one talks about pulling out
By MICHAEL WARE/RAMADI

Do you see 'em?" screams a gunner as he spots al-Qaeda fighters dart in front of him. "Just kill people to the north," a sergeant bellows. "Light him up," cries another soldier as a gunman approaches. On Nov. 17, even as Representative John Murtha was stirring debate on Capitol Hill by calling for an immediate redeployment of U.S. troops, the young soldiers of Blue Platoon were amid a citywide battle that revealed just how hard it will be to pull U.S. troops out soon.

...

Since July, 1 in 3 platoon members has been killed or hurt. "All of my squad leaders and section leaders have been wounded," says the platoon leader, 2nd Lieut. Joe Walker, a South Carolinian who volunteered to fight after 9/11. "For a while, our unit was fighting at less than 70%, and we're still below 60% on our vehicles--so many Bradleys have been blown up."

For weeks the 2-69, an entire armored battalion, was cut off from other American forces. The roads in and out of its base were saturated with improvised explosive devices, says Captain Chas Cannon. At one stage, there were 100 explosions a week. "You expected to get hit ... possibly several times," says Cannon. The roads were closed; some food was rationed. But with aggressive combat operations, sniper assaults and the building of precarious outposts, the 2-69 has regained control of the city's main artery, "Route Michigan," the troops' lifeline. Now they are struggling to keep it open. "Anyone who thinks <Iraq> is going to be won a year from now is mistaken," says brigade commander Colonel John Gronski.

...

On Aug. 23, with four insurgent video cameras rolling, al-Zarqawi's group sent a truck bomb under cover of small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades straight into their observation post. The explosion knocked the entire platoon--more than 30 troops-- unconscious. They recovered and fought back, only to be hit by the mini-Tet three months later. Until the U.S. begins a withdrawal, it's up to soldiers like those of Blue Platoon to man the bunkers. "After the truck bombing," says Gronski, "every one of them, to a man, said, 'We are not pulling out of here.'"

(more)

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1134774,00.html

[Burried News]

1. Sounds like Khe Sahn Vietnam. Not exactly a victory.

http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/khe/
"Khe Sanh was one of the most remote outposts in Vietnam, but by January 1968, even President Lyndon Johnson had taken a personal interest in the base. With Khe Sanh facing a full-scale siege by the North Vietnamese Army, the question was being asked: Should the base be held, or should it be quietly abandoned?

Along with the President, American military officials decided to try and hold the base. On the morning of January 21, 1968, NVA forces launched the awaited attack, and the siege of Khe Sanh had begun.

What was it like to be at Khe Sanh? In this multimedia retrospective, you can learn about the history of the battle, study tactical maps, view archival images, and read the stirring reflections of American soldiers who survived in the siege. "

[necso]

2. "For weeks the 2-69,

an entire armored battalion, was cut off from other American forces."

Do people realize how bad this is? In a real war, when part of one's forces were cut off, one might (indeed, one generally would) consider it something of an emergency -- and send in a relief force.

And this is an armored battalion... or what's left of it (with all due respect).

We're going to have to destroy lots of stuff when we leave, I fear. (Some omissions and mistakes can probably be expected.)

...

It's like this -- lots more riflemen or get out -- now.

[grytpype]

3. Yeah! Cut off and rationing food?????

That is horrible! We really are losing the war!