Parris Island, South Carolina. (March 30, 2025): In this photo by Lance Corporal Jacob Claudell, recruits with Kilo Company, 3rd Recruit Training Battalion execute the Battle of Fallujah event during the “Crucible”, the grueling final test before becoming U.S. Marines.

Fallujah, Iraq was the scene of a pair of major engagements in which Marines and Army troops squared off against Iraqi resistance fighters and Muslim volunteers. An estimated 12,000 coalition assault troops, including six U.S. Marine and Army regiments, engaged in brutal house-to-house fighting in the densely populated city. The urban combat that followed was fierce with snipers firing from rubble strewn positions while erecting deadly booby traps as they withdrew.

The first battle of Fallujah was in response to the killing and mutilation of four U.S. Blackwater contractors who were hung from a bridge outside the city. The second was a follow-up campaign to retake Fallujah proper which resulted in high American casualties. In all, 149 troops were killed and another 690 wounded in this overwhelming U.S. victory. In all, three thousand insurgents were killed or captured and the resistance never again challenged the coalition in open combat.

All future Marines will be taught the hard lessons of Fallujah’s street battles to increase their chances of surviving the next round of close quarter combat.