The reason why it was a miserable op is mostly associated with the extreme heat we had to experience. With daily temperatures over 120 degrees Fahrenheit and having access to only a limited supply of ice meant for a long and hot day. That and doing patrols to try and find an enemy that doesn’t want to fight while trying to avoid IEDs. I did have a little bit of excitement when a vehicle would venture too close to our patrol. I did get to fire a couple of warning shots at vehicles and this one time a round ricocheted off the street towards a crowd of people. Thankfully, no one was hurt, just some pissed off people. If we weren’t doing patrols then it was manning guard posts throughout the day and night. Really just a long and boring op with little resistance.
Unfortunately, a weapons platoon patrol was hit with an IED that wounded a couple of Marines and killed one of our corpsmen. Along with 1 Iraqi soldier killed with a couple wounded. The corpsman was HM3 “Doc” Youngblood, Travis. He joined our company during our pre-deployment training at 29 Palms. He is married with 1 child and another on the way. I never talked to him, but from what other people say, he was a professional at his job and always maintained a positive mood when things weren’t going that well.
HM3 "Doc" Travis L. Youngblood
KIA July 21, 2005
On a more positive note, my squad, along with some Iraqi soldiers, got ahold of some teddy bears. We attached them to our helmets and did a patrol that way. We did get some odd looks from the adult population, but the kids really enjoyed seeing us. We passed them out along the patrol to the kids along with some candy. It was a good time.
