Bill Ardolino tagged along on a nighttime raid with an American Marine Military Transition Team (MiTT) and elements of the Second Brigade, Third Battalion, First Company of the Iraqi Army. He provides a photo essay with commentary.
He captures the bravery of the Marines and the difficulties of creating a professional force in short order. We also see the problems of fighting a counterinsurgency with foreign troops trained for conventional combat operations. It’s almost impossible to do COIN if you don’t understand the culture and the young Marines clearly don’t–and are too busy dodging bullets to learn on the fly.
