Lt. Mark: Golf Marines KIA

This came to me via e-mail. Lt. Mark is a friend of my brother-in law.

Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:30:03 -0700
Subject: Golf Marines KIA

Friends and Family,

I realize I have been out of touch for quite some time now, but I have not had access to the internet until very recently. Since my last writing, Golf company has moved out into our AO and has begun conducting operations. This deployment has already had its share of highs and lows, but the Marines are responding well to all of the challenges of operating in a unique environment such as this one.

It's been a tough week for Golf company. We have had seven Marines Killed In Action this week as a result of three separate events. To put this in perspective, Golf only lost three Marines during the last deployment to Iraq. The Marines are back to work and are doing fine.

Of our fallen brothers, one was a Navy corpsman, two were Privates First Class, two were Lance Corporals, one was a Sergeant, and one was a Captain. The Captain was a helicopter pilot who was attached to the company to talk to pilots when they fly overhead in support of our units on the ground. Marines who do this job are called Forward Air Controllers (FACs). The Doc (Navy Corpsman) was new to Golf Company and I didn't know him well, other than that he was a good doc and liked working with Marines. One of the PFCs was a polish immigrant with a PhD in medicine who was on his first deployment with Golf. The other was another Marine on his first deployment who I knew by professional ability only. The two lance corporals, Andrew Whitacre and Layton Crass, were both in my platoon last year. I knew one from when I was in 3d platoon before I got shot and one from Weapons platoon when I returned. They were both excellent Marines who played an important role in their platoons and will be difficult to replace. The sergeant, Michael Washington, was also one of my Marines when I was the platoon commander for 3d platoon. He was 20 years old and had been meritoriously promoted to both Corporal and Sergeant. He was extremely talented and was one of only nine squad leaders in the company. The captain, Eric Terhune- or "D-Ring" to all of us, was part of my Fire Support Team (FiST) during the workup. He was a good man who was willing to do anything for the company. He chose to go on far more patrols than was required for his job because he cared about the company and about the mission. They were all good men and good Marines.

Five of the Marines died in the way we all hope not to. Lance Corporal Whitacre and Captain Terhune died 'fighting deaths' in an engagement where they repeatedly exposed themselves to enemy small arms fire, medium machine guns, and rockets at close range so that they could engage the enemy and allow other Marines in their squad to maneuver. They did this after charging across 100 yards of open field against dug-in, prepared enemy fighting positions. They died bravely and sacrificed themselves so that others might live, and they will always be remembered for that. There are Marines in the platoon who are alive today because of the selfless actions of LCpl Whitacre and Capt Terhune. There is no doubt about that.

It is always tough when we lose Marines, both for personal and professional reasons. It is important that this doesn't overshadow the success that those Marines died to achieve. LCpl Whitacre and Captain Terhune died while fighting in what ended up being a significant tactical victory for the platoon and the company. They both played a critical role in this success. Everyone on the battlefield knows the Marines won that fight, and success in this engagement has given Marines control of the area. While I'm sure this offers little comfort to the families and friends of the fallen, the success from that day will save Marines' lives in the future and allow for progress in this area. They died accomplishing the mission, which is more important than any one of us individually.

The Marines are doing as well as they can do. It always takes a day or two for everything to return to normal. And for some it never really does. The company is doing fine and will continue to do good work and to positively influence this AO. Of this I have no doubt.

To end on a positive note, I'll share something that will make the Marines on this list proud. During the engagement, one of our Lance Corporals was shot in his trigger finger but continued to fight. He continued moving under fire and firing his weapon as he closed the distance with the enemy. He played an important part in the fight, especially after he was wounded. When the fight finally ended and they returned to base, the squad was unable to find the wounded Marine and get him treatment for his finger. When they finally found him, they found him sitting alone cleaning his weapon. With his 9 fingers that still worked. Trying not to get blood all over the parts he had cleaned. Pretty incredible. He was far more concerned about needing to go back out and fight with his squad than he was about losing a finger. He did not understand what was remarkable about this, which says more about it than I can in writing. Also on a positive note, another Marine from the squad had a confirmed kill on an enemy combatant at close range with a headshot with a 40mm grenade from his M203 grenade launcher. It turns out that this surface presents a hard enough target to cause the grenade to detonate. This is really exciting for Marines, but I realize it probably makes it sound like there is something wrong with us to everyone else on this list. I don't really care. It's the business we're in and it's a job well done. Again, you only get the honest opinions from me in these emails.

That's about all that's going on here. I'll try to put something out in the near future to keep you all aware of what's going on. Thanks for the continued support. As always, send updates.

Always Faithful,

Mark