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Crystal anniversary of the Iraq War

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Forgot to post this:
From April 6th:
15 years ago: We stayed in the same position in the field across the factory and continued our mission of supporting the operations of the infantry as they began to push forces into the city of Baghdad. We had to keep up our guard with everything, especially with refugees fleeing from the city. We knew the end was coming, but the question is, when would the Iraqi's see that as well.

From April 7th:
15 years ago: Day two of sitting in the same position that we had occupied after leaving the regiment, yet our mission had not changed from the time we arrived. To support operations and protect the infantry as they worked their way into Baghdad. Yet what changed is that we would soon be dropping out of MOPP gear and change back into the more comfortable and breathable cammies.
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15 years ago: Day 3 in the position we continued our support of operations against the Iraqi military as the infantry continued to push deeper into Baghdad, but fire missions were becoming fewer and fewer as the infantry continue to press the enemy. Yet we continued to be ever ready if those missions would come down. Little did we know that tomorrow would forever change the face of the country of Iraq forever.
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15 years ago: April 9th, 2003: We got the order to pack up and move from our position that we had occupied for the past few days. We moved once again to another field and again set up again to support the infantry but our guns would not be needed. As a battery we received a briefing on what our mission would be once we entered the city. We would conduct civil operations and patrol activities as a provisional infantry, company as would the battalion. Once the briefing was over, we moved as a battery, over a repaired Iraqi Bridge, with Improved Ribbon Bridge over the huge gap. You could look down and see the river below. But we made safely across and moved into the city. After weeks of seeing shabby run down villages and huge expanses of desert a modern city was completely different. As a whole the regiment moved into a abandoned Iraqi Army base and began to set up our base of operations for our stay in Baghdad.
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15 years ago: April 10th, 2003. Our first full day in Baghdad, we spent the day working on the vehicles, equipment and manning guard posts. We also took the time to catch up on much needed rest and personal care. At night I was part of a vehicle patrol that was patrolling around the streets in Eastern Baghdad aka "Saddam City". We expected trouble, but luckily encountered none. Thus was life in the capital after the fall.
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15 years ago: April 11th, 2003 I was part of a foot patrol that searched a huge factory that manufactured carpets. We were searching anything from weapons to Ba'ath Party members. It took a couple hours, but in the end we found nothing. Funny note, another Marine and I had to clear out this huge storage room ourselves, thankfully it was empty. But for the mission itself, it was one of the many patrols and missions we would undertake before leaving the capital.
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15 years ago: 12 April 2003. Once again another patrol checking for any members of the Iraqi military, Baath Party, or militants. This time the patrol took us to a large military base. This base beside probably being a main operating base for the Iraqi military, it was also a school for the military as well. We had to check everything. A another Marine and myself found this sand table map room. We had to check it out. The plt sergeant ordered me to walk over the sandtable and check out the back of the room, which i did and I found nothing. We had to be careful because this base had obviously been a target for not only artillery but air power as well. At the end of the dad, the patrol turned up nothing, and we reported back to our base. Yet later on that night i was told to grab my pack and report to a seven ton, where another patrol had gathered. This time the patrol would be staying out for a extended time. We loaded up and headed out, meeting up with another portion of our battery at a location. Thus we spent the night wondering what the morrow would bring.
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15 year ago: April 13th, 2003 After waking, we were told we were establishing a outpost at a small abandoned army close by, but we had to finish the current mission we were on. And that was delivering found munitions to EOD for destruction. The running joke was that we became EOD techs without the training. Once the mission was complete, we moved into the base and established ourselves. You could tell the populace had been there. It had been ransacked along with some fires lit. Yet we cleaned out areas as best we could and settled down into what would become our temporary home for the future.
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15 years ago: April 14th, 2003: Spent another day patrolling another sector of Saddam City. It was a long day on our feet. By the end of the day, when we reported back to our operating base, a majority crashed for 12+ hours of sleep. Tomorrow we would report to a important piece of infrastructure to protect it.
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This post is dedicated to the late R. Lee Ermey aka The Gunny. RIP Sir. Till Vahalla.
15 years ago: We were awaken at reveille and told to pack our gear. We were then loaded in to the 7 tons and driven to important piece of infrastructure that needed to be protected. A power station that would be a prime target for government hold outs and terrorists. Once we arrived at the station, we disembarked from the trucks, and were immediately swarmed by civilians. We were told to keep them back as we got the vehicles inside the plant. We pushed civilians off as they reached for our rifles and personnel gear. As the vehicles entered the compound, we slowly backed in ourselves keep our fronts to the civilians. Once inside the plant, we were immediately showed were we would be sleeping and where our post would be. Once we had everything situated, we began our job of defending the power station.

The greatest Marine Speech of all time. RIP R. Lee Ermey

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15 years ago: April 16, 2003 After spending the night on watch protecting the power station we entered our first full day of guarding it. For us the populace came to the station to talk, ask questions, as well as ask for help. We had orders to engage in talking but not leave our post at anytime. The family next to the power station had had two daughters who were just as interested in us as the local population, but through out the course of the day the civilians continued to barrage us with questions. Yet there were no threats at the current time when we were there. One caring side note, our corpsman treated the wife and children of one of the employees of the power station.
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