DEMON Update

All,

    On the 19th of February 2007, our patrol base located in Tarmiyah was
attacked in force by insurgents. The attack began with small arms and RPG
fire and culminated with an attack by a suicide car bomber. We are told that
the truck used in the attack was carrying 1000 lbs. of military grade
explosives. As a result, DEMON lost two soldiers. This was compounded by the
loss we had experienced a day before to an insurgent sniper. As a unit we
grieve for these three men. Each of them was an important part of what we
think of as the "DEMON Family." But though we grieve, we take solace in who
they were and what they accomplished. And we begin the process of
rebuilding.

    The one thing you learn about combat is that it brings out the true
nature of people. There were many acts of bravery at the patrol base that
day. The soldiers fighting from the roof of the building wearing nothing but
boxers and their flak vests, the young communications specialist who is
bleeding profusely from shrapnel wounds to the neck while fighting valiantly
to get the generator and radios running again, the medics that, though
wounded themselves, refused evacuation and struggled to keep men alive.
Almost every soldier there was wounded that day. But the volume of fire that
they laid down after the explosion crushed any hope the enemy had of over
running the patrol base. At the end of the day, DEMON held the ground.

    Battalion estimates that between 40 and 50 insurgents were killed that
day. No one knows how many were wounded.  Of the 29 soldiers we evacuated
for injuries, 28 will return to the unit before the end of the week. I know
I can speak for the command team when I tell you that CPT Barbour, LT
Wallace, and I have never been more proud to be a DEMON than we were that
day.

    As always, your support means the world to us. Please continue to pray
for the soldiers and families of those we have lost, as well as the soldiers
who remain in the fight. To you men of D co 2-8 CAV that came before us, you
have our gratitude and respect. We are aware that it is your legacy that we
have inherited. We are proud of that legacy and will endeavor to build upon
it for the next generation.

Very Respectfully,

1SG William Tramel
DEMON 9
Camp Taji, Iraq

Dco 2-8 CAV, 1BCT, 1CD
Unit 5910
APO, AE 09378