Reply #14: Here's a story on the 399th in Mosul

[RamboLiberal]

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In mid-October, during a series of attacks on US positions near the hospital, insurgents assaulted the north gate of the Mosul base. An American infantryman suffered severe wounds in the firefight. So did an insurgent. Both were rushed to the 399th.

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The tactical center also watches for insurgent activity in the vicinity of Mosul. When attacks come, sirens screech and the alert goes over the PA: "Bunkers, bunkers, bunkers! Incoming, incoming, incoming!"

A mortar shell that explodes near, but not near enough to imperil life or limb, still rattles bones and makes a terrifying blast. An incoming mortar landing near enough to kill makes a flat crack that slams the eardrums and squeezes air from the lungs. The burst seems almost to occur inside the brain. There's a gout of orange flame and hot metal slivering through the air.

With soldiers, mortal danger seems to bring out a flair for understatement.

"This isn't very nice," said First Sergeant Shirley Martino, a grandmother of five from Haverhill, after blast debris lashed the exterior of one of the bunkers -- basically just long concrete tubes with crouching space -- scattered throughout the compound.

In the same attack, one mortar round punched through the ceiling of a housing unit, smashing a bunk bed before tearing out the back of the prefab without exploding. Dud shell. The two occupants had bolted the room just moments before.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2006/12/31/in_iraq_its_us_versus_death?mode=PF

Yeah they can't even protect the medical units from attack. You'd think they'd be able to set up a zone safe from attack. We've f'ing lost this war and time to get the hell out!