High Value Targets - Andrew Kern (part 1 of 2)

Andrew Kern leads off part 1 arriving as a brand-new Marine in Weapons Company and how the path from San Mateo training to Ramadi changes his view of what “ready” really means. He walks us through the early Iraq War confusion, the shift from SASO to a more kinetic fight, and some key moments from April 2004 and Hurricane Point. 

• checking in as a boot and learning the personalities fast 
• pre-deployment training  including MOUT Town and control techniques 
• Arabic benefits and fails 
• March Air Force Base;  early-war training gets improvised 
• chaotic flight overseas 
• Kuwait staging then the cold convoy North
• first impressions of Ramadi
• early hearts and minds patrols
• Morris’ death, the Farhan brothers raid, and kicking the hornet's nest 
• bug hunts, loudspeaker taunts, and the mortars 

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 

Transcript

Meet Andrew And Map One

SPEAKER_00 0:10

All right, man. Cell everybody who you are. Alright, so I'm Andrew Kern. Um, I was in map one weapons company two four. I was a TFC, and then I got promoted to Lance Corporal uh during the 2004 Ramadi deployments.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

Nice. And was that a combat promotion or were you just up and do?

SPEAKER_00 0:33

I was just up and do. That was it.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Yeah. All right. Well, wherever you want to start, man, you want to start from the beginning or you want to start with something else?

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Um, yeah, I'll start uh I'll start with the beginning for me. So I was one of those first boot drops that you guys got after you returned from from Oki. Um I got to you guys, I got to uh San Mateo um around the time of the the Marine Corps birthday. Um I remember that we had had the Marine Corps birthday like I think it was like right before um we finished SOI. And I distinctly remember that the youngest Marine present when we were at the SOI Marine Corps birthday was Marcus Cherry, uh who went to Echo Company, who was um was killed on April 6th. So I remember that the most about kind of coming over to you guys. And I think you guys were still maybe maybe you had just come back from Nevada or something like that. I I feel like when we when we checked into the unit around mid-November, like a lot of a lot of the guys were gone, which was great because you know, like coming on on that bus over SOI, you know, uh over the hill from from SOI over to Fifth Marines, like, you know, you're you're just like on that, you're like you, you're you're you're scared, you know. You're like, all right, we're going to basically prison, we're gonna get hazed pretty bad. Um I think I

Checking Into San Mateo

SPEAKER_00 2:10

know I heard somebody like when we were pulling into uh into San Mateo, somebody was like, I heard somebody go, fresh fish. I I swear, and uh so you know we we we checked in. I think who is in my boot drop? Uh I know I know Nick Kelly um was was there. Um you guys already had on the on the podcast. Um let's see, Radsky and Homewood from from map uh from map two uh were with me. Uh Gentile also was there. I think Daniels was in my boot drop. Um, so yeah, um we we were the I'm pretty sure we were like at least one of the first boot drops. And so we had a little more time with you guys to um to kind of prepare and assimilate. Um when we checked in. Um it was still cat, it was still like cat platoons. Um Lieutenant Stevens was my platoon commander for like a couple weeks, I think. Um I remember uh Harden was um what one of the you know NCOs uh in charge of me. I remember that. Um map three was like they were like some other weird javelin platoon or something. They had these weird trucks that weren't Humvees, they were like Mercedes Benzes. Do you guys remember what those were called?

SPEAKER_02 3:27

That's the iFav platoon, they were called infantry fast attack vehicles, and they yeah, they were they were G-Wagons, is exactly what they were, man. They're the Mercedes G-Wagons just without all the good stuff. There's some flimsy ass metal panels and uh basically a Jeep, Mercedes Jeep.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Could you imagine if we'd gone over there with that shit? Oh my god. Um man, um, well, I mean, we basically almost did. Um you know, first with uh with the flimsy door humbies, but um yeah, so so we checked in and then there was a couple more boo drops after us. Um I remember that I I think Morris and Pepper and Newmeer um and a few other guys, um, French to our pl came to our platoon um I think a couple weeks after we got there. And I remember like those first months, like from like November, December, January, um, just doing a lot of uh a lot of stuff for like SASO stability and support operations. So I remember going to Mount Town. I remember um Sergeant Condi really standing out as like a mount guru. He used to say slow is smooth and smooth is fast. I still remember that, which is kind of a good good philosophy for life in general, right? Like if you slow down everything's better, right? Don't stay too much. It's kids really need to hear it, to be honest, especially when they're doing mount. Um, so

Pre Deployment Training And Mount Town

SPEAKER_00 5:00

it it it was it was a lot of that. Um, you know, uh I think we we knew we were going to Iraq. Um I remember like I remember doing a little like a little bit of um like like one anecdote stands out where we were on those like kind of bleachers by the basketball courts over by where those red top barracks were. And I remember uh Corporal at the time, Corporal Harden, later Sergeant Harden, was showing us some like submission stuff for like how to like uh submit a uh um potential insurgent or something, um, get him on the ground, search him, uh flexi cuff him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And Humwood Humwood was the was the dummy for that. He was the insurgent, there quotes, and uh and he got flexicuffed. But it was like around the time of colors, so like colors came on, and you're like everybody stood to attention, and Humwood had his like hands behind his back. He's like standing there with his hands behind his back, and like I can I remember hearing other Marines go, like Marine, and they he it's just like trying to turn around at like up cuffed, man. Uh so that was that was pretty good. Um let's see. I I I went to um let's see, so after like okay, let's let's so let's let's say December. I I think it was in December that they found uh Saddam Hussein. December. Yeah, I I remember that that they found him, and and then so I was like, I remember thinking myself, like, okay, so what's what are we even going over there for? Like, is there anything even gonna keep keep going on? Like, is there any reason to have like uh is there any combat even there anymore? Like, so I I I do remember having that thought because remember, like at the time it was like the invasion was like less than a year prior. And I remember in SOI having heard about like an insurgency or whisperings of one, but then Saddam got got pinched, and then it was like, okay, well, I guess that's over, right? But no, we're we're still going. And then um and then in January, um, I was

Saddam Captured And Questions

SPEAKER_00 7:20

one of the lucky few to get uh sent to Arabic school. That was um that that was good because you guys went to March Air Force Base, and then me, and I remember Cohen uh from Map Two uh was at that course, as well as Hersher and a couple others. Um I was there. Were you there too? Okay, okay, that's right. There was there was like twenty there's like twenty, there was like twenty of us. There was a lot, there was a lot, yeah. I don't I don't remember

Arabic School Lessons And Gaps

SPEAKER_00 7:56

like I don't exactly remember who's in my class except for Cohen because I I led like carpool with him every day.

SPEAKER_03 8:02

Um I think there was two classes because I think because I think there was two, I think they were taking two or three guys from each platoon. And then and then I think they split us into two into two classes. Because I know I know one group had like this Moroccan guy, and then I had a guy that was like I think it was like from Egypt, if I remember correctly.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

The Musr guy, because he he was excited that your name was Muser in Arabic, yeah. Egypt in Arabic, yeah. Yeah, um we I had the Moroccan guy, and he was really good at teaching us the Arabic alphabet. He was very um pedagogically efficient at teaching us the letters and the sounds, but he didn't teach us hardly anything of of real use, like as far as like just fixed phrases like stop or I'll shoot or pop the hood, things like that, you know, like get on the ground. Um so I I remember like and his his logic was like, okay, well, if you have an Arabic dictionary, you can look up any word and know how to pronounce it, and and like, yeah, that makes sense, but we're we're not really studying Arabic, we just need to know the essentials, you know. So it was yeah, that that wasn't um it was an interesting, an interesting uh experience for sure. And when I heard the stories about Arch Air Force Base, I I was like, uh, I I definitely dodged uh dodged a bullet there. Um, yeah, there's just a lot of uh I guess it was very cold. Um obviously, Shane Shane, you would know so more about that.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

Not only was it cold, they put us in the abandoned officers' housing. So it used to be houses, but they were destroyed. There was no doors, no windows, nothing. And there were a lot of remnants of uh dead rodents and rodent feces. And so at least two or three people, like uh again, I don't I don't

March AFB Rat Fever Stories

SPEAKER_02 10:05

know what they actually got, but what the corpsmen were calling it was rat shit fever, and like so to me that means like hontavirus, which I don't think they got hantavirus, but they uh they had something, and several people got so sick that there was discussion of taking them to a local hospital and all like it. They never did actually go, but they got IVs and like set aside it. It was fucking cold and miserable, and the training was okay-ish. Uh, it was an interesting start. Again, I I think this is where a lot of things were just 2003-4. Uh, it was the beginning of the war. We didn't know what we were doing, and it was the first time they were trying to organize role players. And uh because we so me and Blake to rewind slightly, we were in Operation Noble Eagle, which is when September 11th happened. There was uh an operation to get multiple different bases to cover different parts of the United States, and our unit was part of that to protect some portion of the Western Corridor of the United States. They had role players at that time to try to teach us how to do crowd control, but those were just other Marines who literally would just come out and beat you with sticks. Like it was like it was not in any way good, but it was mostly guys who had MSG duty experience or fast company experience, and they're like, This is what a riot looks like, and they would just throw rocks at you and hit you with sticks, and like you had to defend yourself, and that was that was our training.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

So that's motivating.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

This was slightly better than that.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

Yeah, oh wow, yeah, that's that's crazy. But like, like you said though, like no nobody knew at the time like what to expect. And I remember like, yeah, I remember hearing, like, yeah, there could be riots, yeah. They could be having rocks come at you and stuff. So I can I could imagine uh yeah, people thinking that was that would be good good training. Um yeah, um, you know, uh hot water went out in the in the barracks uh while you guys were at March Air Force Base. So me, me and me and Blake suffered uh quite a bit there as well. Nice, you know, with cold cold showers for the last the last week.

SPEAKER_03 12:12

So um it it's uh it I remember that at that point I'd become so numb with too far being like just uh just worse than prison that I was like all right, well this was just life.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Yeah, yeah, it's just one one hit after another. Yeah, it it was it was only like the last few days, but uh yeah, terrible. Um it uh yeah, so so the Arabic school wasn't, you know, I I didn't get a whole lot out of it. I guess you guys didn't didn't get as much out of out of March Air Force Bases either. Um, but uh I I remember doing just a couple of field field exercises, um, kind of getting to know like the the senior Marines a bit more. Um, you know, I had in charge of me, I had like Jax and Chico, Harris, uh Pace, uh NCOs were like uh Anthony, John Anthony, and then um Santiago. We had Staff Sergeant Drake, uh platoon commander was uh Crawford. Um and you know, just kind of getting to get into know everybody, the the Paris Islands slash uh Hawaii guys came. I don't exactly remember the month, but I I want to say, I mean, they were at March Air Force Base, so um they it it it was definitely before then. Um so yeah, it was not not long after March Air Force Base, if if if I remember correctly, we got on the flight to Jersey. Um and I've I've been hearing a lot about the engine failure and uh liquids uh leaking out of the out of the plane onto the runway. So that that wasn't a planned stop in in Jersey on

Cargo Plane Mishaps To Germany

SPEAKER_00 14:00

the way to Iraq.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

There was definitely a refueling stop that was intentional. The plane was having issues, which is why we stayed there as long as we did. When they fixed whatever issues they fixed, the next subsequent stops, none of those were planned. So I I mean, I think maybe Germany was.

SPEAKER_03 14:20

I don't know as a refueling stop, but I I think I think Germ it was supposed to be East Coast, Germany, Kuwait. That was that was supposed to be our hop.

SPEAKER_02 14:29

Yeah, that makes that makes sense logistically. Uh we had two additional stops on top of that. We had whatever we did in Bangor Main, is what I was told. Uh I know we were going down over like it was over Canada and they turned around. And to my knowledge, we landed in Canada, but that I guess I'm wrong. Uh and it was and it was Bangor Main, is what somebody else says. So I don't know. Nobody official has corrected me, so I have no idea. But uh we landed in Maine, and that was when there was uh things leaking out of the plane multiple times. Finally got that fixed, or they got us a new plane, I don't even remember. Anyway, they fixed it.

SPEAKER_03 15:08

It was the same, that one was the same plane, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

And then they took us to Germany, and that plane they couldn't fix, and they got us a new plane. But when we got to Germany, that's when you looked out on the tarmac, and we had like basically just shit out everything uh on the on the runway, and there was just just fuel and oil and everything. Like that was that was it. We were on one engine when we landed, or something like that. That was what we were told, and they that was over the Atlantic, is when it first started having trouble.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Wow, yeah. Oh my gosh, that's very too far. Um, that's uh that's all news to me. I I had no idea. I remember stopping in Jersey um for a bit to like stretch our legs because you guys all all remember uh how how awful those those cargo nets were to sit on for so long. Yeah, um oh and then I remember being in Germany um for a bit, and I don't remember I don't remember how long our plane was there, I don't remember how long 2-4 was there in Germany. Um but I remember that was the first time I saw like an Air Force Chow Hall, and it was you know it was a a tad better for sure. And uh I but I do remember thinking like um like I remember being ex like and kind of nervous and excited to be going to Iraq. I was I was you know, as a as a young marine infantryman, I was excited to be going and you know, doing doing the job. And so that was cool. I I will remember um I I will say a story uh about being on that that terrible cargo plane. The the like down the middle, you remember had like the the bathrooms were like at the front of the plane, and everybody was like lined up like along the length of the plane on the inside on cargo nets. And the only way to get down there, because everyone was just was just packed in so tight, like like sardines, you had to get on like the center beam of like the center um aisle where everybody was sitting like uh inboard and like walk, like balance beam your your way like down towards the the the head. And uh I was balance beaming one time over the Atlantic and I I like slipped and my rifle cracked right into Colonel Kennedy's head. Not too hard, I guess, but it definitely felt bad that I I fell on the colonel there. So we I know we were on the colonel's the colonel's plane. Nice, so yeah, and he he knows it too. Yeah, I told it I told him that story uh at the at the 20 year. But uh Colonel. Uh yeah, so it was quite a quite a ride. Um and yeah, then we got to uh Kuwait and was it Camp Victory? Uh is that the was that the name of that place in Kuwait? Yes, okay.

SPEAKER_03 18:13

On the way uh on on the way in, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

On the way in, yeah. Um like so this is like uh in the end of February 2004, I guess, I guess we get there. So um, yeah, and then that that place was um man, just

Kuwait Staging And Convoy North

SPEAKER_00 18:30

an ocean of sand. That's that's all I remember that that place. Like tons of tents. Um, I think there was some a couple of fast food containers or something, like uh a place where you could maybe get like I can't even remember, but like I kind of remember there being like an Arby's there or something. I don't know, maybe maybe I'm wrong. Sometimes I get like that and the 06 deployment mixed up. So definitely correct me if I'm if I'm wrong.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

I think it was a Burger King and then whatever generic pizza place the military has. I don't, it's not a name brand pizza place.

SPEAKER_03 19:00

I was just gonna say it was a pizza joint and a Burger King.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Pizza joint and a burger. That's what the troops need. Uh so the place was desolate. Um, I remember doing a lot of letter writing there. Um, bit of training. I remember doing PT. Um let's see. Not not much else that I can recall. I remember hearing that um a Marine from the from one of the line companies had had um you know committed suicide. And that was, you know, quite a quite quite a shock. Um but I you know I must remember just kind of getting like psychologically ready to cross the the LOD, um, which I went, um, and this was this is another thing I learned from listening to the podcast. Um, some people flew up into Iraq. I had no idea. I thought everybody convoyed. We convoyed. Yeah. So yeah, it was a huge convoy. I mean, it was like it stretched for miles, like again, if I remember correctly. And we just escorted, I think it was like the air wing to from Kuwait up to Takadom Airborne Air Base, like in uh in Anbar province. And I believe I believe those guys would have probably been our air support uh during uh during this deployment, right? Like in in Ramadi. Probably.

SPEAKER_02 20:28

I mean, depending on what I mean, there's two air wing units there, right? There's a fixed, there was a fixed wing and rotary wing, and there was you know different stuff.

SPEAKER_03 20:36

So yeah, we had like we had several tag alongs that were catching that were hitching hitchin' rides basically for us. Because I know we dropped some people off in like the Fallujah area and then to Katam. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

I remember anyways I remember stopping by Fallujah, and and now that you mentioned Fallujah, um one thing about being in Kuwait that I do remember is it's they they didn't really know if we were gonna be going to Fallujah or to Ramadi. I remember hearing word that we're either gonna go to one of those two cities, and I had heard of Fallujah. Like I think the worst part of Fallujah had yet to happen, but I had heard of Fallujah and that there was fighting there. I hadn't heard anything about Ramadi. So in my head, I was like, God, I hope we're gonna please be Fallujah, please be Fallujah. And then we, you know, we end up in in Ramadi, of course, and well, yeah, the rest is history, but like I I do remember stopping by Fallujah in that convoy and yeah, dropping people off. I remember making a couple of stops, and that convoy, it was so cold. Um, and we we were like we were, I think we were like the front truck, like it was a highback, and I was standing in. I was on the gun um in the back of it and it was freezing, like especially at night. Um, and I remember we we just kept driving and I like I kept falling asleep like on my feet, like standing on the gun. And I I would like start hallucinating, like out of seeing things in the road. And uh and I remember like, okay, I guess that's why we do the crucible, huh? And uh in boot camp. It's not just uh not just to torture you, it's it's real. And so um yeah, I remember and then I remember the convoy, I think, I think there was like an IED at some point, maybe near Fallujah. I remember we had to stop for a bit. Um but um but yeah, and then we we arrived in Ramadi. Um first impressions of the city, like I mean, you know, it's so otherworldly like being in a in a country, especially when you're when you're like a 19-year-old like kid from Indiana or or any part of the US, and you're you arrive in a in a country like you know, 2004 Iraq, and it's so it's like another planet, and um, you know, very dirty,

First Impressions Of Ramadi

SPEAKER_00 23:15

um smells weird smells. Um people didn't look too too friendly or or happy. Um I remember dropping off um I guess it must have been like Echo and and or golf um in in or or we we we made a stop by uh combat outpost. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:38

And um I think I think your convoy dropped off Echo, ours dropped off golf because there was two separate convoys.

SPEAKER_03 23:46

Yeah, yeah, we because I don't know golf was our technical security or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 23:51

I can't I have a note in my diary that I only kept for about three days, which was basically the drive up and Lieutenant Campbell, the guy the guy who wrote the Joker One book was the second truck right behind us. That's why I mean that's really the only reason why I remember. I remember talking to him quite a lot. He was the second truck in the convoy.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

So oh wow, okay, okay, yeah. That that um that makes sense then. Um what did you guys think about combat outposts the first time you saw it? I just thought it was dismal and I was like, wow, let me live here for the Yeah, that's accurate.

SPEAKER_02 24:24

It looked like a mechanic, like it looked like it was meant to be an auto shop. It didn't look like a place where people would live.

SPEAKER_00 24:32

That was what it looked like. I totally thought the same. Yeah, it it it it didn't look like a place for for people to like sleep and eat, and you know, um, yeah, it it it was and every time we went there, like for any reason, you know, throughout this whole seven-month deployment, like I was always just like, man, I'm so glad I'm not in combat post. Um, so we did we went there, and then and then I think we stopped by the snake pit as well, like right in front of Hurricane Point. I I kind of remember going to the snake pit, um, which is also like not great. Um, and then finally we went to Hurricane Point. Not bad. Nice big wall, like just defilet. Uh there's a palace, uh, you know, there's there's there's a river and a canal, like um uh kind of forming the little triangle of of Hurricane Point. And be like, oh, this is not T. Okay. Uh and uh yeah, we got we went to our our our hooch and uh yeah, and then started started the job. Um I didn't do the left seat, right seat stuff with the outgoing unit of this Florida Florida. I yeah, I learned from you guys Florida National Guard unit, um, which is why it was called Hurricane Point. But um I remember kind of rolling into that that five-week um cycle of uh you know, day taskable, day QRF, night taskable, night QRF, and then breach duty, you know, which is kind of your your downtime, your your down week. And yeah, we just we we rolled into it. I think the the the the NCOs and officers did the left seat, right seat stuff for you know better than I do, a couple couple days maybe uh three or four days, three trips. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 26:34

I think I remember I remember two days, and they rode with us one mission, not even one whole day, one mission.

SPEAKER_00 26:41

So right in the deep end. Crazy.

SPEAKER_03 26:45

Um I was just gonna say, and just to be very fair to the story, I mean they we were setting out to have an exceptionally different mission too. They they were just doing route clearance, and we were gonna be out in the city.

SPEAKER_02 27:01

Yeah, one of uh and one of our officers uh actually contacted us when we started this podcast uh I don't know, a few episodes in and kind of clarified that um they were a skeletonized unit. And it was actually two units. It was the Florida National Guard was holding some, and then a group from the 82nd Airborne was holding combat outposts, but they were a squad reinforced, like they were not even a full platoon uh to hold this huge area. So literally they were just trying to stay alive long enough to leave. Like they, you know, it was uh so I don't blame them. I I wouldn't have stayed long either. Like be like, be like, you guys got it, see you later.

SPEAKER_00 27:41

Yeah, wow. That's yeah, that's that's crazy. What a and what a like kind of night and day type of transition for everybody. I mean, especially the the locals of Ramadi, like yeah, those that were with us and against us. I mean, um of course, like you know, they go from that very passive, um, hands-off kind of approach from those units to us coming in and you know, trying to be that that pretty you know there's gonna be Marines walking through your backyard, there's gonna be, you know, two, four guys every everywhere all day, all night. And um, you know, you you guys were senior to us, and um, you know, you you guys uh did more of the you guys had kind of I think um and correct me if I'm wrong, but like a lot more insight as to like the big picture type of stuff. I I as a as like a P literally a PFC that had 19, I was so new to the Marine Corps, like I didn't even know what was normal and what wasn't in in the Marine Corps. Like you you guys had been in for like years at this point. Um and and so it it was really like you know, I didn't really know what was going on for like a a lot of that stuff, you know, just because like I I was just a PFC dismount in um in in map one and um big picture stuff like um I I I don't know I had a pretty easy job, like basically just di dismount when you need to, hold a corner for however many hours, and um yeah, shoot shoot anything that looks like it might be like might be a bad guy or or whatever. Basically just do as you're told, like you know, um so your your guys' experience of it was uh I'm I'm sure quite quite different from from mine, as well as a lot of the other like you know, first first deployment guys, which as you pointed out on the podcast, was like we were we were like a ton of like really new, really new guys.

SPEAKER_02 29:47

So weapons company weapons company was unique that they had a ton of senior and a ton of like you, brand new, and it and there wasn't a lot of in-between, there wasn't a lot of gray area in there. And it, you know, and we had a few people who had a deployment and a half under their belt, like you just mentioned, like Jax and Chico, like they were they were, you know, they kind of had a little bit of salt, but not you know not quite the same. They had like six months on you, yeah. And then and so it was a little different, they kind of knew what to expect, and they had like a I don't know, like a middle management position to fill, right?

SPEAKER_00 30:22

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And and and to to us who had just come in, like um yeah, even those guys, like uh, even that little bit of salt that they had was you know to us like you know, night night and day.

SPEAKER_03 30:34

So um He was still figuring out the tempo of the organization itself. And I think I mean because I'll be honest, I don't think, at least from my perspective, I know Shane had a little bit more, he was being brought in on more mission briefings than I was, but like there wasn't a whole I mean we were inventing it as we were going, but also remembering that our our mission changed while we were there, it it evolved um very dramatically, going from SASO to whatever they want to call after after April Counterinsurgency, right? Um and then there was that weird hand, like then there was even another shift in focus when we realized that that transition to hand things off to the Iraqi police and Iraqi D ICDC wasn't going to work out. Where because that was that was part of our upswing, also was okay, well, the SASL thing isn't working. Well, let's try to make sure that we're handing off power so we can eventually get out of here. And so that was the next swing from kind of like, okay,

Mission Shifts And New Marines

SPEAKER_03 31:35

well, being friendly isn't really working. So let's give them their power back, and then that not working. And then what happened then subsequent to that. But the reason why I even bring all of that up is I we didn't know. I mean, now for for on your end, you were still trying to figure out how the Marine Corps worked, where we were very comfortable with that and we're just used to being Semper Gumby and being like, all right, I don't know what the fuck is happening right now. What's going on? But I know what my mission is right now, and I know that you know, as a as a you know, as a as a any good Marine, I'm I'm here to take care of my my men, and I'm here to accomplish the mission and you know, go with God.

SPEAKER_00 32:16

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And yeah, like you said, uh send for Gumby. I mean, I I even even as like uh a lowly E2, um I I remember the whole like here's some soccer balls, here's some candy, you're gonna go out to you know, um route Nova and you're gonna patrol and you're gonna hand out stuff. I remember like interacting like with locals in general, like a lot in this that first month. Um, I remember, yeah, the um giving out a lot of soccer balls, um, a lot of candy, a lot of um people kind of like mobbing us, probably um more than they should have. Although I do even back then I kind of remember thinking, like, all right, if there's kids around me, maybe they won't, you know, shoot at me if if uh if they won't. Um, but you know, whatever. The kid people always kind of came out like when we were out. I remember one, like um, I remember one time I had like a flashlight, like a little little flashlight that I had like um in my um tucked in my my uh flak flak jacket. And uh I remember at one point, like there were so many kids around me. One one one kid came up and just snatched that thing out and just took off running, dude. That that little flashlight. It's like oh whatever. He probably needs it more than me. Um but uh yeah, I I I do remember that kind of like yeah, that sasso, like hearts and minds kind of kind of stuff at first. Um and I remember kind of I remember just a lot of monotonous kind of foot patrols, mounted patrols, a lot of stuff with IEDs started picking. It seemed like it picked up a bit more, if if I remember correctly. Um I remember the first IED, like watching it explode, like watching EOD make it explode, or maybe I didn't watch it, but like taking take as soon as it, yeah, I took cover, but like as soon as it exploded, you you pop up and see like the the the explosion, like the the smoke or whatever that's there, and you're like, whoa, that was like a real like

IEDs EOD Runs And Impatience

SPEAKER_00 34:30

war explosion, you know, like it's so great. Yeah, I was like, that wasn't training, that was like a real that was meant to kill somebody, dude. And and uh so so that'll lead me into our like never-ending interactions with EOD. Uh I remember a lot of missions, especially at night, to like go get go get EOD from um Junction City. I hated those guys, dude. I was I don't know, dude. I gotta go get another like they have their own guns. Like, why do they need us to take them, man? Like, but you know, that was whatever, that's part of the job. Um, but yeah, just night and day doing a lot of um EOD stuff, a lot of IED stuff. And I remember um hearing a lot about um Fallujah kind of starting to pick up. I I don't know, I don't remember exactly when they killed those those contractors, but I think you guys mentioned here it was like very early early April, maybe the the second March 30th. Is that right? March 31st. Uh okay, March 31st. And I kind of remember being like, Man, I want I wanted to get in some some fights. I was like, man, I wish I wish we were in fully should be good. Um if I have to see Eod one more time, I'll let her freaking scream. Uh and uh and then you know, um, you know, there was there started to be a little bit more kinetic uh gun fights. Um and you know the the the night that uh that that Morris was killed, you know, really the kind of hit home where it's like, oh no, like no, there's that that's out there. The that threats out there. Definitely be careful what you wish for, you know. And um, and then it was a couple nights later that um our platoon

Morris Lost And Farhan Brothers Raid

SPEAKER_00 36:30

went and did a raid on the the Farhan brothers, um, which thank you guys for telling me what their name was.

SPEAKER_02 36:38

It was uh a little tighter timeline than that, even. So I mean, as far as Morris, Morris was wounded on the fourth, died on the morning of the fifth, and the next morning uh we went back out on the fifth, but on the next morning of the sixth was when you guys went and did the cordon and knock for the Farhan brothers. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:57

That that was yeah, that was early an early morning raid. And we I think we were on either night task. We we had to have been on either night taskable or night QRF um in the rotation, and that's why we we were tasked with that mission. I remember that we had done other cordon and knocks before on other um targets, high-value dudes or whatever. Um so it wasn't like a new thing, it was already kind of routine to us. I remember kind of for the the the mission kind of briefing for that, like being told that like this guy, this guy, these these guys we're going after are a lot higher than these other um, you know, lit little fish we've been we've been going after. These guys are are are the real deal. And I remember I remember that raid. If I if I remember correctly, we we chained a we put a chain on a Humvee and the other end, put the other end of it on a on a front door and pulled it, like pulled the the front door off this this house. Nice. We did that a lot. Maybe I'm confusing that with this mission, but I'm pretty sure we had to like pull down a gate and then and then make entry that way.

SPEAKER_02 38:11

Nice. That's the smart that's the smart way to do it. Every other platoon just drove the Humvee through the gate and destroyed the Humvee. Yeah. So you guys were the smart platoon, apparently.

SPEAKER_00 38:22

Yeah, yeah. That's uh, you know, Lieutenant Crawford uh aeronautical engineer. Uh huh. You know, that's that's what you get. So um and that that raid, um I I remember that raid took a little while because we had trouble figuring out, I think we had trouble like positive IDing them. And they the the occupants of that house um were claiming that they were obviously they were bullshitting and saying that they were some some somebody else. And it I I I know I say this every top every two minutes, but like if I remember correctly, it was on that mission that one of our terps was like um pulled one up, pulled Lieutenant Crawford aside, or or Sergeant Drake or somebody, and he was like, they're speaking with a dialect of that's different from who they say they are and where they say they're from. Like they they are speaking like in a dialect that the Far Hang brothers would be using. Like there was some mission where they like the terp was act actually came through and was like that no though their their dialect doesn't make sense, it doesn't jive um with who they are, and that's how we were able to like be like, oh no, that you guys are the Far Hang Brothers, and you're you're um you're you're trying to BS us right now. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:49

That's a that's an interesting tidbit. I don't I don't know that anybody else has told, at least not me that story. That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

I hope that that was the mission that I was thinking of. I'm I'm like really sure because I I remember when when after we wrapped that up and we took those guys to wherever we ended up taking them, um, we went back home, got in the rack, and then a couple hours later was uh April 6th, you know, they're like, get up, get out of the rack right now. It's going down. And I remember thinking, like, that's uh that has to be because these guys we picked up last night, like they were they were a big deal, and now you know we kicked the hornets' nest. And um, yeah, I guess I guess that's what happened. And and so yeah, morning of April 6th. Uh yeah, they get us out of the rack and we're like, what the hell? We're on night missions, what is this? And they're like, no, there's like it's it's there's there's action all over the city, there's there's firefights going on like in on multiple different places. Get up, get, get kitted up, fire up the trucks and get down to the to the condition one lot. And I don't remember if

April 6 Waiting On QRF Orders

SPEAKER_00 41:05

we went condition one, I don't think we did, but but we we lined up on that main road that went like from all all like the line of hooches, like in front of the hooches down to the front, uh the front, you know, entrance to the to Hurricane Point. And we flipped on the radio and we could hear so Lieutenant Crawford was our platoon commander, and I was in his truck, I was in the back seat, and he was a radio fanatic. He had a he had his PRC 119 up front, which which was like had all the like because you because we were you know weapons company, we were QRF for all the other the rest of the city, that whole AO. We were QRF, so we were monitoring always Fox, Echo, and Golf uh company um channels or whatever. And so we were like flipping between like the um the channels, and we could hear like you know, people in golf, guys in golf, like giving these uh situation reports, and then flip the next channel, and you can hear a squad from Echoes, like, you know, um in the action, they're they're they're they're talking about what's what's going on. And um, I had that like I also have like my personal radio. Um forward like made me take uh because he he loved having like situational awareness, right? There was no Google Maps, so you had a radio, um, and he had two. Um so I had that I had the other one in the back, the little mini PRC 119, the the the Fox thread that you that you mentioned, Monster. And uh yeah, I mean it was it was me, um Lieutenant Crawford, uh Hess, who you guys also had on the show, Peterson was in the gun, um, and then uh Doc Cornwell. So us five were in in that lead vehicle from from map two, uh the the first out of out of six Humpings. And uh yeah, we were just listening to that like and we were just like stopped there ready to punch out and and go wherever they needed us to go fight. And um and they just never like they like never gave us the word. I remember Lieutenant Crawford left at some point, he went to the to the company CP. He was gone forever. You see, like, I think it was map two fly fly up to the like condition one lap, go condition one, I'll kid it up, you know, ready to go. And they just guys like uh, you know, just took off out the front out the front door, and we're like, what the hell? We're here, we're ready, like we're we're ready to go now. Um you know, and uh yeah, we just spent like at least a few hours to just listen to the radio and listen to like the desperation. I remember hearing on the radio that this. Woodall from Echo Company had been missing. Like he was like, um, like he he had been separated from his platoon or something in a in a in a really, really bad gunfight, and he was like unaccounted for. Like, and we're we're just on the radio like hearing this and we're like, what like what are we waiting for, man? Because we like we all just wanted to fight so bad. And it just never came. And that really like all of April 6th, like, yeah, like we we didn't uh we didn't go out the whole day. We we went out that night because again, again, I mean, like, I mean, we were on night night missions. That was our role in the rotation. And so at night, we went out to gypsum and nova uh with EOD, and there was just of course there's ordnance everywhere, like there was RPGs lying around everywhere. And um, I don't know if there's also like IEDs or whatever, but like we spent like a good part of that night um you know, out there with EOD, like clearing all this like unexploded ordnance. Um, but you know, but at at the night, at night the the shooting, you know, was pretty much was pretty much over. And um, yeah, I think that's that that'll that'll always be like kind of a bitter feeling, even though it wasn't any fault of our own, like as a platoon, like that was just our role in the grand scheme of things. And um, but it's it sucked. I mean, yeah, we we that that day we really we really felt uh we really felt bad just just that that the bad luck of not getting to go out that day. But um, yeah, and then you know, again, uh April 7th, we did go out. Um, we were kind of on the periphery of combat action with with golf company. Um I remember that the the morning of the seventh we went out and and we were like, okay, this is it. Now today we're gonna get some. And I remember going out to some location, and my my like my memory of the layout of that city is not good. I just I remember going out somewhere in in golf's AO

April 7 Bodies And Taxi Ambush

SPEAKER_00 46:20

um to meet up with a unit from from golf company that was engaged in it on the way there, driving down the street, and the streets are empty, there's no civilians out at all. But I just in the middle of the road was one like Iraqi dude like lying on his back with just like the top half of his head gone, and there was just blood all over the place. That was the first time I ever saw like a dead body in my life, and I was like, oh wow. Um, and you could hear the gunfire like cracking off. We we get to this unit from from golf somewhere in there, AO. But I like the firefight was pretty much over at that point. I remember like dismounting and holding a um holding security on on a road and um and not seeing a whole lot to do that. I could again, I could I could hear it, I could hear gunshots everywhere, like blocks away, like bouncing. I could hear the this the echo of them. And but I was holding uh security on this empty street, this like long empty street was like in front of me, um, and like you know, buildings on either side of it and stuff. And we were there for like maybe maybe half an hour if I from from what I remember, nothing, nothing happening, no targets. Um, and so and then at some point Lieutenant Crawford was like, all right, hey, we're mounting up, we're going somewhere else. Um and so I I I get up from my knee and I go back to the Humvee, and and some somebody from another unit, I don't know what platoon or even what company, other Marines came and took a position like where I was on that street. And as I'm kind of jogging to the Humvee, like I hear gunfire behind me, and I look around and like there's a taxi like flying at these Marines who just took my spot, and they're all riding this taxi up. And I'm like, dude, I just wanted to like shoot somebody today, man. Like, is that is that wrong? What's wrong, man? I gotta do and kill somebody today, dude.

SPEAKER_02 48:28

Um, but yeah, uh the the other name for this podcast is called uh marine psychosis. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:41

Yes, we're we're we're an unwell breed. Uh yeah, no, you I mean you I mean where else are you gonna get to do that? You know uh very true. It's very true.

SPEAKER_03 48:53

Yeah, like striking out at the bar, you know?

SPEAKER_00 48:56

Like all I'm gonna do is get laid, man. I just want to get my rocks off, right? Yes, yeah. Oh yeah, you're like, man, that one lined up and weapon became swinging a miss. Um but yeah, that that was April 7th, man. Like um that it's that's all I remember from April 7th, just being so close you could like you you could feel it, but not getting into, you know, I I when I saw that taxi, I kind of was like, man, should I shoot like just one round? Just so I can say I'm like there's Marines like in the way. I I was gonna like, you know, do something that reckless at that at that moment. But um, you know, I um that was the seventh, eighth, and ninth. We went out, did the butt hunt stuff that you know you guys have talked about here. Um nothing happened. I remember the I remember of of course, like the you know, the the the the knee taking the the the

Bug Hunts Loudspeakers And Insults

SPEAKER_00 50:00

security um stuff, you know, um in in the in the supreme heat of of uh you know Ramadian summer. And I remember the the loudspeakers and the the sh the shit talking um you know from from coming, I think coming from the mosques, and then also maybe I think some of our our guys were yelling to them to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_02 50:23

Yeah, so we we had the two army, I don't remember the exact name of the vehicles, but basically they were just Humvees with giant speakers on top of them. And it was one of the interpreters who was saying multiple things, and and I don't know if you had an interpreter with you, but we had somebody, somebody who spoke Arabic with us who was like, Oh no, they're saying they're calling them cowards, calling them out to the street, you're not man enough to fight us. Uh just you know, all sorts of things. You're dogs, like multiple insults. And then also at one point, Captain Wyler taking the mic and yelling over the mic, you guys are a bunch of cowards, we'll fuck you up. Like all kinds, I don't know. I don't remember what he said, but I remember him yelling. I remember his voice specifically that's like, oh god, well, all right, that's a thing.

SPEAKER_00 51:06

So that's great. Oh man, yeah, what a what a great, what a great officer, what a great leader. I I love it. Um, you know, like that kind of like rage and like um it's the university, you don't need to speak Arabic to like, you know, for them to know what you watch. Very true. Yeah. So um, you know, and then uh so so eight eight and nine, not much happens with us, although, you know, sadly, uh, I I think it was an engineer uh attached to us was uh was killed on the ninth by an R ID, I think, at Gyps and Minova. Um and then April 10th, uh County is that Operation County Fair?

SPEAKER_02 51:48

So County Fair was the 8th, and the first bug hunt was the 10th. It's the other way around. But that's that's I got them mixed. They look the same. It was a giant coordinate search.

SPEAKER_00 51:58

Yeah, dude. When you're at E2 in the Marine Corps, you're just like, I don't know anything, uh, except what I'm told to know. Um, so yeah, that day again, uh we're on the periphery of the real fighting. Um we are we were in Echo's AO. We we were doing the cordon, we're we had a cordon, we had some kind of um, you know, field of fire, some kind of like uh position that we were securing for you know in support of a larger operation with with Echo. And a unit from Echo, real close to us, got engaged. Um, I remember um you know, here hearing again, hearing tons of gunshots. This is in the Sofia district, so this is this isn't like as much as like densely populated, like um, this is kind of a little bit more agricultural, like open fields and stuff, but you can hear gunshots going down um within like a kilometer of us, I guess. But um again, nothing direct. I didn't take any kind of incoming fire that day. Um, I uh you know, want of course I wanted to. I wanted to go out rounds off and but uh yeah, I not there was nothing. I I do remember like um being out in like uh holding a security position like across a field. There was like a field and maybe a couple of farmhouses way off in the distance. And um I was in front of I was taking a position in in front of like a an agricultural like drainage ditch in front of a um in front of a big open field, and behind me was a Humvee uh and the gunner of the Humvee was Harrison. Um and he was on a 50 cal. And there was nothing going on that I could see at all, but I do remember all of a sudden this like concussion of like like pressure he like hitting my body in this in this this like crazy, like loud booming noise. And I was like, oh like what what is that? Like um, I thought we were getting mortared or something out of nowhere, and it was Harrison like just going to town on this 50 caliber for and I was like, Harrison, what are you shooting at? And like he's like, Oh, I think I saw like a something. I don't know, I was like, there's I don't I didn't see it, but like um I didn't see anything, but it scared the crap out of me that um that that that part man, if you're like right under a 50 caliber off, like yeah, that'll that'll that'll wake you up. I remember um this is all like all of that deployment is like memory soup for me now. Like I'm I'm pretty sharp up here, but like going back that far in my life, like it's it's a lot of yeah, a lot of just mixed, like kind of like almost like photographic images. So a lot of this stuff I'm I'm trying to piece together, but I do remember at some point watching you know Cobra attack helicopters flying around overhead wherever those wherever those echo company guys were, you and they were just unloading um like rockets and machine guns. I remember seeing them. It was quite the show. Um, they were they were just going to town on wherever these insurgents were. And uh, and when when when we were our little operation was all finished and we were like going, we were going somewhere, not back home, but we were going out somewhere else in the Safia district um to to kind of like I think mop up and clean cleaned up some kind of operations in the early afternoon. I remember seeing like um like truckloads of like highback humbies full of like dead Iraqis that were probably looked like the they had been hit by some pretty big ordinance. They were all like blasted apart and like burnt and like uh they didn't even look like freaking human beings anymore. Um like highbacks full of them. Um and because I yeah, we had to like collect up the search less stuff.

SPEAKER_02 56:04

That was the early uh our early um well, we did that until I don't know, summer, middle of summer, some point. We because I remember this is fast forwarding slightly, but I remember a different mission mid-summer where you guys had like several dead bodies on the hoods of Humvees, like driving them to checkpoints. And I was like, why are we doing this? This makes literally no sense. I don't know. Anyway, yeah, that's a very vivid memory for me, too. Just the giant stacks of dead bodies and being like, Okay, this is I don't know what we're doing with this, but this is hundreds of people and pieces of people.

SPEAKER_00 56:38

Pieces, yeah. Like, um, and the the this I'll get to that that story about the uh the dead Iraqi on the on the hood. Yeah, like I mean, like it looks like a dead deer that you had hunted, and like you know, it's how is that any more respectful than just leaving it in the street? I don't know, yeah. Certainly not tactically sound uh to be doing that, but it um yeah, it was what it was, and then so you know that that week in April came and went. Um and then things kind of went back to I think more of like the the whole I ID uh and mortars. Uh mortars, as you guys well remember, like were such an integral part of that uh deployment. I I remember um you know the the the I called it like the Iraqi alarm clock. Like every morning, almost every morning, like yeah, I remember waking up and hearing like

Mortars Strike Hurricane Point Hooches

SPEAKER_00 57:36

out, but it was it was like you know, Hurricane Point was so big, and like behind the hooches, there was like a ton of sand and like empty space, and then the Euphrates River, and they were always hitting like out in the Euphrates River for the most part. Um I mean, so this this is all through the deployment you got the mortars, and then there were a couple of times when they they must have had some kind of spotter or something in the in inside our inside our base because there was a couple of mornings where it was like you hear like the distant like when you're like uh leave me alone, I'm going uh going back to bed. And then and then they just got closer, like and I remember a couple mornings, man, there was like it sounded like they were gonna, they were like it almost sounded like they were walking them on, and like they were they came really close to like hitting the hooch a couple times. I remember like like bolting up in my bed and being like, oh shit, like and then don't diving under the rack, you know, thinking like as if that's gonna like you know help or anything. Um and like I know one one mortar round hit like right outside our hooch, and our hooch had like little shrapnel holes all all through the wall. I think I think Matt Jacks had been out there on post, like, because it it happened where and if I it happened like in the in the front yard, yeah, like the front yard of the hooch where we would keep the the Humvees, like all six of them like like lined up, ready to go, and he'd keep a firewatch out there just because it's the Marine Corps. And he was out there and it was like he had just come inside to like um get his relief on firewatch, and that that like order round landed out there and like put a bunch of shrapnel holes in the wall, took out I think it took out the tires on a couple of our hummies as well.

SPEAKER_02 59:22

I was gonna say, to my memory, your hooch got mortared three times, and it there was three the scars on the front were the worst one, but you got hit in the back twice that I can remember.

SPEAKER_00 59:32

Yeah, there was a couple in the back as well. And I remember hearing them like um they would make that sound, that like that like whistling noise, like um, like in the like in the movies. I remember a couple times, like when they when they mortared us, I was on a working party out sometime in the afternoon. So I was like outside and I remember hearing that like that whistling sound coming in, like you like died and hit the ground. But you know, like for the most part, they couldn't they couldn't really do much.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:00

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