Vietnamese Army had 1.1 million deaths. Two million Vietnamese civilians in North and SouthVietnam were killed. But deaths were not the only lamentable result of the war. It divided ournation. “The Pentagon Papers” revealed the Kennedy and Johnson administrations haddeliberately lied to the American people. Military considerations yielded to political agendas.Young combat soldiers were killed because of stupid decisions. The fighting men and theircommanders knew nothing of the secret political calculations and maneuvering. The final resultof it all? A terrible, disgraceful end. Mug shots of our dead young men brought home the truthof it all. Absolutely, a must read.“FIRST FIGHTS in FALLUJAH – Marines During Operation Vigilant Resolve, in Iraq, April 2004”is an anthology of raw, brutal eye-witness accounts of the Marines sent to clear the Iraqi city ofFallujah of insurrectionists in the early months of 2004. Embedded with the 1 st MarineExpeditionary Force, Lieutenant Colonel David E. Kelly interviewed the young men who hadbeen under fire and the senior officers responsible for their safe return.It all started In March 2004, when a sudden, unmerciful ambush killing and mutilation of thebodies of American civilian security contractors in Fallujah triggered the National CommandAuthorities in Washington, DC, to demand that the newly arrived Marine Expeditionary Forceretaliate. The insurgent Iraqi dared and defied the Marines to enter Fallujah. Naturally, theMarines did, with everything they had available to them, infantrymen, tankers, helicopters, andfirefighters. Hence, the first fights of that city in April of 2004. Marines fought in the streets,house-to-house, cleared commercial buildings, and used tank main guns. American helicoptercrews supported operations on the ground with rockets and machine-gun fire. The enemy bledall over the city itself, then quickly disappeared. Immediately, Marine field historians went towork commingling the recollections of our troops and those of the captured. Those intensiveinterview notes and words form this unique narrative of our USMC in combat. Once again, theCASEMATE crew comes through adding to our insightful understanding how it all began in Iraq
20 years ago.
