Against.the.Odds.S01E06.A.Chance.In.Hell.Battle.For.Ramadi
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00:00You hear the rumors of these huge deep buried IEDs that are just disabling tanks and it's
00:11hard to even fathom what the most dangerous city in Iraq would ever feel like.
00:25I came into country naïve, just like any other charity second lieutenant, didn't know
00:31what I was up against.
00:33Of course I had all the paperwork to prove that I was qualified for the job, but nothing
00:39ever really prepares you for what you're about to face.
00:44We knew it was dangerous, we knew it was violent, but we didn't realize how violent it was.
00:49A Marine Corps intelligence officer says there's no chance the U.S. military can end insurgent
01:06violence in Al Anbar.
01:09Colonel McFarland really took a 180 degree different approach.
01:15He decided that this was something they were going to win.
01:19We are not going to accept the fact that parts of this city are in Al Qaeda's hands.
01:24We are going to take it back.
01:25We are going to go wherever we want, whenever we want.
01:30We're going to take Al Qaeda on head-on.
01:32When Colonel McFarland said that we were going to push into Ramadi, you know, they kind of
01:38took me aside and said, hey, you guys are all going to get killed if you try to do this.
01:46The soldiers just automatically knew where the most dangerous point was on the battlefield,
01:51and they went there on their own.
01:53We were the ones that were on the front line, doing what other people couldn't do.
02:04I knew that it was going to be tough, I mean, no one really knows what it's like to pull
02:08the trigger or what it's like to get shot at, but what I can never really live with
02:14is letting my platoon down.
02:20And that's the amount of trust that, like, that you build.
02:24I would do anything for those guys.
02:44The first thing they do is start firing rockets at the FOB, with the idea of just really attempting
03:03to, I guess, assert themselves as the dominant force in Ramadi.
03:08The frequency that they started shooting indirect fire right when we first got there was two
03:14or three attacks a day, an attempt to get some casualties, an attempt to scare, so to
03:19speak, the new forces that were on the ground.
03:27I came into country naive, just like any other cherry second lieutenant.
03:34Didn't know what I was up against, and of course I had all the paperwork to prove that
03:39I was qualified for the job, but nothing ever really prepares you for what you're about to face.
03:51I was an unproven leader, I mean, we all are until we get to combat.
03:55I was a platoon leader, I was a young man in charge of men who were mostly older than
03:59me, and that's just how the Army worked.
04:01Most of my platoon had already deployed to Iraq, this was their second deployment, and
04:05I was unexperienced out in that way, but I had a lot of confidence.
04:12Our training prior to going to Ramadi for direct action or hostile fire with the enemy
04:17was gunnery, some small arms ranges, but we didn't have the opportunity necessarily to
04:23train on mountain operations, which is urban operations prior to going.
04:28I just didn't know how to anticipate the level of hostility from the insurgents.
04:43Three years after the defeat of Saddam Hussein, the battle against insurgents in Iraq is being
04:49steadily lost to an insurgent force that survives and metastasizes through its near total control
04:56of local populations.
04:59The supposed master weapons, electronic, aerial and armored, have proven impotent against
05:05a foe that materializes out of nowhere and melts back into a population terrorized into
05:11silence and cooperation.
05:15Nowhere is the situation so deteriorated and hopeless as in the city of Ramadi.
05:20By 2006, insurgents roam freely in many parts of the city.
05:26Local government and police forces have all but been eliminated by insurgent intimidation
05:32and terror.
05:34Al Qaeda has arrogantly declared Ramadi its capital, ground zero for a terrorist state,
05:41intent on spreading its control all over Iraq.
05:44That's the scene that Colonel McFarland, the brigade commander, stepped into when he
05:54set foot in Ramadi in May of 2006.
06:02The folks that we are fighting are the same kind of folks that took down the World Trade
06:06Center and drove an airplane into the Pentagon.
06:10And Al Qaeda, they want to establish a caliphate with its heart here in Al Anbar province.
06:18This is our opportunity to stop that vision in its tracks.
06:28The overarching strategy at that time was really something of a commuter war.
06:35You know, Americans were on the large forward operating bases.
06:42The U.S. strategy at the time was to sort of commute out into the conflict during the
06:46day, draw back in at night.
06:49And what that meant is you can't protect the population.
06:52The population is not going to come onto your side if you can't protect them.
06:58Because if they say, we're going to support you, the United States, Al Qaeda is going
07:03to come along and kill you, your family, your kids, and so forth.
07:09The situation just kept getting worse and worse.
07:12So large portions of the city hadn't seen a coalition soldier in probably 8, 10, 12,
07:1716 months by the time we showed up.
07:20There was a plan not to lose.
07:22We were going to hold the roads open.
07:24We were going to keep fighting.
07:25When we had good intelligence, we were going to go do raids and go kick in doors and bring
07:29in terrorists.
07:30But there really wasn't a plan on how we're going to win this thing.
07:36We have learned tonight U.S. forces are apparently preparing to walk away from a big part of
07:41Iraq, the hugely important Anbar province.
07:46A new military intelligence report offers up the most pessimistic assessment yet of
07:50the military prospects for Al Anbar province.
07:54The top secret report by a Marine Corps intelligence officer says there's no chance the U.S.
07:58military can end insurgent violence in Al Anbar.
08:06Ramadi was a sideshow.
08:08It's what the military calls an economy of force mission.
08:12This place out west, it's a Sunni stronghold.
08:15Sit on it so we can concentrate on Baghdad.
08:21Colonel McFarlane really took a 180 degree different approach.
08:26And he decided that this was something they were going to win.
08:33This was not a question of sort of putting a lid on a boiling cauldron.
08:39We are not going to accept the fact that parts of this city are in Al Qaeda's hands.
08:44We are going to take it back.
08:45We are going to go wherever we want, whenever we want.
08:49And we're going to secure the population.
08:51We're going to take Al Qaeda on head on.
08:53Well, we're not going to control, you know,
08:56this one street or this one block for 15, 20 minutes
08:59and then move back into the FOB.
09:01And then the other 23 hours and 45 minutes the insurgents control it.
09:08We're going to go out and we're going to live there.
09:10We're going to live, we're going to live on that street, on that block.
09:13We'll be involved in influencing that neighborhood
09:17and that portion of the city 24 hours a day.
09:19McFarland will send his men directly into the heart of enemy-held territory
09:23where they will live and fight in a series of combat outposts, dubbed COPS.
09:29The mutually supporting sites will secure Ramadi block by bloody block,
09:33pushing the insurgents out of their strongholds
09:36and break the grip of fear and violence that has plagued and suppressed the population.
09:41The streets of Ramadi are turning into the Wild West of Iraq.
09:45...including Anbar, account for more than 80% of the attacks
09:49that we hear about on an almost daily basis.
09:52With Colonel Sean McFarland, a U.S. commander in the area, says troops are making...
09:56Many people who looked at this and said,
09:59well, we're not going to do this, we're not going to do this,
10:02we're not going to do this, we're not going to do this,
10:05we're not going to do this, we're not going to do this,
10:07we're not going to do this, we're not going to do this,
10:10people who looked at this brigade going into Ramadi
10:14basically thought they would fail at what they did.
10:21It's hard to realize in retrospect
10:24just how much the odds were stacked against this unit.
10:31When Colonel McFarland said that we were going to push into Ramadi,
10:34the word was kind of out on the street,
10:36and some of the guys, you know, they kind of took me aside and said,
10:39you guys are all going to get killed if you try to do this,
10:41this is not the answer.
10:45There was no guarantee that by any means
10:48that this tactic was going to work.
10:51Almost certainly it was going to lead to higher casualties.
10:54This is a strategy where you are taking the fight to the enemy.
10:59You're going to pay a price for that.
11:09Ramadi, Ramadi, Ramadi
11:2146-719
11:26McFarland wastes no time
11:28in leading his handful of maverick,
11:30wildly unconventional young officers and soldiers
11:33into dangerously uncharted waters.
11:36He must turn the entire system of war on its head
11:40and replace it with a bold, radical new idea
11:44that will send the men of the 1st Brigade
11:46into the very depths of hell.
11:49And with American troop withdrawals already begun,
11:52time is running out.
12:06I'm so getting this order.
12:10Get down. I'm down.
12:20Yes, sir, I have a positive ID.
12:22There's two red tanks.
12:24Within weeks of arriving in Ramadi,
12:26the 1st Brigade has taken the reins in the battle
12:29for what has become the most dangerous city in Iraq.
12:32Colonel McFarland, Commander 1st Brigade,
12:35has rejected the idea that Ramadi cannot be won
12:38and initiates a radical new plan
12:41meant to take the fight to the enemy.
12:46In a bold move,
12:47Colonel McFarland will thrust combat outposts
12:50directly into the heart of the insurgency-held territory
12:53where his men will live and fight on a 24-hour basis.
12:56He will begin by placing two outposts
12:58on the southern end of the city
13:00to create both a defense line
13:02and begin the initial push inward
13:04to unlock the insurgency's strongholds.
13:11With the launch scheduled for mid-June,
13:13the young men of the 1st Brigade
13:15take to the streets of Ramadi for the first time.
13:18They will be the first to enter the city
13:20and the first to leave the city.
13:22The young men of the 1st Brigade
13:24take to the streets of Ramadi for the first time
13:27as their predecessors hand over control of the deadly city.
13:38What truly set, at least for me personally,
13:41you know, the stage for what I was in for
13:44was probably my first or second patrol.
13:46These terrorists, they hit an Iraqi army.
13:50Mortars start coming in.
13:53And as the mortars are flying in,
13:55a car bomb comes through the serpentine.
14:00It detonates itself and wipes out
14:02just about all the Iraqi army folks that are there.
14:05As we're trying to collect all the casualties
14:08and medevac them out of there and establish security,
14:11we're getting shot at from across the river.
14:14But there's other mortars coming in.
14:16It was this massive little battle
14:19right there in the middle of Ramadan.
14:23But you were ready to go and you were ready to go.
14:26You were prepared.
14:28So you leave your country and you take control
14:30of the city and you leave the city in terror.
14:33little battle right there, you know, on the banks of the Euphrates in Ramadi.
14:43The audacity of that attack really set the tone for me that we're dealing with a serious enemy.
14:52It did seem that there was no amount of pressure that we could exert on this city outside of just
14:59leaving it in rubble that would end the insurgency in Ramadi.
15:23It's a logistical nightmare to do a combat outpost.
15:27It requires an outer perimeter, which means you have to bring in walls, you have to bring in cement barriers.
15:35The amount of trucks that were needed, the amount of outer perimeter walls that were needed, the amount of generators needed,
15:43wire,
15:45engineers.
15:47The point of these things is that you put your unit into them, you live, you sleep, you eat.
15:53Conducting patrols and offensive operations, you do everything you need to do to sustain yourself inside of these combat outposts inside the city.
16:03We were now moving into the enemy's territory.
16:06We were now moving into the neighborhoods that he owned, he controlled, and he wanted to maintain.
16:12We all move in there right around dusk and, you know, the enemy can see us from across the river, I mean, they can they can see what's going on.
16:19All the tanks and the Bradleys and the Humvees and the soldiers and everything else that comes along with it doesn't take a genius to figure out what's coming next.
16:29The most vulnerable point when you set up a combat outpost is really that first day.
16:35One, you're not familiar with the area, you're not familiar with the area.
16:39The other thing that's difficult to do is to keep in mind how the battle was going to unfold.
16:43How the battle was going to unfold, how the battle was going to unfold, how the battle was going to unfold, how the battlefield looked.
16:49And the opportunity for victory to be able to control that battle alone is an amazing opportunity.
16:54One, you're not familiar with the area, you're not familiar with all the angles that you
17:00can be engaged with direct fire at.
17:05You're not familiar with all the potential vehicle avenues of approach that they can
17:09drive vehicle bombs down, and those things you don't know, and the enemy understands
17:13that you are at your weakest point.
17:44Go for the left, the left way, the left way!
17:59I knew that it was going to be tough, I mean, no one really knows what it's like to pull
18:03the trigger or what it's like to get shot at.
18:06And that sense of being naïve quickly changed to probably fear, once I started to realize
18:15how real the threat was, and the only way I was able to cope with that was acceptance.
18:26I fully, fully accepted that I was going to die.
18:31Once I came to terms with that, everything else was easy, and I realized that the worst
18:35thing that can happen is that I die.
18:38But what I can never really live with is letting my platoon down.
18:44And that's the amount of trust that, like, that you build.
18:48So, I would do anything for those guys.
18:51Later, when they had what they called the hero flight, Colonel McFarlane comes out,
18:56as he does to all these ceremonies, and he hears, you know, the reaction.
19:02There's troops, you know, quietly sobbing.
19:05This is, for many of them, their first time in combat.
19:11And realizes that, you know, he's not alone.
19:16In combat.
19:19And realizes that these guys who are seeing this for the first time don't have time to grieve, really.
19:26These guys are going out in several hours back on patrol, and they've got to get back in the game.
19:32This is just the start of a very intense tour.
19:36They're going to see this kind of combat day after day, week after week, month after month.
19:46Ramadi has become a battleground of wills in a war that most feel cannot be won.
19:56For the men of the 1st Brigade, undermanned in a massive city,
20:00pursuing an invisible enemy with a radical new strategy that has plunged them into deadly urban combat,
20:08Ramadi remains the last vestige of hope that the three-year war in Iraq can be turned around.
20:17The Battle of Ramadi
20:33The initial coup of planting two combat outposts on the southern end of Ramadi
20:38quickly comes under pressure as the insurgents viciously attack these bristling targets,
20:43pushing into their vital territory.
20:47But even more threatening to the insurgency,
20:49American patrols are now being conducted on a daily basis throughout the neighborhoods Al-Qaeda had once controlled.
20:56The populace, fearful of contact with the American troops, watch for weeks
21:01as the young soldiers now living amongst them fight and die
21:05to secure their neighborhoods from Al-Qaeda intimidation and retaliation.
21:17That protection begins slowly to open the door to trust, something the insurgency cannot afford.
21:27The enemy is not... they're not morons.
21:30They recognize this as a massive threat.
21:35They don't want you there, and they know if they get pushed out of the city,
21:40they're going to come for you.
21:42They don't want you there, and they know if they get pushed out of the city,
21:46there's no coming back, because they have no sympathy from the population.
21:50So once they get shoved out of the city, there's no going back.
21:54They don't want to give up that terrain.
21:57I got a great sense of the level of danger of patrolling in an urban environment.
22:04There's every kind of window and angle for the enemy to attack you that you cannot anticipate.
22:12You're looking for anything that is out of the ordinary.
22:16You're looking for anything that is out of the ordinary.
22:19You're looking for anything that is out of the ordinary.
22:23You're looking for anything that is out of the ordinary.
22:29Is a gate to a house open that's normally closed?
22:34Is a window half open?
22:37Is there an insurgent behind that window?
22:40All of a sudden, you know, that particular intersection on this street starts to empty out.
22:48There was probably an IED.
22:50There always was.
22:52Every day we would be hit by a roadside bomb.
22:59I'm not going to lie to you.
23:01Every day we would be hit by a roadside bomb.
23:04Every day we would be hit by a roadside bomb.
23:07Every detail mattered in Ramadi.
23:10Every action had a reaction.
23:12And it was a very complex chess game that we were fighting against the enemy.
23:21As the men of the 1st Brigade engage the insurgency in round-the-clock battles,
23:26McFarlane raises the stakes.
23:31With Ramadi now penetrated on all sides by Army and Marine units,
23:37McFarlane prepares to send Bulldog Company
23:40even deeper into enemy-held territory by the city walls.
23:44The deadly operation will require split-second timing
23:47and all the forces the battalion can muster.
23:58Yeah, roger. That's where we're coming.
24:07This was a massive-level operation
24:10to establish one company inside of downtown Ramadi.
24:16We're now going to go from being on the outskirts of the city
24:21to living in the city.
24:25The enemy realized what was going on.
24:29They realized that all this construction,
24:32all this combat,
24:35all this construction, all this combat power,
24:38we were coming to stay.
24:43And this was a major threat to establishing their caliphate in Ramadi.
24:50And they were going to do everything in their power
24:53to get us out of Copal.
25:05Keep moving! Keep moving!
25:21The enemy came out in force with small arms fire, mortar fire,
25:26and everything that they had to try and force us
25:29to go back outside the city.
25:32Go!
25:35Taking the fight to the enemy
25:37is having the impact on the insurgency McFarland had hoped for,
25:41but with unintended and deadly consequences.
25:47As 1st Brigade continues to push the insurgents out block by block,
25:51the ever-increasing scope of the battlefield
25:54is making it impossible to both fight and defend.
25:58With U.S. strategy in Iraq drawing troops down,
26:01McFarland must look in another direction.
26:07He must find a way to turn the overwhelming number
26:10of Ramadi Iraqis,
26:12who have been intimidated into collaborating with the insurgents,
26:16into a force willing, and even eager,
26:19to fight al-Qaeda to the death.
26:22He knows that Iraq is the only place
26:26He knows that Iraq has been a tribal land since time began,
26:30and the real authority will never lie with any central government,
26:34but with the Desert Sheiks,
26:36whose ancient ties of clan and tradition
26:39are acknowledged and bowed to by all.
26:44Behind the scenes, secret meetings with two brother sheiks
26:48have already begun.
26:51But with most of the sheiks remaining unconvinced,
26:55uncommitted, and often aiding the enemy,
26:58the men of the 1st Brigade must keep pushing forward
27:01even as death tears at their ranks.
27:04The time is running out.
27:07Ramadi, like the Battle of the Ardennes,
27:10Kuwait City, or Iwo Jima,
27:13is proving unwinnable by blistering military technology alone.
27:19Ramadi must be won by the only truly indispensable weapon.
27:25The Brotherhood of American Soldiers
27:28fighting not so much for an obscure desert town,
27:32as for one another.
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29:50We found out from one of the residents
29:52that Al-Qaeda had set up their headquarters
29:54about a block away.
29:56This was going to be our first major operation
29:58where we were going to clear it out
30:00and hopefully clear part of the insurgency
30:02out of my portion of the insurgency.
30:04So we're going to do that.
30:06We're going to do that.
30:08We're going to do that.
30:10We're going to do that.
30:12We're going to do that.
30:14We're going to do that.
30:16We're going to do that.
30:19This was going to be my portion of south central Monmouth.
30:28The enemy, you know, I think at some point
30:30started to realize
30:32that if they were going to set up shop
30:34and they need a place to sleep
30:36and they need a place to re supply
30:38chances are we're probably going to find out
30:40about it within a week or two
30:42and we're going to be raiding them at 2 in the morning.
30:44I was going north on Route Jolie, which was one of our most dangerous routes, and I saw
30:54a vehicle that was following us, looking at our movement.
30:57I saw where the vehicle was going, I was reporting it at the headquarters.
31:01I thought I saw something get out of that vehicle, I had a good picture of what it looked
31:04like.
31:05It kept looking around a corner.
31:08He saw the lead Bradley move north on Jolie, but he didn't see my Bradley.
31:14It would have been an easy shot to take, but I wanted to develop the situation.
31:19There you go, that's the right building.
31:22One problem is they can go to any building in about five seconds.
31:29The SEALs were going to take part of the sector, and an infantry platoon was going to take
31:34the other part of the sector.
31:39We were generally taking our normal route, snaking through the alleyways.
31:43We didn't have any vehicles, we were just used in silence to cover in darkness.
31:48So I called up my gun trucks, I gave a route to them that they should take, and it was
31:53the same route that I had taken, because to have a gun truck go down a road that wasn't
31:57cleared was suicide.
32:00The enemy was able to put an IED in the ground and cover it up in a matter of minutes.
32:30As soon as the sun started coming up, that's when the enemy fighters started coming out
32:52in force.
33:05The loudest explosion I ever heard in my life went off.
33:11One of my soldiers, about four guys in front of me, had stepped on an IED.
33:18Here comes my gun trucks.
33:20Again, they had to go up agility, and they had to cross spares.
33:25This intersection, we've hit IEDs there so many times, and I'm on the radio with my lead
33:34gun truck, and as I'm on the radio with turret lands, the entire truck blows up.
33:50And it was the worst IED that I'd ever seen.
33:59The enemy sniper hit SEAL Team Ryan Jobe.
34:03They hit his weapon, shattering the pieces and causing initial blindness, which changed
34:10the whole dynamic of the operation.
34:13Now we have a wounded in action that needed to be medevaced out.
34:22The first thing I remember is I felt the shrapnel penetrate my legs and go throughout the back.
34:28I looked down, and my interpreter next to me had a whole chunk of his knee more or less
34:33ripped off, and he was screaming.
34:36And the soldier who had actually stepped on it, he had one leg entirely ripped off, and
34:41the other one was pretty much gone already.
34:45It was almost like surreal.
34:46I did get on the radio and said, hey, we need a medevac immediately.
34:51It was just absolute chaos.
34:53Okay, we hit the ground.
34:55I've taken control of them.
34:56It's far and clear from the eastern side.
34:58It's far and clear to the west on this block down the street.
35:02I made the call to start withdrawing forces.
35:07I was about ready to leave, and that's when all hell broke loose.
35:26I'm closest to the action, so we came to evacuate him and his crew.
35:31As I'm coming from the east, I hit an IED.
35:38And it was a complex attack.
35:40As soon as the dismounts came out, we started taking small arms fire.
35:46My radio was disabled.
35:47My gunner and my driver both had concussions.
35:52I get out of the vehicle.
35:55Now I'm on the ground, evacuating the casualties out of the vehicle and trying to take command
36:01and control of what is now a middle of a firefight.
36:08And Sergeant Lance was killed.
36:20When the enemy is there and firing at you,
36:24all those type of decisions are split seconds.
36:28A wrong decision can have consequences
36:34of your soldiers being killed.
36:45It's that tribal mentality of, you know, the guy to your left and your right is, you know,
36:50one of you and you're one of him, and you're there to watch out for each other.
36:56It's almost like just deep programmed into our brains that that's how we behave
37:01under the worst circumstances, you know, when we're in that kind of tribal dynamic.
37:10All we had was each other, really.
37:13And it was just us out there.
37:16We were a close-knit group.
37:18We were a family.
37:20And we were each other's shoulder to cry on and strength at the same time.
37:27Come on, motherfucker!
37:35The incredible sacrifice by the men of the First Brigade
37:38is doing more than taking back enemy-held territory.
37:43It is having an impact on the mindset of Ramadi's citizens,
37:46and more importantly, its trusted sheiks,
37:49who see the First Brigade fighting and dying every day on their behalf.
37:57The story of Ramadi is very much one of a group of tribal sheiks
38:04led by Sattar, a very brave sheik who would ultimately lose his life.
38:11He was the first one to say, I'm going to join with the U.S.
38:16When we got there, there was only 200 policemen in town.
38:19One of the things that we knew that was going to be key to victory was
38:22the locals will never trust us.
38:24So the sooner that we could get a police force built,
38:28then it's them policing themselves.
38:31They can't sit on every block with an M16 with a bayonet on it
38:35making sure things are secure.
38:37They just don't have the people to do that.
38:39They cannot win this war without the Iraqis on board.
38:49With the First Brigade stretched dangerously thin,
38:53the Iraqi police enlistment drive just inching forward,
38:57an unexpected emergency call, November 25th,
39:00becomes the turning point in the battle to finish the insurgency
39:04and cement the awakening of the tribes against al-Qaeda.
39:10A frantic satellite call from a breathless sheik in the outlying town of Sufiyah
39:15fortuitously lands in the lap of Lieutenant Colonel Chuck Ferry.
39:19They're wiping out my tribe.
39:20They're killing my family.
39:23I need your help.
39:26With most of the sheiks remaining unconvinced of enough vivid evidence
39:29of the Americans' reliability,
39:32Ferry makes one of the gutsiest decisions of the war,
39:35on his godsend chance to show them that his soldiers
39:38are willing to match blood and tears being spilled by Iraqis
39:41against al-Qaeda, drop for drop.
39:44A crucial alliance that will be paid for in the streets with fallen Americans.
39:49Take cover! Stay still!
40:05On November 25th, a frantic satellite call from a breathless sheik
40:09in the outlying town of Sufiyah to Lieutenant Colonel Chuck Ferry
40:12becomes the turning point in the battle to finish the insurgency
40:16and cement the awakening of the tribes against al-Qaeda.
40:21He orders flights of F-A-18s to make shrieking treetop-level bluff passes over Sufiyah.
40:31The ground-shaking thunder of the swooping, ordnance-loaded jets
40:35send the al-Qaeda attackers in a panicked scramble out of town.
40:40Once in the open, the insurgents are setting docks
40:43for both F-18s and the 1st Brigade tanks.
41:03Baghdad has taken center stage in the news lately,
41:07but the good news story from Iraq is now coming from the capital city of al-Anbar province.
41:12Six months ago, there were no police on the streets,
41:15but now, young men from Ramadi are stepping up to the plate and asking,
41:19where do I sign?
41:22When the word of the Americans' total commitment reaches the sheiks,
41:25what had been a steady trickle to the awakening becomes a flood
41:29to Sheikh Sattar and the U.S. coalition.
41:33The bold and gutsy decision of McFarland's men secure the Battle of Ramadi.
41:40It flipped a switch.
41:42And that confidence building, kind of amazing how quick,
41:46once it started, it just skyrocketed.
41:50Because you saw these police numbers that started like this,
41:54just go way up over the course of the summer and into the fall.
41:58We started to see a shift.
42:00The attacks got less intense.
42:02The frequency of the attacks, instead of becoming daily,
42:06were maybe a couple times a week.
42:10People were moving back.
42:12Stores were reopening.
42:15Children were playing in the street.
42:17Six months ago, a child wouldn't even venture outside his house.
42:21Now they were playing soccer.
42:24In less than a year,
42:26the 1st Brigade and the 1st Armored Division,
42:28along with the Marines,
42:30have taken a radical new strategy,
42:32deemed by most to be impossible,
42:34and, with limited resources and manpower,
42:36turned the most dangerous city in the world
42:38into the safest city in Iraq.
42:42The U.S. and the U.S. military
42:44have been working together
42:46to make sure that the U.S. military
42:48and the U.S. military forces
42:51into the safest city in Iraq.
42:55With these incredible exploits against the odds
42:57becoming known at last,
42:59General David Petraeus tells McFarlane,
43:01I am so happy I could kiss you guys.
43:05And then to his staff,
43:07we've got to support this.
43:09He will use Ramadi as the new blueprint
43:11for U.S. strategy in Iraq.
43:15Tonight in Iraq,
43:17the armed forces of the United States
43:19and the heavy price paid by the 1st Brigade
43:21for success with so few men,
43:23President Bush orders the deployment
43:25of more than 20,000 soldiers to Iraq,
43:27known as the surge,
43:29to support the new strategy.
43:43In these dangerous times,
43:45the United States is blessed
43:48with extraordinary and selfless men and women
43:50willing to step forward and defend us.
43:52These young Americans understand
43:54that our cause in Iraq
43:56is noble and necessary.
44:02Being a platoon leader in Ramadi,
44:04that experience has made me who I am.
44:08It shaped my character,
44:10my outlook on life.
44:12I feel very honored and privileged
44:14to have had the opportunity
44:17to have served with the men
44:19at Dealer Company.
44:23For the rest of my time in the Army,
44:25it will probably never
44:27match the honor
44:29of leading those men in combat.
44:33To this day, my men still call me
44:35Main Gun Mike Bima,
44:37and I wear that title with honor.
44:43I'm doing this because I want
44:45the story to be told.
44:47And for the guys who didn't get to come home,
44:51or for the guys who have never really
44:53let the war pass,
44:55I want their story to be told as well.
45:01In terms of the pride,
45:03I guess, and the impact,
45:05taking the city of Ramadi that was
45:07absolutely at it the worst
45:09it could possibly be,
45:11under the control of some of the worst organizations
45:14who were doing things as bad as
45:16decapitating people in the middle of the street,
45:18executing people inside their houses
45:20in the middle of the night.
45:22In taking that city
45:24and changing it over to something
45:26that someone could live a normal life in,
45:28yeah, that was absolutely,
45:30I'd say that's the high point of my career.
45:37We did what couldn't be done.
45:39Our own headquarters
45:41said that the vow was lost.
45:44We refused to believe that,
45:46and Chromophore laid a path clear to win.
45:48And we found a way to win,
45:50kind of against the odds.