The report from Stars & Stripes:
Saturday marked the Marine Corps' first hostile death in Iraq in 103 days. Lance Cpl. James M. Gluff, 20, was killed Jan. 19 while conducting combat operations in Anbar province, Iraq.... Marine Corps spokesman Eric Dent confirmed that the last Corps hostile death was on Oct. 8. "I think this speaks volumes about the effects our Marines and our Iraqi partners are having in Anbar Province," Dent said in an e-mail Wednesday.
What a remarkable thing the Marines have done in Anbar. It is truly one of the great military success stories in American history, and while it is tragedy that Marines are still dying there at all, one can hardly expect to police an area of that size and take no casualties. But at this rate, we're looking at three or four deaths a year--amazing. And people feared the Awakening was going to collapse under the weight of al Qaeda attacks...we were wrong about that, it's only gotten stronger.