Constant Combat

Loyalty over Safety - Mike Martinez and Jason Adams (part 1 of 2)

• Ramadi Podcast

Share episode

Send us a text

For this conversation, we talk to Mike Martinez and Jason Adams, combat replacements to 2/4 Weapons Company. A simple question sat on the table: go home, or go back with your friends into a fight that had already taken lives. Mike and Jason chose to return to Ramadi in 2004 as combat replacements, and their story lays bare what that decision meant—on bad days, on good days, and on the days that never leave you. The result is a raw, fast-moving account of grief, near misses, leadership that mattered, and the strange humor that kept people sane.

• choice between orders and loyalty
• arrival amid loss and tension
• 2003 versus 2004 combat realities
• IED at Habaniyah Dam aftermath
• rooftop pistol ambush near miss
• QRF restraint and detainee handling
• Junction City culture clashes
• leaders who protected Marines
• mortars, gas scares, long bug hunts
• hooch life, cards, crud, coping humor

If you like what you've heard, this is a multi part episode. Make sure you listen to the rest of the story.

----------------------------------------------
If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088

If you are a member of Weapons Company or someone with a story about Weapons Company 2/4 in 2004, please come tell some stories with us - 20 mins or 20 hours! Help paint the canvas of an archival story for others to know what it was like. Contact us @ RamadiPodcast@gmail.com, or via the podcast website above.

All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM

SPEAKER_05:

All right, guys, go ahead and tell uh who you are and what rank you were in 2004 in Ramadi.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, so my my name is uh Mike Martinez. I was uh one of the combat replacements in Ramadi. Uh I I went to Ramadi as a corporal.

SPEAKER_05:

So and Jason?

SPEAKER_07:

Uh my name's Jason. Um I was also a combat replacement from 3.5. Um and I was a corporal when I got to Ramadi.

SPEAKER_05:

And you guys both went to Sledgehammer Platoon? And did you guys both come from 3-5?

SPEAKER_01:

Yep. Nice. Yeah, yeah. We spent, I mean, we met, he and I met sometime around March of 2001. Yeah, so right after boot camp, after SOI, we met up at 3.5. Um, this pretty interesting story about how we first became or for how we first met and how he decided that he was gonna be my friend. So uh um, but uh but yeah, so we met then and then we that's when we just kind of stuck it out, I guess. So Jason, I'll let you tell that story when you get a chance.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah, go for it.

SPEAKER_07:

Right now, yeah, yeah. I don't remember what happened. I think I was cleaning my room and I had a bowl of dry fruit loops, and I was eating like snacking on like chips, and he just walked. I've never seen the guy before in my life. He walked by and took a handful out of him, and I was like, Who the fuck was that? And they were like, that was Martinez, and I was like, fuck that guy. And uh, I think you gave me a ride, right? You had to give me a ride somewhere. Uh and you're in his Camaro and his stereo sounded like dog shit. Like it was so bad. Like, and I was like, it was a nice car, and I was like, What the fuck's going on? He's like, I was broken, so I just had to EQ it for him. Uh and he was all like, even I remember you like freaking out, you're like, How the fuck did you do that, man? How'd you make it sound so good? Pretty much hasn't left me alone since. Yep. That's our friendship story, like in the national.

SPEAKER_06:

That uh that that that sounds exactly like most uh Marine Corps uh friendship stories. Something weird happened and and lifelong friends ever since. So right now, you guys 3-5 was a part of the invasion, right? Yep, yeah. So you guys did the uh the whole race to Baghdad. Um where did you go up through?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh sure. We crossed the LOD, whatever when was it, March 19th or whatever it was, the the March 20th. Um shoot, I don't know. Jason, do you have a better? I know we took we what do you take, Route One? I have no idea. I don't know, I just wrote in the back. Um I didn't know that either. Yeah, I think we took Route One all the way up, like through um Azizia, through uh Adiwania, um, took a few ambushes and stuff like that along the way, that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_02:

Very cool.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And then, like you said, it was just that it was just that that race to Baghdad, whoever could get there first.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Sure.

SPEAKER_06:

And then so then 3-5 comes back, and um, if I remember your stories correctly, your EAS fell in a time frame where they were basically like you either get involuntarily extended on the next pump, or you guys can choose to jump over and be combat replacements for a unit. And then you guys chose that, am I remembering correctly?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, it was a little bit like very close to that. So that's the way all of our guys, the combo combat replacements work. So yeah, they all got that ultimatum. But Jason and I, because we joined like I was about two weeks after like our main group of guys, and Jason was like a week after me when we joined. But with our EAS, they actually told us we didn't have to go back. They're like, um, the way your EAS is working, we don't need you, you can go home. Um, so everybody else is gonna go, all your friends are going. And uh you get they took us into the um the San Mateo um gym. So we all sat in the gym and they told us this whole spiel about how we're all they're all going back. And they took us, a few of us to the side and they're like, you don't have to go. So congrats. So Jason and I had the choice to go home, like get out EAS at the end of October, or go back with to you guys, meet up with you. Oh and then and then they were they were gonna split us up all different directions, and we knew that. And so, like all the three, five guys, so all right, so let's do it. So Jason and I, we had uh, we just had, I don't know, we probably had a couple beers and a and a cigar and we talked about it. Um, my wife had just had gave birth in 2003 to my youngest son. And uh so I had just got home, like, and now it's April, so April of 2004, and they're like, Oh, so you don't have to go back. So my son's almost a year old, and they're like, You don't have to go back. So Jason and I again, we had this conversation. We're like, so do we just let them go without us or do we bite the bullet? So kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. Do you do you do you say fuck your friends and go stay home with your wife? Because he he was married also. Um so do you stay home with your wife? I mean, you want to be home with your wife, or do you or do you again take the hit and go back with your friends? So we we said we were trying to you have to fight the swamp monster, right? Like swamp monster is gonna grab one one way or another. So we could either run in the swamp and get caught or turn around and fight. So so we volunteered to go back, he and I.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay.

SPEAKER_01:

Jason, does it sound pretty familiar? Sound right? Yeah, it sounds about right.

SPEAKER_06:

Okay. So wait, so did you guys got back from your from Iraq the first time in like early 04 or late 03?

SPEAKER_01:

Late 03, September of 03. So my son was born July of 03.

SPEAKER_06:

Okay. I see.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so I see, okay. Yeah, so we so we got back September. I mean, so I missed his birth, they wouldn't send me home. Um, we got home around, yeah, so late September sometime.

SPEAKER_06:

Okay. So Jason, do you remember how you ended up getting back over to uh Iraq? Did you guys take a uh military plane over or commercial plane?

SPEAKER_07:

We took a commercial flight, right, Mike? Yeah, yeah. Um yeah, we never took a military military military plane either time. Really? Um yeah, both times. Yeah, like like they fed us meals and shit on the plane.

SPEAKER_05:

Dude, I'm so jealous.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah, we we were we were shoved in like sardines on a C-130 that almost crashed like three times.

SPEAKER_07:

That would suck so bad.

SPEAKER_06:

Oh, it was awful.

SPEAKER_07:

Uh how long was the flight?

SPEAKER_06:

Well, we we literally had it like I'm not joking that it almost crashed. Like well, it's not maybe crash is a little too strong of a word, but we lost an engine. Uh, we had other mechanical issues. Um, so we landed in Jersey.

SPEAKER_05:

It had to make two urgent landings and one unscheduled landing that was not urgent for whatever reason. And it was uh we replaced an engine in New Jersey, we landed again in Canada, then we landed in Shannon Air Force Base, and then we landed in Germany. We switched planes in Germany and finally made it into Kuwait.

SPEAKER_01:

We landed in Kuwait in a freaking commercial airplane.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, that's that's how we flew out. We flew out on United, but we flew in on bullshit air.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm telling you, like stewardesses like walking around drinks and and crackers or whatever, you know.

SPEAKER_06:

Like well, and if not to jump the story just too much, but then you guys left. Did you guys come back with us?

SPEAKER_01:

No, we they sent us home early. When did you guys come home? We came home like in August.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah, we can't we came home in September, the end of September.

SPEAKER_07:

Yeah, I think we left on my birthday, Mike. I don't know your fucking birthday. Yeah, well, no, I remember I remember getting jumped by Royce and Hampton uh before we got on the on the helicopter.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, you know what? I think you're right. I think you're right. Um yeah, that I remember that.

SPEAKER_06:

Okay. I I thought I had remembered that you guys had left a little you know earlier than than like when we got real serious about the left seat, right seat. Like I think I think they pulled you guys out.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, dude. So we were there, we were there from like late. So we got there right after Easter of 04. Um actually the first, so I mean, again, I don't want to jump the gun, but we got there the day the day after um Jeremiah Savage died.

unknown:

Okay.

SPEAKER_07:

May 12th. So May 12th wasn't the day after the day of.

SPEAKER_01:

It might have been the day of.

SPEAKER_07:

You guys might have it was the day of. We're sitting in the uh in the um in the in our on our beds when uh the platoon came back all super upset and shit.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I was on Jeremiah's bed.

SPEAKER_06:

Oh yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01:

So we'll we'll we could we could jump to that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07:

I don't want to be able to rewind. I gotta put the phone down for like 20 seconds. I'll be right back.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah, man. No worries, no worries.

SPEAKER_07:

It's always about him.

SPEAKER_05:

And you don't even know his birthday.

SPEAKER_01:

I actually do. I'm just fucking with him.

SPEAKER_06:

I got him flowers last year.

SPEAKER_01:

I buy flowers every year. Okay.

SPEAKER_06:

No, no, you guys, so I know you and Jason came, but I think Clark also came at the same time. Yeah, we had Brian Fox and Royce Larson. There's a couple other guys with Rainmaker.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, we had Royce Larson and Brian Fox went to Rain. But yeah, so you're so yeah, Fox, uh Larson, they were with Rainmaker. Um Clark stayed with us in Sledgehammer, and then Lopez, Gonzalez, Hampton, and Travis Day all went to map two, yeah with map two, yeah.

SPEAKER_06:

Yep. Now, were they all previous weapons company guys too? So you guys okay.

SPEAKER_01:

I knew all of them since SOI. Okay. So we all went to SOI together, we all got to 3.5 together. Say we were all weapons company, 3-5, 8-1s together, and then and then they were the ones who all had they had to go back. So their EAS were forced to go back.

SPEAKER_06:

Oh, I see.

SPEAKER_01:

And that's when Jason and I were like, Well, fuck. Like, do you what do you again? What do you say? Like you're stuck between the rock and hard place. I have my wife with a brand new baby. Like, what do you do?

SPEAKER_06:

Oh, I had it. So I had gotten uh I had gotten MSG orders, and that was that was all I ever wanted. When I joined, when I joined, I wanted to go directly MSG. Like that was that was my dream job. I wanted to go MSG. And um I actually had orders in hand. And uh Gunny pulled me aside and was like, hey, you have orders to go, um, but also know that we're gonna go get into it. And so know though, if you refuse orders, you know, it's it doesn't look good. And so if you're planning on making a career of this, you know, you're gonna have a hard, you know, make a decision. And so obviously, you know, the story is evident. I I turned those orders down just so I could go with the guys. But that was a hard I sat on that for about a week um trying to decide what I wanted to do. Because we actually had a couple guys that chose to go MSG. Um there was a bunch there was four of us, I think.

SPEAKER_05:

Only two that I can remember, but one machine gunner, one 181s. But if there's a couple others, I don't remember.

SPEAKER_06:

I think there was there was a couple other uh they were from not from weapons.

SPEAKER_05:

Oh, line company dudes, yeah, for sure.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06:

So but uh so I no, I I not not exactly the same situation because I wasn't married and I didn't have a kid, but uh it's it was hard.

SPEAKER_01:

You're you're kind of crushing your own dream.

SPEAKER_06:

You have a kid Yeah, well, and I couldn't I couldn't in good conscience. I mean ultimately I had a couple of really good conversations with a couple people that I knew I would never have been able to live with myself if someone would have gotten hurt. Um I mean Savage ended up you know not making it. And so, you know, I'd you know that hurts as it is, but I don't know what I would have, you know, like that would have probably hurt a lot more if I chose go MSG. So I I completely understand your decision.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, you're you're sitting in some freaking cushion job or just hanging out again. I could have I so that was May 12th, I got with you guys. Um May till October, I could have just been hanging out doing, you know, guard duty or something stupid. Like sure, I could have I could have had a cushion. Just rocks. Yeah, yeah. And I'm like, fuck, I don't know. So it to me it was the best decision. So, you know, which is funny. Yeah, go to going to back to war. That's the that's the better decision.

SPEAKER_06:

That's sounds uh sounds like a lot of us. Yeah, by the way. Fuck awesome. I mean, yes. Welcome back, Jason. Thank you. We were just we we were just talking about some of the other guys that you guys came over with at the same time. So um so yeah, so uh you guys came commercial flight into Kuwait, right? Okay, and then how did you get from Kuwait up to Ramadi?

SPEAKER_07:

I think we're on Grayon buses, right, Mike? Yes. Skateboards, actually. No, uh they weren't grey ones, they're they're buses. Oh, they were they were the fucking Haji buses. Yeah, keep laughing, motherfucker. Oh really? You guys took a bus up? Yeah, and they uh they had like um they covered the windows, right, with paper so we couldn't see out. I do remember that.

SPEAKER_01:

The dude was blaring some fucking Haji music the whole way. Yo, like, dude, are we are we fucking retarded? Did that really happen?

SPEAKER_06:

Well, I hella completely believe this. I mean, that it sounds exactly like the military.

SPEAKER_05:

I mean, they would totally like you definitely didn't take a bus all the way to Ramadi though. Did you go up to Baghdad and then catch a bird? Or you went all the way to Ramadi in a bongo.

SPEAKER_01:

We got in a helicopter somewhere. I just don't remember where what, but but I I dude, I hella forgot about the freaking Haji buses, like the with the blacked out windows. Like we're in we're in a fucking combat zone. Like, but it made sense to to transport us that way too. And again, I don't remember how long we did that, but I remembered that trip. It was fucking wild.

SPEAKER_06:

Because the the the drive up to Ramadi is more than a day.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so they must have flown us into something, and then we did Haji buses into Ramadi, something like that.

SPEAKER_07:

I I think I think we took uh buses from the airport and then got a bird somewhere um on the way.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that had to be it. But but I definitely I dude, I hella forgot about the Haji buses. It's crazy. That's gonna be some fucking flashback tonight. I just remember it being dark, dark because it was at night. We're we're driving in these Haji buses at night, blacked out, and the dude was blaring the Haji music, and it was just and you know, just the sight and the smell just hit just hella hit me right now. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_05:

That's a crazy way to travel. It I'm hoping that was just into Kuwait and you got to the Iraq border and then they flew you from there, but it could be all the way to Baghdad, and that would be crazy as hell.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, no, I don't remember being that long. I don't remember it being a day. I remember it being a long drive, but not a day. It was a it was a nighttime thing we were doing. It was in the dark.

SPEAKER_06:

They might have gotten you to Baghdad because Baghdad was a it was an undoable. It was what what was it, nylon? It was like two hours or whatever.

SPEAKER_05:

Oh, I don't know. It was more than that, but I don't remember because Fallujah, anyways, whatever.

SPEAKER_06:

Uh interesting. So you guys get to get to Rumadi. It sounds like you guys got there. Um, so did you guys go to platoons based off of your uh MOSs? Did you have any choice in that or how did uh no?

SPEAKER_01:

They just separated everybody, just they just kind of shotgunned us out. Everybody just kind of go everywhere. And and then to other um other battalions. We had the friends who go to other battalions, not in Ramadi, like straight up shotgunned everywhere across across Iraq.

SPEAKER_07:

Except they let they let four of us stay together, right? Groups of four. Yeah. If we volunteered to go on the first wave, they let us stay with three of our friends um in the same platoon. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06:

Oh nice.

SPEAKER_05:

I mean, yeah, we got uh Gonzo and Lopez and Day and Hampton, and they were all mortarmen in theirs. But uh Gonzo and Lopez are brothers, so yeah, they they let them stay together.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah, so they they should they were together from boot camp on. Um and then who was who was with Rainmaker, uh the sergeant? Uh was it Lopez or something like that? Garcia?

SPEAKER_05:

Garcia was Garcia? Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, yeah. Felix, yeah, Felix Garcia.

SPEAKER_01:

So Garcia, he they they told him he had to pick one of our four. Uh wait, we had no, we had five. We had five that go that went to Sledgehammer. So they told him to pick one and he picked the pretty one. He picked Fox. Um so Fox goes over to Rainmaker, and then um uh who was a Sergeant Major? Sergeant Major Mack, maybe?

SPEAKER_05:

First Sergeant Mack was our company first sergeant.

SPEAKER_01:

First Sergeant Mack, okay. So he asked he asked Fox, hey, who's your uh what friend do you have with you in your platoon? And Fox is like, Oh, I don't have anybody. He was like, pick one. So so he picked Larson, so Larson went to Rainmaker with him.

SPEAKER_06:

Oh, okay. Okay, oh I see that's where the five is because then it was you, Clark, and Jason.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_06:

Okay. All right.

SPEAKER_07:

How is Clark? Uh I haven't talked to him since 2004. I saw him like two years ago. He uh he moved to Western Washington and he was living like five miles from where I was at the time. Okay. Um but he's doing good as good. He's got a family and a house and stuff. Good job. Nice.

SPEAKER_06:

All right, so you guys are now you're in Ramadi. You guys got divided up. Uh you're over at you over to Sledgehammer. Um what's your uh what's some of your first memories of like uh of Ramadi?

SPEAKER_07:

Well they gave us like two days or a day to uh acclimate, right, Mike? Yeah. So we're just chilling and we were just like sitting on our asses when you guys came back from that patrol. And we didn't know we didn't know what had happened, you know? Um and you guys were kind of being dickheads to us, if I remember right. Um we didn't know why.

SPEAKER_01:

We just know you guys are fucking assholes. We're like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_07:

Yeah, like we're going home, fuck this.

SPEAKER_01:

Like, we're just fucking guys, I'm going home.

SPEAKER_07:

Uh I just remember you guys came in and we were kind of just listening. I was I was just kind of uh eavesdropping on the conversation and we were like, oh fuck, someone just died. We're like, God damn. I just remember like being, you know, like we're not in Kansas anymore. This is fucking crazy. Because the the the first the first tour wasn't really like that, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

We yeah, we lost a few guys the first time, but but it wasn't day one. We walk in and somebody died.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah. Well you would have already you would have gotten there after we had had our the first battle of Ramadi where we lost, you know, we had a big we had a big hit.

SPEAKER_07:

And then I think that's why we came, is because when you guys lost the guys during that battle when we were replacing that.

SPEAKER_06:

Yep. And then a few weeks before that, also we had gotten a couple decent casualties that went home. They weren't KIA, but they were uh birded out. Yeah, they were birded out. I mean, so they they weren't they weren't there, and so we had you know, you were coming unfortunately coming in when things were uh a little tense. And to be fair, and Nylan can uh uh assert to this is that 81s uh weren't the uh always the friendliest uh we're we're not we're not the lovable ones of the uh of the company. And so we we're we might have been we were probably treating you as uh very fairly uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So that's what Jason, like we said earlier though. So that's where we walked, we get it, we we're we're there sitting. I'm sitting on a fucking bed, and you guys walk in and I'm the fucking asshole. And I'm like, what did I do? Like, I don't even fucking know these guys, you know. But it turns out, yeah, I'm on Jeremiah's bed.

SPEAKER_06:

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And they start clearing up his stuff, taking you know, packing his stuff up, just start boxing home, boxing it up and sitting at home, and I'm like, Oh, I'm the ass. I I'm the asshole by default.

SPEAKER_06:

Like I get it so yeah, yeah. Well, that was with Rainmaker, and so you guys would have gotten so that was prop, and then after that is when you would have gotten divided up to go over to Sledgehammer, then right. Yeah. Because our our platoon didn't. That was again, that was that was on Sledgehammer's side.

SPEAKER_01:

So gotcha.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So it was uh so it was tough, man. It was uh it was tough walking into that situation and being like, oh, okay, so again, this is a new combat thing that we don't know.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah, yeah. How how hard of a transition was that? You know, you you guys had you know, you were already battle tested, right? So you already had gone, you know, you had done the you know, you had been to war, uh, and coming back into essentially the same, in theory, same environment, but you know, very different circumstances.

SPEAKER_01:

It was definitely a different war, it was completely different. And the the weird thing is, because like you said, battle tested, yeah. Like I got um some medals or a medal or whatever for shit that I did in Iraq in 03. Um, but coming back, like now, like not only am I a fucking boot because I don't know shit about your guys' combat zone, but I'm also being treated like a fucking boot as a corporal, right? Like I'm a corporal, but I'm being treated like a boot because I'm I'm the fucking new guy. It makes sense, right? Yeah, um, so like there's like a lot of weird uh feelings about that, about like, dude, I'm a fucking E4 like everybody else, but I'm being treated like a fucking E1 and one of the fucking boots on can't on campus. Like, look, how what the fuck do I gotta do here to prove myself, you know? So it was a difficult transition for sure for me.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah, yeah. I could I could see that being really I could see that really being difficult to come into. Uh you know, we we all knew each other really tightly. We'd already gone through a lot of that stuff. And then, I mean, there's stories, uh, you know, his you know, history even comments on, you know, like the whole like the new guys that are coming in, you don't want to make friends with the new guy uh for a variety of reasons, you know, uh not anything to do with the person themselves, but you're like, you know, you've already lost people, so it's hard to want to make friends in the war zone. Correct.

SPEAKER_05:

Well, I was gonna say, I'm counting on my fingers. Uh by that point, weapons company had probably lost 10 people. I mean, you know, two dead and eight went home with significant wounds like missing eyes, missing, you know, damage to extremities, stuff like that. Serious wounds by that point. So that was that was a lot of stuff. What did you guys hear before you came over? Did you hear anything about what we were doing?

SPEAKER_01:

Nope. Nope. I don't remember shit, dude. I remember they just said you're gonna go. It's the same thing. You've been there before, you know what you know what you're getting into. Get ready for it. All right.

SPEAKER_02:

Wow.

SPEAKER_01:

Like I didn't know shit about IEDs and freaking incoming mortars at you know all hours of the fucking night. I didn't, we didn't know about that shit. Like, what the fuck do you guys do? Like, why'd you piss them off so much?

SPEAKER_07:

They won't even matter if we left no three.

SPEAKER_06:

There's a reason why we're called the bastards, man. Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Magnificent.

SPEAKER_06:

That's right. Magnificent. That's right.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06:

So how so yeah, you we so you you're having to adjust to IEDs, you're having to adjust to a lot more indirect fire. Um, we were also obviously, you know, you were doing the race to the Baghdad, but here we're by all pretenses, we were supposed to be doing, you know, security and stabilization operations, SASO. Um, I think at that point we were pretty much had put that down. Um, I think there was still a hope that we were gonna stand up the military police and the Iraqi police at this point. Uh that handoff was a boondoggle. That um, but that was at what was that supposed to be the first of July or whatever?

SPEAKER_05:

Somewhere around, yeah. The police station got blown up on the third of July. So yeah, that's about right.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I remember I think I remember that, right? We were I think we were on in country there, so oh yeah, for that.

SPEAKER_06:

I remember that no, I remember you guys helping out with a couple different operations, but um but yeah, so so and do you do do any of those oper any of those operations stick out to you? Any of the I mean with Sledgehammer, we ended up doing a couple hits, we did a couple quarter and searches. Any any stick out?

SPEAKER_01:

No, I just it it's honestly to me it's just a big ass blur of shit. But I just I remember it was just it was again, it was a new combat zone. Like, so we're so we're learning on the fly, trying to keep up with you guys who've been in in combat, been in this in this fight. Our fight was different than yours. Like it's you know, you talk about you think about this uh you know from different wars, how every war is different in its own way. But dude, this is within a year and everything's different. Yeah, the only thing the same is the fucking dirt, but otherwise it's like completely different.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah. Well, the first big event that I can remember, and maybe this will jog your memory because it it I know it stuck out to Lopez and Gonzalez, and Day was in my truck half the time. So I remember talking to him about it. Uh we went out.

SPEAKER_01:

Did he take his dentures out to talk to you?

SPEAKER_05:

Or we called him Colonel the whole time. We were like, Man, you look like you're the oldest old man of the Marine Corps.

SPEAKER_01:

Dude, he would he would have his freaking his bottle of Mountain Dew and cigarette like at all times. All the time.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, that we we bonded because I smoked all the time too. So at least we bonded over cigarettes.

SPEAKER_01:

For Fox's 40th birthday, we all got together and uh I I bought a bag of Werther's originals and I would sneak them into a uh Colonel's pockets.

SPEAKER_05:

That's great. So on May 29th, there was this uh idea that the engineers, combat engineers who had tasked out to us, uh they were going to sweep the Habania Dam, which was an el the elevated dam on the Habania Lake.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I remember that now.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, and that was the first, I think, biggest worst thing that happened, like right after you guys got there, where they were sweeping the I mean, we'd had some minor skirmishes, a couple pop shots, and a couple small IEDs, but that was the first big one where that big IED blew up on the dam. And I I know you guys were out there at the arches. Do you happen to remember that that stuff?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh I remember being there um seeing from a distance, we could see the the IED go off. I remember seeing this the puff of smoke and everything, and we were far away um from it. But I remember that. And um uh so I know Lopez is actually there, and I don't know the guy who got injured, but Lopez actually cradled him while he was while they were working on him. And I and I I remembered like I don't know if 100% if it's right if I remember it correctly, but Lopez saying, like, I guess his nuts got blown off or something like that.

SPEAKER_05:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

And the guy was just praying, praying to God, praying to asking Lopez to help him and make sure that he gets to see his family again or something of that sort. Um, that one obviously still hits.

SPEAKER_06:

I remember that, but um Yeah, those those engineers got hurt bad.

SPEAKER_07:

Yeah. You know uh what sticks out in my mind is I think it was the second coordinate search, um, right, Mike, when uh I was on the rooftop with Rocha.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, yeah. Tell that one what happened.

SPEAKER_07:

What's that?

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah, tell what happened.

SPEAKER_07:

Yeah, so uh we were up there for a long ass time. I I don't remember how long, but it was all day, and we were just worn out and tired. And um, I just remember there were so many people in cars and shit, and we uh I looked down at this car and I was like, hold up, hold up.

SPEAKER_01:

So I'm not with Adams at this point. I'm I'm down in a fucking alley, and and I'm down in the alley watching this alleyway, and I could only I could look up and see him and Rocha, and they're two fuckers just up at uh up on this fucking building being fuckers, right? Like just normal. And I'm just looking up and seeing them, and then now go ahead, Jason, do your thing.

SPEAKER_07:

So I looked left down at this car, and I looked right, and as I looked right, they pulled a pistol out and shot um several rounds, right? Micah, a few rounds. Um, and we just dropped like that was the fastest I've ever moved in my life. And I remember um the the um bricks like in the parapet wall were like, shoot, they they would have, you know, they almost hit us. I think they're breaking off right like two inches above my head. Um and we jumped back up, and you know, obviously they put the gun, we didn't have no idea which what car it even was, or there's nothing we could do about it.

SPEAKER_01:

But um, that was that was super scary. Yeah, so um in 03, I I was there when uh when Eric Silva got shot and he when he died, and I remember seeing him running across a berm, he gets hit in the side, he drops like a bag of bricks, and it was he was dead on impact. Um and when I was looking up in that up from the alley watching them, and the way I hear the gunshots going, I see Jason and and and Jamie that I see him drop, and I'm like, oh fuck.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh shit.

SPEAKER_01:

It was a exact same body movement, just collapsed. And I'm like, fuck, my my best friend just got fucking killed. So we make our way up there, and uh yeah, he was he was fine. He was just like, he's like, dude, they almost hit me. Like, what the fuck? I thought you I thought you fucking died.

SPEAKER_06:

God damn it. No, I I uh I remember a couple times meeting up with uh after some really intense ones. I remember I don't uh the one that I remember actually more is uh the time that I met up with Nyland, uh, I think it was over at Junction City. And I don't know what shit we had gotten into, but I remember you you you looked at me and you were like, holy shit, dude, you look awful. Like you went through it. Now there is uh we definitely had a couple of pretty intense ones. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, wild shit.

SPEAKER_05:

Based on that description, that sounds like that was probably June 1st, our second big bug hunt. That was where that was literally all day. That was like 14 hours of of people searching houses and digging shit up in the yards and calling for EOD, and like it was forever.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I remember it actually being a bug hunt. I remember that term being called a bug hunt. Like, so yeah.

SPEAKER_07:

Hey Blake, do you remember um the day that Fox got hit with that IED?

SPEAKER_06:

Brian Fox. Give me give me a little bit more.

SPEAKER_07:

So I think it was like maybe our third third day in country with you guys. Um, and we just got taken off on where we were going. Um and he got hit um in the face by an IED.

SPEAKER_06:

Oh right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07:

He got peppered. He wasn't like peppered. Yeah, no, no, he yeah. And me and Mike guy down, I think, right, you did it right, Mike. Yeah. And we we pulled him back and we were beating the shit out of him, and you were like, You made a stop, and we were like, we thought you were joking. We're like, what the fuck? Okay, we just kept going. You're like, no, stop right now, and we're like, what the fuck? We're like we're just completely lost. We're like, what the fuck is he saying? Is he telling us to stop?

SPEAKER_01:

Dude, well, because so Brian, when he got hit, um, we again we're brand new, we don't know you guys, and Reeves, uh, Corporal Reeves, right? Yeah, yeah, he uh he's on he's on the radio and he and he like an asshole. He's just like, hey, uh, one of your friends just got hit. Like, like that. Like, it was like that's the conversation. And I'm just like, I mean, I punched the Humvee. I was pissed. I was like, Bam, fuck it, pissed. And then we they went and detained the dude, and and Jason and I were fucking pissed. And yeah, you were like, hey, we can't be can't be doing shit like that, guys.

SPEAKER_07:

I think so proven guilty, and we're like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_06:

No, we definitely yeah, we we were we would have been QRF then at that point. Yeah, and so we would have rolled, we would have rolled out to help support Rainmaker after no, I remember, I remember that, and then yeah, we we we we would grab those guys and then bring them back to Junction City, yeah. And drop them off at the collection point there, and then grab Chow because uh Yeah, they had a nice chow hall. They did. They did.

SPEAKER_01:

So uh so a funny story of Junction City. Uh Jason and I we have a tendency of being fuckers, and uh so we go over to Junction City and we want to because that's the army base, right? Yeah, yep, yeah. So we wanted to play a game.

SPEAKER_06:

Became Camp Ramadi later on, but we called it Junction City when we were there.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so we played a game that we want to see how long we could go walking around Junction City without a cover on. Um just to see who just to see who would talk to us. So we're like walking around and we called it Operation Drawfire. See who could yell at us. What's what's the highest ranked guy who could yell at us? And at first, some like specialist comes up to us and he's like, Hey Marines, you guys need to put on your covers. And we're like, huh, fuck you, you know, whatever. So we keep walking around, we go eat chow, come out, and we're walking around. Some other, you know, some fucking E4, somebody, you know, he's like, Oh, hey Marines, put on your covers, and we're like, whatever. So finally the fucking base sergeant major sees us and he's like, What the fuck, Marines? Where's where's your fucking covers? Blah blah blah. He's like, and then as it was actually the day, the day that the snipers got killed. Oh so oh yeah. So we had been fucking around like after that. We because so we were on the the party that took the bodies back to the Air Force base.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I remember that.

SPEAKER_01:

So we at the back at Junction City, we're doing so. We're playing this game, and then the base sergeant major tells us he's like, That's why your Marines got killed, because you guys are complacent, goofing off, blah blah blah. Oh, okay. So we go back and we talk to Sergeant Major Booker.

SPEAKER_07:

Remember he was like, he was like, he was like, Oh, you guys got a problem with that? He's like, Why don't you have your Sergeant Major call me? We're like, What's your name? He's like, You don't need to know my fucking name on the Sergeant Major's base. All right.

SPEAKER_01:

So we go back, say hey Sergeant Major, we need to talk to you real quick. Uh we so we told him we fucked up, we're being stupid, and blah, blah, blah. He's like, Who was it? He wouldn't tell us his name. He was the base sergeant major, and he told us you know who he is. So Sergeant Major Booker picks up a fucking old like rotary phone, fucking dials a phone number and calls this guy, and we're standing there, like in front of his desk. And he's like, Hey, Sergeant Major, just want to go. This is Sergeant Major Booker, just want to talk to you for a second about some uh incident that happened with some of my Marines. And uh can't hear the other guy. He's like, Okay, well, I know you wanted to go on a mission with some of our guys. Um, so I don't think that's gonna be a good idea because I promise you, you're not gonna return home.

SPEAKER_03:

We're like, Oh, hard motherfucker right there.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah, you don't mess with Sergeant Major Booker.

SPEAKER_07:

Other pretty funny shit, too. He was like, when he got off the phone, he's like, that fat fuck was trying to fucking go on patrol with us because they couldn't see combat.

SPEAKER_06:

No, Booker, Booker was a uh yeah, he he was uh he he took care of his Marines, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_07:

Yes, we did. He asked if we were done when he kicked us out of his office. He's like, get the fuck out of my office. Get the fuck out of my office. Yeah, Sergeant Major.

SPEAKER_06:

Uh did you uh did you have other interactions with any of our higher command?

SPEAKER_07:

Uh who is the who is the um battalion commander? Yeah, I was gonna talk about that. Kennedy. Yeah, Kennedy. Me and Mike did on our our last second to last day, I think.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's exactly what I was about to bring up. So we're at Chow uh lunch or whatever, and uh Kennedy comes up and sits with us, just as these two fucks, right? Sitting here at Chow just goofing off. And he he's asking us what we're planning on doing. He's like, So you guys are going home in a couple days. Yes, sir. He's like, so uh, what's your plan after when you get out of the Marine Corps? And Jason comes up with a I'm gonna go jack off dudes for a few years or whatever. So he's so he's like, what about you, Martinez? What are you gonna do? And I go, uh, I'm gonna be a mailman, sir. He goes, a mailman? Why a mailman? I go, I'm tired of being shot at, sir. He goes, All right, well, make sure you send me a picture with you uh wearing your short shorts and your socks up to your knees. I'm like, I promise you I will, sir. So whatever. I come home in 04. It took me like three months to find a job. I was fucking broke, not no job. And then finally I was like, I'm gonna apply the fucking post office. So I applied the post office and I ended up getting hired. And I worked at the post office for fucking 18 years. I was like, fuck, a fucking joke comes back and bites me in the ass. That's too funny.

SPEAKER_06:

You never send the you never sent the picture?

SPEAKER_01:

No, I never sent it. Dude, I never I I was so anti-uh postal uniform. I I was I was I was the same fuck in the post office. This causing trouble.

SPEAKER_07:

So I had another pretty funny act uh uh interaction with Colonel Kennedy, or Colonel Kennedy. Um, you remember we didn't have to take our weapons to the phone booth for a while? Oh yeah, it changed it. So I I never, you know, I always forgot all that shit, you know. Uh so the first day I was over there with without my weapon, and he comes out and he had his cross arms like, Come here, Marine. And I just stopped and I stared at him. He's like, What the fuck? Get over here! And I didn't move. And he started walking towards me. I just turned around and ran. I fucking ran. I just dove into my rack, and he's like, he's like, Hey, did anybody see a fucking Marine right in here? Everybody just keeps their mouth shut.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, that was fun. That was good shit.

SPEAKER_05:

You got the good ones, Blake, man. My guy has never fucking started shit. That was great.

SPEAKER_01:

Nylon, you had the fucking like the best of us, honestly. I mean Lopez and Gonzalez, like those are those were our top tier. Like, those are the top tier. Uh Fox and Hampton are right up there. Um then it's like Larson, me, and Adams and Clark. Well, I guess you had Colonel too. He's old. He doesn't he don't count. He was in bed by 4 p.m.

SPEAKER_06:

No, with uh, I mean, for the most part, uh Gunny Cook kept us uh pretty pretty on the straight and narrow.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, he uh uh and so we knew him as a staff sergeant. He was he was a badass, honestly.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah. No, he was he was great. Um uh yeah, what did you guys have any thoughts on um how how we had broken things up and having a uh a staff NCO as a commander for the platoon, or did that not really cross your minds?

SPEAKER_01:

It didn't cross my mind. Honestly, he was such a fucking he was so phenomenal at his job. Like he loved his Marines and he took care of his Marines. I don't I don't know. And then when we came in, uh mean again, we're we're just dumb fucks, but but he but he didn't treat us like we were pieces of shit. Like he actually he he treated us with with respect, like we were we were part of the platoon, he needed us and and we we had a job to do. So he was he was good shit, honestly.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Hard ass, yeah, but I mean that's his job.

SPEAKER_07:

Yeah, no, he uh sergeant of the guard for that one ship.

SPEAKER_00:

I was just talking about that the other day. Go ahead. Yeah, tell the sergeant.

SPEAKER_07:

So he was I uh that wasn't my that wasn't for me. I was I wasn't about that life. Uh I just picked up corporal right before I got there, which is another funny story, but um he was like, Adam's gonna be sergeant of the guard, and I was like, listen, Sassar. I don't know if that's the best idea. He was like, What the fuck? I was like, I was like, I'm I'm pretty good outside the wire, I'm not really good at that kind of shit. And he's like, You're a fucking corporate NCO, you're gonna earn your money or whatever, you're gonna earn that rank or something. I was like, and Mike was like, Sassar and he's not kidding, he's not good at it. He was like, do it. So uh I did it and it was you know what it was 0606 or whatever, and it was like 0547. I was watching something about Mary on a fucking laptop sitting next to Mike in his rack. He was telling me to shut turn the turn it down.

SPEAKER_01:

No, no, no, no, no, bitch. I was telling this story the other day to my so I after I left the fucking post office, I became a history teacher, and we could talk about that later. But I'm telling I told this story to my students the other day. So this motherfucker, he's sitting next to my rack at fucking like four o'clock in the morning, and this motherfucker, he's eating a fucking bowl of mac and cheese while watching something. And he's not just eating it, he's next to my fucking head, and I'm just like, and I pop my head out of my bag, but hey motherfucker, I'm trying to sleep. And he's like, he's like, and and I talk like this to my students. So I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, hey motherfucker, I'm trying to sleep. And my kid, and and he's like, what? I'm not doing anything.

SPEAKER_05:

Smacking his lips.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm like, dude, I'm fucking dying here. I'm trying to sleep. Jason, go ahead.

SPEAKER_07:

No, it was like 0545. And I was like, God, I only have like 10 minutes, so nothing had happened, you know. And all of a sudden I heard the fucking mortars launched, and I was like, God damn it. And you're like, you, you, you, boom, boom, boom, boom. Remember they hit um all around our hut.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, hit around our hut and it blew up the Humvee.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah. Oh, that's right. We had the White Strike our Humvee. That's right. Yeah, I forgot about that.

SPEAKER_07:

I never even moved, I never even got out of the chair. I sat in the chair the whole time, and everybody's running freaking out, gas, gas, gas. I was like, motherfuckers, we can't run from it.

SPEAKER_01:

So I picked my head out of my sleeping bag and I'm just like, and then I put my head back into sleeping. I'm I figure if I got gas, I'm fucking dead already. So like it wasn't even my problem anymore. Um, but yeah, it wasn't gas, it was just smoke from all the explosions. But uh yeah, dude, I I just told that story maybe Monday or Tuesday to my students.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, there's a lot of fear around that gas shit because we so my platoon had responded to a seren shell attack out on the highway out south of the city on an army convoy. They had cleaned it all up by the time we got there. We didn't even have to do shit. Uh, we turned around before we even got there. They were like, ah, we're deconning the area. If you just leave. Okay, great. And then we come back, and on June 8th, they gas shelled Hurricane Point. And uh a bunch of CS rounds hit all around the main palace. And there's all kinds of people are freaking out, just sure it was nerve agent or whatever, but it ended being nothing. But uh it sure fucking scary, so everybody was always scared about that shit. We all had to carry our gas masks from then on out.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I remember that too.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah, I can't remember what do you guys remember this, Jason and Mike? That so, because I think it was in June, if I remember correctly, we got sent north north of our AO on a on a on a suspected uh chemical munitions hit. Do you remember this at all? Like we went up because I remember they we didn't boy I had completely forgotten about this until just right now, and so I'm having a hard time pulling this up. I remember I remember we I think we brought our mop suits, but I don't think we were donning them. But I remember like before we left, everybody like pulled their gas masks out to make sure that they fit, you know, like everybody was good to go. Do you guys remember this at all? I do not. Nile, do you remember this one?

SPEAKER_05:

A little bit. Uh the only parts I remember is so we had those drownings that were in May before these guys got there, and May 5th was the last day of searching for the dudes who had drowned in the Euphrates. And we were out north.

SPEAKER_01:

Who drowned?

SPEAKER_05:

Uh a couple of guys from Fox Company who had tried to swim across the Euphrates River to one of the islands to search it for munitions. Well, it was a it was uh an op. They thought I Operation Treasure Island is what they called it. Um, some of our scout swimmer trained folks, they were uh supposed to be swimming across the Euphrates to these islands because the intel that we had gotten was that they had hidden uh munitions in the tall reeds and bushes on this island.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I never heard of that.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, it was it was literally right before you guys got there. So it was like May 1st through 5th. We searched for these guys' bodies uh for a long time. We ended up having to call in uh Navy Swiftwater Rescue, and they brought up uh one of those fast little crazy, like almost Vietnam style boats and scuba gear and all that shit, and had to go find they found one of them at the bottom of the river, and one of them had gone pretty far downriver. Uh anyway, we searched the banks for them for days on end with no sleep. And as part of that, we found a munitions cache in a uh building under construction north of the river that had gas shells. Uh it just had the containers, but it did not have any shells in it. And I think that from some investigation after a while, because we we took pictures of everything, we brought back one of the empty containers, and then they they sent you guys out not long after that, maybe a month after that. That's all I know. That's that's all the information I got.

SPEAKER_06:

That that sounds that sounds about right too. Because we when we got out there, it was we just it was a basically a picture taking expedition. Um, it wasn't like the location, the location that we had didn't have there wasn't anything up there. Um so you guys uh um so what do you guys remember of Hooch Life?

SPEAKER_01:

Hooch Life was fucking awesome, dude. Honestly, it was fucking wild. It was like the fucking craziest uh it was it was the craziest like fucking drunken memory of not being drunk.

SPEAKER_06:

Like that is that is a very accurate description. Yeah, go ahead. No, just just it's a fever dream basically.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. There was too many fucking people in too small of a space. Um, I remember because I mean this is our first time being with you guys, so you know how y'all everybody gets to crud when you first meet up with someone like when you go to boot camp or when you get to your platoon. So now we're new with you guys, and now we get your guys' crud, and we got I got sick as fuck, like fucking hawking up luggies and fucking dying. But it was just and but we're still doing our thing, right? And it was just again poker every fucking night, or spades, or spades, yeah, watching some kind of fucking movie. And you know, there it was just it was again. I if if if you weren't there, nobody would believe what I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_07:

Or getting molested by Joseph Hersher.

SPEAKER_05:

Hey man, he was gifted.

SPEAKER_07:

Yes, sir. Oh, we saw I was laying on my he he jumped up, I was asleep and he jumped up and like used the big spoon and like pushed his dick into my ass. And he and I was like, what the fuck? And he whispered in my ear, it's like biggest dick in the battalion, motherfucker.

SPEAKER_01:

So so let's talk about let's talk about Hircher's dick. We're gonna be doing this. So I'm I'm sitting on a fucking tailgate of a Hum V, just like man minding my own fucking business. And this dude walks up and fucking starts whopping his dick on the fucking tailgate. Like, and I'm like, and I'm like, what is he hitting? It's got it, it's something crazy, something huge that he's hitting on this fucking tailgate. And I look over and it's the dude's dick. Like you can't unsee that.

SPEAKER_07:

Like you're shaking the whole truck though.

SPEAKER_01:

That guy should be in the movies, if you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_06:

My favorite uh my my favorite story about Hersher is uh he so do you know the band uh Meephers and the Gimme Gimmies? Yep. Okay, they they're uh they're they're they're it's a band made up of like really good musicians of other punk bands. And what they do is they take like songs that everybody knows and then punk and then punks those songs out. Okay. They're really it really talented group. I I really enjoyed them. They made one album though that was all show tunes. And so Hersher, whenever we were doing like night ops or whatever, and especially if we're inside of houses, he would sing The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow, but the me first and the gimme gimme version of it, which is more of a like, you know, in and there's some slight modifications to the uh, you know, the sun will come out tomorrow, bet your fucking bedroom dollar tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01:

I remember that.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah, and he'd be doing this as he's like kicking down door, and so he was doing his own psyops.

SPEAKER_01:

I remember that with his with his dick and the son of the mouth tomorrow.

SPEAKER_06:

Yeah, it's he was uh yeah, anyways.

SPEAKER_01:

So I I hope he listens to this one.

SPEAKER_05:

As I've said, everybody who has ever been in in 2-4 at that time has a Joe Herscher dick story. Every single person.