{"id":1057,"date":"2008-11-26T14:29:38","date_gmt":"2008-11-26T19:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/?p=1057"},"modified":"2008-11-26T14:29:38","modified_gmt":"2008-11-26T19:29:38","slug":"marine-makes-insurgents-pay-the-price","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/11\/26\/marine-makes-insurgents-pay-the-price\/","title":{"rendered":"Marine Makes Insurgents Pay the Price"},"content":{"rendered":"

“The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle!”<\/p>\n

– General\u00a0“Black Jack” Pershing, USA<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’ve seen this story on several blogs recently, it was first published on Marines.mil<\/a> on November 16.<\/p>\n

\n

Marines\u2019 heroic actions at Shewan leave more than 50 insurgents dead, several wounded<\/h3>\n

By Cpl. James M. Mercure USMC, 2nd Battalion (2\/7) FARAH PROVINCE, Afghanistan, November 16, 2008<\/p>\n

FARAH PROVINCE, Afghanistan \u00a0\u2014In the city of Shewan, approximately 250 insurgents ambushed 30 Marines and paid a heavy price for it.<\/p>\n

Shewan has historically been a safe haven for insurgents, who used to plan and stage attacks against Coalition Forces in the Bala Baluk district.<\/p>\n

The city is home to several major insurgent leaders.\u00a0 Reports indicate that more than 250 full time fighters reside in the city and in the surrounding villages.<\/p>\n

Shewan had been a thorn in the side of Task Force 2d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force Afghanistan throughout the Marines\u2019 deployment here in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, because it controls an important supply route into the Bala Baluk district. Opening the route was key to continuing combat operations in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe day started out with a 10-kilometer patrol with elements mounted and dismounted, so by the time we got to Shewan, we were pretty beat,\u201d said a designated marksman who requested to remain unidentified. \u201cOur vehicles came under a barrage of enemy RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) and machine gun fire. One of our \u2018humvees\u2019 was disabled from RPG fire, and the Marines inside dismounted and laid down suppression fire so they could evacuate a Marine who was knocked unconscious from the blast.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vicious attack that left the humvee destroyed and several of the Marines pinned down in the kill zone sparked an intense eight-hour battle as the platoon desperately fought to recover their comrades.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing to take from that day is what Marines can accomplish when they\u2019re given the opportunity to fight,\u201d the sniper said. \u201cA 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the battle, the designated marksman single handedly thwarted a company-sized enemy RPG and machinegun ambush by reportedly killing 20 enemy fighters with his devastatingly accurate precision fire.\u00a0 He selflessly exposed himself time and again 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 in the kill zone.\u00a0 What made his actions even more impressive was the fact that he didn\u2019t miss any shots, despite the enemies\u2019 rounds impacting within a foot of his fighting position.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in my own little world,\u201d the young corporal said. \u201cI wasn\u2019t even aware of a lot of the rounds impacting near my position, because I was concentrating so hard on making sure my rounds were on target.\u201d<\/p>\n

After calling for close-air support, the small group of Marines pushed forward and broke the enemies\u2019 spirit as many of them dropped their weapons and fled the battlefield. At the end of the battle, the Marines had reduced an enemy stronghold, killed more than 50 insurgents and wounded several more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t realize how many bad guys there were until we had broken through the enemies\u2019 lines and forced them to retreat.\u00a0 It was roughly 250 insurgents against 30 of us,\u201d the corporal said.\u00a0 \u201cIt was a good day for the Marine Corps.\u00a0 We killed a lot of bad guys, and none of our guys were seriously injured.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Damn fine shooting Marine! If anyone knows the Corporal buy him a beer for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle!” – General\u00a0“Black Jack” Pershing, USA I’ve seen this story on several blogs recently, it was first published on Marines.mil on November 16. Marines\u2019 heroic actions at Shewan leave more than 50 insurgents dead, several wounded By Cpl. James M. Mercure USMC, 2nd Battalion […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[194,224,193],"tags":[1374,243],"class_list":["post-1057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-afghanistan","category-military","category-war-on-terror","tag-afghanistan","tag-marines","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpI7-h3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":802,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/17\/marines-quietly-begin-leaving-bases-in-iraqi-cities\/","url_meta":{"origin":1057,"position":0},"title":"Marines Quietly Begin Leaving Bases in Iraqi Cities","author":"Jeff","date":"October 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"On July 16th I wrote short post wondering if Iraq could be the Democrats Waterloo... 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