Fallujah Offensive Takes Toll on Texas GIs

[jamotto]

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By T.A. BADGER, Associated Press Writer

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Gary Qualls worried a lot after his son went off to war, so he went hunting last week to get his mind off it. When he got home, a letter from Louis was waiting. The young Marine wrote about the Fallujah offensive: "I fear it's a fight for my life. Dad, I need your prayers and advice more than ever." About an hour later, there was a knock on the door.

Louis Qualls, of Temple, was killed on Nov. 16 ÔÇö the latest of 12 soldiers and Marines from Texas killed in combat this month, 10 in the province that includes Fallujah. It was an unusually high toll for one state, even in this deadly month of warfare.

At least 108 U.S. soldiers and Marines have died in combat in Iraq (news - web sites) this month, 99 of them since Nov. 8, the day American-led forces began a successful offensive to subdue the insurgent stronghold. It has been the second-deadliest month for American troops since the Iraq invasion, surpassed only by last April's 135 deaths.

Texas has borne many casualties. Of the 1,230 military members who have died since the beginning of the war, at least 110 were from Texas, or nearly 9 percent. The state has about 7.5 percent of the U.S. population.

Among the Texans killed was Army Capt. Sean Sims, a "soldier's soldier" who once had his wife, a schoolteacher, arrange for her students to send cards and presents to a soldier who hadn't gotten any care packages.

As Sims' company went door to door in Fallujah on Nov. 13 to clear out pockets of resistance, a reporter from the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader tagged along.

"There's always going to be some (insurgents) left," Sims told the reporter. "They'll hide out and snipe at us for two months."

Within hours, Sims and another soldier were hit in an ambush.

He leaves behind an infant son.

"You just don't expect a company commander to be one of those guys that are killed ÔÇö usually they're helping manage the fight," said Army Capt. Patrick Seiber, a former schoolmate in the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University. But Sims "was going to be where the action is."

Marine Staff Sgt. Gene Ramirez, who grew up in San Antonio, could have opted to not return to the war zone because he had already served there and was his family's only surviving son.

His parents ÔÇö his father Pedro also served in the Marines ÔÇö urged him to use that option, but his cousin and fellow Marine Ruben Hernandez Sr. says Ramirez, 28, never would have.

"Gene was a hard charger, man, let me tell you," said Hernandez. "There's nothing I could have told him, or his dad or his mom."

For Hernandez, whose son Ruben Jr. is a Marine sergeant scheduled to be sent to Iraq early next year, Ramirez's death reverberated on several levels. Not only were they related by blood and uniform, Hernandez was also the recruiter who signed up Ramirez for the Marines back in the mid '90s.

"I felt guilty at first ÔÇö 'Maybe if I didn't put him in and had him do something else...'" he said. "Well, he would have gone somewhere else and joined. That's the only thing that I say to myself right now."

Shortly before he was killed on Nov. 9, Marine Staff Sgt. Russell Slay wrote a letter to his family. In it the 28-year-old Humble resident, anticipating death, said his goodbyes to his young children.

He told his 9-year-old daughter Kinlee that he'll miss her, but that she'll always be his little girl and he'll always watch out for her. To 5-year-old Walker, he offered advice that he hoped would put the boy on a less risky career path.

"Be studious, stay in school and stay away from the military," he wrote. "I mean it."

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[Eclipse]

I prefer maintaining minimal allied losses even if the city gets flattened. We'll rebuild it anyway; thats what America does.

[Guest]

We should have just sent in the jets and leveled the entire city, THEN, sent our troops in.

THis whole operation was PC BS as far as I am concerned. We gave the SOB's 2 weeks notice, then attacked with ground troops.

We should have surrounded the city, told every civilian to get out, searched EVERY one of the people that came out, given them a final warning, and then flattened the city around the Inusurgents ears.

I would rather rebuild the city, and kill a few civilians, then lose marines.

We have the air power to do it, we should have used it.