The Muslim attackers have been trying to keep U. S. defenders’ heads down to give their suicide vehicles a better chance of breaching U. S. obstacles. At Abu Ghraib, they started out with mortars and RPGs and then took two observation towers under small-arms fire. In an April 2005 attack on an American outpost near Husaybah on the Syrian border, they remembered the mortars but forgot tower suppression with small arms. Manning the guard tower that day were Marine L. Cpl. Joshua Butler and PFC Charles Young, both of Altoona, Pennsylvania. With fire through the windshield, L. Cpl. Butler was able to detonate the first truck bomb. Then a fire engine approached from a different direction (along a road from town). Amid the chaos of the first blast and supported by 30 dismounted gunmen, the fire engine was almost to the compound. Luckily, PFC
Young slowed it with a grenade launcher round just long enough for Butler to recover. Despite Kelvar body armor and bullet proof glass, its driver and passenger were no match for the Marine L. Cpl. His fire prematurely detonated their bomb. A third vehicular bomb of unknown description then also detonated before it could do any damage. During the ensuing firefight, Cpl. Anthony Fink of Columbus, Ohio, killed 11 of the gunmen with his grenade launcher.®® This is a perfect example of what small, loosely controlled U. S. contingents can do when initiative is encouraged.
On the evening of 20 April, a similar event took place at a U. S. outpost in Ramadi. This time PFC Bryan J. Nagel was manning the tower. Shortly after receiving small-arms fire, he watched a mid-sized passenger car explode at, and breach, the outpost’s main entrance. Then, as a yellow sewage tanker truck came charging out of the smoke, Nagel directed a long burst from his squad automatic weapon (SAW) at its driver. The tanker instantly swerved and detonated harmlessly. The Beirut tragedy was not to be repeated this day.®® Low-ranking Marines once again had the authority and confidence to do their jobs.
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