Paying the Price

When 250 insurgents ambushed a platoon of U. S. Marines in the Farah Province of Afghanistan, they must have suffered a serious lapse in judgment. According to one (naturally) non-mainstream media source, the city of Shewan is a typical safe haven for insurgents, who use the city to plan and stage attacks against coalition forces in the Bala Baluk district. Elements of the 7th Marines (who typically do not shy away from confronting an enemy force), apparently decided to challenge the insurgents for control of an important supply route.

During a platoon-sized combat patrol encompassing ten kilometers, Marines moved in toward the city of Shewan when suddenly attacked. The Marines encountered a barrage of enemy rocket and machinegun fire. One vehicle was immediately disabled and enemy fire pinned down several Marines within the kill zone. According to Corporal James M. Mercure:

“. . . the Marines dismounted and laid down suppression fire so they could evacuate a Marine who was knocked unconscious from the blast. After recovering the Marines trapped in the kill zone, another platoon sergeant personally led numerous attacks on enemy fortified positions while the platoon fought house-to-house and trench-to-trench in order to clear through the enemy ambush site.”

“The biggest thing to take from that day is what Marines can accomplish when they’re given the opportunity to fight,” a sniper said. “A small group of Marines met a numerically superior force and embarrassed them in their own backyard. The insurgents told the townspeople that they were stronger than the Americans, and that day we showed them they were wrong.”

Corporal Mercure’s report said that during the battle, the designated sniper thwarted a company-sized unit by killing 20 enemy fighters with his devastatingly accurate precision fire. During the encounter, the lone marksman repeatedly and selflessly exposed himself to intense enemy fire during a critical point in the eight-hour battle for Shewan in order to kill any enemy combatants who attempted to engage or maneuver on the Marines.

“What made his actions even more impressive was the fact that he didn’t miss any shots, despite the enemies’ rounds impacting within a foot of his fighting
position.”

After calling for close-air support, the Marine platoon pushed forward and broke the enemies’ spirit as many of them dropped their weapons and fled the battlefield. By the conclusion of the battle, the Marines effectively reduced an enemy stronghold, killed more than 50 insurgents, and wounded several more.

“I didn’t realize how many bad guys there were until we had broken through the enemies’ lines and forced them to retreat. It was roughly 250 insurgents against 30 of us,” the sniper said. “It was a good day for the Marine Corps. We killed a lot of bad guys, and none of our guys were seriously injured.”

This is an oooraaahhh moment. Marines don’t like people shooting at them. People who do shoot at Marines are simply asking to have their asses kicked . . . and that is exactly what happened in Shewan. It doesn’t make any difference how large the enemy force is . . . and this kind of attitude derives from plain-old Marine Corps arrogance.

Hat tip: Woman Honor Thyself

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