The exact opposite of Murthafucker, LC & IB Major Bryan is up and running from A-stan and has his first post up. He told me in an e-mail that 20 hour days isn’t real conducive to active blogging. I would call him a pussy, but I ain’t one to talk to lately

In any case, he’s hoping to do one or two posts a week, and knowing the good Major as I do, they should be very insightful. If any of ya’ll read him on a regular basis prior to his latest deployment, be sure to check back in with him again.

He once wore the same uniform I did. And he betrayed that uniform, besmirching the honor of my beloved Corps.  For that, and for that alone I wouldn’t piss on his grave. For his family, who knew him as something other than a boil on the ass of a shitbird maggot, I feel sorrow for, and offer my condolences. For the Haditha Marines he slandered, and for the veterans of the Long War he defamed, and for the honor of my Corps; may he roast in hell. Good riddance, may the world forget you ever claimed the title United States Marine.

Well, it passed fairly unnoticed, its importance recognized only by those who were there, and those who have paid attention. On Saturday January 23 the United States Marine Corps turned over responsibility for operations in Al Anbar Province to the United States Army. The last Marine combat operation had been run on January 14th, and it was time for the last Marine infantry battalion still in Iraq, 3rd battalion 24th Marines, to leave. The Army’s 1st Armored Division assumed control for both Anbar and Baghdad provinces.

Anbar was once the heart of the Iraqi insurgency. Cities such as Ramadi and Fallujah were scenes of the fiercest fighting of the entire war, and some of the worst house to house fighting the Corps had faced since Hue in 1968. But after 5 years of hard fighting, of conventional slug fests, IED and VBIED bombings, and COIN warfare, the insurgency was crushed. Iraqis lined up under mortar and sniper fire to vote. Queue’s of volunteers for the fledgling Iraqi Army and National Police were shelled and car bombed. The survivors closed ranks and lined up again, defiantly daring the AQI to hit them again. Iraqis were trained, tested, and blooded; and now stand in place of the U.S. troops they admired and wanted to emulate.  And the whole time the Iraqis were struggling to stand on their own and begin building their own country, one free of Baathist tyranny, the U.S. military fought to provide them the environment they needed to be able to take their rightful place in the community of nations.

In the face of a ruthless enemy our military prevailed. While fifth columnists at home called the war evil, our warriors ignorant dupes, the cause unjust, the vicious butchers that were our enemy “freedom fighters”; while they did everything they could to ensure our defeat, our men prevailed. They efficiently and ruthless liquidated the enemy with one hand, while they caressed the children and innocents of Iraq with the other. They performed magnificently, and they won.

Much will be said over the next year about our “responsible draw down” from Iraq. They will say that the war has “ended”. Obama will claim credit for “bringing our troops home”. But few will dare to call it victory. Fewer still will admit that the troop withdrawals were agreed to in the Status of Forces Agreement in 2008. And even fewer that it was made possible by the tactical and strategic victories of 2003 – 2008.

No, they will not claim victory, but make no mistake that it is exactly that. We defeated Saddam Husseins Iraq. In it’s place we sowed the seeds of a western style democracy in the heart of the Islamic world, right next door to the evil theocracy of the Iranian Republic, the birthplace and spiritual heart of the modern Islamo-fascist movement. And we drew in thousands of Jihadi’s into a battlespace of our choosing, where our tactics, techniques, and equipment could perform at their peak efficiency. And we slaughtered them. In our way, not theirs.

The war that Harry Reid triumphantly claimed was lost, was instead won on the dusty roads of Anbar province. It was won in the parlors of tribal chiefs over chia and hookas. It was won in the hearts and minds of the Anbar Sunnis and the Baghdad and Diyala Shias. It was won by the very same men who are now leaving, coming home to a nation who will little notice their return.

In March of 2003 some of the very first Marines to cross the border into Iraq were the Scouts and CAAT teams of 4th Tank Battalion. The very same platoon, loaned out to 3/24 for the final deployment, was part of the  last combat operation on January 14th. In fact, some of the very same men were there for both. It was a long, hard fight in between. And they, WE, prevailed. No play of semantics can take away what they, and by extension what we as a nation, accomplished.

As of this morning those Marines, the men of Scout Platoon, 3/24, the last combat Marines in Iraq, are in Camp Pendleton California.

No one, no bastard here in the world, can ever take away what you and your predecessors did. I’m proud to call you, and the war fighters of all of our branches, my countrymen.

Welcome Home Marines, and congratulations on a job well done, well done indeed.

Semper Fidelis.