REMF’S AREN’T JUST DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH (….they can also get you killed)

A couple of days ago a bright very young Marine was honored with a ceremony at the White House, where the President personally decorated him with the Congressional Medal of Honor…. our nation’s highest military award for valor.

In this particular case it was more than deserved, because, at the time of the events in Afghanistan for which he was being honored, he was barely 21, the youngest and least ranking member of a special mission into hostile territory. A mission composed of a mixed group of Marines, Army Rangers, and Afghani counterparts. Their mission….to sit down with supposedly willing, if not friendly, village elders and chiefs looking to make some kind of peace deal..

The idea for this mission seems to have had somewhat murky intelligence origins, and while our Marine and his companions were prepared for any hostile eventualities, they had been led to believe it was going to be a “peaceful” operation. Instead, it turned out to be a bad faith exercise, with the whole thing apparently set up as an ambush by the Taliban. To what extent the villagers were part of that….is yet to be determined. So, whatever intelligence had led the command to try such a mission was obviously…. flawed….but the troops were not aware of that.

As they approached the village, reaching what turned out to be a planned “killing zone”, all hell broke loose. In very short order their group was scattered into small pockets on either side of the road, with their point guys pinned downed in the ruins of an old house.

Faced with heavy hostile fire pouring down on them from all sides from high ground above them, they immediately called for artillery support. After a few registration rounds, the coordinates were adjusted, and that support was asked to fire for effect. It didn’t happen. The fire support was denied….they were too close to the village! Meanwhile, the four men in that ruined house were being hammered. Again, and again when the fire support was asked for…it was denied each time.

Finally, in complete frustration, the young Marine took matters into his own hands, organizing a rescue effort of insane bravery, five times running a gauntlet of hostile fire with a truck, to pick up and rescue whoever he could, but yet unable to reach the four men at the extreme point of their positions. By the time he was able to get there…they were all dead.

During all that chaos, confusion, and slaughter, repeated calls for fire support, and even helicopter support, failed to materialize. By the time support did arrive….many of his comrades were dead or wounded.

All this lack of backup support came about because REMF’s were sitting back at base, with their high-tech play stations, applying rigidly crocheted “procedures”, instead of doing what needed doing to back up troops in a heavy ambush situation….and fighting for their lives. In such a situation backing those troops must take precedence over any other consideration, regardless of higher command policies or regulations. Anything less is not just dereliction of duty it’s just plain….betrayal…. of those troops!

Anyone who’s ever faced combat can readily relate to this story. The dynamics between frontline troops and rear echelons has always been tense. From front liners’ perspectives, trying to survive under extremely primitive conditions, the denizens of the rear echelons enjoy creature comforts and other amenities they can only dream of, thus their disdainful acronym….REMF. One of famed WWII cartoonist Bill Mauldin’s best depictions of that being when his character, Willie, huddling in a foxhole under a hail of fire, tells his companion, who’s staring up at some Air Force fighters streaking back to base….it’s not their glamour I resent….it’s because they’re only fifteen minutes from a hot shower!

While such a viewpoint is seldom reality, it is a profound and deep division of perspective regardless of what era of service, and frontline combat troops have generally always had good reasons for it. They’ve learned the hard way that events such as this one are not so rare. In this instance, however, it was too egregious a case proving that, no matter how one might look at it….REMF’s are not just dangerous to your health….they can also get you killed.

CENTURION