 |
| Major Douglas Alexander Zembiec, probably the FINEST Officer and Commander of this generation...also known as "The Lion of Fallujah" |
 |
| Sgt Maj Bradley Kasal...a SNCO that leads from the front...kicking in doors and bringing hell to the enemy.... |
 | ||||
| James Blake Miller..a survivor that's broken inside... |
First read this article over at SOFREP.
Then click on the captions of the Marines above.
Read the pages. Drink it all in.
Know that SOCOM is SUPPOSE to be the home of the QUIET PROFESSIONALS.
Think about that a bit more.
Now go back over as many pages of articles over at SOFREP as you can stomach. Digest all the sales pitches. Digest the chest thumping.
SOCOM in general and Navy SEALs in particular have broken the bargain. Blowback has arrived and its going to be courtesy of my blog.
Why?
Because even in a pivotal battle...one that will shape the Marine Corps for the next generation, they seek to steal the glory won by those that gave so much. Its not right and I'll make it my mission to call them on it every chance I get.
Thanks for posting this. I didn't know about these guys till now.
ReplyDeleteHeroes and survivors one and all.
ReplyDeleteSolomon,
DeleteI'm Bill Janson from SOFREP that posted the article. First off, I have no idea where you get the idea that we're "taking credit" from the Marines that fought in Fallujah. The full article was written by the LA Times and features a former team mate and friend of mine. We ran this to bring up the incredible sacrifices that these brave men endured. My buddy lost his ATL in that battle. I also noticed the photo of Doug that you posted above. I had the absolute honor of working with him and he was an extraordinary Marine.
Where in the post are we "stealing the glory" from these men, by running an article written about their portion of the battle? Your comments make absolutely no sense. Many of the men we speak of our the site are brothers and team mates of ours that have made the ultimate sacrifice.
Feel free to "call us out" whenever you'd like. All of our contributing writers are vetted members of the Special Operations community with first hand experience in Middle East.
your blog has a habit of portraying SOCOM as a single war winning institution. the entire Marine Corps only makes the claim of winning battles.
ReplyDeleteand this important battle in Marine history once again has elements of SOCOM inferring that they were the reason for success, that they were the key to victory etc...
that rubs me the wrong way.
Not trying to start a battle here, but I need to address these. First off, the article is about Force Recon, before MARSOC times, so it wasn't under SOCOM command. Also, our site is about Special Operations, so of course the vast majority of our articles are going to be SOF-centric. I will say, that if you ask any of our writers, they have the up most respect for all our nations warriors, regardless of service or unit. And, the LA Times article was merely written about a particular team's participation in the battle. All of the units involved in Fallujah played a pivotal role in the victory.
ReplyDeletevery sad about Major Zembiec and the others that gave their lives, i do think its important to point out that without the Marines and other front line units SOCOM would not be able to operate, Neptune Spear would have never happened if army and marine units didnt give them a place to practice the raid from my protecting their base near the capital, Fallujah was not taken by Force recon but was assisted, everyone has their parts, the credit goes to the entire military and those brave people involved, not just to one unit.
ReplyDeletei'm still chewing on what Bill said. reasonable but when i look at the way shit is written at his and Webb's site it goes back to the we put the it in shit kinda thing.
ReplyDeleteanother issue i have is with this movie but i've beaten that horse to death.
last issue i have is with the proposed increase in the size of MARSOC. talk about a support element eating its parent! they're up to regiment strength, and have a support battalion, intelligence battalion and a scchool house. that's CRAZY! they're going to make up over 1/10th of the Marine Corps ---- if the Marines go down to 150,000 then they're going to make up well OVER 1/10th the size of the Marines.
we're going to be a self licking ice cream cone. we won't be able to do anything unless we have outside support and our MEU's will be constantly under strength.
Sometimes its nice to have a thumbs up button. *Thumbs up*
Delete