This is Jocco Podcast Number 454 with Eco Charles and me Jocco Willink.

Good evening.

All day, murderous bursts of machine gun fire hammered our position, shattering windows and impacting interior walls each round with the violence and

kinetic energy of a sledgehammer wielded at full force.

Some of the incoming rounds were armor piercing and punched through the thick concrete of the low wall

surrounding the rooftop. All our element of seals, EOD bomb technicians, and

Iraqi soldiers could do under such accurate enemy fire was hit the

deck and try not to get our head shot off. Rounds snapped inches above us and

shards of glass and concrete fragments rounds snapped

down inches above us and shards of glass and concrete fragments reined down everywhere.

Despite the onslaught, we held our position in the large four-story apartment building.

When the fury of the attack subsided, our seal snipers returned fire with devastating effect.

The onslaught of heavy enemy fire continued frequently throughout the day with periods of intense violence and periods of calm.

As the day faded and the sun dipped below the horizon, the attacks diminished.

Gun fire and explosions subsided, with the darkness an eerie quiet descended upon Ramadi, broken only by the evening call to prayer that echoed across

the dusty rooftops.

Our seal platoon and Iraqi soldiers packed our gear and prepared to depart.

Remembering the vulnerability of the single exit door to the street,

our two EOD bomb technicians went to work peering over the second story balcony

through their night vision goggles they scanned the area around the exit

door and the surrounding street littered with trash and potholes in some places scarred by the craters of previous

IED blasts. But something was out of place. Something looked different than when they had scanned the area in the early morning darkness before dawn.

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