Gloucester County Times:
...There is more at the link. Collins probably gives a better description of everyday life for Marines, than you would get from your typical wire service report. He apparently called his hometown paper on one of his days off. This is a good way to get around the bad news filters in the Baghdad hotels who hold themselves out as journalist. I think you will see more of these types of stories as the men fighting the terrorist get to tell their story in a way the antiwar pukes who have dominated the writing from Baghdad have tried to ignore. The only really good reporting coming out of that country has been done by the imbeds. It is not clear why there is not more of that type of reporting."I'm not sitting around. We're going in, clearing houses, looking for guys, looking for insurgents," Collins said.
"You get shot at every day. Rocket attacks, mortar attacks. The mortars cut down when we took out the top two mortar guys a couple of weeks ago," he said.
"What these people like to do, they stage with a car waiting as soon as they make contact. They like to shoot a rocket, start an attack, shoot RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades), then run downstairs, throw their weapons in the car and take off," Collins said.
The quick getaway isn't exactly working for them, thanks to the CSI-like technology the Marines are using.
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"A couple days ago, we had a rocket shot at camp. We go out, we'll track him down. People talk, kids especially. If they're by themselves, they'll tell you anything you want to know," Collins said.
The insurgents "don't like to go head-to-head with us. We have a lot of firepower. They don't want to mess with us," he said.
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Most of the time, the insurgents run. One time, they didn't -- at least, not at first.
"They were standing and fighting because they were pinned down," said Collins. When they were able, the insurgents piled into a car and fled. When the car was briefly out of sight, they bailed out and hid in a shop "no bigger than a bathroom," he said. It was easy to spot, he added, because it was the only shop on the strip that was open.
"We detained 10 of them. They all tested positive for gunshot and explosive residue," said Collins.
In the area of Al Karma, people were generally nice to the Marines. Once in a while, though, rocks would be thrown at them.
"We'd stop and have the 'terps" -- the interpreters -- "ask what's going on. If you have an issue, let us know, we'll take care of it. For the most part, people are nice to us. Pretty happy," Collins said.
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