The Battle for Marjah

I'm part of a machine

that always wins.

There's no worse enemy

than the United States Marine.

Um...

you know, we're...

we're masters of

controlled chaos and violence.

You know, there's definitely

scary parts of that plan.

Marjah is such a difficult

piece of ground,

hundreds and hundreds of Taliban here,

and not only Taliban

but kind of

the hard-core extremists,

best-trained guys they've got.

IEDs everywhere,

triple possible,

you know, anti-aircraft guns.

Definitely expecting casualties.

But that's what the Marines do.

Whatever the president

needs us to do is what we do.

What's going on, Bravo?

You guys ready to go?

The Taliban have their fist

in the mix here.

Trust me, this is going to be chaotic.

This plan that we've

rock-drilled over and over...

as soon as you get off the bird,

it's not worth anything.

Every single one of you is going

to have to make 100 decisions

that there is no right answer to.

But guess what.

You have to act.

You have to decide, you have to act.

I've talked to you before

about the gift of aggression.

You're here for a reason.

When the enemy chooses

to face us on a battlefield,

win the direct firefight right now,

overwhelming surgical firepower.

Destroy him immediately.

I guarantee you we will lose Marines.

I guarantee you we will.

Don't let emotions control you.

There's 80,000 civilians in this city.

There's maybe a thousand enemy.

When I go home,

I don't want to feel ashamed

because I'm having problems

sleeping at night

because I'm not sure

that I did the right thing.

What happens over the next five days

will be a cornerstone of your memory

for the rest of your life.

All right, gents, that's all I got.

In Afghanistan, the stage is set

for one of the biggest

allied offensives so far.

U.S. Marines are heading up

a force to attack the Taliban.

They are gathering

around the town of Marjah

in Helmand Province,

getting ready to drive off the Taliban

and restore government order.

This is the first major offensive

since President Barack Obama announced

he was sending

a new strategy

for turning back the Taliban.

Afghanistan is not lost.

For several years,

it has moved backwards.

Gradually, the Taliban

has begun to control

additional swaths of territory.

This is a date with destiny.

For the rest of your careers,

you will be known as Marjah Marines.

The Afghan Army

who will be fighting

alongside the Marines.

Don't want to mess with this

guy. I'll tell you that.

We will pursue a military strategy

that will secure key population sites.

The Marines have effectively cut off

all escape routes out of Marjah.

They're doing everything they can

to let the people of Marjah know

they're coming.

Many families

have already left the city

to avoid being caught

in the crossfire.

Ultimately, our efforts

across Afghanistan

are about changing

the perceptions of people.

I want the Afghan people to understand

America seeks an end to this era

of war and suffering.

Marjah is considered

a key test of Obama's strategy.

This is a critical point.

It may be the critical point.

God bless you.

And God bless

the United States of America.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Reports from inside the city suggest

that hundreds

of hard-core insurgents

are bracing for a fight.

Right now,

we're sweeping for some IEDs,

hoping we don't step on anything.

It's a very slow process.

With this many guys,

it could take awhile.

And that's what these IEDs do.

They take us away

from our own game plan.

So, we're having to swab up

our tactics

and kind of play the chess game.

It's not checkers now.

See all those antennas?

That's Building 21.

They're going this way.

That's three.

Three in about the last 10 minutes.

Just keep in mind,

there's a couple guys

at this intersection.

They're walking down that road,

it looks like.

They definitely know we're here now.

They're just walking around,

watching us like we're the zoo.

Trying to maneuver all around us.

Uncomfortable situation.

We know a lot have left the city,

but I'm sure several stayed.

If they pop up, start firing,

lay into 'em.

Push up.

Gonna try to get eyes on

this first compound right here.

Let's go, come on!

Hey, Smith, watch your flank.

Shoot his ass!

- Oh, f***!

- He's shot in the leg!

- Oh, sh*t!

- Come here, come here!

Get down.

Where you hit at?

On my f***ing leg, dude.

Oh, f***ing hit!

Ooh!

What the f***?

I got you, boy.

I got you. I got you.

Roger.

Doc Morrison.

Right leg. Arterial bleed.

Heavy red blood.

Where's that coming from?

What do you see?

Started firing

from that compound over there.

There was like 8 of them.

They shot the rockets

and they were effective,

like, no, sh*t,

like, I was...

Yeah, it's effective.

...get the f*** away.

Took fire from down here

at this intersection.

They fired that RPG.

It popped around that corner

from that intersection,

fired that RPG.

There was no pangs or claps.

It was all zing, zing.

You need to get down, brother.

We're taking fire from

f***ing three goddamn places.

We'll be all right.

Have we stopped the bleeding yet?

It's been stopped

for a couple minutes now.

'Cause I got to get you

out of here, man.

So, we'll get him f***ing moving.

We need air on that motherf***er

right there.

- It's pretty close.

- Yes.

Every time that moped stopped

at the end,

he was dropping guys off

and they ran in there.

That's where they're flooded.

There's at least 10 to 12.

Get a f***ing shot off!

The next one you f***ing see!

Do you hear me?

Son of a b*tch.

Wow, it's getting close to us.

Why not call in air now?

They may be trying to,

but they're just worried

about collateral damage

and affecting the people,

which you don't want to take out

innocent people,

but, you know,

what's more important...

your Marines

or the guys shooting at you?

What do you think the Taliban fighters

are doing now?

Probably low on ammo.

Kick that leg across.

Swing it!

Yeah, I'm worried about you

getting an infection

in that f***ing sore, dude.

Keep it out of the water.

Jump over there.

Go, go, go, go, go!

Push him.

Help him get up here.

Crawl to the top, hold fast.

Hurry up!

Altogether, I've seen about 40.

Using really good tactics.

They've been f***ing hiding

AK-47s in one spot

then moving them to another.

And when they finish that spot,

they run to another spot

that's actually a good,

good hidden place,

have the AK-47 there,

and they shoot off the ground,

and they move again,

do the same thing over again.

It's not just one guy spraying

like we're used to.

These guys actually know

what they're doing.

Hey, there's women and children

in the building!

Women and children in the building!

Weapons tight.

We're going in. Let's go.

We need a f***ing ax or something.

- You got 'em.

- A shovel.

Let's get it.

Let's get holes in these walls.

Roger. We're taking contact

from Building 30. Break.

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