December 24, 2025 • 46 mins
Brian Fox, combat replacement of Rainmaker Platoon, joins us for part two and takes us straight back to Ramadi: where a pre-mission ritual, a bad gut feeling, and a freshly installed ballistic windshield become the slender line between luck and loss. The moment you heard “I’m not feeling it today,” you could feel the air change. He recounts brotherhood from a Humvee’s cab to life after the war.
• pre-mission ritual and a bad gut feeling
• IED blast on Route Nova
• improvised armor, gear tradeoffs
• disguises, mustache fiasco, and base culture
• care packages and field hacks
• night-vision footage and urban ambush tactics
• Bradleys shooting up the hotel and command presence
• interpreters, loyalty, and unresolved endings
• poetry in the truck and bonds that last
• separating from the Corps and rebuilding a life
• honoring fallen friends and staying connected
• Ramadi’s scale and the role of replacements
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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_03 (00:34):
This is part two of our interview with Brian Fox
with Rainmaker Platoon.
SPEAKER_02 (00:40):
And then um and and then the the routine um the
routine in the Humvees, if itwas a good one.
Um so we would stage day daymission, night mission, QRF or
whatever, and and we would allsit in.
So it was me on the driver, andthen Sergeant G, and then and
then our gunner Furby.
Um I would I would pull out theCopenhagen.
(01:02):
You you smoked, dipped or orsnorted snuff, right?
You know, that's what you didover there.
And I I did them all.
Um, but we would I would get theCopenhagen long cut because I I
don't have a pocket for snufffor some reason, and and I would
take a dip and I would pass itover to Sergeant G, and then
he'd pass it over to the gunneror Furby, and we'd all put the
dip in it, and and he was like,How you feeling today, Fox?
(01:23):
And I'd be like, I'm feelinggood, we're gonna get them,
let's just get back, you know,stuff like that.
And then this will lead into mystory is is um we were we were
reacting to um uh QRF, anotherline company thing, and and we
get in there, I take my dip, hetakes his dip, we pass it off to
him, and he was like, How youfeeling today, Fox?
And I go, I'm actually notfeeling it today.
(01:44):
And he goes, I'm not feeling iteither.
And I was like, Well, whatwhatever it is, certainly I'll
see it in, we'll be all right,you know.
And so so we go out and I Ibelieve we had contact, and for
whatever reason, we're goingback.
When what I remember on thestory is we were we were we were
fearful of chemicals orsomething like that, and and we
wanted to go back and get ourgas mask because for whatever
(02:06):
reason we didn't have our gasmask on us.
If that's true or not, I don'tknow.
Um but but we decided that wewanted to take Route Nova back,
and then the left, the left thatwe were taking uh right before
the hospital as we're headingback, is is the first vehicle
went, and I'm making the left.
And now now at the time, a fewside stories.
(02:28):
Um we would Frankenstein ourvehicles, right?
So any piece of metal that wethought would armor, we would
put on the Humvees, any deliveryof new something we would put on
it.
So I had I called it thethree-quarter doors, so it was
like maybe the half-inch orquarter inch steel.
If you're sitting down in achair, that's what it covered.
(02:49):
Your silhouette sitting down ona side profile, and everything
else was open.
So, like the the mirror, themirror of the Humvee, I could
touch, you know, through theopening.
And two days, two days beforethat mission, we just got a
delivery of ballisticwindshields for the highback.
So, so um I always called on themechanics.
(03:09):
You have the tinkers in yourplatoon, they were the ones that
would always go to motor pooland like start to bolt on stuff.
Or I picture I picture themtrying to weld something, maybe
bubblegum weld stuff on yourtruck trying to get armor, but
they changed out the windshieldtwo days before.
So now let's fast forward.
So the first vehicle makes thatleft, and I make that left, and
I remember seeing a just uhthere's plenty of trash in the
(03:31):
town, but just this burlap sack,it looked out of place, and I'm
staring at this thing, and thenext thing I'm out.
I I wake up and I'm staring atthe shifter, you know.
So I'm I'm spread out all theway across, pretty much in
Sergeant G's lap, probably, andand I'm just like probably the
the the exact same feelings youhave.
What the hell just happened?
You know, what was that?
(03:52):
But right when I woke up, Iremember Sergeant G telling me a
story that in in the IED thatthat got savage, that that the
Hum V continued rolling and itwent down a ditch with everyone
inside.
And I remember thinking rightwhen I right when I came to that
we were still moving, so Islammed on the brakes.
(04:13):
And and when you when he tellshis side of the story, he goes,
Yeah, we got hit, and all of asudden I felt the vehicle
stopping, you know, real hard.
And I knew that you were okay,and thank God he was stopping
because I didn't want to go downa down a hillside again.
And so, so I remember getting upand just just that feeling, like
everything was like flashburn.
(04:34):
I it felt like I was likesunburnt or on fire or something
like that, and just confused,and that sound and everything.
And I remember Sergeant G likeasking, like, are you hit?
Are you hit?
And him asking me if I'm hit,that's where I got like started
to freak out, you know, pattingyourself, you got some blood on
your hands and stuff like that.
And I was like, I don't fuckingknow, I can't see myself, you
know.
And I I remember really freakingout on that.
(04:55):
Um really feeling uncomfortable,like you have no control in that
situation.
Yeah, um, but I told you thewindshield story because because
in that windshield, uh I sayit's a piece of rebar, maybe a
piece of concrete.
There was a big old foot-long ofsomething in that windshield,
just like caved in right inthere.
That windshield took that blast,and if it didn't, that was my
(05:16):
head level right there.
In the in the frame of thatwindshield, uh, where that
opening, there was a big chunkof concrete, and then the gunner
took some um um a rock orsomething in his inner thigh.
And the only way that can get inthere, it didn't go through the
windshield.
The only way that can get hisinner thigh, which is like right
beside my head over here, wasright across the face.
(05:37):
Yeah, so so someone was someonewas watching me.
The stars aligned that day.
Thank God the windshield linedup.
Thank God the tinkers put it infor me, and then uh whatever it
is, but but uh I because of thatday, I'm I'm one that follows
your gut.
If you have a feeling, follow ittoo well, sure, because both
Sergeant G and I, we we calledthat.
It didn't feel right that day,and whatever it is, I'd see it
(05:59):
and try to avoid it.
And uh man, yeah, it all cametrue that day.
And then out of that, I Ibelieve I think you guys, uh
Sledgehammer, I think you guyswere a QRF or something like
that.
And you guys came out and wetowed strapped that vehicle, and
they asked if I could still getin it and try to help steer it
because the vehicle is dead,every all the tires are flat,
(06:21):
but we were close enough wewanted to tow it, and so we and
we were driving so slow, and I'msitting in that vehicle all by
myself, and I was like, Oh, I'mabout to die, you know, they're
about to get another IED off ofme right now.
And we we we got to we got tohurricane point and then they
they got me over to BAS, did allthat stuff.
Um I I was only out for a fewdays.
(06:43):
I was I was mainly peppered, youknow, then the mirror blew in me
and everything uh like that.
Um it was weird for for a while.
You know, I'll just say that I Ipulled out something out of my
face a year later.
I don't I don't know what thehell, but it was very weird the
amount of stuff that was thatwas uh I took home with me that
I probably shouldn't have, youknow, from my wrath in my skin.
(07:05):
Um, but we got there and and Iremember asking Sergeant G, and
he's like, he's very respectful.
If if if you didn't want to dosomething to a certain limit, he
was gonna like listen to you andtry to honor that, you know.
And he was like, Hey, are youfine enough to still drive me?
And I go, Yeah, I'll drive you.
I go, but please don't thinkless of me.
I was like, Can I have a throatprotector, please?
(07:27):
He's like, I will get you athroat protector.
So he got me that Kevlar throatprotector that snaps in the two
things right there.
And uh he knew when I wasuncomfortable or I didn't feel
right because I would tuck mychin in like a turtle, you know,
when I was driving around.
So he knew something was up.
So yeah, so he he knew I wasuncomfortable, but I wanted my
(07:47):
throat protector.
I guess it was like like mysecurity blanket, I guess, while
I was out there.
SPEAKER_04 (07:52):
Everybody needs a binky sometimes, yeah.
Right, that's what it was.
That's what it was.
SPEAKER_03 (07:57):
Yeah, we used to do all kinds of weird shit like
that.
We had those ballistic blanketsthat were meant to protect the
tow system, and we would drapethose over the windows uh for
the guys in the back seat andstuff.
Like, I don't know that thatwould have stopped shit, but it
sure made you feel a littlebetter, like there was something
that was gonna stop those rocksthat come flying through and all
kinds of shit.
(08:17):
Because I mean it didn't takemuch to take you out of the
fight, man, and and an eyeballor something like that would
definitely do it.
And that's yeah, fuck that.
I don't blame you for asking forthe throat protector.
That was smart.
SPEAKER_02 (08:28):
Yeah, I did it.
I I probably wanted those.
Remember the shoulder protectorstoo?
Oh, yeah.
I was like, I was like, I don't,I don't want to look like that.
I don't need that.
SPEAKER_03 (08:38):
Well, at least for us, we trialed them and then our
gunners couldn't get in the gunsappropriately.
Like you can still fire a 50 calbecause that was just you know
thumb spades.
But if you were trying to shoota 240 or something like that,
you couldn't do it.
And it just messed with yourmobility and your ability to get
the gun in the pocket, and sothey they would leave them out.
SPEAKER_02 (08:55):
Yeah.
Yeah, wild, wild times, man.
SPEAKER_04 (08:58):
I was uh I was one of the I definitely run around
with my groin protector on.
I was uh I had my little stopsign flap right in front of uh
the the family jewels.
I had no shame.
I kept I had a throat protectortoo.
I was gonna take any advantage Icould get.
SPEAKER_02 (09:14):
I don't I don't blame you.
I was there with you, man.
So yeah, tucking it in.
I didn't feel right.
You know, I don't like this.
So crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy.
Funny, funny story is um I mayhave screwed you guys at one
point.
I remember so you guys rememberthat you guys would put I think
(09:37):
they're mostly Mexicans.
You guys, you guys took peoplethat kind of looked Iraqi, grew
their beards out, and yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:47):
So have you guys have you guys told that story at
all?
SPEAKER_03 (09:50):
So those four guys, those four guys that did well, I
don't know.
Maybe you guys did somethingelse.
Please tell the story.
SPEAKER_01 (09:55):
But if you're talking about it, it was you
guys.
I was just yeah, go ahead.
SPEAKER_03 (10:00):
If you're talking about Sergeant Major Booker's
thing, yeah, yeah.
Book Booker is Irish, he's notMexican at all, he just got a
good tan.
SPEAKER_00 (10:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (10:09):
Uh two of the guys were Middle Eastern.
One was Hekmati, who's Persian,but at least he's in the Middle
East.
I don't know the other guy'sethnicity, but he was Middle
Eastern of some sort.
I think he was Lebanese.
SPEAKER_04 (10:22):
I I was just gonna say I think he's Lebanese.
SPEAKER_03 (10:24):
Yeah, but the fourth guy was Sakaki, and Sakaki is
half Japanese.
So Where the hell did I getMexican from then?
I I don't know.
I mean, they all they're allswarthy brown looking dudes.
SPEAKER_02 (10:36):
Yeah.
Yeah, you they they they wouldgrow up their beards, you know,
and uh be uh you got they wouldadd like maybe the maybe the toe
blanket that you're talkingabout on the inside panel of the
taxi vehicle that we confiscatedand they would drive around.
I remember talking to one ofthem, he's like, dude, they
definitely know who they who weare.
They're staring at us the wholetime, but it's probably just the
(10:58):
paranoia, you know, of someonelooking at them and everything.
So yeah, wild.
Can you imagine having that muchtension driving through a town,
no, no convoy, no nothing likethat?
SPEAKER_03 (11:09):
Yeah, it was a good idea, a bad execution, but very
good idea as far as you knowtrying to be incognito.
SPEAKER_02 (11:16):
But well, so where where I may have screwed you and
connected to that story is Iremember every everyone has
their um calling stories, right?
Everyone got more mortared whilethey're on the phone and
everything else like that,right?
But I was I was in that callcenter.
By the way, I spent probablythree thousand dollars in
calling cards out there.
It was wild.
(11:37):
But I remember talking to my momand dad, and I was telling them,
I was like, Yeah, they they grewout their beards and they did
this.
And I was like, I was like, mom,I need to look more Iraqi, and
she goes, Excuse me.
And I as you guys see on thecamera, I'm I'm I'm now a little
gray but blonde naturally.
And I told her, I was like, mom,go out and buy me some just for
beard, just for men, beard andmustache tie.
(11:59):
And I want it jet black.
I want it jet black so I looklike I have an Iraqi mustache,
please.
There was also a little comedyin there, too, you know, because
when you're back at camp, youjust want to lighten the mood
and just have fun andeverything.
So I remember I remember uh theythey were out and and I had my
little caterpillar.
I I have a full beard now, thankgod it came comes in thick, but
(12:21):
at the time I couldn't go crap.
So I had the the deploymentmustache that everyone does, and
I'm all proud of that.
And I I dyed that thing jetblack, and it just looks so
stupid, absolutely dumb.
And I remember I wanted to showit off, so I went to the the
chow tent and let's just say itwas lunchtime, and I'm I'm in
line and I grab my tray and andsomeone goes, uh Maureen, is
(12:44):
that uh mustache in regulation?
It looks completely fake on meat this point in my smart ass,
and I go, I don't know, it's onmy face, I can't see it.
And I turn around and it's theBC.
SPEAKER_00 (12:55):
And I was like, son of a bitch, you know.
SPEAKER_02 (13:00):
He goes, he goes, Yeah, that doesn't look right.
I think you should go shave.
And I go, Oh, like right now?
He's like, Yeah, why don't yougo shave right now?
So I shaved, and I swear to you,I think it was two hours later,
it was a mandatory no-facialhair order that came across, and
everyone had to shave theirmustache.
SPEAKER_04 (13:18):
Motherfucker.
SPEAKER_02 (13:19):
If you remember that, that was me.
SPEAKER_04 (13:21):
Yeah, no, I'm I no, I I remember being in very hey.
Now I know that the the thestory has been completed because
I had to shave off my amazingmustache that I had that uh that
was actually more of a 70s pornmustache, but that's fine.
SPEAKER_02 (13:35):
Oh are we are we ending are we ending the podcast
out of frustration now?
SPEAKER_04 (13:43):
Yeah, it was right around then that I also got in
trouble because I had grown uh II was uh I always tried to be
extra motor over there and I soI gave myself a horseshoe
haircut, but I would that I letmy hair grow really long that
wasn't part of the the shaveddown part.
And so it had grown like two anda half inches long.
And uh when I had to shave mymustache, I was like, you gotta
(14:07):
shave your head too, son.
SPEAKER_02 (14:08):
Yep, yeah.
Well, now now you know I knowit's been bothering you all
these years.
Why did why was it mandatory toshave mustaches?
SPEAKER_04 (14:16):
I'll finally get a solid night's sleep by a premium
that I went to.
SPEAKER_01 (14:22):
It looks so dumb.
It looks stupid.
But my hey, my mom listened.
She followed through.
Thanks, Mom.
Thanks, Linda.
That's awesome.
SPEAKER_04 (14:32):
No, we got some wild stuff in those care packages,
some of those care packages,too.
SPEAKER_02 (14:36):
That was uh oh man, mail was gold, was it not?
SPEAKER_04 (14:41):
Oh, it really was.
Well, especially when the coupleof those times that we didn't
get um resupplied right, and sowe were eating out of our uh
care packages just to yep, yep.
SPEAKER_02 (14:52):
No, that that was nice.
And and you know what was reallycool is just looking back,
everyone's suffering, buteveryone's sharing.
So, like if I got something, itwas like, come on over, you
know.
It was like uh I guess wedidn't, I didn't even know a
charcuterie board was a thingback in the day, but that's
that's what we were doing, youknow, uh on the bed.
SPEAKER_04 (15:10):
So actually thinking of uh this care packages, uh I
haven't thought about thisforever, but uh so one of uh in
one of the care packages,somebody sent over like a
10-pound bag of uh um gummybears.
Oh but by the time but the thingis is that by the time it got to
me in the 3,000 degree heat, uhit when I pulled it out, it was
(15:34):
just nothing but like it wasliquid.
And it was like gelatinouslyliquid.
And so I I went into the back, Igrabbed my e-tool, I dug a like
a two-foot hole and buried it soit would like form back up, and
I pulled it back out, and I andit was just this giant block,
and I was cutting off big chunksof it with my K-bar and giving
it to people.
SPEAKER_01 (15:55):
It was like a mystery flavor.
That's that's awesome.
You got like this jelly bear,you know, size pancake now.
You know, it was the damn thingwas like a just a goddamn brick.
SPEAKER_02 (16:06):
Yeah, that's awesome.
That is awesome.
Yeah, you know, yeah.
I I know my mom, you know, shealways sent me summer sausage
and crackers and all that otherstuff, but I I was a smoker at
the time, and she would refuseto send me American cigarettes,
she would not do it, you know.
I was like, come on, you know, Ireally want a good cigarette
here.
SPEAKER_03 (16:25):
Dude, because the Iraqi cigarettes were awful.
SPEAKER_02 (16:27):
Yeah, yeah.
Humma humorabi was like greentobacco.
Yeah, humorabi's in Sumeres orsomething like that.
And pine pine was the one Iremember because that fucking
thing was disgusting.
And and I remember like youwould have to take a cigarette,
you'd have to put the pack tothe side and grab it and pull it
out sideways, you know, soeverything didn't fall out.
SPEAKER_03 (16:49):
Yeah, you know, like yeah, yeah, they were so loosely
packed, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (16:53):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
unknown (16:55):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (16:57):
Hey, hey, the the memories you get when you're
telling stories, right?
Yeah, no shit.
SPEAKER_04 (17:01):
Oh man, they would make your just lungs burn, man.
SPEAKER_02 (17:04):
Yeah.
Uh another another funny storyis is I remember so I'm I'm
naturally a night owl, you know.
I I could switch to a nightschedule like that.
And so we were on night missionsor QRF.
It was it was easy for me totransition.
And I remember it was the middleof the night, and you remember
the washer and spin dryer was upat the palace?
(17:24):
Yep, you guys remember that?
Okay, and so middle of thenight, I'm washing my camis, and
then we air dried them, youknow.
And I remember I was grabbing myclothes, and out of nowhere,
this shadowy figure walks up,and it's an older gentleman.
He goes, He goes, Hey Maureen,how's the water pressure today?
I go, good enough to do laundry,you know.
And I was like, have a goodnight.
And I walk off and I go, Hey,there's this old guy, you know,
(17:48):
on base.
He was he's not really like in auniform.
I go, who the hell's here?
And someone's like, Oh, OliverNorth is visiting us.
He's he's hanging out with thebattalion for a little bit.
So I met Oliver North doinglaundry in the middle of the
night.
That was my first time I evermet him.
And then I I think I think thetown actually reared up while he
was there because I rememberseeing Oliver North.
(18:09):
Like we we were out for most ofthe day, and and we went out or
we went to Snake Pit to get moreammo.
And I remember him running andhim coming out with like bags of
oranges, and he's throwing themin the Humvee.
And he he wanted us to haveoranges out in the field just in
case we had to stay out therelong enough.
I was like, that's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_03 (18:28):
Nice.
SPEAKER_02 (18:29):
So yeah, he had a he did a couple of book signings,
and and I was at one of them.
I wanted to go up and like shakehis hand and just tell him I was
like, and in fact, I have videoof him uh grabbing the oranges.
And the reason I have videos isremember when I told you when we
staged that cat platoon wasthere and then went to a
different battalion?
We had a guy named uh uh RossMata.
(18:51):
Uh he's he's no longer with usor anything.
Um, but he was trying to getlike footage and he wanted to
sell footage uh at the time.
I mean, this is 2004, so it'snot like we had cell phones.
So he bought 10 10 small videocameras and tilt 10 still lives,
and he gave it to differentpeople that were going different
areas, and he gave me a videocamera and a still camera, and
(19:12):
the agreement was is I wouldturn in all the footage and
stuff, and then he would give melike one master copy.
Um, so so what I did is it'sit's like a video game.
I I took a piece of ISO mat andI taped it on the left-hand side
of the the guards on the M16,and it was perfect where I could
slip in the camera and like yousee the barrel of the gun and
(19:35):
the sight and everything atwhere I was aiming.
You invented GoPro, yeah, yeah,I really did.
You know, I really, really did.
And then um, so I got I got alot of video.
I I remember one, I I had it on,and we were we were out in town,
it was nighttime, so I'm usingthe MVGs, and the the a lot of
(19:57):
us were out.
Um night, night and and QRF andmissions, and maybe some more.
I don't know why we were out inthe middle of the night.
And I I remember that I was Iwas probably halfway into the
convoy, it was a long convoy,and and I I remember we're going
through a clustered area of ofRamadi, a lot of buildings, and
(20:19):
I remember through the nightvision, I saw two two streaks
across of it from the right handside to the left hand side.
I was like RPGs, RPGs, RPGs.
You know, and we saw it, and weall herringbone, and everyone's
everyone's turning over to theright side.
And then I said earlier, I mean,they're not dumb and their
tactics are smart at times.
(20:40):
From the rooftops to our leftwas machine guns.
So the RPGs came from the right.
We herringboned it, we're allfacing right, and then it was
machine guns from the right, andthen we're or the left, and we
just all countered and aiming atrooftops.
And and I got video of I had thevideo camera on, and it's it's
me standing behind Furby becauseeveryone else is on the street
(21:02):
on the side of the buildings,and then they're like, Fox, get
up against the building.
So I remember running, and I'mtrying to narrate, you know,
like a news guy is like, allright, contact came from the
right, you know, blah, blah,blah, blah.
You know, and just you hear thebreathing and you hear the the
the how lost you are and stufflike that, you know, in the
video.
So I I have all that stuff.
Uh really cool.
(21:23):
Yeah, another footage I have isum I think everyone has pictures
of us.
What what event happened wherewe're out in town and everyone
was shooting up that hotel ormotel or whatever it is, and we
had we had the arm arm uh armyBradleys come in and stuff like
that.
What was that event?
SPEAKER_03 (21:44):
So it depends on which one you're talking about,
there's two that were like that.
One was OP Library got uh theyset off explosives uh in it and
tried to take out the guys ontop.
There was, I think it was FoxCompany that was on top.
It was over by Saddam's Mosque.
And then there was another onethat was a little further down
by the agricultural buildings,and I don't remember what kicked
(22:05):
that off, but it was a hugeL-shaped ambush between that
tall hotel building that you'retalking about where the Bradleys
came in and shot it up.
And I yeah, I think everybodyhas some kind of footage of
that.
Uh because the Bradley just camein and started raking the
building back and forth withthat 25 millimeter crazy.
But everybody was out then.
I mean, the BC was out, sergeantmajors running around
(22:25):
everywhere, like there's peopleeverywhere.
SPEAKER_02 (22:27):
Yeah, yeah, I got I got video from that day.
I I got us lighting up.
I mean, there was there was like50 people and then humbies and
everything.
It was just line lighting up allthe windows and everything.
I got full video of all that,you know.
Yeah, so it was interesting.
SPEAKER_04 (22:42):
If if that was the same day, I think there was
something I think there wasanother larger ambush because I
feel like that's the I think Ithink a couple of us got pulled
out for that.
And I remember I remember makingmovement to contact on some
reason, and then that kind ofended there.
Like, I don't know if we likepushed them into that building.
(23:03):
I don't know.
I to my memory of it, but Ican't remember it.
SPEAKER_03 (23:07):
Yeah, yeah.
To my memory, that was late Julybecause it was super ass hot.
It was a pretty good sizeL-shape ambush, and you're
right, we were kind of followingthe enemy, and I don't know if
they hold up in that building orif that was they already had
guys staged there, but that waswhy we ended up lighting up that
building is because we took firefrom like six different floors
on that hotel all at the sametime, and so rather than going
(23:31):
in to clear it, we were like,Well, we'll just clear it with
bullets.
Fuck it.
SPEAKER_04 (23:36):
There's no building left, they can't shoot from the
floors.
SPEAKER_02 (23:39):
Yeah, yeah, there was there's a lot, there's a lot
of lead in that building forsure.
Taking a look at a couple ofnotes here.
Do you guys remember thedodgeball day?
SPEAKER_03 (23:47):
Depends on which one you're talking about, because we
played dodgeball.
Oh, was there multiple?
Yeah, I remember there was weplayed dodgeball all the time.
SPEAKER_02 (23:53):
Okay, okay.
Maybe I just watched one ofthem, but I thought, how cool is
that that everyone's playingdodgeball, just this dust cloud,
you know, uh of everyone justplaying and having fun.
Uh it was awesome.
Uh, I remember we we always hadin our in our in our room, um, a
lot of us played risk.
And so it was quite hilarious tome.
(24:14):
In the middle, in the middle ofour area in our hangout, um, we
had a big table, big old seriousgame of risk.
Like it was very serious.
And then it was funny that youknow you would be called up for
QRF, everyone gear up, Eye ofthe Tigers playing in the
background by me.
You go out, you do your mission,you come back, you take off your
gear, and they're like, Hey, getback over here.
We need to finish this game, youknow.
(24:35):
So but that that wrist board wasalways set up.
And then I I remember like wewould watch we would watch like
TV series that were mailed to usor something on on DVD or
whatever, um, as a platoon.
I remember everyone had like achair of some sort, and we'd all
gather up in the front of thesquabe or the the hooch or
(24:58):
whatever, and we have thesmallest TV, you know, and the
whole platoon is just watchinglike this TV series.
I don't remember what it was,but I remember I was definitely
hooked on it.
Like I like we would stay outway too late.
One more episode, one moreepisode, you know, and we're
watching that.
Um hanging out with everyone,and like you said, of course,
everyone played cards andeverything else like that.
(25:20):
So yeah, it was an experience.
SPEAKER_03 (25:24):
Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_02 (25:26):
It was a long time ago, guys.
SPEAKER_03 (25:28):
Oh 21 years ago.
SPEAKER_02 (25:30):
Yeah, yeah.
You remember quite a lot for 21years.
That's good, dude.
I think that we're now the agethat I remember watching or
growing up, you know, we'rewe're the age that I remember
the Vietnam beds at.
Yeah, it's crazy.
SPEAKER_03 (25:44):
Yeah, that's that's what uh when me and Blake were
talking about before we evenstarted this podcast, that was
something he brought up in it.
And I immediately had that likeI aged 50 years in my own mind
and became a crippled up oldman.
Exactly, yeah, where he becomesfrom young Ryan to the old man
(26:04):
at the graveside.
Yeah, that was me.
Yeah, but it but you're right.
All the like you think of likesome of the most epic Vietnam
movies were early 80s, late 80s,and it's it's almost the same
time frame.
It's like almost you know 20years right afterward.
SPEAKER_04 (26:20):
Yeah, yeah, that's wild.
On the same lines, I had thisepiphany.
I was talking to my son uh lastnight, and uh I realized that
the gear that we used in bootcamp, all that Alice gear that
was like Vietnam era would bethe same age as the in boot
(26:40):
camp, they're using the gearthat we used over in Iraq.
SPEAKER_02 (26:43):
Oh yeah, so I I have I have a uh high school friend.
His son, his son entered theMarine Corps five or six years
ago, and and so I went to hisgraduation and did all that
other stuff, and then here-enlisted and he became a
recruiter.
So he went to recruiter schooland and he sent me a picture one
(27:07):
day, and it was at the themuseum on um uh N C R D.
I think I think he went toschool at NCRD actually for
recruiters.
But I don't know.
There's a museum wherever hewent, and he sent me pictures of
woodland camis and the M1682 andstuff like that.
And I go, I go, okay.
I said, I said, that's cool.
(27:27):
That's the gear I rolled aroundwith.
I go, are you calling me old orsomething?
He goes, No, sir, I'd never saythat, but your gear is in a
museum.
SPEAKER_00 (27:33):
I go, you son of that's called tact.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (27:41):
Yeah, that's that's fantastic.
I guess technically he didn'tsay it.
So yeah, but but guys, guys,we're at that age.
SPEAKER_03 (27:50):
So yeah, no shit.
SPEAKER_02 (27:54):
Yeah, you know, one one I was talking to Sergeant G
too, and one one thing I remindhim of is uh all the hours
spent, you know, just in thatvehicle.
And and if I was in the vehicleand we're on LPOP, I was I was
with him, and and all that timespent with him, you know, um, I
I say we got close.
Uh I I tell you, I follow mygut.
(28:15):
I'm also a person that believes,you know, things happen for
reasons, you know, and and thenyou know, I feel that you know I
was there for him, he was therefor me.
I I really believe that therewas a reason he picked me and
and and just us supporting eachother.
Um, I know he I respected him,him him respected me.
He gave me a lot ofopportunities and stuff like
that.
I'm thankful for it.
(28:36):
Um one one of the the favoritethings, and maybe he doesn't
want me to tell you this, butone of our favorite things to do
as a truck, so so me, him, andthen Furby, I hope that he I
hope he doesn't take that as aninsult.
I I've called him that the wholetime, but uh one of our favorite
things to do to pass time was wewould actually do poetry
sessions together, believe it ornot.
(28:58):
And and it would be as a group,we had to pick a theme, and uh,
and then it was it was like acommittee of us three to move on
to the next person.
Those three had to agree thatwas worthy to be part of that
poem on on whatever the themewas.
So whatever the theme was, if Istarted, I'd be like, hey,
whatever, whatever, whatever.
(29:18):
Yeah, that's good, no rethinkit, stuff like that.
And then it would go to SergeantG and that.
We would burn hours doing that.
And and he was like, We did dothat.
And I go, I think we have uh Ihave some of them written down,
but one of them that I remember,my my girlfriend at the time, it
was her birthday, her birthdayis June 11th, and and I wanted
to write her a poem uh to togive to my brother to have um
(29:44):
flowers delivered.
So I wanted the message to bethe poem, and so that was the
theme of the day, and they allhelped me create this poem.
Well, uh that poem must haveworked magic because as of next
year, she's my wife of 20 years.
You know, oh that's awesome! Igot it, and and and I don't
remember the whole thing, butwhen we were talking the other
week, I I I I tried to recitesome of it, and it was like, so
(30:07):
this is what we do.
Each each person gave a line,and it was um, these miles can
never deny me that I find myselfso frisky because you can do me
in ways that are so damn sexy orsomething like that.
unknown (30:19):
It was like the intro.
SPEAKER_02 (30:22):
So it was just hours and hours of these sessions just
together as a group, just tojust to break up the you know
the monotony of of of sittingthere, you know.
And absolutely it's just it'sjust hours and days of board
boredness for seconds or minutesof chaos, you know.
Um, so you you gotta findsomething to do.
(30:43):
And I wanted to share that.
That's that's something that ourtruck did together.
It's it's a memory I have.
SPEAKER_03 (30:48):
Dude, that's awesome.
And uh what's funny is I Iplenty of people walk out of the
core and they're like, you know,fuck this place.
I hate everybody, I'm leaving,and I'm glad I got my DD214 and
I'm running away.
And then other people they stayin forever or whatever, and or
you know, whatever they did.
And people are always like,Well, well, what did you miss?
(31:11):
Like, what do you miss about it?
Why do you why why are Marinesvery fanatical about it?
And I I think that is theperfect capture.
You you will never bond withanother human being in that way
ever again.
You were literally in a wholenother world that didn't smell
great, didn't want you there.
Uh, literally, you could die atany moment.
(31:32):
You were praying to your godsand had rituals, and you were
writing sexy poetry to yourgirlfriend as a team with a guy
you called Furby.
Like it's a it's a level ofconnection that you I don't know
if there's very many other jobsor positions in life you could
find yourself where where thatwould be the case.
(31:53):
It's just impossible.
It's yeah, it's it's so unique.
And that's you know, uh that'sreal fucking cool, man.
SPEAKER_02 (32:01):
Yeah, yeah.
I I should I should dig thoseout and read read some of our
sessions together.
Because I I saved some of if Isaved it, it was for a reason.
It must be mind-blowing, youknow.
That'd be that'd be fun to read.
Um, yeah, you you were sayingsomething.
It it reminded me when peopleask, like, what's the people
(32:23):
always are curious about themilitary and and you get the
questions like what's thehardest or what's the weirdest
thing?
And and I I always give the sameanswer.
I go, I I guess it's it's themost twisted thing.
And they go, What do you mean?
I go, I go, you are doing thingsthat you know will probably kill
you or or hurt you, but you'reaccepting that and you're
(32:45):
willing to do it in a heartbeatbecause um you're going to, if
something happens, you're gonnadie beside of one of your best
friends.
And I go, think of that mindfuck right there.
You're you're okay dying becauseyou're probably gonna die right
next to your buddy, right besideyou.
And I go, and and you have toput yourself in that mindset to
(33:07):
move forward with it, andwhatever happens, happens.
It it is what it is, and it'sgonna be okay, you know.
And I go, so that's the weirdestthing is just your willingness
to accept death, but it's okay.
So when I give answers likethat, they're just like, okay,
you know, real quiet, but you'rewhat what you said right there
reminded me of that.
Yeah.
(33:29):
And and all my all my three,five guys that and then through
through the time with it, youknow, um Sergeant G and
everyone, they they definitelygot that that same comforting
feeling out of me that hey, it'sit's okay because I'm right
beside Sergeant G or Furby.
So hey man.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
Well, this is this is awesome.
(33:50):
You guys got a good thingcoming.
You guys, I I I wanna I wannatell more.
I'm just I gotta think of stuff.
I'm looking at my notes over andover again.
SPEAKER_03 (33:58):
Well, I'll pick your brain for one part because this
this has been amazing, but it'sthe one thing that's very unique
to your specific situation.
Well, it's one of the manythings that's very unique to
your specific situation.
You had like a sudden severing,right?
You left mid-August while wekind of hung out for another
four weeks, and then you cameback, and it sounds like you had
a real short time, maybe 30 daysor so, and then you got out.
(34:21):
Did you get out of the MarineCorps at that point?
SPEAKER_02 (34:24):
I did.
You know, I was I was so lostand confused.
Um, honestly, while I was inRomani with you, so my my
brother was my uh power ofattorney that I signed, and and
I wanted him to fill out resumesand applications for me.
And I think one of you guys didit actually.
I wanted to be a contractor overthere, yeah.
(34:44):
And and I thought I thought whatwould be attractive about my
situation is I knew I could stayin Iraq up to my EAS, you know,
because I was there.
And I was like, I thought, Ithought the selling point would
be like, just pick me up at thegate, you know.
Uh I'm here, I'm willing tostay.
Let's just let's just do this.
And and according to my brother,we I didn't get any pings or
(35:07):
anything like that.
So I was really lost in thesauce.
And and I got out and it was itwas short.
And I mean, what a what anentrance to get in the Marie
Corps, right?
You know, boot camp and thecelebration and everything, but
but what a signature and walkdown the hallway moment it is
just to get out.
And and I I sat there just lost.
(35:28):
I I got out like on a Friday ora Thursday, and I started
working as a laborer inconstruction on uh on a Monday,
just at a job because was Igoing back home to my mom and
dad in Texas and living withthem, or you know, at the time
my girlfriend was like, Well,you can you can move in with me
and let's see where this goes.
And and that that you know thatthat worked.
(35:49):
Um her name's Victoria, and likeI said, we're going on 20 years
and you know, two kids.
Um, so I I took that chance andI stayed out in California with
her and did it.
And uh yeah, yeah, here I am.
But so I got out after four.
Of course, like anyone else, Iwas just like, man, should I
should I have stayed in?
And of course, at her age, nowI'm just like, man, I'd be
(36:11):
retired right now, and stufflike that.
Yeah.
Um, so yeah, I I I got out afterfour.
Um, really unsure of what I wasgonna do and and uh started
working out on the field andeverything.
SPEAKER_04 (36:24):
So and were you a so it sounds like you were able to
stay kind of in contact with uhGarcia, and then I think you
stayed in contact with uh Mikeand Adams too, correct?
SPEAKER_02 (36:34):
Yeah, so so my my core group, so so out of the
two, four, it's really justGarcia.
Um like I said, him and I himand I clicked, um, like I said,
for for a reason, I'm convinced.
So so it's it's the the textmessage relationship.
Um I I went to the uh DC lastMay with Martinez and stuff, and
(36:56):
I was texting him because wewere we were out there for
Memorial Day, so we were findingyou know the the Iraqi um uh
mobile um thing that they do,and I was finding the dog tag
with Savage and I sent him apicture and I said, Hey, you
know, I don't I don't know ifyou like this stuff, but I just
I just want to show you what'sout there and and other people
and then uh we went to Arlingtonand and I was like, hey, let's
(37:18):
let's look up if Savage is hereand and he and he is and so we
we went and visit him and I senthim a uh picture and then we we
flew home.
We flew home Sunday on MemorialDay and we're off on on Monday.
And my my older stepson uh whowas joining the Air Force at the
time, he goes, Hey, and I knowyou do like a Memorial Day hike.
(37:40):
Do you want to do that on upFirst Sergeant's Hill?
And I go, Yeah, yeah, let's doit, man.
You know, really, I was like,No, I don't want to do it.
That don't fuck.
You know, um but I I've done ita few times, um, but but him him
about to leave, I was like,Yeah, I got I gotta do it in in
(38:00):
what you know, your kid askingyou to do it with the actual.
So so I went in up and have youguys ever been up?
Oh yes, oh yeah, yeah.
So so we did that.
We went up in our old age too.
SPEAKER_03 (38:12):
So Blake drugged me up there, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (38:15):
Yeah.
So so so two two four, the youguys have the pull-up bar thing
up there, and you you guys gotthe the list of names, and so I
took a picture of that.
So all in one weekend, I wentfrom DC to Pendleton and was
giving Garcia pictures and stufflike that.
So I I I keep in touch with himthat way.
And then uh when he did thepodcast, he he said he was going
(38:38):
through kind of of a healingphase in his life, and you guys
in a book helped him out andeverything.
And he he reached out to me andsaid uh if I would tell my side.
And I was like, Well, yeah, youknow, I was like, You you guys
we were with you for such ashort time.
I I didn't think we made animpact.
And he's like, No, you didn't,and he goes, I I wouldn't, I I
want you to tell your side ofthe story.
You meant you mean a lot to meand stuff like that.
(39:00):
So I said, Yeah, absolutely.
If it if it helps me, great.
You know, if it helps iron, youknow, uh other people, so be a
you know, iron, iron sharpensiron.
So um, yeah, let me tell mystories or just just to rekindle
a memory or something like thatfor someone.
Uh and then on the three fiveside, um, yeah, I I'm I keep in
touch with a lot of people.
Um I call and text.
(39:21):
Um I I heard Martinez say, my mywife threw me a party on my my
40th.
I'm now 43.
Um, she she rented a whole bunchof motorhomes and did a uh horse
or a circle in our backyard witha big old bonfire.
And and we had uh I think an 11military buddies fly in with
their families, and and we allhung out here and just told
(39:42):
stories and told the same lies,you know, same story, just told
over and over.
Then the the fish keeps gettingbigger and bigger, but I I
wouldn't pass that up foranything, you know.
That's that's what life's aboutright there.
Um, and and to tell you thetruth, you know, I I can't wait
from seven years from now.
So hopefully she does she justwalked in, so she's listening.
Hopefully she does that for my50th, too.
(40:03):
So but yeah, I I I keep in touchwith a lot of them.
Uh a hell of a lot.
Our our group we say it'sdifferent, maybe it's not.
Um when when we went over thefirst time, we were still with
our salts.
Um so so our salts deployed withus and they got stop loss, and
(40:26):
we were we were turning it intoCorporals at that time, but we
recently got our drop of boots.
But it's not like we were incharge of them because our salts
were still over us.
So to be honest, and then andthen they left early.
Like we left, we left early fromyou guys, they left early from
us.
So the very, very end of thefirst appointment is when we
(40:48):
were then the NCO is in charge.
So our my contact list is is bigand we see each other.
There's there's a group of about10 or 11 of us.
We see each other every yearstill.
So that's awesome.
SPEAKER_03 (41:08):
Man, it is good.
Yeah.
So yeah.
Well, Brian, this has beengreat.
You're you're welcome to keepgoing.
It seems, I mean, I don't know,man.
You you told a good story, andwe're happy to have you back on
later again.
You want to do it again.
Any anything doesn't fuckingmatter to me.
You tell me.
SPEAKER_02 (41:25):
Yeah, yeah.
No, I'm I'm willing.
Uh, I just gotta think of more,you know.
I'm sitting here drinking thewhiskey, so watch.
I'm gonna be like, ah crap, Iwish I told them that, you know.
SPEAKER_03 (41:36):
Scribble it down, look up some of that poetry,
watch some of those videos.
SPEAKER_02 (41:39):
Yeah, yeah, we'll do I should I should figure out how
to do it.
Uh one last thing you yeah, youyou wrote on there, and I I got
a note here, is one one thingthat you wish uh people knew
about Romadi.
Um the the fact that it was suchan uproar city off and on and
everything like that, and reallyit was I wrote that it was held
(42:01):
by one battalion, which was 2-4,um, where you guys were
controlling that is is quiteimpressive.
Uh, I know that that when youguys got relieved or whatever, I
think there was a few otherbattalions that went in there,
but you you guys had control ofthe city, you guys did your job,
and you guys did it great.
So I want to point that out.
SPEAKER_04 (42:18):
And you guys, the the combat replacements that
came uh were a part of thatmission.
I was gonna say so.
SPEAKER_03 (42:23):
Yeah, we did it great because you were part of
that shit.
Yeah, yeah.
You were there for four months,it's not like you were there for
five minutes.
So it's uh you were there forthe majority of it.
Out the only thing you missedwas April, and then outside of
that, you were there for all therest of the big shit.
SPEAKER_02 (42:37):
Yeah, well, well, thank you.
It I don't know, maybe it's easyfor me to just look at look at
it as I'm an outsider when whenmaybe I'm not, but that's well,
I again I can't speak foreverybody else, but I can speak
for me.
SPEAKER_03 (42:49):
That's not how it feels for me.
Uh I felt as close to Lopez,Gonzalez, uh Day and Hampton as
as I did anybody else.
They they came right in at acritical moment because we were
we were scraping together peopleand starting to give our docs
rifles because we needed morepeople on the on the stack to
kick down doors.
So you guys uh saved our assesrealistically.
SPEAKER_02 (43:11):
Yeah, thank you.
Actually, let me pick your brainon one more thing.
Who were our translators?
Do you remember their names?
SPEAKER_04 (43:18):
So we had Cosm.
Uh he is uh we called himWilbur, yeah, and then Rocco,
and then we had a guy namedDanny sometimes too.
SPEAKER_02 (43:29):
Rocco was the bodybuilder.
SPEAKER_04 (43:30):
Big guy.
SPEAKER_03 (43:32):
Big jacked up dude with the beard.
Uh Danny had a beard.
Cosm was clean shaven.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (43:39):
I remember they're all good people, so yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (43:42):
Hope they're doing all right.
Our it you actually came when wehad gotten rid of the bad
people.
We actually had a couple of uhpeople who were playing both
sides as interpreters and givingup information to the enemy, and
one of them slipped, and I don'tknow how he did it.
That's uh I'd love to know theactual story behind that.
He slipped away in the night, sosomehow he got off camp.
unknown (44:04):
Hmm.
SPEAKER_02 (44:05):
Interesting.
Yeah, yeah.
I remember I remember Rocco, orI I thought it was Rocky, and
then I I don't remember whichone it was.
Uh shorter gentleman, and Ithink he slipped his hair back
and everything, and him and Igot along.
Who was it?
Danny.
SPEAKER_04 (44:19):
Danny, okay, yeah, because Wilbur Wilbur was a
taller, skinnier guy, realquiet.
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (44:28):
Yeah.
Any anyone hear from them?
Probably probably not.
SPEAKER_04 (44:33):
So um I I stayed in uh correspondence with uh Cosm
for a few years, um, but thenwhen uh the Arab Spring kicked
off, he uh emailed me one lasttime being like, Hey, is there
any way that you can help me getout of here?
Um it's getting bad.
(44:53):
And um I didn't have anycontacts, and I've tried to get
a hold of him ever since andhaven't heard from him.
So I just hope I I I hope hejust has lost my number um and
bad things didn't happen, but Idon't know what happened to the
other two.
SPEAKER_02 (45:11):
Yeah.
Cross our fingers on that.
Yeah, all right.
Well, yeah, guys.
Um if I think of other stuff,I'll definitely get reach out to
you, and I'd love to love tokeep in touch too.
SPEAKER_04 (45:24):
Yeah, well, this has been great.
I really appreciate your uh youhave a great memory, man.
So I no, it's been great.
SPEAKER_03 (45:31):
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_04 (45:32):
It's been great having uh having you weave your
narrative.
So thank you.
I'm I'm glad you have yourmustache back.
And again, I'm sorry.
It's okay.
It's okay.
I forgive you.
I forgive you.
It's hard, it's hard, but yeah,but I'm I'm uh I'm I I'm I'll
I'll find my way.
SPEAKER_01 (45:48):
That's awesome.
Thank you guys.
Thanks, Brian.
SPEAKER_04 (45:51):
Have a good night.
unknown (45:52):
All right.
SPEAKER_04 (45:56):
If you like what you heard, make sure you subscribe
for future episodes on yourfavorite podcast service.
This is part two of our interview with Brian Fox
with Rainmaker Platoon.
SPEAKER_02 (00:40):
And then um and and then the the routine um the
routine in the Humvees, if itwas a good one.
Um so we would stage day daymission, night mission, QRF or
whatever, and and we would allsit in.
So it was me on the driver, andthen Sergeant G, and then and
then our gunner Furby.
Um I would I would pull out theCopenhagen.
(01:02):
You you smoked, dipped or orsnorted snuff, right?
You know, that's what you didover there.
And I I did them all.
Um, but we would I would get theCopenhagen long cut because I I
don't have a pocket for snufffor some reason, and and I would
take a dip and I would pass itover to Sergeant G, and then
he'd pass it over to the gunneror Furby, and we'd all put the
dip in it, and and he was like,How you feeling today, Fox?
(01:23):
And I'd be like, I'm feelinggood, we're gonna get them,
let's just get back, you know,stuff like that.
And then this will lead into mystory is is um we were we were
reacting to um uh QRF, anotherline company thing, and and we
get in there, I take my dip, hetakes his dip, we pass it off to
him, and he was like, How youfeeling today, Fox?
And I go, I'm actually notfeeling it today.
(01:44):
And he goes, I'm not feeling iteither.
And I was like, Well, whatwhatever it is, certainly I'll
see it in, we'll be all right,you know.
And so so we go out and I Ibelieve we had contact, and for
whatever reason, we're goingback.
When what I remember on thestory is we were we were we were
fearful of chemicals orsomething like that, and and we
wanted to go back and get ourgas mask because for whatever
(02:06):
reason we didn't have our gasmask on us.
If that's true or not, I don'tknow.
Um but but we decided that wewanted to take Route Nova back,
and then the left, the left thatwe were taking uh right before
the hospital as we're headingback, is is the first vehicle
went, and I'm making the left.
And now now at the time, a fewside stories.
(02:28):
Um we would Frankenstein ourvehicles, right?
So any piece of metal that wethought would armor, we would
put on the Humvees, any deliveryof new something we would put on
it.
So I had I called it thethree-quarter doors, so it was
like maybe the half-inch orquarter inch steel.
If you're sitting down in achair, that's what it covered.
(02:49):
Your silhouette sitting down ona side profile, and everything
else was open.
So, like the the mirror, themirror of the Humvee, I could
touch, you know, through theopening.
And two days, two days beforethat mission, we just got a
delivery of ballisticwindshields for the highback.
So, so um I always called on themechanics.
(03:09):
You have the tinkers in yourplatoon, they were the ones that
would always go to motor pooland like start to bolt on stuff.
Or I picture I picture themtrying to weld something, maybe
bubblegum weld stuff on yourtruck trying to get armor, but
they changed out the windshieldtwo days before.
So now let's fast forward.
So the first vehicle makes thatleft, and I make that left, and
I remember seeing a just uhthere's plenty of trash in the
(03:31):
town, but just this burlap sack,it looked out of place, and I'm
staring at this thing, and thenext thing I'm out.
I I wake up and I'm staring atthe shifter, you know.
So I'm I'm spread out all theway across, pretty much in
Sergeant G's lap, probably, andand I'm just like probably the
the the exact same feelings youhave.
What the hell just happened?
You know, what was that?
(03:52):
But right when I woke up, Iremember Sergeant G telling me a
story that in in the IED thatthat got savage, that that the
Hum V continued rolling and itwent down a ditch with everyone
inside.
And I remember thinking rightwhen I right when I came to that
we were still moving, so Islammed on the brakes.
(04:13):
And and when you when he tellshis side of the story, he goes,
Yeah, we got hit, and all of asudden I felt the vehicle
stopping, you know, real hard.
And I knew that you were okay,and thank God he was stopping
because I didn't want to go downa down a hillside again.
And so, so I remember getting upand just just that feeling, like
everything was like flashburn.
(04:34):
I it felt like I was likesunburnt or on fire or something
like that, and just confused,and that sound and everything.
And I remember Sergeant G likeasking, like, are you hit?
Are you hit?
And him asking me if I'm hit,that's where I got like started
to freak out, you know, pattingyourself, you got some blood on
your hands and stuff like that.
And I was like, I don't fuckingknow, I can't see myself, you
know.
And I I remember really freakingout on that.
(04:55):
Um really feeling uncomfortable,like you have no control in that
situation.
Yeah, um, but I told you thewindshield story because because
in that windshield, uh I sayit's a piece of rebar, maybe a
piece of concrete.
There was a big old foot-long ofsomething in that windshield,
just like caved in right inthere.
That windshield took that blast,and if it didn't, that was my
(05:16):
head level right there.
In the in the frame of thatwindshield, uh, where that
opening, there was a big chunkof concrete, and then the gunner
took some um um a rock orsomething in his inner thigh.
And the only way that can get inthere, it didn't go through the
windshield.
The only way that can get hisinner thigh, which is like right
beside my head over here, wasright across the face.
(05:37):
Yeah, so so someone was someonewas watching me.
The stars aligned that day.
Thank God the windshield linedup.
Thank God the tinkers put it infor me, and then uh whatever it
is, but but uh I because of thatday, I'm I'm one that follows
your gut.
If you have a feeling, follow ittoo well, sure, because both
Sergeant G and I, we we calledthat.
It didn't feel right that day,and whatever it is, I'd see it
(05:59):
and try to avoid it.
And uh man, yeah, it all cametrue that day.
And then out of that, I Ibelieve I think you guys, uh
Sledgehammer, I think you guyswere a QRF or something like
that.
And you guys came out and wetowed strapped that vehicle, and
they asked if I could still getin it and try to help steer it
because the vehicle is dead,every all the tires are flat,
(06:21):
but we were close enough wewanted to tow it, and so we and
we were driving so slow, and I'msitting in that vehicle all by
myself, and I was like, Oh, I'mabout to die, you know, they're
about to get another IED off ofme right now.
And we we we got to we got tohurricane point and then they
they got me over to BAS, did allthat stuff.
Um I I was only out for a fewdays.
(06:43):
I was I was mainly peppered, youknow, then the mirror blew in me
and everything uh like that.
Um it was weird for for a while.
You know, I'll just say that I Ipulled out something out of my
face a year later.
I don't I don't know what thehell, but it was very weird the
amount of stuff that was thatwas uh I took home with me that
I probably shouldn't have, youknow, from my wrath in my skin.
(07:05):
Um, but we got there and and Iremember asking Sergeant G, and
he's like, he's very respectful.
If if if you didn't want to dosomething to a certain limit, he
was gonna like listen to you andtry to honor that, you know.
And he was like, Hey, are youfine enough to still drive me?
And I go, Yeah, I'll drive you.
I go, but please don't thinkless of me.
I was like, Can I have a throatprotector, please?
(07:27):
He's like, I will get you athroat protector.
So he got me that Kevlar throatprotector that snaps in the two
things right there.
And uh he knew when I wasuncomfortable or I didn't feel
right because I would tuck mychin in like a turtle, you know,
when I was driving around.
So he knew something was up.
So yeah, so he he knew I wasuncomfortable, but I wanted my
(07:47):
throat protector.
I guess it was like like mysecurity blanket, I guess, while
I was out there.
SPEAKER_04 (07:52):
Everybody needs a binky sometimes, yeah.
Right, that's what it was.
That's what it was.
SPEAKER_03 (07:57):
Yeah, we used to do all kinds of weird shit like
that.
We had those ballistic blanketsthat were meant to protect the
tow system, and we would drapethose over the windows uh for
the guys in the back seat andstuff.
Like, I don't know that thatwould have stopped shit, but it
sure made you feel a littlebetter, like there was something
that was gonna stop those rocksthat come flying through and all
kinds of shit.
(08:17):
Because I mean it didn't takemuch to take you out of the
fight, man, and and an eyeballor something like that would
definitely do it.
And that's yeah, fuck that.
I don't blame you for asking forthe throat protector.
That was smart.
SPEAKER_02 (08:28):
Yeah, I did it.
I I probably wanted those.
Remember the shoulder protectorstoo?
Oh, yeah.
I was like, I was like, I don't,I don't want to look like that.
I don't need that.
SPEAKER_03 (08:38):
Well, at least for us, we trialed them and then our
gunners couldn't get in the gunsappropriately.
Like you can still fire a 50 calbecause that was just you know
thumb spades.
But if you were trying to shoota 240 or something like that,
you couldn't do it.
And it just messed with yourmobility and your ability to get
the gun in the pocket, and sothey they would leave them out.
SPEAKER_02 (08:55):
Yeah.
Yeah, wild, wild times, man.
SPEAKER_04 (08:58):
I was uh I was one of the I definitely run around
with my groin protector on.
I was uh I had my little stopsign flap right in front of uh
the the family jewels.
I had no shame.
I kept I had a throat protectortoo.
I was gonna take any advantage Icould get.
SPEAKER_02 (09:14):
I don't I don't blame you.
I was there with you, man.
So yeah, tucking it in.
I didn't feel right.
You know, I don't like this.
So crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy.
Funny, funny story is um I mayhave screwed you guys at one
point.
I remember so you guys rememberthat you guys would put I think
(09:37):
they're mostly Mexicans.
You guys, you guys took peoplethat kind of looked Iraqi, grew
their beards out, and yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (09:47):
So have you guys have you guys told that story at
all?
SPEAKER_03 (09:50):
So those four guys, those four guys that did well, I
don't know.
Maybe you guys did somethingelse.
Please tell the story.
SPEAKER_01 (09:55):
But if you're talking about it, it was you
guys.
I was just yeah, go ahead.
SPEAKER_03 (10:00):
If you're talking about Sergeant Major Booker's
thing, yeah, yeah.
Book Booker is Irish, he's notMexican at all, he just got a
good tan.
SPEAKER_00 (10:08):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (10:09):
Uh two of the guys were Middle Eastern.
One was Hekmati, who's Persian,but at least he's in the Middle
East.
I don't know the other guy'sethnicity, but he was Middle
Eastern of some sort.
I think he was Lebanese.
SPEAKER_04 (10:22):
I I was just gonna say I think he's Lebanese.
SPEAKER_03 (10:24):
Yeah, but the fourth guy was Sakaki, and Sakaki is
half Japanese.
So Where the hell did I getMexican from then?
I I don't know.
I mean, they all they're allswarthy brown looking dudes.
SPEAKER_02 (10:36):
Yeah.
Yeah, you they they they wouldgrow up their beards, you know,
and uh be uh you got they wouldadd like maybe the maybe the toe
blanket that you're talkingabout on the inside panel of the
taxi vehicle that we confiscatedand they would drive around.
I remember talking to one ofthem, he's like, dude, they
definitely know who they who weare.
They're staring at us the wholetime, but it's probably just the
(10:58):
paranoia, you know, of someonelooking at them and everything.
So yeah, wild.
Can you imagine having that muchtension driving through a town,
no, no convoy, no nothing likethat?
SPEAKER_03 (11:09):
Yeah, it was a good idea, a bad execution, but very
good idea as far as you knowtrying to be incognito.
SPEAKER_02 (11:16):
But well, so where where I may have screwed you and
connected to that story is Iremember every everyone has
their um calling stories, right?
Everyone got more mortared whilethey're on the phone and
everything else like that,right?
But I was I was in that callcenter.
By the way, I spent probablythree thousand dollars in
calling cards out there.
It was wild.
(11:37):
But I remember talking to my momand dad, and I was telling them,
I was like, Yeah, they they grewout their beards and they did
this.
And I was like, I was like, mom,I need to look more Iraqi, and
she goes, Excuse me.
And I as you guys see on thecamera, I'm I'm I'm now a little
gray but blonde naturally.
And I told her, I was like, mom,go out and buy me some just for
beard, just for men, beard andmustache tie.
(11:59):
And I want it jet black.
I want it jet black so I looklike I have an Iraqi mustache,
please.
There was also a little comedyin there, too, you know, because
when you're back at camp, youjust want to lighten the mood
and just have fun andeverything.
So I remember I remember uh theythey were out and and I had my
little caterpillar.
I I have a full beard now, thankgod it came comes in thick, but
(12:21):
at the time I couldn't go crap.
So I had the the deploymentmustache that everyone does, and
I'm all proud of that.
And I I dyed that thing jetblack, and it just looks so
stupid, absolutely dumb.
And I remember I wanted to showit off, so I went to the the
chow tent and let's just say itwas lunchtime, and I'm I'm in
line and I grab my tray and andsomeone goes, uh Maureen, is
(12:44):
that uh mustache in regulation?
It looks completely fake on meat this point in my smart ass,
and I go, I don't know, it's onmy face, I can't see it.
And I turn around and it's theBC.
SPEAKER_00 (12:55):
And I was like, son of a bitch, you know.
SPEAKER_02 (13:00):
He goes, he goes, Yeah, that doesn't look right.
I think you should go shave.
And I go, Oh, like right now?
He's like, Yeah, why don't yougo shave right now?
So I shaved, and I swear to you,I think it was two hours later,
it was a mandatory no-facialhair order that came across, and
everyone had to shave theirmustache.
SPEAKER_04 (13:18):
Motherfucker.
SPEAKER_02 (13:19):
If you remember that, that was me.
SPEAKER_04 (13:21):
Yeah, no, I'm I no, I I remember being in very hey.
Now I know that the the thestory has been completed because
I had to shave off my amazingmustache that I had that uh that
was actually more of a 70s pornmustache, but that's fine.
SPEAKER_02 (13:35):
Oh are we are we ending are we ending the podcast
out of frustration now?
SPEAKER_04 (13:43):
Yeah, it was right around then that I also got in
trouble because I had grown uh II was uh I always tried to be
extra motor over there and I soI gave myself a horseshoe
haircut, but I would that I letmy hair grow really long that
wasn't part of the the shaveddown part.
And so it had grown like two anda half inches long.
And uh when I had to shave mymustache, I was like, you gotta
(14:07):
shave your head too, son.
SPEAKER_02 (14:08):
Yep, yeah.
Well, now now you know I knowit's been bothering you all
these years.
Why did why was it mandatory toshave mustaches?
SPEAKER_04 (14:16):
I'll finally get a solid night's sleep by a premium
that I went to.
SPEAKER_01 (14:22):
It looks so dumb.
It looks stupid.
But my hey, my mom listened.
She followed through.
Thanks, Mom.
Thanks, Linda.
That's awesome.
SPEAKER_04 (14:32):
No, we got some wild stuff in those care packages,
some of those care packages,too.
SPEAKER_02 (14:36):
That was uh oh man, mail was gold, was it not?
SPEAKER_04 (14:41):
Oh, it really was.
Well, especially when the coupleof those times that we didn't
get um resupplied right, and sowe were eating out of our uh
care packages just to yep, yep.
SPEAKER_02 (14:52):
No, that that was nice.
And and you know what was reallycool is just looking back,
everyone's suffering, buteveryone's sharing.
So, like if I got something, itwas like, come on over, you
know.
It was like uh I guess wedidn't, I didn't even know a
charcuterie board was a thingback in the day, but that's
that's what we were doing, youknow, uh on the bed.
SPEAKER_04 (15:10):
So actually thinking of uh this care packages, uh I
haven't thought about thisforever, but uh so one of uh in
one of the care packages,somebody sent over like a
10-pound bag of uh um gummybears.
Oh but by the time but the thingis is that by the time it got to
me in the 3,000 degree heat, uhit when I pulled it out, it was
(15:34):
just nothing but like it wasliquid.
And it was like gelatinouslyliquid.
And so I I went into the back, Igrabbed my e-tool, I dug a like
a two-foot hole and buried it soit would like form back up, and
I pulled it back out, and I andit was just this giant block,
and I was cutting off big chunksof it with my K-bar and giving
it to people.
SPEAKER_01 (15:55):
It was like a mystery flavor.
That's that's awesome.
You got like this jelly bear,you know, size pancake now.
You know, it was the damn thingwas like a just a goddamn brick.
SPEAKER_02 (16:06):
Yeah, that's awesome.
That is awesome.
Yeah, you know, yeah.
I I know my mom, you know, shealways sent me summer sausage
and crackers and all that otherstuff, but I I was a smoker at
the time, and she would refuseto send me American cigarettes,
she would not do it, you know.
I was like, come on, you know, Ireally want a good cigarette
here.
SPEAKER_03 (16:25):
Dude, because the Iraqi cigarettes were awful.
SPEAKER_02 (16:27):
Yeah, yeah.
Humma humorabi was like greentobacco.
Yeah, humorabi's in Sumeres orsomething like that.
And pine pine was the one Iremember because that fucking
thing was disgusting.
And and I remember like youwould have to take a cigarette,
you'd have to put the pack tothe side and grab it and pull it
out sideways, you know, soeverything didn't fall out.
SPEAKER_03 (16:49):
Yeah, you know, like yeah, yeah, they were so loosely
packed, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (16:53):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
unknown (16:55):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (16:57):
Hey, hey, the the memories you get when you're
telling stories, right?
Yeah, no shit.
SPEAKER_04 (17:01):
Oh man, they would make your just lungs burn, man.
SPEAKER_02 (17:04):
Yeah.
Uh another another funny storyis is I remember so I'm I'm
naturally a night owl, you know.
I I could switch to a nightschedule like that.
And so we were on night missionsor QRF.
It was it was easy for me totransition.
And I remember it was the middleof the night, and you remember
the washer and spin dryer was upat the palace?
(17:24):
Yep, you guys remember that?
Okay, and so middle of thenight, I'm washing my camis, and
then we air dried them, youknow.
And I remember I was grabbing myclothes, and out of nowhere,
this shadowy figure walks up,and it's an older gentleman.
He goes, He goes, Hey Maureen,how's the water pressure today?
I go, good enough to do laundry,you know.
And I was like, have a goodnight.
And I walk off and I go, Hey,there's this old guy, you know,
(17:48):
on base.
He was he's not really like in auniform.
I go, who the hell's here?
And someone's like, Oh, OliverNorth is visiting us.
He's he's hanging out with thebattalion for a little bit.
So I met Oliver North doinglaundry in the middle of the
night.
That was my first time I evermet him.
And then I I think I think thetown actually reared up while he
was there because I rememberseeing Oliver North.
(18:09):
Like we we were out for most ofthe day, and and we went out or
we went to Snake Pit to get moreammo.
And I remember him running andhim coming out with like bags of
oranges, and he's throwing themin the Humvee.
And he he wanted us to haveoranges out in the field just in
case we had to stay out therelong enough.
I was like, that's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_03 (18:28):
Nice.
SPEAKER_02 (18:29):
So yeah, he had a he did a couple of book signings,
and and I was at one of them.
I wanted to go up and like shakehis hand and just tell him I was
like, and in fact, I have videoof him uh grabbing the oranges.
And the reason I have videos isremember when I told you when we
staged that cat platoon wasthere and then went to a
different battalion?
We had a guy named uh uh RossMata.
(18:51):
Uh he's he's no longer with usor anything.
Um, but he was trying to getlike footage and he wanted to
sell footage uh at the time.
I mean, this is 2004, so it'snot like we had cell phones.
So he bought 10 10 small videocameras and tilt 10 still lives,
and he gave it to differentpeople that were going different
areas, and he gave me a videocamera and a still camera, and
(19:12):
the agreement was is I wouldturn in all the footage and
stuff, and then he would give melike one master copy.
Um, so so what I did is it'sit's like a video game.
I I took a piece of ISO mat andI taped it on the left-hand side
of the the guards on the M16,and it was perfect where I could
slip in the camera and like yousee the barrel of the gun and
(19:35):
the sight and everything atwhere I was aiming.
You invented GoPro, yeah, yeah,I really did.
You know, I really, really did.
And then um, so I got I got alot of video.
I I remember one, I I had it on,and we were we were out in town,
it was nighttime, so I'm usingthe MVGs, and the the a lot of
(19:57):
us were out.
Um night, night and and QRF andmissions, and maybe some more.
I don't know why we were out inthe middle of the night.
And I I remember that I was Iwas probably halfway into the
convoy, it was a long convoy,and and I I remember we're going
through a clustered area of ofRamadi, a lot of buildings, and
(20:19):
I remember through the nightvision, I saw two two streaks
across of it from the right handside to the left hand side.
I was like RPGs, RPGs, RPGs.
You know, and we saw it, and weall herringbone, and everyone's
everyone's turning over to theright side.
And then I said earlier, I mean,they're not dumb and their
tactics are smart at times.
(20:40):
From the rooftops to our leftwas machine guns.
So the RPGs came from the right.
We herringboned it, we're allfacing right, and then it was
machine guns from the right, andthen we're or the left, and we
just all countered and aiming atrooftops.
And and I got video of I had thevideo camera on, and it's it's
me standing behind Furby becauseeveryone else is on the street
(21:02):
on the side of the buildings,and then they're like, Fox, get
up against the building.
So I remember running, and I'mtrying to narrate, you know,
like a news guy is like, allright, contact came from the
right, you know, blah, blah,blah, blah.
You know, and just you hear thebreathing and you hear the the
the how lost you are and stufflike that, you know, in the
video.
So I I have all that stuff.
Uh really cool.
(21:23):
Yeah, another footage I have isum I think everyone has pictures
of us.
What what event happened wherewe're out in town and everyone
was shooting up that hotel ormotel or whatever it is, and we
had we had the arm arm uh armyBradleys come in and stuff like
that.
What was that event?
SPEAKER_03 (21:44):
So it depends on which one you're talking about,
there's two that were like that.
One was OP Library got uh theyset off explosives uh in it and
tried to take out the guys ontop.
There was, I think it was FoxCompany that was on top.
It was over by Saddam's Mosque.
And then there was another onethat was a little further down
by the agricultural buildings,and I don't remember what kicked
(22:05):
that off, but it was a hugeL-shaped ambush between that
tall hotel building that you'retalking about where the Bradleys
came in and shot it up.
And I yeah, I think everybodyhas some kind of footage of
that.
Uh because the Bradley just camein and started raking the
building back and forth withthat 25 millimeter crazy.
But everybody was out then.
I mean, the BC was out, sergeantmajors running around
(22:25):
everywhere, like there's peopleeverywhere.
SPEAKER_02 (22:27):
Yeah, yeah, I got I got video from that day.
I I got us lighting up.
I mean, there was there was like50 people and then humbies and
everything.
It was just line lighting up allthe windows and everything.
I got full video of all that,you know.
Yeah, so it was interesting.
SPEAKER_04 (22:42):
If if that was the same day, I think there was
something I think there wasanother larger ambush because I
feel like that's the I think Ithink a couple of us got pulled
out for that.
And I remember I remember makingmovement to contact on some
reason, and then that kind ofended there.
Like, I don't know if we likepushed them into that building.
(23:03):
I don't know.
I to my memory of it, but Ican't remember it.
SPEAKER_03 (23:07):
Yeah, yeah.
To my memory, that was late Julybecause it was super ass hot.
It was a pretty good sizeL-shape ambush, and you're
right, we were kind of followingthe enemy, and I don't know if
they hold up in that building orif that was they already had
guys staged there, but that waswhy we ended up lighting up that
building is because we took firefrom like six different floors
on that hotel all at the sametime, and so rather than going
(23:31):
in to clear it, we were like,Well, we'll just clear it with
bullets.
Fuck it.
SPEAKER_04 (23:36):
There's no building left, they can't shoot from the
floors.
SPEAKER_02 (23:39):
Yeah, yeah, there was there's a lot, there's a lot
of lead in that building forsure.
Taking a look at a couple ofnotes here.
Do you guys remember thedodgeball day?
SPEAKER_03 (23:47):
Depends on which one you're talking about, because we
played dodgeball.
Oh, was there multiple?
Yeah, I remember there was weplayed dodgeball all the time.
SPEAKER_02 (23:53):
Okay, okay.
Maybe I just watched one ofthem, but I thought, how cool is
that that everyone's playingdodgeball, just this dust cloud,
you know, uh of everyone justplaying and having fun.
Uh it was awesome.
Uh, I remember we we always hadin our in our in our room, um, a
lot of us played risk.
And so it was quite hilarious tome.
(24:14):
In the middle, in the middle ofour area in our hangout, um, we
had a big table, big old seriousgame of risk.
Like it was very serious.
And then it was funny that youknow you would be called up for
QRF, everyone gear up, Eye ofthe Tigers playing in the
background by me.
You go out, you do your mission,you come back, you take off your
gear, and they're like, Hey, getback over here.
We need to finish this game, youknow.
(24:35):
So but that that wrist board wasalways set up.
And then I I remember like wewould watch we would watch like
TV series that were mailed to usor something on on DVD or
whatever, um, as a platoon.
I remember everyone had like achair of some sort, and we'd all
gather up in the front of thesquabe or the the hooch or
(24:58):
whatever, and we have thesmallest TV, you know, and the
whole platoon is just watchinglike this TV series.
I don't remember what it was,but I remember I was definitely
hooked on it.
Like I like we would stay outway too late.
One more episode, one moreepisode, you know, and we're
watching that.
Um hanging out with everyone,and like you said, of course,
everyone played cards andeverything else like that.
(25:20):
So yeah, it was an experience.
SPEAKER_03 (25:24):
Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_02 (25:26):
It was a long time ago, guys.
SPEAKER_03 (25:28):
Oh 21 years ago.
SPEAKER_02 (25:30):
Yeah, yeah.
You remember quite a lot for 21years.
That's good, dude.
I think that we're now the agethat I remember watching or
growing up, you know, we'rewe're the age that I remember
the Vietnam beds at.
Yeah, it's crazy.
SPEAKER_03 (25:44):
Yeah, that's that's what uh when me and Blake were
talking about before we evenstarted this podcast, that was
something he brought up in it.
And I immediately had that likeI aged 50 years in my own mind
and became a crippled up oldman.
Exactly, yeah, where he becomesfrom young Ryan to the old man
(26:04):
at the graveside.
Yeah, that was me.
Yeah, but it but you're right.
All the like you think of likesome of the most epic Vietnam
movies were early 80s, late 80s,and it's it's almost the same
time frame.
It's like almost you know 20years right afterward.
SPEAKER_04 (26:20):
Yeah, yeah, that's wild.
On the same lines, I had thisepiphany.
I was talking to my son uh lastnight, and uh I realized that
the gear that we used in bootcamp, all that Alice gear that
was like Vietnam era would bethe same age as the in boot
(26:40):
camp, they're using the gearthat we used over in Iraq.
SPEAKER_02 (26:43):
Oh yeah, so I I have I have a uh high school friend.
His son, his son entered theMarine Corps five or six years
ago, and and so I went to hisgraduation and did all that
other stuff, and then here-enlisted and he became a
recruiter.
So he went to recruiter schooland and he sent me a picture one
(27:07):
day, and it was at the themuseum on um uh N C R D.
I think I think he went toschool at NCRD actually for
recruiters.
But I don't know.
There's a museum wherever hewent, and he sent me pictures of
woodland camis and the M1682 andstuff like that.
And I go, I go, okay.
I said, I said, that's cool.
(27:27):
That's the gear I rolled aroundwith.
I go, are you calling me old orsomething?
He goes, No, sir, I'd never saythat, but your gear is in a
museum.
SPEAKER_00 (27:33):
I go, you son of that's called tact.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (27:41):
Yeah, that's that's fantastic.
I guess technically he didn'tsay it.
So yeah, but but guys, guys,we're at that age.
SPEAKER_03 (27:50):
So yeah, no shit.
SPEAKER_02 (27:54):
Yeah, you know, one one I was talking to Sergeant G
too, and one one thing I remindhim of is uh all the hours
spent, you know, just in thatvehicle.
And and if I was in the vehicleand we're on LPOP, I was I was
with him, and and all that timespent with him, you know, um, I
I say we got close.
Uh I I tell you, I follow mygut.
(28:15):
I'm also a person that believes,you know, things happen for
reasons, you know, and and thenyou know, I feel that you know I
was there for him, he was therefor me.
I I really believe that therewas a reason he picked me and
and and just us supporting eachother.
Um, I know he I respected him,him him respected me.
He gave me a lot ofopportunities and stuff like
that.
I'm thankful for it.
(28:36):
Um one one of the the favoritethings, and maybe he doesn't
want me to tell you this, butone of our favorite things to do
as a truck, so so me, him, andthen Furby, I hope that he I
hope he doesn't take that as aninsult.
I I've called him that the wholetime, but uh one of our favorite
things to do to pass time was wewould actually do poetry
sessions together, believe it ornot.
(28:58):
And and it would be as a group,we had to pick a theme, and uh,
and then it was it was like acommittee of us three to move on
to the next person.
Those three had to agree thatwas worthy to be part of that
poem on on whatever the themewas.
So whatever the theme was, if Istarted, I'd be like, hey,
whatever, whatever, whatever.
(29:18):
Yeah, that's good, no rethinkit, stuff like that.
And then it would go to SergeantG and that.
We would burn hours doing that.
And and he was like, We did dothat.
And I go, I think we have uh Ihave some of them written down,
but one of them that I remember,my my girlfriend at the time, it
was her birthday, her birthdayis June 11th, and and I wanted
to write her a poem uh to togive to my brother to have um
(29:44):
flowers delivered.
So I wanted the message to bethe poem, and so that was the
theme of the day, and they allhelped me create this poem.
Well, uh that poem must haveworked magic because as of next
year, she's my wife of 20 years.
You know, oh that's awesome! Igot it, and and and I don't
remember the whole thing, butwhen we were talking the other
week, I I I I tried to recitesome of it, and it was like, so
(30:07):
this is what we do.
Each each person gave a line,and it was um, these miles can
never deny me that I find myselfso frisky because you can do me
in ways that are so damn sexy orsomething like that.
unknown (30:19):
It was like the intro.
SPEAKER_02 (30:22):
So it was just hours and hours of these sessions just
together as a group, just tojust to break up the you know
the monotony of of of sittingthere, you know.
And absolutely it's just it'sjust hours and days of board
boredness for seconds or minutesof chaos, you know.
Um, so you you gotta findsomething to do.
(30:43):
And I wanted to share that.
That's that's something that ourtruck did together.
It's it's a memory I have.
SPEAKER_03 (30:48):
Dude, that's awesome.
And uh what's funny is I Iplenty of people walk out of the
core and they're like, you know,fuck this place.
I hate everybody, I'm leaving,and I'm glad I got my DD214 and
I'm running away.
And then other people they stayin forever or whatever, and or
you know, whatever they did.
And people are always like,Well, well, what did you miss?
(31:11):
Like, what do you miss about it?
Why do you why why are Marinesvery fanatical about it?
And I I think that is theperfect capture.
You you will never bond withanother human being in that way
ever again.
You were literally in a wholenother world that didn't smell
great, didn't want you there.
Uh, literally, you could die atany moment.
(31:32):
You were praying to your godsand had rituals, and you were
writing sexy poetry to yourgirlfriend as a team with a guy
you called Furby.
Like it's a it's a level ofconnection that you I don't know
if there's very many other jobsor positions in life you could
find yourself where where thatwould be the case.
(31:53):
It's just impossible.
It's yeah, it's it's so unique.
And that's you know, uh that'sreal fucking cool, man.
SPEAKER_02 (32:01):
Yeah, yeah.
I I should I should dig thoseout and read read some of our
sessions together.
Because I I saved some of if Isaved it, it was for a reason.
It must be mind-blowing, youknow.
That'd be that'd be fun to read.
Um, yeah, you you were sayingsomething.
It it reminded me when peopleask, like, what's the people
(32:23):
always are curious about themilitary and and you get the
questions like what's thehardest or what's the weirdest
thing?
And and I I always give the sameanswer.
I go, I I guess it's it's themost twisted thing.
And they go, What do you mean?
I go, I go, you are doing thingsthat you know will probably kill
you or or hurt you, but you'reaccepting that and you're
(32:45):
willing to do it in a heartbeatbecause um you're going to, if
something happens, you're gonnadie beside of one of your best
friends.
And I go, think of that mindfuck right there.
You're you're okay dying becauseyou're probably gonna die right
next to your buddy, right besideyou.
And I go, and and you have toput yourself in that mindset to
(33:07):
move forward with it, andwhatever happens, happens.
It it is what it is, and it'sgonna be okay, you know.
And I go, so that's the weirdestthing is just your willingness
to accept death, but it's okay.
So when I give answers likethat, they're just like, okay,
you know, real quiet, but you'rewhat what you said right there
reminded me of that.
Yeah.
(33:29):
And and all my all my three,five guys that and then through
through the time with it, youknow, um Sergeant G and
everyone, they they definitelygot that that same comforting
feeling out of me that hey, it'sit's okay because I'm right
beside Sergeant G or Furby.
So hey man.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
Well, this is this is awesome.
(33:50):
You guys got a good thingcoming.
You guys, I I I wanna I wannatell more.
I'm just I gotta think of stuff.
I'm looking at my notes over andover again.
SPEAKER_03 (33:58):
Well, I'll pick your brain for one part because this
this has been amazing, but it'sthe one thing that's very unique
to your specific situation.
Well, it's one of the manythings that's very unique to
your specific situation.
You had like a sudden severing,right?
You left mid-August while wekind of hung out for another
four weeks, and then you cameback, and it sounds like you had
a real short time, maybe 30 daysor so, and then you got out.
(34:21):
Did you get out of the MarineCorps at that point?
SPEAKER_02 (34:24):
I did.
You know, I was I was so lostand confused.
Um, honestly, while I was inRomani with you, so my my
brother was my uh power ofattorney that I signed, and and
I wanted him to fill out resumesand applications for me.
And I think one of you guys didit actually.
I wanted to be a contractor overthere, yeah.
(34:44):
And and I thought I thought whatwould be attractive about my
situation is I knew I could stayin Iraq up to my EAS, you know,
because I was there.
And I was like, I thought, Ithought the selling point would
be like, just pick me up at thegate, you know.
Uh I'm here, I'm willing tostay.
Let's just let's just do this.
And and according to my brother,we I didn't get any pings or
(35:07):
anything like that.
So I was really lost in thesauce.
And and I got out and it was itwas short.
And I mean, what a what anentrance to get in the Marie
Corps, right?
You know, boot camp and thecelebration and everything, but
but what a signature and walkdown the hallway moment it is
just to get out.
And and I I sat there just lost.
(35:28):
I I got out like on a Friday ora Thursday, and I started
working as a laborer inconstruction on uh on a Monday,
just at a job because was Igoing back home to my mom and
dad in Texas and living withthem, or you know, at the time
my girlfriend was like, Well,you can you can move in with me
and let's see where this goes.
And and that that you know thatthat worked.
(35:49):
Um her name's Victoria, and likeI said, we're going on 20 years
and you know, two kids.
Um, so I I took that chance andI stayed out in California with
her and did it.
And uh yeah, yeah, here I am.
But so I got out after four.
Of course, like anyone else, Iwas just like, man, should I
should I have stayed in?
And of course, at her age, nowI'm just like, man, I'd be
(36:11):
retired right now, and stufflike that.
Yeah.
Um, so yeah, I I I got out afterfour.
Um, really unsure of what I wasgonna do and and uh started
working out on the field andeverything.
SPEAKER_04 (36:24):
So and were you a so it sounds like you were able to
stay kind of in contact with uhGarcia, and then I think you
stayed in contact with uh Mikeand Adams too, correct?
SPEAKER_02 (36:34):
Yeah, so so my my core group, so so out of the
two, four, it's really justGarcia.
Um like I said, him and I himand I clicked, um, like I said,
for for a reason, I'm convinced.
So so it's it's the the textmessage relationship.
Um I I went to the uh DC lastMay with Martinez and stuff, and
(36:56):
I was texting him because wewere we were out there for
Memorial Day, so we were findingyou know the the Iraqi um uh
mobile um thing that they do,and I was finding the dog tag
with Savage and I sent him apicture and I said, Hey, you
know, I don't I don't know ifyou like this stuff, but I just
I just want to show you what'sout there and and other people
and then uh we went to Arlingtonand and I was like, hey, let's
(37:18):
let's look up if Savage is hereand and he and he is and so we
we went and visit him and I senthim a uh picture and then we we
flew home.
We flew home Sunday on MemorialDay and we're off on on Monday.
And my my older stepson uh whowas joining the Air Force at the
time, he goes, Hey, and I knowyou do like a Memorial Day hike.
(37:40):
Do you want to do that on upFirst Sergeant's Hill?
And I go, Yeah, yeah, let's doit, man.
You know, really, I was like,No, I don't want to do it.
That don't fuck.
You know, um but I I've done ita few times, um, but but him him
about to leave, I was like,Yeah, I got I gotta do it in in
(38:00):
what you know, your kid askingyou to do it with the actual.
So so I went in up and have youguys ever been up?
Oh yes, oh yeah, yeah.
So so we did that.
We went up in our old age too.
SPEAKER_03 (38:12):
So Blake drugged me up there, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (38:15):
Yeah.
So so so two two four, the youguys have the pull-up bar thing
up there, and you you guys gotthe the list of names, and so I
took a picture of that.
So all in one weekend, I wentfrom DC to Pendleton and was
giving Garcia pictures and stufflike that.
So I I I keep in touch with himthat way.
And then uh when he did thepodcast, he he said he was going
(38:38):
through kind of of a healingphase in his life, and you guys
in a book helped him out andeverything.
And he he reached out to me andsaid uh if I would tell my side.
And I was like, Well, yeah, youknow, I was like, You you guys
we were with you for such ashort time.
I I didn't think we made animpact.
And he's like, No, you didn't,and he goes, I I wouldn't, I I
want you to tell your side ofthe story.
You meant you mean a lot to meand stuff like that.
(39:00):
So I said, Yeah, absolutely.
If it if it helps me, great.
You know, if it helps iron, youknow, uh other people, so be a
you know, iron, iron sharpensiron.
So um, yeah, let me tell mystories or just just to rekindle
a memory or something like thatfor someone.
Uh and then on the three fiveside, um, yeah, I I'm I keep in
touch with a lot of people.
Um I call and text.
(39:21):
Um I I heard Martinez say, my mywife threw me a party on my my
40th.
I'm now 43.
Um, she she rented a whole bunchof motorhomes and did a uh horse
or a circle in our backyard witha big old bonfire.
And and we had uh I think an 11military buddies fly in with
their families, and and we allhung out here and just told
(39:42):
stories and told the same lies,you know, same story, just told
over and over.
Then the the fish keeps gettingbigger and bigger, but I I
wouldn't pass that up foranything, you know.
That's that's what life's aboutright there.
Um, and and to tell you thetruth, you know, I I can't wait
from seven years from now.
So hopefully she does she justwalked in, so she's listening.
Hopefully she does that for my50th, too.
(40:03):
So but yeah, I I I keep in touchwith a lot of them.
Uh a hell of a lot.
Our our group we say it'sdifferent, maybe it's not.
Um when when we went over thefirst time, we were still with
our salts.
Um so so our salts deployed withus and they got stop loss, and
(40:26):
we were we were turning it intoCorporals at that time, but we
recently got our drop of boots.
But it's not like we were incharge of them because our salts
were still over us.
So to be honest, and then andthen they left early.
Like we left, we left early fromyou guys, they left early from
us.
So the very, very end of thefirst appointment is when we
(40:48):
were then the NCO is in charge.
So our my contact list is is bigand we see each other.
There's there's a group of about10 or 11 of us.
We see each other every yearstill.
So that's awesome.
SPEAKER_03 (41:08):
Man, it is good.
Yeah.
So yeah.
Well, Brian, this has beengreat.
You're you're welcome to keepgoing.
It seems, I mean, I don't know,man.
You you told a good story, andwe're happy to have you back on
later again.
You want to do it again.
Any anything doesn't fuckingmatter to me.
You tell me.
SPEAKER_02 (41:25):
Yeah, yeah.
No, I'm I'm willing.
Uh, I just gotta think of more,you know.
I'm sitting here drinking thewhiskey, so watch.
I'm gonna be like, ah crap, Iwish I told them that, you know.
SPEAKER_03 (41:36):
Scribble it down, look up some of that poetry,
watch some of those videos.
SPEAKER_02 (41:39):
Yeah, yeah, we'll do I should I should figure out how
to do it.
Uh one last thing you yeah, youyou wrote on there, and I I got
a note here, is one one thingthat you wish uh people knew
about Romadi.
Um the the fact that it was suchan uproar city off and on and
everything like that, and reallyit was I wrote that it was held
(42:01):
by one battalion, which was 2-4,um, where you guys were
controlling that is is quiteimpressive.
Uh, I know that that when youguys got relieved or whatever, I
think there was a few otherbattalions that went in there,
but you you guys had control ofthe city, you guys did your job,
and you guys did it great.
So I want to point that out.
SPEAKER_04 (42:18):
And you guys, the the combat replacements that
came uh were a part of thatmission.
I was gonna say so.
SPEAKER_03 (42:23):
Yeah, we did it great because you were part of
that shit.
Yeah, yeah.
You were there for four months,it's not like you were there for
five minutes.
So it's uh you were there forthe majority of it.
Out the only thing you missedwas April, and then outside of
that, you were there for all therest of the big shit.
SPEAKER_02 (42:37):
Yeah, well, well, thank you.
It I don't know, maybe it's easyfor me to just look at look at
it as I'm an outsider when whenmaybe I'm not, but that's well,
I again I can't speak foreverybody else, but I can speak
for me.
SPEAKER_03 (42:49):
That's not how it feels for me.
Uh I felt as close to Lopez,Gonzalez, uh Day and Hampton as
as I did anybody else.
They they came right in at acritical moment because we were
we were scraping together peopleand starting to give our docs
rifles because we needed morepeople on the on the stack to
kick down doors.
So you guys uh saved our assesrealistically.
SPEAKER_02 (43:11):
Yeah, thank you.
Actually, let me pick your brainon one more thing.
Who were our translators?
Do you remember their names?
SPEAKER_04 (43:18):
So we had Cosm.
Uh he is uh we called himWilbur, yeah, and then Rocco,
and then we had a guy namedDanny sometimes too.
SPEAKER_02 (43:29):
Rocco was the bodybuilder.
SPEAKER_04 (43:30):
Big guy.
SPEAKER_03 (43:32):
Big jacked up dude with the beard.
Uh Danny had a beard.
Cosm was clean shaven.
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (43:39):
I remember they're all good people, so yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (43:42):
Hope they're doing all right.
Our it you actually came when wehad gotten rid of the bad
people.
We actually had a couple of uhpeople who were playing both
sides as interpreters and givingup information to the enemy, and
one of them slipped, and I don'tknow how he did it.
That's uh I'd love to know theactual story behind that.
He slipped away in the night, sosomehow he got off camp.
unknown (44:04):
Hmm.
SPEAKER_02 (44:05):
Interesting.
Yeah, yeah.
I remember I remember Rocco, orI I thought it was Rocky, and
then I I don't remember whichone it was.
Uh shorter gentleman, and Ithink he slipped his hair back
and everything, and him and Igot along.
Who was it?
Danny.
SPEAKER_04 (44:19):
Danny, okay, yeah, because Wilbur Wilbur was a
taller, skinnier guy, realquiet.
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (44:28):
Yeah.
Any anyone hear from them?
Probably probably not.
SPEAKER_04 (44:33):
So um I I stayed in uh correspondence with uh Cosm
for a few years, um, but thenwhen uh the Arab Spring kicked
off, he uh emailed me one lasttime being like, Hey, is there
any way that you can help me getout of here?
Um it's getting bad.
(44:53):
And um I didn't have anycontacts, and I've tried to get
a hold of him ever since andhaven't heard from him.
So I just hope I I I hope hejust has lost my number um and
bad things didn't happen, but Idon't know what happened to the
other two.
SPEAKER_02 (45:11):
Yeah.
Cross our fingers on that.
Yeah, all right.
Well, yeah, guys.
Um if I think of other stuff,I'll definitely get reach out to
you, and I'd love to love tokeep in touch too.
SPEAKER_04 (45:24):
Yeah, well, this has been great.
I really appreciate your uh youhave a great memory, man.
So I no, it's been great.
SPEAKER_03 (45:31):
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_04 (45:32):
It's been great having uh having you weave your
narrative.
So thank you.
I'm I'm glad you have yourmustache back.
And again, I'm sorry.
It's okay.
It's okay.
I forgive you.
I forgive you.
It's hard, it's hard, but yeah,but I'm I'm uh I'm I I'm I'll
I'll find my way.
SPEAKER_01 (45:48):
That's awesome.
Thank you guys.
Thanks, Brian.
SPEAKER_04 (45:51):
Have a good night.
unknown (45:52):
All right.
SPEAKER_04 (45:56):
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