Free Fire for Effect by Kendall McKenna Page A

to end, in your own words. If I have questions, I’ll ask them afterward.”
    Gilman recounted how he and his patrol had been going house-to-house, searching for armed insurgents. It was the Second Battle of Fallujah and they were outnumbered, only beginning the surge that would eventually take the city back.
    They came under heavy fire and took refuge in a bombed out house while they dug in, regrouped, and prepared to take the fight to the enemy. A Marine made his way to the roof and was hit. When he came falling down the stairs, two more Marines went up, both of whom were hit but still managed to toss grenades and return fire.
    The two Marines on the roof held the insurgents off, preventing them from identifying targets to shoot and from making entry into the house. As the rest of the team took cover in the outer rooms, insurgents managed to launch grenades into the house. The Marines were taken out one-by-one and had to pull back further into the house. Gilman himself had shrapnel wounds in his legs and crawled into the room in time to see Restrepo, bleeding from a head wound, helping a quickly fading Gunnery Sergeant John Warner stumble in and fall.
    An insurgent grenade bounced off a wall and rolled into the room where they had all taken cover. It came to rest just feet from where Restrepo and Warner lay wounded. Gilman watched Restrepo throw himself over the now-limp body of Gunny Warner. Restrepo’s body absorbed the blast and the shrapnel from the exploding grenade. Gilman had been far enough away that the shrapnel missed him, embedding in nearby walls.
    Sergeant Restrepo was shredded by shrapnel and he was dead by the time the corpsman reached them. Gunny Warner survived, but eventually lost a leg below the knee.
    “They said the medical board that reviewed the forensics determined that Restrepo’s head wound was too severe, he didn’t have the conscious thought or physical ability to cover Gunny’s body with his own,” said Gilman. “That’s bullshit, Top. I saw it with my own eyes.” He was vehement in his declaration, leaning toward Jonah slightly.
    “What was Gunny Warner doing when the grenade landed in the room?” Jonah asked. In his typical fashion, Jonah’s posture appeared relaxed, but Kellan saw the focus and intensity in his eyes.
    “Gunny was already unconscious,” Gilman answered. “He’d been shot up pretty bad and was losing a lot of blood.”
    Kellan focused on Gilman’s last sentence and could tell from the set of Jonah’s shoulders, he’d picked up on it, as well. There had been hints of this in other documents. Kellan had never been able to find an official statement that mentioned Restrepo having gunshot wounds. Not even the final medical reports mentioned anything other than blast and fragmentation wounds.
    “So, there’s no chance he pulled an already unconscious Restrepo on top of himself as a shield?” Jonah pressed.
    “No.” Gilman gave an emphatic shake of his head. “Me and Lance Corporal Rich Connell saw the same thing as we were crawling into the room.”
    “So, to summarize, Gunny and Restrepo were fragged. Gunny Warner was unconscious when another grenade landed in the room. Sergeant Restrepo threw himself over Gunny’s body, absorbing the majority of the blast and the shrapnel,” Jonah said. “Is that it?”
    Sergeant Gilman nodded. “At some point, they both took gunshot wounds, too.”
    Kellan tensed. He shifted in his chair slightly, to mask his urge to leap up and press for answers.
    Jonah frowned slightly, as he scanned through the scrolling screen on his tablet. Kellan knew it was for show, so he waited to see if Jonah’s tactic would pay off. “When did they take rounds?” Jonah asked. “If the insurgents hadn’t breached the house and only the roof was taking small arms fire, when did they take rounds? If all of you were pulling back to avoid grenades, and they were both down when the insurgents breached the house, when were they