"...the Marines were ready for a fight. Rolling through the hardscrabble village of Shewan in Afghanistan's Farah province on August 8, the leathernecks of the Twentynine Palms, Calif.-based 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment knew enemy eyes were upon them.
It was a village they'd had on their radar for months. Taliban insurgents and their al Qaeda helpers were constantly harassing the Marines charged with holding back the anti-coalition flood in their 37,000 square mile operational area -- and insurgents were using Shewan as an occasional base for attacks.
They knew the rows of mud compounds held bad guys. But on the tail end of the 10-mile patrol, they never could have expected the hornets nest they were destined to stir up...."
30 Marines. About 250 Taliban/ al-Qaedists. Who got a bloody nose, then thought they had driven the Marines out by weight of numbers. Nope. The Marines just pulled back slightly, and redistributed supplies. Then they went back for more. The day did not end well for the bad guys.
Semper Fi indeed.
Shewan, eh? I suppose we could add it to the list of places small units of Marines have fought and won against outstanding odds-Hill 881, Tenaru river, etc-
But we won't, because nobody in our "press" gives a damn, so the American public will never hear of this, except in out of the way places like this. (no disrespect intended).
Addendum- how many people even know the name of Guadalcanal? Belleau Wood? Khe Sanh? It is a damn disgrace.
Semper Fidelis- the Marines know.
Does anyone remember the short period after 9/11 when Hollywood was thinking of making patriotic movies?
I remember when the comic book writers put out a post 9/11 collection, and you could divide it into two groups - the grieving and the angry. But the 'angry' group was all angry at America - no one publishing seemed angry at the terrorists.
Which was odd in one way, because from my perspective 'angry at the terrorists' was by far the most common emotion in the warehouses, construction sites, and factories of America.
There has been alot of talk about how history will percieve the Bush administration. I don't know. But I don't expect history to paint Hollywood in a very positive light.