Word: battalion
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...began when the local imam, who had spent 20 years under house arrest until the city fell and his captors fled, asked American soldiers to protect him and the mosque. He neglected to explain this, however, to the crowds outside. As the soldiers of Bravo Company of the 2nd Battalion, who had formed a tight perimeter on the street, began heading toward the mosque, citizens started shouting and moving forward. With rabble rousers (later identified by Iraqis as Baath Party members) shouting, "The Americans are storming the mosque," the crowd began to chant and shake their fists. That's when...
...worked. Hughes kept his men like that for about five minutes and then returned to the microphone. "Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, we are going to stand up and then walk slowly back to base. You will not point any guns at the crowd, and you will smile at everyone." A minute later the Smilin' Second was walking away from the mosque, and the Iraqis began intermingling with them, patting them on the back and giving them thumbs-up signs again...
...Marines are the bait. Why bring the enemy out in the open so far from Baghdad? McCoy's battalion is waiting farther back in order to clear out pockets of resistance and secure supply lines. "We want to keep the enemy on their heels," he says. So as the rest of the 7th Marine Regiment pushes north toward the capital, 3/4 Battalion plans to pick a fight at the rear of the convoy. "It's just a good opportunity to kill these guys," McCoy says. "I don't say that with a lot of bravado, but we're here...
...rooster announces daylight, battalion vehicles line up along the highway, pointing in every direction so as not to give away the point of attack. Then the tanks, amphibious tractors and humvees head west toward the outskirts of Diwaniyah. The chum is now in the water, and the Iraqis rise immediately to take it, pinging the Marine armor with small-arms fire. A tank crewman answers, firing his coaxial machine gun into an enemy bunker. Over the radio comes a play-by-play: "Yeah baby," says a voice. "He just ate coax for breakfast," says another. But the sharks were already...
...side of the humvee. His gunner takes the other. Both turn out to be empty. But McCoy's aggressiveness is classic Marine, and the men like it. "He's the first one into battle and the last one out," says a Marine. "He's not like other battalion commanders sitting in their humvees at the back." And McCoy clearly revels in being a warrior. "I'm in my happy place," he says...