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Colin Fitts
Nothing he ever experienced in Randolph could prepare him for what he faced in November 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq. Caught in the middle of the most intense urban combat zone since the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam, Sergeant First Class Fitts watched as his commanding officer, Captain Sean Sims, and two men entered what they thought was an abandoned house.
It wasn’t abandoned at all. Gathered inside was a group of Iraqi insurgents armed to the teeth. When Capt. Sims and the two men walked through the door, the insurgents let out a burst of gunfire, immediately dropping Captain Sims to the floor. The other two men escaped badly injured.
Just outside, SFC Fitts called his men together, regrouping them in a moment that rattled them all. With a raspy voice he warned them, “The CO is dead and I’ll tell you why. They were just a gaggle walking into some house. They weren’t clearing the building properly before going in. We were doing that, and that’s why we’re living. Do not let your guard down here, or you’ll be the next one dead.”
SFC Fitts spent a total of 36 months in Iraq and never once let his guard down. 32 of those months were spent engaged in direct combat with the enemy. He has three bronze stars and a purple heart to his name, having been shot in both arms, his right knee, and taking shrapnel to his jaw. He walks with a limp but there is nothing weak about him. He is a soldier through and through.
Click here to read the rest of SFC Colin Fitts’ story at www.40DaysofHonor.com.