May 13, 2005
A day in the life
Go here for a video of one incident in the day of the life of a Marine in combat.
The video was filmed by some Air Force Joint Tactical Air Controllers
(JTAC) in Tal Afar, west of Mosul. They were with a Marine Advisor Support Team - they are attached to Iraqi units and help train their forces on a day- to-day basis - who where in a fairly sustained firefight in the streets of Tal Afar with about 3 Anti-Iraqi Forces (AIF). They set their video camera on the bumper of their Up-Armored HMMWV which they were using for cover.
You can hear them shooting back and forth. The rounds you can hear are from the Marines and the ones you hear pinging against the side of the vehicle with no accompanying pop are from the AIF.
When the JTACs say they just "fired rifle" that means the aircraft
just launched the Maverick. You can hear it come in and see it strike
the vehicle the AIF were using for cover.