TW in Iraq #9: A Midnight Raid
Posted by Lance Corporal Sean Barney, USMC Thu, 27 Apr 2006 21:45:00 GMT
(This arrived at Third Way as a letter from Sean dated 4/19/2006)
Fallujah, Iraq
One of my friends from my home company in New Jersey had a close call about a week ago. He was shot on patrol, but the round went straight through his leg without hitting any bones or arteries. He’s headed home but should be fine. A CNN reporter was on the patrol, so it may have been on the news. I don’t know.
We conducted a big raid last night. We were targeting a cell of al Qaeda snipers, but all we found in the house was a large extended family. It’s impossible to know if it was a safe house and the snipers had fled, but the family seemed genuinely innocent. In any case I felt bad for them. We woke them up in the middle of the night and gave them quite a scare. I’m sure the children will not soon forget the sight of Marines with bright lights searching their home and interrogating their father and grandfather at gunpoint. These things are unavoidable under the circumstances, but it is still a shame. One little girl was wearing an American flag t-shirt. Hopefully, she will still be wearing that shirt a week from now.