Word: based
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...unfinished building, Marines blast the target with machine guns, providing protective cover. The rest of the Marines pull back, running across a field and over to bushes, urged on by yelling noncommissioned officers (NCOs). They expect the insurgents to harass them all the way back to their base. One young man falls and lies prone on the ground, his head pressed down as if afraid something might hit him. His hands shake uncontrollably. Chachi, a member of Easy Company's intelligence unit who asks to be identified only by his nickname, turns to me as we run for cover. "Having...
Though this provided an opportunity for Iraqis to prove they can take control of their own security, the Marines felt angry, frustrated and deeply skeptical that the deal would work. As they packed up their equipment and cleared out from their forward operating base, they were fuming. Despite the agreement, the Marines were still taking heavy fire from the insurgents. "This is so surreal," says Pantano, after being briefed on the agreement. "I had to write it down in my journal to make sure I wasn't making it up." This is how the war looks to the Americans...
...time I arrived at the base, the Marines were planning to strike back at insurgent positions at the edge of Fallujah that have been the source of daily harassment. Since Easy's arrival, its patrols had been engaged by the insurgents an average of three times...
...things begin to heat up. Loud explosions from bombs dropped by U.S. F-16s can be heard in the center of the city. The insurgents respond with two salvos of mortar fire against Easy Company's base. Captain John Bailey, a soft-spoken F-18 pilot temporarily assigned here as a forward air controller, hauls his laser equipment onto the roof. He focuses his laser on a two-story building at the edge of town. He radios the pilot of an F-16 and orders an air strike. "Come on, bird," he says to himself. "You're going...
Inside the base, the euphoria subsides as night approaches. The company's officers review plans for the predawn operation. Staff Sergeant Jason Glew writes a message for his wife in an official notebook--"in case I don't get lucky" when the Marines head out tomorrow. "I told her if I get killed she should fix that f______ fence before the end of the summer." The men are expecting a nasty fight from the insurgents, who have surprised them with the sophistication of their tactics. Chachi, a former private investigator and "a suit in Smith Barney," says the insurgents "have...