A display has been added to the statehouse which honors a Marine reseve unit based in Columbus. The reserve lost 22 Marines and Navy Corpsman in Iraq in 2005. Fifteen of the 23 who died were Ohio natives. The exhibit will display in Columbus until March 17. The exhibit on the Lima Company includes boots and dog tags of the fallen Marines. For mor eon this story, click HERE

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(KTVI)-On June 9th, 2012, the St. Louis Police SWAT unit will be hosting “100 Innings for Lima”. SWAT officers will play a 100 inning softball game starting at 8:00am at the Aviation Fields near the Police Mounted Unit stables in Forest Park in St. Louis.

10 guest teams will play 10 innings each against the SWAT team.  The entry fee for guest teams is $250, with all proceeds from entry fees, concessions, t-shirts, etc. going to the “Lima Kids”, the children of the fallen heroes of Lima Co. 3/25.

Lima Company was an infantry company, part of 3rd Battalion of the 25th Marine Regiment that served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Lima 3/25 was arguably among the hardest hit ground units to have served in Iraq, with most of these deaths occurring during the Battle of Haditha (not to be confused with The Battle for Haditha, Nov. 2005.)

Out of a combat strength of 184, they were awarded 59 Purple Hearts, 23 of which were posthumous awards.

Contact Brian Rossomanno at bprossomanno@slmpd.org or at 314-574-9281 to register. Teams will be scheduled in 90-minute increments, starting at 8:00 am with the last ten innings estimated to start at 11:00 pm.

More Info: 100 Inning Softball Game For “Lima Kids”

The 100 for Lima Company run is happening May 26th starting at Patriot Park in Mariemont, OH at 6:00 AM. The race will conclude 100 miles and 24 hours later at Battelle Darby Metropark in Columbus, OH.

Donations can be made to the campaign by making a payment to “Always Brothers Inc.” They are a 501c3 organization set up to recieve funds that will be donated to the families of those you choose and with a portion of the procedes going to “Gift Cards for the Troops.” For more info about the run and Always Brothers, visit http://www.alwaysbrothers.org

A little History:
LIMA 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines
Lima Company was an infantry company, part of 3rd. Battalion of the 25th Marine Regiment. Lima Company served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Once referred to as “Lucky Lima” at the onset of their deployment in Iraq, Lima’s fate was soon to change. Lima 3/25 was arguably among the hardest hit ground units to have served in Iraq with most of these deaths occuring during the Battle of Haditha(not to be confused with The Battle for Haditha, Nov. 2005.) Out of a combat strength of 184, they were awarded 59 Purple Hearts, 23 of which were posthumous awards.

As of August 2005 more than 23,000 of the 138,000 American troops in Iraq were United States Marines. While Marines only made up 17% of the deployed service members fighting in Iraq, they made up about 25% of the reported 1,820 casualties as of August, 2005. This number shows how Marines, and specifically Lima Company, were entrenched in some of the most hazardous areas as well as invovled in the most conflict.

Lima Company is a Marine Corps Reserve Rifle Company primarily involved in cold weather/mountaineering operations. The unit has conducted several cold weather exercises and training evolutions both in the United States and in Northern Europe.

Lima Company was activated in January 2005 for deployment to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom III. Co. L ran continuous operations for seven months in Iraq, collecting valuable information, detaining suspected insurgents, and inflicting many casualties to the insurgents and collecting many caches of weapons and explosives. This came at the cost of 22 Co. L. Marines and one Navy Corpsman KIA’s and 28 wounded. The company redeployed back to Columbus Ohio in October 2005.

photo courtesy of: Adam Dean/Panos Pictures

Royal Marines from Lima Company, 42 Commando prepare to board a Chinook helicopter during Operation SOND CHARA

No news is good news that’s what they say
So I watch sky news all through the day
Then when it’s late at night when I am all alone
I wish that you had somehow managed to phone
I know you are busy fighting out on the front line
And I have to be more patient and give you time

Another day passes and still there’s no news
The television’s on and I listen to their views
They do not mention the conflict of where you are
Where you’re fighting in a country that is oh so far
For the long-awaited phone call I should not hurry
As you tell me not to fear and I should not worry
They say no news is good news least that is what I hear
So why oh why do I sit in morbid fear
I love you so much I ache that you’re away
So please let’s hope your phone call comes today
I know you are busy fighting on the front line
And I have to be more patient and give you time
Your love for me is clear it’s there for all to see
But I am very selfish and I want you home with me
I want you more than ever since you have gone to fight
The days roll past so slowly and the tears do blur my sight

No news is good news at least that’s what the say
To the lord our God in heaven keep you safe this day I pray
I wonder how you’re keeping and if you are safe tonight
So proud that you’re surviving the battles that you fight
I love you and I miss you and hate the silence of the phone
I can not wait until the moment that to me you do come home
For the long-awaited phone call I should not be so reliant

For No news is good news and of the fear I am defiant

Written By – Kenny Garrick April 2008

Title: We Were One: Shoulder To Shoulder With The Marines Who Took Fallujah
Author: Patrick K. O’Donnell
Military branch: Marine Corps

This book, unlike many of the others I’ve read and put on this blog, wasn’t written by military personnel. Patrick O’Donnell is a writer and was embedded with these men. Got the quite the Military History background on him though. Before that comes off as negative, I have to point out that he is an absolutely brilliant writer. But anyway, this isn’t about him..

Let me start this off with a quote from the earlier chapters of this book…

“‘The Corps is you and you are the Corps.’ Another Marine’s blood being spilled is your own blood, a part of you. It is this way of thinking that keeps men from regressing to childhood in combat. Devoid of any sense of individuality or selfishness, that paradigm, a mindset of strength and solidarity, keeps them from crawling inside of themselves in horror when the bullets start flying.”

If you’ve read my other entries you’ll know just how much I do appreciate the camaraderie that you can almost always (of course some exceptions do apply) seem to find in Marines. In this book you follow Lima Company’s 1st Platoon, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment out of Camp Pendleton, Ca. on their deployment to Fallujah, Iraq.

This book was positively heart-wrenching. I don’t know if I can even explain it. They lose quite a few of their men and it just tore the men apart…and left me in tears, to be completely honest. It feels like some of the other ones I’ve read haven’t had as many casualties..or maybe I’ve just been lucky in picking ones with little to no losses. Perhaps I do it subconsciously. But, this book was very well written. I’m not sure why but this one in particular felt like it gripped me by the collar of my shirt and pulled me right into the middle of Iraq. Bit terrifying really. And in this book, the sense of closeness that you felt between all of the guys made it even harder to read when they lost their fellow marines, their best friends, their brothers. Its a kind of loss I’m not sure most civilians can truly understand. I’m not even sure I can understand the full gravity of losing somebody that way. I probably don’t. I’ll be the first to admit I don’t understand all of the inner workings of what goes on with Marines, Airmen, Soldiers and Sailors. I don’t think I ever could because the chances are I’ll never be in that position. I do know some who have been in that position.

A friend of mine who is currently in his fourth year in the Marine Corps, stationed in North Carolina at the moment, called me the other night and after he rambled for a while about how NC is boring and other random things, he started telling me, though it kind of seemed more like he was talking to himself, about how he’d lost a few buddies in Afghanistan and Iraq. One of them by suicide. And truthfully, this friend of mine, we’re sort of complicated, me and him, and at one point I wanted nothing to do with him but in that moment I wanted nothing more than to reach out and just hold him. Just tell him how glad I was that he was still here. It just broke my heart. Sorry to turn this book review into a personal thing but really, something needs to be done for these men and women who fight for our country. They need help. PTSD is a very serious problem among our military. It just breaks my heart that they’re not getting the medical psychological attention that they need and deserve. Well, I’ve perhaps rambled on long enough about this..

Back to the point, I loved this book…even if it did break my heart in so many ways. This one is definitely making it onto my bookshelf of favorites, right next to One Bullet Away (Nathaniel Fick) and Generation Kill (Evan Wright).

Okay, ladies and gents of the wordpress world, I’m off to find something to cheer me up cause now I’m a bit sad. *sniffle*

Please remember those who fight for your freedom.

Related links:

In Remembrance – A memorial page for some of those who have fallen. Including Sean Stokes who was one of the men who was written about in We Were One.

Faces of the Fallen on the Washington Post – It’s exactly what it sounds like.

Military.com’s Military news on PTSD

Cpl. Matt Garst absorbed the direct blast of an improvised explosive device and lived to tell about it. He continued his mission virtually unfazed.

by: Sgt. Mark Fayloga

SOUTHERN SHORSURAK, Afghanistan (July 12, 2010) — Cpl. Matt Garst should be dead.

Few people survive stepping on an improvised explosive device. Even fewer walk away the same day after directly absorbing the force of the blast, but Garst did just that.

A squad leader with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, Garst was leading his squad on a patrol in Southern Shorsurak, Afghanistan, June 23 to establish a vehicle checkpoint in support of Operation New Dawn.

The men were four miles from Lima Company’s newly established observation post when they approached an abandoned compound close to where they needed to set up their checkpoint. It would serve well as an operating base — a place for the squad to set up communications and rotate Marines in and out of. But first, it had to be secured.

As they swept the area with a metal detector, the IED registered no warning on the device. The bomb was buried too deep and its metallic signature too weak. Two men walked over it without it detonating.”

At six feet, two inches tall and 260 pounds with all his gear on, Garst is easily the largest man in his squad by 30 or 40 pounds — just enough extra weight to trigger the IED buried deep in hard-packed soil.

Lance Cpl. Edgar Jones, a combat engineer with the squad, found a pressure plate inside the compound and hollered to Garst, asking what he should do with it. Garst turned around to answer the Marine and stepped on the bomb.

“I can just barely remember the boom,” Garst said. “I remember the start of a loud noise and then I blacked out…” When he came to, he was standing on his feet holding his weapon, turning to see the remnants of the blast and wondering why his squad had a look on their faces as if they’d seen a ghost.

This Cougar was hit in Al Anbar, Iraq by a directed charge IED approximately 300-500 lbs in size. All crew members survived the blast and went out the next day.

Marines in Lima Company think Garst is the luckiest guy in the battalion, and while that may seem a fair assessment, it was the enemy’s shoddy work that left Garst standing. The three-liters of homemade explosive only partially detonated.

Marines who witnessed the event from inside the compound caught glimpses of Garst’s feet flailing through the air just above the other side of the building’s eight-foot walls. The explosion knocked him at least fifteen feet away where he landed on his limp head and shoulders before immediately standing back up.”

Not quite sure of what had just happened, Garst turned back toward the blast, now nothing but a column of dirt and smoke rising toward the sun.

“My first thought was, ‘ I just hit an IED,’” he said. “Then I thought, ‘Well I’m standing. That’s good.’”

Read more by clicking here.

U.S. and Afghan forces ringed the Taliban stronghold of Marjah on Thursday, sealing off escape routes and setting the stage for what is being described as the biggest offensive of the nine-year war.

Taliban defenders repeatedly fired rockets and mortars at units poised in foxholes along the edge of the town, apparently trying to lure NATO forces into skirmishes before the big attack.

“They’re trying to draw us in,” said Capt. Joshua Winfrey, 30, of Tulsa, Okla., commander of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines.

Up to 1,000 militants are believed holed up in Marjah, a key Taliban logistics base and center of the lucrative opium poppy trade. But the biggest threats are likely to be the land mines and bombs hidden in the roads and fields of the farming community, 380 miles (610 kilometers) southwest of Kabul.

The precise date for the attack has been kept secret. U.S. officials have signaled for weeks they planned to seize Marjah, a town of about 80,000 people in Helmand province and the biggest community in southern Afghanistan under Taliban control.

NATO officials say the goal is to seize the town quickly and re-establish Afghan government authority, bringing public services in hopes of winning support of the townspeople once the Taliban are gone. Hundreds of Afghan soldiers were to join U.S. Marines in the attack to emphasize the Afghan role in the operation.

A Taliban spokesman dismissed the significance of Marjah, saying the NATO operation was “more propaganda than military necessity.”

Nevertheless, the spokesman, Mohammed Yusuf, said in a dialogue on the Taliban Web site that the insurgents would strike the attackers with explosives and hit-and-run tactics, according to a summary by the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militant Internet traffic.

In preparation for the offensive, a U.S.-Afghan force led by the U.S. Army’s 5th Stryker Brigade moved south from Lashkar Gah and linked up Thursday with Marines on the northern edge of Marjah, closing off a main Taliban escape route. Marines and Army soldiers fired colored smoke grenades to show each other that they were friendly forces.

U.S. and Afghan forces have now finished their deployment along the main road in and out of Marjah, leaving the Taliban no way out except across bleak, open desert — where they could easily be spotted.

See also:
Outreach Precedes U.S. Offensive
Marines roll out Assault Breacher Vehicles for Marjah Afghanistan offensive
Taliban vow guerrilla warfare against Afghan, NATO troops
Taleban ‘ready to talk’ as Nato prepares for huge assault
Region known as Marjah won’t be another Fallujah
Countdown To A Battle
Washington begins new Afghan offensive
Afghan campaign seeks to avoid Iraq mistakes
Special Forces Assassins Infiltrate Taliban Stronghold in Afghanistan
SITE Intelligence Group
In Your Face Taliban, The Coalition Is Coming To Take Marjah And There’s Not A Damn Thing You Can Do About It

More than a few appropriate songs come to mind, but I like this one (unfortunately there’s no original video):

/hey Taliban, mind if we sit down right in the middle of your primary opium area of operation and kill or capture about 1000 of your “martyrs”?

First biography of legendary Marine Corps Colonel John W. Ripley.

by Norman Fulkerson

On November 1, 2008, Ron Darden was watching the evening news when an item, scrolling across the bottom of the screen, caught his eye. He was shocked to find out that his former company commander, Colonel John Walter Ripley, had died at his home in Annapolis, Maryland.

On that same day, I decided to write An American Knight, The Life of Colonel John W. Ripley, the first biography of this great man.

*                       *                       *

Sergeant Darden admitted that he was afraid when, as a 19-year-old lance corporal, he first joined Lima Company. He drew guard duty on his first night in Vietnam and described how his fears were put to ease when he received an unexpected visit from Captain John Ripley, Lima Company’s fearless commander, who jumped into the foxhole next to him.  The solicitous captain asked Darden where he was from, if he was married and how his parents were getting along without him.

During this night visit, John Ripley spoke to Ron Darden with the gentleness of a father and told him it was okay to be afraid, but that he should not let his fears dominate him. Sergeant Darden would go on to earn a Silver Star when he ran out into the middle of a firefight to save the life of a wounded Marine who lay helpless on the ground. He is a man who has seen the worst of war while serving under the best of battle field commanders.

As Darden related stories about John Ripley during a phone interview, I sensed that this Silver-Star-recipient was fighting back tears as he remembered this remarkable man and that unforgettable night so many years ago. He could not believe the lack of news coverage of this great man. His surprise quickly turned to frustration and then anger as he searched for more details about the passing of a man, who, long before his untimely death had already been revered as a “living legend.”

The news of Colonel Ripley’s death did in fact begin to hit the airwaves and his obituary eventually appeared in

Painting by Col. Charles Waterhouse of John Ripley dangling above the Cua Viet River as angry North Vietnamese soldiers fire upon him.

The New York Times. What the Times and so many others newspaper articles recounted was the story of a man who blew up the Dong Ha bridge on Easter Sunday in 1972. This is understandable considering that Colonel Ripley almost singlehandedly halted the largest Communist offensive of the entire Vietnam War. This amounted to stopping 30,000 enemy troops and 200 tanks. He was successful in this task and would later sum up in actions in a succinct way:

“The bridge was there, the enemy was there, and I was there.”

Desiring to Tell the Whole Truth

What he did on that day defies belief and I could not fail to narrate the Dong Ha story in An American Knight. There is so much more to Colonel Ripley, however, that has been conveniently overlooked or glossed over by those either unable or unwilling to tell the whole truth. Colonel Ripley was a rare type of warrior who willingly and, his sons told me, enthusiastically addressed a number of politically incorrect issues of his day.

Ashley Gonzalez of the United States Air force. No comment!!!

I saw the importance of one of the issues he addressed when I was “mugged by reality” in an airport some years ago by the sight of a young lady about to board a plane. She was a picture of femininity, in every way, except for her battle fatigues and the rucksack thrown over her shoulder. Moments later, her tearful parents said their final farewells to a daughter being sent off to do a man’s job.

It was only natural, therefore, that I drew an enormous consolation when I first read the heroic testimony of Colonel Ripley against sending women, like this one, into harm’s way. While others paid homage to the “god of equality,” he chose to defend the noble ideals of womanhood and femininity. This, and his care for children, were the things which caused me to see in Colonel Ripley a modern-day knight.

Since justice is the virtue whereby man renders to each what is due to him, I could do nothing less for this great man. This was one of the motivating factors which urged me to write his life. Mysteriously enough, I was egged on in this project as much by Colonel Ripley himself, as anyone. In a letter to a friend he said something which struck me like a voice from beyond the grave: “If a young officer or Marine ever asks, what is the meaning of Semper Fidelis, tell them my story.” After reading such a thing, I could not fail to tell this man’s story?

“I Walked with a Hero.”

There was another motivating factor which urged me on and that was my desire to console hero-seeking-Americans who yearn for a role model like Colonel Ripley who they can admire and emulate. During the researching of An American Knight, I took time to read numerous website commentaries and was inspired by the eulogies posted by average Americans.

One man, no doubt inspired by the Marines’ Hymn which speaks of Heaven being guarded by U.S. Marines said the following.

“We claim Semper Fidelis as our motto, but it was Col. Ripley’s life. His loyalty was complete, in all directions. The earth is less today without his soul, but the heavens are a safer place tonight.”

Another comment was even more impressive but demands an introduction.

Colonel Ripley was an outstanding officer who took great pride in the position he earned. This can be seen in the picture I chose for the cover of An American Knight. Yet he was a man that had a profound humility and never wanted attention drawn to himself. Colonel Ripley was not a man who tried to impress others with his Navy Cross or his legendary status. In fact he would often point out the achievements of those of lesser rank and frequently expressed his unbounded appreciation for the common Marine Corps grunts that “get the job done.”

He did this in a very refreshing way without ever adopting the “one of the guys” egalitarian attitude, so lamentably

John Ripley (right) as a Naval Academy midshipman with his brother Michael who died in 1971 while test flying the Harrier.

common among many people of higher station. Colonel Ripley was, from top to bottom, a serious Marine Corps officer and was not ashamed of it. Yet he never missed the opportunity to challenge those around him to reach higher. It is for this reason that towards the end of his life he gave himself wholeheartedly to mentoring. He loved to counsel young men starting out on their military careers, especially those of the United States Naval Academy, his alma mater, which he loved with his whole heart.

All of this helps in understanding better a comment of a midshipman after Colonel Ripley’s death:

“This is the same man who sat at dinner with me and asked me, a first class midshipman, about to be commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, to sign his program for the evening because he was going to read about me in the papers and all the great things I did for the Marine Corps. I walked with a hero. Semper Fidelis.”

Rest in Peace Now!

I saved the best eulogy for last. It came from a mother of four, who defined herself, even if inaccurately, as a “simple American women.” I pray that she someday know how moved I was to read her words.

“I never had the honor of meeting Col. John Ripley. In fact, before a dear friend suggested that I look him up, I had never heard his name. But I have sat here and read stories of his life and countless postings by the people that loved him and will miss him dearly. I am a simple American woman enjoying a world that Col. Ripley dedicated his life to protecting. I am humbled by the recounts of his heroism and tireless dedication to his country. I suppose I’d just like to say thank you. Thank you from the core of my being and on behalf of my four children. When the time is right, I will tell each of them of this great man, Col. John Ripley. May God bless your soul.”

I thank you also Colonel Ripley. Rest in peace now, I will them your story.

Back cover of An "American Knight". A solitary Marine pays his final respects beside the coffin of Colonel John Ripley.

I think a good film–documentary or fiction–exists in it, but I’m not sure a film should be made.  It’s such an amazing feeling when reading the last few pages–acknowledgments too–and finding out that Bob Sutton’s contract at Army was renewed as well as how the Army and Navy football players experienced the rest of their school year.  Nearly every time I read more than five pages, I would become misty eyed.  Feinstein’s writing is just that moving.

I’ve never regarded the military with anything but deference, framed around a cognitive (historical) understanding of what they do and what they represent.  Vietnam and the 21st Century haven’t been so kind to them in terms of PR, but I don’t hold them responsible for the way Middle Eastern relations have or haven’t gone.  After reviewing a documentary called Occupation: Dreamland three years ago and recently watching a documentary called Combat Diary: The Marines of Lima Company, I felt more respect and gratitude, which were magnified after finishing Civil War.

Reading Feinstein’s book humanizes the Cadets and the Midshipmen in a way that not even a good Hollywood drama could hope to achieve.  The reason?  The football context is key–it functions as an agent of psychological identification for the reader.  Attending West Point or the Naval Academy is the exotic factor–the element of curiosity possessing the potential to educate the reader on the life at service academies.  To me at least, the football is the familiar half.  There’s already some understanding of what it entails on general grounds: time management, physical and mental exhaustion from practice and game-play (or in some cases, the struggle to participate in any amount of game-play), and the pressure and desire to win.  Put the two together and one has an incredibly engrossing story.  Add Feinstein’s remarkable prose and the result is thought-provoking, humorous, insightful, informative, and awe-inspiring.

In Next Man Up, Feinstein explicitly states in the Introduction that the ostensibly unprecedented degree of access to players, the coaching staff, and other personnel of the 2004 Baltimore Ravens took the form of first-person, real-time presence.  In other words, he was allowed to witness meetings, locker room speeches, practices, and an assortment of conversations as they happened…in addition to the inevitable phone calls and emails placed and returned.

Feinstein puts it like so:  “My access, as you will read, was pretty much complete.  [Brian] Billick never once asked me to leave a room, and the players, who weren’t quite sure who I was or why I was there–many referred to me early on as ‘the book guy’–became, I believe, comfortable with my presence.  Deion Sanders even took the trouble to pull my jacket collar up while we were standing in the tunnel in Pittsburgh, saying, ‘Man, you have to at least try to look good on the sideline‘” (11).

Feinstein also thanks Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti for getting the machine rolling that would eventually produce the material for the book.

While the acknowledgments in Civil War spotlights the persons who were instrumental in helping to secure the permission and support necessary to make the research process possible, there’s only a slight suggestion or implication that Feinstein was present as conversations took place.  Now, we’re not talking about voice-over in a film, where logically a character usually needs to have firsthand knowledge of an event to speak of it.  Feinstein can write about an incident, a conversation, or report the progression of events without necessarily being there as it happened.  For credibility, though, it helps.

Since Civil War was completed before Next Man Up, it makes sense that there’s some ambiguity as to the proportion of witnessed and non-witnessed exchanges.  Moreover, the former focuses more on capturing an essence of the rivalry via the players and coaches of the 1995 season.  Thus, first-person, real-time presence isn’t necessarily mandatory.  On the other hand, Next Man Up is an inside-out, behind-the-playing-field book.  The expectation for first-person, real-time presence is very much there.

Furthermore, because the NFL monitors and limits the media’s access to players in ways the NBA and the MLB do not, it’s important that Feinstein is explicit in pointing out how he conducted primary research.*  It not only speaks to methodology and bolsters his credibility, but it also invites the reader to take part in a journey through him.

Trailer of from Occupation: Dreamland:

A short clip from Combat Diary:

*Feinstein notes in the Introduction of Next Man Up that “most professional sports make their players available to the press often.  Almost every NFL team severely limits access to its players.  There are limited times each week when the locker room is open to journalists, but most players simply stay out of the locker room during that time.  Most practices are off-limits, except perhaps for a few minutes of stretching at the start of the day.  Coaches are paranoid and secretive about everything” (6).

Click  here, here, and here for more excerpts from Next Man Up.

Click here, here, here, here, and here, for more from Civil War.