CATAGORIES: COMMENTARY,FEEL GOOD STORIES,IRAQ & AFGHANISTAN,MILITARY,REAL HEROES,SCARY STUFF,USMC / MARINE CORPS / SEMPER FI — Yarbz @ 8:34 am

With people like this in the Marine Corps and other branches of the American military we’re obviously in good hands. Remember the pressure and difficulty Wooldridge and others endure daily as well as the everyday heroic the actions of our troops when we feel like bitching and moaning about poor weather, no raise this year, having a head cold, our team loses on Sunday or whatever… Semper Fi, -Yarbz

Below is an excerpt regarding the actions of one Cpl Clifford Wooldridge:

On 18 June 2010, CAAT White Bravo was screening in the Musa Qal’eh Wadi when it came under intense and accurate machine gun fire. After the vehicles returned fire, dismounts were pushed out to close with the enemy. Once the dismounts moved away from the vehicles, the company began receiving indications and warnings that the enemy was preparing an ambush for the dismounted squad. Corporal Wooldridge took his fire team and pushed around the suspected enemy flank. During the movement, Corporal Wooldridge’s fire team received fire from a tree line 100 meters away. Corporal Wooldridge directed his Marines to return fire and close on the tree line.

Once Corporal Wooldridge arrived at the tree line, his Marines noticed approximately 15 enemy fighters carrying machine guns, Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG) and rifles. The fighters were gathering in preparation to ambush the other portion of the dismounted squad. Corporal Wooldridge emplaced his Marines and proceeded to engage the enemy fighters. During the engagement, Corporal Wooldridge and his Marines killed five enemy fighters, wounded three, and forced the others to break contact and run away behind the compound. While his Marines held observation on the downed enemy fighters and waited to link up with the rest of the squad, Corporal Wooldridge picked up flank security. While on flank security, he heard voices around the corner of an adjacent wall.

Corporal Wooldridge then pushed around the corner and saw two enemy fighters moving into an ambush position less than 25 meters away. He immediately engaged with two bursts from his M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon, killing both fighters. Immediately after killing the fighters, he began to re-load his weapon and noticed the barrel of a medium machine gun appear around the corner of a wall less than five feet away from him. Knowing his weapon was out of ammunition, Corporal Wooldridge grabbed the barrel of the enemy’s weapon, threw the fighter to the ground, and became engaged in hand to hand combat. During the fighting, Corporal Wooldridge made multiple attempts to subdue the fighter. When the fighter made an attempt to grab one of his hand grenades Corporal Wooldridge grabbed the enemy’s machine gun and butt stroked the fighter, killing him instantly. Corporal Wooldridge’s bravery and aggression saved the lives of his fellow Marines by forcing the enemy to withdraw from the ambush and dealt the enemy a tremendous defeat and instilled fear in the remaining fighters.