Hell and Haditha

W. Thomas Smith:

Nothing in the human experience is more physically exhausting, mentally challenging, and emotionally rattling than ground combat, particularly that which is fought in tooth-to-eyeball proximity to the enemy. It does things to soldiers that people who have never experienced it will never truly comprehend.

Â?Everyone in ground combat is in a constant state of exhaustion, sleep deprivation, high strung emotions and nervous tension. All are anticipating the next action,Â? says retired U.S. Marine Col. John W. Ripley.

He should know: As the legendary leatherneck who almost single-handedly blunted the North Vietnamese ArmyÂ?s Easter Offensive in 1972 by blowing up the Dong-Ha bridge while under heavy enemy fire, Ripley would testify 20 years later before a Presidential Commission on the very subject of ground combat. He described it as an Â?overt, aggressive, purposely violent act where violence has an advantageous role.Â?

In a conversation earlier this week, Ripley told me, Â?Marines are always alert and prepared to react in combat. The responsibility then falls to the leader to prevent them from overreacting, and often it is not easy.Â?

For those tasked with engaging the enemy in violent ground combat, the potential for overreaction is a variable that simply never goes away.

Which brings us to the remote town of Haditha, in IraqÂ?s notorious Al Anbar Province. There on November 19, 2005, a handful of U.S. Marines allegedly killed some two-dozen Iraqi civilians, some said to be women and children.

Though the facts are not yet known, the killings are alleged to be the result of an emotionally charged retaliation for the ambush killing of Marine Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas, who was driving a Humvee on patrol when the vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device (IED).

...

There is much more. Smith does an excellent job of describing what the troops and their leaders face in a combat situation and how they have to react to the stress of combat and destruction of the enemy. Reading it all is highly recommended.