November 24, 2008

Aim Small, Miss Small

Michael Ledeen notes that a force of 250 insurgents ambushed a column of 30 Marines in Bala Baluk, Afghanistan.

It was a massacre:


"The biggest thing to take from that day is what Marines can accomplish when they're given the opportunity to fight," the sniper said. "A small group of Marines met a numerically superior force and embarrassed them in their own backyard. The insurgents told the townspeople that they were stronger than the Americans, and that day we showed them they were wrong."

During the battle, the designated marksman single handedly thwarted a company-sized enemy RPG and machinegun ambush by reportedly killing 20 enemy fighters with his devastatingly accurate precision fire. He selflessly exposed himself time and again to intense enemy fire during a critical point in the eight-hour battle for Shewan in order to kill any enemy combatants who attempted to engage or maneuver on the Marines in the kill zone. What made his actions even more impressive was the fact that he didn't miss any shots, despite the enemies' rounds impacting within a foot of his fighting position.

"I was in my own little world," the young corporal said. "I wasn't even aware of a lot of the rounds impacting near my position, because I was concentrating so hard on making sure my rounds were on target."

After calling for close-air support, the small group of Marines pushed forward and broke the enemies' spirit as many of them dropped their weapons and fled the battlefield. At the end of the battle, the Marines had reduced an enemy stronghold, killed more than 50 insurgents and wounded several more.

20 shots. 20 kills.

Carlos Hathcock, who famously fought a five-day engagement with a company of Vietcong, would have been proud.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 08:04 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 he's an E-4..... he'll get a Combat Action Ribbon and CQ duty next time he's in the rear. someone with higher rank will get the higher award "for leading the troops". /RHIP

Posted by: redc1c4 at November 25, 2008 02:29 AM (vLw7K)

2 "Oswald was a fag." - McManus(The Usual Suspects)

Posted by: BohicaTwentyTwo at November 25, 2008 08:23 AM (oC8nQ)

3 This guy was a designated marksman, not a sniper, so he was more like Sgt. York than Carlos Hathcock.Most likely he had an M-14 with a scope. Shows you what one man can do who keeps his head and knows how to shoot.

Posted by: Joe Hooker at November 25, 2008 09:16 AM (x4BPR)

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