November 16, 2025 • 58 mins
We sit down with Blake Pepper, a MAP-3 machine gunner in Ramadi. LCpl Pepper was nineteen, standing behind a .50 cal in a raw highback Humvee called Old Yeller; rolling from Kuwait into Ramadi with armor they welded themselves with gunner's view, from Easy Street to the palm groves, and a VBIED that “missed” by heartbeats. Training, trust, and small-unit leadership carry the story, along with names that still matter.
• convoy north from Kuwait and early vehicle setups
• scrounging armor, welding plates, and adapting highbacks
• April 6 QRF to Easy Street and casualty runs
• Sergeant Conde wounded yet pushing to rejoin the fight
• RPG near miss, Halal and Gentile loaded into trucks
• April 7 bounding with Golf Company near the fields
• April 10 palm grove contact and Cummings wounded
• sniper hunt in the marsh and recovered rifle
• escorting General Mattis, Oliver North filming, VBIED near miss
• Library OP fight, Mark 19 suppression, and gas can detonation
• hooch life under mortars, rockets, and dark humor
• games, golf balls across the river, and unit morale
If you like what you've heard, this is a multi part episode. Make sure you listen to the rest of the story
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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.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:36):
Alright, man.
Well, tell everybody who you areand what platoon you're with.
SPEAKER_01 (00:40):
Uh my name is uh Blake Pepper.
I was with uh Mobile AssaultPlatoon uh number three.
SPEAKER_02 (00:45):
All right.
What ranks were you at when wewere over in Ramadi?
I can't remember.
SPEAKER_01 (00:48):
Uh Lance Corporal.
SPEAKER_02 (00:49):
You were a Lance, that's right.
SPEAKER_01 (00:51):
Yep.
I was uh one of the main uhmachine gunners.
Uh so I first half of the tour Iwas uh behind the 50 and then I
switched over to the Mart 19.
SPEAKER_02 (01:02):
I feel like there was a lot of that, a lot of
swapping back and forth betweenroles and everything.
Did you stay in the gun thewhole time?
SPEAKER_00 (01:08):
Yep, um the entire time.
And with the same team too, orwhen you switched guns, did you
end up getting a new team?
SPEAKER_01 (01:14):
Yeah, I was with uh Sergeant Condi was actually my
vehicle commander.
Um I was on the 50.
And then before he got blown up,I was somehow not on that gun.
I was on Mark 19 in a uh in adifferent vehicle.
So I don't know what kind of uhfate or whatever, or just swap
(01:38):
swapping right uh you knowvehicles.
Yeah, I I I feel like I probablywould have should have been in
that same vehicle that that hegot hit on.
SPEAKER_02 (01:49):
Yeah, that is unusual, but uh sometimes that
happened with us too.
We would just reshuffle and belike, all right, man, just jump
in the truck, who cares?
I imagine that's what happenedto you.
But you guys are out all nightthat night, and so you may have
just reshuffled in the morningon the way to Chow, right?
SPEAKER_01 (02:05):
Yeah, I don't know.
I just yeah, just remember uhCaptain Wyler wanted us to go on
one last uh IED patrol before wewent to before we went to
breakfast.
And that that's what it was.
But yeah, that's right.
You know, I didn't mean to getinto the heavy stuff right away,
but yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (02:24):
We just go wherever, bro.
It doesn't matter to me.
Yeah, so so you were in uhcondi's truck initially.
So who else was in that truck?
SPEAKER_01 (02:33):
Um see Ortiz, old Mexican dude was a driver.
Yeah, uh, let's see, umValenzuela, older guy.
SPEAKER_02 (02:42):
I forgot about Valenzuela.
SPEAKER_01 (02:44):
Yeah, um Corporal.
My goodness.
I'm blowing another uh Hispanicdude.
Corporal.
I think it's Vigil, yeah, Vigil.
Oh yeah, yeah, Vigil was in thattruck.
Um and then I think it mighthave been Privatar.
(03:04):
Okay.
Yeah.
Kind of goofy, goofy dude, butuh I think knacker might have
been in that vehicle too.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (03:11):
Oh, okay.
So you were in were you guys ina high pack?
That's a lot of dudes.
SPEAKER_01 (03:15):
Oh yeah, yeah.
We it it was called Old Yellerbecause it was it was yellow at
a pedestal mount, and uh yeah,and it took it actually got a
couple purple hearts too,because it took a couple of
rounds in the uh vehicle itself,too.
And somehow it kept up on it.
It didn't it missed the engineblock or something, but yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (03:38):
When did it be?
SPEAKER_01 (03:39):
I think most of the platoon oh go ahead.
SPEAKER_00 (03:42):
I was just gonna say, I think most of the
platoons had a uh had a tanvehicle that ended up becoming a
little bit more of a uh of atarget and uh yeah got blown up
several times.
SPEAKER_01 (03:55):
Yeah, it might not be true, but I think uh I don't
know if uh somebody might haveaccidentally hit it with a round
like friendly fire, but I'm notgonna name any names just for
you know may or may not may ormay not have been an officer.
I don't know.
Like I said, not naming anynames.
SPEAKER_02 (04:13):
That sounds about right.
SPEAKER_01 (04:15):
Uh but yeah, I remember like uh starting out in
Kuwait and uh like uh taking allour vehicles in that huge
convoy.
I'm sure you guys did with yourplatoon too.
Um, yeah, I was the lead vehiclewith our platoon commander,
Gunny.
I think it is Crutch Vehicle.
SPEAKER_02 (04:34):
Crutcher, yeah, Gunny Crutcher.
SPEAKER_01 (04:35):
Crutcher, yeah, I knew, yeah.
And so like I was literally likejust remember, just on the open
highway with like 100 somethingvehicles, just chilling out,
being the lead vehicle, the leadgunner.
I had like all this like openview and stuff like that.
I was like, wow, this is this isnuts.
Yeah, that wasn't a long crazydrive up.
(04:58):
Oh, yeah, it was.
My gosh, we had to we stoppedhalfway and like slept like
outside or wherever we could,and then you know, got going
again.
SPEAKER_02 (05:07):
Yeah, what was the name of that place that we
stopped?
I'm trying to remember.
SPEAKER_01 (05:11):
I have no idea.
All I know is I saw the thelights on the side of the
highway.
We pulled in room enough forlike all of our vehicles.
I don't know how, but yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (05:22):
Yeah, it was it was set up as largely a private
contractor resupply point, andthey were coming into it was a
lot of the big resupply truckswere not driven by military,
they were driven by privatecontractors, even early in the
war.
And that was their resupplypoint where they stopped to get
gas and food and all that.
And so I I don't remember thename of that place, but it that
(05:44):
was what that place was, andthat was why they were so I
don't know if you remember themat all, but they're all super
friendly.
They came out and like broughtus all like like random pastries
and shit.
Like they were just super nicepeople, and trying to be like,
hey, you guys are going to warhere, take some pastries and lay
it.
Yeah, yeah, it was awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (06:02):
Probably they're used to the the guys that came
through the year before.
SPEAKER_02 (06:07):
Yeah.
All right, so you drove up withGunny Crutcher and then and then
we got to Ramadi, obviously.
And then did you immediately uhyou just stayed with the high
back the whole time, or did youget reshuffled around a bit?
SPEAKER_01 (06:19):
Yeah, no, I stayed with that high back, and then
they finally gave us, you know,we're uh what was it probably
like May or so?
Um that they we started uh likewelding the the armor the the
plates to make it a little bithigher.
IG armor, yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (06:38):
Um so when you initially took the highback up,
you didn't have any armor plateson the side?
SPEAKER_01 (06:44):
No, not at all.
SPEAKER_02 (06:45):
You guys were driving with a with a raw
highback.
There was a few of those thatwere just raw highbacks.
Did you guys not have those?
So we had armor plates.
We had gotten a set of plates inKuwait, and there was there were
two different working partiesthat happened.
One in Kuwait where we bolted onsome armor that we got from the
National Guard.
And that was where we got theplates for our high back that uh
(07:07):
that we took.
And then there was the secondworking party.
I I don't remember when it was.
April, May, whatever it was, andwe went and uh a whole big group
of us, like 15 people, went overto Junction City and Gutty
Maraki traded some MREs for aplasma cutter and a welder, and
we welded all that shit on.
SPEAKER_01 (07:26):
I I do remember staying one night at yeah at a
welding shop, but I don'tremember if that was beforehand.
Yeah, maybe we did along therailings.
That might have been it alongthe railings, and then like
later on after all all the IEDsand stuff, uh, we took a bunch
(07:46):
of casualties after the 6thApril, and then even maybe
before uh Savage got hit.
I don't know if we startedwelding even higher like pieces.
SPEAKER_03 (07:57):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (07:58):
I don't we we had started uh the the company.
I don't know about you, so Iwon't speak for for you guys,
but I know we had startedputting on armor in April
because it was a c it was acouple weeks before Savage got
hit.
SPEAKER_01 (08:16):
Yeah, I couldn't remember if I I'd have to even
look back at my photos to maybeeven like compare.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (08:22):
Well, so I have a picture of your high back uh
with Latham, Muniz, Cox, andMackenzie standing out in front
of it, and there is no armor onit.
And so I didn't really thinkabout that, but now that you say
it, like there it's like there'ssomebody in the back that's
pulling like a pack off of thethe truck, and it has no armor
(08:43):
on it.
It's just the stake bed.
And so that's that's prettyfucking crazy, actually,
considering what we ran upagainst.
SPEAKER_00 (08:50):
Yeah, no kidding.
And well, and I I found oh goahead.
No, you're good.
You're a man.
I was just gonna say that uh Ihad found a letter that I had
written home recently andactually talking about this
armor.
There was a there was a dump offdepot at Camp Victory that
people that were convoying backdown would dump their gear.
(09:11):
And uh for much I I was talkingto a guy at the Chaw Hall
apparently, and it would haveand he said that the rest of
their convoy was gonna come inat like either like 2100 or
2200, and they were gonna goimmediately to the dump off.
And so Aponte and I like hit hitoff into the back until they
(09:31):
rolled in, dumped all theirgear, and then drove up with the
truck and like was able to grablike a ton of armor and brought
it back.
Otherwise, we would have drovenup with almost nothing.
Yeah, yeah.
Like we were able to grab likesomething like I think it's like
nine new tires and a bunch ofarmor, and it's wild to think
about us driving like leavingthe as we did with as little
(09:54):
gear as we did.
SPEAKER_01 (09:55):
Yeah, yeah.
And I wish I would have takenmore photos during that like
that crazy week in April, um,just for like you know,
historical, but like I felt likeI that wasn't the right time.
Like, there's so I I stillremember a lot of things I could
have taken pictures of.
Like Did you have a camera?
Yeah, I had a camera.
Like, I I got a bunch of the Idon't I don't know if you have
(10:19):
you seen the photo of uhSergeant Condy and like our
platoon.
We were at the government centerthat I took.
Um they're holding up like IEDsand stuff, they're all like
smiling, and I was like, Hey,it's the IED.
Well, I haven't been there and Iwanted to go, but in in
Quantico, there's a buildingcalled Condi Hall.
(10:40):
Uh and his dad like told meabout it.
Well, yeah, that picture is isin like with a bunch of his
other stuff.
SPEAKER_03 (10:48):
That's cool.
SPEAKER_01 (10:49):
I'm like, holy cow, like I realized I I took that
photo, but it was kind of weirdand ironic that we took that
photo, and you know, sure, sure.
That's what that's what getsthem.
But um, yeah, just and thenanother thing, like like I said,
like I kind of wish I had I tookmore pictures because then maybe
I could have like, you know, Ican still remember it, but maybe
(11:11):
you know, later on the road downif we don't remember stuff, you
know.
But I still got a lot of photos.
But like after we we were takingall the brass out, like I I
could have taken a picture ofhow much how many like spent
rounds of 50 cal and ammo boxesin the back of my OV.
(11:32):
I'm like, oh my, like that wouldhave been nuts.
I just remember like cleaningthat up with a couple of the
guys and like how bad that hurtmy ears.
Like it was so bad.
Like just the the ringing andthe tinging.
Oh man, I can I can still tothis day like just think how
piercing that felt.
(11:52):
That that really sucked.
But uh, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02 (11:56):
Yeah, you guys were very busy, obviously.
Uh the first battle of Ramadi,April 6th and 7th, and 10th,
were what that was the mainthree days.
Some things happened on the 8thand 9th, but not much.
SPEAKER_03 (12:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (12:09):
Uh, you want to talk a little about the April 6th?
SPEAKER_01 (12:12):
Yeah, man, we can get into it.
Um yeah, you I can kind of tellyou like where I kind of like
from map three's perspective.
SPEAKER_02 (12:21):
I'd love to hear your perspective.
The uh the official account,golf company went out midday and
got ambushed off of easy streetin the south side of the city.
And uh golf sent out a QRF oftheir own, but they got ambushed
on the way to reinforce and itdid not work out.
And so you guys were the nextout of the gate.
(12:43):
And you ended up uh not quitemaking it all the way to golf
before you were ambushed.
And then the rest is that's thethat's my stage setting for you.
Everything else is all right.
SPEAKER_01 (12:55):
Here it goes.
Um, so I kind of was playingthrough this in my head earlier
just so I can like maybe try toremember some like the points.
So obviously from myperspective, like I didn't I
couldn't see like every singlelike you know part of my uh
platoon at certain points downthat down the street.
SPEAKER_02 (13:13):
But yeah, there's no way.
SPEAKER_01 (13:14):
Yeah, like we our platoon was QRF that day, and
yeah, we got the call that uhgolf was was in contact, so we
we immediately booked it out.
And uh don't remember whatstreet we are on, but we went
and picked up uh Lance CorporalLetterman, who had got shot 76-2
(13:37):
right to the gut.
Um he actually that uh later onuh I had his uh his flak jacket
with the two uh magazines thathad like the round went through
both magazines.
SPEAKER_03 (13:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (13:50):
And just seeing that was just like you know crazy
after all that.
But um, so we picked him up.
We were kind of like in astaging point uh at like a T
intersection.
My vehicle was like not all theway up to that that
intersection.
SPEAKER_03 (14:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (14:07):
Um, but then I was just manning the gun, everybody
was dismounted.
We started taking some somerounds.
They're just kind of you knowpop shots coming down the um the
road.
And so I went and uh talked tobe like, hey, it was Sergeant
Lachard.
Uh he was my uh section leader,yeah.
(14:27):
Um like strong, tiny, shortlittle, strong little uh black
French guy.
He he was wild.
And so I'm like, hey Sarge, likethey're shooting at us.
What you know what what do youwant me to do?
He was like, well, shoot back.
All right.
I cracked, I cranked that 50back and I just let a few birds,
(14:52):
let a couple of burst down, andlike a couple other guys that
were up there, you know, took acouple shots too.
And uh that was my first, likethe feeling of that was just
like I wasn't nervous, I wasn'tscared.
I had the butter, I hadbutterflies in my stomach
because I was so excited.
And I sometimes I tell I toldlike some regular people that
(15:15):
they're like, Are you insane?
I was like, No, we were justtrained.
That's that's how good ourtraining was.
Like, I wasn't scared.
I knew the guys right next to mewould do the same thing.
Yeah, so they had my back.
So we got uh they actuallyloaded up uh Letterman in my
vehicle.
Uh so he's just laying, layingright there.
(15:36):
I don't know what kind of aidthat he got.
They bandaged him up.
Um, he was still conscious.
He was conscious for themajority of the time.
Yeah, he didn't he never lostlost conscious.
Um so then we we uh loaded up,and that's I think that's when
we got the call about the otherum golf platoon in contact down
(15:58):
easy street.
And uh I'm glad you actuallysaid that because I was trying
to remember the name of thatstreet, but because I know it
was off Route Michigan just pastthe Saddam Mosque.
So yeah, we rolled down EasyStreet.
We're going pretty kind of slowbecause we were like trying to
look out for, you know, tryingto find the guys.
All of a sudden, about halfwaygoing down that road, there's
(16:21):
like a little median, probably Idon't know, a couple feet wide.
Um, all of a sudden, from theother side of the road, out pops
this like I guess you want tocall him Iraqi dude had had an
AK, swung around, he was aimingit right at me, and he was he
was shooting.
But the dude's like he sucked,obviously, because he was
(16:42):
hitting the median, like all ofhis rounds were hitting like
halfway across the road.
I'm like, so like it was likenot even a split second.
I told uh two guys that weresitting off to my left.
I'm like, all right, get down,duck.
It's like because I'll startswinging that 50 cal barrel over
to the left.
Yeah, so our convoy stops aboutthat same time.
(17:04):
So we had about three or fourheavy guns literally aimed right
at this one guy, and so westarted engaging, and then all
of a sudden, I see like I thinkone or two vehicles behind me.
Uh Lance Corporal uh MatthewBrown, uh uh rest his soul.
Dude hits hits the guy right inthe chest with the Martin 19
(17:25):
round.
And I'm like, man, that was myguy.
I was like, he shot at me first,but I'm just glad we we just
blew that sucker away.
It was and I don't know if therewas any more that came out at
the same time as him, but that'sall I remember seeing is just
one guy with an AK.
Like so I don't know if he waslike the initial start of the
(17:48):
their little the uh their littleambush.
Yeah, so we blew him away andthen we just kind of kept
rolling.
SPEAKER_02 (17:57):
Probably never wonder what you have to wonder
what he was thinking.
If he told his buddies, like,I'm gonna go out there and
shoot, you guys follow me, andnobody followed him.
SPEAKER_01 (18:04):
Yeah, he just got stranded.
Unless there might have been,but like from my vision, like
that tunnel vision, that's theonly guy you can see, yeah.
Yeah.
Um, because I was just sobaffled that the dude sucked
that bad at like shooting.
I was like, he must, yeah.
But anyway, uh so then we wecontinued on and we got to like
(18:25):
the end of that street.
I don't I don't remember whatthe name of like the next street
is, but before we got there,there was a couple of um uh
almost like half-length likepalm trees like blocking the
road.
SPEAKER_02 (18:38):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (18:39):
So right then and there we knew there was
something up.
So like that was them likesetting up their little ambush
for whoever.
I believe we we uh we got to theend and I think we started
taking more contact.
Um so then I think we startedmoving back down that road where
we came from.
And then at that point, I thinkuh at uh golf company finally
(19:03):
from the side of the road we areon, uh finally like look linked
up with us.
And um that's when this is kindof where it gets like kind of
cloudy because of like stuff washappening so much, like so
quick, and it's like there wasjust stuff happening everywhere.
SPEAKER_02 (19:20):
True definition of the fog of war, man.
SPEAKER_01 (19:22):
Yeah, uh yeah.
I do remember like for a littlebit before I think we moved
down, my vehicle was the farvehicle like holding security
down.
And I remember like roundscoming down the road, like
pinging almost like ricochetingoff the road.
And the only thing I kind ofdid, I was standing up tall in
the gun.
All I kind of did was like kindof shrug my shoulders like down
(19:44):
just a little bit.
Yeah, just so I didn't, youknow, maybe in case a round
started coming up, I didn'treally yeah, a little smaller
target.
Yeah, just a little bit.
That was probably the only timeI in my head was like, all
right, I'm just gonna be alittle cautious.
And so so at some point we weended up back in the middle of
the of Easy Street, and then uhwe had Humvees and guns
(20:08):
basically like you know all overthe place.
So everyone dismounted, like theguys that um in our platoon that
weren't either the driver or thegunner, everybody dismounted and
uh they started like going intohouses.
This this is kind of where likemy perspective, like I don't
know exactly what happened, youknow, like uh McKenzie, uh uh
(20:30):
Condi and all like their teams,they kind of went in.
I know they engaged a fewpeople.
Um that's that's about the timewhen uh Sergeant Condi got shot
through the shoulder.
SPEAKER_03 (20:41):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (20:42):
Um during all that, my vehicle was staged kind of in
the middle.
Uh golf company brought likesome of their casualties.
Um it was uh uh PFC halal whowho had gotten shot.
I I was just standing in theHumvee when they kind of brought
him up and they they loaded himup into my Humvee.
(21:03):
So I'm still like manning thegun while he's you know, they
they got his body like sittingliterally right there next to my
feet.
And like, you know, to this dayI'm I I won't tell anybody like
what I saw.
It was just, you know, I didn'tknow who it was until I got back
to we we dropped all thecasualties off at Charlie Med.
(21:24):
And like I then I found out whoit was, and um I was like, man,
I I went to SOI with him and uhyou know had some conversations
and you know and stuff with him.
He was he was a really good guy.
Um but uh that's crazy, man.
And so so after we picked himup, the craziest thing, uh there
(21:48):
was I was just like stillmanning the gun, you know, and
trying to engage like you know,if there's any uh any enemy
coming around.
But but for the most part, I wasjust like holding security down
because I'm I'm they're bringingout more casualties, guys that
um got shot, or like one uh oneguy blocked a grenade, like
(22:09):
basically from blowing up hisface, and so he had his hand
bandaged up.
Um but before that happened, Ido remember like a loud
screeching, like a loud, butanyway, there was basically uh
an RPG like went right over myhead, and I wasn't sure how
close.
I kind of like looked, but itwas like a palm tree or
(22:33):
something, so I couldn't reallysee where it was coming from.
Yeah, I hear this loud likesound, and so I freaking like
ducked, I wasn't sure where, andthen all of a sudden it goes and
explodes, like hits a building,like right on the other side,
and I'm just like, oh crap, anduh yeah, but so for some
(22:54):
evidence later on thatdeployment, we went down easy
street.
I had to take a picture of uhthe impact site, yeah.
And I'm just and I wasn't surehow how much higher above it was
from my head, but I was like,man, I gotta get evidence of
that.
That was that was crazy.
But um, so then we loaded upsome more casualties, I think
(23:16):
from golf company.
I think I still remember theirnames.
Uh another guy named Ortiz hadhis hand bandaged up.
Let's see.
My gosh, no, I'm Jonah.
SPEAKER_02 (23:27):
The fact that you can remember their names at all
is impressive to me.
Yeah.
Were these all guys that youwent to infantry school with?
SPEAKER_01 (23:33):
No, no.
No, they just they just happenedto be loaded up in my home V.
Um, and actually uh uh Gentilly,uh guy from golf company.
Yes, um, he's the one who gotshot in the jaw.
SPEAKER_02 (23:46):
I I know him very well, yeah, and know his story
well.
SPEAKER_01 (23:50):
Well, yeah, and uh so I helped him up.
It was somebody else that kindof helped him up.
Yeah, I'm just like sitting hereseeing like dude literally like
has a hole in his jaw, and he'sjust sitting there like just
spitting blood out and stuff.
And I'm just like this the wholerest of the time we're there.
I'm just like you know, tryingto give him like words of
(24:12):
encouragement, like, hey thatman, stay with me, you know,
you're good.
Like, let's uh you know, some ofus though I I can't even really
like remember, just kind of justtrying to be positive anything
while I'm yeah, while I'msitting there behind the gun.
And uh yeah, it's just so weafter we loaded all of them up,
(24:33):
we we didn't stay long.
Thankfully, we had a couple ofuh escorts though.
SPEAKER_02 (24:38):
I was gonna I was gonna ask you and actually kind
of pin you down there for aminute.
How long do you think you wereout there while they were
loading everybody up?
Oh man, it's hard to tellbecause I know it feels like it
feels like 10 years and 10minutes at the same time.
SPEAKER_01 (24:51):
I know.
I've probably at least 30minutes.
SPEAKER_02 (24:54):
Okay.
If not that's not too bad,especially when you got somebody
bleeding.
SPEAKER_01 (24:59):
Yeah, well, and I'll like to backtrack a little bit.
I think just before they loadedthose casualties up, I this is
the one thing I remember I willnever like ever forget.
Like after um after Condi gotshot in the shoulder, Doc Dialka
was in the vehicle right infront of me, um, in the back,
(25:21):
bandaging him up.
Uh, I don't remember whoseHumvee he he was in, but it was
close enough for me to see andme to hear that he was like,
hurry up, Doc, I gotta get backout there.
And I'm like, that's that's justthe type of person that Condi
was.
Like, dude was like, I gotta getback out there.
Like, my boys need me.
And then I think there was hewas quoted saying like uh
(25:44):
something like the guy the theenemy was was laughing at him
because the they shot him.
And uh he was like, Yeah, thatthey're not gonna they're not
gonna get the better of me or orsomething to that effect.
And I'm like, yeah, that'sthat's exactly who who Condi
was.
SPEAKER_02 (25:59):
Very much a lead from the front, Sergeant, for
sure.
SPEAKER_01 (26:02):
Oh, yeah.
Like for him to take a bunch ofus, you know, boots, like and
and train us just like we we hadbeen you know with him for the
last two plus years, and likestill give us a you know a
little bit of respect, but yetyou know put us in our place.
Um, you know, that thatdefinitely uh helped out the the
(26:24):
cohesiveness of of our platoonbecause you know we didn't have
a lieutenant, you know, wedidn't have like like everybody
else.
So we were kind of like a misfitplatoon.
And uh him and like those three,you know, those three sergeants
kind of like really held ustogether.
SPEAKER_02 (26:41):
Um yeah, it was an interesting chain of command
structure that a lot and therewas you and Sledgehammer did not
have a lieutenant.
You guys had Gunny Crutcher asyour platoon commander, and you
had Staff Sergeant Rapazzo asyour platoon sergeant, and then
Sergeant Williams, SergeantCondy, and Sergeant Lasarge were
your was your chain of command.
I mean, that's those are peopleholding very high billets for
(27:03):
for the experience and ranksthat they were.
SPEAKER_01 (27:05):
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_02 (27:07):
And how many trucks were you running?
Do you remember?
Was it four or five?
SPEAKER_01 (27:09):
Um, I believe five.
Yeah, we had we had a five.
We had, I think, three fiftiesand two marks, I believe.
And so, yeah, and I'm so Iremember uh so the last guy was
uh Corporal Hayes from uh golfcompany, who I guess, yeah, he
was up.
I think he just got like shot inthe wrist or the hand or
something like that.
But anyway, the the ArmyBradleys showed up, and uh, you
(27:32):
know, I don't know thecommunication between them and
us.
It somehow they escorted uh usbecause we had five casualties
and we went all the way toCharlie Med.
But I think the rest of theplatoon and golf company like
basically finished uh thatlittle fight with shortly after
(27:55):
because they they they weren'tbehind us for too, you know, too
much too long.
And I don't I wasn't eventhinking of like, oh man, we
just left like the rest of ourplatoon behind.
I was too busy like with allthese casualties in my Humvee to
even like really think aboutthat.
SPEAKER_02 (28:11):
Right.
So the Bradleys escorted youback to uh Junction City?
SPEAKER_01 (28:16):
Yeah, mm-hmm.
Yeah, then we we got them gotthem unloaded at uh Charlie Med,
and then we pretty much just Ithink it was just myself and uh
Ortiz, like my driver, we justkind of waited around probably
not even like 30 minutes later,and everyone else showed back,
showed up there.
SPEAKER_02 (28:34):
No, it's good.
SPEAKER_01 (28:35):
And none of our guys, I mean, yeah, uh you know,
other than Connie getting shot,I don't think any of our other
guys likely had a scratch on us,which is just nuts.
SPEAKER_02 (28:45):
Yeah.
I I remember a few guys takingsome shrapnel and stuff like
that, but nothing.
I don't remember any.
They were all walking wounded,if anything.
Nobody was seriously injured.
SPEAKER_01 (28:54):
Yeah, yeah.
You know, our company, likeeverybody else, like did have
like a lot of like minorscratches and stuff like that,
but like I still don't know howlike I made it out without a
scratch, just being so exposed,like up in the turret and and
just in the high back like that,too.
SPEAKER_02 (29:12):
Especially, yeah, yeah, yeah, wide open.
And so you made it the wholedeployment without uh without
being wounded.
SPEAKER_01 (29:19):
Yep, I don't have an enemy marksmanship badge.
SPEAKER_02 (29:23):
Uh-huh.
No uh no purple heart for you.
Well, that's it's it'sinteresting who got one and how,
and a lot of people, it'srandom.
Some people got two, three, youknow, earned or earned four, and
only what got one.
And uh a lot of a lot ofinteresting stories surrounding
surrounding that as well.
(29:43):
It's it's interesting that youdid not get one as well,
especially being in the highback and being a gunner.
So then you went, you guys weredone on the sixth, you went back
to Hurricane Point afterrallying at Charlie Med, and
then what'd you do overnight?
Clean up the trucks and retool.
SPEAKER_01 (30:01):
Yeah, pretty much just refilled everything up and
then you know went back outthere.
SPEAKER_02 (30:08):
Um I was gonna say then the seventh was was just as
busy.
SPEAKER_01 (30:12):
Uh yeah.
Um, I don't remember as muchfrom the seventh, but I do
remember the biggest thing aboutthe seventh is like we went back
out and linked up with golfcompany again because they went
back out in that sameneighborhood.
SPEAKER_02 (30:26):
It was similar.
Uh You guys were a littlefurther down.
You were closer.
This, and this is from theofficial accounts.
You tell me if I'm wrong.
This is just from the official.
I wrote things down so that wayI wouldn't forget it.
Uh the seventh, the XO actuallyjoined your platoon, uh,
Lieutenant Wells, and you guysall went out.
Uh, you were the first outagain, and you guys went and
(30:47):
linked up with golf uh near thesoccer fields in the south of
the city.
The fields, not the stadium.
The stadium was further out bycombat outposts, but there was a
huge bunch of uh I don't, Idon't know, just fields by
themselves that had soccergoalposts.
SPEAKER_01 (31:02):
Yeah.
Yep.
And just like I said, it's alittle the the leading up to it,
I don't quite remember, but I doremember like the coolest part
of um I guess you want to callit cool, but uh was we actually
were able to we right thereright alongside golf company, I
(31:22):
don't remember what platoon orwhatever, but uh they were just
kind of bounding from fromstreet to street.
And the coolest thing that whatwe did on our home bees is we
were kind of like going back andforth.
One of us would like cover theroad, uh cover the street with
our gun, and then we'd almostlike the next one would cover,
(31:44):
and then we would we wouldbasically were covering the uh
the 11s as they bounded down thestreet, and just to kind of work
in like connection with them, itwas just an amazing process,
just going down this wholestreet.
And I mean, if somebody wastaking pops at us, I just it was
(32:06):
I was just just sitting up therebehind the 50 and just like
letting a burst or two down theroad and like seeing these uh
0311s, just like, oh man, getsome.
And uh, I was like, Yeah,gotcha.
SPEAKER_02 (32:20):
I think your first words are right.
That's pretty fucking cool.
Uh that that's the way vehiclecombat's supposed to be.
We didn't get to practice thatall the time.
Oftentimes you end up being amodified gun position or an O311
yourself, but that's that'spretty fucking cool.
I didn't get to experience that,so I'm jealous.
SPEAKER_01 (32:37):
Yeah, it was amazing.
Like, I just remember like meand the other gunners and the
and the drivers, we had it waslike we were such in sync that
it was almost natural.
Um, like we were the gunnerswere hollering, like, hey, I got
this one, you know, you get thenext one, or whatever the
communication was, like, yeah,it just seemed like it was just
(32:59):
like awesome.
And that's the coolest part ofabout and then I think we were
bounding going back towardscombat outpost, and then the
last thing I remember, I waslike the very last vehicle in
the convoy down Michigan.
So what I had to do, I had tolike turn my gun all the way to
the rear.
I had to sit almost like on alittle bar on the roof.
SPEAKER_02 (33:22):
I was gonna say you're sitting on the roof.
Yeah, yeah.
That's some true cowboy shit.
SPEAKER_01 (33:26):
Yeah, my roof behind me and ground.
I'm just like, I was like, yeah,hey, that was that was pretty
cool until like we all got toyeah, combat outposts, and then
I guess we chilled there for alittle bit and then went back.
But yeah, other than that, Idon't remember a whole lot about
um the seventh.
Like, that's yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (33:48):
I love that you brought up that.
Uh, I completely had forgottenabout that every once in a while
when you're in the thick of it,having like almost a telepathic
link with everybody else thatyou're fighting with.
I got to experience that uhmyself too.
Of that, and it's just one ofthe coolest experiences.
Like where you again, you're noton the comms, but you just kind
(34:10):
of almost like you know whereeverybody's at.
SPEAKER_01 (34:14):
Yeah, it was me, uh uh Lance Corporal Kelly, Brown,
uh Gordon.
And uh yeah, it wasn't I thinkthat was another one.
But uh yeah, we just crazy.
It's awesome.
SPEAKER_02 (34:29):
That's awesome.
Now, if I remember correctly,and I I could be wrong, you'll
have to remind me.
I think so.
There was a small cordon searchuh on April 8th.
It was called Operation CountyFair, is what we called it.
And I don't think your platoonwent out.
I think they actually had youguys stay back for that one.
And I think we did some outerstuff, and the 81s did the
(34:53):
actual search, and you know, wefound some weapons, we found
some guys, but not nothing.
And we found uh one of the fieldhospitals where there was lots
and lots of wounded, but outsideof that, we didn't find much
else.
And then on the 10th was thefirst big what we called a bug
hunt, and that was when uh Iknow you guys were out there for
that one because literallyeverybody in the whole battalion
(35:14):
was out for that one.
SPEAKER_01 (35:16):
Oh, yeah.
We were out by uh, I think Nova,um, I believe we remember who
was with us.
The XO might have been, I'mpretty sure he was with us too.
But um biggest thing I remembergoing out there is we were in
the palm groves.
There was this house um outthere, and all of a sudden we
(35:39):
took a couple of the RPG shots,and but they're from high up.
And yeah, they're I guess thesetwo guys were like up in the
palm trees and they just likeshot a couple RPGs down at us.
Uh I guess they didn't impactany, like they didn't hit us
directly.
Um, but then all of a sudden wedismounted, and uh I don't
(36:03):
remember what squad it was, um,but they went towards the this
house, and all of a sudden, theyfrom what I remember is they
them come back from the houseoff to my left.
I don't remember who else waswith them.
All I remember is uh seeingCummings.
Uh when Cummings uh turned andhe was running back is when um
(36:28):
all of a sudden a guy from thefar end of the house like opened
up on him and Cummins took around to the uh just under his
sappy plate on his side, like itwent actually it punctured his
lung.
SPEAKER_02 (36:41):
I remember that.
SPEAKER_01 (36:42):
Yeah, the split second, like he hit the deck.
Oh my gosh, I unloaded my entirefreaking can like in that
vicinity of that house, and Icould tell you like how fast
like I ripped that box open,threw another one in there, and
I did that.
I went through three cans ofammo of 100 rounds of 50 cal in
(37:04):
probably less than five minutes.
I probably it might have beenless than that.
Like I was just so pissed.
Like I seen him, I seen themfall, and I'm like, oh I start,
yeah, I just started laying intothat that house, and um, I don't
remember what other vehiclesbecause uh the ones that were
farther off to the left, I don'tthey couldn't engage.
(37:25):
Um, but I know it was me and atleast um Mark uh one other Mark
19 that was like shooting at thehouse.
Um so the the suppressive firethat I laid down was able to
they were able to pick them upand you know carry them to the
Humvees.
And then as soon as we loadedthem up, like we we booked it to
(37:48):
uh Charlie Med.
Well um I think it was DocDialko.
Yeah, yeah, it was because hemade a comment uh about Cummins,
I guess, when he was likepatching them up.
He was like, Oh god, man, youstink.
I don't know whether like thethe sweat or whatever, but like
that's all I can remember himsaying, like in a joking like
(38:09):
manner.
I'm like, dude, like to becauseI wasn't in the vehicle, he
didn't he didn't put Cummins inlike my vehicle, but uh yeah,
back at Charlie Med.
He was like, Man, dude, stunk.
SPEAKER_02 (38:20):
But yeah, he had been fighting for three or four
days straight, so you know,yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (38:27):
Washing machines wasn't exactly uh, you know,
priority that week.
So from what I remember, webrought him to Charlie Med.
I think they airlifted himbecause they sent him, he went,
he was gone for about a month.
SPEAKER_02 (38:41):
That's what I remember.
I remember him being gone for amonth.
SPEAKER_01 (38:44):
Yeah, he was gone for a month, so they had to have
airlifted him to like Baghdad orsomething.
I don't know.
That's the only thing about likebeing like a lowly little Lance
Corporal.
I didn't get to I wasn't privyto like all the you know the
communication and all that typeof stuff that that I it would
have been kind of neat to likethat'd be that would be the kind
(39:04):
of reunion that I would like tohave is with like if most of
like the higher ups there, weall kind of like get together
and like I don't know, justknowing all that type of
information would be kind ofneat.
SPEAKER_02 (39:15):
But if if we're lucky, that's the hope is that
some of those guys will come onthis and tell that side of it.
I mean, I can tell you from asergeant's perspective, and I
was often in the battalionheadquarters and interfacing
with the intel people and stufflike that, but I can't tell you
their level, I can't tell you acaptain's level or a major's
level of of what was actuallygoing on.
(39:37):
I don't know.
But that's actually a a reallygood point in that you never had
access to a radio.
Uh, so you probably didn't hearall the things that were being
called in, like the army showedup.
You don't know how they showedup, right?
You linked up with golf company.
I don't know how we linked upwith golf company, but we did.
SPEAKER_01 (39:55):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (39:55):
Did did it seem disorienting, or did you just
focus on your mission as agunner?
SPEAKER_01 (40:00):
Yeah, I I think for the most part, I think that's
all I could focus on was my jobin my sector of, you know, just
what I can control.
We were fully trained, but I wasstill only 19 years old.
I didn't, you know, that's all Ithat's all I knew.
And so just based on instincts,the past couple days, that
(40:21):
definitely hardened us and likegot our minds and our you know,
our thought process likechanged, obviously.
And so I think we were moreaware like after that first that
first contact, like our headswere definitely on more of a
swivel for sure.
SPEAKER_02 (40:38):
Yeah, every day you went out after that, I'm sure
you prepared for those same kindof fights, whether that was what
you did or not.
SPEAKER_00 (40:44):
Yeah, for sure.
But any other uh uh I mean we'vetalked about the the big ones of
the uh early April, but do anyof the other missions stick out
to you that you were a part of?
Any of the other bug hunts orany of the hits that we did or
um yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (41:01):
We were farther down in the palm groves on the
outskirts of town, like way pastcombat outpost, okay.
When they had the the cobrasshowed up.
SPEAKER_03 (41:12):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (41:13):
And I think we had some vehicles that like actually
got stuck out there.
SPEAKER_02 (41:17):
Was it the only actual time that we had close
air support with Cobras was onApril 10th.
SPEAKER_00 (41:22):
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (41:22):
Uh the only other time that air support was called
in and tried to arrive was farlater, and you wouldn't have
seen them because the pilot gotshot by small arms fire and they
returned to Taco.
Yeah, they they never made it.
Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (41:36):
So okay, so then when Cummins got hit, like I'm
that might have been at the tailend of all that.
I I I'm hoping that that was thesame day.
SPEAKER_02 (41:44):
It's all good, man.
Still the story was correct,whether you got the day right or
not.
SPEAKER_01 (41:48):
Yeah, yeah, definitely a story, but like,
because I'm thinking now is whenwe are, I don't know if it was
Echo Company we went to go help,but we were way out like in this
the marsh field, like in betweenthe palm groves.
And I I remember, oh my gosh, Iremember uh first Sergeant Mac
was out there with a freakingshotgun.
And uh man, uh we at some pointwe were like coming back, and
(42:13):
all of a sudden, like somehow inthis tall brush, there was like
a sniper.
The only reason I know thatbecause um there was a couple of
impact rounds like on the sideof my Hum V, almost almost kind
of where I'm like was would havebeen standing behind the gun.
And also there was a uh impactround near the on the driver's
(42:33):
door.
So like the dude was like withinrange, and so we kind of um I
think it was me and two othervehicles, we were coming back
when we we had this sniper waslike shooting at us.
I just remember we kind ofturned our guns to this open
field and we weren't quite surewhat where it was at, but we
started shooting that direction,and then I think once there was
(42:56):
no more rounds, like we weren'tgetting any contact, we went
that direction with the Humvees,you know, some on foot, and then
we eventually found the the dudeand we got his sniper rifle.
I have a picture of me holdingthat sniper rifle up.
Wow.
Um, and so that was that waspretty cool too.
And in the middle, like I said,we're in the middle of us like
(43:17):
patrolling, somehow firstsergeant Mac was like by a tree.
I remember him, like we weredriving kind of slowly driving
past him.
He's sitting there with hisshotgun.
I'm like, what's up, firstsergeant?
Yeah, I was like, this dude'sbadass, like just out there, you
know.
Well, that was yeah, that waspretty neat seeing him out there
(43:37):
and pretty sure Gunny Maroc was.
I don't know how likeheadquarters, like their platoon
or whatever was out there withus.
Yeah, maybe maybe they're likealong with uh Captain Wiler.
SPEAKER_02 (43:49):
They randomly attached out and usually they
spread themselves out, theyusually didn't all stay in one
big cluster.
So, like uh the CO would be withone platoon, the XO with a
different platoon, and and kindof doing different things, or if
all of them were out, and oftenit wasn't even all of them are
out, they all had differentdifferent roles and jobs.
But yeah, uh on the sixth, theseventh, the tenth, especially,
(44:11):
and all the other big ops, theyall went out with different
platoons.
SPEAKER_01 (44:15):
Yeah, just that's why that's the only thing I
couldn't remember if thathappened before we were coming
back down route Nova, or if thatwould have been like the certain
day.
I'd have to, you know, I'd haveto maybe talk to some of the
other guys that would sure.
SPEAKER_02 (44:31):
If you remember cobras, again, the only time we
had cobras on station was the10th.
SPEAKER_01 (44:34):
Oh, I remember being I remember like watching the
cobras and hearing them, and Iwas like, Yeah, get some because
they were like, Yeah, was thatwas cool.
SPEAKER_02 (44:43):
Yeah, what was interesting is they were firing
and not firing at any actualtargets.
Uh they were hitting uh nothingon the side of the river, uh,
because they were ordered not tofire in the city.
SPEAKER_01 (44:53):
Yeah, well, still scared the crap out of the
enemy, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_02 (44:56):
Yeah, but it scared me.
SPEAKER_01 (44:58):
So yeah, I definitely like, oh I was just
glad they showed up because thatwas uh yeah, that was pretty
neat.
SPEAKER_03 (45:04):
Good job force.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (45:06):
Um uh yeah, Muster, you act asked about um some
other dates.
Um, I mean, I go into moredetail about like probably a
couple more other you remember,whatever you want to go through.
SPEAKER_00 (45:18):
Anything that pops out or you know, anything weird,
funny, strange, any ghosts.
SPEAKER_01 (45:23):
Um now the funny stuff really didn't happen until
like we were you know about toabout to leave, but uh it's just
goofing around and stuff likethat.
But uh oh yeah, no, the coolest,like another one of the actual
the coolest stories was Ibelieve it was July the 29th.
We were escorting General Mattisuh through the city from I think
(45:45):
he was at Hurricane Point.
I'm sure he probably started atBlue Diamond, and then somehow
we escorted uh him.
But also the coolest thing aboutthat, well, we had battalion
headquarters, so Sergeant MajorBooker was was there because I
have uh I got video becauseOliver Oliver North's camera
crew was riding with our ourplatoon.
(46:07):
Yeah, yeah.
I had a camera guy literallylike sitting in the seat right
below me.
So we had this big long convoy.
This by the time this is thetime where I was in a different
home V, they actually gave uslike those up armor home V's uh
by this time.
Uh I think I was in a green one.
SPEAKER_02 (46:24):
You finally got an upgrade.
SPEAKER_01 (46:26):
Yeah, no kidding, which kind of sucked.
We they actually gave us thoselike soon after uh Sergeant
Connie got hit.
Of course.
Which yeah, which if he wasriding in one of these ones,
yeah, it probably wouldn't havewouldn't hit him.
But uh we're just a little toolate.
Yeah, so we were driving, weleft Hurricane Point, and I just
remember it was hot as crap thatday.
(46:48):
Like I could feel the heat likejust hitting my face.
I'm just standing up in theturret.
And uh so my gun was kind ofpointed maybe towards like two
o'clock, because normally wejust kind of you know alternate
what direction that we'repointing.
Um I was probably the middle ofthe convoy, and uh I see uh this
(47:08):
Iraqi taxi, orange and whitecar, sitting off on the side of
the road.
It was kind of in a weird spot,so that's kind of it kind of
triggered like in my head, likethis looks a little weird.
And so as I'm I'm watching it,it was probably about uh 50
yards at least, and I'm we'reslowly catching up to it.
And as I'm I'm watching thewhole thing, I'm I'm keeping my
(47:30):
eyes on it.
Soon as it leaves my vision,probably like half a second
later, like the suckerdetonates, and yeah, like huge
explosion, like right in betweenmy vehicle and the the next one
behind us.
Thank god, like it it missed.
And uh what I can remember is onvideo, like I all I can say is
(47:52):
like it I was yelling out, itmissed, it missed, F you, you
didn't get us.
Yeah, I was just like so pissedat that time.
Literally, all you can see islike the explode, like my leg,
and you can like you know see itkind of like rocking a little
bit, and then after that, likeuh Sergeant Lachard's on the
(48:14):
radio, like saying to whoever,like, yeah, it missed us.
Um, we all we stopped theconvoy.
I think we kind of just I don'tknow if the whole convoy
stopped.
I believe so, maybe for a littlebit.
I would have hoped so.
Made sure like you know, bothvehicles were good, and then we
kept going.
And so, yeah, that was theloudest thing I've ever heard.
Like, it was it was so stinkingloud.
(48:37):
Uh, it was just I don't knowwhat they had in that thing, but
it was yeah, it was a loud boom.
SPEAKER_02 (48:44):
I think I remember seeing that.
That was on uh Colonel North'sWar Stories show, right?
There, there was the video, andit's Lachard.
All that all you see is a dustcloud, and Lachard's on the
radio, and he's like, VB ID, VBID, it missed, and he like
throws the radio.
He's like, damn, you look somad.
SPEAKER_01 (49:04):
Yeah, that was okay.
So yeah, Oliver North, like heput that video out, and then my
parents actually played thatvideo.
Well, because they they had tobleep out, like, you know, some
stuff.
My parents played that video atour church.
Like, this is what my son'sdoing in Iraq.
(49:24):
He's on Oliver North.
Like, I was like, Oh, that'skind of you can see this is just
his leg, but you know, I waslike, that's but it was it was
crazy.
But uh, okay, so then the convoykept going, and then once we got
to Saddam Mosque, like that'swhen like all hell broke loose
again.
(49:44):
Like they started open them up.
I was on the left side, I waskind of near the the the back of
it of the convoy at that point,but we were engaging like a
couple of some buildings justbefore you got onto easy street.
Yeah, like it was really it wasprobably like a three or
four-story uh building.
SPEAKER_02 (50:03):
That was the the library, I think.
It was that was uh library op,but they you guys end up
shooting through, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (50:10):
Yeah, and uh so at that point I was on the Mark 19
during that, and uh I started uhhitting that building with a
bunch of Mark 19 rounds.
Uh I and I have also on the onthe far right side we had a
couple vehicles that were kindof coming over on the the right
flank a little bit, suppressingit.
And uh I got video footage of umLatham videotaping himself while
(50:32):
he's driving with Cummins up onthe 50 cal, shooting at that
building.
And then Latham is literallysaying, Cummins is back in the
shit, Cummins is back in theshit.
Like he's getting some he'slike, Yeah, I was like, that's
it was it was hilarious.
Yeah, so I was I was back therein the battalion headquarters
(50:55):
vehicle was like right in frontof me.
I'm in the I'm in the turret.
All of a sudden I see SergeantMajor Booker pop his head up in
the turret, and like I don'tknow if he's got his his sniper
rifle or not, but like his M14.
Yeah, but uh yeah, likeBattalion Sergeant Major's just
sitting there like up in theturret, just like, all right,
(51:16):
I'm gonna get me some more.
It was just great.
And had a couple of like littlepogues that were kind of like
hiding behind the Hum V orwhatever, must have been the
driver or the RTO or whatever.
All right, I guess like as wewere engaging, uh at that point
the we kind of kept the convoylike rolling, and I was like the
(51:36):
second to last vehicle, and allof a sudden, like in the middle
of the the media, the the road,I kind of look over my right
shoulder a little bit, and I seelike a pile of like some gas
cans.
I don't know how nobody else sawthese, but I saw some gas cans
in the in the middle of theroad.
And I asked Sergeant Lachard,I'm like, hey, can I shoot
(52:00):
those?
And like all of a sudden he waslike, I don't know if we took
like some binoculars and looked,we couldn't see, but like he got
the clean he got the clearancefor me to to to shoot.
We just had to move one vehicleout of the way.
So the convoy was going likelet's say east.
Well, I was the the it was metback more towards the west, so I
(52:21):
kind of was facing the otherdirection.
And I didn't know this, butOliver North's camera crew, like
yeah, he was down there, hevideo he like I guess he
videotaped it, and um so myfirst burst like was a little
high, and then like the secondto last round of my next burst,
like I could see it flyingthrough the air, and all of a
(52:41):
sudden it hit it, and that loudthat humongous um just fireball
came from it.
I was just like, holy crap, Icould it was probably about
maybe 40 yards from me or so.
I I could like I could feel alittle bit of the heat from it.
So I don't know if you likestill had the have you ever seen
(53:02):
that the disc that they sent usof the 2-4 of that deployment.
SPEAKER_02 (53:06):
Yeah, but yeah, I don't know where I have it, but
I have it somewhere.
SPEAKER_01 (53:09):
Yeah, that little that big fireball, like yeah,
that very just briefly showsthat's yeah, that was me like
shooting that sucker.
SPEAKER_02 (53:17):
Oh, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (53:18):
That's awesome.
And I I didn't even know what Ijust took a hunch and just like
what the heck, you know, arethese gas cans sitting here for?
And and so I was like, hey, letme shoot it.
So yeah, just another one ofthose, like I'm kind of curious
or just an instinct type ofthing.
But um, yeah.
So then after that, we ended upthe whole convoy went back to a
(53:41):
combat outpost, and uh I got apicture of map three and General
Mattis.
So that's yeah, pretty sweet.
SPEAKER_02 (53:49):
That's super awesome.
Yeah, cool, man.
We were talking about there weresome funny things towards the
end of the deployment.
I'd love to hear some of thosetoo.
I remember playing uh we playeddodgeball outside you guys hooch
and stuff.
Like I remember that shit washilarious.
I remember a lot of funny mapthree.
SPEAKER_01 (54:03):
I got a video of you wearing a mask and what's uh I
forgot it starts with an M.
SPEAKER_02 (54:10):
Matroca?
SPEAKER_01 (54:11):
Yeah, Matroca.
And he says on there, oh,they're scared of fucking mask
man, and you're sitting herelike your skinny ass was like
throwing a dodgeball.
Yeah, yeah.
Uh let's see.
I mean, I just remember, yeah, Iwas uh it was great playing
volleyball and horseshoes andstuff, like on some downtime.
SPEAKER_02 (54:32):
But uh oh yeah, I forgot about the horseshoe set.
That's right.
You guys had a horseshoe pitlike right in front of the
hooch.
SPEAKER_01 (54:37):
Let's see.
I don't remember what I have Ihave it dated on a photo.
It's not funny, but um kind ofit would be funny to us, you
guys would um that the fact thathow many of us idiots went
outside when we heard mortars orrockets shooting off instead of
instead of taking cover.
(54:58):
Uh but you know, we're all like,well, it's the ones you can't
hear, is the are the bad ones.
So I mean and then were youthere when rocket hit one of
those comics boxes?
Oh yeah, like set on fire.
SPEAKER_02 (55:10):
I was right next to it.
We were getting on the trucks,yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (55:13):
Yeah, that was uh right across the street from
yeah, from our hooch, probablywhat, 50 feet, maybe not not
far, right?
SPEAKER_02 (55:20):
Literally right across the road.
SPEAKER_01 (55:22):
Yeah.
And uh, well, and then someother times before that, we're
lucky that we put sandbags allalong our back because we got it
got peppered by a couple ofrockets, like uh on the whole
back side of our hooch.
SPEAKER_02 (55:37):
Yeah, I was just flipping through some pictures
the other day, and most of thehooches have like huge shrapnel
marks on them where we justthere's always stuff hitting
right next to it.
SPEAKER_00 (55:48):
I got a I got a great one where there's an
impact just maybe 18 inches offthe side of a wall between two
of the hooch to between ourhooch hooch and uh I guess it
would have been the companyoffice, but anyways, that would
have sucked because that wasalso when we still had the uh
the soft coat yeah, soft copper.
Yeah, tight flap just straightin.
SPEAKER_01 (56:09):
Well, and I was thinking, like, even after they
took those off, they put like uhwhat this so like thin metal
roof.
Oh, yeah, it was like a shedroof.
SPEAKER_02 (56:18):
Yeah, it was nothing.
That was not inflated shed roof.
SPEAKER_01 (56:21):
That was not gonna stop anything either.
We were like, oh yeah, we're somuch more protected.
Maybe it like you know, ithelped the if the air
conditioning was working, youknow, maybe it you know cooled
up.
SPEAKER_02 (56:36):
Right, it kept it a little cooler.
SPEAKER_01 (56:37):
Yeah, that was that was kind of funny.
Um, I got some video of us likehitting golf balls across the
the river.
SPEAKER_02 (56:44):
Oh like trying to hit I forgot about that.
SPEAKER_01 (56:47):
A couple guys like actually got it across over to
Blue Diamond.
Like I wasn't ever good at golf,but like, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (56:54):
I uh I remember I distinctly remember that sitting
on the edge of the Euphrates andusing I think it was like a
one-wood or two wood to hit golfballs at blue at the at the
division headquarters where allof the generals were hit the
generals' offices with golfballs.
SPEAKER_01 (57:11):
Probably just the motor pool, but you know, yeah.
That's awesome.
See, I don't know.
Maybe you can like I don't know,man.
SPEAKER_02 (57:18):
That's a pretty good one.
I forgot about that.
I think I remember rememberSilton hitting the building.
That's what I remember.
He was a little bit of a littlebit of a little bit of a little
bit of a little bit of prettygood at.
Yeah, he was he was good.
SPEAKER_00 (57:28):
Big dude was pretty good at hitting them golf balls.
I remember we got some uh tasersat one point and uh started
doing some uh experiments on uhon on what tasers can do.
Nice.
That's just training.
SPEAKER_01 (57:42):
I mean, that was ridiculous.
SPEAKER_00 (57:49):
If you like what you've heard, this is a multi
part episode.
Make sure you listen to the restof the story.
Alright, man.
Well, tell everybody who you areand what platoon you're with.
SPEAKER_01 (00:40):
Uh my name is uh Blake Pepper.
I was with uh Mobile AssaultPlatoon uh number three.
SPEAKER_02 (00:45):
All right.
What ranks were you at when wewere over in Ramadi?
I can't remember.
SPEAKER_01 (00:48):
Uh Lance Corporal.
SPEAKER_02 (00:49):
You were a Lance, that's right.
SPEAKER_01 (00:51):
Yep.
I was uh one of the main uhmachine gunners.
Uh so I first half of the tour Iwas uh behind the 50 and then I
switched over to the Mart 19.
SPEAKER_02 (01:02):
I feel like there was a lot of that, a lot of
swapping back and forth betweenroles and everything.
Did you stay in the gun thewhole time?
SPEAKER_00 (01:08):
Yep, um the entire time.
And with the same team too, orwhen you switched guns, did you
end up getting a new team?
SPEAKER_01 (01:14):
Yeah, I was with uh Sergeant Condi was actually my
vehicle commander.
Um I was on the 50.
And then before he got blown up,I was somehow not on that gun.
I was on Mark 19 in a uh in adifferent vehicle.
So I don't know what kind of uhfate or whatever, or just swap
(01:38):
swapping right uh you knowvehicles.
Yeah, I I I feel like I probablywould have should have been in
that same vehicle that that hegot hit on.
SPEAKER_02 (01:49):
Yeah, that is unusual, but uh sometimes that
happened with us too.
We would just reshuffle and belike, all right, man, just jump
in the truck, who cares?
I imagine that's what happenedto you.
But you guys are out all nightthat night, and so you may have
just reshuffled in the morningon the way to Chow, right?
SPEAKER_01 (02:05):
Yeah, I don't know.
I just yeah, just remember uhCaptain Wyler wanted us to go on
one last uh IED patrol before wewent to before we went to
breakfast.
And that that's what it was.
But yeah, that's right.
You know, I didn't mean to getinto the heavy stuff right away,
but yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (02:24):
We just go wherever, bro.
It doesn't matter to me.
Yeah, so so you were in uhcondi's truck initially.
So who else was in that truck?
SPEAKER_01 (02:33):
Um see Ortiz, old Mexican dude was a driver.
Yeah, uh, let's see, umValenzuela, older guy.
SPEAKER_02 (02:42):
I forgot about Valenzuela.
SPEAKER_01 (02:44):
Yeah, um Corporal.
My goodness.
I'm blowing another uh Hispanicdude.
Corporal.
I think it's Vigil, yeah, Vigil.
Oh yeah, yeah, Vigil was in thattruck.
Um and then I think it mighthave been Privatar.
(03:04):
Okay.
Yeah.
Kind of goofy, goofy dude, butuh I think knacker might have
been in that vehicle too.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (03:11):
Oh, okay.
So you were in were you guys ina high pack?
That's a lot of dudes.
SPEAKER_01 (03:15):
Oh yeah, yeah.
We it it was called Old Yellerbecause it was it was yellow at
a pedestal mount, and uh yeah,and it took it actually got a
couple purple hearts too,because it took a couple of
rounds in the uh vehicle itself,too.
And somehow it kept up on it.
It didn't it missed the engineblock or something, but yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (03:38):
When did it be?
SPEAKER_01 (03:39):
I think most of the platoon oh go ahead.
SPEAKER_00 (03:42):
I was just gonna say, I think most of the
platoons had a uh had a tanvehicle that ended up becoming a
little bit more of a uh of atarget and uh yeah got blown up
several times.
SPEAKER_01 (03:55):
Yeah, it might not be true, but I think uh I don't
know if uh somebody might haveaccidentally hit it with a round
like friendly fire, but I'm notgonna name any names just for
you know may or may not may ormay not have been an officer.
I don't know.
Like I said, not naming anynames.
SPEAKER_02 (04:13):
That sounds about right.
SPEAKER_01 (04:15):
Uh but yeah, I remember like uh starting out in
Kuwait and uh like uh taking allour vehicles in that huge
convoy.
I'm sure you guys did with yourplatoon too.
Um, yeah, I was the lead vehiclewith our platoon commander,
Gunny.
I think it is Crutch Vehicle.
SPEAKER_02 (04:34):
Crutcher, yeah, Gunny Crutcher.
SPEAKER_01 (04:35):
Crutcher, yeah, I knew, yeah.
And so like I was literally likejust remember, just on the open
highway with like 100 somethingvehicles, just chilling out,
being the lead vehicle, the leadgunner.
I had like all this like openview and stuff like that.
I was like, wow, this is this isnuts.
Yeah, that wasn't a long crazydrive up.
(04:58):
Oh, yeah, it was.
My gosh, we had to we stoppedhalfway and like slept like
outside or wherever we could,and then you know, got going
again.
SPEAKER_02 (05:07):
Yeah, what was the name of that place that we
stopped?
I'm trying to remember.
SPEAKER_01 (05:11):
I have no idea.
All I know is I saw the thelights on the side of the
highway.
We pulled in room enough forlike all of our vehicles.
I don't know how, but yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (05:22):
Yeah, it was it was set up as largely a private
contractor resupply point, andthey were coming into it was a
lot of the big resupply truckswere not driven by military,
they were driven by privatecontractors, even early in the
war.
And that was their resupplypoint where they stopped to get
gas and food and all that.
And so I I don't remember thename of that place, but it that
(05:44):
was what that place was, andthat was why they were so I
don't know if you remember themat all, but they're all super
friendly.
They came out and like broughtus all like like random pastries
and shit.
Like they were just super nicepeople, and trying to be like,
hey, you guys are going to warhere, take some pastries and lay
it.
Yeah, yeah, it was awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (06:02):
Probably they're used to the the guys that came
through the year before.
SPEAKER_02 (06:07):
Yeah.
All right, so you drove up withGunny Crutcher and then and then
we got to Ramadi, obviously.
And then did you immediately uhyou just stayed with the high
back the whole time, or did youget reshuffled around a bit?
SPEAKER_01 (06:19):
Yeah, no, I stayed with that high back, and then
they finally gave us, you know,we're uh what was it probably
like May or so?
Um that they we started uh likewelding the the armor the the
plates to make it a little bithigher.
IG armor, yeah.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (06:38):
Um so when you initially took the highback up,
you didn't have any armor plateson the side?
SPEAKER_01 (06:44):
No, not at all.
SPEAKER_02 (06:45):
You guys were driving with a with a raw
highback.
There was a few of those thatwere just raw highbacks.
Did you guys not have those?
So we had armor plates.
We had gotten a set of plates inKuwait, and there was there were
two different working partiesthat happened.
One in Kuwait where we bolted onsome armor that we got from the
National Guard.
And that was where we got theplates for our high back that uh
(07:07):
that we took.
And then there was the secondworking party.
I I don't remember when it was.
April, May, whatever it was, andwe went and uh a whole big group
of us, like 15 people, went overto Junction City and Gutty
Maraki traded some MREs for aplasma cutter and a welder, and
we welded all that shit on.
SPEAKER_01 (07:26):
I I do remember staying one night at yeah at a
welding shop, but I don'tremember if that was beforehand.
Yeah, maybe we did along therailings.
That might have been it alongthe railings, and then like
later on after all all the IEDsand stuff, uh, we took a bunch
(07:46):
of casualties after the 6thApril, and then even maybe
before uh Savage got hit.
I don't know if we startedwelding even higher like pieces.
SPEAKER_03 (07:57):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (07:58):
I don't we we had started uh the the company.
I don't know about you, so Iwon't speak for for you guys,
but I know we had startedputting on armor in April
because it was a c it was acouple weeks before Savage got
hit.
SPEAKER_01 (08:16):
Yeah, I couldn't remember if I I'd have to even
look back at my photos to maybeeven like compare.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (08:22):
Well, so I have a picture of your high back uh
with Latham, Muniz, Cox, andMackenzie standing out in front
of it, and there is no armor onit.
And so I didn't really thinkabout that, but now that you say
it, like there it's like there'ssomebody in the back that's
pulling like a pack off of thethe truck, and it has no armor
(08:43):
on it.
It's just the stake bed.
And so that's that's prettyfucking crazy, actually,
considering what we ran upagainst.
SPEAKER_00 (08:50):
Yeah, no kidding.
And well, and I I found oh goahead.
No, you're good.
You're a man.
I was just gonna say that uh Ihad found a letter that I had
written home recently andactually talking about this
armor.
There was a there was a dump offdepot at Camp Victory that
people that were convoying backdown would dump their gear.
(09:11):
And uh for much I I was talkingto a guy at the Chaw Hall
apparently, and it would haveand he said that the rest of
their convoy was gonna come inat like either like 2100 or
2200, and they were gonna goimmediately to the dump off.
And so Aponte and I like hit hitoff into the back until they
(09:31):
rolled in, dumped all theirgear, and then drove up with the
truck and like was able to grablike a ton of armor and brought
it back.
Otherwise, we would have drovenup with almost nothing.
Yeah, yeah.
Like we were able to grab likesomething like I think it's like
nine new tires and a bunch ofarmor, and it's wild to think
about us driving like leavingthe as we did with as little
(09:54):
gear as we did.
SPEAKER_01 (09:55):
Yeah, yeah.
And I wish I would have takenmore photos during that like
that crazy week in April, um,just for like you know,
historical, but like I felt likeI that wasn't the right time.
Like, there's so I I stillremember a lot of things I could
have taken pictures of.
Like Did you have a camera?
Yeah, I had a camera.
Like, I I got a bunch of the Idon't I don't know if you have
(10:19):
you seen the photo of uhSergeant Condy and like our
platoon.
We were at the government centerthat I took.
Um they're holding up like IEDsand stuff, they're all like
smiling, and I was like, Hey,it's the IED.
Well, I haven't been there and Iwanted to go, but in in
Quantico, there's a buildingcalled Condi Hall.
(10:40):
Uh and his dad like told meabout it.
Well, yeah, that picture is isin like with a bunch of his
other stuff.
SPEAKER_03 (10:48):
That's cool.
SPEAKER_01 (10:49):
I'm like, holy cow, like I realized I I took that
photo, but it was kind of weirdand ironic that we took that
photo, and you know, sure, sure.
That's what that's what getsthem.
But um, yeah, just and thenanother thing, like like I said,
like I kind of wish I had I tookmore pictures because then maybe
I could have like, you know, Ican still remember it, but maybe
(11:11):
you know, later on the road downif we don't remember stuff, you
know.
But I still got a lot of photos.
But like after we we were takingall the brass out, like I I
could have taken a picture ofhow much how many like spent
rounds of 50 cal and ammo boxesin the back of my OV.
(11:32):
I'm like, oh my, like that wouldhave been nuts.
I just remember like cleaningthat up with a couple of the
guys and like how bad that hurtmy ears.
Like it was so bad.
Like just the the ringing andthe tinging.
Oh man, I can I can still tothis day like just think how
piercing that felt.
(11:52):
That that really sucked.
But uh, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02 (11:56):
Yeah, you guys were very busy, obviously.
Uh the first battle of Ramadi,April 6th and 7th, and 10th,
were what that was the mainthree days.
Some things happened on the 8thand 9th, but not much.
SPEAKER_03 (12:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (12:09):
Uh, you want to talk a little about the April 6th?
SPEAKER_01 (12:12):
Yeah, man, we can get into it.
Um yeah, you I can kind of tellyou like where I kind of like
from map three's perspective.
SPEAKER_02 (12:21):
I'd love to hear your perspective.
The uh the official account,golf company went out midday and
got ambushed off of easy streetin the south side of the city.
And uh golf sent out a QRF oftheir own, but they got ambushed
on the way to reinforce and itdid not work out.
And so you guys were the nextout of the gate.
(12:43):
And you ended up uh not quitemaking it all the way to golf
before you were ambushed.
And then the rest is that's thethat's my stage setting for you.
Everything else is all right.
SPEAKER_01 (12:55):
Here it goes.
Um, so I kind of was playingthrough this in my head earlier
just so I can like maybe try toremember some like the points.
So obviously from myperspective, like I didn't I
couldn't see like every singlelike you know part of my uh
platoon at certain points downthat down the street.
SPEAKER_02 (13:13):
But yeah, there's no way.
SPEAKER_01 (13:14):
Yeah, like we our platoon was QRF that day, and
yeah, we got the call that uhgolf was was in contact, so we
we immediately booked it out.
And uh don't remember whatstreet we are on, but we went
and picked up uh Lance CorporalLetterman, who had got shot 76-2
(13:37):
right to the gut.
Um he actually that uh later onuh I had his uh his flak jacket
with the two uh magazines thathad like the round went through
both magazines.
SPEAKER_03 (13:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (13:50):
And just seeing that was just like you know crazy
after all that.
But um, so we picked him up.
We were kind of like in astaging point uh at like a T
intersection.
My vehicle was like not all theway up to that that
intersection.
SPEAKER_03 (14:06):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (14:07):
Um, but then I was just manning the gun, everybody
was dismounted.
We started taking some somerounds.
They're just kind of you knowpop shots coming down the um the
road.
And so I went and uh talked tobe like, hey, it was Sergeant
Lachard.
Uh he was my uh section leader,yeah.
(14:27):
Um like strong, tiny, shortlittle, strong little uh black
French guy.
He he was wild.
And so I'm like, hey Sarge, likethey're shooting at us.
What you know what what do youwant me to do?
He was like, well, shoot back.
All right.
I cracked, I cranked that 50back and I just let a few birds,
(14:52):
let a couple of burst down, andlike a couple other guys that
were up there, you know, took acouple shots too.
And uh that was my first, likethe feeling of that was just
like I wasn't nervous, I wasn'tscared.
I had the butter, I hadbutterflies in my stomach
because I was so excited.
And I sometimes I tell I toldlike some regular people that
(15:15):
they're like, Are you insane?
I was like, No, we were justtrained.
That's that's how good ourtraining was.
Like, I wasn't scared.
I knew the guys right next to mewould do the same thing.
Yeah, so they had my back.
So we got uh they actuallyloaded up uh Letterman in my
vehicle.
Uh so he's just laying, layingright there.
(15:36):
I don't know what kind of aidthat he got.
They bandaged him up.
Um, he was still conscious.
He was conscious for themajority of the time.
Yeah, he didn't he never lostlost conscious.
Um so then we we uh loaded up,and that's I think that's when
we got the call about the otherum golf platoon in contact down
(15:58):
easy street.
And uh I'm glad you actuallysaid that because I was trying
to remember the name of thatstreet, but because I know it
was off Route Michigan just pastthe Saddam Mosque.
So yeah, we rolled down EasyStreet.
We're going pretty kind of slowbecause we were like trying to
look out for, you know, tryingto find the guys.
All of a sudden, about halfwaygoing down that road, there's
(16:21):
like a little median, probably Idon't know, a couple feet wide.
Um, all of a sudden, from theother side of the road, out pops
this like I guess you want tocall him Iraqi dude had had an
AK, swung around, he was aimingit right at me, and he was he
was shooting.
But the dude's like he sucked,obviously, because he was
(16:42):
hitting the median, like all ofhis rounds were hitting like
halfway across the road.
I'm like, so like it was likenot even a split second.
I told uh two guys that weresitting off to my left.
I'm like, all right, get down,duck.
It's like because I'll startswinging that 50 cal barrel over
to the left.
Yeah, so our convoy stops aboutthat same time.
(17:04):
So we had about three or fourheavy guns literally aimed right
at this one guy, and so westarted engaging, and then all
of a sudden, I see like I thinkone or two vehicles behind me.
Uh Lance Corporal uh MatthewBrown, uh uh rest his soul.
Dude hits hits the guy right inthe chest with the Martin 19
(17:25):
round.
And I'm like, man, that was myguy.
I was like, he shot at me first,but I'm just glad we we just
blew that sucker away.
It was and I don't know if therewas any more that came out at
the same time as him, but that'sall I remember seeing is just
one guy with an AK.
Like so I don't know if he waslike the initial start of the
(17:48):
their little the uh their littleambush.
Yeah, so we blew him away andthen we just kind of kept
rolling.
SPEAKER_02 (17:57):
Probably never wonder what you have to wonder
what he was thinking.
If he told his buddies, like,I'm gonna go out there and
shoot, you guys follow me, andnobody followed him.
SPEAKER_01 (18:04):
Yeah, he just got stranded.
Unless there might have been,but like from my vision, like
that tunnel vision, that's theonly guy you can see, yeah.
Yeah.
Um, because I was just sobaffled that the dude sucked
that bad at like shooting.
I was like, he must, yeah.
But anyway, uh so then we wecontinued on and we got to like
(18:25):
the end of that street.
I don't I don't remember whatthe name of like the next street
is, but before we got there,there was a couple of um uh
almost like half-length likepalm trees like blocking the
road.
SPEAKER_02 (18:38):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (18:39):
So right then and there we knew there was
something up.
So like that was them likesetting up their little ambush
for whoever.
I believe we we uh we got to theend and I think we started
taking more contact.
Um so then I think we startedmoving back down that road where
we came from.
And then at that point, I thinkuh at uh golf company finally
(19:03):
from the side of the road we areon, uh finally like look linked
up with us.
And um that's when this is kindof where it gets like kind of
cloudy because of like stuff washappening so much, like so
quick, and it's like there wasjust stuff happening everywhere.
SPEAKER_02 (19:20):
True definition of the fog of war, man.
SPEAKER_01 (19:22):
Yeah, uh yeah.
I do remember like for a littlebit before I think we moved
down, my vehicle was the farvehicle like holding security
down.
And I remember like roundscoming down the road, like
pinging almost like ricochetingoff the road.
And the only thing I kind ofdid, I was standing up tall in
the gun.
All I kind of did was like kindof shrug my shoulders like down
(19:44):
just a little bit.
Yeah, just so I didn't, youknow, maybe in case a round
started coming up, I didn'treally yeah, a little smaller
target.
Yeah, just a little bit.
That was probably the only timeI in my head was like, all
right, I'm just gonna be alittle cautious.
And so so at some point we weended up back in the middle of
the of Easy Street, and then uhwe had Humvees and guns
(20:08):
basically like you know all overthe place.
So everyone dismounted, like theguys that um in our platoon that
weren't either the driver or thegunner, everybody dismounted and
uh they started like going intohouses.
This this is kind of where likemy perspective, like I don't
know exactly what happened, youknow, like uh McKenzie, uh uh
(20:30):
Condi and all like their teams,they kind of went in.
I know they engaged a fewpeople.
Um that's that's about the timewhen uh Sergeant Condi got shot
through the shoulder.
SPEAKER_03 (20:41):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (20:42):
Um during all that, my vehicle was staged kind of in
the middle.
Uh golf company brought likesome of their casualties.
Um it was uh uh PFC halal whowho had gotten shot.
I I was just standing in theHumvee when they kind of brought
him up and they they loaded himup into my Humvee.
(21:03):
So I'm still like manning thegun while he's you know, they
they got his body like sittingliterally right there next to my
feet.
And like, you know, to this dayI'm I I won't tell anybody like
what I saw.
It was just, you know, I didn'tknow who it was until I got back
to we we dropped all thecasualties off at Charlie Med.
(21:24):
And like I then I found out whoit was, and um I was like, man,
I I went to SOI with him and uhyou know had some conversations
and you know and stuff with him.
He was he was a really good guy.
Um but uh that's crazy, man.
And so so after we picked himup, the craziest thing, uh there
(21:48):
was I was just like stillmanning the gun, you know, and
trying to engage like you know,if there's any uh any enemy
coming around.
But but for the most part, I wasjust like holding security down
because I'm I'm they're bringingout more casualties, guys that
um got shot, or like one uh oneguy blocked a grenade, like
(22:09):
basically from blowing up hisface, and so he had his hand
bandaged up.
Um but before that happened, Ido remember like a loud
screeching, like a loud, butanyway, there was basically uh
an RPG like went right over myhead, and I wasn't sure how
close.
I kind of like looked, but itwas like a palm tree or
(22:33):
something, so I couldn't reallysee where it was coming from.
Yeah, I hear this loud likesound, and so I freaking like
ducked, I wasn't sure where, andthen all of a sudden it goes and
explodes, like hits a building,like right on the other side,
and I'm just like, oh crap, anduh yeah, but so for some
(22:54):
evidence later on thatdeployment, we went down easy
street.
I had to take a picture of uhthe impact site, yeah.
And I'm just and I wasn't surehow how much higher above it was
from my head, but I was like,man, I gotta get evidence of
that.
That was that was crazy.
But um, so then we loaded upsome more casualties, I think
(23:16):
from golf company.
I think I still remember theirnames.
Uh another guy named Ortiz hadhis hand bandaged up.
Let's see.
My gosh, no, I'm Jonah.
SPEAKER_02 (23:27):
The fact that you can remember their names at all
is impressive to me.
Yeah.
Were these all guys that youwent to infantry school with?
SPEAKER_01 (23:33):
No, no.
No, they just they just happenedto be loaded up in my home V.
Um, and actually uh uh Gentilly,uh guy from golf company.
Yes, um, he's the one who gotshot in the jaw.
SPEAKER_02 (23:46):
I I know him very well, yeah, and know his story
well.
SPEAKER_01 (23:50):
Well, yeah, and uh so I helped him up.
It was somebody else that kindof helped him up.
Yeah, I'm just like sitting hereseeing like dude literally like
has a hole in his jaw, and he'sjust sitting there like just
spitting blood out and stuff.
And I'm just like this the wholerest of the time we're there.
I'm just like you know, tryingto give him like words of
(24:12):
encouragement, like, hey thatman, stay with me, you know,
you're good.
Like, let's uh you know, some ofus though I I can't even really
like remember, just kind of justtrying to be positive anything
while I'm yeah, while I'msitting there behind the gun.
And uh yeah, it's just so weafter we loaded all of them up,
(24:33):
we we didn't stay long.
Thankfully, we had a couple ofuh escorts though.
SPEAKER_02 (24:38):
I was gonna I was gonna ask you and actually kind
of pin you down there for aminute.
How long do you think you wereout there while they were
loading everybody up?
Oh man, it's hard to tellbecause I know it feels like it
feels like 10 years and 10minutes at the same time.
SPEAKER_01 (24:51):
I know.
I've probably at least 30minutes.
SPEAKER_02 (24:54):
Okay.
If not that's not too bad,especially when you got somebody
bleeding.
SPEAKER_01 (24:59):
Yeah, well, and I'll like to backtrack a little bit.
I think just before they loadedthose casualties up, I this is
the one thing I remember I willnever like ever forget.
Like after um after Condi gotshot in the shoulder, Doc Dialka
was in the vehicle right infront of me, um, in the back,
(25:21):
bandaging him up.
Uh, I don't remember whoseHumvee he he was in, but it was
close enough for me to see andme to hear that he was like,
hurry up, Doc, I gotta get backout there.
And I'm like, that's that's justthe type of person that Condi
was.
Like, dude was like, I gotta getback out there.
Like, my boys need me.
And then I think there was hewas quoted saying like uh
(25:44):
something like the guy the theenemy was was laughing at him
because the they shot him.
And uh he was like, Yeah, thatthey're not gonna they're not
gonna get the better of me or orsomething to that effect.
And I'm like, yeah, that'sthat's exactly who who Condi
was.
SPEAKER_02 (25:59):
Very much a lead from the front, Sergeant, for
sure.
SPEAKER_01 (26:02):
Oh, yeah.
Like for him to take a bunch ofus, you know, boots, like and
and train us just like we we hadbeen you know with him for the
last two plus years, and likestill give us a you know a
little bit of respect, but yetyou know put us in our place.
Um, you know, that thatdefinitely uh helped out the the
(26:24):
cohesiveness of of our platoonbecause you know we didn't have
a lieutenant, you know, wedidn't have like like everybody
else.
So we were kind of like a misfitplatoon.
And uh him and like those three,you know, those three sergeants
kind of like really held ustogether.
SPEAKER_02 (26:41):
Um yeah, it was an interesting chain of command
structure that a lot and therewas you and Sledgehammer did not
have a lieutenant.
You guys had Gunny Crutcher asyour platoon commander, and you
had Staff Sergeant Rapazzo asyour platoon sergeant, and then
Sergeant Williams, SergeantCondy, and Sergeant Lasarge were
your was your chain of command.
I mean, that's those are peopleholding very high billets for
(27:03):
for the experience and ranksthat they were.
SPEAKER_01 (27:05):
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
SPEAKER_02 (27:07):
And how many trucks were you running?
Do you remember?
Was it four or five?
SPEAKER_01 (27:09):
Um, I believe five.
Yeah, we had we had a five.
We had, I think, three fiftiesand two marks, I believe.
And so, yeah, and I'm so Iremember uh so the last guy was
uh Corporal Hayes from uh golfcompany, who I guess, yeah, he
was up.
I think he just got like shot inthe wrist or the hand or
something like that.
But anyway, the the ArmyBradleys showed up, and uh, you
(27:32):
know, I don't know thecommunication between them and
us.
It somehow they escorted uh usbecause we had five casualties
and we went all the way toCharlie Med.
But I think the rest of theplatoon and golf company like
basically finished uh thatlittle fight with shortly after
(27:55):
because they they they weren'tbehind us for too, you know, too
much too long.
And I don't I wasn't eventhinking of like, oh man, we
just left like the rest of ourplatoon behind.
I was too busy like with allthese casualties in my Humvee to
even like really think aboutthat.
SPEAKER_02 (28:11):
Right.
So the Bradleys escorted youback to uh Junction City?
SPEAKER_01 (28:16):
Yeah, mm-hmm.
Yeah, then we we got them gotthem unloaded at uh Charlie Med,
and then we pretty much just Ithink it was just myself and uh
Ortiz, like my driver, we justkind of waited around probably
not even like 30 minutes later,and everyone else showed back,
showed up there.
SPEAKER_02 (28:34):
No, it's good.
SPEAKER_01 (28:35):
And none of our guys, I mean, yeah, uh you know,
other than Connie getting shot,I don't think any of our other
guys likely had a scratch on us,which is just nuts.
SPEAKER_02 (28:45):
Yeah.
I I remember a few guys takingsome shrapnel and stuff like
that, but nothing.
I don't remember any.
They were all walking wounded,if anything.
Nobody was seriously injured.
SPEAKER_01 (28:54):
Yeah, yeah.
You know, our company, likeeverybody else, like did have
like a lot of like minorscratches and stuff like that,
but like I still don't know howlike I made it out without a
scratch, just being so exposed,like up in the turret and and
just in the high back like that,too.
SPEAKER_02 (29:12):
Especially, yeah, yeah, yeah, wide open.
And so you made it the wholedeployment without uh without
being wounded.
SPEAKER_01 (29:19):
Yep, I don't have an enemy marksmanship badge.
SPEAKER_02 (29:23):
Uh-huh.
No uh no purple heart for you.
Well, that's it's it'sinteresting who got one and how,
and a lot of people, it'srandom.
Some people got two, three, youknow, earned or earned four, and
only what got one.
And uh a lot of a lot ofinteresting stories surrounding
surrounding that as well.
(29:43):
It's it's interesting that youdid not get one as well,
especially being in the highback and being a gunner.
So then you went, you guys weredone on the sixth, you went back
to Hurricane Point afterrallying at Charlie Med, and
then what'd you do overnight?
Clean up the trucks and retool.
SPEAKER_01 (30:01):
Yeah, pretty much just refilled everything up and
then you know went back outthere.
SPEAKER_02 (30:08):
Um I was gonna say then the seventh was was just as
busy.
SPEAKER_01 (30:12):
Uh yeah.
Um, I don't remember as muchfrom the seventh, but I do
remember the biggest thing aboutthe seventh is like we went back
out and linked up with golfcompany again because they went
back out in that sameneighborhood.
SPEAKER_02 (30:26):
It was similar.
Uh You guys were a littlefurther down.
You were closer.
This, and this is from theofficial accounts.
You tell me if I'm wrong.
This is just from the official.
I wrote things down so that wayI wouldn't forget it.
Uh the seventh, the XO actuallyjoined your platoon, uh,
Lieutenant Wells, and you guysall went out.
Uh, you were the first outagain, and you guys went and
(30:47):
linked up with golf uh near thesoccer fields in the south of
the city.
The fields, not the stadium.
The stadium was further out bycombat outposts, but there was a
huge bunch of uh I don't, Idon't know, just fields by
themselves that had soccergoalposts.
SPEAKER_01 (31:02):
Yeah.
Yep.
And just like I said, it's alittle the the leading up to it,
I don't quite remember, but I doremember like the coolest part
of um I guess you want to callit cool, but uh was we actually
were able to we right thereright alongside golf company, I
(31:22):
don't remember what platoon orwhatever, but uh they were just
kind of bounding from fromstreet to street.
And the coolest thing that whatwe did on our home bees is we
were kind of like going back andforth.
One of us would like cover theroad, uh cover the street with
our gun, and then we'd almostlike the next one would cover,
(31:44):
and then we would we wouldbasically were covering the uh
the 11s as they bounded down thestreet, and just to kind of work
in like connection with them, itwas just an amazing process,
just going down this wholestreet.
And I mean, if somebody wastaking pops at us, I just it was
(32:06):
I was just just sitting up therebehind the 50 and just like
letting a burst or two down theroad and like seeing these uh
0311s, just like, oh man, getsome.
And uh, I was like, Yeah,gotcha.
SPEAKER_02 (32:20):
I think your first words are right.
That's pretty fucking cool.
Uh that that's the way vehiclecombat's supposed to be.
We didn't get to practice thatall the time.
Oftentimes you end up being amodified gun position or an O311
yourself, but that's that'spretty fucking cool.
I didn't get to experience that,so I'm jealous.
SPEAKER_01 (32:37):
Yeah, it was amazing.
Like, I just remember like meand the other gunners and the
and the drivers, we had it waslike we were such in sync that
it was almost natural.
Um, like we were the gunnerswere hollering, like, hey, I got
this one, you know, you get thenext one, or whatever the
communication was, like, yeah,it just seemed like it was just
(32:59):
like awesome.
And that's the coolest part ofabout and then I think we were
bounding going back towardscombat outpost, and then the
last thing I remember, I waslike the very last vehicle in
the convoy down Michigan.
So what I had to do, I had tolike turn my gun all the way to
the rear.
I had to sit almost like on alittle bar on the roof.
SPEAKER_02 (33:22):
I was gonna say you're sitting on the roof.
Yeah, yeah.
That's some true cowboy shit.
SPEAKER_01 (33:26):
Yeah, my roof behind me and ground.
I'm just like, I was like, yeah,hey, that was that was pretty
cool until like we all got toyeah, combat outposts, and then
I guess we chilled there for alittle bit and then went back.
But yeah, other than that, Idon't remember a whole lot about
um the seventh.
Like, that's yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (33:48):
I love that you brought up that.
Uh, I completely had forgottenabout that every once in a while
when you're in the thick of it,having like almost a telepathic
link with everybody else thatyou're fighting with.
I got to experience that uhmyself too.
Of that, and it's just one ofthe coolest experiences.
Like where you again, you're noton the comms, but you just kind
(34:10):
of almost like you know whereeverybody's at.
SPEAKER_01 (34:14):
Yeah, it was me, uh uh Lance Corporal Kelly, Brown,
uh Gordon.
And uh yeah, it wasn't I thinkthat was another one.
But uh yeah, we just crazy.
It's awesome.
SPEAKER_02 (34:29):
That's awesome.
Now, if I remember correctly,and I I could be wrong, you'll
have to remind me.
I think so.
There was a small cordon searchuh on April 8th.
It was called Operation CountyFair, is what we called it.
And I don't think your platoonwent out.
I think they actually had youguys stay back for that one.
And I think we did some outerstuff, and the 81s did the
(34:53):
actual search, and you know, wefound some weapons, we found
some guys, but not nothing.
And we found uh one of the fieldhospitals where there was lots
and lots of wounded, but outsideof that, we didn't find much
else.
And then on the 10th was thefirst big what we called a bug
hunt, and that was when uh Iknow you guys were out there for
that one because literallyeverybody in the whole battalion
(35:14):
was out for that one.
SPEAKER_01 (35:16):
Oh, yeah.
We were out by uh, I think Nova,um, I believe we remember who
was with us.
The XO might have been, I'mpretty sure he was with us too.
But um biggest thing I remembergoing out there is we were in
the palm groves.
There was this house um outthere, and all of a sudden we
(35:39):
took a couple of the RPG shots,and but they're from high up.
And yeah, they're I guess thesetwo guys were like up in the
palm trees and they just likeshot a couple RPGs down at us.
Uh I guess they didn't impactany, like they didn't hit us
directly.
Um, but then all of a sudden wedismounted, and uh I don't
(36:03):
remember what squad it was, um,but they went towards the this
house, and all of a sudden, theyfrom what I remember is they
them come back from the houseoff to my left.
I don't remember who else waswith them.
All I remember is uh seeingCummings.
Uh when Cummings uh turned andhe was running back is when um
(36:28):
all of a sudden a guy from thefar end of the house like opened
up on him and Cummins took around to the uh just under his
sappy plate on his side, like itwent actually it punctured his
lung.
SPEAKER_02 (36:41):
I remember that.
SPEAKER_01 (36:42):
Yeah, the split second, like he hit the deck.
Oh my gosh, I unloaded my entirefreaking can like in that
vicinity of that house, and Icould tell you like how fast
like I ripped that box open,threw another one in there, and
I did that.
I went through three cans ofammo of 100 rounds of 50 cal in
(37:04):
probably less than five minutes.
I probably it might have beenless than that.
Like I was just so pissed.
Like I seen him, I seen themfall, and I'm like, oh I start,
yeah, I just started laying intothat that house, and um, I don't
remember what other vehiclesbecause uh the ones that were
farther off to the left, I don'tthey couldn't engage.
(37:25):
Um, but I know it was me and atleast um Mark uh one other Mark
19 that was like shooting at thehouse.
Um so the the suppressive firethat I laid down was able to
they were able to pick them upand you know carry them to the
Humvees.
And then as soon as we loadedthem up, like we we booked it to
(37:48):
uh Charlie Med.
Well um I think it was DocDialko.
Yeah, yeah, it was because hemade a comment uh about Cummins,
I guess, when he was likepatching them up.
He was like, Oh god, man, youstink.
I don't know whether like thethe sweat or whatever, but like
that's all I can remember himsaying, like in a joking like
(38:09):
manner.
I'm like, dude, like to becauseI wasn't in the vehicle, he
didn't he didn't put Cummins inlike my vehicle, but uh yeah,
back at Charlie Med.
He was like, Man, dude, stunk.
SPEAKER_02 (38:20):
But yeah, he had been fighting for three or four
days straight, so you know,yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (38:27):
Washing machines wasn't exactly uh, you know,
priority that week.
So from what I remember, webrought him to Charlie Med.
I think they airlifted himbecause they sent him, he went,
he was gone for about a month.
SPEAKER_02 (38:41):
That's what I remember.
I remember him being gone for amonth.
SPEAKER_01 (38:44):
Yeah, he was gone for a month, so they had to have
airlifted him to like Baghdad orsomething.
I don't know.
That's the only thing about likebeing like a lowly little Lance
Corporal.
I didn't get to I wasn't privyto like all the you know the
communication and all that typeof stuff that that I it would
have been kind of neat to likethat'd be that would be the kind
(39:04):
of reunion that I would like tohave is with like if most of
like the higher ups there, weall kind of like get together
and like I don't know, justknowing all that type of
information would be kind ofneat.
SPEAKER_02 (39:15):
But if if we're lucky, that's the hope is that
some of those guys will come onthis and tell that side of it.
I mean, I can tell you from asergeant's perspective, and I
was often in the battalionheadquarters and interfacing
with the intel people and stufflike that, but I can't tell you
their level, I can't tell you acaptain's level or a major's
level of of what was actuallygoing on.
(39:37):
I don't know.
But that's actually a a reallygood point in that you never had
access to a radio.
Uh, so you probably didn't hearall the things that were being
called in, like the army showedup.
You don't know how they showedup, right?
You linked up with golf company.
I don't know how we linked upwith golf company, but we did.
SPEAKER_01 (39:55):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (39:55):
Did did it seem disorienting, or did you just
focus on your mission as agunner?
SPEAKER_01 (40:00):
Yeah, I I think for the most part, I think that's
all I could focus on was my jobin my sector of, you know, just
what I can control.
We were fully trained, but I wasstill only 19 years old.
I didn't, you know, that's all Ithat's all I knew.
And so just based on instincts,the past couple days, that
(40:21):
definitely hardened us and likegot our minds and our you know,
our thought process likechanged, obviously.
And so I think we were moreaware like after that first that
first contact, like our headswere definitely on more of a
swivel for sure.
SPEAKER_02 (40:38):
Yeah, every day you went out after that, I'm sure
you prepared for those same kindof fights, whether that was what
you did or not.
SPEAKER_00 (40:44):
Yeah, for sure.
But any other uh uh I mean we'vetalked about the the big ones of
the uh early April, but do anyof the other missions stick out
to you that you were a part of?
Any of the other bug hunts orany of the hits that we did or
um yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_01 (41:01):
We were farther down in the palm groves on the
outskirts of town, like way pastcombat outpost, okay.
When they had the the cobrasshowed up.
SPEAKER_03 (41:12):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (41:13):
And I think we had some vehicles that like actually
got stuck out there.
SPEAKER_02 (41:17):
Was it the only actual time that we had close
air support with Cobras was onApril 10th.
SPEAKER_00 (41:22):
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (41:22):
Uh the only other time that air support was called
in and tried to arrive was farlater, and you wouldn't have
seen them because the pilot gotshot by small arms fire and they
returned to Taco.
Yeah, they they never made it.
Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (41:36):
So okay, so then when Cummins got hit, like I'm
that might have been at the tailend of all that.
I I I'm hoping that that was thesame day.
SPEAKER_02 (41:44):
It's all good, man.
Still the story was correct,whether you got the day right or
not.
SPEAKER_01 (41:48):
Yeah, yeah, definitely a story, but like,
because I'm thinking now is whenwe are, I don't know if it was
Echo Company we went to go help,but we were way out like in this
the marsh field, like in betweenthe palm groves.
And I I remember, oh my gosh, Iremember uh first Sergeant Mac
was out there with a freakingshotgun.
And uh man, uh we at some pointwe were like coming back, and
(42:13):
all of a sudden, like somehow inthis tall brush, there was like
a sniper.
The only reason I know thatbecause um there was a couple of
impact rounds like on the sideof my Hum V, almost almost kind
of where I'm like was would havebeen standing behind the gun.
And also there was a uh impactround near the on the driver's
(42:33):
door.
So like the dude was like withinrange, and so we kind of um I
think it was me and two othervehicles, we were coming back
when we we had this sniper waslike shooting at us.
I just remember we kind ofturned our guns to this open
field and we weren't quite surewhat where it was at, but we
started shooting that direction,and then I think once there was
(42:56):
no more rounds, like we weren'tgetting any contact, we went
that direction with the Humvees,you know, some on foot, and then
we eventually found the the dudeand we got his sniper rifle.
I have a picture of me holdingthat sniper rifle up.
Wow.
Um, and so that was that waspretty cool too.
And in the middle, like I said,we're in the middle of us like
(43:17):
patrolling, somehow firstsergeant Mac was like by a tree.
I remember him, like we weredriving kind of slowly driving
past him.
He's sitting there with hisshotgun.
I'm like, what's up, firstsergeant?
Yeah, I was like, this dude'sbadass, like just out there, you
know.
Well, that was yeah, that waspretty neat seeing him out there
(43:37):
and pretty sure Gunny Maroc was.
I don't know how likeheadquarters, like their platoon
or whatever was out there withus.
Yeah, maybe maybe they're likealong with uh Captain Wiler.
SPEAKER_02 (43:49):
They randomly attached out and usually they
spread themselves out, theyusually didn't all stay in one
big cluster.
So, like uh the CO would be withone platoon, the XO with a
different platoon, and and kindof doing different things, or if
all of them were out, and oftenit wasn't even all of them are
out, they all had differentdifferent roles and jobs.
But yeah, uh on the sixth, theseventh, the tenth, especially,
(44:11):
and all the other big ops, theyall went out with different
platoons.
SPEAKER_01 (44:15):
Yeah, just that's why that's the only thing I
couldn't remember if thathappened before we were coming
back down route Nova, or if thatwould have been like the certain
day.
I'd have to, you know, I'd haveto maybe talk to some of the
other guys that would sure.
SPEAKER_02 (44:31):
If you remember cobras, again, the only time we
had cobras on station was the10th.
SPEAKER_01 (44:34):
Oh, I remember being I remember like watching the
cobras and hearing them, and Iwas like, Yeah, get some because
they were like, Yeah, was thatwas cool.
SPEAKER_02 (44:43):
Yeah, what was interesting is they were firing
and not firing at any actualtargets.
Uh they were hitting uh nothingon the side of the river, uh,
because they were ordered not tofire in the city.
SPEAKER_01 (44:53):
Yeah, well, still scared the crap out of the
enemy, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_02 (44:56):
Yeah, but it scared me.
SPEAKER_01 (44:58):
So yeah, I definitely like, oh I was just
glad they showed up because thatwas uh yeah, that was pretty
neat.
SPEAKER_03 (45:04):
Good job force.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (45:06):
Um uh yeah, Muster, you act asked about um some
other dates.
Um, I mean, I go into moredetail about like probably a
couple more other you remember,whatever you want to go through.
SPEAKER_00 (45:18):
Anything that pops out or you know, anything weird,
funny, strange, any ghosts.
SPEAKER_01 (45:23):
Um now the funny stuff really didn't happen until
like we were you know about toabout to leave, but uh it's just
goofing around and stuff likethat.
But uh oh yeah, no, the coolest,like another one of the actual
the coolest stories was Ibelieve it was July the 29th.
We were escorting General Mattisuh through the city from I think
(45:45):
he was at Hurricane Point.
I'm sure he probably started atBlue Diamond, and then somehow
we escorted uh him.
But also the coolest thing aboutthat, well, we had battalion
headquarters, so Sergeant MajorBooker was was there because I
have uh I got video becauseOliver Oliver North's camera
crew was riding with our ourplatoon.
(46:07):
Yeah, yeah.
I had a camera guy literallylike sitting in the seat right
below me.
So we had this big long convoy.
This by the time this is thetime where I was in a different
home V, they actually gave uslike those up armor home V's uh
by this time.
Uh I think I was in a green one.
SPEAKER_02 (46:24):
You finally got an upgrade.
SPEAKER_01 (46:26):
Yeah, no kidding, which kind of sucked.
We they actually gave us thoselike soon after uh Sergeant
Connie got hit.
Of course.
Which yeah, which if he wasriding in one of these ones,
yeah, it probably wouldn't havewouldn't hit him.
But uh we're just a little toolate.
Yeah, so we were driving, weleft Hurricane Point, and I just
remember it was hot as crap thatday.
(46:48):
Like I could feel the heat likejust hitting my face.
I'm just standing up in theturret.
And uh so my gun was kind ofpointed maybe towards like two
o'clock, because normally wejust kind of you know alternate
what direction that we'repointing.
Um I was probably the middle ofthe convoy, and uh I see uh this
(47:08):
Iraqi taxi, orange and whitecar, sitting off on the side of
the road.
It was kind of in a weird spot,so that's kind of it kind of
triggered like in my head, likethis looks a little weird.
And so as I'm I'm watching it,it was probably about uh 50
yards at least, and I'm we'reslowly catching up to it.
And as I'm I'm watching thewhole thing, I'm I'm keeping my
(47:30):
eyes on it.
Soon as it leaves my vision,probably like half a second
later, like the suckerdetonates, and yeah, like huge
explosion, like right in betweenmy vehicle and the the next one
behind us.
Thank god, like it it missed.
And uh what I can remember is onvideo, like I all I can say is
(47:52):
like it I was yelling out, itmissed, it missed, F you, you
didn't get us.
Yeah, I was just like so pissedat that time.
Literally, all you can see islike the explode, like my leg,
and you can like you know see itkind of like rocking a little
bit, and then after that, likeuh Sergeant Lachard's on the
(48:14):
radio, like saying to whoever,like, yeah, it missed us.
Um, we all we stopped theconvoy.
I think we kind of just I don'tknow if the whole convoy
stopped.
I believe so, maybe for a littlebit.
I would have hoped so.
Made sure like you know, bothvehicles were good, and then we
kept going.
And so, yeah, that was theloudest thing I've ever heard.
Like, it was it was so stinkingloud.
(48:37):
Uh, it was just I don't knowwhat they had in that thing, but
it was yeah, it was a loud boom.
SPEAKER_02 (48:44):
I think I remember seeing that.
That was on uh Colonel North'sWar Stories show, right?
There, there was the video, andit's Lachard.
All that all you see is a dustcloud, and Lachard's on the
radio, and he's like, VB ID, VBID, it missed, and he like
throws the radio.
He's like, damn, you look somad.
SPEAKER_01 (49:04):
Yeah, that was okay.
So yeah, Oliver North, like heput that video out, and then my
parents actually played thatvideo.
Well, because they they had tobleep out, like, you know, some
stuff.
My parents played that video atour church.
Like, this is what my son'sdoing in Iraq.
(49:24):
He's on Oliver North.
Like, I was like, Oh, that'skind of you can see this is just
his leg, but you know, I waslike, that's but it was it was
crazy.
But uh, okay, so then the convoykept going, and then once we got
to Saddam Mosque, like that'swhen like all hell broke loose
again.
(49:44):
Like they started open them up.
I was on the left side, I waskind of near the the the back of
it of the convoy at that point,but we were engaging like a
couple of some buildings justbefore you got onto easy street.
Yeah, like it was really it wasprobably like a three or
four-story uh building.
SPEAKER_02 (50:03):
That was the the library, I think.
It was that was uh library op,but they you guys end up
shooting through, yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (50:10):
Yeah, and uh so at that point I was on the Mark 19
during that, and uh I started uhhitting that building with a
bunch of Mark 19 rounds.
Uh I and I have also on the onthe far right side we had a
couple vehicles that were kindof coming over on the the right
flank a little bit, suppressingit.
And uh I got video footage of umLatham videotaping himself while
(50:32):
he's driving with Cummins up onthe 50 cal, shooting at that
building.
And then Latham is literallysaying, Cummins is back in the
shit, Cummins is back in theshit.
Like he's getting some he'slike, Yeah, I was like, that's
it was it was hilarious.
Yeah, so I was I was back therein the battalion headquarters
(50:55):
vehicle was like right in frontof me.
I'm in the I'm in the turret.
All of a sudden I see SergeantMajor Booker pop his head up in
the turret, and like I don'tknow if he's got his his sniper
rifle or not, but like his M14.
Yeah, but uh yeah, likeBattalion Sergeant Major's just
sitting there like up in theturret, just like, all right,
(51:16):
I'm gonna get me some more.
It was just great.
And had a couple of like littlepogues that were kind of like
hiding behind the Hum V orwhatever, must have been the
driver or the RTO or whatever.
All right, I guess like as wewere engaging, uh at that point
the we kind of kept the convoylike rolling, and I was like the
(51:36):
second to last vehicle, and allof a sudden, like in the middle
of the the media, the the road,I kind of look over my right
shoulder a little bit, and I seelike a pile of like some gas
cans.
I don't know how nobody else sawthese, but I saw some gas cans
in the in the middle of theroad.
And I asked Sergeant Lachard,I'm like, hey, can I shoot
(52:00):
those?
And like all of a sudden he waslike, I don't know if we took
like some binoculars and looked,we couldn't see, but like he got
the clean he got the clearancefor me to to to shoot.
We just had to move one vehicleout of the way.
So the convoy was going likelet's say east.
Well, I was the the it was metback more towards the west, so I
(52:21):
kind of was facing the otherdirection.
And I didn't know this, butOliver North's camera crew, like
yeah, he was down there, hevideo he like I guess he
videotaped it, and um so myfirst burst like was a little
high, and then like the secondto last round of my next burst,
like I could see it flyingthrough the air, and all of a
(52:41):
sudden it hit it, and that loudthat humongous um just fireball
came from it.
I was just like, holy crap, Icould it was probably about
maybe 40 yards from me or so.
I I could like I could feel alittle bit of the heat from it.
So I don't know if you likestill had the have you ever seen
(53:02):
that the disc that they sent usof the 2-4 of that deployment.
SPEAKER_02 (53:06):
Yeah, but yeah, I don't know where I have it, but
I have it somewhere.
SPEAKER_01 (53:09):
Yeah, that little that big fireball, like yeah,
that very just briefly showsthat's yeah, that was me like
shooting that sucker.
SPEAKER_02 (53:17):
Oh, that's awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (53:18):
That's awesome.
And I I didn't even know what Ijust took a hunch and just like
what the heck, you know, arethese gas cans sitting here for?
And and so I was like, hey, letme shoot it.
So yeah, just another one ofthose, like I'm kind of curious
or just an instinct type ofthing.
But um, yeah.
So then after that, we ended upthe whole convoy went back to a
(53:41):
combat outpost, and uh I got apicture of map three and General
Mattis.
So that's yeah, pretty sweet.
SPEAKER_02 (53:49):
That's super awesome.
Yeah, cool, man.
We were talking about there weresome funny things towards the
end of the deployment.
I'd love to hear some of thosetoo.
I remember playing uh we playeddodgeball outside you guys hooch
and stuff.
Like I remember that shit washilarious.
I remember a lot of funny mapthree.
SPEAKER_01 (54:03):
I got a video of you wearing a mask and what's uh I
forgot it starts with an M.
SPEAKER_02 (54:10):
Matroca?
SPEAKER_01 (54:11):
Yeah, Matroca.
And he says on there, oh,they're scared of fucking mask
man, and you're sitting herelike your skinny ass was like
throwing a dodgeball.
Yeah, yeah.
Uh let's see.
I mean, I just remember, yeah, Iwas uh it was great playing
volleyball and horseshoes andstuff, like on some downtime.
SPEAKER_02 (54:32):
But uh oh yeah, I forgot about the horseshoe set.
That's right.
You guys had a horseshoe pitlike right in front of the
hooch.
SPEAKER_01 (54:37):
Let's see.
I don't remember what I have Ihave it dated on a photo.
It's not funny, but um kind ofit would be funny to us, you
guys would um that the fact thathow many of us idiots went
outside when we heard mortars orrockets shooting off instead of
instead of taking cover.
(54:58):
Uh but you know, we're all like,well, it's the ones you can't
hear, is the are the bad ones.
So I mean and then were youthere when rocket hit one of
those comics boxes?
Oh yeah, like set on fire.
SPEAKER_02 (55:10):
I was right next to it.
We were getting on the trucks,yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (55:13):
Yeah, that was uh right across the street from
yeah, from our hooch, probablywhat, 50 feet, maybe not not
far, right?
SPEAKER_02 (55:20):
Literally right across the road.
SPEAKER_01 (55:22):
Yeah.
And uh, well, and then someother times before that, we're
lucky that we put sandbags allalong our back because we got it
got peppered by a couple ofrockets, like uh on the whole
back side of our hooch.
SPEAKER_02 (55:37):
Yeah, I was just flipping through some pictures
the other day, and most of thehooches have like huge shrapnel
marks on them where we justthere's always stuff hitting
right next to it.
SPEAKER_00 (55:48):
I got a I got a great one where there's an
impact just maybe 18 inches offthe side of a wall between two
of the hooch to between ourhooch hooch and uh I guess it
would have been the companyoffice, but anyways, that would
have sucked because that wasalso when we still had the uh
the soft coat yeah, soft copper.
Yeah, tight flap just straightin.
SPEAKER_01 (56:09):
Well, and I was thinking, like, even after they
took those off, they put like uhwhat this so like thin metal
roof.
Oh, yeah, it was like a shedroof.
SPEAKER_02 (56:18):
Yeah, it was nothing.
That was not inflated shed roof.
SPEAKER_01 (56:21):
That was not gonna stop anything either.
We were like, oh yeah, we're somuch more protected.
Maybe it like you know, ithelped the if the air
conditioning was working, youknow, maybe it you know cooled
up.
SPEAKER_02 (56:36):
Right, it kept it a little cooler.
SPEAKER_01 (56:37):
Yeah, that was that was kind of funny.
Um, I got some video of us likehitting golf balls across the
the river.
SPEAKER_02 (56:44):
Oh like trying to hit I forgot about that.
SPEAKER_01 (56:47):
A couple guys like actually got it across over to
Blue Diamond.
Like I wasn't ever good at golf,but like, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (56:54):
I uh I remember I distinctly remember that sitting
on the edge of the Euphrates andusing I think it was like a
one-wood or two wood to hit golfballs at blue at the at the
division headquarters where allof the generals were hit the
generals' offices with golfballs.
SPEAKER_01 (57:11):
Probably just the motor pool, but you know, yeah.
That's awesome.
See, I don't know.
Maybe you can like I don't know,man.
SPEAKER_02 (57:18):
That's a pretty good one.
I forgot about that.
I think I remember rememberSilton hitting the building.
That's what I remember.
He was a little bit of a littlebit of a little bit of a little
bit of a little bit of prettygood at.
Yeah, he was he was good.
SPEAKER_00 (57:28):
Big dude was pretty good at hitting them golf balls.
I remember we got some uh tasersat one point and uh started
doing some uh experiments on uhon on what tasers can do.
Nice.
That's just training.
SPEAKER_01 (57:42):
I mean, that was ridiculous.
SPEAKER_00 (57:49):
If you like what you've heard, this is a multi
part episode.
Make sure you listen to the restof the story.
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