Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Perspective: The Most Dangerous Place in Iraq

Although not identified by name in the article, Nicholas Gibbs is the only soldier slain by gunfire in Ramadi during that time period

There wasn't much blood on the last casualty of the day in Ramadi, the capital of al-Anbar Province. The bandages on the face of the American soldier who arrived at the U.S. field hospital in the area around midnight Dec. 6 were only a little red as medics crowded around him at the operating table. Navy Commander Carlos Brown, the chief surgeon at Camp Ramadi, peered at the bullet wound in the soldier's lower face as his team quickly cut clothes off the man and readied surgical equipment. "Stop," Brown said suddenly. All hands fell away from the table, and everyone grew silent. "He's dead."

The emergency room remained quiet for a moment, but outside a wail of grief went up from one of the soldiers who had rushed their comrade from a nighttime battle in Ramadi to the base hospital. "Jesus f---ing Christ!" the soldier yelled, falling to his knees. A second later several soldiers and Marines from Camp Ramadi were also kneeling with their arms around him as he cried.

Read the rest at Time