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AFGHANISTAN - Chaplain Ric Brown has the most remarkable set of
photos on his Facebook page. In several, he is holding hands with
Soldiers perched in their armored vehicles, praying.
One
photo shows a Soldier with his head down, whether in reverence to
Almighty or fear of the scene of carnage he is about to drive into,
is unclear. But Brown is there, comforting him. He says he doesn't
know who took these photos, or even that anyone was taking them.
Someone passed the photos along anonymously several years later.
But those boys needed the prayers.
And the fight in
Fallujah had to be waged. As distant as that episode now seems, the
strategic goals of the Iraq War hung in the balance in Fallujah a
decade ago:
According to a report conducted by the Institute
for Defense Analyses, by July of 2004, Fallujah was infested with
insurgents, and U.S. officials worried that Fallujah represented the
coalition‘s defeat and the insurgents' victory.
The city had
become a symbol of the insurgency, as well as a tactical center for
information operations, training, and manufacture of improvised
explosive devices. It was an exporter of terror to the entire
region.
Just a few months earlier, insurgents had ambushed
and killed four U.S. contractors, hanging two of their charred
bodies from a bridge on the west end of the city.
“During a
savage demonstration, locals cheered and one Iraqi held a sign
underneath one of the lynched bodies that read: Fallujah is the
cemetery for Americans.” (From “The Battle for Fallujah: Al Fajr—the
Myth-buster”)
Things were spinning out of control, and people
were afraid. Hundreds of Iraqis deserted when they learned they'd be
going there for Phantom Fury, according to the IDA report.
Staff Sgt. David Bellavia and the men of the 2nd Battalion, 2nd
Infantry Regiment (2-2) were afraid, too, but they knew they had to
fight.
Lt. Col. Peter Newell, 2-2's commander, spoke to his
troops before they went into the fight. Bellavia recalls that he had
to "raise his voice so he can be heard over the distant artillery
fire exploding a few miles to our south."
"This is as pure a
fight of good versus evil as we'll probably see in our lifetime,"
said the battalion commander.
I asked Brown if God was on his
side that day.
“I'm cautious to say yes to God being on our
side. There are things that are ordained of God. On one hand, God
has emplaced governments... and if the government is tuned in and
doing right by the people, then, yes, He is on our side.”
Whether the Americans and their Iraqi allies had God or not, they
had the weaponry. The two-star general in command of the operation
described the awesomeness.
“I was wandering all across the
front, meeting with the units as they moved into attack positions,
and it was awe-inspiring. At that moment, this was the greatest
concentration of combat power on the face of the Earth, as you
looked at the attack forces ready to cross and surround the city,
they were a combination of Army and Marine forces with their Iraqi
counterparts.” (From “The Battle for Fallujah: Al Fajr—the
Myth-buster”)
The array had a confidence boosting effect on
the Iraqis, too. One of the Marine officers recalled,
“You
could see the Iraqis drive around in their trucks and it would be
kind of quiet, until they got the sense of it. Look at all this
stuff! Literally, they would cheer and wave and they knew, ‘We are
on the right side.' They didn‘t really know what was going on, but
once they took a look around and saw tanks and Marines and soldiers,
and guns and helicopters, you could see their calmness, ‘We are
actually on the winning team this time.' (From “The Battle for
Fallujah: Al Fajr—the Myth-buster”)
At 7 p.m. local time on
Nov. 8, 2004, heavy tanks and fighting vehicles began rolling
through a breach that had been punched through the north berms of
the city. Forces had been divided into two regimental combat teams.
Second Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment led the main attack for
Regimental Combat Team-1 in the west.
Bellavia and Brown were
with their Task Force 2-2, leading RCT-7 in the east.
When
Operation Phantom Fury began the day before, coalition troops
secured bridges and seized the hospital, which the insurgents had
used as a command center. U.S. Special Forces had worked with Iraqis
to gather intelligence and prepare the information battlefield.
While Brown doesn't declare whether God was rooting for the
coalition, he recognized evil, and agrees with Newell that the
Americans were fighting against it.
So did Bellavia, who
uttered a prayer following his chaplain's example, asking for
strength to fight evil.
“I am ready, Dear Lord,” he said “And
I am coming.”
By U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Richard Stowell
Provided through DVIDS
Copyright 2014
Remembering Fallujah Part 1: A
Chaplain, An Infantryman and The
Fallen
Remembering Fallujah Part 3:
Urban Combat Is Hell
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