Everyone,

  Over the next few days you will see on the television news shows, and in
the print news media the story of a Military Police Squad who are heroes.
Through those outlets, I doubt that their story will get out in a truly
descriptive manner.  I can't express to you the pride, awe, and respect I
feel for the soldiers of call sign Raven 42. 


  On Sunday afternoon, in a very bad section of scrub-land called Salman
Pak, on the southeastern outskirts of Baghdad, 40 to 50 heavily-armed Iraqi
insurgents attacked a convoy of 30 civilian tractor trailer trucks that were
moving supplies for the coalition forces, along an Alternate Supply Route.
These tractor trailers, driven by third country nationals (primarily
Turkish), were escorted by 3 armored Hummers from the COSCOM.  When the
insurgents attacked, one of the Hummers was in their kill zone and the three
soldiers aboard were immediately wounded, and the platform taken under heavy
machinegun and RPG fire.  Along with them, three of the truck drivers were
killed, 6 were wounded in the tractor trailer trucks.  The enemy attacked
from a farmer's barren field next to the road, with a tree line
perpendicular to the ASR, two dry irrigation ditches forming a rough
L-shaped trenchline, and a house standing off the dirt road.  After three
minutes of sustained fire, a squad o
f enemy moved forward toward the disabled and suppressed trucks.  Each of
the enemy had hand-cuffs and were looking to take hostages for ransom or
worse, to take those three wounded US soldiers for more internet beheadings.


  About this time, three armored Hummers that formed the MP Squad under
call sign Raven 42, 617th MP Co, Kentucky National Guard, assigned to the
503rd MP Bn (Fort Bragg), 18th MP Bde, arrived on the scene like the
cavalry.  The squad had been shadowing the convoy from a distance behind the
last vehicle, and when the convoy trucks stopped and became backed up from
the initial attack, the squad sped up, paralleled the convoy up the shoulder
of the road, and moved to the sound of gunfire.  They arrived on the scene
just as a squad of about ten enemy had moved forward across the farmer's
field and were about 20 meters from the road.  The MP squad opened fire with
.50 cal machineguns and Mk19 grenade launchers and drove across the front of
the enemy's kill zone, between the enemy and the trucks, drawing fire off of
the tractor trailers.  The MP's crossed the kill zone and then turned up an
access road at a right angle to the ASR and next to the field full of enemy
fighters.  The
three vehicles, carrying nine MPs and one medic, stopped in a line on the
dirt access road and flanked the enemy positions with plunging fire from the
.50 cal and the SAW machinegun (Squad Automatic Weapon).   In front of them,
was a line of seven sedans, with all their doors and trunk lids open, the
getaway cars and the lone two story house off on their left.

   Immediately the middle vehicle was hit by an RPG knocking the gunner
unconscious from his turret and down into the vehicle.  The Vehicle
Commander (the TC), the squad's leader, thought the gunner was dead, but
tried to treat him from inside the vehicle.  Simultaneously, the rear
vehicle's driver and TC, section leader two, open their doors and dismount
to fight, while their gunner continued firing from his position in the gun
platform on top of the Hummer.  Immediately, all three fall under heavy
return machinegun fire, wounded.  The driver of the middle vehicle saw them
fall out the rearview mirror, dismounts and sprints to get into the third
vehicle and take up the SAW on top the vehicle.  The Squad's medic dismounts
from that third vehicle, and joined by the first vehicle's driver (CLS
trained) who sprinted back to join him, begins combat life-saving techniques
to treat the three wounded MPs.  The gunner on the floor of the second
vehicle is revived by his TC, the squad leader, and he climbs back into the .50 cal and opens fire.  The Squad leader dismounted with his M4 carbine, and 2 hand grenades, grabbed the
section leader out of the first vehicle who had rendered radio reports of
their first contact.  The two of them, squad leader Staff Sergeant and team
leader Sergeant with her M4 and M203 grenade launcher, rush the nearest
ditch about 20 meters away to start clearing the natural trenchline.  The
enemy has gone into the ditches and is hiding behind several small trees in
the back of the lot.  The .50 cal and SAW flanking fire tears apart the ten
in the lead trenchline.

  Meanwhile, the two treating the three wounded on the ground at the rear
vehicle come under sniper fire from the lone house.  Each of them, remember
one is a medic, pull out AT-4 rocket launchers from the HMMWV and
nearly-simultaneously fire the rockets into the house to neutralize the
shooter.  The two sergeants work their way up the trenchline, throwing
grenades, firing grenades from the launcher, and firing their M4s.  The
sergeant runs low on ammo and runs back to a vehicle to reload.  She moves
to her squad leader's vehicle, and because this squad is led so well, she
knows exactly where to reach her arm blindly into a different vehicle to
find ammo-because each vehicle is packed exactly the same, with discipline.
As she turns to move back to the trenchline, Gunner in two sees an AIF jump
from behind one of the cars and start firing on the Sergeant.  He pulls his
9mm, because the .50 cal is pointed in the other direction, and shoots five
rounds wounding him.  The serge
ant moves back to the trenchline under fire from the back of the field, with
fresh mags, two more grenades, and three more M203 rounds.  The Mk 19 gunner
suppresses the rear of the field.  Now, rejoined with the squad leader, the
two sergeants continue clearing the enemy from the trenchline, until they
see no more movement.  A lone man with an RPG launcher on his shoulder steps
from behind a tree and prepares to fire on the three Hummers and is killed
with a single aimed SAW shot thru the head by the previously knocked out
gunner on platform two, who now has a SAW out to supplement the .50 cal in
the mount.  The team leader sergeant, she claims four killed by aimed M4
shots.  The Squad Leader, he threw four grenades taking out at least two
baddies, and attributes one other to her aimed M203 fire.  

  The gunner on platform two, previously knocked out from a hit by the RPG,
has now swung his .50 cal around and, realizing that the line of vehicles
represents a hazard and possible getaway for the bad guys, starts shooting
the .50cal into the engine blocks until his field of fire is limited.  He
realizes that his vehicle is still running despite the RPG hit, and drops
down from his weapon, into the drivers seat and moves the vehicle forward on
two flat tires about 100 meters into a better firing position.  Just then,
the vehicle dies, oil spraying everywhere.  He remounts his .50 cal and
continues shooting the remaining of the seven cars lined up and ready for a
get-away that wasn't to happen.  The fire dies down about then, and a second
squad arrives on the scene, dismounts and helps the two giving first aid to
the wounded at platform three.  Two minutes later three other squads from
the 617th arrive, along with the CO, and the field is secured, consolidation
begins.

  Those seven Americans (with the three wounded) killed in total 24 heavily
armed enemy, wounded 6 (two later died), and captured one unwounded, who
feigned injury to escape the fight.  They seized 22 AK-47s, 6x RPG launchers
w/ 16 rockets, 13x RPK machineguns, 3x PKM machineguns, 40 hand grenades,
123 fully loaded 30-rd AK magazines, 52 empty mags, and 10 belts of 2500 rds
of PK ammo.



  The three wounded MPs have been evacuated to Landstuhl.  One lost a kidney
and will be paralyzed.  The other two will most likely recover, though one
will forever have a bullet lodged between second and third ribs below his
heart.  No word on the three COSCOM soldiers wounded in the initial volleys.

  Of the 7 members of Raven 42 who walked away, two are Caucasian Women, the
rest men--one is Mexican-American, the medic is African-American, and the
other two are Caucasian-the great American melting pot.  They believed even
before this fight that their NCOs were the best in the Army, and that they
have the best squad in the Army.  The Medic who fired the AT-4, said he
remembered how from the week before when his squad leader forced him to
train on it, though he didn't think as a medic he would ever use one.  He
said he chose to use it in that moment to protect the three wounded on the
ground in front of him, once they came under fire from the building.  The
day before this mission, they took the new RFI bandoliers that were recently
issued, and experimented with mounting them in their vehicles.  Once they
figured out how, they pre-loaded a second basic load of ammo into magazines,
put them into the bandoliers, and mounted them in their vehicles---the same
exact way in every vehicle-load plans enforced and checked by leaders!  Leadership under
fire--once those three leaders (NCOs) stepped out of their vehicles, the
squad was committed to the fight. 

  Their only complaints in the AAR were: the lack of stopping power in the
9mm; the .50 cal incendiary rounds they are issued in lieu of ball ammo
(shortage of ball in the inventory) didn't have the penetrating power needed
to pierce the walls of the building;  and that everyone in the squad was not
CLS trained. 

  Yesterday, Monday, was spent with the chaplain and the chain of command
conducting AARs.  Today, every news media in theater wanted them.  Good
Morning America, NBC, CBS, FOX, ABC, Stars and Stripes, and many radio
stations from Kentucky all were lined up today.  The female E5 Sergeant who
fought thru the trenchline will become the anti-Jessica Lynch media poster
child.  She and her squad leader deserve every bit of recognition they will
get, and more.  They all do. 



  I participated in their AAR as the BDE S2, and am helping in putting
together an action report to justify future valor awards.  Lets not talk
about women in combat.  Lets not talk about the new Close Combat Badge not
including MPs.