Word: marinese
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At noon the lead armored vehicle, with Old Glory waving, shifts into first gear, followed by 76 five-ton trucks, humvees and amphibious light armored vehicles. Belt-fed machine guns, mortars or antitank missile launchers are mounted on each vehicle. Every one of the 700 carries an automatic rifle. Marines...
The Marines are worrying more about showers and mail. They have not had either since landing. But missing Christmas is their biggest gripe. They joke about the number of shopping days left and dare one another to swim home. U.S.M.C., they say, stands for "You Suckers Missed Christmas."
The ruins thin out at the eastern end of Mogadishu, which the Marines refer to as "Mog," giving way to a surprisingly green plain where donkeys, cattle and camels graze. The Marines are entering territory they have not yet explored. Sitting on top of their vehicles, they point M-16s...
Late in the afternoon the convoy turns onto a narrow dirt road. Men with assault rifles are poised in the ruined buildings; they too are Marines, transported by air to hold the landing strip at Bale Dogle two days earlier.
The cortege of armored vehicles parks in the undergrowth along the roadside. Nine hours will pass before Team Tiger begins the last leg of its 180-mile journey to Baidoa. Sotak waves to Marines passing by on the bed of a truck. "Those are the real grunts," he says. "When...