Many thanks for Failure2Stop’s contributions to the forum, the Marine Corps, and our country. Bit more at my blog but dude needs a shout out after having had this for over a year and not freaking telling me so I had to hear about it secondhand!
On 08 April 2004, Third Platoon was escorting an Army Heavy Equipment
Truck platoon from Taji Airfield to Camp Fallujah, Iraq. En route a
convoy of civilian contractors in 18-wheeled cargo trucks encountered
an obstacle in the town of Abu Ghurayb. The platoon’s Alpha Section
moved forward to provide security for the vehicles as they evaluated
the obstacle. When the section moved up to the convoy they came under
heavy small arms, Rocket Propelled Grenade, and indirect fires from
both sides of the road. The 18-wheeled vehicle drivers panicked, jack
knifed two vehicles, and ran from the scene, separating the two
LAV-25s. Sergeant Failure2Stop dismounted with his scout team and emplaced
them to provide fires to both sides of the road. He then, under fire,
chased down two drivers of the 18-wheeled vehicles and convinced them
to return to their vehicles. He helped maneuver the LAV-25s to provide
security for the vehicles to leave the kill zone and helped direct
fires from the vehicles to engage enemy on both sides of the road. He
personally escorted the drivers to their vehicles and directed them
out of the engagement zone, while under fire. In the face of
relentless enemy fire, he continued to employ his scout team for over
30 minutes, never worrying for his personal safety, resulting in 10
confirmed enemy killed in action. During the engagement, one of the
vehicle commanders was shot in the abdomen. Sergeant Failure2Stop’s scout
team covered the vehicle’s withdrawl from the engagement zone,
allowing the vehicle commander to maneuver his vehicle to a covered
area to be evacuated. His courage allowed for the recovery of all
personnel from the engagement zone, and the safe return of all
personnel to Camp Fallujah.
