27 October 2004 to 03 November 2004:
Task Force 2-2 Infantry prepares for their upcoming mission to clear Al Fallujah of insurgents. Still carrying out missions at our FOB Normandy (Muqdadiyah, Iraq) we are pulling long hours of patrolling, fighting locals
and preparing for the Super Bowl of urban warfare. Our generation's D Day.
05 November 2004 (D-2):
Task Force 2-2 arrives at the Marine Forward
Operating Base in Fallujah.
06 November 2004 (D-1):
Rehearsals for attack prove the Marines are well
prepared and reseached for this assault.
07 November 2004:
Final rehearsal. Inspections of all gear. Lots of smoking and joking.
08 November 2004:
The battle of Al Fallujah begins. Quickly into the fight, Task Force 2-2 takes losses as the first fire fight of the battle is devastating.
09 November 2004:
We attack south through Askari District and to phase line Linda; Securing two major objectives at Highway Ten. Major fight occurs at the Imam al-Shafi Mosque with A Company repelling assault from a well rehearsed and equipped enemy force. TOW missiles, Bradley 25mm cannon fire, 84mm rockets, grenades, and machine gun fire were frantically used to finally destroy all remaining elements of the enemy assault.
10 November 2004 (D+3):
Task Force 2-2 conducts search and attack missions north. (2330) Third Platoon A Company is ordered to clear a neighborhood of approximately twenty homes to kill or capture six to eight insurgents. Third Platoon
experienced up close, point-blank range urban fighting which devolved into hand-to-hand struggles inside buildings. It is abundantly clear that we are fighting a global all-star team of Islamic fundamentalism as we find passports and manuals in a plethora of languages.
11 November 2004 (D+4):
Task Force 2-2 attacks South into Industrial District. We begin clearing every building and every room of our territory. Complacency and sleep deprivation are now just as deadly to our unit as anything the enemy can
deliver to us in this battle space.
12 November 2004 (D+5):
In the bloodiest and heaviest fighting in Fallujah to date for the soldiers of Task Force 2-2, scores of enemy fighters are cut down as we miraculously manage to take only a handful of causalities.
13 November 2004 (D +6):
A Company reels from another devastating loss from an important member of our leadership team. More and more caches are discovered.
14 November 2004 (D+7):
Task Force 2-2 begins the slow, methodical clearing of every structure and every room of the massive industrial district of Fallujah. We find IED factories and a car-bomb factory hastily left moments before we entered the area.
22 November 2004(D+10):
Task Force 2-2 returns to Diyala province to combat a restless enemy who intends to throw everything in their power to disrupt the first free election in Iraq's history on January 30, 2005.
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