My son and his companions with the 2nd Marine Division, 6th Regiment, Fox Company return to Iraq (Al Fallujah) today from Cheery Point, NC. As is typical with most military operations, there is little or no information for the families and the soldiers regarding the duty, the timing, and most importantly the return. They have just returned from 29 Palms, CA where door to door and hand combat techniques were refined.
As usual, the "rules of engagement" stink and the sighting of an armed Iraqi does not give the green light to kill. Only after observing an aggressive act (shooting into a car or house) or being shot at can he engage and eliminate (well, lets be clear, the engagement is going to happen across the open sights of his M-16 no matter what transpires, safety off, finger adjacent to [maybe on] the trigger). Very high pucker factor under these "rules".
Of late, I had been reading some of the embedded journalist's accounts of "seasoned" soldiers. "Rookies" to the door to door fighting can be a hazard to themselves and their fellow soldiers. "Lock up" and its adrenaline pumping fear freeze some people when "ice in the veins" is required to stay alive. By "rookies" I mean soldiers not experienced to the door to door, heart pounding, bullets flying, people getting shot and killed in close quarter battles. I can not relate, even as a veteran myself, I have not been confronted with that situation. I don't envy those who have. Living with the memories, I hear, can really change a man.
Other hazards include IEDs and their effects on the occupants of our military troop-transport vehicles. Seasoned veterans are mindful of the specific details of everyone within killing distance and the prevalence of remote detonation from insurgents in the near-field vicinity. Body postures, head positioning, mannerisms of movement, etc. as scanned for any evidence of an ambush. These survival traits are not honed in duty stations like 29 Palms; they are lived every day on the battlefield and the survivors (seasoned veterans) are one-hundred times smarter (than Rookies) about their surroundings, for their own safety.
I think I will stop that sort of reading now. I don't need the increased anxiety. I'll wait for Ben to tell me what's going on and in his own way. It is an unpleasant and dangerous world in which we live. Not as dangerous or as unpleasant as being an animal and "on the menu" in the food chain, but you know what I mean. Too bad, we as humans can't get "on the same page" to stop this madness toward one another. We could, but giving up one's autonomy for the collective good is not "survival of the fittest" material.
