On April 6, 2004, Iraqi insurgents warned shopkeepers in Ramadi's marketplace that "Today we are going to kill Americans." BATTLECRY IRAQ: RAMADI reveals exactly how they made good on their promise, targeting members of the "Magnificent Bastards," as the Second Battalion of the 4th Marine Regiment is known.
Four years after Bush sent troops to Afghanistan to topple the Taliban, Americans continue to fight and die as they pursue Osama bin Laden, battle with al-Qaeda, and destroy remnants of the old regime. Fighting a tenacious enemy across searing deserts and frigid mountain peaks requires strong weaponry and sound tactics. SHOOTOUT introduces veterans of a conflict that is now waged in the shadow of Iraq, men who have survived ambushes, firefights, and rescue missions in some of the least hospitable terrain on earth.
On February 28, 1997, a high stakes bank robbery devolved into an urban firefight that became one of the most violent shootouts in law enforcement history. With TV cameras capturing the action from above, two paramilitary-style gunmen took over a bank using terrorist technology. Donning full body armor and automatic weapons, they charged out of a Bank of America branch in North Hollywood, California. With brutal and brazen disregard, they fired armor-piercing ammo at police and citizens, turning a congested residential area into a combat zone. Police on the scene that day recount their ordeal in this gripping hour.
By the fall of 2004, Fallujah, Iraq had become a viper pit. Over the previous six months, the once holy city had become the center of gravity for the Iraqi insurgency. Terrorists and radicals from across the Muslim world congregated there to resist the US occupation. Many came to martyr themselves and to take as many coalition troops with them as possible.