Word: ilardi
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Colgan's most valuable asset was his skill at gathering intelligence. "He was better and quicker than anyone else," says Lieutenant Lucien Ilardi, leader of one of the two other platoons in the Tomb Raiders' battery. Platoon leaders usually act on intelligence passed down from their commanders or from special-ops units, but Colgan generated tips himself. He cultivated informants on the streets and dined in the houses of new Iraqi friends. One gave Colgan a gold charm bracelet for the baby he and his wife were expecting. He memorized the names, residences and descriptions of top Baathists. On patrols...
...said. "What happened?" The medics performed a tracheotomy to help him breathe. Colgan's face was covered in blood, and his eye was protruding out of its socket, but his pulse was stable. A medevac helicopter took Colgan to the 28th Combat Support Hospital in central Baghdad. When Lieutenant Ilardi returned from his patrol, he rushed to talk to Grimes. She told him Colgan was responsive and that his eye had been damaged but it might be salvageable. "I've seen crazier things," she said...
What Grimes did not know was that shrapnel had penetrated all the way to the back of Colgan's head. By the time the chopper reached the hospital, Colgan was brain-dead. He was kept alive by a respirator while Rabena, who had driven to the hospital with Ilardi, completed paperwork that promoted him to first lieutenant and gave him a "medical retirement"--a step that allows his family to receive more generous benefits. Ilardi kissed Colgan on the chest. "We won't give up the chase," he said...
...Vikings on the cover of TIME? Well, I guess anything not related to Elian Gonzalez will do. CHARLES J. ILARDI New York City...