"We didn't train to re-fight the battle of Fallujah, we trained for the battle of Stalingrad....I wish we had spent three months with some U.S. Marshals instead."

That was the lament of an infantry commander I spoke with in Iraq.  His Marines were trained and eager for force on force operations, a classic fire-fight, but in Iraq, the enemy was not willing return the favor.  Instead, they spent 4 months in fruitless battalion sized operations and 3 effective months as the Sheriff of small villages.

The three months as Sheriff were effective in terms of enemy killed, detained and weapons captured.

Bill Ardolino is out on patrol with 2nd Assault Amphibious Bn. based out of Camp Fallujah as they perform MSR security along MSR Mobile.

I rode in one of Gators Tracks during a mission that was only noteable for the weather and it seemed that Gator was always in the neighborhood when Vengeance was out on a mission including one along the same road Bill blogs about.

I spent some quality time along MSR Mobile in 2005 performing a variant of the typical MSR security patrol we called "bait and kill."  Vengeance Platoon performed the bait and kill to perfection--even if it is unnerving being the IED bait.

I finally watched the DVD of Outside The Wire from beginning to end.

It is strange to watch.It was harder to log the tapes and edit it.  Imagine, a first person filming of 5 months of your life then having to watch it.

The tape where I rode past an IED or stacked up with the guys as they hit a target house creates a peculiar emotional response.  When I was filming everything in Iraq, I was numb, almost emotionless, so 'in the moment' that I was oblivious to the dangers around me.Watching those scenes on tape, I experienced the emotions I should have felt while on the mission.