After weeks of preparation, the U.S. launches a
full-scale assault to take back Fallujah. TIME
follows one platoon as it carries out the most
dangerous operation since the beginning of the
war
By
MICHAEL WARE
"We're not going to die!" yells Staff Sergeant David
Bellavia as his rattled platoon of soldiers takes
cover from machine-gun fire in the streets of
Fallujah. The platoon has been ordered to hunt down
and kill a group of insurgents hiding somewhere in a
block of 12 darkened houses. It is 1:45 a.m., and the
soldiers have been running from fire fight to fire
fight for 48 hours straight with no sleep, fueled
only by the modest pickings from their ration packs.
As they searched through nine of the houses on the
block, the soldiers turned up nothing. When they
trudged into the 10th house, though, a trap was
sprung: the insurgents had lured them in and then
opened fire, forcing Bellavia's men to scramble out
of the house as shards of glass peppered them and
bullets ricocheted off the gates of the courtyard.
Bellavia yelled for a Bradley armored fighting
vehicle to get "up here now!" The Bradley drew along
the gate and poured 25-mm-cannon and M-240
machine-gun fire into the house, blasting a shower of
concrete chips and luminescent sparks.
Bellavia, a wiry 29-year-old who resembles Sean Penn,
is pacing the street, preparing to go back in.
Bellavia's bluster on the battlefield contrasts with
his refinement off it. During lulls in the fighting,
he could discuss the Renaissance and East European
politics. "Get on me now," he says, ordering his
squad to close in. There is little movement. He asks
who has more ammunition. Two soldiers stand up and
join him in the street. "Here we go, Charlie's
Angels," Bellavia says. "You don't move from my
goddam wing. You stay on my right shoulder. You stay
on my left shoulder. Hooah?" The men nod. "I wanna go
in there and go after 'em."
Reaching the barred window near the front door,
Bellavia tells two soldiers to perch by the house
corner and watch for insurgents trying to leap out
the side window. He looks at Staff Sergeant Scott
Lawson and says, "You're f______ coming. Give
suppressive fire at 45 degrees." Bellavia and Lawson
step nervously into the house. From the living room,
Bellavia rounds the corner into the hallway. The
insurgents are still alive. Their AK-47s fire.
Bellavia fires back, killing them both. "Two f_____s
down," he says.
Lawson stays downstairs while Bellavia scours the
first floor for more insurgents. A string of
rapid-fire single shots ring out. Then silence. Then
a low, pained moaning. The two soldiers waiting in
the courtyard call out to Bellavia, "Hey, Sergeant
Bell," but get no response. "Sergeant Bell is not
answering," a message is shouted back to the platoon
members across the street. "We need more guys." The
platoon's other staff sergeant, Colin Fitts, 26,
steps up. "Let's go," he says.
Fitts takes a small team over the road. "Terminators
coming in," he bellows as he goes inside, using the
unit's name in a code to warn that friendly forces
are entering. Inside they find Bellavia alive and on
the hunt. Upstairs he scans the bedrooms. An
insurgent jumps out of the cupboard. Bellavia falls
down and fires, spraying the man with bullets. At
some point another insurgent drops out of the
ceiling. Yet another runs to a window and makes for
the garden. Bellavia hits him in the legs and lower
back as he flees. When it's over, four insurgents are
dead; another has escaped badly wounded. To Bellavia,
Fitts says, "That's a good job, dude. You're a better
man than me." Bellavia shakes his head. "No, no, no,"
he mutters.
When it kicked off last week, the battle of Fallujah
was billed as a climactic clash between roughly
10,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines and about 2,000
newly minted Iraqi fighting men against the 1,500 to
3,000 armed militants who have turned the city into
Iraq's biggest insurgent haven. But the battle has
not involved any single Armageddon-style showdown
with massed insurgent forces. Instead, for men like
the soldiers of Alpha Company's 3rd Platoon, part of
Task Force 2-2, the fight was far more intense,
chaotic and harrowing. The Americans battled armed
insurgents not just street to street or even house to
house, but also up close and personal with their
enemy, fighting him room to room at point-blank
range. Measured by the military's strategic
objectives, the assault's first few days produced
success. U.S. forces, led by the members of Task
Force 2-2, swept down from the north and punched deep
into the city, seizing one of Fallujah's most
important assets, Highway 10. The Army's assault
opened the way for more forces to pour into the
center of Fallujah and advance toward the south of
the city, with the intent of delivering a blow to an
insurgency that has overrun parts of Iraq. Ripping
out the heart of the resistance in Fallujah is a
necessary step to prevent the insurgents from tearing
the country apart.
The U.S. offensive has left much of Fallujah in
ruins, as air strikes, artillery barrages and ground
fighting destroyed homes and damaged many of the
city's mosques. It's impossible to count the number
of enemy slain across Fallujah, but the attrition of
insurgent forces in the city was decisive. In the
long run, however, the rebels haven't been beaten.
From the nature of the fight and interviews with
insurgents before the attack, it seems clear the
nationalist and jihadist leadership had by and large
already left the city along with much of their ranks,
leaving behind, in classic guerrilla style, a
rearguard detail to harass and interdict U.S. forces.
The Americans in Fallujah got a taste of what they
may confront across Iraq's restive Sunni triangle as
the military command attempts to root out the
insurgents from their sanctuaries. They are a
tenacious enemy who fight as any guerrilla force
might--never head on, always from behind or the sides
at moments when it's least expected, initiating
combat at weak points and then pulling back to
strongholds, ducking and weaving all the while.
The U.S. invasion of Fallujah exacted a price. Of
roughly 400 men and women from Task Force 2-2, four
were killed in action. All told, the battle's first
days left at least 24 service members dead and more
than 200 wounded. It was a stunning success
militarily, but in human terms each loss was deeply
felt, etched into the face and being of every
soldier. For those who were there, the manner in
which this battle was fought and victory claimed will
never be forgotten. These are a few of their stories.
Shortly after 7 p.m. on Monday night, Alpha Company
paved the road into Fallujah. Engineers used a
minesweeper to shoot forward 100-yd. lines of C-4
explosive to destroy or trigger any booby traps in
its path. Battle tanks followed a channel marked in
chemical lights, taking positions on the railway berm
to cover 3rd Platoon's advance to Objective Lion, a
hunk of two- and three-story buildings known to be
insurgent strong points. It would be the foothold for
the entire Task Force's advance.
Within the Bradley's cramped and musty hold, the
shock of the minesweeper's explosion was felt by the
infantrymen huddled inside. Among them is Fitts, a
lithe, expressive Mississippian and father of three
who joined the military eight years ago. He warns his
team to "get ready to get out of this big metal
bitch." With the bulk of the Marine-led assault force
poised on the northern side of the railway, 3rd
Platoon plowed forward, bringing its Bradleys to a
halt beneath Fallujah's first houses. The platoon
radio net crackled, "Drop ramp. All 3rd Platoon
elements drop ramp, drop ramp." And with that, the
ground battle began.
Despite all the intel showing heavy movement within
the buildings, Object Lion was not defended. But in
the street behind it, a mammoth propane tank lay on
its side; wire ran from it to a nearby house. A squad
was detailed, and went in only to come scurrying
straight back out. The presence of gas cans and a car
battery suggested that the propane tank and probably
the house were rigged to blow.
It was a sign of things to come. Two days later, the
platoon took up a position in a three-story house,
overlooking the platoon's new domain. In the side
street below, twin bombs erupted. A detonator cord
led to the adjoining home, and someone thought he saw
movement. The platoon lit up the house with volleys
of automatic fire, tripping a battery of hidden
devices. The house blew forward, and a young sergeant
on a balcony took shrapnel in his groin. At every
stop in its advance, the Wolf Pack, as 3rd Platoon is
dubbed, found countless bombs, plus doors booby
trapped and walls set with explosives. The enemy
tactic accounted for the soldiers' unforgiving
approach to entering buildings, traversing streets
and tackling even lone snipers: if it looks
suspicious or shoots at you, blow it up with a
grenade, a cannon or the main gun of a tank. The U.S.
didn't plan on taking any chances.
By dawn the next day, the Wolf Pack had reached
Objective Cougar, the Imam al-Shafi Mosque that
insurgent leaders used as a meeting point and command
center. It sat midway down 3rd Platoon's southward
advance through Fallujah's Askari district, home to
many former Iraqi military officers. It had been long
evacuated and been heavily fortified in anticipation
of a U.S. invasion, but commanders had received
reports that as many as 150 foreign fighters were
ensconced in the area; the battle figured to be
tough. Footage taken by an aerial drone earlier in
the week showed that the area was strewn with buried
explosives. When a U.S. warplane dropped a 500-lb.
bomb on a weapons cache, it set off a daisy chain of
roadside bombs for 100 yds. along either side of the
block. Hoping to stymie any U.S. advance and herd
troops into canalized killing zones, insurgents
positioned dirt-filled barriers and concrete blast
walls throughout the streets. The raw materials they
were using had been supplied by the U.S.-led
coalition to the Iraqi police and Iraqi National
Guard in Fallujah, many of whose ranks have since
joined the insurgency.
To breach the mosque and allow Iraqi Intervention
Forces to search it, the U.S. employed a Bradley to
smash the compound's walls after 25-mm cannon rounds
failed to dent its iron gates. The Wolf Pack searched
and secured a three-story building, taking a high
spot overlooking the mosque and its minaret. At night
it almost felt safe inside, but daylight brought the
snipers and insurgent cells out into the streets. The
attack started in the east but was soon joined by
shooting from the north. From three edges of the
roof, the soldiers fired at the insurgents, who wore
tracksuit pants and the uniforms of the Iraqi
National Guard as they dashed back and forth across
roads or popped up in windows. The fight lasted
nearly two hours. The young grunts defended
themselves with all manner of fire, including AT4
antitank rockets, M-203 40-mm grenade launchers and
TOW missiles from the Bradleys supporting them. A
young sergeant went down, shrapnel or a bullet
fragment lodging in his cheek. After checking
himself, he went back to returning fire.
The heaviest fighting was still to come. The next day
the 3rd Platoon and the rest of Task Force 2-2
reached Phase Line Fran, Fallujah's central bisecting
road. From there they could stare into the city's
notorious industrial area, a hot spot particularly
for foreign fighters and the scene of innumerable
past battles with the Marines. Sporadic gunfire from
the decaying warehouses, cement plants and junkyards
provoked U.S. tanks to unleash high-explosive rounds
at insurgent positions. The Wolf Pack's fire-support
officer called in mortar fire on buildings and
locations where movement was seen. Even in lulls in
the gunplay, the Fallujah sound track was alive with
detonations and the whomps of tank rounds.
The insurgents had studied the Americans' methods
well. To negate the U.S.'s preference to fight in the
dark using night-vision equipment, the insurgents
focused their attacks in the dim light of dawn and
dusk. As the sun set, a decrepit warehouse suddenly
sparkled with at least a dozen muzzle flashes.
Bullets flew thick over the unit's commandeered
building. "Look at the industrial complex," Bellavia
yelled at his men. "I want you to shoot, shoot." The
Wolf Pack lashed back with chattering
automatic-weapons fire. A sister platoon, bunkered
down a few hundred yards to the west, joined in,
bringing a deadly cross fire to bear on the
insurgents. Streams of red tracers scorched into the
building as a soft golden sun emblazoned a graying
sky.
"The enemy picture is so murky we just don't know
anything for sure except for what you see with your
own eyes," Alpha Company's commander, Captain Sean
Sims, told his officers. The soldiers pushed south
into the industrial zone along the eastern corridor,
moving into the thick of the cement plants and
metal-strewn yards. The soldiers geared up to drive
into the teeth of the resistance--the kind of fight
the military had been spoiling for. JDAMs rocked the
earth and artillery carved a path forward as the
sounds of fire fights resonated in all directions.
Winding their armor through the desolate buildings
bound for their first target--Objective Bud,
identified as a congregating point for foreign
fighters--the Wolf Pack started taking fire
immediately. A Bradley vehicle piloted by Sergeant
First Class James Cantrell shuddered and filled with
dust as it ran over a roadside bomb. The blast was so
powerful it was at first mistaken for a bomb dropped
by one of the many warplanes screeching overhead.
"Goddam," said Fitts, locked down inside the
mechanical beast, his shotgun nestled under his chin.
Within minutes, a thumping clunk beat the vehicle's
left side. "Damn, an RPG," shouted a soldier. When
they reached Objective Bud, a figure was seen
scurrying through a window. The 3rd Platoon spilled
into the compound, cutting off any escape. Cantrell
maneuvered his Bradley to face the building. The
high-explosive rounds set the bottom floor ablaze.
First Lieutenant Joaquin Meno called up for the first
story to be torched as well. "Let the f_____ burn,"
said a squad leader. When a group of insurgents
brandishing RPGs was spotted 400 yds. south, Meno
called in mortar fire from the rear and Abrams tank
fire from the front. The insurgents had no chance.
"Hey, LT, good call. That's perfect," said Bellavia.
As if to punctuate the score, a direct hit on the
building where the insurgents had taken cover set off
repeated secondary explosions.
Late that night, while waiting for the Marines to
match the pace of 2-2's advance, the platoon occupied
a tall house on the northern outskirts of an area
code-named Queens. It gave the exhausted grunts a
rare respite--an hour's sleep. At 4 a.m. they moved
out and took up positions in another building. Within
hours they encountered one of their most vicious
confrontations yet, as insurgents riddled the rooftop
with RPGs and sniper fire. The insurgents weren't
intimidated even by the fury of the tanks, daring to
step from behind corners to vainly hit them with
RPGs. A soldier's ankle was shattered when an RPG
sent concrete flying. Linking up with 1st Platoon to
consolidate its position, the Wolf Pack fended off
the attack.
On Saturday the final assault got under way as the
Wolf Pack drove farther south, positioned to swing
west to complete the sweep of the city. Alpha Company
took more casualties, one a key member that was
particularly bitter, as the battle's end was so
close. As the soldiers evacuated their wounded,
military sources said Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad
Allawi was readying to announce the end of combat in
the recaptured city. As the fighting in Fallujah dies
down, the Wolf Pack and the rest of Task Force 2-2
are due to return to their usual area of operations
in Diyala province north of Baghdad. But with the
insurgents showing little sign of giving up, the
Americans face more battles ahead. The men of 3rd
Platoon just shrug their shoulders at the thought.
It's as though they were bred to fight. Says Fitts:
"I don't know how to do anything else."
* * * * *
Medal
of Honor nomination for SSG David Bellavia
NOTE:
For Mick's cover story in the November 22, 2004 issue
of Time regarding the second battle of Fallujah he
was embedded with Alpha Company's 3rd Platoon, part
of Task Force 2-2. Mick's article and the video he
shot during the operation brought the house-to-house,
room-to-room battle to those of us tucked up safely
at home, although there are neither words nor
pictures that could adequately convey the bravery of
the men sent in to reclaim that troubled city.
Afterwards, Mick was asked to contribute his
eyewitness account to the Medal of Honor nomination
for Staff Sergeant David Bellavia, the man who led
the 2nd Squad. I'm including the nomination document
here because it does describe some of what Mick saw
and (insanely!) did; however, despite the fact that
this is a website devoted to him and his work, please
remember as you read this that he was an observer
there, a bystander who put himself in harm's way on
our behalf so that we readers could understand what
our military goes through in battle. The heroes of
this story are Bellavia and his men.
NARRATIVE NOMINATING
SSG DAVID BELLAVIA
FOR THE MEDAL OF HONOR
DURING OPERATION PHANTOM FURY
FALLUJAH, IRAQ
On the night of 10 November 2004 Third Platoon, A
Company, Task Force 2-2 IN near OBJ Wolf in Fallujah,
Iraq, was ordered to attack to destroy six to eight
Anti Iraqi Forces (AIF). 1LT Edward Iwan, the A
Company Executive Officer, had identified six to
eight AIF who had entered a block of twelve
buildings. These AIF had engaged A55 and tanks from
Team Tank with automatic weapons and rocket fire.
Having a 25 mm cannon malfunction, 1LT Edward Iwan
cordoned off the area and called Third Platoon to
enter and clear all buildings until the AIF were
killed or captured.
The first nine buildings yielded many AK47s, Rocket
Propelled Grenade launchers, rockets, assorted
ammunition, and flak vests. When they came to the
tenth home, SSG Colin Fitts, 1st Squad Leader, led
his squad of soldiers into the house, with four
soldiers from SSG Bellavias 2nd Squad. SGT Hugh Hall,
1st Squad, B Team Leader and SGT Warren Misa 1st
Squad, A Team Leader, established a quick foothold in
the interior of the house. When SGT Misa attempted to
clear the second room he encountered heavy enemy
fire. Two AIF were under a stairwell, well covered
behind a three-foot barrier, engaging SGT Misa and
SPC Lance Ohle as they attempted to move into the
room. At that point, multiple bursts of automatic and
semi-automatic gunfire were exchanged from extremely
close quarters. As rounds impacted near the entry
point of the house, nine Third Platoon soldiers
became fixed inside the house. At that moment, fire
erupted from a kitchen ground floor window onto the
inner cordon in the carport of the house. At one
point, gun fire was being exchanged inside and
outside of the house, as a total of three dismounted
squads from Third Platoon were in contact.
SSG Bellavia quickly requested a M240B machine gun
and a M249 SAW to suppress the AIF under the stairs
in an effort to break contact and consolidate the
platoon. Rounds from the insurgent side of the wall
began impacting through the poorly made plaster.
Multiple soldiers were bleeding from the face from
flying debris. Two soldiers had glass and metal
shards in their face, one soldier had been grazed on
the side of his stomach underneath his vest and at
least six others were bleeding from some cut or
scrape from the point blank fire they were receiving.
As two soldiers answered the request for support, it
became apparent that the entrance to the building was
extremely dangerous from ricocheting rounds.
Rather than place his soldier at risk, SSG Bellavia
moved quickly to come to the aid of the squad. He
exchanged weapon systems with a M249 SAW gunner and
entered the fatal funnel of the room. The enemy was
crouched behind the barrier and continued to fire at
the doorway of the house where SSG Bellavia was
positioned. With enemy rounds impacting around him,
he fired the SAW at a cyclic rate of fire, forcing
the enemy to take cover and allowing the squad to
break contact and move into the street to
consolidate. SSG Bellavias actions undoubtedly saved
the lives of that squad.
As the platoon gathered outside to get accountability
of personnel, two or more AIF engaged Third Platoon
from the roof. Rounds ricocheted off the ground and
SSG Fitts moved his squad to an adjacent building to
over watch the AIF on the roofs. SSG Bellavia grabbed
an M16 rifle and headed back to the outside of the
house. SSG Bellavia called for a Bradley Fighting
Vehicle to come up and suppress the outside of the
building. The high walls of the enemy strong point
made it difficult at close proximity to get
well-aimed 25mm cannon fire into the actual building.
AIF again engaged Third Platoon from windows.
After the BFV suppressed the house, SSG Bellavia
decided to move back inside the house to determine
the effects of the BFV fire and whether the AIF still
occupied the bottom floor of the house. He placed two
SAW gunners and SSG Scott Lawson into the courtyard
as the inner cordon. Michael Ware, a TIME magazine
journalist, entered the house with SSG Bellavia.
SSG Bellavia entered the house and told SSG Lawson to
stay outside until he was needed in the second room.
The only two people that went into the house at first
were Michael Ware and SSG Bellavia. SSG Bellavia
heard AIF whispering from the other side of the wall.
Mr. Ware was told to run out if anything happened
inside the second room. The journalist insisted on
going into the second room. SSG Bellavia got in a low
crouched fighting position and quickly pie wedged the
first room and fired his M16A4. The enemy immediately
fired back with a belt fed RPK machine gun. SSG
Bellavia quickly turned away from the fire. The AIF
had fire superiority and SSG Bellavia didnt have time
to get off well-aimed shots.
As SSG Bellavia moved again to get eyes on the room
and determine the enemy disposition, he identified
one of the AIF loading an RPG launcher. Understanding
how devastating this weapon could be to his platoon,
he moved quickly to eliminate the threat. SSG
Bellavia told Mr. Ware to remain in the first room.
As debris and smoke filled the room the insurgent
with the RPG was killed first near the stairwell. A
second AIF with a PKC machine gun fired as he ran for
the kitchen. SSG Bellavia shot and wounded him in the
back of the shoulder. He was heard screaming from
outside the building. At that point an AIF yelled
from upstairs. SSG Bellavia quickly realized how many
insurgents were in the house. Despite the odds he
continued the assault.
SSG Lawson entered the room with SSG Bellavia. He was
armed with only a 9mm pistol. SSG Lawson was across
the room firing into the kitchen door, and SSG
Bellavia was near the doorway of the master bedroom
using the stairs as his cover. The wounded AIF was
firing back, this time with an AK47. The insurgent
was screaming loudly as he fired. SSG Lawson fired an
entire magazine toward the kitchen, when a piece of
debris lodged in his right shoulder. Thinking he was
shot and with only one 9mm magazine remaining, SSG
Bellavia told him to leave to get medical aid and to
retrieve a shotgun with buckshot and other soldiers.
SSG Lawson and Mr. Ware exited the house.
SSG Bellavia realized that his back was facing a room
he had not cleared. In order to secure his position
he entered the master bedroom of the house. SSG
Bellavia heard movement in the room and fired into
the dark corners to clear them by fire. There was a
closet directly in front of him with six closed
doors, and multiple areas of dead space. At that
point an insurgent ran down the stairs and started
firing into the room. SSG Bellavia moved behind a
protruding corner of the wall to acquire cover. Over
the loud noise of small arms fire from across the
hall, he could hear screaming from upstairs and to
his immediate left. Confused and trying to locate if
another insurgent was in the corner of the room, SSG
Bellavia began to scan the room with his PEQ-2A.
Thinking the noise originated from the closet, SSG
Bellavia took a few steps to his left and began to
fire into each door from left to right. Before he
could finish clearing the closet the wounded AIF from
the kitchen ran toward the bedroom door and began
blindly shooting at him from outside. Finding his
position of cover behind the elbow of the wall, SSG
Bellavia fired back. As the enemy fire came closer,
he moved his position into the far opposing corner of
the room. The AIF exposed his shoulders as he fired
into the bedroom and SSG Bellavia fired wounding and
then killing him.
He then noticed a closet door was open and he
witnessed tracer fire hit the side of the room.
Unsure of where the fire originated, SSG Bellavia
looked for a target. Suddenly the insurgent on the
stairs began shooting at him again. As the wounded
AIF turned and exposed his position in the doorway he
was hit and fell near the stairs. He was moaning and
slowly moved away from the door, mortally wounded.
Simultaneously, a closet door opened and clothing
flew everywhere, as an insurgent leapt out and fired
wildly all over the room. In his rush out of the
closet he tripped on something in the closet and the
entire wardrobe fell down resting on the open doors.
This actually was a benefit to SSG Bellavia as it
provided more cover. When the AIF attempted to cross
over the bed, he lost his balance on the mattress and
was shot multiple times. The insurgent fell to the
ground and with his back to the front door, fired an
accurate burst directly into the closet and the wall
near SSG Bellavia. SSG Bellavia crouched low to the
ground, the insurgent was screaming loudly in broken
English. Someone from upstairs was yelling back in
Arabic. SSG Bellavia responded in Arabic in an
attempt to intimidate the men into surrendering. The
insurgent then picked himself up and ran out of the
room and up the stairs. SSG Bellavia fired, missing
the insurgent and then pursued him as he fled up the
stairs. Blood was soaked all over the stairs causing
SSG Bellavia to slip, nearly catching a burst of AK
fire. The wounded AIF turned and shot an automatic
burst from the first landing of the stairs but once
again missed SSG Bellavia, who was now well behind
cover.
Tracking the blood, SSG Bellavia followed the AIF
into a room immediately to the left on the second
story. He heard the AIF inside and tossed a
fragmentary grenade into the room. The blast sent the
screaming AIF onto the second story roof. The AIF
began shooting his weapon in all directions, until it
was empty of ammunition. Bellavia noticed the AIF was
seriously wounded in the right side of his body from
the blast of the grenade. The insurgent stumbled back
into the room and began to dry fire his weapon. As
SSG Bellavia scanned the inside of the room, it was
quickly filling with thick smoke from burning foam
mattresses ignited from the blast. Two AIF could be
heard screaming at each other from a third story of
the building. Not wanting the AIF to give away his
position, SSG Bellavia quickly grabbed the wounded
AIF in a choke hold to keep him quiet. SSG Bellavia
met resistance as he attempted to quiet the screaming
AIF. Bellavia was bit on the arm and struck in the
face with the barrel of the wounded insurgents small
AK47. A .45 caliber pistol shot off against the wall
and SSG Bellavia, whose helmet was loosened when it
was jarred by the barrel of the AK, began to thrash
the AIF in attempts to pacify him. Exchanging blows
in the struggle, SSG Bellavia fearing that the
screaming insurgent was issuing instructions to his
peers upstairs, opened his IBA vest and attempted to
use his front sappy plate to forcibly subdue the
insurgent into compliance. Hearing multiple foot
steps over his position, Bellavia used his Gerber
tactical blade and cut into the left side of the
insurgent's throat. Not wanting to discharge his
weapon as to give away his position and in fear of
the many propane tanks near the wall, SSG Bellavia
bled the insurgent with applied pressure as he was
spastically kicked and scratched in the melee. Two
other insurgents, only feet away yelled to their
comrade in Arabic, simultaneously firing their
weapons. SSG Bellavia confirmed the insurgent was
dead and exited the room as his eyes and the fresh
scratches on his face were stinging from the smoke
and heat of the growing fire.
SSG Bellavia moved to secure the two doors to his
right. Suddenly an AIF dropped down from the third
story roof, onto the second story roof. The AIF
dropped his weapon as he fell to his knees. SSG
Bellavia moved to the window and as the AIF went to
grab his weapon SSG Bellavia shot in his direction
multiple times, wounding him in the lower back. The
AIF was prone and SSG Bellavia assumed he was dead.
He moved to the door leading to the roof and found
the insurgent straddling a large water tank at the
edge of the roof. He shot the remainder of his
ammunition into the insurgent's legs and went back
inside to grab a dead insurgent's weapon. As he moved
inside the house the insurgent fell off the roof and
into the garden. Moments later, five members of Third
Platoon entered and secured the downstairs of the
house and yelled up to SSG Bellavia who was still on
the second floor.
SSG Bellavia moved to link up with the rest of his
platoon. However, before the search could begin for
the fifth or sixth insurgent the platoon was ordered
to move out of the area due to a close air support
mission called in by an adjacent unit.
SSG Bellavia single handedly saved three squads of
his Third Platoon that night, risking his own life by
allowing them to break contact and reorganize. He
then entered and cleared an insurgent strong point,
killing four insurgents and mortally wounding
another.
* * * * *
View the
photographs taken by Yuri Kozyrev
during the battle of Fallujah
* * * * *