REAL WORLD EVENT

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Friendly Forces

A Rochester native and a graduate of Churchville-Chili Central School and Rochester Institute of Technology, Chontosh was a First Lieutenant in the Marine Corps during the March 25, 2003 ambush. While on Highway 1, leading his platoon toward Ad Diwaniyah, Chontosh and his men were ambushed by a salvo of mortars, rocket propelled grenades, and automatic fire. Cited for "displaying decisive leadership and unlimited courage," Chontosh lead a counterattack that cleared 200 meters of enemy trench and killed 20 enemy soldiers. He was awarded the Navy Cross and has since been promoted to Captain. Back to top

Cpl. Armand McCormick was a driver during the attack, and on then-Lt. Chontosh's orders, he turned his vehicle directly into a heavily defended enemy trench. He then accompanied Chontosh into the trench, helping shoot enemy attackers and collecting discarded enemy weapons. He found an RPG which he handed to Chontosh to fire on enemy positions. Cpl. McCormick was awarded a Silver Star for his actions. Back to top

Cpl. Thomas Franklin was the gunner with Lt. Chontosh's platoon. He targeted the enemy machine gunner's nest and took out mortar positions as McCormick steered the HMMWV towards the enemy trench. He called for backup and continued to provide cover fire as Chontosh and McCormick took off into the trench. He was later awarded the Navy Commendation Medal with "V" for Valor. Back to top

Lance Cpl. Robert Kerman was also awarded a Silver Star for his actions during the ambush, showing "no regard for his own personal safety in calmly advancing on enemy positions," and "firing with accuracy that had devastating effects." Kerman's dad was also a Marine and served in the same battalion during the Vietnam War. Back to top

For more than a century after its founding, the US Navy gave no official medals. They were seen as the trappings of the royal empire the Americans had thrown off in 1776. But in the early 20th century, President Theodore Roosevelt helped create a series of badges to distinguish service in different campaigns. In 1919, the Navy Cross was created as the third-highest award, made for both wartime heroism and for peacetime service. In 1942, it was ranked second to the Congressional Medal of Honor and limited to combat.

The Cross itself was designed by James Earle Fraser, a member of the nation's Fine Arts Commission and designer of part of the Victory Medal and an early version of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal. The design is similar to Great Britain's Navy Distinguished Service Cross. The cross and the medallions are always die-cast separately and then soldered together. A common mistake of forgers is to make the medal in one piece.

More than 6,000 people have earned the award, including Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard personnel. Twelve Coast Guardsmen earned it for the 1918 evacuation of a burning ammunition plant in Morgan, New Jersey in which they rushed into the complex while shells continued to detonate for three days, shattering windows and walls all over the city and killing 64 people. Marine Sergeant Robert Hammond earned the Navy Cross for suffering severe torture during almost a year of captivity by the North Koreans during the infamous Pueblo incident. Sgt. Hammond attempted to make himself the scapegoat so that his crewmates would get less punishment and "willingly attempted to sacrifice his own life in order that his shipmates might be spared further torture."

The Cross has also been awarded to members of the Byrd Expedition and veterans of World Wars I and II, Vietnam, the Korean conflict, and Operation Just Cause in Panama. During Desert Storm, two Crosses were awarded, both to Marines. Back to top

Activated November 1969 in Okinawa, Japan, the I MEF took part in Desert Shield and Desert Storm, participated in Operation Restore Hope in Somalia, and returned to Somalia in 1995. The I MEF base is now in southern California at Base Camp Pendleton.

During Desert Storm, the 1st and 2d Marine Divisions of the First Marine took positions along the border of Saudi Arabia with the mission to attack north into Kuwait.

For its actions during March and April 2003 in Operation Iraqi Freedom, President George W. Bush awarded the I Marine Expeditionary Force the Navy Presidential Unit Citation, the first awarded to a Marine unit since the Vietnam War. Back to top

The 3/5 was first organized on June 8, 1917 as the United States prepared for World War I. Manned by a mix of new recruits and old vets from the Spanish War and Boxer Rebellion, it saw action throughout France at battles such as Bois de Belleau, Vierzy, Muese Argonne, St Michiei, and Soissons.

The French Government presented the battalion with the Crois De Guerre and changed the name of Belleau Wood to "Wood of the Marine Brigade" in its honor.

Since then, the 3rd has fought at Guadalcanal, New Guinea, and Okinawa during World War II, saw action at Pusan and Inchon during the Korean War, and fought in Vietnam and Desert Storm, winning more than 70 medals in the process. Back to top

Enemy Forces

Founded by Uday Hussein in 1995, the paramilitary Fedayeen Saddam ("Saddam's Men of Sacrifice") was seized by Qusay the next year. With between 18,000 and 40,000 troops, it was composed of young soldiers recruited from the most loyal regions of the country. It reported directly to the Presidential Palace, rather than through army command. Not an elite unit in the proper sense of the term, the Fedayeen was instead a politically reliable force ideally suited to crack down on dissidents with a special death squad unit whose members wore masks and conducted assassination raids on opposition members in their houses.

Elements of the Fedayeen launched "beheading operations" throughout 2000 and 2001, targeting women belonging to opposition families. They would drag these women out of their homes, lay them on an iron bench, and publicly decapitate them. Though the exact identity of Chontosh's attackers was hard to verify, the Fedayeen were known to be operating in the area and were the chief suspects. Back to top

Based in Baghdad, this army of 15,000 was the only major military force allowed inside the capital city because of fears of a coup. It was divided into four infantry brigades with armored units of T-72 tanks. Back to top

Often confused with the SRG, the Republican Guard was a much larger, independent force of 80,000 divided into Northern and Southern Corps. It was directed by Saddam's son Qusay, with a politically reliable Tikriti as its chief of staff. The force was outfitted with T-72's, BMP fighting vehicles, and anti-tank missiles and guns. Back to top

Composed of five different Corps, based around Kirkuk, Mosul, and near Baghdad, this force was made of infantry divisions of 10,000 apiece with support from a variety of older model Soviet tanks (T-54's, 55's and 62's) and dozens of Mi-25 Hind helicopters. Many of the helicopters were not operational. Back to top

Composed of six battalions of 300 men apiece, the unit fielded specialists in fighting with different countries surrounding Iraq: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Turkey. It had a battalion that could mine waterways and engage in ocean combat. There was also an Opposition Battalion that trained to fight domestic Shiites in the south. Back to top

More an internal security force than an army, this group of 5,000 spied on the military for evidence of rebellion. Back to top