.jpg)
Constant Combat
This veteran-led podcast highlights the experiences of Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, starting with their harrowing 2004 deployment to Ramadi; a 9 month combat tour which resulted in the highest casualties in a single deployment - a deployment that most Americans have never heard about. Through candid conversations surrounding these events, the series also explores earlier experiences that shaped the Marines, emphasizing their grit, humor, and humanity while aiming to honor their stories authentically.
Constant Combat
Have a Plan - John Mark Lopez (part 1 of 2)
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
You can feel the choice before you hear it; Sergeant Lopez with a clear path to promotion walks away from the safe bet to stand next to his brother and friends in Ramadi. That decision by John Mark becomes the spine of this story... from a division-level meritorious board to Ramadi as a combat replacement with his brother, tracing how training, discipline, and fast decisions hold a unit together when chaos in everywhere. Hard missions, mixed signals, media pressure, and choices that save lives shape this candid account.
• choosing loyalty over reenlistment track
• insertion via Blue Diamond into Weapons Company
• adapting squad leaders course habits to street fights
• taking charge of dismounts
• engineers hit, VBIED called in, rapid casualty evac
• rumor-driven next-of-kin notifications
• recovering fallen snipers under media cameras
• FO skills correcting dangerous illum fires
• hooch life, sandbags, gym, and strict guard standards
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
Meet John Mark Lopez
SPEAKER_03Alright, man. Let's tell everybody who you are.
SPEAKER_00Uh John Mark Lopez. Um I was uh attached to map two uh during the Ramadi deployment. I went in as a combat replacement and I was a sergeant during that time.
SPEAKER_03Nice man.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I remember I remember getting the four of you. What role did you end up uh sliding into?
SPEAKER_00Uh I was with the dismount guys, um with uh taco, uh, knife, Miranda. Well, Miranda Matroca. And uh I think that was it that were in the back of my trunk, if I remember correctly.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Miranda, Matroca, Neil. Um one more.
SPEAKER_00The kid that broke his jaw.
SPEAKER_03Oh, Cohen, yeah. Yep.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. And remind me, when did you you came you came with everybody? So that uh talking with other people, that would have been May 12th or 11th or something like that, right?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00I ended up going getting over there with that that first group. So, you know, myself, my brother, of course, and then Day, and then Hampton, all four of us were in a team, and that's where all of well, including the other group, we all met up with y'all there in Ramani. Cool.
SPEAKER_03Well, you want to you want to talk a little about the lead up as to like kind of like where you came from and and what how you found out about coming to 2-4?
Reenlistment vs Loyalty To Family
SPEAKER_00Yeah, uh, well. My story's a lot different than everybody else because you know, we were all with 3-5. Of course, I was uh expecting to re-enlist, so I wasn't part of the the people getting ready to EAS, so I didn't get to go to all the meetings and stuff that they had about going back, you know. So if they had six months left on their contract, hey, they're getting sent back. And of course, my brother was part of that, so they get them all, I guess, in the gym or wherever they sent them. I didn't get to go to any of the meetings because I had to stay back with the platoon. But you know, he they come back and they're like, they're sending us back. And of course, me, and I'm like, I'm not gonna let my brother go there by himself, and of course the rest of my buddies that I did uh you know pretty much came in the Marine Corps with to go, you know, as well. So uh during that time, um I had to make a choice. So I'm like, well, I'm going with these guys, and of course you know, Fifth Marines wasn't happy because I was slated to stay. I went on meritorious boards to you know promote the sergeant because during that time all the MOS has gotten you know nine across the board, nine nine nine, so nobody could get promoted. So they're like, we want to promote you. So I went on the board, went all the way up to division board, won that, and then yeah, so three five is expecting me to stay. And of course, I'm like, I'm not staying. They're like, Well, you're already you're you're about to re-enlist. I'm like, Well, I haven't re-enlisted yet. Go ahead and terminate my reenlistment package, and I went back with those guys that they weren't too at it.
SPEAKER_04So that's yeah, making friends and influencing people on that one.
SPEAKER_00You know what I mean? It's like three pop or my my my brother and my family, so I'm like, you know, 100%.
SPEAKER_04Oh, I uh I get it completely.
SPEAKER_00No, no, I'm the entire time, always do, you know what I mean? So of course, yeah, uh I end up going back with him, you know. Um which uh it's a pretty crazy ordeal, you know.
SPEAKER_03I like that you uh you glossed over a very a big deal in that little story, and you acted like it wasn't a big deal, that you went all the way on a division meritorious board and got division marine of the quarter, marine of the whatever. Yeah, that's a fucking huge deal, man. Like you had to beat out a lot of people to be that like that's that's a big honor. And you're just like, oh man, I just got a division meritorious, and just like zoop three seconds didn't even say nothing, dude. That's badass.
SPEAKER_04Well, I never even got like Marine of the Fire Team. And so I never got Marine of the five minutes.
Meritorious Boards And Promotions
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well that was my second time, so I won also, and I I would have got meritoriously promoted corporal, nice, but I was slated to get promoted that next month. So, of course, Sergeant Major Vines was like, Hey, Devil Dog, you're gonna go ahead and get you're still number one, but we're gonna give the promotion to the second place guy because you're promoting on the first. So they gave it to the other guy, and I of course thinking about it now. I'm like, I would have preferred my citation saying meritorious than just regularly, you know, I didn't care. All right, sorry, Major, whatever. Yeah, went on with it, but yeah.
SPEAKER_03And Sergeant Major Vines wasn't an easy human being to disagree with anyway. So uh honestly, I probably wouldn't have disagreed with him anyway.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the way he was for sure, but yeah, he was a good dude as long as you stayed on his good side, you know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, for sure. He gave him the proper greeting.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's different. No, I wouldn't like I Sergeant Major, you know what I mean? So I didn't make him mad during my my uh during that board, so it went well.
SPEAKER_03That's good, man. That's cool. Now I I kind of asked your brother about this too, and uh we didn't mention your brother's name. You're the brother of uh Manuel Gonzalez, who we also have already interviewed. Um I I find it interesting given the the precedent Senate. I mean, you know, I don't know what they call it anymore. It's like an actual name, but I always call it the Lincoln Doctrine. I don't even know if that's true. But where you know family members weren't supposed to serve in the same unit because of the risk of Sullivan. It could it could be, yeah. It's probably named after the brothers that died and not the president. But I know it was President Lincoln who's the one that wrote up some of that shit. Basically, that one family shouldn't bear the burden if a couple people died. But the idea was that none of you had died already, so you could go ahead and serve. I but then you read the same damn truck. Boy, we were stupid.
Brothers Serving Side By Side
SPEAKER_00Yeah, man, it but we were lucky the entire time, like you know, going into boot camp, and then we were in two separate platoons, you know. We he was in lead series and I was in follow series, and then of course, as soon as I talked to the series gunnery, sorry, because of course I had to go, I was a house mouse and I got to go clean uh the series gunnies uh little you know area in the course. I was like, Yeah, my brother's here. He's like, What? Your brother's here? I'm like, Yeah, he's in uh platoon 2107. He's like, What the heck? I'm like, he's like, Did you come in the buddy program? I'm like, Yes, sir. He's like, I'm gonna fix that. And that's when, of course, his drill instructor shows up on my deck, he's like, Where the fuck you at, Lopez? I'm like, Oh my goodness, like, here sir. He goes, You got a brother in my platoon? I said, Yes, sir, I do. He's like, You want to come to my platoon? I was like, No, sir. Of course, because I had all gunnies, so I can say boot camp for me was cake, you know what I mean? Like, he had an all sergeant team, I had an all-gunny team. These guys care about their careers. Oh, yeah. Sergeant, I don't care. You know what I mean? So I was like, no, he goes, Well, fuck you, you're not coming to my platoon. He goes, you know what? In fact, this is gonna be uh a competition between you and your brother, and that's the way it's gonna be this entire time. And I'm like, Aye, sir. So we end up you know sticking with our platoons until the end. And of course, we went to SOI. Went through SOI, and then they're like, Hey, you're gonna be motorman. I'm like, what the fuck? What the fuck is a motorman? I don't even know what this is, you know what I mean? So of course we ended up there and then graduated, and then they're like, Oli are slated for 3-5. I'm like, oh we're still together. Ended up in 3-5 when we got there, they split us up. I ended up with Kilo Company. He went to another company that we can become Monday morning formation. They ended up bringing us all back together, and then we did we all ended up in weapons company again. So yeah, just wild how everything just went right back around, you know. But uh yeah, uh did the first deployment with them. Um of course, he he was alpha section, they split us up. He was alpha section, bro, and I was in Bravo section, so it all worked out. I was in uh Humbies, and he got the ride on the track, so yeah, it's good to go.
SPEAKER_03Cool, man. So it sounds like you weasled your way into the uh get into the group to come with us. How was it coming over?
SPEAKER_00Uh you know the Marine Corps, man. It was a shit show the entire time, you know. You never know what's going on. And there we are going to Marsh Air Force Base and then flying over commercial plane over here to to meet up with y'all. Like uh I don't remember much after that. Well, yeah, all my deployments come, you know, get entwined together here. Right, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Did you bring your SIFT gear from 3.5, or did you have to turn that in and pull gear somewhere else?
SPEAKER_00I brought everything with me from 3.5. We just okay whatever we had and took it with us. Nice. Yeah, that was the good thing about it. So yeah. I'll see. But yeah.
SPEAKER_03I mean small victories, man. Yeah. Yeah, that's it.
Flying In And First Staging
SPEAKER_00You know what I mean? But yeah, they loaded up us, you know, loaded us up like a bunch of sardines, and then I I just remember being in the plane and having all this gear literally stacked up on top of us on the flight all the way up there. I'm like, this sucks, but you know what I mean? It's better than a C 130 or anything else, you know what I mean? So uh but yeah, I remember getting to Blue Diamond and that's about it. Well, I do remember the buses that were all covered up, the windows covering up, and I'm like, where in the hell are we going? You know what I mean? So just riding in the middle of the damn desert, of course. I don't even think they gave us any ammo then.
SPEAKER_03No, no, I mean you were if you were on buses, you were probably in Kuwait still, so they wouldn't have given you any ammo.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they didn't give us anything yet, and I'm like, what the hell? Where's my ammo? I'm ready for this, you know what I mean? But of course, they didn't give us anything, and then we finally get the blue diamond, and that's when they started giving us uh very, very little bit of ammo for the ride. I'm like, you're supposed to be in so much combat, but we're like, here you go, here's 30 rounds, enjoy yourself, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So you didn't get to go to any of the meetings. Did you have any idea what you were stepping into? Did you hear anything about 2-4? Or I I know you knew you were a combat replacement, but did you know what that meant or why like why we were bringing people in?
Briefed On Ramadi And Weapons Co
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, I I kept up with a lot of that stuff because well heck they talked about it because during that time, I just got back, also got back from uh infantry squad leaders course, and during that time they would debrief us about what was going on in Ramadi. They're like, I better get ready, you know, the everything's happening, and you know, if you're in you know, we are infantry, you better get ready, like you're about to get deployed again and and get ready for whatever, you know what I mean. So they debriefed us some during my course about it, but I still didn't understand the amount of casualties you actually sustained during that time. So it was cool though, after you know I was I was excited to go, especially after attending spawn leaders course, and they're like, You're going. I'm like, Yeah, let's do it, you know what I mean? So I was motivated during that time. So but yeah, but other than that, uh, you know, I would try to keep up with some things, but uh for the most part, I I didn't I didn't realize how bad it really was. But after you sit there and think about everything, you were going into a city that was well fortified and they were ready for you, you know what I mean. Nobody would actually go into the city, and you know, what do you expect when you're you're going into somebody else's turf, you know? Right, yeah. So yeah, no, I didn't I didn't really know too much just of the stuff that I picked up here and there, and then when it came to the debrief, I just got the information, whatever my brother gave me, and then that's that's what I went off of.
SPEAKER_04So you got the blue diamond. Uh did you guys uh then spend any time in the blue diamond, or do you come almost immediately over to Hurricane Point?
SPEAKER_00Um I remember Sergeant Major Booker and then Lieutenant Colonel Kennedy being there uh picking us up and then giving us a debrief, getting ready to let us know where we were going, what companies we're going to. And of course, we ended up going to Weapons Company. Originally, I think we were supposed to go to golf company. And then I think the other ones found a way to get us back into weapons company, of course, because they're like, hey, hey, we're weapons, you know what I mean. I'm like, I don't give a damn where you send me, just send me somewhere, you know what I mean. But uh they were able to convince Sergeant Major Booker, hey, uh, these guys are already weapons, let's go ahead and send them to weapons company, you know. So it worked out for us. So they ended up like, nope, okay, you this group here, y'all are weapons, y'all going to weapons. So it ended up good with us, you know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was uh it was good, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Any first first impressions?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I was gonna say that's exactly what I was gonna say.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, honestly, like when we met y'all, when we end up coming in and meeting when up meeting up with y'all.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, whatever your first first memories or first impressions were when we kind of brought you over and started going.
First Impressions Of The Platoon
SPEAKER_00And honestly, I didn't know what to think, you know. Like I'm like, okay, I understand they're coming here, and I also knew y'all y'all had a boot drop right before y'all went on this deployment. Yeah, so right off the bat, I'm like, okay, what type of training have these guys had? What is going on? Like there's a lot of hundred thousand thoughts going through my mind, but honestly, uh it was all good. Like, I'm like, I understand they've been through a lot of combat. Take it as a grain of salt, and I'm coming here to assist, so let me do whatever I needed to do to assist in whatever way, you know what I mean. I knew I was coming into y'all's territory, and I would, you know, left three five, and then you're in a leadership position there, and then end up at two four, and it's like all right, let's see where they're gonna put me, you know. And that's pretty much about it, man. Like I always go there with like an open mind, but you hear me bitch from time to time, but if I don't like something back then, I would pretty much I was pretty vocal, you know. So but for the most part now, uh I just was open-minded and was there to help in whatever way uh I needed to help, you know.
SPEAKER_03It's funny, you say that I don't remember you bitching almost ever. Not never.
SPEAKER_00I remember you I try not to, but with the Marines I did. Yeah, yeah, they just I was pretty strict back then, and I was always like hate to say like robotic, like this is the way we're gonna do shit, don't be doing stupid shit, because I was serious all the time, you know.
SPEAKER_03Like, well, I was gonna say, I I remember you making uh I don't know, uh tactical suggestions, I guess. Like you were like, We're this is what we're doing, this is the way to provide overwatch, this is the things we need to do, and I was like, Fucking sounds good, man. Let's go.
SPEAKER_00So, like with you, you uh you know, if I give you told you my idea or whatever, you're like, All right, that's good, let's do it, you know. Like, yeah, but I was real serious then. I didn't really joke around or do anything. I was pretty serious when I was in reform. Now I'll joke around like crazy because I can do it, you know. I'm not in that role anymore, now I can relax and stuff. But back then, man, I was like, oh man, yeah, I didn't have much of a sense of humor back then.
SPEAKER_03I was gonna say, did you feel like that was a culture clash? Because our platoon was full of fucking jokers.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Matroca joked around a lot.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's the understatement of the century.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, always always joking, always doing something. And here's me just looking at him. I just shake my head. I'm like, what the hell? You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03But for the most part, I just continued on, you know, like just although actually, I guess that was kind of good because Neil was super serious, uh, and Miranda was mostly serious. Uh you know, he occasionally would tell a joke or two, but not many. But that's that actually probably ended up pretty good.
NCO-Heavy Culture And Roles
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I I I clashed very well with him, you know. Miranda, too. At first, I'm like, this guy don't talk. Yeah, yeah. Man, a few words, but then he opened up, you know, and then especially when I got promoted up there, they end up promoting me there in front of everybody, and then he's like, You you you got promoted to sergeant. I'm like, Well, yeah, no shit, dude. Like they just pinned me on, you know what I mean? He's like, Okay, good to go. But then we were in a truck full of sergeants, him, me, Neil. Yep, and then my trunk was a vocal too. It's like, yeah, we're NCO.
SPEAKER_04We had some wild rank going on on some of those platoons, just so NCO heavy. It's crazy.
SPEAKER_03Half my platoon, well, a third of the platoon was sergeants at one point. Uh that's crazy. Yeah, we had a lot of sergeants.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, did they get promoted before y'all went on this deployment, or when did that happen?
SPEAKER_03Uh well, let's see. Randall came to us as a sergeant. I was a sergeant for a year before we deployed. Um let's see. Jordan got promoted to sergeant almost a year before the not quite a year, six months before the deployment, maybe. Um trying to think. I don't know when Neil picked up, because Neil was a sergeant, got busted down at the lance, and then went back up to sergeant in my time frame. Like I remember him going back up the ranks. Um, I don't know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it was a big I don't remember when Miranda picked up, but I think most of those guys were already sergeants before.
SPEAKER_03Miranda picked up right before we deployed. Yeah. Miranda picked up right around Thanksgiving time frame, I think, or something like that. Harden, same thing. Harden picked up right at the end of Oki.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Oh, that's right. Y'all were stuck on that rock for a long time. For a whole year, maybe I forgot about that because we ended up doing the initial invasion, and of course, y'all were deployed with the 30 worst. I mean, 31st.
SPEAKER_04We drink that mill and drag a couple times. What the hell is that?
SPEAKER_03So, quite quite literally, uh, we were watching you on TV uh on the Essex. Uh, what the fuck were we eating? Somebody had a giant bag of like, I think it was sour patch kids, or some kind of sour candy. And we were all sitting around watching it. We're like, well, there's the war happening while we're sitting here doing fucking nothing, smelling each other's farts in this squad bay.
SPEAKER_00Man, that sucks. Especially like as infantry guys, you know what I mean? Like, you like and I do this and we prepare, and then oh yeah, it was a bad, it was a mindfunk.
SPEAKER_04Oh no, it was bad. It was bad. It was the that was a huge uh if you if if you could bottom out morel and then dig for a mile, we'd start getting close to where we were at.
SPEAKER_00I can only imagine, especially being here a year. Like, by the way, you're getting extended because we have no other units to sit over here.
SPEAKER_04Well, well, well, just just to be clear, we had turned in everything. We were sitting on the curb with our packed sea bags when they came out and was like, Well, gents, we're not going home for Christmas. We thought we were gonna be home for Christmas. Go grab your keys again, unpack, we're staying indefinitely. Like, oh no, it was bad.
Squad Leader Course Mindset
SPEAKER_00The big green movie there, huh? Yeah, bad. Oh no, we oh man, that sucks.
SPEAKER_04Now you now you understand why we were so angry in Ramadi, and it was possibly one of the reasons why we were able to uh the rage just released that frustration there, huh?
SPEAKER_00Awesome. Oh man, I forgot about that too. Yeah, y'all got the bad end of the stick then. Yeah, but you ended up remembering that one.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, no, no. I mean, we we got what we uh what we asked for, I guess.
SPEAKER_00That's true.
SPEAKER_03Well, so you guys showed up. Nah, man, go ahead.
SPEAKER_00Uh so what did y'all think about us?
SPEAKER_03That's a good question. I um had no idea what to expect. I now that uh you guys have all told me you were mortarmen, I don't think I remember even knowing that you were mortarmen. Uh we when we deployed, we were under TMO already. Like we just did not even have enough people to really fill the trucks. And so that was a huge stress anyway on me. And so we were often borrowing people from headquarters, we were borrowing people from other platoons. Um I remember a couple of mumps, early mumps, we borrowed guys from from 81s and stuff like that just to fill seats when we didn't have enough dismounts to to actively provide overwatch or kick down doors or anything like that. And so I almost didn't care. I mean, I might wanted people. I didn't give a shit. And uh when it when you showed up and you guys looked like normal people who knew how to do shit, I was fucking elated. Like I was just happy to have anybody who looked somewhat proficient. And uh I mean we went out the if I'll let you tell your impression, but my impression personally, I loved you, I loved you and your brother instantly because you guys, even though you were very serious, you were super easy to get along with. You guys were immediately like, let's look at the map, let's look at the trucks, what the fuck are we dealing with? And it was great. You were like immediately on board. Uh Hampton was mostly the same way, too. It took a minute to lead uh Day to the party. But uh honestly, I loved Day because and he was in my truck quite a bit because Day would do anything, he didn't care, he literally didn't care. You could have told him to do stand on your head for this whole op. He'd be like, All right, whatever, man. I don't give a fuck. And he would just stand on his like he was just a great dude as far as that goes.
SPEAKER_00Well, all you needed to do was give him a cigarette, and he'd be ready to go. That's why he goes, Let me smoke my cigarette, and then he's ready to do whatever you tell him to do, you know.
SPEAKER_03So that's why we got alone. We would just immediately at every op we'd just share a cigarette and it'd go good. Yeah, that's true. That's funny. Yeah.
Wanting Command But Taking Action
SPEAKER_04It was it was pretty, it was similar for us too. We it was it I remember being appreciative of grabbing some more NCOs. We had we had quite a few Lance Corporals and below. And so just having some more experience, I remember being appreciative of and never and I got like I we had um Clark, Martinez, and Adams in Sledgehammer. And so um got along with them just fine. Actually, I got real I got along real close with Martinez and Adams, but um those dudes are easy to deal with, though, you know. Well that yeah, I and I enjoyed joking around and stuff like that too. So they were they were always up for a a wise crack and a and uh an unserious moment. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, if you talk to them like Lopez was always serious, I don't know what the heck was going on with the other one. But that was just my mentality then. I was just like it's just strict and just do what I need to do, and that's about it.
SPEAKER_04You know, well well it you would have had to have been if you were if you were if you had gone all the way up to division for meritorious, and then also have just come off the heels of uh squad leaders course, man. I mean, like you would have it that that's that's where your mind would have had to have been to be able to be selected to go do those things. Like it this so that that makes perfect sense. Do you feel like coming coming on the heels of the squad leaders course coming to Ramadi, did you bring did you feel like it spun you up in a in a particularly good way, or were they teaching tactics that didn't quite apply and you had to kind of piece it together?
SPEAKER_00Honestly, no, I it prepared me because you know during squad leaders course, you do pretty much everything, you know, the mount training and patrolling orders, you know. Um I got to learn how to write a lot of orders during that course. That's pretty much all you do. It's like, oh, here you go, write a full order, and you're like, trout, you got 20 minutes, and you're like sitting there with the you know, it's in the middle of the night, and here you are with your nail, you know, your moon beam and trying to write an order in the middle of the night, you know. But yeah, I think it prepared me a lot for that situation. I didn't know what if I was going to have to write an order or not, but if I'm like, if I did, I'm prepared. I'm I'm prepared for whatever was sent my way, you know. And that's why if like if they sent me to a line company, I was ready for that. I didn't it it didn't matter to me, you know. I was ready to lead wherever whatever position they put me in.
Early Missions And VBIED Day
SPEAKER_04So I was just talking to a a friend about this this topic a little bit of the idea that having to like write orders, for example, helps your brain organize the information that you need to work on. And so I could see that being very, very useful. That maybe you're not writing it down, but when you're intaking the information of you know, enemy location, size, etc., you're you're you're thinking in a in a in a predetermined way. And so you're able to then come back out. But my my my second question though to that is you know, I I do appreciate that you were able to have the mindset of, you know, do what needed to be done and not having an ego coming in at the same time, uh, with what you've told me about your background coming into this, and then also being on the upper end of corporal, and then obviously you're gonna have been sergeant right away, and then obviously being in leadership positions beforehand. Was that difficult not being in leadership and kind of being one of the one of the masses, or was it kind of a relief in some ways of just being like, Well, I get to just fight now?
SPEAKER_00Honestly, it was more of I wish I was in a leadership position, you know what I mean? That's yeah, sure. That was my role, you know. That's what we were waiting on. Of course, because all of our salts got stop loss, and they're like, now they're these dudes are going with us, you know what I mean? And then of course, I got screwed over during the deployment because I was an FO. I wasn't a gun monkey guy, you know what I mean? So I didn't like I hated the damn water system. And they're like, Who wants to be an FO when we first got to you know Platoon? I'm like, this guy, can you run? Can you PT? I'm like, yeah. So of course I made it through the whole process and became an FO, but then you know, I was always attached to Lima Company, so F1 kicks off and I'm thinking, hey, heck yeah, this is my time. I'm gonna deploy as an FO. They get stop loss, and of course, they're like, Oh, the salts are taking y'all spots. Uh of course, uh my squad leader, Puerta, I end up going to Lima Company. They're like, So you gotta go back to the gun. I'm like, Are you fucking kidding me? I'm like, all this training I've done to be an FO and I'm going back to be on a gun. So I end up deploying OF1 as a gun monkey with these guys, man. So I feel your pain, man.
SPEAKER_04I was the uh I I was I was supposed to be the FTC chief, and they took away the mortars from me, and I never got to spend data in anger, man. And so, like, I yeah, no, I I feel you.
SPEAKER_00Martinez got to go though, he got to deploy because we didn't have an indie come India Company FO. So our thoughts, one was with uh uh uh uh Kelo Company, the other one was with Lima, and of course uh Martinez got to stay with India. They're like, Well, Martinez gets to go with his company. I'm like, how in the fuck did I get stayed over here? Like you know, I was like, This is my time to shine, I'm ready for this, you know, and then of course, yeah, you do the deployment, and you come back, and then well, they end up leaving, and we're like, all right, finally, we get our platoon, we're in charge, uh, and then we get back, and then of course, go to 2-4, and then leadership get taken away, you know. And to me, uh I like to be in those positions. I like to lead, I like to train new people, but then of course, getting there, you're just tasked with doing whatever's needed from y'all. So yeah, it wasn't kicking the balls.
Casualty Evac And Hard Choices
SPEAKER_03Now, I don't know because I didn't uh I don't I don't know, I don't know what the hell kind of leader you thought I was, but uh I did not try to micromanage people when I knew they were already competent, and we were as we already talked about, we were extremely NCO heavy. I didn't need to micromanage, I had enough fucking people with experience. I knew what everybody was good at, and I would just send you to do the shit you were good at. You specifically seemed like you kind of took charge of the dismounts. Now, I don't know if even though I mean technically Neil was senior to you, uh, I I don't think he ever put up much of a fight. I felt like you were really in charge all the dismount movement basically from late May, early June on.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I did. I I well, because I didn't wait for people, and I pretty much was just start directing orders whenever I get there, you know. So that was my leadership style, you know. I'm like, well, who's the truck was on a sweet's truck? And of course he's with the truck, and I'm like, let's go, we'll start doing this way. And I'm trying to look at me, and you're like, Okay, let's go, you know. So, you know, everybody listened to me, so you know, I'm not sitting there trying to hesitate on anything, or let's go. I in my mind, I'm constantly building that plan and looking for uh you know, whatever needs to be done, but that was my mindset during the entire time. So, yeah, they didn't give me any kickback, so it was good.
SPEAKER_03Nice. Well, rolling into it, uh, what do you remember from those early missions, man?
SPEAKER_00Honestly, the biggest one I remember is of course the day, the same day, the B Bandle Company. Yep, get hit. I was in an overwash position at that time, and then that same day we were clearing the levee. Yep, yeah, yeah. Those those memories are in my head distinctly because of course I do believe we called in that V-bed. Yes. I don't know if there was uh other units or not that called it in as well. Sledgehammer also called it in. Yes, yeah. And I I remember watching it though, because we were sitting up on the overwatch, I look over and they slowly just creep by this thing, and I'm like, Are you kidding me? Yeah, it was boom.
SPEAKER_03Not only do they drive by it, but they drove by at about five or ten miles an hour, and so it was uh yeah, definitely, definitely a target of opportunity.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um, yeah, and I remember that because of course we had the high back and uh we get sent over there, and here we are. I remember showing up, uh the doc was on the ground, but he was still alive. Um dead, the other Gonzalez guy that came from 35. Yes, he he and here we are throwing bodies into the back of the truck. Um yeah and us getting taking them all back to combat outpost. Yep, yeah, yeah. But I don't remember which one came first.
Rumors Of Death And Family Stress
SPEAKER_03I believe that was first, then it was the uh it was the engineers first, and then the v-bids second. And the only reason the only reason why I know that is because uh you guys were on an overwatch position, the engineers got hit. Uh you you specifically, I know, came down from the overwatch position and helped to get the engineers, yeah. Uh, because you carried one of them over to my truck.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Uh and one kid kept yelling at me, telling me to tell his wife that he loved her.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yeah, you told me the same thing. Yeah. And uh we loaded them. My truck, and I believe it was your high back. I'm not 100% sure.
SPEAKER_00It was it was in the I remember being in the back of my high back, and he's sitting there, dude was blown to shit, man. Like all his lower extremities is just pretty much done. And then he's sitting there yelling at me, tell his wife I love her, and I'm like, shut the fuck up, you're gonna be okay. You're fine, you're fine. But looking down at the dude, I'm like, holy shit, this dude is fucked up, you know what I mean? But I'm not gonna sit here and tell him that, you know what I mean? But yeah, I specifically remember that because I did the same thing.
SPEAKER_03The guy in my truck was blind and uh couldn't see me to know that I was talking to him, but I was yelling at him. I don't know if he could hear me either, because he just went through an explosion, but I was yelling at him the same thing, you're gonna be fine, you're gonna make it, you're gonna tell her yourself, all that shit.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and we uh drove like hell, but we drove past that station wagon. And when we drove past it on the way to Combat Outpost, um, there was a guy standing next to it. And we called back to Sledgehammer, like, hey, that truck's suspicious, not sure what it is. Take a look at it. They looked at it and they're like, Yeah, we think that it's you know something's going on and we'll call it in. We can't take care of it because they're just helping secure the levee and everything else. Yeah, we get to combat empost, drop those dudes off. Battalion surgeon does whatever he does. We take a few minutes, we've grabbed the XO for some reason. He was there and at Combat M post, and he comes back out with us. And we went on the complete opposite side of the road, as far away from that V-bit as possible, and drove all the way back.
SPEAKER_00I do remember that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And again, there was nobody next to it at that point. And then so we called it in again. Hey, that car's still there. Somebody needs to take get eyes on it and do something about it and decide what to do. And never nothing ever happened. We went up on top of that cemetery OP, and that was when it uh went off.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, I remember that now. Um what else that is.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I remember when the four Snyders got killed as well.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that was uh almost three weeks later, right after that.
Recovering The Fallen Snipers
SPEAKER_00Yeah. You know what's funny about that story is uh so Juan Lopez was part of them, right?
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so you know, during the whole deployment, I really I was married during that time, of course. But I never did call home, I didn't call my family, I didn't do anything, you know. And I was sure as hell not gonna go wait in line at the phone center. Well, you know what I mean? That wasn't me. I'm like, I'm not sitting here, I'm not gonna wait in line. Whatever. But one day I I went up there. I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna call home. So I called one of my buddies, uh Burton, Scott. I'm like, end up calling him up. I'm like, hey dude, he's like, You're alive. I'm like, what the hell are you talking about? He goes, 3-5 had a battalion formation and they said you were dead. So they got up with Juan Lopez instead of John Mark Lopez. Oh, jeez. So during that time of the deployment, so he's like, Oh, your wife now, she thinks you're dead. And of course, me being an asshole, I was, you know, I called back and I was like, You spent all that money? She's like, I'm not doing this no more. No shit. It was like two weeks before I even called home after that. So uh uh staff sergeant I knew that was with two five. He was trying to contact you know, battalion and everything else, trying to see if I was dead or not, because uh three five literally had a battalion formation saying I was dead. When get the fuck out. That's just wild. I'm like, how the hell do you mix up that name? First of all, he's a Lance Corporal. I was a sergeant during that time. You know, I understand Juan, John, you know, whatever, but how the hell do you have a formation saying I'm dead? I'm like, how big of a screw up is that? You know what I mean? I'm like, whatever.
SPEAKER_03That's funny. That's funny now. That is not fucking funny at all.
SPEAKER_00Uh well, of course, you know, like I think back and like when we called my parents and stuff, I'm like, Don't y'all think if anything happened to me, my brother's here. He's gonna be calling y'all. He's gonna be they're like, Well, we didn't think about that. We didn't think he had a phone or dah dah dah, this and that. I'm like, yeah, but the stress that my parents were probably under during that time too had deployed again, you know what I mean? And of course, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Wait, so so just to be clear, did did the casualty contact no? Your your family okay, okay. It was just a regular formation, then and and and then they're like and then the rumor, okay.
SPEAKER_00Sergeant look at the one of the the snipers killed, and they're and I'm like, I don't even look the sergeant. I'm like, how the hell y'all even get this stuff?
SPEAKER_04That's wild shit. That's right, that's so horrible. That's what they were hoping for. Yeah, exactly. Like, this motherfucker.
Media Presence And Restraint
SPEAKER_00You know what was funny though when I did make that meritory promotion, the sergeant majors up there were like, Well, what do you want? A naun? Or do you want a promotion? I'm like, Really? You're gonna ask me that question? I came here for a damn promotion. Like, come on now. You can keep your nam. That's not even a choice. Yeah, exactly. Baby fools.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, that was one of my crazy stories from that deployment. Is that whole three five?
SPEAKER_04That's a wild one. That's a wild one, man.
SPEAKER_00For somebody to think you were dead during that time, I mean, so just buddies and you're like, You're alive. I'm like, Well, duh, dude, I'm calling you right now.
SPEAKER_03I there's no chance anybody from fucking uh a dem a documentary company or uh anything could, but they could make a documentary on how fucked up the medical notification system was in 2004, 2005. Because this is this is what the seventh or eighth time we've heard now. People like their families hurt, oh, don't worry, he's recovering nicely in the hospital. And the motherfucker never even left for money, like was in the hooch, like never wasn't in the hospital or anything. Like the families had no idea where they were. Just crazy, crazy shit. Oh, it's so weird.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's what made me think of that, though. Windows the fourth and eyebrows. I remember, didn't we go out there and recover them?
SPEAKER_03So we went out and provided security on Route Michigan. It was the mortar guys who went. It was uh either Sledgehammer or Rainmaker. I don't remember. I believe it was Rainmaker.
SPEAKER_04Rainmaker did the uh recovery, I believe, because Sledgehammer uh we we transported the bodies.
SPEAKER_03Okay, yeah, that that tracks because I know I think if I remember correctly, it was Lieutenant Dobb and I know Hodges and uh staff. You may have gone into the building, John Mark. I have no idea, but I know Staff Sergeant Coleman went into the building and helped clear things out, and and he came back relatively shook, actually. And uh I remember being outside. Yeah, you might you might have gone in there. Some of the dismounts I know went up that way to try to help because there was well, there was a grip of people there.
SPEAKER_04I mean, there was a lot, yep, because we were obviously needing to quickly figure things out.
SPEAKER_00The one thing that always stuck in my mind, though, I remember seeing these Iraqis laughing as we were carrying the bodies out. Yeah, yeah, and that made my blood go even more, man.
SPEAKER_03I'm telling you, I do remember that because I remember talking a few people out of shooting them.
SPEAKER_00Uh yeah. Yeah. We're literally pulling these guys out, and then there's like a crowd of people, you know how they always are nosy and trying to figure out what's going on, but they were laughing, and I was like bull with them during that time, you know. So yeah, there's thoughts in my mind during that time.
SPEAKER_03There's too many cameras, to be quite honest. I mean, you know, even if even if they were bad guys who were coming to see the damage or anything like that, like if you could have justified it in any way, there it was Al Jazeera was out there. There's too many people out there, and uh anything you would have done would have been spun negatively right or wrong, no matter what. Even if we just went and roughed them up or or take them in for questioning, it all would have been bad.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Well, they uh Al Jazeera had gotten had gotten there before we had.
SPEAKER_03Yep, yep, and they were set up across the street. I mean, they were filming us the whole time.
Night QRF And Bad Illum Fire
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so yeah, yeah. You know, I remember I remember having to be on our P's and Q's because they were there. I don't I don't remember who said it, but I remember very specifically being told, like, hey, you're being really like there's like Nylon just said being recorded, so make sure that you keep your your men under control.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but oh yeah, that was a bad, that was a hard day. That was a horrible day. Definitely, definitely hard day. So and then after seeing that, that really just pissed me off a lot.
SPEAKER_03So uh well, I'll remind you, I'll remind you of one that's uh one of my favorite uh John Mark memories. Right. It was before that, though. It was when uh the LAVs got hit on Racetrack Road and they decided to shoot everything up, and we went out in the midnight QRF. And because it was a uh important person, it was General Madison's convoy. Yeah, uh, we had way too many people out there, and they started firing uh loom rounds from combat outposts. I don't know if you do you remember that well, you you want to tell your part of it? I'll tell you my my fun John Mark story. What you have a story about me? Oh yeah, oh goodness, it was great.
SPEAKER_00So those are loom rounds. Who fired those loom rounds?
SPEAKER_03That was the uh they were previously 60 mortar gunners that were from the uh from the weapons platoon of I believe golf company.
SPEAKER_04Um yeah, not sure. It was either Echo or Golf.
SPEAKER_03I'm not sure who was dropping rounds, but I believe it was golf, but I'm not 100% sure on that.
SPEAKER_00Okay, yeah. Uh I just remember going out there seeing casings everywhere. Nobody was there. I don't remember.
SPEAKER_03Mm-mm. There was a guy who was breathing his last breath after being headshot. There was some dead sheep, and there was a dead police officer.
SPEAKER_00That was it. And we get there, we're like, well, where's this big old engagement that we were coming into? And then yeah, there was no
unknownThere.
SPEAKER_00Yep. That's what I recall of it. And I was like, what the hell are we doing out here?
SPEAKER_03Yep. Yeah, they definitely got hit by an IED. According to them, they took small arms fire afterwards. Again, yeah, we found a pistol and some shell casings, and that was it. Nope. So my story of you, so those loop those loom rounds were low, very low. They were bouncing off the fucking buildings and damn near hitting us. They were not hanging at all. And I am minimally FO trained enough to learn I know how to call in missions. And I'm trying to like scream at them. And this is the only reason why I knew you were an FO. And I don't know why I didn't pick up on this afterwards, but you come over, you're the blood red, your face is like fuming. You're like, they're gonna kill somebody. They're gonna fucking kill somebody. I was like, here's radio. Good luck trying to get them to adjust, and you're screaming at the top of your lungs. You started them very calm. You're like up, up 20, up 50, up anything, and then you just started yelling. Like, what the fuck are you doing? You're hitting the buildings. Shit is starting on fire, and I was like, ah, this is great.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, get them. I remember being on the radio for that because yeah. I don't remember being that angry, but I probably was.
FO Skills Under Pressure
SPEAKER_03Dude, you were you never you never showed anger, like not that kind of anger. You showed normal aggression, but never like anger. You were fuming. I could have cooked bacon on the top of your head, it was amazing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, you know, that's what I did. I was pissed off at the time. These crowds are hanging low and hitting buildings. It's like, who the hell's calling this in? You know, so yeah.
SPEAKER_04So that that that uh mortar, that gun, I don't know if there was more than one, I don't know the whole situation. However, they're also the ones that almost did a blue on blue on on our mortar platoon when they were trying to kick off a bug hunt and they decided to drop H E to initiate the bug hunt. But like might so I don't know if this is true. So you know, take this as a huge grain of salt, but I I was under the understanding that because they were 60 guys trying to shoot 81s, that they might have been using the uh 60 plotting board and wasn't adjusting appropriately or something. I don't completely understand what was going on, but they could not for the life of them get rounds on target.
SPEAKER_00Clearly, clearly, Mandin, yeah, clear clearly, you know what I mean? Because I remember when our 81 guys did shots on the loon rounds as well.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, uh they registered just a few rounds. I mean, it was uh uh loom rounds, right?
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm. Yeah, that was a frame maker. I was hoping to be like, hey, come up here and start adjusting these damn rounds. That's what you know what I mean. So yeah. Of course that ain't happening, they're like, Stay back here. I'm like, shit. Here's my opportunity, shake and bake.
SPEAKER_04That would have been oh man, I'm so angry. I didn't ever got to do that.
SPEAKER_00I never got to do that. I remember when that first happened during the initial push, and the major came over the radio, and they're like 100, you know, whatever the fire four effect was, and he was like, H e rp mix, shake and bake, and he was like, approved. I'm like, Are you kidding me? He just approved that. I was like, What the fuck? And I was I was excited, you know what I mean? That's just the one thing you always want to do is that H E R P mix shake and bake them, man.
SPEAKER_03That's awesome. And uh Blake can be sad and cry all night now because he never got to do it.
SPEAKER_00Did you even get to do any of the FTC stuff for the alum? Nope. Nope, nope, nope. He never did a thing.
SPEAKER_04Nope, never got to do a single thing.
SPEAKER_00Damn, nope, you know. I never even talked to you while we were you know with map two. I never did leave map. Well, I did go to map three because I knew map three guys, but for the most part, I never did. I stayed in my little corner and shut my mouth, and that was about it.
SPEAKER_04I mean, I went around and talked to the other platoons, I was pretty friendly with the uh outside of 81s, but um, because we weren't mortarmen over there, there was no discussions about mortar. I mean, like, there was no reason to bring it up, and so like yeah, it just we're practic we're just 03xx at that point, you know.
Mortars, Shake And Bake, Frustrations
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, I remember that because I didn't really talk to many people, and I I didn't talk much either when we were back in the hooch area, too, because I took the back little corner, and hell, that's where I just stayed. I didn't go well. I play spades every now and then, but for the most part, like watching movies or doing anything else like everybody else, like no, I didn't do that.
SPEAKER_03I don't remember you playing spades, I remember you cheating at spades every night. That's all I remember.
SPEAKER_00It's it's a it's a talent you gotta have.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's what your brother said too. You guys are both a couple of liars.
SPEAKER_04So outside of so outside of spades, what did you do when you like read did you read books or just stare at the ceiling?
SPEAKER_00Just stare at the ceiling. Just most of the time, just think like that's about it. Uh, I wasn't into reading books.
SPEAKER_04Did you hit the gym?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that was the another one of my things, but then they had all these damn rules where you couldn't run and do all that crap where you had to have somebody with you, and so I didn't really run much, but yeah, I love the gym. That was my other thing, but uh for the most part, I didn't I just stuck to myself in that little corner. It was me and then Robert and then Day. My brother was up front. He was more of a mingler than I was, but yeah. I remember when that 60 millimeter motor round hit right there in the corner of my hooch.
SPEAKER_03So yep, yep, that was a good wake-up call.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was. I remember that was dead asleep when that shit happened. Yeah, but we stacked sandbags around the whole hooch. You know why that happened? No, it was because a bunch of the boots pissed me off, and I made them fill sandbags.
SPEAKER_03Nah, man. This again, this is what I'm saying. I I was mostly hands off. Y'all motherfuckers, I knew you were in charge, you do what you gotta do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they pissed me off, and we stacked them too wide. And if it wasn't for me having them stack up them damn sandbags, shit, I probably would have been dead.
SPEAKER_03That's awesome.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you saved your own life. I can remember the kid because I'm remember doing when we had to do guard duty, and uh because they were saying that how many how much crap got or dropped into the Euphrates.
SPEAKER_03Oh, so much, so much.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, thousands of dollars in gear. Yeah, then a clue end up in the Euphrates as well.
SPEAKER_03It did not end up in the Euphrates, it did fall onto the street and break. But they recovered the rest of it, yeah.
Hooch Life And Near Miss
SPEAKER_00And then one of my things was I because I never did have the standpost because I was a sergeant, I had to go uh replace and do whatever, and I remember briefing them if any of you motherfuckers drop anything, I'll ductate the fucking radio too. And they're just looking at me like this motherfucker's crazy. I'm like, nope, I will ductate this shit to your fucking hand so she won't drop anything. You praise I love that I was an asshole back then, but I don't remember smashing somebody's Game Boy. Really? I don't remember that. Yeah, I can't remember this before I was about to take him out to the post and then he was in the back of the truck playing his shit. I can't remember his damn name. I see his face, but I can't remember his name to save my life. He was gonna take a Game Boy up on post, yeah. And I grabbed and I smashed that bitch right there in front of the hooch. That's hilarious. Yeah, but that's how it was, you know what I mean. Like, I don't give a shit if you're going on, you know what I mean. If you had downtime before you don't take that motherfucker with you, you take it with you, then you're gonna play it. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04That's just trust. That's just trouble.
SPEAKER_00It is, and I I didn't play around with any of that shit. That's how yeah, my mindset was just different then, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03Uh you probably fucking saved his life. He probably got shot playing fucking Game Boy.
SPEAKER_04These little lucky like Gunny Gunny Maraki didn't see him doing it, you know. That would have saved a life there, too. He would have been tossed off the the the guard that's tower.
SPEAKER_00Oh Gunny Maraki, that dude. I liked him too. Yeah, he's good, people are Mac and old Pimp.
SPEAKER_04Yep. If you like what you've heard, this is a multi part episode. Make sure you listen to the rest of the story.