November Was A Great Month!

The following is the November update from Major Dan Whisnant:

30 November 2006
Family and Friends of Alpha Company,

I know that there has been a whirlwind of recent news articles and talkshows regarding whether or not there is a civil war waging and whetheror not we are winning here in Iraq. I can only speak for the Marines ofAlpha Company and the 72 square kilometers that we are responsible foralong the Euphrates - your Marines are winning. We have been successfulat killing the enemy from close up and from far away. We have beensuccessful at hunting him down where he is sleeping or hiding! When wehaven't been able to actually catch him we have chased him out of hisold neighborhood into another where he can't have the same effect asbefore. We have the enemy looking over their shoulders constantly. Wemust however continue to do this for the remainder of our time here. Wehave completed 60 days here and this is the point where the Marines knowthe roads, feel like they know the areas and the people. We can't fallinto complacency because we have this 'feeling' of comfort. The enemyis always watching our every move but we will continue to hunt him untilwe get on the plane to go back to our loved ones.
The Marines just completed a large scale operation in a small village tothe south of our area of operations. Every other time that we have beenthere we have received indirect fire from mortars, snipers have shot atus, and we've had some lengthy engagements with the enemy.Additionally, when on patrol we have only found 5 males in the entiretown of about 600. This time though your Marines moved in silentlyunder the cover of darkness and cut-off all the routes out of town. Wegot to talk to over 150 males this time and we even captured severalAl-Qaeda in Iraq (AQIZ) followers and operators. But the real story isthat throughout the entire operation - not one single shot was fired -by either side. Amazing isn't it? The Marines went 36 hours withoutsleep and when they finally did get a chance for some sleep they foundthe cold sandy desert floor as their bed for the 3-4 hours they wereable to get. Then they got up in the morning ready to go at it again.
If you haven't heard yet you all need to be checking outwww.griffsnotes.com on a regular basis. Griff Jenkins is a Fox NewsRadio correspondent who spent several days with us here on the peninsulaand now he is telling the story of the Marines of Alpha Company via hisblog. He's telling it like it is and we greatly respect his willingnessto share the same dangers that the Marines experience everyday.
Semper Fidelis,
Dan Whisnant
Major USMC
Alpha Company1/24
Fallujah, Iraq