Semper Gratus!

This story from Marine Corp News caught my eye yesterday.

Amtrac commander redefines role of combat leader

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (Aug. 26, 2006) — Sgt. William D. Dycus didn’t write the book on what it takes to be an amphibious assault vehicle commander. He completely rewrote it.

Dycus, a 21-year-old from Vidor, Texas, is redefining what it means to be a combat leader. His performance in combat was impressive enough to earn him a combat meritorious promotion to his present rank from Regimental Combat Team 5. He’s a Marine respected by his peers and admired by his Marines because of the cool, calm demeanor he displays even in the hottest of action.

Dycus is assigned to D Company, 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion, RCT-5.

“He’s an aggressive vehicle commander who knows how to support the infantry on the ground,” said Capt. William E. O’Brien, the 36-year-old D Company commander from Moline, Ill. “He earns a huge amount of respect from his seniors. He’s calm and collected in stressful situations and tactically aggressive.”

Dycus has a track record of combat success. He earned a selection as Marine of the Quarter for RCT-8 on his first tour to Iraq and was selected as Noncommissioned Officer of the Quarter for RCT-5 before being selected for his promotion.

“He’s a stud,” O’Brien said. “I’ve known him for almost two years and from the beginning he’s been a quiet kid with the fortitude to stand up.”
…
Dycus has seen his fair share of stressful situations in Iraq. During this tour, he supported Marines pushing into new areas of operations near Habbaniyah. They were areas that had seen little or no U.S. forces and initially, Marines met stiff resistance.

Dycus was guiding his Marines on a patrol supporting infantry in Habbaniyah. There was a sniper threat, so he ordered his Marines to ride low in their turrets to keep a low profile. It was then an insurgent sniper’s bullet crashed through the earpiece of his crewman’s helmet and ricocheted off his turret.

“The first couple minutes were insane,” Dycus recalled. “Once it was over, we laughed about it.”

Read more about this up and coming leader here.

A tale of two stories.

Reading Capt(Major) B’s post on Rummy yesterday was funny ’cause I later ran across this example of gross media bias (lies?).

Tuesday, August 28, saw a lot of action in Ad Diwaniyah, Iraq, when attacks in three different districts by asshats loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr went on a killing spree. Who won? Depends on what news source you believe.

The official version from Multi-National Forces – Iraq is: Good Guys! Yay!
An alternate version from the San Jose Mercury News: Bad Guys! Boo!

MNF-I story IA, IP in Ad Diwaniyah Repel Attack

DIWANIYAH, Iraq — Iraqi Army and police forces successfully fended off an attack by a large group of terrorists in the Al Eufrat, Al Jumhuri and Al Nahda districts of Ad Diwaniyah after a 12-hour battle today that ended at approximately 3:00 p.m.

Alternate reality story: Militia takes southern city after battle with military

By Thassin Abdul-Karaim
Associated Press
AD-DIWANIYAH, Iraq — The fighting lasted through the night and most of Monday, with more and more Iraqi troops moving in to try to put down a militia led by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. By the end of the battle, the militia controlled a large swath of this southern city, and 40 people were dead.

The Mercury Spews piece is presumably reporting on the action in the same parts of Iraq on the same day as the MNF-I report, but is scoring the outcome in a very different way. It details every excruciating Coalition (U.S.) death and Iraqi police murder, but lumps all the “innocent” and terrorist asshats together into one lump. The MNF-I article unfortunately does not include numbers for my Dead Terrorist Counter, but the Spews article would undoubtedly and very purposefully leave that number out even if it were known.

Something I found interesting at the very bottom of the Spews article:

The New York Times contributed to this report.

Why am I not surprised? You must always take NYTimes stories with a grain of salt, and these kinds of stories make it hard to take them at all.

Even with a fistfull of salt.

A fistfull of salt rubbed in to their … (must stop violent thoughts)…