Hidden Enemies

For those of you professionally interested, the fire command was nothing more than, "Kill that guy."

With images of the bloody fighting in Fallujah dominating Arab satellite channels, U.S. commanders signed onto a plan to pull back and allow troops led by one of Saddam's former generals to police the city.

Martino
April 28, Fallujah

I'm back at our camp for 24 hours to get some R&R and resupply myself. I haven't changed my clothes in about a month. I've been living out of a backpack the entire time. [ ... ]

Right now we are holding back because of the so-called ceasefire [...] I'm not sure how long it will be until something constructive comes from the negotiations. My personal opinion is that we should level the city with air strikes and make it into a parking lot. We are fighting mostly terrorists who don't care about the city and won't negotiate [ ... ]

I love and miss everyone. Pray for me and my fellow Marines. I look forward to seeing you in October.

Martino, 32, died on his second tour of duty, when his helicopter was shot down on Nov. 2, 2005. He was promoted posthumously to major.