'It's gonna be a bloodbath,' fallen soldier told father

(CNN) -- Cpl. Gunnar Zwilling suspected that his days were numbered last week, while he and his band of brothers in the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team prepared for a mission near Wanat, Afghanistan.

"It's gonna be a bloodbath," he told his father, Kurt Zwilling, on the phone in what would be their last conversation.

Kurt Zwilling braced himself for the worst but held out hope that his son would make it home.

"They were in the most dangerous place on Earth. They were in mortal danger, and there was nothing they could do it about it," he said. "But they were soldiers, so they had to do their job."

With just a few days left in their 15-month tour, Gunnar Zwilling and eight of his comrades were killed July 13 in a clash with as many as 200 Taliban militants during a mission to set up an outpost near Wanat. It was the deadliest attack on U.S. troops in Afghanistan in three years.

In the wake of their deaths, the paratroopers have become symbols of what many say is a forgotten war, prompting the U.S. military to draw up plans for putting more troops and resources into the war in Afghanistan.

U.S. soldiers killed
The Defense Department on Wednesday identified the U.S. soldiers killed Sunday when their outpost was overrun in Afghanistan.
• 1st Lt. Jonathan P. Brostrom, 24, of Aiea, Hawaii.
• Sgt. Israel Garcia, 24, of Long Beach, California.
• Cpl. Jonathan R. Ayers, 24, of Snellville, Georgia.
• Cpl. Jason M. Bogar, 25, of Seattle, Washington.
• Cpl. Jason D. Hovater, 24, of Clinton, Tennessee.
• Cpl. Matthew B. Phillips, 27, of Jasper, Georgia.
• Cpl. Pruitt A. Rainey, 22, of Haw River, North Carolina.
• Cpl. Gunnar W. Zwilling, 20, of Florissant, Missouri.
• Pfc. Sergio S. Abad, 21, of Morganfield, Kentucky.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/07/17/airborne.soldiers.family/index.html

Each of these mens stories are on the web site I linked. Their reasons for joining the Army were different. Their family's anger at the Bush Administration and the Military is understandably the same.

Michael Phillips, from Jasper, GA, father,
"We're torn between incredible pride and anger. We're having a difficult time reconciling that after 14 months, someone who served his country well and paid his dues, why would he be placed in such a perilous situation?" Phillips said.

Bush

I see he is talking about a "Time Horizon" now for Iraq.

The Military says they dont have the troops available to send any significant numbers to Afghanistan anytime soon!


Thanks for the distraction Bush!

God Bless those Brave Soldiers and their families

That shet is all about election year Politics. Ours and the Iraqi's, and Bush wanting to get the agreement for a long-term troop presence in Iraq signed before he leaves office. It's not about less violence in Iraq!

The surge didn't work the violence subsided because Sadr called his Militia to stand down. That's about their election year politics too, and his party trying to gain significant seats in Parliament to take control of his country away from Malaki and the American military. Everyone seems to forget the huge failures of the Iraqi Army in Basra and Sadr City, and Bush is eager to promote Sadr's cease fire as a victory for the Iraqi Army.

The most violent province and the biggest in Iraq is Anbar Province. Earlier this year the Bush Administration announced hand over of control there to the Iraqi's.
That didn't happen and they are still having problems getting the US paid Sunni Mercenaries to agree with allowing the Iraqi Shi'ite military to take control. Without the US paying these militias, who they armed, there are no jobs and its feared these militias will turn on the Iraqi Army once again.

Anbar province is one of the 8 of 18 that the US has not handed control over to the Iraqis. It stretches from Baghdad all the way to the western border of Iraq. It has been hailed as a success by Bush, but the fact is that it is still the deadliest area in Iraq and where most of the US casualties have occurred recently, 3 Marines just this week. Being Sunni dominated it is not within the Sadr militia's control and the cease fire called by Sadr!

Then you have to talk about the Kurds. They have been selling Oil against Iraq's constitution agreements and without the central govs approval to foreign oil companies. Just the other day the Kurds walked out of the Parliament because of their refusal to stop at the Iraqi central Govs wishes.

With all these problems existing, how can Bush claim that now the situation warrants troop reduction time lines, when just a month ago he was unwilling to agree to such a plan with the US Congress.
It's simple in my mind. It's election year politics for both countries, and his wish to get a long-term, permanent Military agreement signed before he leaves office.
He knows that if we do not have such a presence that Sadr will take control of Iraq. That after 5 yrs of him stirring trouble with Iran and making an enemy of Sadr, he cant have that happen.

In the meantime the real war, the war that started the American military rolling, the war that gave America the willingness to go to war, is being ignored and American sldiers are dying.

He was from the St. Louis area, Fanta. He just graduated from high school in 2005. He had only a week left there.

Cpl. Pruitt A. Rainey, 22, of Haw River, North Carolina. Is from here. Haw Creek is part of Asheville!

I feel like this is on Bush's head.
I hope he sleeps well............
He betrayed these men!

Brave....?.
No balance of power.
Like an elephant stepping on a little baby.....!.

More than 100 militants showered the base with machine gun fire, rocket propelled grenades and mortar shells. In addition to the deaths, 15 were wounded.

i have to take a different view on afghanistan. this is one war i support. cant say the same for Iraq. but the taliban. are getting what they deserve. if someone would have not dropped the ball. we could have kicked talibans ass by now.

I read one report it was 270 militants and about 100 American and Afghani's who fought them off.

American forces have now abandoned the base!

What about the billions of people who think and believe that 9/11 was not done as the Administration says ?.

Billions?

American and Afghani forces pulled out of the base Tues and took the local mayor with them.
They left 20 weapons with local police who ran when the militants came back.
Now 100 militants are in control of the base!

to all 9/11 conspirators. please put the bong down.

Sadr told his men to stand down because he knew that his militia was about to get their a$$ kicked. And Sadr ran with his tail between his legs to well of course Iran. Sadr should have be dealt with long before he was. The US military and the Iraqi gtovernment are emerging slowly toward victory and the media is finally getting that info.

This was never meant to be remembered. It is KEPT out of sight and the public goes about their business more upset about the low gas prices of the middle east than the loss of lives in a war that this country HAS NEVER GOTTEN BEHIND.

The failure is not in the government, it is in the PEOPLE who ALLOW thier children to fight and die without justification.

I would much rather shower my pride on a child behind bars for refusing to fight for cause that has not been shown to be justified, than to cry my pride over the grave of my child without ever understanding why.

We can blame the government, but what are their numbers compared to the number of POEPLE who should be the voice of the government, the conscience of the government?

Where were these voices when the children were asked to agree to kill and be killed? Where were the intelligent thoughts of our young people when they were asked? Where where the adults standing behind the children with wisdom and support to CHOOSE with logic and heart, instead of some idealistic, romantic notion of heroism. All the years of playing war with their GI Joes and the exciting equipment and gear and oh yes how the government will make it worth "what?"

Speak to those who know the truth of how this government treats their vets. Perhaps, they were never expected to return in the first place?

WE ARE THE GOVERNMENT, WE GAVE CONTROL, ONLY WE CAN GAIN IT BACK.

Stand behind or in front of or beside, those who walk toward to their doom, and tell them, it's ok not to go. It's ok to ask for justification. It's not ok to follow blinly into the absudity of idealism whose foundation is death, destruction, the return of those whose minds are lost forever.

We have failed many - how many more will the silence, and mislaid blame betray?