Part 1: The Storm of Leading from the Front: Operation Phantom Fury

Chapter 4:

The adverse conditions of a heavy winter storm can kill the strongest of buffalo. These storms can come out of nowhere and are almost always stronger than predicted. Frigid temperatures, blowing snow, and treacherous terrain are only a small portion of what can kill off an entire herd. I haven't even talked about the massive number of predators out there just waiting for one of the herd to split off on its own, making it a prime target for a winter meal. Nevertheless, the head buffalo charges on into the storm, leading the herd into an environment that could absolutely kill them.

In 2004, the city of Fallujah, Iraq, was overtaken by a storm like this. The city was in shambles; people were being tortured and killed, and U.S. forces had lost control of the city. The roughly 9-year conflict that was Operation Iraqi Freedom was barely a year old. The fighting was getting more and more intense by the day, and more and more U.S. military lives were being lost. Then, in March of 2004, a string of events initiated a chain reaction that would define a generation of Marines. The first was the ambush and brutal murder of four U.S. government contractors - Wesley Batalona, Scott Helvenston, Jerry Zovko, and Michael Teague. The second was the hanging of their bodies from a bridge in the center of town, and the third was displaying this brutality across media outlets worldwide. To say that this really pissed us off is a dramatic understatement.

In April 2004, because of the events that had unfolded in the months prior, the Marine Corps kicked off Operation Vigilant Resolve in an attempt to take back control of Fallujah from the insurgents that haunted the city. After only a few weeks, the operation ended with a promise from the Iraqi people stating that they would keep the insurgents out of the city. Looking back, this was something we should have known was an impossibility.

Over the next few months, the insurgent population began to grow. Members of al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI), the Islamic Army of Iraq (IAI), Ansar al-Suna, and a slew of other insurgent groups began to stage themselves within the city. It’s unclear as to how many fighters were in the city, but some estimate up to 5,000 made up of what intelligence reports have determined to be Saudi, Chechen, Libyan, Filipino, and Syrian combatants, as well as Iraqis. They were gearing up for the inevitable offensive with U.S. forces. The enemy was ready, the civilians were warned, and in November of 2004, the U.S. Military launched Operation Phantom Fury.

Phantom Fury, also known as the second battle of Fallujah, will go down in Marine Corps and military history as the most intense and violent six weeks in nearly nine years of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), and some say it was the heaviest engagement in urban combat since the Vietnam War. Prior to beginning the operation, U.S. and coalition forces had established checkpoints around the city to allow civilians to flee to safety but also to prevent insurgents from leaving. Intelligence was collected and analyzed to create a grid system for the city. Fallujah was to be strategically and systematically cleared of insurgents block by block. The Marines, including a small platoon of heroes led by First Lieutenant John Bitonti, were given one of the most deadly and kinetic blocks in Fallujah.?

While I never had the honor of serving with John in Iraq, as I mentioned earlier, John and I served together in Afghanistan and were able to push through some of the most difficult storms imaginable. John is a true warrior and a Marine that I would trust with the lives of all of my children. He is a man of integrity, grit, focus, faith, kindness, and so much more. The way he leads is directly correlated with saving lives because of his deep concern for mission accomplishment, doing things the right way, and taking care of his people. This is John's account of Operation Phantom Fury and is a true example of how we can lead from the front with the utmost integrity, valor, and courage. It's also an example of how we can come out on the other side of this storm better leaders and better prepared for the next storm that will inevitably come over the horizon. John leads from the front, never ordering anyone to do something he isn't 100% willing to do himself. This is John's story, told in his own words. In life, our stories are what carry us through storms – through amazing times and through some of the worst times imaginable. They are ours and are ours to tell, and this is John's.

John was a California kid who grew up knowing that he would become a Marine Corps Officer. His dad was a Marine, so in their house, they didn't play "soldier"; they played Marine, and they all worked together serving food at their family restaurant. A tough kid, John often ran with the party crowd but was focused on family and football, playing all four years of high school. Being the youngest on the team meant that he had to work twice as hard, and it really paid off his senior year as John was one of the best players on the field.

After high school, John continued his pursuit of Marine Corps greatness, but school was tough. He was a Marine Corps reservist, worked 40+ hours a week on campus and at the family restaurant, and was struggling to keep up academically, bouncing around from three different local colleges and taking some time off. These days were hard for John, but he never took his eyes off the prize. He was determined to graduate and become the man he always wanted to be, and after a few years of grinding, he graduated. Next stop, Marine Corps Officer Candidate School (OCS)!

Marine Corps OCS is no walk in the park, considered by many to be the most challenging officer candidate school in the United States Military, but John wasn’t fazed by it. He’d wanted this since he was a kid and could shake off the screaming and bed flipping. Nothing was stopping him from becoming the best damn infantry officer in the Marine Corps. Following OCS is The Basic School (TBS), where John learned all the things he needed to know about the Marine Corps. He learned when and where to salute, Marine Corps History, tidbits of war strategy, and other basics that Marine Corps officers need to know before they head off to their specific Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) school, which for John was the Infantry Officers Course (IOC) – a 15-week program meant to train each infantry officer on every weapon system the Marine Corps had and to equip them with the leadership tools they would need to lead in an infantry battalion.

??????????? I share this part of John's story because it highlights where John came from and sets the stage for Fallujah, 2004. Marine Corps Officers go through some of the most stringent and intense training our military can conjure. For over a year, they have been tired, wet, and hungry, but that's all a part of the process of making Marine Corps Officers. These men and women are responsible for accomplishing our country's most critical missions as well as leading enlisted Marines through some of the most dangerous landscapes imaginable. John was a steely-eyed, well-trained Marine Corps Officer who would eventually use every bit of training he received. For him, it was a dream come true.

??????????? After all the training that molded John into the Marine he always knew he would be, it was time to get after it. As a brand-new 2nd Lieutenant, he was sent to his first duty station, 3rd Light Armored Recon Battalion (LAR), in beautiful 29 Palms, California, and then quickly shipped off to Kuwait for the invasion of Iraq in 2002. While the Iraq invasion story could be a whole book in and of itself, our story begins when John returns home. Upon return from the invasion in 2003, John moved up to be the company executive officer as a newly promoted 1st Lieutenant.

??????????? Shortly after settling into his new role, John was given a few choices as to what his future would hold. He passed up the opportunity to go to a B-Billet with his peers and head out to recruiting duty, drill instructor duty, or a number of other mostly non-combat related positions. Instead, he had the option to stay on for another deployment to Iraq or he could take charge of a platoon being attached to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) launching from Okinawa, Japan. For a bit of context, a MEU is a mobile response unit that usually stays at sea but is launched in case of emerging global instability. Kind of a "break glass in case of emergency" unit.

John was faced with a choice and given that he was one of the more senior lieutenants in the battalion, he had to pick his own adventure. His current company was going to join the rest of his unit already in Iraq, so he had to make a quick decision. John walked into his boss’ office and said, "Sir, I'll do whatever you need me to do, but I know there are some new Lieutenants whose careers would really benefit from an Iraq deployment. My thoughts are to give one of the newer Lieutenants a chance. I got the T-shirt… I'm good. I'll jump on the MEU". John chose to join the MEU in Okinawa, Japan, to give up his spot on another Iraq deployment to another Marine… Or so he thought…John was a hot commodity within the battalion, and the company commander wanted him to remain the company executive officer in Iraq, but being the leader he was, he chose to let someone else step in and build their career.

??????????? The MEU deployment was only a few months away, and John was sitting in 29 Palms without a Marine to call his own. "This was a total clown show. I'm like four months away from deploying to Okinawa, and I don't have a platoon, I don't know where we are going, nothing…". So, in response to John's consistent inquiry as to what the hell he was going to do, the 3rd LAR Commander’s office sent a message to the companies to pony up Marines to fill up John’s platoon. This is not the best process by which to receive stellar, hard-charging Marines into your platoon. Whenever a message like this goes out, leaders take inventory of their very best and guard those Marines with their lives. There is no way the company is going to give up their best Marines to a MEU platoon months before an Iraq deployment. In the end, 3rd LAR did not even provide a full platoon, no staff-level Non-Commissioned Officer, three junior Corporals, and four non-infantry Marines to serve as infantry scouts.

So, as a result, John received a ragtag group of Marines—some just pulled the short straw, others were ready to get out of the Marine Corps, some were out of shape, and most just didn't want to be there. The shining star in all of this was a senior Staff Sergeant who was as salty as they come. A 20-year Staff Sergeant who didn't look the part was John's right-hand man in putting this group together and shaping them into the unit that they would eventually become. He was old but experienced. John described him as a guy the "Didn't take crap from anyone but cared deeply about his Marines." You get the picture. So, after some initial training, John and his new platoon were shipped off to Okinawa to join up with the MEU.

The thought process behind the 31st MEU deployment was that this group of Marines was going on a cruise somewhere in the Indo-Pacific. They would move from port to port, train with their weapon systems, lift weights, and eat the Navy's food. The last time the 31st MEU went into combat was the Vietnam War, but boy, was that all about to change. John and his newly formed platoon were about to make Marine Corps history. In fact, John found out that there was a chance that the 31st MEU might end up in a combat zone but the response from his Battalion leadership was, "Don't worry, the 31st MEU never goes anywhere.”

A few months after arriving in Okinawa, John was called at midnight to come into the Battalion Landing Team commander's office. The Battalion Landing Team (BLT) is the unit on the MEU that gets called into combat if necessary. Having no idea what was going on and eight hours into one of the certification exercises for an Indo-Pacific tour, he wiped the crust from his eyes and stumbled into the office. LtCol Ramos said to John, "Pack your stuff and get your guys ready. You're headed to Kuwait". John responded, "Whoa, OK. I'll get the guys ready. Iraq?" LtCol Ramos responded, "We don't know if it is Iraq or Afghanistan. But one of them for sure".

In less than 48 hours, the unit was trained, packed, and headed to Kuwait and eventually staged for their push into the city of Fallujah. His platoon would be attached to a larger Battalion already staged and waiting for him to get there. They spent a mere two weeks in Kuwait before they headed North toward the City. This was the only cohesive and comprehensive training his platoon had conducted since coming together.

As the Battalion Landing Team arrived at Camp Fallujah, they were greeted by a metaphorical NO VACANCY sign flashing as they rolled in. "We are completely packed, and we had no idea you guys were coming," the camp Commander forcefully stated. The Commander of John's unit simply replied, "We're a Battalion of Marines… We're huge… Where are we supposed to go!?". After a few minutes of back and forth, the camp Commander pointed to an area on the base where they could set up tents and reinforced walls for their headquarters area. This area of the camp was known as the Iranian Training Center, a former Iranian training camp with a few hard structures and room for tents.

As the battalion drove down the road to their new home, the Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) contractors were literally detonating mortar and artillery rounds that hit the ground but never detonated on the road in front of them. "We were literally driving by exploding ordinance on our way to set up our camp in the ITC. To these guys, it's totally normal. Like 'just another Wednesday' kind of stuff." The old Iranian training camp was surrounded by open fields, allowing them to see directly into the city from across the camp. It was a dangerous place to call home, even for Camp Fallujah. As they were waiting to set up camp, before they set up their first tent, they were hit with an accurate mortar attack, causing the first casualty of Operation Phantom Fury 2. They were on Camp Fallujah for less than 24 hours.

In October of 2004, after they were set up as best they could, they were tasked with maintaining and clearing the Main Supply Routes leading to and past the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. Clearing meant that they were driving targets. Their job was to drive down the main supply roads leading to Fallujah, clearing the path so that resources could get to and from the camp. A few hours into the first day of actual operations, John's company and another platoon ran over an IED, disabling one of their vehicles immediately. In the first week, the BLT lost 11 Marines. One to a vehicle rollover and 10 to a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) that detonated right next to their 7-ton truck, killing every Marine inside. "This was the kind of environment we were in. The enemy knew we were there and knew where we were going. It was hot. We were in contact constantly."

After a short time of route-security operations, they were given the word that they are headed into the city of Fallujah to clear the town of insurgents. At first, John was under the impression that they were going to sit on the perimeter of the city and provide overwatch, but that was never the plan. John had a solid reputation at this point, and his platoon was being built into the plan to take back the city. It is a little-known fact that LAR was physically fighting, house-to-house, during Operation Phantom Fury. LAR is a mounted organization, which means that they are in vehicles – LAVs, to be exact. Urban, door-to-door warfare isn’t a part of their training regiment, so John had to adapt, once again, to having to learn something new, lead from the front, and teach his Marines how to do the impossible in an impossible situation.

The uncertainty and changes kept on coming. John's platoon was reassigned, yet again, to another battalion to support the initial attack on Fallujah. But that didn’t faze him at this point. He jumped into action, planning for whatever they would be ordered to do. He was used to dealing with impossible odds and the uncertainty of absolutely everything around him. Over the last five months, his Marines had grown to love and trust him with their lives, so as John was dealing with big-picture strategy with the senior leaders, his Marines were preparing themselves for door-to-door combat. John trusted his Marines to run drills, provide tweaks, and train to the standard he set. This group of Marines that were thrown together on a whim were gelling into a world-class fighting force that would become like family. They prepared, equipped, and got themselves ready for something they had never done before.

On November 8, 2004, John’s platoon moved into position on the city's North side and prepared to move in. They staged 100 meters on the northern edge of the city and waited for the call, and as they waited, they watched. They could literally see IEDs hanging from the bridges they were supposed to cross to get into the city. “They were literally blowing in the wind,” John described. On November 9th, surrounded by Marines from other Battalions already engaged, John and his Marines readied themselves for their assault. Operation Phantom Fury was about to begin.

On the night of the 9th, staged just outside of the city, the only light that John’s platoon could see was from the absolute chaos happening within the city. "The sky was on fire", John recalled. Rockets, tracer rounds, explosions, and voices shouting orders drowned out any signs of normal city life. Like a caged pit bull being taunted with a steak dinner, John's Marines awaited their orders to begin to move, but as they waited, they began to see movement in the buildings in front of them. "Sir, we got movement from East to West in the buildings about 50 meters in front of us. We see people moving through the windows of the buildings, Sir." So, John hops on the radio to report what he's seeing to senior leadership. "We have a group of unidentified individuals moving in between and within the buildings in front of us. They are definitely organizing for something." One of the problems at the time was that John's platoon wasn't equipped with high-tech night vision equipment, and there were friendly forces (other Marines) operating in the area. "Were these guys friendly or not? We really couldn't tell".

For context, Marines operating in the area were supposed to have an infrared blinking light on the back of their helmets, and they were to be turned on during nighttime operations. These lights can only be seen through other friendly forces' night vision equipment to identify them as friendly forces. This group had no such indicator, so John was given the green light to make a decision. The response came back over the radio, "Take the shot if you need to take the shot.” An ambiguous order if I've ever heard one. John and his Marines continued to watch the movement within and around the buildings, waiting for positive identification of some kind of enemy activity, but John had a really bad feeling. Relying on his instincts and outstanding leadership ability, he gave his gunner the green light to engage the dirt and the lower bottom portion of the building but nothing else. His gunner engaged the base of the building and the dirt with three shots, "BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!". Dust and debris flew into the air with the impact of the 25mm rounds on the base of the building. At the sound and feel of the impact, the unknown group froze, and after a few short seconds, which felt like hours, John watched them unfreeze, reach toward the back of their heads, and turn on the friendly blinking infrared light. Had it not been for John's gut feeling and his ability to discern an extremely difficult situation, all of those Marines in those buildings would have been annihilated by John's platoon.

The decision-making process that John went through during that time was self-described as "energy and patience". It takes energy and patience to make decisions. It's easy to make a quick decision, and yes, sometimes quick decisions need to be made, especially in combat, but the energy it takes to create a plan that thoroughly addresses a problem and not act on that plan immediately was what saved the lives of a dozen Marines that night. John had the energy required to make a decision and the patience to simply see what happened.

As John's platoon was still waiting to go into the city and after a few hours of watching, staging, and recovering from what would have been an international incident, the clock turned to midnight, November 10, 2004 - the Marine Corps birthday. The Marine Corps was founded in a bar in Philadelphia 229 years earlier. In 1775 the Marine Corps was formed and given its legitimacy as what would one day become the world's most indomitable fighting force. It's a long-held Marine Corps tradition that Marines get together no matter where they are to share a piece of cake, read the birthday message from the current Commandant, share a pint, and read a message from the 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps Lieutenant General John a Lejeune. John wouldn’t let this year be any different. John and his platoon were becoming a part of Marine Corps history. But first, cake.

Just after midnight, John sent a radio message to all of his Marines that he would be coming to each vehicle to provide updated orders. The Marines were tired, hungry, anxious, and ready to fight, but that wouldn't halt tradition. John stepped out of his vehicle, dusty and still shaken from what happened just hours earlier and proceeded to go from vehicle to vehicle to vehicle, stopping at each one to shake the hands of his Marines, wish them a happy birthday, and read both Commandants birthday messages. Before leaving each vehicle to go to the next, he reminded the Marines why they were there. He reminded them that they had a job to do and that they were minutes away from doing just that. This simple act had an immeasurable impact on his Marines. They were ecstatic, re-motivated, cheering, and grunting as John moved on to the next vehicle. "Get your gear together because we enter the city at 0600". He inspired his Marines to perform in the most difficult environments to ever exist, all in the name of leadership. At 0600, John and his platoon are given the order to assault, secure, and hold the government center operationally named "Division Objective One." This wouldn't be easy. Surrounding the government center were several tall buildings, a mosque, and an unknown number of insurgents just waiting for a chance to fight. The enemy had the high ground, and the Marines would have to fight from the ground up.

John’s platoon started to move toward their objective in the early morning hours of November 10th. As they move toward their objective, it is eerily quiet. Besides the sounds of dogs barking and their own vehicles, it's dead quiet. They moved through the main roads of the city slowly and deliberately, watching for IEDs buried in dead animals or abandoned vehicles. Their route was covered with vehicles and buildings that were still on fire from the fighting the night before and the carnage of war all around them. As they move toward their objective, John's Marines are on edge but baffled by the stillness of it all. The explosions and small arms fire from the night before are non-existent at this point, and it is dangerously quiet. As they approached their objective, the sun began to crest over the tops of the buildings, warming the Marines' faces, and then, as if it were times with the sunrise, all hell broke loose.

Division Objective One was an open area in the shape of a square built perfectly for an enemy ambush. On the forward edge of the square was a basketball court, a schoolhouse, and a few other government buildings. As John and his Marines moved into fighting positions, they were inundated with sniper fire, rocket-propelled grenades, and machine gun fire simultaneously. It was all they could do to find a defensible position on the square for their four, not-so-maneuverable vehicles. They had to get into a position to fight back.?

After finally putting all his vehicles into position, the fighting really heats up. John and his Marines are engaging with every weapon they have. John is hanging out of the top of his vehicle, giving orders on the ground, and his Marines are firing their weapons at the surrounding buildings - it's total but controlled chaos. John is shooting and giving orders from his vehicle when he hears the firing of an RPG from the Mosque across the street, and it is heading straight for him. As if in slow motion, the round flew by his head, missing by only a few feet, but the rocket hit and went through the wall behind his vehicle. While it was a close call for John, one of his vehicles and the Marines within were on the other side of that wall and were not so lucky. The round hit the vehicle behind the wall, causing the first casualty from John's platoon. One of his Marines, the driver, sustained severe shrapnel wounds to the left side of his body and had to be medevac’d immediately. He would survive but would have to be airlifted out of Iraq altogether, leaving John's platoon one Marine down.

They were now being shot at from every angle, and after a few hours of fighting, John had to get his Marines to a place where they could rest for a bit and refill on fuel and ammunition. They pulled back from the forward edge and into more covered positions so that John could check in with his leaders, who were firmly established in one of the main buildings on Division Objective One. John and a few of his Marines dismounted, including Lance Corporal Magaoay. They dismounted and made their way to a stairwell on the backside of a secured building. The firefight on the other side of the building had slowed down a bit, but they needed to check in and debrief with leadership. As they were walking up the stairs to get to where the other Marines were, the impact and reality of what was going on around them hit them in the worst way. A Marine Corps Officer was being carried down the stairs on a stretcher - he was dead. He had been killed in the firefight that they were just in. This Marine was the first officer killed in Fallujah, and that was the moment that it became real for everyone. For the enlisted Marines, an officer is invincible – they can't die. The hard reality, otherwise, changed the tone of the deployment at that very moment. Their faces turned from young, enlisted men to Marines who were faced with the reality that death is a real possibility. Not only that, but it can happen to any one of them at any time.

After John checked in with his company commander, and he and his Marines started back down the stairs to their vehicles, the firefight had picked back up again – this time with sniper fire. They departed the mayor’s building and had to cross a large open driveway over to the police station, where you could hear rounds zipping by and explosions continuing all around. Once again, John's leadership intuition kicked in. As the first two scouts went to the far side of the driveway John said, "Magaoay you guys cover me. Basilio and I are going to cross over and cover you from the other side. On three, we're going to take off. There is sniper fire from the East and South. Make sure you cover us. Basilio, you follow me". John took a few deep breaths as his Marines got into firing positions to cover his movement to the other side. "1…2…3… Go!". John took off across the driveway but got no more than 2 steps into the sprint when he tripped over the curb, flew through the air, and jammed his shin into the concrete curb… HARD… John hit the pavement so hard that he couldn't move – the air was immediately expelled from his entire body. He's wearing 50 pounds of gear, and he is laying on the bridge, motionless, and his Marines think the worst. "The Sir has been shot…". "SIR, SIR!! ARE YOU OK!?" With a slight raise of his left hand and with a painful, breathless mumble, he says, "I'm fine. I'm good".

His Marines are relieved but holding back bursts of laughter at John's expense. After a moment of recovery, John, Basilio, and the rest of his Marines make it safely across the road into the cover of a police station. He turns to them with a stone-cold look on his face. The one that your father gives you when you break something, but your mom is in the room. His Marines can barely hold their composure, holding their breath, bodies jostling from internal laughter. They want nothing more than to crack up and give John a hard time, but he's the boss, so they technically can't. John takes a breath and says to them quietly, "OK. You have 10 seconds… Go..." The Marines lost their minds with laughter and trash talk for 10 seconds. After that glorious 10 seconds, John responds in a hilariously serious tone, "OK, zip it. We don't ever talk about this again. If anyone ever asks about it, I was saving Basilio's life!". John gave them a sense of humanity for 10 seconds at his expense. After John and his Marines got back to the vehicles and took a short break, John was set loose to occupy fighting positions on the forward edge of Division Objective One. They were back in the fight. The intense fighting from November 10th lasted 27 hours, bleeding well into the afternoon of November 11th.

The rest of the city was still under the control of insurgents, but John and his Marines were well on their way to securing their objective. After almost two straight days of fighting, John and his Marines successfully secure Division Objective One and head back to a fuel ammunition resupply point just outside the city to rest, refuel, and refit.

November 11th is Veterans Day, but it also happens to be John's birthday. John tells his Marines to clean their weapons, grab ammunition, rest up, and eat. They are going to be back at it sooner than they would realize. After a few hours out of the city, John's Marines took the opportunity to celebrate their fearless leader. As John is preparing the platoon to return and talking with some of the other leaders, his Marines show up with an MRE pound cake, a lit cigarette for a candle, and a can of Red Bull. "Happy Birthday Sir!" LCpl Magaoay shouted. John’s response was simple, “Where the hell did you guys get a Red Bull?”.

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