Constant Combat

The Eye of the Tiger - Brian Fox (Part 2 of 2)

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Brian Fox, combat replacement of Rainmaker Platoon, joins us for part two and takes us straight back to Ramadi: where a pre-mission ritual, a bad gut feeling, and a freshly installed ballistic windshield become the slender line between luck and loss. The moment you heard “I’m not feeling it today,” you could feel the air change. He recounts brotherhood from a Humvee’s cab to life after the war.

• pre-mission ritual and a bad gut feeling
• IED blast on Route Nova
• improvised armor, gear tradeoffs
• disguises, mustache fiasco, and base culture
• care packages and field hacks
• night-vision footage and urban ambush tactics
• Bradleys shooting up the hotel and command presence
• interpreters, loyalty, and unresolved endings
• poetry in the truck and bonds that last
• separating from the Corps and rebuilding a life
• honoring fallen friends and staying connected
• Ramadi’s scale and the role of replacements




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SPEAKER_03:

This is part two of our interview with Brian Fox with Rainmaker Platoon.

SPEAKER_02:

And then um and and then the the routine um the routine in the Humvees, if it was a good one. Um so we would stage day day mission, night mission, QRF or whatever, and and we would all sit in. So it was me on the driver, and then Sergeant G, and then and then our gunner Furby. Um I would I would pull out the Copenhagen. You you smoked, dipped or or snorted snuff, right? You know, that's what you did over there. And I I did them all. Um, but we would I would get the Copenhagen long cut because I I don't have a pocket for snuff for some reason, and and I would take a dip and I would pass it over to Sergeant G, and then he'd pass it over to the gunner or Furby, and we'd all put the dip in it, and and he was like, How you feeling today, Fox? And I'd be like, I'm feeling good, we're gonna get them, let's just get back, you know, stuff like that. And then this will lead into my story is is um we were we were reacting to um uh QRF, another line company thing, and and we get in there, I take my dip, he takes his dip, we pass it off to him, and he was like, How you feeling today, Fox? And I go, I'm actually not feeling it today. And he goes, I'm not feeling it either. And I was like, Well, what whatever it is, certainly I'll see it in, we'll be all right, you know. And so so we go out and I I believe we had contact, and for whatever reason, we're going back. When what I remember on the story is we were we were we were fearful of chemicals or something like that, and and we wanted to go back and get our gas mask because for whatever reason we didn't have our gas mask on us. If that's true or not, I don't know. Um but but we decided that we wanted to take Route Nova back, and then the left, the left that we were taking uh right before the hospital as we're heading back, is is the first vehicle went, and I'm making the left. And now now at the time, a few side stories. Um we would Frankenstein our vehicles, right? So any piece of metal that we thought would armor, we would put on the Humvees, any delivery of new something we would put on it. So I had I called it the three-quarter doors, so it was like maybe the half-inch or quarter inch steel. If you're sitting down in a chair, that's what it covered. Your silhouette sitting down on a side profile, and everything else was open. So, like the the mirror, the mirror of the Humvee, I could touch, you know, through the opening. And two days, two days before that mission, we just got a delivery of ballistic windshields for the highback. So, so um I always called on the mechanics. You have the tinkers in your platoon, they were the ones that would always go to motor pool and like start to bolt on stuff. Or I picture I picture them trying to weld something, maybe bubblegum weld stuff on your truck trying to get armor, but they changed out the windshield two days before. So now let's fast forward. So the first vehicle makes that left, and I make that left, and I remember seeing a just uh there's plenty of trash in the town, but just this burlap sack, it looked out of place, and I'm staring at this thing, and the next thing I'm out. I I wake up and I'm staring at the shifter, you know. So I'm I'm spread out all the way across, pretty much in Sergeant G's lap, probably, and and I'm just like probably the the the exact same feelings you have. What the hell just happened? You know, what was that? But right when I woke up, I remember Sergeant G telling me a story that in in the IED that that got savage, that that the Hum V continued rolling and it went down a ditch with everyone inside. And I remember thinking right when I right when I came to that we were still moving, so I slammed on the brakes. And and when you when he tells his side of the story, he goes, Yeah, we got hit, and all of a sudden I felt the vehicle stopping, you know, real hard. And I knew that you were okay, and thank God he was stopping because I didn't want to go down a down a hillside again. And so, so I remember getting up and just just that feeling, like everything was like flashburn. I it felt like I was like sunburnt or on fire or something like that, and just confused, and that sound and everything. And I remember Sergeant G like asking, like, are you hit? Are you hit? And him asking me if I'm hit, that's where I got like started to freak out, you know, patting yourself, you got some blood on your hands and stuff like that. And I was like, I don't fucking know, I can't see myself, you know. And I I remember really freaking out on that. Um really feeling uncomfortable, like you have no control in that situation. Yeah, um, but I told you the windshield story because because in that windshield, uh I say it's a piece of rebar, maybe a piece of concrete. There was a big old foot-long of something in that windshield, just like caved in right in there. That windshield took that blast, and if it didn't, that was my head level right there. In the in the frame of that windshield, uh, where that opening, there was a big chunk of concrete, and then the gunner took some um um a rock or something in his inner thigh. And the only way that can get in there, it didn't go through the windshield. The only way that can get his inner thigh, which is like right beside my head over here, was right across the face. Yeah, so so someone was someone was watching me. The stars aligned that day. Thank God the windshield lined up. Thank God the tinkers put it in for me, and then uh whatever it is, but but uh I because of that day, I'm I'm one that follows your gut. If you have a feeling, follow it too well, sure, because both Sergeant G and I, we we called that. It didn't feel right that day, and whatever it is, I'd see it and try to avoid it. And uh man, yeah, it all came true that day. And then out of that, I I believe I think you guys, uh Sledgehammer, I think you guys were a QRF or something like that. And you guys came out and we towed strapped that vehicle, and they asked if I could still get in it and try to help steer it because the vehicle is dead, every all the tires are flat, but we were close enough we wanted to tow it, and so we and we were driving so slow, and I'm sitting in that vehicle all by myself, and I was like, Oh, I'm about to die, you know, they're about to get another IED off of me right now. And we we we got to we got to hurricane point and then they they got me over to BAS, did all that stuff. Um I I was only out for a few days. I was I was mainly peppered, you know, then the mirror blew in me and everything uh like that. Um it was weird for for a while. You know, I'll just say that I I pulled out something out of my face a year later. I don't I don't know what the hell, but it was very weird the amount of stuff that was that was uh I took home with me that I probably shouldn't have, you know, from my wrath in my skin. Um, but we got there and and I remember asking Sergeant G, and he's like, he's very respectful. If if if you didn't want to do something to a certain limit, he was gonna like listen to you and try to honor that, you know. And he was like, Hey, are you fine enough to still drive me? And I go, Yeah, I'll drive you. I go, but please don't think less of me. I was like, Can I have a throat protector, please? He's like, I will get you a throat protector. So he got me that Kevlar throat protector that snaps in the two things right there. And uh he knew when I was uncomfortable or I didn't feel right because I would tuck my chin in like a turtle, you know, when I was driving around. So he knew something was up. So yeah, so he he knew I was uncomfortable, but I wanted my throat protector. I guess it was like like my security blanket, I guess, while I was out there.

SPEAKER_04:

Everybody needs a binky sometimes, yeah. Right, that's what it was. That's what it was.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, we used to do all kinds of weird shit like that. We had those ballistic blankets that were meant to protect the tow system, and we would drape those over the windows uh for the guys in the back seat and stuff. Like, I don't know that that would have stopped shit, but it sure made you feel a little better, like there was something that was gonna stop those rocks that come flying through and all kinds of shit. Because I mean it didn't take much to take you out of the fight, man, and and an eyeball or something like that would definitely do it. And that's yeah, fuck that. I don't blame you for asking for the throat protector. That was smart.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I did it. I I probably wanted those. Remember the shoulder protectors too? Oh, yeah. I was like, I was like, I don't, I don't want to look like that. I don't need that.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, at least for us, we trialed them and then our gunners couldn't get in the guns appropriately. Like you can still fire a 50 cal because that was just you know thumb spades. But if you were trying to shoot a 240 or something like that, you couldn't do it. And it just messed with your mobility and your ability to get the gun in the pocket, and so they they would leave them out.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah, wild, wild times, man.

SPEAKER_04:

I was uh I was one of the I definitely run around with my groin protector on. I was uh I had my little stop sign flap right in front of uh the the family jewels. I had no shame. I kept I had a throat protector too. I was gonna take any advantage I could get.

SPEAKER_02:

I don't I don't blame you. I was there with you, man. So yeah, tucking it in. I didn't feel right. You know, I don't like this. So crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy. Funny, funny story is um I may have screwed you guys at one point. I remember so you guys remember that you guys would put I think they're mostly Mexicans. You guys, you guys took people that kind of looked Iraqi, grew their beards out, and yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So have you guys have you guys told that story at all?

SPEAKER_03:

So those four guys, those four guys that did well, I don't know. Maybe you guys did something else. Please tell the story.

SPEAKER_01:

But if you're talking about it, it was you guys. I was just yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_03:

If you're talking about Sergeant Major Booker's thing, yeah, yeah. Book Booker is Irish, he's not Mexican at all, he just got a good tan.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh two of the guys were Middle Eastern. One was Hekmati, who's Persian, but at least he's in the Middle East. I don't know the other guy's ethnicity, but he was Middle Eastern of some sort. I think he was Lebanese.

SPEAKER_04:

I I was just gonna say I think he's Lebanese.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, but the fourth guy was Sakaki, and Sakaki is half Japanese. So Where the hell did I get Mexican from then? I I don't know. I mean, they all they're all swarthy brown looking dudes.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Yeah, you they they they would grow up their beards, you know, and uh be uh you got they would add like maybe the maybe the toe blanket that you're talking about on the inside panel of the taxi vehicle that we confiscated and they would drive around. I remember talking to one of them, he's like, dude, they definitely know who they who we are. They're staring at us the whole time, but it's probably just the paranoia, you know, of someone looking at them and everything. So yeah, wild. Can you imagine having that much tension driving through a town, no, no convoy, no nothing like that?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it was a good idea, a bad execution, but very good idea as far as you know trying to be incognito.

SPEAKER_02:

But well, so where where I may have screwed you and connected to that story is I remember every everyone has their um calling stories, right? Everyone got more mortared while they're on the phone and everything else like that, right? But I was I was in that call center. By the way, I spent probably three thousand dollars in calling cards out there. It was wild. But I remember talking to my mom and dad, and I was telling them, I was like, Yeah, they they grew out their beards and they did this. And I was like, I was like, mom, I need to look more Iraqi, and she goes, Excuse me. And I as you guys see on the camera, I'm I'm I'm now a little gray but blonde naturally. And I told her, I was like, mom, go out and buy me some just for beard, just for men, beard and mustache tie. And I want it jet black. I want it jet black so I look like I have an Iraqi mustache, please. There was also a little comedy in there, too, you know, because when you're back at camp, you just want to lighten the mood and just have fun and everything. So I remember I remember uh they they were out and and I had my little caterpillar. I I have a full beard now, thank god it came comes in thick, but at the time I couldn't go crap. So I had the the deployment mustache that everyone does, and I'm all proud of that. And I I dyed that thing jet black, and it just looks so stupid, absolutely dumb. And I remember I wanted to show it off, so I went to the the chow tent and let's just say it was lunchtime, and I'm I'm in line and I grab my tray and and someone goes, uh Maureen, is that uh mustache in regulation? It looks completely fake on me at this point in my smart ass, and I go, I don't know, it's on my face, I can't see it. And I turn around and it's the BC.

SPEAKER_00:

And I was like, son of a bitch, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

He goes, he goes, Yeah, that doesn't look right. I think you should go shave. And I go, Oh, like right now? He's like, Yeah, why don't you go shave right now? So I shaved, and I swear to you, I think it was two hours later, it was a mandatory no-facial hair order that came across, and everyone had to shave their mustache.

SPEAKER_04:

Motherfucker.

SPEAKER_02:

If you remember that, that was me.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, no, I'm I no, I I remember being in very hey. Now I know that the the the story has been completed because I had to shave off my amazing mustache that I had that uh that was actually more of a 70s porn mustache, but that's fine.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh are we are we ending are we ending the podcast out of frustration now?

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, it was right around then that I also got in trouble because I had grown uh I I was uh I always tried to be extra motor over there and I so I gave myself a horseshoe haircut, but I would that I let my hair grow really long that wasn't part of the the shaved down part. And so it had grown like two and a half inches long. And uh when I had to shave my mustache, I was like, you gotta shave your head too, son.

SPEAKER_02:

Yep, yeah. Well, now now you know I know it's been bothering you all these years. Why did why was it mandatory to shave mustaches?

SPEAKER_04:

I'll finally get a solid night's sleep by a premium that I went to.

SPEAKER_01:

It looks so dumb. It looks stupid. But my hey, my mom listened. She followed through. Thanks, Mom. Thanks, Linda. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04:

No, we got some wild stuff in those care packages, some of those care packages, too.

SPEAKER_02:

That was uh oh man, mail was gold, was it not?

SPEAKER_04:

Oh, it really was. Well, especially when the couple of those times that we didn't get um resupplied right, and so we were eating out of our uh care packages just to yep, yep.

SPEAKER_02:

No, that that was nice. And and you know what was really cool is just looking back, everyone's suffering, but everyone's sharing. So, like if I got something, it was like, come on over, you know. It was like uh I guess we didn't, I didn't even know a charcuterie board was a thing back in the day, but that's that's what we were doing, you know, uh on the bed.

SPEAKER_04:

So actually thinking of uh this care packages, uh I haven't thought about this forever, but uh so one of uh in one of the care packages, somebody sent over like a 10-pound bag of uh um gummy bears. Oh but by the time but the thing is is that by the time it got to me in the 3,000 degree heat, uh it when I pulled it out, it was just nothing but like it was liquid. And it was like gelatinously liquid. And so I I went into the back, I grabbed my e-tool, I dug a like a two-foot hole and buried it so it would like form back up, and I pulled it back out, and I and it was just this giant block, and I was cutting off big chunks of it with my K-bar and giving it to people.

SPEAKER_01:

It was like a mystery flavor. That's that's awesome. You got like this jelly bear, you know, size pancake now. You know, it was the damn thing was like a just a goddamn brick.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, that's awesome. That is awesome. Yeah, you know, yeah. I I know my mom, you know, she always sent me summer sausage and crackers and all that other stuff, but I I was a smoker at the time, and she would refuse to send me American cigarettes, she would not do it, you know. I was like, come on, you know, I really want a good cigarette here.

SPEAKER_03:

Dude, because the Iraqi cigarettes were awful.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah. Humma humorabi was like green tobacco. Yeah, humorabi's in Sumeres or something like that. And pine pine was the one I remember because that fucking thing was disgusting. And and I remember like you would have to take a cigarette, you'd have to put the pack to the side and grab it and pull it out sideways, you know, so everything didn't fall out.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, you know, like yeah, yeah, they were so loosely packed, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Hey, hey, the the memories you get when you're telling stories, right? Yeah, no shit.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh man, they would make your just lungs burn, man.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Uh another another funny story is is I remember so I'm I'm naturally a night owl, you know. I I could switch to a night schedule like that. And so we were on night missions or QRF. It was it was easy for me to transition. And I remember it was the middle of the night, and you remember the washer and spin dryer was up at the palace? Yep, you guys remember that? Okay, and so middle of the night, I'm washing my camis, and then we air dried them, you know. And I remember I was grabbing my clothes, and out of nowhere, this shadowy figure walks up, and it's an older gentleman. He goes, He goes, Hey Maureen, how's the water pressure today? I go, good enough to do laundry, you know. And I was like, have a good night. And I walk off and I go, Hey, there's this old guy, you know, on base. He was he's not really like in a uniform. I go, who the hell's here? And someone's like, Oh, Oliver North is visiting us. He's he's hanging out with the battalion for a little bit. So I met Oliver North doing laundry in the middle of the night. That was my first time I ever met him. And then I I think I think the town actually reared up while he was there because I remember seeing Oliver North. Like we we were out for most of the day, and and we went out or we went to Snake Pit to get more ammo. And I remember him running and him coming out with like bags of oranges, and he's throwing them in the Humvee. And he he wanted us to have oranges out in the field just in case we had to stay out there long enough. I was like, that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03:

Nice.

SPEAKER_02:

So yeah, he had a he did a couple of book signings, and and I was at one of them. I wanted to go up and like shake his hand and just tell him I was like, and in fact, I have video of him uh grabbing the oranges. And the reason I have videos is remember when I told you when we staged that cat platoon was there and then went to a different battalion? We had a guy named uh uh Ross Mata. Uh he's he's no longer with us or anything. Um, but he was trying to get like footage and he wanted to sell footage uh at the time. I mean, this is 2004, so it's not like we had cell phones. So he bought 10 10 small video cameras and tilt 10 still lives, and he gave it to different people that were going different areas, and he gave me a video camera and a still camera, and the agreement was is I would turn in all the footage and stuff, and then he would give me like one master copy. Um, so so what I did is it's it's like a video game. I I took a piece of ISO mat and I taped it on the left-hand side of the the guards on the M16, and it was perfect where I could slip in the camera and like you see the barrel of the gun and the sight and everything at where I was aiming. You invented GoPro, yeah, yeah, I really did. You know, I really, really did. And then um, so I got I got a lot of video. I I remember one, I I had it on, and we were we were out in town, it was nighttime, so I'm using the MVGs, and the the a lot of us were out. Um night, night and and QRF and missions, and maybe some more. I don't know why we were out in the middle of the night. And I I remember that I was I was probably halfway into the convoy, it was a long convoy, and and I I remember we're going through a clustered area of of Ramadi, a lot of buildings, and I remember through the night vision, I saw two two streaks across of it from the right hand side to the left hand side. I was like RPGs, RPGs, RPGs. You know, and we saw it, and we all herringbone, and everyone's everyone's turning over to the right side. And then I said earlier, I mean, they're not dumb and their tactics are smart at times. From the rooftops to our left was machine guns. So the RPGs came from the right. We herringboned it, we're all facing right, and then it was machine guns from the right, and then we're or the left, and we just all countered and aiming at rooftops. And and I got video of I had the video camera on, and it's it's me standing behind Furby because everyone else is on the street on the side of the buildings, and then they're like, Fox, get up against the building. So I remember running, and I'm trying to narrate, you know, like a news guy is like, all right, contact came from the right, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, and just you hear the breathing and you hear the the the how lost you are and stuff like that, you know, in the video. So I I have all that stuff. Uh really cool. Yeah, another footage I have is um I think everyone has pictures of us. What what event happened where we're out in town and everyone was shooting up that hotel or motel or whatever it is, and we had we had the arm arm uh army Bradleys come in and stuff like that. What was that event?

SPEAKER_03:

So it depends on which one you're talking about, there's two that were like that. One was OP Library got uh they set off explosives uh in it and tried to take out the guys on top. There was, I think it was Fox Company that was on top. It was over by Saddam's Mosque. And then there was another one that was a little further down by the agricultural buildings, and I don't remember what kicked that off, but it was a huge L-shaped ambush between that tall hotel building that you're talking about where the Bradleys came in and shot it up. And I yeah, I think everybody has some kind of footage of that. Uh because the Bradley just came in and started raking the building back and forth with that 25 millimeter crazy. But everybody was out then. I mean, the BC was out, sergeant majors running around everywhere, like there's people everywhere.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah, I got I got video from that day. I I got us lighting up. I mean, there was there was like 50 people and then humbies and everything. It was just line lighting up all the windows and everything. I got full video of all that, you know. Yeah, so it was interesting.

SPEAKER_04:

If if that was the same day, I think there was something I think there was another larger ambush because I feel like that's the I think I think a couple of us got pulled out for that. And I remember I remember making movement to contact on some reason, and then that kind of ended there. Like, I don't know if we like pushed them into that building. I don't know. I to my memory of it, but I can't remember it.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah. To my memory, that was late July because it was super ass hot. It was a pretty good size L-shape ambush, and you're right, we were kind of following the enemy, and I don't know if they hold up in that building or if that was they already had guys staged there, but that was why we ended up lighting up that building is because we took fire from like six different floors on that hotel all at the same time, and so rather than going in to clear it, we were like, Well, we'll just clear it with bullets. Fuck it.

SPEAKER_04:

There's no building left, they can't shoot from the floors.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah, there was there's a lot, there's a lot of lead in that building for sure. Taking a look at a couple of notes here. Do you guys remember the dodgeball day?

SPEAKER_03:

Depends on which one you're talking about, because we played dodgeball. Oh, was there multiple? Yeah, I remember there was we played dodgeball all the time.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, okay. Maybe I just watched one of them, but I thought, how cool is that that everyone's playing dodgeball, just this dust cloud, you know, uh of everyone just playing and having fun. Uh it was awesome. Uh, I remember we we always had in our in our in our room, um, a lot of us played risk. And so it was quite hilarious to me. In the middle, in the middle of our area in our hangout, um, we had a big table, big old serious game of risk. Like it was very serious. And then it was funny that you know you would be called up for QRF, everyone gear up, Eye of the Tigers playing in the background by me. You go out, you do your mission, you come back, you take off your gear, and they're like, Hey, get back over here. We need to finish this game, you know. So but that that wrist board was always set up. And then I I remember like we would watch we would watch like TV series that were mailed to us or something on on DVD or whatever, um, as a platoon. I remember everyone had like a chair of some sort, and we'd all gather up in the front of the squabe or the the hooch or whatever, and we have the smallest TV, you know, and the whole platoon is just watching like this TV series. I don't remember what it was, but I remember I was definitely hooked on it. Like I like we would stay out way too late. One more episode, one more episode, you know, and we're watching that. Um hanging out with everyone, and like you said, of course, everyone played cards and everything else like that. So yeah, it was an experience.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_02:

It was a long time ago, guys.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh 21 years ago.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah. You remember quite a lot for 21 years. That's good, dude. I think that we're now the age that I remember watching or growing up, you know, we're we're the age that I remember the Vietnam beds at. Yeah, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that's that's what uh when me and Blake were talking about before we even started this podcast, that was something he brought up in it. And I immediately had that like I aged 50 years in my own mind and became a crippled up old man. Exactly, yeah, where he becomes from young Ryan to the old man at the graveside. Yeah, that was me. Yeah, but it but you're right. All the like you think of like some of the most epic Vietnam movies were early 80s, late 80s, and it's it's almost the same time frame. It's like almost you know 20 years right afterward.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, yeah, that's wild. On the same lines, I had this epiphany. I was talking to my son uh last night, and uh I realized that the gear that we used in boot camp, all that Alice gear that was like Vietnam era would be the same age as the in boot camp, they're using the gear that we used over in Iraq.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh yeah, so I I have I have a uh high school friend. His son, his son entered the Marine Corps five or six years ago, and and so I went to his graduation and did all that other stuff, and then he re-enlisted and he became a recruiter. So he went to recruiter school and and he sent me a picture one day, and it was at the the museum on um uh N C R D. I think I think he went to school at NCRD actually for recruiters. But I don't know. There's a museum wherever he went, and he sent me pictures of woodland camis and the M1682 and stuff like that. And I go, I go, okay. I said, I said, that's cool. That's the gear I rolled around with. I go, are you calling me old or something? He goes, No, sir, I'd never say that, but your gear is in a museum.

SPEAKER_00:

I go, you son of that's called tact. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's that's fantastic. I guess technically he didn't say it. So yeah, but but guys, guys, we're at that age.

SPEAKER_03:

So yeah, no shit.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, you know, one one I was talking to Sergeant G too, and one one thing I remind him of is uh all the hours spent, you know, just in that vehicle. And and if I was in the vehicle and we're on LPOP, I was I was with him, and and all that time spent with him, you know, um, I I say we got close. Uh I I tell you, I follow my gut. I'm also a person that believes, you know, things happen for reasons, you know, and and then you know, I feel that you know I was there for him, he was there for me. I I really believe that there was a reason he picked me and and and just us supporting each other. Um, I know he I respected him, him him respected me. He gave me a lot of opportunities and stuff like that. I'm thankful for it. Um one one of the the favorite things, and maybe he doesn't want me to tell you this, but one of our favorite things to do as a truck, so so me, him, and then Furby, I hope that he I hope he doesn't take that as an insult. I I've called him that the whole time, but uh one of our favorite things to do to pass time was we would actually do poetry sessions together, believe it or not. And and it would be as a group, we had to pick a theme, and uh, and then it was it was like a committee of us three to move on to the next person. Those three had to agree that was worthy to be part of that poem on on whatever the theme was. So whatever the theme was, if I started, I'd be like, hey, whatever, whatever, whatever. Yeah, that's good, no rethink it, stuff like that. And then it would go to Sergeant G and that. We would burn hours doing that. And and he was like, We did do that. And I go, I think we have uh I have some of them written down, but one of them that I remember, my my girlfriend at the time, it was her birthday, her birthday is June 11th, and and I wanted to write her a poem uh to to give to my brother to have um flowers delivered. So I wanted the message to be the poem, and so that was the theme of the day, and they all helped me create this poem. Well, uh that poem must have worked magic because as of next year, she's my wife of 20 years. You know, oh that's awesome! I got it, and and and I don't remember the whole thing, but when we were talking the other week, I I I I tried to recite some of it, and it was like, so this is what we do. Each each person gave a line, and it was um, these miles can never deny me that I find myself so frisky because you can do me in ways that are so damn sexy or something like that.

unknown:

It was like the intro.

SPEAKER_02:

So it was just hours and hours of these sessions just together as a group, just to just to break up the you know the monotony of of of sitting there, you know. And absolutely it's just it's just hours and days of board boredness for seconds or minutes of chaos, you know. Um, so you you gotta find something to do. And I wanted to share that. That's that's something that our truck did together. It's it's a memory I have.

SPEAKER_03:

Dude, that's awesome. And uh what's funny is I I plenty of people walk out of the core and they're like, you know, fuck this place. I hate everybody, I'm leaving, and I'm glad I got my DD214 and I'm running away. And then other people they stay in forever or whatever, and or you know, whatever they did. And people are always like, Well, well, what did you miss? Like, what do you miss about it? Why do you why why are Marines very fanatical about it? And I I think that is the perfect capture. You you will never bond with another human being in that way ever again. You were literally in a whole nother world that didn't smell great, didn't want you there. Uh, literally, you could die at any moment. You were praying to your gods and had rituals, and you were writing sexy poetry to your girlfriend as a team with a guy you called Furby. Like it's a it's a level of connection that you I don't know if there's very many other jobs or positions in life you could find yourself where where that would be the case. It's just impossible. It's yeah, it's it's so unique. And that's you know, uh that's real fucking cool, man.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah. I I should I should dig those out and read read some of our sessions together. Because I I saved some of if I saved it, it was for a reason. It must be mind-blowing, you know. That'd be that'd be fun to read. Um, yeah, you you were saying something. It it reminded me when people ask, like, what's the people always are curious about the military and and you get the questions like what's the hardest or what's the weirdest thing? And and I I always give the same answer. I go, I I guess it's it's the most twisted thing. And they go, What do you mean? I go, I go, you are doing things that you know will probably kill you or or hurt you, but you're accepting that and you're willing to do it in a heartbeat because um you're going to, if something happens, you're gonna die beside of one of your best friends. And I go, think of that mind fuck right there. You're you're okay dying because you're probably gonna die right next to your buddy, right beside you. And I go, and and you have to put yourself in that mindset to move forward with it, and whatever happens, happens. It it is what it is, and it's gonna be okay, you know. And I go, so that's the weirdest thing is just your willingness to accept death, but it's okay. So when I give answers like that, they're just like, okay, you know, real quiet, but you're what what you said right there reminded me of that. Yeah. And and all my all my three, five guys that and then through through the time with it, you know, um Sergeant G and everyone, they they definitely got that that same comforting feeling out of me that hey, it's it's okay because I'm right beside Sergeant G or Furby. So hey man. That's awesome. Yeah. Well, this is this is awesome. You guys got a good thing coming. You guys, I I I wanna I wanna tell more. I'm just I gotta think of stuff. I'm looking at my notes over and over again.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, I'll pick your brain for one part because this this has been amazing, but it's the one thing that's very unique to your specific situation. Well, it's one of the many things that's very unique to your specific situation. You had like a sudden severing, right? You left mid-August while we kind of hung out for another four weeks, and then you came back, and it sounds like you had a real short time, maybe 30 days or so, and then you got out. Did you get out of the Marine Corps at that point?

SPEAKER_02:

I did. You know, I was I was so lost and confused. Um, honestly, while I was in Romani with you, so my my brother was my uh power of attorney that I signed, and and I wanted him to fill out resumes and applications for me. And I think one of you guys did it actually. I wanted to be a contractor over there, yeah. And and I thought I thought what would be attractive about my situation is I knew I could stay in Iraq up to my EAS, you know, because I was there. And I was like, I thought, I thought the selling point would be like, just pick me up at the gate, you know. Uh I'm here, I'm willing to stay. Let's just let's just do this. And and according to my brother, we I didn't get any pings or anything like that. So I was really lost in the sauce. And and I got out and it was it was short. And I mean, what a what an entrance to get in the Marie Corps, right? You know, boot camp and the celebration and everything, but but what a signature and walk down the hallway moment it is just to get out. And and I I sat there just lost. I I got out like on a Friday or a Thursday, and I started working as a laborer in construction on uh on a Monday, just at a job because was I going back home to my mom and dad in Texas and living with them, or you know, at the time my girlfriend was like, Well, you can you can move in with me and let's see where this goes. And and that that you know that that worked. Um her name's Victoria, and like I said, we're going on 20 years and you know, two kids. Um, so I I took that chance and I stayed out in California with her and did it. And uh yeah, yeah, here I am. But so I got out after four. Of course, like anyone else, I was just like, man, should I should I have stayed in? And of course, at her age, now I'm just like, man, I'd be retired right now, and stuff like that. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I I I got out after four. Um, really unsure of what I was gonna do and and uh started working out on the field and everything.

SPEAKER_04:

So and were you a so it sounds like you were able to stay kind of in contact with uh Garcia, and then I think you stayed in contact with uh Mike and Adams too, correct?

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, so so my my core group, so so out of the two, four, it's really just Garcia. Um like I said, him and I him and I clicked, um, like I said, for for a reason, I'm convinced. So so it's it's the the text message relationship. Um I I went to the uh DC last May with Martinez and stuff, and I was texting him because we were we were out there for Memorial Day, so we were finding you know the the Iraqi um uh mobile um thing that they do, and I was finding the dog tag with Savage and I sent him a picture and I said, Hey, you know, I don't I don't know if you like this stuff, but I just I just want to show you what's out there and and other people and then uh we went to Arlington and and I was like, hey, let's let's look up if Savage is here and and he and he is and so we we went and visit him and I sent him a uh picture and then we we flew home. We flew home Sunday on Memorial Day and we're off on on Monday. And my my older stepson uh who was joining the Air Force at the time, he goes, Hey, and I know you do like a Memorial Day hike. Do you want to do that on up First Sergeant's Hill? And I go, Yeah, yeah, let's do it, man. You know, really, I was like, No, I don't want to do it. That don't fuck. You know, um but I I've done it a few times, um, but but him him about to leave, I was like, Yeah, I got I gotta do it in in what you know, your kid asking you to do it with the actual. So so I went in up and have you guys ever been up? Oh yes, oh yeah, yeah. So so we did that. We went up in our old age too.

SPEAKER_03:

So Blake drugged me up there, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. So so so two two four, the you guys have the pull-up bar thing up there, and you you guys got the the list of names, and so I took a picture of that. So all in one weekend, I went from DC to Pendleton and was giving Garcia pictures and stuff like that. So I I I keep in touch with him that way. And then uh when he did the podcast, he he said he was going through kind of of a healing phase in his life, and you guys in a book helped him out and everything. And he he reached out to me and said uh if I would tell my side. And I was like, Well, yeah, you know, I was like, You you guys we were with you for such a short time. I I didn't think we made an impact. And he's like, No, you didn't, and he goes, I I wouldn't, I I want you to tell your side of the story. You meant you mean a lot to me and stuff like that. So I said, Yeah, absolutely. If it if it helps me, great. You know, if it helps iron, you know, uh other people, so be a you know, iron, iron sharpens iron. So um, yeah, let me tell my stories or just just to rekindle a memory or something like that for someone. Uh and then on the three five side, um, yeah, I I'm I keep in touch with a lot of people. Um I call and text. Um I I heard Martinez say, my my wife threw me a party on my my 40th. I'm now 43. Um, she she rented a whole bunch of motorhomes and did a uh horse or a circle in our backyard with a big old bonfire. And and we had uh I think an 11 military buddies fly in with their families, and and we all hung out here and just told stories and told the same lies, you know, same story, just told over and over. Then the the fish keeps getting bigger and bigger, but I I wouldn't pass that up for anything, you know. That's that's what life's about right there. Um, and and to tell you the truth, you know, I I can't wait from seven years from now. So hopefully she does she just walked in, so she's listening. Hopefully she does that for my 50th, too. So but yeah, I I I keep in touch with a lot of them. Uh a hell of a lot. Our our group we say it's different, maybe it's not. Um when when we went over the first time, we were still with our salts. Um so so our salts deployed with us and they got stop loss, and we were we were turning it into Corporals at that time, but we recently got our drop of boots. But it's not like we were in charge of them because our salts were still over us. So to be honest, and then and then they left early. Like we left, we left early from you guys, they left early from us. So the very, very end of the first appointment is when we were then the NCO is in charge. So our my contact list is is big and we see each other. There's there's a group of about 10 or 11 of us. We see each other every year still. So that's awesome.

SPEAKER_03:

Man, it is good. Yeah. So yeah. Well, Brian, this has been great. You're you're welcome to keep going. It seems, I mean, I don't know, man. You you told a good story, and we're happy to have you back on later again. You want to do it again. Any anything doesn't fucking matter to me. You tell me.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah. No, I'm I'm willing. Uh, I just gotta think of more, you know. I'm sitting here drinking the whiskey, so watch. I'm gonna be like, ah crap, I wish I told them that, you know.

SPEAKER_03:

Scribble it down, look up some of that poetry, watch some of those videos.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, yeah, we'll do I should I should figure out how to do it. Uh one last thing you yeah, you you wrote on there, and I I got a note here, is one one thing that you wish uh people knew about Romadi. Um the the fact that it was such an uproar city off and on and everything like that, and really it was I wrote that it was held by one battalion, which was 2-4, um, where you guys were controlling that is is quite impressive. Uh, I know that that when you guys got relieved or whatever, I think there was a few other battalions that went in there, but you you guys had control of the city, you guys did your job, and you guys did it great. So I want to point that out.

SPEAKER_04:

And you guys, the the combat replacements that came uh were a part of that mission. I was gonna say so.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, we did it great because you were part of that shit. Yeah, yeah. You were there for four months, it's not like you were there for five minutes. So it's uh you were there for the majority of it. Out the only thing you missed was April, and then outside of that, you were there for all the rest of the big shit.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, well, well, thank you. It I don't know, maybe it's easy for me to just look at look at it as I'm an outsider when when maybe I'm not, but that's well, I again I can't speak for everybody else, but I can speak for me.

SPEAKER_03:

That's not how it feels for me. Uh I felt as close to Lopez, Gonzalez, uh Day and Hampton as as I did anybody else. They they came right in at a critical moment because we were we were scraping together people and starting to give our docs rifles because we needed more people on the on the stack to kick down doors. So you guys uh saved our asses realistically.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, thank you. Actually, let me pick your brain on one more thing. Who were our translators? Do you remember their names?

SPEAKER_04:

So we had Cosm. Uh he is uh we called him Wilbur, yeah, and then Rocco, and then we had a guy named Danny sometimes too.

SPEAKER_02:

Rocco was the bodybuilder.

SPEAKER_04:

Big guy.

SPEAKER_03:

Big jacked up dude with the beard. Uh Danny had a beard. Cosm was clean shaven. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I remember they're all good people, so yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Hope they're doing all right. Our it you actually came when we had gotten rid of the bad people. We actually had a couple of uh people who were playing both sides as interpreters and giving up information to the enemy, and one of them slipped, and I don't know how he did it. That's uh I'd love to know the actual story behind that. He slipped away in the night, so somehow he got off camp.

unknown:

Hmm.

SPEAKER_02:

Interesting. Yeah, yeah. I remember I remember Rocco, or I I thought it was Rocky, and then I I don't remember which one it was. Uh shorter gentleman, and I think he slipped his hair back and everything, and him and I got along. Who was it? Danny.

SPEAKER_04:

Danny, okay, yeah, because Wilbur Wilbur was a taller, skinnier guy, real quiet. Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Any anyone hear from them? Probably probably not.

SPEAKER_04:

So um I I stayed in uh correspondence with uh Cosm for a few years, um, but then when uh the Arab Spring kicked off, he uh emailed me one last time being like, Hey, is there any way that you can help me get out of here? Um it's getting bad. And um I didn't have any contacts, and I've tried to get a hold of him ever since and haven't heard from him. So I just hope I I I hope he just has lost my number um and bad things didn't happen, but I don't know what happened to the other two.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Cross our fingers on that. Yeah, all right. Well, yeah, guys. Um if I think of other stuff, I'll definitely get reach out to you, and I'd love to love to keep in touch too.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, well, this has been great. I really appreciate your uh you have a great memory, man. So I no, it's been great.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04:

It's been great having uh having you weave your narrative. So thank you. I'm I'm glad you have your mustache back. And again, I'm sorry. It's okay. It's okay. I forgive you. I forgive you. It's hard, it's hard, but yeah, but I'm I'm uh I'm I I'm I'll I'll find my way.

SPEAKER_01:

That's awesome. Thank you guys. Thanks, Brian.

SPEAKER_04:

Have a good night.

unknown:

All right.

SPEAKER_04:

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