This is an email sent by a Marine Unit Commander to his units wifes

[MSgt213]

Editor’s Note: The following email was sent by Lt. Col. Paul Kennedy of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment to family members of the unit on Sunday, Apr. 4 following the outbreak of violence in Fallujah.



Subject: Update from LtCol Kennedy


Dear Ladies, the last two days have been the hardest two days this battalion has faced in over 30 years. Within the blink of an eye the situation went from relatively calm to a raging storm.

You’ve known that since arriving there has been violence; attacks have been sporadic and mostly limited to roadside bombs. Your husbands have become experts at recognizing those threats and neutralizing them before we are injured. Up to this point the war has been the purview of corporals and sergeants, and the squad they lead.

Yesterday the enemy upped the ante.

Early in the morning, we exchanged gunfire with a group of insurgents without significant loss. As morning progressed, the enemy fed more men into the fight and we responded with stronger force. Unfortunately, this led to injuries as our Marines and sailors started clearing the city block by block. The enemy did not run; they fought us like soldiers. And we destroyed the enemy like only Marines can.

By the end of the evening the local hospital was so full of their dead and wounded that they ran out of space to put them. Your husbands were awesome – all night they stayed at the job of securing the streets and nobody challenged them as the hours wore on. They did not surrender an inch nor did flinch from the next potential
threat.

Previous to yesterday, the terrorists thought that we were soft enough to challenge. As of tonight the message is loud and clear that the Marines will not be beaten.

Today the enemy started all over again, although with far fewer numbers, only now the rest of the battalion joined the fight. Without elaborating too much, Weapons Company and Golf crushed their attackers with the vengeance of the righteous. They filled up the hospitals again and we suffered only a few injuries. Echo Company dominated the previous day’s battlefield. Fox Company patrolled with confidence and authority; nobody challenged them. Even Headquarters Company manned their stations and counted far fewer people openly watching us with disdain.

If the enemy is foolish enough to try to take your men again they will not survive contact. We are here to win.

The news looks grim from back in the States. We did take losses that, in our hearts, we will always live with. The men we lost were taken within the very opening minutes of the violence. They could not have foreseen the treachery of the enemy and they did not suffer. We can never replace these Marines and Sailors but they will fight on with us in spirit.

We are not feeling sorry for ourselves nor do we fear what tomorrow will bring. The battalion has lived up to its reputation as “Magnificent Bastards.”

Yesterday made everyone here stronger and wiser; it will be a cold day in Hell before we are taken for granted again.



Lt. Col. Paul Kennedy and Jim Booker

http://www.sftt.org/cgi-bin/csNews/csNews.cgi?database=DefenseWatch.db&command=viewone&op=t&id=439&rnd=897.4949319999076

[qb]

Body count is the measure of success - just like Viet Nam

Don't feel bad - we killed WAAAAAY more of them.

[MSgt213]

4. At the small unit level that's often all you can mesure

[MadHound]

16. Only trouble with that

Is that while in Vietnam we kille forty times more Vietnamese that the number of Americans killed. And yet it was such a God awful hell hole of a quagmire, we pulled out anyway.

Body counts aren't always the best way to measure the success or failure of a war. We killed many many more in Vietnam, yet still lost the war.

[MSgt213]

23. There are more parts to war then fighting. The Bristish also pulled out

of Iraq in the 1920s after having killed over 8,000 Iraiqis while only suffering less then 500 of their own losses. The point is there is more to winning a war then fighting and killing.

You ever heard the expression "never point a gun at someone unless you intend to use it"? The very point of that message is that things can happen that you don't intend too just by virtue of you pointing that gun. The guns serves one purpose and that is to kill something if that's what needs to be done. Guns are loud and just the bark of them being fired can cause people to jump and hide if they don't know where it's coming from and for what purpose.

My point is the Marines served one purpose. They are there to kill the enemy or die doing trying. If you don't want them barking loud and motivating themselves to do the nasty necessary job at hand. Then don't send them. Send relief workers. The Marines can do other jobs just as guns can serve other purposes. But when you lose site of their main purpose don't cry foul when they do their job and count the bodies afterwards in admiration of their work. That's what's they are trained to do first.

[keithyboy]

40. Did that 2,000lb bomb have anything to do with 'success'

I feel sorry for our soldiers...especially what they will have become by the time they return home.

[Warren Stuart]

1. The Tet Offensive was a disaster for the North Vietnamese

It's funny that history dosesn't regard it as such.

We already won the war, when are we going to win the peace?

[Mountainman]

33. You needed to be there to understand

Take the town of Bien Hoa, before Tet it was a busy place. Life went on as if there wasn't a war. After Tet a lot of the town was in rubble. A lot of civilians were killed. A lot of American soldiers were killed. A lot of the enemy were killed.

Yes the NVA sufferd a loss but everyone lost something. Years after Tet the will to defeat the NVA dwindled until there was no resistance left. Then the South fell.

I was there to see it the change in the war.

[saigon68]

50. I saw that too

I was there during Tet. In Saigon, the VC owned the Phu Tho racetrack in Cholon for 10 days. We destroyed the place.
There were thousands of corpses rotting in the sun. It was a smell I remember to this day.. it was horrible.

and sadly for NOTHING.

[xchrom]

2. what a charming little missive

not only can this country illegally invade and conquer with the best of history's barbarian hordes -- but they write as well.
iraqnam.

[MSgt213]

5. I think good writing has been lost in the age of text messaging

[Karenina]

43. BWHAHAHAHA!!!

Prosit, Sarge! :toast:

[glarius]

17. It reads like a review of a Hollywood war epic.....Sad

They are invading someone else's country and he writes with righteous indignation that they have the nerve to fight back....There is no recognition of the Iraqis as humans....Sorry...I think it is disgusting!

[LandOLincoln]

51. Excuse me?

I think you missed this sentence:

"The enemy did not run; they fought us like soldiers."

[Redleg]

28. What do you expect a commander to write?

The commander's job, whether or not he agrees with the war, is to accomplish the mission and to care for his troops. They are put into the unenviable position of having to blow sunshine up people's asses to make them feel good about what is being done in Iraq.

[MallRat]

3. Vengeance of the righteous?

Yikes. I don't know which word makes me more uncomfortable: vengeance or righteous?

Maybe it's the two of them together.

:scared:

[MSgt213]

8. They conjur up religious zeal and make me also uncomfortable Funny since

we are fighting against that in theory.

[lambsquarter]

13. Who made "us" the "righteous"?

Sometimes it's scares me to see just how screwed up our mentality is

[WoodrowFan]

46. God Did!

you silly person! It's in the Old Testament somewhere I think....


welcome to DU!

[VLC98]

6. "Magnificent Bastards" ??

WTF? The higher in rank, the more insane they get. What kind of woman wants to know that the local hospital was so full of their dead and wounded that they ran out of space to put them?

I am an Air Force wife counting the days until my husband retires next year and that e-mail makes me feel sick.

[Ernesto]

20. This is the difference between the USMC & the USAF

In Danang, Vietnam ('67) we were not allowed on the "posh" USAF base simply because we were Marines. The culture of warriors & the culture of technicians don't mix too well.

[VLC98]

52. Total respect for you having served in Vietnam...

but you're a bit cheeky to imply there are no warriors in the USAF. My husband used to be really tough and uncouth to boot. He's quite a liberal nowadays, thanks to me, and I don't know how I'd feel about him if Bush made him a killer. Certainly not proud, as this commander expects the wives to feel!

[Ernesto]

53. My dear friend

what is war about if about if it isn't killing people and destroying things?... I didn't "imply" anything as I recall. Some fight & die, some support from a distance in relative comfort. There is the frontline and there is the "rear with the gear".... I will always know of the countless silent Marines that have died while others have enjoyed the benefits of the safer "military" occupations... I don't intend to offend but reality is... well, real.... I'm certainly LIBERAL & send my $100 to John Kerry every month. However, I will always be a G-D D--N Marine & I know what it's like to load body bags onto a chopper... Please forgive me & the many other combat vets that concur with my views... Bless your heart & don't forget to send JK some big $$$$!

[VLC98]

55. Dear Ernesto,

You're a nice person and I'm sorry I was snippy. I'm not much of a communicator, but I do understand what you're saying. It was no accident that my husband chose the Air Force over the other services, but being a security policeman isn't especially safe, as I'm sure you know. He was lucky to avoid the first Gulf war, had his gear packed to go to Rwanda and is only exempt from this war because he had a heart attack from the stress of being a recruiter.

I should mention that I'm British and feel I had a terrible education, particularly where history is concerned. I certainly knew nothing about Vietnam when I married my husband at age 20, in 1987. I couldn't imagine there ever being a war, definitely not one started by the "good guys". That's the big difference in my opinion, between for example, World War II and Iraq/Vietnam. I'm sure that military personnel in the second World War were scared and saw terrible things, but at least they never had to wonder if what they were doing was right....and they won in the end. I would have no problem with my husband killing an occupier or a Nazi, I'd probably do it myself; but this war is wrong.

I'm sorry you had to load body bags onto a chopper, I'm sorry those in the bags were killed. The only thing I can do is make sure my kids learn about it.... and grow up as fine Democrats! My husband & I will be sending a little $$ each month to the Kerry campaign, but the future scares me even if he wins in November. My daughter is 16, my son is only 10, but if there is a draft I will have them on the first plane to England. Oh yes, I will look out for that "Magnificent Bastards" movie, thanks!

Kind regards,
Vanessa.

[NewJeffCT]

25. Magnificent Bastards

Is a famous Marines battalion dating back to at least WW2. There is even a movie about them (John Wayne, possibly?)

[Ernesto]

29. No stinking John Wayne

It was Aldo Rey in "Battle Cry". I think James Wittmore played the 1st shirt.

[Goldmund]

7. This dude needs to get his story straight...

"The enemy did not run; they fought us like soldiers."

"Previous to yesterday, the terrorists thought that we were soft enough to challenge."

So what are they?

[MSgt213]

10. They are terrorist soliders who fight sneakly with pride

[bloom]

15. They wouldn't want it to sound like

the Marines were being injured and killed by the local teenagers (even if it's true).

[Postman]

9. What utter bravado BS. Can you imagine getting a letter like that?

This is such crap.

Does this guy think he's writing to a bunch of bloodthirsty nazi's?

The tone of the letter is exactly the kind of egotistical, mindless drivel that gets people killed and creates an atmosphere that doesn't allow for rational thought.

I guess that's great if you're a marine tasked to follow orders and nothing else, but I see this kind of thinking at the very top levels of our civilian "leadership."

[MSgt213]

12. Sounds like blood thirsty christian americans to me

[Ernesto]

26. Can you imagine being a Marine

fighting for your life in some shithole on the far side of the world just becaus some well-born punk happens to be running your country?

[Postman]

49. I tried as best as I could before the invasion of Iraq to stop it.

It's perfectly clear as to why Bush wanted to unsign the International Criminal Court treaty.

Bush is a war criminal.

[Ernesto]

54. I tried to, Amigo

But the fuckin chickenhawks are running the show.... Send JK some $$$$$$$$!

[the Kelly Gang]

11. "We are here to win."..win what ?..hearts and minds ?

[ArkDem]

14. They would have had much more success if they

had dedicated themselves to handing out candy bars and cigarettes.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

18. dear ladies, how gullible are you?

if things were going well, he wouldn't have to write this crap.

[revcarol]

19. And this man rose to the level of Lieutenant Colonel?

sounds like Murphy's law in action...

BTW, Colonel, these people are NOT insurgents or terrorists. They are 'RESISTANCE FIGHTERS,' just like people who fought the Nazi OCCUPATION in Poland and Yugoslavia and France were MEMBERS OF THE "RESISTANCE."

But you didn't want to hear that. My bad.

Thanks for posting, MSgt.

[LagaLover]

22. Would Germans who fought the Allied powers

after WWII been "resistance fighters" as well?

[frylock]

34. apples and oranges..

you can do better than that.

[Ms. Clio]

39. Actually, a much better question would be

Were the French who fought the Germans after the Nazis invaded and occupied their country "terrorists?"

[lumpy]

42. Great point, methuseth

as well as the Norweigians and Dutch. Hardly terrorists.

[IrateCitizen]

24. Ummm... it is precisely because of such an attitude that he rose...

... to the rank of Lt. Col.

As a junior officer in the military, I can assure you that people do not rise to field grade officers while maintaining any doubts about the "righteousness" of what they are called upon to do.

That would also explain why I have become so disgusted with my service over the past 4-5 years -- I am completely unable to connect it with anything honorable, but rather as being little more than a "gangster for capitalism", as Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler described his service in his "War is a Racket" address.

[leesa]

21. The "enemy" didn't do anything to us. The "Magnificent Bastards"

certainly are that. WE are the bad guys here.

[Ernesto]

32. I have to defend the jarheads on this one

It took me about 1 month in Vietnam to figure out that we were the "assholes". I didn't choose the fight, I just joined the USMC to try to contribute.... However, when you see your buddies shot to hell, it does affect you. And believe me, a positive body count is important to the participants.. ....... Chicken hawks got us into this Quagmire, not the poor slobs that have to live in the world of shit that was cruelly imposed upon them...... SEND $$$ to JK!

[Redleg]

35. Excellent response, Ernesto.

As a former soldier I have to agree with your comments. I think many here are too harsh re: the poor grunts on the ground.

[bacchant]

27. Ha

wow that's some really comforting shit, eh? The "ladies" ought to sleep better now.

[TexasMexican]

37. IMO

If any of them do than the letter was worth it.

[Redleg]

30. Good god folks, get some perspective on this letter.

I am not here to defend our action in Iraq but feel compelled to defend the commander who wrote the letter. What would you have him write to the families back home? The commander has a difficult job maintaining morale in such a bad situation. Perhaps he could have been less graphic in his descriptions but he needs to assure the folks back home that their Marines are doing their jobs.

Please don't crucify him for his letter. It seems that some of you have used this as an opportunity to bash the military again. It's your right but keep in mind that these Marines didn't make the decision to invade Iraq.

By the way- I was bothered a bit by the "vengeance of the righteous" bit.

[9215]

45. Everybody in a war needs to know what they are fighting for.

This is a wrongheaded war and those fighting are neccessarily wrong. But then mine is only one opinion.


Besides tactically speaking this Marine doesn't seem to understand that beating the enemy in head to head combat is not going to win this war anymore than it did in Vietnam. His gung ho attitude is naive.

[demigoddess]

31. letter to his unit's wives

please people, write english, not dubyaese.

[Bozita]

36. Remember this? ... "I love the smell of napalm in the morning"

same mentality

[Ysabel]

38. "openly watching with disdain"...

..."Even Headquarters Company manned their stations and counted far fewer people openly watching us with disdain."...

-----------------------------

Count again...!

(count me)...

[lumpy]

41. Spoken like a true

magnificent bastard.

[DeepModem Mom]

44. I'm glad this thread has not elicited bashing of our soldiers --

as some of our detractors might have hoped. It's the war the vast majority of DUers oppose, not the men and women in uniform there, some of whom are among our own families. I'm especially appreciative of the posts by DUers who have served in wartime.

[Alpharetta]

47. "We are here to win. "

That's the screw-up in a nutshell.

He and Bush are trying to apply a military solution to a political and diplomatic problem.

Has Bush a single diplomatic success? No. Unless you count the number of countries he's successfully insulted.

[sce56]

48. Unfortunatley they forget that it is the Iraqi's Home we invaded

If you have not seen the DVD 'We Were Soldiers', starring Mel Gibson take a look at the deleted scenes.

The scene where US commander Hal Moore is debriefed by Westmoreland and McNamara, and tells them that the US cannot win the war against opponents like these, was cut from the film.


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