U.S. Marine’s Death Exposed Secret Base In Iraq

First, I want to say R.I.P Brother, Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin. You will not be forgotten. 

Today we learned that a U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin’s death became known to the public after Sunday’s Islamic State rocket attack that killed him and wounded several others, so became known the existence of the U.S. forward operating base he was stationed at in the vicinity of Makhmur in northern Iraq.

Pentagon officials said they had planned on acknowledging the firebase at some point. The Pentagon was then forced into announcing a current deployment of troops from an additional Marine Expeditionary Unit as well.

Lastly, it became known that Cardin and his fellow Marines were part of an artillery unit, which compromised the Pentagon’s previous stance that besides Special Operations Forces, conventional troops were just there to train indigenous soldiers.

It is believed that the U.S. Marine artillery unit had been observed by ISIS as they were performing drills on their weapons systems, which led to the rocket attack on exposed troops.