INDCJournal: The Fight in Fallujah

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November 20, 2004

The Fight in Fallujah

Posted by Bill

"We�re not going to die!� yells U.S. Staff Sergeant David Bellavia as his rattled platoon of soldiers takes cover from machine-gun fire in the streets of Fallujah. The platoon has been ordered to hunt down and kill a group of insurgents hiding somewhere in a block of 12 darkened houses. It is 1:45 a.m., and the soldiers have been running from fire fight to fire fight for 48 hours straight with no sleep, fueled only by the modest pickings from their ration packs. As they searched through nine of the houses on the block, the soldiers turned up nothing. When they trudged into the 10th house, though, a trap was sprung: the insurgents had lured them in and then opened fire, forcing Bellavia�s men to scramble out of the house as shards of glass peppered them and bullets ricocheted off the gates of the courtyard. Bellavia yelled for a Bradley armored fighting vehicle to get �up here now!� The Bradley drew along the gate and poured 25-mm-cannon and M-240 machine-gun fire into the house, blasting a shower of concrete chips and luminescent sparks.
Bellavia, a wiry 29-year-old who resembles Sean Penn, is pacing the street, preparing to go back in. Bellavia�s bluster on the battlefield contrasts with his refinement off it. During lulls in the fighting, he could discuss the Renaissance and East European politics. �Get on me now,� he says, ordering his squad to close in. There is little movement. He asks who has more ammunition. Two soldiers stand up and join him in the street. �Here we go, Charlie�s Angels,� Bellavia says. �You don�t move from my goddam wing. You stay on my right shoulder. You stay on my left shoulder. Hooah?� The men nod. �I wanna go in there and go after �em.�

Reaching the barred window near the front door, Bellavia tells two soldiers to perch by the house corner and watch for insurgents trying to leap out the side window. He looks at Staff Sergeant Scott Lawson and says, �You�re f______ coming. Give suppressive fire at 45 degrees.� Bellavia and Lawson step nervously into the house. From the living room, Bellavia rounds the corner into the hallway. The insurgents are still alive. Their AK-47s fire. Bellavia fires back, killing them both. �Two f_____s down,� he says.

Lawson stays downstairs while Bellavia scours the first floor for more insurgents. A string of rapid-fire single shots ring out. Then silence. Then a low, pained moaning. The two soldiers waiting in the courtyard call out to Bellavia, �Hey, Sergeant Bell,� but get no response. �Sergeant Bell is not answering,� a message is shouted back to the platoon members across the street. �We need more guys.� The platoon�s other staff sergeant, Colin Fitts, 26, steps up. �Let�s go,� he says.

Fitts takes a small team over the road. �Terminators coming in,� he bellows as he goes inside, using the unit�s name in a code to warn that friendly forces are entering. Inside they find Bellavia alive and on on the hunt. Upstairs he scans the bedrooms. An insurgent jumps out of the cupboard. Bellavia falls down and fires, spraying the man with bullets. At some point another insurgent drops out of the ceiling. Yet another runs to a window and makes for the garden. Bellavia hits him in the legs and lower back as he flees. When it�s over, four insurgents are dead; another has escaped badly wounded. To Bellavia, Fitts says, �That�s a good job, dude. You�re a better man than me.� Bellavia shakes his head. �No, no, no,� he mutters.

Unbelievable. It's a testament to amazing skill and bravery as well as technology and superior firepower that US casulaties ran less than 1% in such close quarters urban combat. Simply put, our soldiers and marines are pros. Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Also take a look at this fantastic photo-essay from USA Today.

Posted by Bill at November 20, 2004 01:40 PM | TrackBack (6)

Comments

So the terrorists acc to Times left "behind, in classic guerrilla style, a rearguard detail"

Yet estimates are 1,000 killed and 1,000 captured out of an estimated 3,000.

2/3 of their forces is a "rearguard detail"?

Posted by: Jim in Chicago at November 20, 2004 02:04 PM

I've basically understood that they left maybe a third to half in the city. It certainly wasn't a decisive stand.

Posted by: Bill from INDC at November 20, 2004 02:08 PM

I just went to look at USA Today's photo essay, and the caption on the very first picture says "... Iraqi stronghold of Fallujah." Couldn't they at call it a "terrorist stronghold" or at least "insurgent stronghold"?

Posted by: John Sipher at November 20, 2004 03:10 PM

I continue to be in total dumbstruck awe of our military, their strength and honor, their steely skill, their sheer physical beauty. I think the reason the left is so anti-military is the men and women soldiers embody everything that is good about eternal virtues they rejected long ago.

Posted by: PJ at November 20, 2004 08:35 PM

Bill, meant to post a reply yesterday, and this morning's post over at Captain's Quarters reminded me.

I agree with you that the article is great for behind the scenes look at our forces, but . . .

the template the guy goes with, which is the same one that the NYT et al are now using, is that we've accomplished very little, that the majority of the bad guys escaped etc.

This seems to be nonsense. The number of captured now stands at almost 1,500 to go along with at least 1,000 killed -- and that # is probably closer to 1,500 too I'd guess.

Now, I've now doubt that the top leaders left. They're not stupid after all. But unless their numbers were way higher than we've estimated, they left behind a heckofalot more than a rear guard of 1/3.

The fact that we discovered command centers w/ abandoned computers, lists of fighters etc shows that they didn't expect us to roll through the town so quickly and successfully.

At first I thought maybe the stuff was left as counterintelligence op, but it seems what we've found there is allowing us to rollup bad guys in Baghdad etc. So it seems real.

This is a massive victory. And the clown who wrote that article for Canadian Time, good as it may be in describing the fight itself, is way way off in interpreting what happened.

Typical MSM.

I of course share your awe at what our boys did over there!

Posted by: Jim in Chicago at November 21, 2004 11:34 AM

Bill: How can I read these words and see these images and feel pride for these young men, and a hint of shame that I never served; while others read and see exactly the same words and images and feel shame for these young men, and a hint of pride that they never served?

Posted by: Conserve Liberty at November 21, 2004 02:12 PM

Conserve Liberty...your comment is spot on, and sums up the split in our country right now.

I served eight years (Marines) and I feel shame that I'm not with them!! Frankly though, they would KICK MY ASS! These young men (and our women too) are the best there has EVER been!

Posted by: Justrand at November 21, 2004 02:22 PM

I agree Justrand. I feel frustrated that I cannot be with them over there. 8 years Army here.

The pride I feel for thier efficiency and skill know no bounds. I saw off a friend that very soon will be going on his first tour there with the 101st and his dedication hunbled me.

Posted by: Cepper at November 21, 2004 02:35 PM

Justrand, at least you served. It just wasn't your time. Now that I'm on the other side of 40, I regret not serving. My older brothers went into the Navy, and in the late '70s, it just didn't seem like a viable option. Still, I've come to appreciate the work our soldiers are doing over there, and the least I can do is honor it.

Posted by: Bill Peschel at November 21, 2004 05:23 PM

Grrrr. Is it just me having URL problems again? I get a Nov 27 issue with "The worlds coolest inventions" story at the links above.

Posted by: jmaster at November 22, 2004 03:46 PM

jmaster -

Time switched the link, so I changed to a reprint. Try it now.

Posted by: Bill from INDC at November 22, 2004 05:46 PM

Thanks for the fix, Bill.

That was an excellent read, worth the wait.

Posted by: jmaster at November 22, 2004 06:04 PM