November 10th is the 236th Birthday of one of America's national treasures, the United States Marine Corps.

"The Last Six Seconds"

One can hardly conceive of the enormous grief held quietly within Lt General John Kelly, USMC. On 11/13/2010, General Kelly gave a speech to the Semper Fi Society of St. Louis, MO. Only 4 days after his son, Lt Robert Kelly, USMC, was killed by an IED while on his 3rd Combat tour. During his speech, General Kelly spoke of the dedication and valor of our young military who step forward every day to protect us. In his speech, he never mentioned the loss of his son. He closed the speech with the account of the last 6 seconds in the lives of two young Marines who died, rifles blazing protecting their brother Marines.

"I will leave you with a story about the kind of people they are, about the quality of the steel in their backs, about the kind of dedication they bring to our country while they serve in uniform and forever after as vets. Two years ago when I was the Commander of all U.S. and Iraqi forces, in fact, the 22nd of April 2008, two Marine infantry battalions, 1/9 "The Walking Dead," and 2/8 were switching out in Ramadi. One battalion was going home soon, the other just starting its seven-month combat tour. Two Marines, Cpl. Jonathan Yale, 22, and Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter, 20, one from each battalion, were assuming the watch together at the gate of an outpost containing a makeshift barracks housing 50 Marines. The same ramshackle building was also home to 100 Iraqi police, our allies in the fight against the terrorists in Ramadi, a city until recently the most dangerous city on earth and owned by Al Qaeda.

Yale was a dirt poor mixed-race kid from Virginia with a wife and daughter, and a mother and sister who lived with him and whom he supported as well. He did this on a yearly salary of less than $23,000. Haerter, on the other hand, was a middle class white kid from Long Island. They were from two completely different worlds. Had they not joined the Marines they would never have met each other, or understood that multiple America's exist simultaneously depending on one's race, education level, economic status, and birthplace. But they were Marines, combat Marines, forged in the same crucible of Marine training, and through this bond they were brothers as close, or closer, than if they were born of the same woman.

The mission orders they received from their squad leader I am sure went something like, "Okay you two clowns, stand this post and let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass. You clear?" I am also sure Yale and Haerter rolled their eyes and said in unison something like, "Yes, Sergeant," with just enough attitude that made the point without saying the words, "No kidding ‘sweetheart’, we know what we're doing." They then relieved two other Marines on watch and took up their post at the entry control point of Joint Security Station Nasser, in the Sophia section of Ramadi, Al Anbar, Iraq.

A few minutes later a large blue truck turned down the alley way - about 60-70 yds. long, and sped its way through the serpentine of concrete walls. The truck stopped just short of where the two were posted and detonated, killing them both catastrophically. Twenty-four brick masonry houses were damaged or destroyed. A mosque 100 yards away collapsed. The truck's engine landed 200 yards away, knocking a house down before it stopped. Our explosive experts reckoned the blast was made of a ton of explosives.

Because these 2 young men didn't have it in their DNA to run from danger, they saved 150 of their Iraqi and American brothers-in-arms. When I read the situation report about the incident a few hours after it happened I called the regimental commander for details as something about this struck me as different. Marines dying or being seriously wounded is commonplace in combat. We expect Marines regardless of rank or MOS to stand their ground and do their duty, and even die in the process, if that is what the mission takes. But this just seemed different. The regimental commander had just returned from the site and he agreed, but reported that there were no American witnesses - just Iraqi police. If there was a chance of finding out what actually happened and decorate the two Marines for their bravery, I'd have to do it as a combat award that requires two eye-witnesses. The bureaucrats back in Washington would never buy Iraqi statements. If it had a chance at all, it had to be under the signature of a general officer. I went to Ramadi the next day and spoke to 6 Iraqi police who all told the same story.

The truck turned into the alley and immediately sped up through the serpentine. They all said, "We knew immediately what was going on when the 2 Marines began firing." The Iraqi police related that they also fired, and then ran for safety just prior to the explosion. All survived. Many were injured, some seriously. One of them, with tears welling up, said, "They'd run like any normal man would to save his life." "What he didn't know until then," he said, "And what he learned that instant, was that Marines are not normal." Choking past the emotion he said, "Sir, in the name of God no sane man would have stood there and done what they did." "No sane man." "They saved us all." What we didn't know at the time, and only learned a few days later after I wrote a summary and submitted both Yale and Haerter for posthumous Navy Crosses, was that one of our security cameras, damaged in the blast, recorded some of the suicide attack.

It was as the Iraqis described. It took exactly 6 seconds from when the truck entered the alley until it detonated. You can watch the last six seconds of their young lives. Putting myself in their heads I supposed it took about a second for the 2 Marines to separately come to the same conclusion about what was going on once the truck came into view at the far end of the alley. No time to talk it over, or call the sergeant to ask what to do. Only enough time to take half an instant and think about what Sarge told them minutes before, "Let no unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass." They had about 5 seconds left to live. It took maybe another 2 seconds for them to present their weapons, take aim, and open up. By this time the truck was half-way through the barriers and gaining speed. The recording shows a number of Iraqi police, some who fired their AKs, scattering like the normal, rational men they were - some running right past the Marines who had 3 seconds left to live. For about 2 seconds more, the recording shows the Marines' weapons firing non-stop, the truck's windshield exploding into shards of glass as their rounds take it apart and tear into the body of the coward trying to pass them to kill their brothers - American and Iraqi - sleeping in the barracks unaware their lives depend on 2 Marines.

If they had been aware, they’d have known they were safe because 2 Marines stood between them and a crazed suicide bomber. The recording shows the truck careening to a stop immediately in front of the Marines. In all of the instantaneous violence Yale and Haerter never hesitated. By all reports and by the recording, they never stepped back, never even started to step aside, never shifted their weight. Feet shoulder width apart, they leaned into the danger, firing as fast as they could work their weapons. They had 1 second left to live. The truck explodes. The camera goes blank. Two young men go to their God. Six seconds. Not enough time to think about family, country, flag, or their lives or deaths, but more than enough time for 2 very brave young men to do their duty into eternity. That is the kind of people who are on watch all over the world tonight - for you.

We Marines believe that God gave America the greatest gift he could bestow to man while he lived on this earth - freedom. We also believe he gave us another gift nearly as precious - our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Coast Guardsmen, and Marines - to safeguard that gift and guarantee no force on this earth can ever steal it.

It has been my distinct honor to have been with you here today. Rest assured our America, this experiment in democracy which started over two centuries ago, will forever remain the "land of the free and home of the brave" so long as we never run out of tough young Americans who are willing to look beyond their own self-interest and comfortable lives, and go into the darkest and most dangerous places on earth to hunt down, and kill, those who would do us harm. God Bless America, and SEMPER FIDELIS!"

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