Category: Military & Veterans

The Battle of Fallujah – Part II: Operation Phantom Fury

“November 8, 2004. RCT-1 and RCT-7 rolled into the attack at 1900 under the cover of darkness.
The Army’s heavy armor punched through the insurgent lines like a sledgehammer.
Marines and Iraqi soldiers followed, clearing house by house in the most intense urban combat since Hue City.
By the Marine Corps’ 229th Birthday, both regiments had seized MSR Michigan and controlled the center of Fallujah.
The enemy who swore they would never leave alive…were either dead, captured, or fleeing west along the Euphrates.
This is the story of how we took the fight to the terrorists in their own sanctuary — and won.”

“Remember Fallujah!” – The Battle Cry That Was Stolen from the Enemy and Given Back to America

In November 2004, the city of Fallujah was the bright ember burning at the heart of the Iraqi insurgency.

Foreign fighters, Zarqawi’s Al-Qaeda terrorists, and local thugs had turned the “City of Mosques” into a fortified hellhole of IED factories, torture chambers, and execution sites.

They bragged they would make it America’s Stalingrad.

They were wrong.

Operation Phantom Fury (Al Fajr – “New Dawn”) became the single most decisive urban battle of the Iraq War.

In 10 days of savage house-to-house fighting, coalition forces crushed the insurgency’s stronghold, killed or captured thousands of fighters, and opened the door for Iraq’s first free elections.

And one Marine officer was in the middle of it all — planning it, briefing Congress and the media, then stepping into the fight with the Army’s Black Jack Brigade before taking over as I MEF Forward’s Current Operations Officer.

That officer was then-Major (soon-to-be LtCol) Dan Hunter Wilson.

Twenty years later, on the anniversary of the battle, Colonel Wilson (Ret.) has expanded his original 2005 Marine Corps Gazette article into a powerful, firsthand book:

The Battle of Fallujah – Part II: Operation Phantom Fury

This is not another dry history book.

This is the raw, unfiltered account from the man who:

• Helped draft the final operations order signed by LtGen John Sattler

• Served as senior Marine liaison to the Army’s Black Jack Brigade during the assault

• Became the MEF’s Current Operations Officer and VIP briefer (briefing Senators McCain, Kerry, Biden, Clinton, and more)

• Watched Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Iraqi partners fight with the same indomitable spirit that has defined the Corps for 229 years

You’ll read the real story behind:

• The brilliant shaping operations and feints that fooled the enemy

• The night assault from the north that shattered insurgent defenses in hours

• The “three-building war” — fighting, clearing caches, and delivering humanitarian aid on the same block

• The wounded Marine NCO who raised his trigger finger and said, “Sir, send me back to my team. My trigger-finger is still good!”

• How the battle directly led to 40% fewer attacks, the first free elections in Anbar, and the Sunni Awakening that broke the back of the insurgency

And the sobering post-script:

How the hard-won victory was later squandered by a precipitous U.S. withdrawal, allowing ISIS to rise — and why Fallujah had to be fought for all over again.

This book is Colonel Wilson’s gift to every Marine, Soldier, Sailor, Airman, and Iraqi who fought in Phantom Fury.

It is dedicated to those who sacrificed “some” and those who sacrificed all.

If you want to understand what really happened in Fallujah — told by a warrior who was there from planning to victory — this is the book.

Available now on Amazon:

→ Paperback

→ Kindle eBook

→ Audible Audiobook – narrated by the author

Semper Fi. Remember Fallujah.

— Colonel Dan Hunter Wilson, USMC (Ret.)

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

A 110 Percent Mentality

“January 18, 2022. I stepped on the scale: 309 pounds.
Two years earlier I had retired from the Marine Corps after 39 years of staying under 220.
I had become what I used to discharge Marines for.
That morning I made a decision: I would attack my body the same way I attacked every mission in the Corps—with a 110% mentality.
110 pounds later I’m 199 pounds, have a six-pack at 63, and feel better than I did at 35.
If a hard-charging Marine can do it after retirement, you can too.
My book shows you exactly how.”

From 309 Pounds to a Six-Pack at Age 63: Retired Marine Colonel Drops 110 Pounds Using the Same 110% Mentality That Forged U.S. Marines

“Marines don’t give 100%. Marines give 110%!”

That scream from Drill Instructor Sergeant Antoinette still echoes in Colonel Dan Hunter Wilson’s head—nearly 45 years later. In January 2022, the 6’3” retired Colonel stepped on the scale and saw 309 pounds. The man who once ran a perfect 300 on the Marine Corps PFT, led Marines in Fallujah, and retired as the senior Colonel in the Corps had eaten himself into obesity in under two years.

He didn’t make excuses.

He didn’t buy pills.

He didn’t get surgery.

He simply decided to attack his body the same way he attacked every mission in 39 years of active duty—with his 110% mentality.

The result?

110 pounds gone.

Cholesterol from 235 to 171.

Blood pressure from 185/121 to 106/75.

Resting heart rate in the 40s.

A visible six-pack at 63.

And a book that is already changing lives.

A 110 Percent Mentality: My 110-Pound Weight Loss Journey is not another diet book.

It’s a battle plan written by a warrior who refused to stay soft.

Inside you’ll discover:

• The exact “Daniel Diet” (yes, straight from the Bible) that Colonel Wilson used—vegetables + lean protein + portion control that tastes so good cheating never tempts you

• The Basic Daily Routine that rebuilt his body, mind, and spirit (includes a 5-minute ice bath at 42–45°F every morning for unbreakable discipline)

• The wake-up run + garage circuit + 2 hours of Pickleball + iron + wind sprints schedule that melted fat while building muscle

• How he used faith, accountability, and ruthless consistency to power through every plateau

• The same leadership principles he used to turn civilians into Marines—now applied to turning your body into a fighting machine

This is NOT theory.

This is a retired Colonel who packed his seabag for 39 years, led in combat, trained thousands of Marines, and then proved the same principles work in retirement when the stakes were his own life.

He lost the weight slow and steady (never more than 10 lbs a month) so his skin tightened naturally—no loose skin, no Ozempic face, just lean, hard, Marine-ready muscle.

And now he wants to help you do the same.

Ready to stop making excuses and start making progress?

Grab your copy of A 110 Percent Mentality right now and begin your own transformation today:

→ Buy on Amazon (Paperback)

→ Kindle/eBook version

One reader already lost 42 pounds in 90 days using the plan.

Your story could be next.

Semper Fi and 110%—let’s get after it.

— Colonel Dan Hunter Wilson

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

A 110 Percent Mentality