From left to right: Gunnery Sgt. Aaron Kenefick, 1st Lt. Michael Johnson, Cpl. Dakota Meyer and Hospitalman 3rd Class James Layton. Photo courtesy of Brent LaytonHeroism In Ambush May Yield Top Valor Awards -- U.S. Navy Times
With no air or artillery support, the Marines of Embedded Training Team 2-8 were trapped deep in a kill zone in eastern Afghanistan. Their radios worked only sporadically, and dozens of insurgents fired on them repeatedly from three sides.
“We’re surrounded!” Gunnery Sgt. Edwin Johnson yelled into his radio in the early-morning hours of Sept. 8, 2009. “They’re moving in on us!”
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My Comment: The paragraph that sums up this story is the following ....
Meyer’s five-page, handwritten statement to investigators is part of a 300-plus page report compiled by Combined Joint Task Force 82, then based at Bagram Air Base, in the days following the ambush. The military has declined repeatedly to release the full report, but Marine Corps Times obtained a declassified version that not only outlines heroism on the battlefield by numerous troops, but raises new questions about the mission’s failure, the Army officers in charge and why repeated, frantic pleas for air and artillery support from troops on the ground were ignored.
Sighhh .... our prayers are for the fallen soldiers families and their loved ones .... and a salute to Cpl. Dakota Meyer.