I saw the Times' version. I am so happy Travis got his due, but ashamed the UK media is the one that found it. I was on duty in he TOC when he was killed last December. It was a very hard blow to the BDE.
Travis was the real force behind the Ramadi change, and COL MacFarland supported him 100%. He was killed in the same explosion that killed MAJ Megan McLung, our PAO. A huge loss that was hard to replace in our BDE, fortunately, he had laid the groundwork by that point for what came ahead. 1/3 ID has done great in building on what our BDE did.
Tom Ricks' can eat crow about what he published about 1/1 AD "screwing up" Tal Afar. Both places remain success stories. 1/1 AD continued 3ACR's success, moved to Ramadi, and then turned around a city no one thought could be saved, not even the 1 MEF G2. LTC Tien and TF 2-37 AR made TA even better as well until handover last October. Even his own Wapo said as much in an Oct 06 article. (full disclosure, I commanded B/2-37 in TA)
RIP, Travis.
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