Blogs - TheBowMan

"These men are the last American pioneers, for they face, with each day, with each fire, an uncertian future... They are courageous without thinking about courage, and humble to a man about what they do." - Dennis Smith, 1982

"Yeah I've been to a quite a few fires already, two car accidents and a few false alarms." Alex said when his girlfriend's cousin asked "Have you been to any fires?" It was spring and 19-year-old Alex had been with the local Volunteer fire department for just over two years, he was attached to the busiest engine in the department, Engine 1. Ever since he was young he wanted to be a firefighter and when he turned 17 he decided to apply for the local department. He was accepted and he completed training and when he turned 18 the Chief decided to assign him to his dream job, the nozzle man on Engine 1.

"Do you get scared ever?" her cousin asked

"Sometimes I do, I mean yeah its fire and it can kill you but I control the water and I'm on the hose so I always got water between me and the fire." He was cut off by the beeping of his pager "Engine 1, Engine 2, Quint 1, Rescue 1 please respond to box alarm at 701 Stoneybrook Drive for a reported house fire."
"Well then" Alex said "I gotta go, see you guys later" He got up and kissed his girlfriend goodbye "I'll text you after we're done"
He drove down to the fire station, which was less than a minute away from his girlfriend's house. He parked and pulled his uniform out of his trunk and pulled the pants up over his jeans and threw his jacket on before running through the side door and into the garage. Seconds later the driver, Josh Simmons, ran through the door followed by Jeff Donaldson, Brad Zimmerman and Colin Pulozzi. They all arrived within two minutes of Alex and less than two minutes after they all arrived Engine 1 was pulling out of the station.

"We're goin to, uh, 701 Stoneybrook drive." Donaldson, a veteran Capitan, said to Simmons.

"That's just down the street from Station two aint it?" He replied

"Yea, by the time we get there Engine 2 should be gettin ready to go in, so we souldent have to do alot tonight" Donaldson said

The sound of Engine 1's sirens filled the street as they sped towards Stoneybrook drive. They turned down a ramp and Alex looked out his window and saw the top of a smoke plume rising over the trees. He looked away from the window and said "Looks like we got heavy smoke comin' up from the left." Alex then reached back and put his arms through the straps of the air-tank sitting behind him, they turned down the street and saw the smoke coming from the end of the street."Okay I just got a message from dispatch, the fire is on the second floor in a living area" Donaldson said. The fire was started when the home owner's youngest daughter, a personal friend of Alex's, accidently knocked over a candle while she was playing with her 3-year-old niece. A police officer was on scene within two minutes of the fire being reported and got information and reported it to dispatch, who then reported it to all responding fire units. Engine 1 raced down the street and, as they pulled up to the house, they noticed that Engine 2 was nowhere in sight.

"Where the hell is Engine 2?" Simmons asked

"I don't know but we're gonna make our attack, get those hoses hooked up and lets go in."

"Right cap'" Zimmerman said

The firefighters got off the truck and Alex ran to the side and grabbed the attack line, the hose that was going to be used inside the house, and dragged it to the porch steps, meanwhile Pulozzi and Zimmerman tapped the hydrant and hooked up the supply line. Donaldson got on his radio "Two story single family dwelling, heavy smoke coming from second floor" he reported back to command. The homeowner and his family were standing across the street, their youngest daughter noticed Alex's last name on the back of his coat. A distant siren filled the air, it was Quint 1, followed by Rescue 1. Alex, along with Zimmerman, Pulozzi and Donaldson walked to the porch steps and knelt down to put their air masks on. They did and Donaldson signaled for Simmons to charge the hose line, Simmons let water into the line and Alex grabbed the hose from the ground and they went in. Quint 1 and Rescue 1 were on scene by now and were beginning to carry out their duties on scene. Quint 1 prepared to get guys on the roof and begin ventilation operations while the men of Rescue 1 got equipment together just in case anything should happen and someone gets trapped. Inside the house Alex led the way as he rushed up the stairs, when he reached the top he could see the glowing of fire, he moved in and knelt down and began spraying "the wet stuff on the red stuff." He forced the flames back and Donaldson gave the order to push in further, Alex moved up and took a knee and as he did a crack filled the room, he froze and not two seconds later the floor gave way, sending Alex falling to the first floor, a burning couch then fell into the hole and slammed down next to Alex, causing another floor collapse and sending him into the basement. Donaldson, who was right behind Alex, nearly fell into the hole as well but was grabbed by his fellow firefighters.
Outside the chief had arrived and was talking to the crew of the late arrived Engine 2 when his radio crackled on "Mayday, Mayday we got a firefighter down, I repeat we got a firefighter down" a horrified Donaldson screamed over the radio. The chief got on his radio and called back "What's the situation?"

"Floor collapse, second floor and possibly first has been affected, Bradford went through we're goin down to see if he's on the first floor"

"Evacuate the building, I'm sending Rescue 1 in now"

"ten-four"

The chief got the crew of Rescue 1 over and looked at them "Listen there was a floor collapse, we got a man down on the first floor, go in and find him."

"You heard the chief lets go in a get him, let's go, let's go" The Lieutenant on Rescue 1 said and directed his men back to the truck. Alex, who was momentarily unconscious, regained consciousness and found he couldn't breathe, he ripped off his air mask and noticed blood was beginning to fill it. He ran his hand over his face and felt his nose, pain shot through his face, his nose was broken. He couldn't move his right leg, that was broken also. He got on his radio "Can anyone hear me?" he said with pain in his voice

"Alex?"

"Yea chief"

"Alex can you tell me where you are, Rescue 1 is coming in to get you"
"I think I'm in the basement, I know I went through two floors, I got a burnin couch here chief, fire's spreadin'"

Rescue 1 was now by the porch masking up when the chief called them back, he needed to find out from the family how to get to the basement before he could send in Rescue 1. He walked over to the family "This your house?" he asked

"Yea it's ours" the owner said

"Okay there's a problem, there was a floor collapse and we got a guy trapped in the basement, we gotta know how to get down there"

When their youngest daughter heard that a firefighter was trapped she immediately started looking around, frantically trying to find "Bradford" written on the back of a coat, she couldn't find it. The chief, after receiving a detailed description from the homeowner, then relayed the information to Rescue 1, who then went in in search of the stairway to the basement. They went in and found that the fire was now involving the first floor pretty heavily, they reached the reported area of the staircase, only to find it blocked by fire. They called in for a hose line, Engine 2 was then sent in to fight back the fire and open the stairway so that Rescue 1 could get in and retrieve Alex.

"Alex how are you doin'"

"I'm in a corner, the fire is involving the room I'm in pretty quick"

"Is there any way you can break out of this room?"

"Maybe, the paneling looks pretty thin, I might be able to get through it"

"Good, what do you see around you?"

"I see a washer and dryer, I'm right next to a sink. I can make out a door in front of me but the fire's..." He began to cough "...fire's blockin' the door"

"Try to get through that wall okay Alex"

The chief then went back to the homeowners and brought with him a notepad and a pen.
"Our guy is alive down there, okay, and I need you to draw me a diagram of the basement, he says he's in a washroom."

"Okay" The homeowner said and began to draw, he drew out the basement as best he could, and gave it back to the chief. While the homeowner was drawing, Alex scooted up to the wall and, with his good leg, began kicking the panel with the bottom of his foot, he kicked it twice before his foot went through. He pulled his foot out and turned around and began tearing the paneling off with his hands, he then felt sheet rock on the other side, he turned around again and began kicking the sheet rock, at the same time his radio crackled on "Alex listen closely, behind the wall there should be an open space and just beyond that space there should be a wall, just behind that wall is the staircase, if you follow the wall you should find the opening at the bottom of the stairs, get near there and Rescue 1 will get you okay?"

"Yea I got it chief"

By this time the chief had struck out a second alarm and units from two other departments were on their way to help battle the blaze. Fire had involved the second floor fully and the men of Engine 1 were using the deck gun to battle it. Inside the house Engine 2 finally managed to clear the way for Rescue 1 to go in and get to Alex. Rescue 1 prepared to go in, they moved to the porch and began to mask up, as they masked up one of the members noticed the roof over the porch to be bowing down, as he was about to point it out to the Lieutenant it collapsed, blocking the door.
"Damn it!" The lieutenant shouted "We gotta go in through the back, come on let's move" He shouted to his men and they carried they're gear to the back of the house. They broke through the back door and entered the house. They avoided debris, some of which were still flickering with flames a little bit. In the basement Alex was finally able to break through the wall, he was almost to the stairs, the fire in the basement, however, was still very much raging. He was suffering from smoke inhalation and was running out of breathable air, he looked up and saw the glow of fire on the ceiling, he looked at the stairs and saw flames burning at the foot of the stairs, he heard commotion above him, Rescue 1 was finally coming to get him. He looked in front of him, he saw a burning piece of wood fall in front of him, and then another. He heard commotion above him and to his right, it was Rescue 1. He then heard his radio crackle on "We need a hose line, basement is well involved, basement is well involved we need water in here." Alex saw more small pieces of wood falling through the burnt ceiling tiles, he knew that it was only a matter of time before another collapse happened, running out of air and badly injured he got on his radio "Chief, chief, it's bad down here, it's real bad. Fire burnin' all over, chief don't let anyone else in here, another piece of the floor's gonna go down. It ain't worth it anymore, get em all out"

The chief was at a loss of words, he held his radio by his mouth but was unable to speak. He took a deep breath and he finally pushed the button and said "Command to Rescue 1, evacuate the building now"

"What?" The lieutenant angrily said back into the radio

"Evacuate it now, I said"

The lieutenant took a deep breath and replied with a reluctant "Okay"

The now exhausted men of Rescue 1 carried their gear back to the truck, Rescue 1's mission was failed and the realization began to set in that a firefighter had been lost.

"Its six o'clock mom, let's get the TV on, I wanna see if the fire is on the news" Ally was energetic about seeing if her boyfriend was going to be on TV. She turned on the TV and turned it to the news channel, her cousins, aunt and uncle and grandparents followed her. She watched as the news anchor came on and said "A firefighter is reported as dead after a house fire this afternoon." Her heart sank, she covered her mouth. "Maybe it's not Alex, it's probably not Alex" she thought to herself. Her phone began to go off and she picked it up "ALEX?!" she shouted, only to be met by the voice of the fire chief, telling her that it was, in fact, Alex who had died in the fire. She hung up the phone and looked at her family and said "The firefighter was Alex" and began to cry. The next day the name of the fallen firefighter was released, the family that lived in the house heard the name of the firefighter who died trying to save it. Their youngest daughter heard that it was Alex and became extremely emotional knowing that someone she knew personally died in her own house, fighting a fire that she started. A candlelight vigil was held at the fire station that Engine 1 was stationed at. A small white cross was put at the site of the fire, along with a picture of Alex and flowers were put around it. All the flags in town were lowered to half staff, black drapes were hung on the towns two fire stations, a moment of silence was held at all the town's schools, in respect for the fallen firefighter, who was one of their own students. All signs that had messages on them were changed in memoriam for Alex with messages such as "We'll miss you Alex", "Alex, our hero" and "Rest in Piece Alex." The following Saturday - A week after the fire - a funeral was held for Alex. It attracted a total of 900 people, including 200 firefighters from across the nation.

"Alex was one of the most dedicated firefighters I knew. Before he could fight fires he was always looking for a way to be as involved as he could be when we were at a scene. When he started fighting fires he was always enthusiastic about, in his own words, 'getting in there and bringing it to the red stuff.' He loved fighting fires, he always said that it was his favorite thing in the world. He did a lot of good in the department, one story that stands out to me is the time when one of our firefighters became trapped under the roof and broke his way through but he was unable to pull himself out so he shouted for help. Alex was the closest to the ladder up to the roof and he climbed it and pulled our guy out from the roof, Alex got some burns on his arms from it but he didn't care because he helped a fellow firefighter. His dedication to this department was great, he always said that his life revolved around two things, his girlfriend and the fire department." The chief delivered a eulogy about Alex and after he finished Alex's girlfriend stood up to say some words.

"When I met Alex he had just become a fireman, he was so happy about it too. I can't tell you how many times he would say how much he loved being a fireman, I..." She paused and tried not to cry, but the tears began to roll down her cheeks "I miss hearing it, god I miss him so much. I miss his firefighter talk, I didnt understand it but I miss it. I'm never gonna forget our first date, we went out for Pizza and he got a call and we went to the fire station and he left and I sat around until he got back, it bothered me at the time but now I think that its the best memory I have of him." She began to cry a little more "He was such a nice guy, he was always there if you needed to cry or just needed a person to talk to. He had the best sense of humor, he was just a great person, it's too bad, it's just too bad." Ally couldn't go on any longer and after everyone who wanted to speak did Alex's coffin was rolled out of the high school gymnasium and to a group of six firefighters who then carried it to Engine 1, which had black drapes on it. They placed it on the back and Engine 1 proceeded slowly away from the school, followed by the other trucks in the department. The procession was then joined by a total of ten other trucks from several other area departments. The sidewalks along the route of the procession were lined by fire trucks and firefighters who saluted the procession as it went by. The procession followed nearly the exact same route as Engine 1 did a week earlier as it sped to the house fire on Stoneybrook drive. They passed the street where the fire was and they then reached the cemetery, Engine 1 turned in while the rest of the fire trucks continued on and eventually returned to their stations. Engine 1 then pulled to the row where Alex was to be buried, when it came to a stop the same six firefighters removed his coffin and carried it to the plot where he going to be buried. They set his coffin down and the service began. The bell was rung to signal the death of a firefighter, two firefighters folded the flag over his coffin and handed the folded flag to his father. Another firefighter then carried the helmet Alex was wearing when he died and handed it to Ally, a request that Alex made if anything was to happen to him. The funeral closed with the playing of Taps and then Amazing Grace and, as the sun began to set, the cemetery began to empty.

10 Months in Hell

Journalist Robert Wilks tells his story of being embedded with the men of 3 Battalion 11 Marines for a ten month deployment in Afghanistan.

In November 2012 I was given the opportunity to report with Marines who would be deploying to Afghanistan in January 2013, and I took it. I had been a combat reporter before, I was embedded with the Army and, in 2008, was deployed with a unit in the Korengal Valley. That deployment was easy, no one from the unit I was with got killed, we suffered a few wounded, one was serious but he did survive. I had never worked with Marines before, I knew a few reporters who had reported with them but this one was a first for me. It really begins the day we left. The Marines were saying a final goodbye to their loved ones before they left on their deployment. Lieutenant Jason Durkee, known as 'Durks' to the Marines, had his four year old daughter Haley in one arm and his three year old daughter, Kylie, in the other. I turned my attention to Sergeant Dante White, known as 'Sawman' after the M249 Light Machine Gun he carries, passionately kissing his girlfriend goodbye. "I promise we gonna make that baby when I get back" He said as he walked towards the bus, White was then taunted by Private First Class Kyle Cox, saying "Yea well you were like one step away from making that baby in the parking lot." White responded with a single middle finger. From all the hugs, handshakes and kisses one moment really stuck out to me and that was when Durkee's daughter, Haley, ran up to him for one last hug saying "Daddy don't go" and he said "I have to, but I'm gonna be home for Christmas this year." The Marines liked being deployed in January, sometimes they'd be home for Thanksgiving, but nothing beat being home for Christmas. The buses pulled away with the Marines on them and we boarded a flight to Germany where we would then be taken to Afghanistan.

We arrived in Afghanistan two days later and were given our assignments. I was put with the men under Durkee's command. He was in charge of thirty Marines, including Sarge White and Cox. Our first combat patrol occurred a week after deployment, just Durkee's squad was told to patrol a small village that was near a possible Taliban strong point. We moved into the village at about 7:30 in the Morning (0730 in military time) and carefully moved throughout the village. We came to this house and a villager informed us that seven Taliban fighters had moved through to a compound about a mile west of the village. Durkee radioed the info to high command and he was presented with two options it was either to get the coordinates and call in an airstrike or to clear it manually. Durkee decided that it was best to clear it manually because of the possibility of any documents or anything that could give info on Taliban operations. So we moved in on it and we got about two hundred yards from it when the shooting started. It was absolute chaos, I was down next to white and he was firing his weapon at small tower that contained a Taliban machine gunner, the tower was then decimated by a rocket fired from a Marine SMAW (A multi-purpose rocket launcher). At one point the firing stopped and the Marines moved up under the watchful eye of Marine Corporal Eric Lambert, who was the squad Marksman. They got into an open area and the firing began again. The Marines dropped and returned fire, it didn't last two minutes before the firing stopped and the Marines moved again. They reached the compound and found twelve dead Taliban fighters, they estimated that one or two more were killed in the tower. They searched the compound and found documents that otherwise would have been destroyed in an airstrike. We then returned to base and Durkee delivered the documents to the proper authority. The next month went by with nothing important for my squad. Patrols and some small firefights but no one was injured in any of them. That changed on February 24th 2013 when we were ordered to do a convoy patrol through a region with a heavy Taliban presence.

"Yea guys expect VBEDS and RPG ambushes. Possible IED's, just stay alert\" Durkee briefed the Humvee he'd be riding in along with Cox, White, PFC Josh Roberts and myself. "So what are VBEDs?" I asked and he replied "Explosive packed cars that they drive into our vehicles, most of the time they are shot up and blow up but sometimes they get lucky, not a lot but it happens"

So we departed and our patrol was three Humvees long. We drove to this along a farm field. And sure enough this car comes speeding out of one of the field's right at us. I remember Durkee shouting to White, who was on the M2 Machine gun, "White fuck that car up" so all three of the Humvee gunners start shooting and the car exploded but another car came just after that one began to move and somehow went un-noticed until the last minute. It was hit several times but it hit our lead Humvee. shrapnel, everything, flew in the air, huge fireball. Everyone, except for Dante, got out of our Humvee. I saw what was left of the Humvee, it wasn't much. I remember Cox saying "Ain't no one survived that" and right after he said that an RPG flew over head and exploded in the field. Gunfire erupted all over the place, they were fifty yards from our position, I could see them. I was next to Durkee, he was shooting his M16 extremely fast, I swear he went through his thirty round magazine in thirty seconds. Another RPG exploded and calls for a Corpsman (Medic) filled the air. I ran over to where they had a Marine, Staff Sergeant James Underwood, on the ground. They had their hands on his leg and I could see that he was losing a lot of blood. Durkee, the most senior officer present, called in for MEDEVAC for the wounded Marine. It took only fifteen minutes for a Blackhawk to get there and they loaded Underwood onto the helicopter and got him out of there. After everything settled down we got out of there, the five Marines riding in the Humvee were killed on impact and Underwood ended up bleeding out on the Blackhawk. The next day we held a funeral service for the six Marines who died the day before. It was very emotional, I cried a lot but I think Durkee was most affected. We didn't do much for two weeks after that, the next few months went by with mainly patrols and some small operations. Over those Months eight Marines of 3/11 received some wounds but nothing too serious, luckily no one was killed. We got to June and that's when High Command began preparations for Operation Black Eagle. The main goal for that operation was to dislodge the Taliban from the Arghandab District. Our objective was to provide support to Army units conducting operations in various locations. This would mainly include cutting off Taliban forces, support missions like taking out specific strong holds and similar tasks. So two months go by filled with preparations and on September 1st Operation Black Eagle was launched. We deployed near a small village and we were told to attack a Taliban artillery position that was nearby. We located the position and called in an airstrike to weaken it before we attacked. The strike was successful but, unknown to us, one gun remained in working order. we moved towards the smoke that rose over the battery position. We got to a irrigation ditch and that's when the first shell landed. The Marines darted into the ditch and another shell slammed into the ground nearby. Then they started hitting us with DSHK fire and the Marines were forced to call in support from a cobra helicopter, the DSHK was silenced right away but the gun managed to get a few more shots off before being taken out for good. One of these shells badly wounded a Marine in the legs, he survived at the cost both his legs below the knee. The wounded Marine held us back and forced us to wait until the Medical chopper arrived, that gave time for Taliban forces to re-group in the area and gave them the chance to counter attack, which they did shortly after the wounded Marine was evacuated. They nearly surrounded the ditch and the Marines were forced to fight their way out of that situation. It took a total of five hours to clear out the Taliban, somehow no Marines got hurt. We spent the night in that ditch and we pulled back to a compound that was being used as a field base. A couple days later we were told to check out a possible weapons cache in the same village. We entered the village and noticed that there were no civilians to be found anywhere, which was strange. We were very convinced that the Taliban had a nasty surprise for us, we kept moving towards the cache location and we noticed a car. Durkee was sure that this was an IED so he diverted us to the next alley over so we moved up the alley and that's when it exploded. It turned out that the car was a fake and that the Taliban has rigged a wall to explode. We had four guys wounded and they opened fire on us from a nearby building. Lance Corporal Ryan Kaslov had a grenade launcher on his M4 and he fired into the building, it silenced them but then more began to fire on us from a rooftop some distance away. I joined some Marines behind a wall where they would pop up and shoot at the enemy. At one point we began to suppress them but they responded with RPG fire. They took down a nearby building with it and in the confusion White somehow got separated from the Marines. He remained in radio contact and tried to fight his way back, he ended up pinned down near a Taliban strong point. Eventually the Taliban forced us into a retreat but Durkee, along with Cox and Kaslov would not leave until they had White with them. At that point everyone was low on ammo, white had resorted to using his pistol after his M249 jammed. I went with the three Marines, I wanted to document this as it happened. It was just us, the rest of the Marines had fallen back, a direct order from Durkee. We began to move towards the building where White was holed up. We started taking heavy small arms fire from a location in front of us, the Marines responded with their own volley of lead and grenades. It was only a minute of complete chaos and whoever was shooting at us was dead or gave up and ran away. We located White under heavy sniper fire, it was so bad that we had to crawl along a wall just to escape it. Just before we got out of the alley a grenade flipped over in front of us, we scrambled to our feet and in the opposite direction. However when we got up they sprayed us with AK and sniper fire that mortally wounding Kaslov. Durkee saw Kaslov lying on the ground and saw the blood near him. So he grabbed Kaslov, who was in a daze, and we all took turns dragging him back to the Marine line. We had to go along the wall to avoid anymore fire. The Air Force ended up leveling the area of the cache later that night, no one could sleep that night. The Corpsman were tending to the four wounded and everyone tried their best to comfort Kaslov before he died the next morning. I talked to Durkee that morning and all he could say was "It was greatly planned on their part, I can't say anything else. They had great planning and knew what they had to do. I hate to say it but that's their victory." We returned to the field base mid-day and White was able to fix his weapon and everyone got some much needed rest and ammunition. I was able to talk to some of the Marines and get to know them better. "My daughter drew this for me" Durkee said holding up a picture with a pink and blue stick figure in the arms of a tan stick figure with the words "Daddy comes home" written on over them and on the back it said "Daddy I miss you" with a heart and Haley after it. I never saw a bigger smile on his face, White was very happy also, he handed me a letter and told me to read it. In it his girlfriend told him that since it was close to the end of his deployment that she wanted him to know that when he came home he would have a newborn baby, a little girl, waiting for him. Durkee's wife was also pregnant, this time with a son, he was due towards the end of October. "Shit gets bad, it gets really bad. Every one of these Marines is important to me. They are my bros, when one dies, a part of me dies. I have lost fifty-five Marines from my first deployment in 2003 to today. It sucks, it really does" Durkee recalled, we then got talking about why he joined the corps. "Ya know, I'm from a rural town in New York and when I was eight my parents divorced and me and my mom moved to New York city, where she's originally from. It was weird, rural to city. We could see the Trade Center and I always thought that those buildings were awesome. So I was eighteen in 2001 and on the eleventh me and, well my now wife, decided to skip school and hang out at my place. So she comes over and is in the bedroom and I'm in the other room and I hear this plane. So I go out on the balcony and I follow it, this big jet and I'm like 'The fuck is this idiot doing' so I follow him all the way into the Trade Center, I start Screaming 'Oh fuck, oh fuck' and she comes out and says 'Did you hear that?' and I point to the Trade Center and we watched it all happen from the balcony." He continued to explain that day and he went on "My dad was in Vietnam and he said it was pointless, I never wanted to join. But that day changed me, I wanted to fight back at the assholes who did this. I didn't want to join the Army because the Army is where people were drafted into, forced to fight. I joined the Marines because they wanted to fight. I called Erica on the twelfth and told her I was joining the Marines. I kept the promise that we'd get married, no matter what. Before I left for Iraq in 2003 we got married." He then went on about how he wanted to go to Afghanistan, how the people who destroyed the Trade Center were in Afghanistan. That time didn't last long, we were again assigned to move out again and patrol an area of farm fields the next day. So the sun rose and we moved out again. An uneventful patrol, that's what it was. It slowed down until October, October 8th was when we were told to support a Ranger operation that was going to be taking place on the 10th. The main objective for the Rangers was to capture a Taliban officer who was hiding in a village, to the west of that village, however, there was a large presence of Taliban forces. High Command decided to use two Marine squads to prevent the Taliban forces from counter attacking the Rangers and causing the mission to possibly fail. The morning of the mission was very tense, we received our briefing and we loaded onto two helicopters, the Rangers left shortly before us and would deploy a short distance from the village, the Marines deploy as they reached the village. The deploy went perfect, the timing couldn't be better. We moved to the top of a nearby hill, this was a rather wooded area and we had plenty of cover. So they captured the HVI with minimal resistance and no injuries, the Rangers call for their helicopter to come and get them, soon after they called for their Chinook is when we got our first contact. They took a few crap shots and the Marines killed them pretty quick, so soon after the firefight is over the Chinook comes gets the Rangers and then the Marines call for their own helicopters. Soon after they called in for the choppers is when the Taliban launched an all out assault. They started shooting off machine guns, mortars, rockets, everything. They started to move in on the Marines position, the Marines started to fight back. I remember this one guy with an RPG shot it off and it hit a tree, it was truly amazing that no one got hurt, it detonated right over the position and shot fragments all over, Durkee killed that RPG gunner. The Marines held them back and the helicopters arrived, we started to move towards them and get the hell out, well the Taliban flanked around the Marines and began firing at the Marines from behind. White was mainly the guy returning fire so that the other Marines could get down to the choppers. Me and White were running next to each other at one point and an RPG rocket came in and smashed into the ground, near the Marine who was in front of us, he dropped. White was knocked over by the concussion, I helped him up and we ran to this Marine's aid and White flipped the Marine over and his face was completely covered in blood, his eyes were open, he was clearly dead. I looked at his face and through the blood I saw that it was Durkee. My heart sank and my blood went cold and I remember thinking "Oh God no, this did not just happen to him." We had to keep moving and we were not going to leave his body there, me and Dante carried his body back to the helicopter. We loaded into the helicopter and it took off, upon reaching the helicopter we learned that Cox was also killed. The ride back was awful, no one talked, White cried, I cried. We got back to base and they unloaded the bodies and everyone kinda just sat down and I remember saying "What the fuck just happened?" The next day we help a service for Durkee and Cox, I think all the Marines cried. Durkee was a very respected Marine, he had been through so much over his deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan. Cox was a younger Marine, only about 23 when he died, he described himself as "Just a kid who wanted to fight" and he did. I later found out that Cox was killed covering the evacuation of a wounded Marine to one of the waiting helicopters.

I found out that some time before his death, Durkee said that if he ever got killed that he wanted White to escort his body home. I'm not sure how he was able to get this but White did escort him home, and I joined White on his journey. It took us only a few days to bring Durkee's body from Dover Air Force Base to his final resting place in upstate New York. Before the funeral we opened the coffin to put a few of his personal belongings in. One of these was the now blood stained drawing that his daughter sent him, that was put right under his folded hands. The funeral was the next day and I swear the whole town came to pay their respects to him. We reached and cemetery and it began, I was near Durkee's widow and I looked at her and I don't know what it was but I just couldn't hold back from crying. I don't know if it was the kids or her being pregnant but looking at her made me cry. They did the Three-volley salute and when they played TAPS I noticed his widow start to sob very loudly. They folded the flag and tried to give it to her but she couldn't take it, so Durkee's father took it. The service ended and White had a short but emotional conversation with Durkee's widow. I couldn't talk with her, I wouldn't know what to say. Durkee and White had been best friends, they had been serving together since White first deployed to Iraq in 2005.

Over the nearly ten months that I was deployed with the Marines I met the most dedicated men. These guys went to extreme limits to ensure the safety of their friends, with total disregard for themselves. I will never forget Jason Durkee or Kyle Cox or any of the Marines that I was alongside. These guys fight everyday for the people of Afghanistan and when one dies, the whole Marine Corps is shaken a little bit. I can't say that I liked this report but I can't say that I regret ever going on it. I have seen incredible acts of bravery and heroism that no one in the United States will probably ever know about. Sometimes no one can understand why the Marines or any soldier in general, do what they do but for those who understand it makes you realize how dedicated these men and women are to their country and whatever cause they are fighting for.

Robert Wilks decided to stop doing combat reporting after this deployment. Saying that "It was emotionally too much for me to do anymore." He now focuses on political issues within the United States. Most of this deployment was captured on video and is being put into a National Geographic documentary, "Ten months in Helmand," set for a mid-2014 release.

On October 30th 2013 two CIA agents, Leroy Wright and Deon Dillon, were deployed into Somalia from Kenya. They were to pose as Kenyan Islamc Extremists planning a terror attack in Miami, Florida. They were to travel to Mogadishu and go to a local weapons dealer known as Ali. Ali was believed to be supplying weapons to al-Qaeda and Al-Shabbab, who siezed power in Somalia in 2010. The main objective of the operation was to find out about the key locations that this man operated so they could be targeted and destroyed by NATO forces operating around the Horn of Africa. The first meeting with Ali went as planned and the two CIA agents returned for another meeting the following day. During this meeting Ali offered to have the weapons sent to a contact in Fort Lauderdalebut the Agents declined the offer, saying that they would get them to Florida themselves. Agent Wright said that he was unsure of how trust worthy Ali's contact was. A small argument ensued and Ali was hinted of they're real backgrounds. The Agents contacted command and they were told that they would be extracted the following night. The next day Ali met them at his own palace, he was sympathetic and said that he would follow the wishes of the Agents. As they drove away men of the Militia that Ali was a part of chased down the two Agents and cornered them after thier car went off the road. A short firefight ensued and ended with Agent Wright being slightly wounded and both agents taken captive.

Several hours after the men went missing Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) was ordered to put together a task force and send them into Somalia to track down and bring back the two missing agents. The task force was made up of a total of 240 members of US Special Operations (100 Army Rangers, 100 Marines of MARSOC and 40 SEALs of DEVGRU). Task Force Cobra was supported by the USS Carl Vinson and the USS Winston S. Churchill along with units of the Air force and elements of US Army helicopter squadrons. The men of Cobra were deployed onto the USS Essex and taken to the coast of Somalia where, in the Early morning of November 8th 2013, MARSOC launched an assault on an region outside of Mogadishu. Thier objective was to secure an area to set up a FOB from which Cobra could base thier operations from. They deployed via helicopter and were able to secure thier objective after a small engagement in which 19 Militia members and Marine Private Samual Wilcox were killed. The next day Army rangers launched a recon mission into Mogadishu and entered a heavy firefight with the militia who occupied the city. The nearly five hour engagement gave the US forces insight into what to expect from the Militia. US forces then began to then search for targets that could lead them to the where abouts of the missing agents. That night, men of MARSOC assaulted a building that the missing CIA agents mentioned in some info that they sent command the night before they went missing. At the building the Marines captured a member of the militia who tipped them off to several other key locations in the city but had no knowledge of where the agents were being taken to. The next day saw assaults on these buildings and info was gathered on possible locations where the agents were taken to. Info pointed to a hotel that it was believed that Agent Deon Dillon was being held in. DEVGRU assaulted the hotel at night and found nothing. Militia moved in on the hotel and a firfight ensued. An overhead AC-130 was able to keep the militia at bay but an unstable building collapsed after a 105mm shell landed near by. The collapse cut off the SEALs from thier extraction point and the AC-130 lost thier location. They were eventually pushed back to a mosque where a final stand was made. During this fight one SEAL, Petty Officer First Class Rick Young, attempted to throw back a grenade and was mortally wounded when it exploded just feet away after he threw it (For this action Young was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor). The SEALs did manage to hold off the Militia long enough for a flight of Navy Helicopters to come and extract the SEALs at dawn. Shortly after the SEALs were extracted, another assault was launched into the city by MARSOC. The squad of Marines deployed into the city under heavy fire but, with the help of an AH-1Z, were able to secure the LZ. The objective was to attack a safehouse where it was believed that Leroy Wright was being held at. They met extremly heavy resistance and encountered two Militia operated T-34's. Eventually they made it to the target location and found the body of Leroy Wright. The Marines found that he had been beaten by his Somalian captors and had concluded that Wright had been executed only minutes before the Marines reached his location. Several days later, Rangers carried out a mission to check out a possible weapons cache near the outskirts of the city. While moving towards the location they were met by a man who tipped them off on the location of Deon Dillon. The Rangers finished thier mission with minimal resistance and relayed the info back to the FOB. DEVGRU assaulted an old hospital on the edge of the city and, after an intense three hour firefight, the SEALs were able to enter the hospital and found Deon Dillon alive in one of the rooms. He was brought back to the FOB and then brought to the USS Essex where he was eventually taken home with the men of Task Force Cobra. Shortly before Task Force Cobra left Somalia, DEVGRU assaulted the home of Ali in on a "Kill or Capture" mission, during the mission the SEALs killed Ali.

Operation Urgent Response lasted two weeks. An estimated total of 300-400 Militia were killed. The Rangers, DEVGRU and MARSOC each lost a man and an AH-64 was shot down resaulting in the loss of both crew members. About 30 Americans were wounded in the fighting. The contact in Fort Lauderdale was arrested by FBI agents and is currently awaiting trial. Leroy Wright was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetary, along with Navy SEAL Rick Young, Marine Samual Wilcox and Soldier Josh Hamilton and the two crew members of the Apache. Deon Dillon left the CIA after the incident, it was reported in Early 2014 that some of the after action reports may be declassified but the failed CIA operation that caused Operation Urgent Response will most likely never be publically known.

Here are some mod ideas I have, give me your feedback on what you think.

Battle for the Pacific - A World War II mod that puts you in the middle of the Pacific War at places such as Tarawa, Gudalcanal and the Philipines among other locations. The mod focuses on the United States vs Japan

The Iranian Sun - Takes place in the modern day in the middle of a war between the United States and Iran but not what you may expect...

Phantom Fury - Takes place during the Second Battle for Fallujah during the Iraq War in 2004.

Iraqi Freedom - Takes place during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq

Formed in 2006, Tigercat was originally an anti-government militia based in North Carolina. After several close calls with government officals, they moved thier operation to Scrub Island near Sint Maarten. As Tigercat grew in size it became clear that a new formation was needed. Through family ties, founding member Ivan Young was able to achieve the support of Russia and Russia began to train and equip Tigercat. Tigercat also began a scamming operation, scamming American fire arm companies into selling weapons to the fictional "Private American Military Association." By passing themselves off as security contractors, Tigercat operators were able to obtain large amounts of American made weapons. As years went by Tigercat was able to form into a well rounded para-military organization. They had an airforce made up of Russian jets including the MiG-29, Su-25 and Su-22 among others. They operated the MI-24 and Mi-28 attack helicopters as well as the Mi-8 transport. Armored vehicles included the BMP-3, BMP-2, mostly T-80's with several T-90's.

On July 1st 2010 Tigercat launched the attack on Sint Maarten, twenty five days later the United States First and Third Marine divisions launched an amphibious attack on Sint Maarten. Facing heavy attack from Tigercat aircraft and helicopters as they moved towards land, the USMC lost ten AAV's between the two beaches. At red beach the First fought for control of Princess Juliana International Airport, a fight that took five hours and cost both sides heavy losses. At orange beach, the Third was able to secure the beach but was held out of Philipsburg by Tigercat soldiers. Sporadic firefights went on through the night and in the morning the Third launched an assault on Philipsburg, beggining a five day battle for the city. USMC forces soon began to realize the potential of Tigercat and was forced to change thier tactics. One day after the landings two US destroyers were hit by anti-ship missiles, one was lightly damaged and made it home, the second suffered a catastrophic explosion and sank, taking most of her crew with her. After about a month of fighting, the the First moved into Marigot, beggining a brutal month long battle that would completely level the city and see the highest US casualty rate since the Vietnam war. As Marine Private David Freeman recalled "The city was terrible for vehicle support, many of the streets were too narrow for an Abrams, many others were blocked by destroyed vehcicles, thiers or ours it didnt matter." The fighting in Marigot ended on September 28th 2010 and shortly after the First moved along the coastline of the island. Smaller scale operations continued and one of the last major operations of the war was the capturing of L'Espérance Airport from Tigercat forces.

On October 27th 2010 Tigercat withdrew from the island and launched another attack, this time closer to home...