.jpg)
Constant Combat
This veteran-led podcast highlights the experiences of Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, starting with their harrowing 2004 deployment to Ramadi; a 9 month combat tour which resulted in the highest casualties in a single deployment - a deployment that most Americans have never heard about. Through candid conversations surrounding these events, the series also explores earlier experiences that shaped the Marines, emphasizing their grit, humor, and humanity while aiming to honor their stories authentically.
Constant Combat
An Extra Dose of Morphine - Mike Bundeson (part 1 of 2)
Today we have a brutally honest conversation with Mike Bundeson, a Hospitalman/E-3 Corpsman during Ramadi 2004, to trace how combat medicine, gear, and mindset evolved under fire. From raiding a pharmacy before the flight to running tourniquets on the dam road after an IED strike. A freshly minted Navy corpsman steps off a packed C‑130 into Ramadi and learns to fight with a rifle in the stack while keeping Marines alive under relentless pressure.
We walk through the real decisions Corpsman face via a dam road IED story in harrowing detail - tourniquets high and tight, a blind casualty still speaking, a sprint down the slope to evac - and the surreal moment of a medical misstep that could have upended everything.
• joining as a boot Corpsman and volunteering for Iraq
• building a field loadout beyond the basic med kit
• the C‑130 breakdown and mid‑air gastro outbreak
• packing trucks, memorizing bags, working in the dark
• improvising care with MRE heaters and ratchet straps
• new airway tools and chitosan hemostatics
• combat triage vs civilian EMT mindset
• mental rehearsal and staying outwardly calm
• rifles for Corpsmen and learning CQB in country
• the dam road IED: treatment, stretcher run, evacuation
• training Marines to save lives under fire
• later tours, advisory work and returning to Ramadi
** Warning - These episodes discuss traumatic injuries in graphic detail **
If you like what you've heard, this is a multi part episode. Make sure you listen to the rest of the story.
----------------------------------------------
If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088
If you are a member of Weapons Company or someone with a story about Weapons Company 2/4 in 2004, please come tell some stories with us - 20 mins or 20 hours! Help paint the canvas of an archival story for others to know what it was like. Contact us @ RamadiPodcast@gmail.com, or via the podcast website above.
All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM
All right. Well, let's start with the easy shit, man. Uh tell everybody who you are and uh what rank you were and and who you were with in 2004.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Um I am Michael Bundesen, um, retired chief after 24 years when I joined Mach 2. I was uh I was an E3. I was an HN, I was a boot. So like uh that was uh my first experience actually being with a um you know true line company and stuff. So other than that, I was just pretty much just like kind of going off to FSSG, is what we call it back in the days, which is like a service support group. And then um I went to Edson Range, and um that's actually where I got mapped from. MAP is a medical agmetee program. Um that's where I guess um during that time, like when this whole thing actually erupted in 04 or 03 and 04, they were hurting for bodies to actually you know fill in for the uh line units. And um yeah, um I remember um they were asking for volunteers, and during that time I didn't have anything. I was just like I was by myself, I didn't have no kids, didn't have no, you know, didn't have anybody, no, no attachments whatsoever. So, you know, lo and behold, I raised my hand. So volunteered.
SPEAKER_03:Um then ended up so you were the corpsman, you were the medical for Edson Range before you came to us?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, yeah, I was the corpsman over at Edson Range over at uh boot camp. So I don't think I I don't think I knew that.
SPEAKER_03:That's that's interesting.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah, I was uh I was one of the field corpsmen over there, and um from there I went to T4, and that's where basically I joined up with the guys.
SPEAKER_01:When would have that that would have been in in 03, you said? That would have been in 04.
SPEAKER_00:Oh I think it was was it in oh no, that was in uh that was that in 04? It was it was like right before you guys left to um to that deployment. So I didn't even get to go to CAX, they didn't go to go to anything, it was just like they dropped us off. I think you guys just got back from from a workup, and um we left pretty much right after that.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah, I think we picked up Bundy. If my memory serves correct, it was either late January or early February. Yeah, he he was he was with us.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, like right after it was so what you're talking about is right after March Air Force Base.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, yep, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Oh shit.
SPEAKER_00:That was I was fresh. Yeah, I was brand new. I didn't I didn't know anybody. Um, I didn't know anybody. Like I I went in there, what didn't know what to expect. I actually came over there, my my cameras were all starched, like I had creases on my yeah, yeah. I was boot boot camp. You're a boot camp, man. That's good. Yeah, I still had my um I still had my boots all polished up, like it was nice, dude.
SPEAKER_01:But then you're making introductions as you're uh and the sticks to get onto the C130. Yeah, exactly. Damn dear.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's a story right there. That C130, fuck that thing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, go for it. What do you remember of that?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I remember um just this thing was fucking packed. So right before I um I left, I knew I was gonna go, I was gonna get deployed to Iraq. So what I did is I raided the pharmacy over at Srange, right? So I took all the medications that I needed. I took uh it was a whole sea bag worth of medications and medical supplies, right? Enough to actually last shit uh two, three years, right? So I had all sorts of stuff in that um sea bag and um um ended up, we actually ended using all this stuff up. I only had like a quarter of that bag left when I uh when we left uh country, and on top of that, I ended up like uh giving the uh the rest of it to the uh corpsman that was actually relieving us. So I just left it over in the hooch for them to actually take advantage of.
SPEAKER_01:But um, yeah, that's a perfect devil doc story. I love it. Just like a marine, just like a marine, steal the shit out of whatever exactly.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, majority of my medical spies over there, all my high speed stuff was from the army.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, now I'm curious when you were going through the the lockers at Edson Range, what did you think was going to be important? What medications did you grab and what supplies? Well, I mean, obviously, gauze and that kind of stuff all make sense, but but what kind of medications did you think you were gonna need?
SPEAKER_00:Oh, dude, uh I had all sorts of stuff. I didn't really know, so I just started grabbing a bunch of shit. Um I had atropine in there for some reason. I had atrophene in there.
SPEAKER_02:Nice.
SPEAKER_00:Um, I had a lot of like uh crash fire medications. Okay, I had a lot of um, like you know, regular sit-call medications, like you know, just uh regular stuff mochin. I had fenogrin, a lot of fenogrine. So that actually came in handy um one day. So um what else did I had? Um muscle relaxants, I had um I had a whole bunch of different stuff that I actually got, and it was in bottles, it wasn't just like packages and stuff, it was actual bottles. So I had like six bottles of Motrin, you know, three bottles of uh Naperson, you know, just a whole like I had I think during that time they were just introducing Mobic. So I had bottles of that. Um and then um I had Haldol for some reason, Half Herodol.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, just in case, just in case somebody went psychotic, you could uh help them out. That's good. I'm glad we didn't need that, but I'm glad you had it if we did.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. But I had a whole bunch of stuff that I actually took with me. So I had two sea bags, right? I had one for my gear, uh, one for the medications and medical supplies, and obviously I had my um my rucksack, um, which is all filled to the brim with all that stuff. Um, all the gear, all the issue gear pretty much went into the um the rucksack and the um the the sea bag didn't need anything else. Um yeah, so hopping on that plane from March Air Force Space, right? That's when we that's where we left that, right? March Air Force Space?
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, dude, that plane ride was fucking ridiculous. I was like, luckily I'm short, right? So my knees didn't really like um hit anybody's like nuts across the you know, across the street, across the uh jump seat from me. And it was like um, I was a small guy, so it was like shoulder to shoulder, like sitting there on the jump seats, uh, just on that plane ride. Um I don't remember how long it was, it was like a few days that we actually like uh rode on that damn that that plane because I know um it broke down in in country actually. It broke down and we ended up uh like um getting in down to uh one of the air force bases and we stayed there for a day or two, I believe.
SPEAKER_03:Yep, and then hop back.
SPEAKER_00:We were in New Jersey for two days, yeah, and hopped back on the actual um plane. And at that time, everybody had you know Air Force food, and everybody was just like chowling down and shit, right? That's when everybody got sick. So the person to my right, the person to my left, the person in front of me was like actually puking, and everybody had to like shit. So everybody was like freaking had diarrhea. I don't know what uh and then it started spreading on that plane. So, you know, I had um what I think four bottles of lapermai, right? At the end of that flight, I had two left. So that's how much I was giving that shit out. So it was insane. I was like giving out fanagroom, I mean, I was giving out a whole bunch of shit, you know. So yeah, it came in handy. Luckily, I actually did, you know, raid that shit.
SPEAKER_03:That's awesome, man.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so so in general, like if you wanted to grabbed, like obviously, uh being in the infantry, I don't know what it's like to be a devil doc, but uh like how do they kit you out like for the medical supplies? If you wanted to grabbed all of that stuff, we're like, do is there like a basic loadout that they give you, or do you have to make it up yourself, or how how does that work?
SPEAKER_00:There is, but the basic loadout that they give you is barely anything because it was it's uh it it's the whole thing was his and it's in his uh infancy, right? So um they didn't they don't know exactly what to put in those uh medical kits of medical bags nowadays. They actually, I think on my um either my second or third deployment over there, they ended up having this whole med pack, even had actual like um uh stretchers on there, a foldable litter, a foldable stretcher. Um, it had um a whole bunch of different stuff already uh packed in there all for trauma, right? The stuff we got was they didn't even give us a med pack, really. You're they give you a bag and then you're just supposed to load up whatever you want in them. So we ended up like acquiring a lot of our stuff. Um, they did give you like gauze and stuff like that, but it's only ones, two Z's, it wasn't a lot, you know.
SPEAKER_01:So did you load did you get that before you got on the plane or once you got to like Camp Victory?
SPEAKER_00:Before we got on the plane, so um, and then um when we got into country, when we got into Iraq, that's when they actually started getting a lot of supplies. That's when they get started getting the money. So all these supplies started coming in and we started waiting that stuff. So um at that point, we already knew exactly what we needed and stuff, you know. So it was it's kind of going in there blind, we didn't know exactly what to expect. So the um the basic kit that we got um during that time, even I think now, because they give you the small, I um small pack nowadays, it's um it's barely anything in there. I mean, it's enough to actually probably save, I would say, one life, I guess. Like um maintain their life until they actually get to the uh operating table just for one person, really. And then um after that, um, you know, you're pretty much like stuck. If you don't have any more supplies, you're you're fucked. So my my deal was is I had what three bags, I think. Yeah, I had three bags. I had my main pack, right? Uh, which is gigantic. It was like uh a big ass, it's it's probably the size, half the size of a uh um a full ruck set. And then I had my um my CTB bag, which is the one that slings across your body. And um that one right there is just like you know, stuff that you need like right away. It had your morphine in it, you had it had all the stuff that you need to actually, you know, treat um treat uh bleeding. Um if you want an i if you wanted an IV in there, then you have an IV. But at that point, I have my IV in my main pack. So um I usually stay close to the truck. So whenever something happens, uh my uh my bag is uh readily available. So uh but now uh when I went out in deployment um the second time, I learned from I learned a lesson from that, and I started putting med pack on every single truck that I had. Every single truck had a full loadout. Like um that's smart. Like, yeah, so whatever truck I was close to me, I'll just grab a med pack on there because I know exactly what's in the med pack. And that's another thing too. Um, as far as like uh the med pack that you have, you gotta know what's in it, right? You gotta memorize exactly you have to be able to actually grab that stuff when it's dark, you can't see. So it's actually you know best practice to just do it yourself, like pack that stuff up yourself because you'll know exactly you know where to reach at whenever you need something.
SPEAKER_01:So yeah. That's fascinating. You know, uh some of our other conversations, uh, we've we've brought up the fact that you know early 04. I mean, you you you were mentioning it here, and I just want to expand upon it is the idea that we went over before there was the updated tactics, updated philosophies, updated gear and stuff like that. And so uh two, you know, 2-4 Ramadi 04 was just the age of invention. You know, we were coming up with it on the fly. Um can you can you talk a little? I mean, you already just did, but I I I I find this fascinating to think about it from the Corman side of the world. I just it never occurred to me to be like, well, you guys were also having to swing for the fences uh because you also hadn't had that kind of intensity since Vietnam Korea.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. Um well the gear that we had, it was it was it was a testing ground. Like uh it was basically there's just so many injuries that we actually get over there, different types. I mean, I've had malaria, um, I had a broken jaw. Um, those things right there is not something that you know you really prepare for, you know. Um so it was kind of like a testing ground of what what we needed in um in our medical packs. It was uh whatever it is that we get and stuff like that, um we use or or try to make up um you know something to actually treat an injury. Like I think I've seen somebody use a uh an MRE box to uh use as a uh uh as a uh neck brace at one point. So um it's just a whole bunch of different things. Like um I've used uh MRE heaters to actually heat up uh an IV, you know, like uh for for a uh um yeah for a uh um a cold injury. Um I've I've dug up like um let's see, I use the poncho liner, um not a poncho to actually dig a hole in the ground and drop it in there to make an ice bath to actually jump somebody in there when uh whenever they're getting a heat injury, like just a whole bunch of different things. I mean, I've seen somebody who use a ratchet strap to actually stop bleeding. Yeah, those are the things that you actually, you know, you kind of you kind of have to make it up as you go and try to be as inventive as you can to actually try to save somebody's life, you know. Absolutely, and it's not something that's like readily available to you. I think it wasn't until um two deployments after um you know Ramadi that I started seeing uh King LTs in there. Oh, yeah in the um met packs, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So what's that? King LT is a yeah, go ahead. You're the doc man. Go ahead. No, go ahead, bro. Yeah, I got it. Uh King LT is a type of supergaladic airway, which basically means you can stick it in blind in someone's mouth. And for 99% of people, it will seat in a way that you can deliver direct ventilation uh with like a bag valve mask, or or you can you can blow into it if you want to just do mouth to tube or whatever. It's a way to keep somebody breathing when they're not breathing on their own, or if they just can't protect their own airway because they have facial trauma. It's another good way to just shove it in there to kind of ensure that as the swelling goes up, there's something that makes it so you can get air in their lungs. Exactly. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That would have been useful for a couple of our guys.
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, absolutely. Um, we even had like um what is it? What's the uh what's the tool that you actually use for uh regular um um et tube um laryngoscope? Yeah, laryngoscope. We actually had a like an in-clinic laryngoscope um in a bag in a kit that you can actually take with you. Now they actually have the portable ones, yeah, which is nice. I actually have like a set in my house right now. So but yeah, it's it's amazing the the stuff that they have now. They even have like um back then the stuff was um that stuck together was quick clot. That shit is so damaging to the um to the the surrounding tissue. Whenever you give somebody uh quick clot, it just burns everything. So they started developing the stuff that um it's made out of uh trim shells. And um that stuff right there, it's amazing. Um, you put it in there, it actually goes into the actual injury and just kind of stops bleeding in each and every single orifice that's actually open stuff. So, and it doesn't do any damage whatsoever. So that stuff you can actually wash off whenever the uh person is on the medical table, is on the uh surgical table, they can just wash it off and actually like start working as a person without any damage whatsoever to the tissue around it. So it's pretty amazing the stuff that they actually came up with now. Yeah, the the shrimp shells, like they found out that uh people that are allergic to iodine or shellfish, right? Um, is only allergic to the meat of the actual print, not the shells themselves. So the shells, um the the shells, um, the powdered shells, whenever you put it in the actual injury, the blood itself actually it absorbs the blood and it kind of acts like a foam to where it just seals off everything. It's amazing stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Is it kind of like a c a coagulate or is it definitely a coagulate?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's a coagulate. So yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I can get real nerdy and tell you all the steps, but I won't.
SPEAKER_00:So I mean, obviously, you don't want to put it in like arterial bleeding, you'll just like you know, uh, just kind of push that clot out really easily. So you have to slow it down first, you know, you have to put your tourniquet on, put that um, put that stuff on, and then um, you know, slowly release, you know, whatever, you know, to actually work on the person's house.
SPEAKER_01:So it's great. So along those lines of the like the tactics, uh we were able to go to a couple different division schools. Obviously, if you were a boot and coming off of Edson Range, I don't know if you is it the same case where there's a like special schools you can go to to give you get you spun up. And were you able to do any of that before going over to Iraq? Or are you just coming?
SPEAKER_00:Um well, no, uh when I was in Edson Range, um, the the schooling that they offer is wasn't really a lot. So they did um like prior to because I'm an um I'm an 8404 quad zero. Now it's a different NEC that they actually have now. It's like some crazy 95 some or 80 82 something. It's uh something else, but uh 8404 Quad Zero is a combat corpsman, so a uh field corpsman. Um, those are the guys that actually go out with the grants, you know, go out with uh with the Marines and actually so they get special qualification and their their training is centered towards uh trauma, uh combat trauma. So also prior to that, when I was in Okinawa, I actually um went to EMT school, uh EMTB, and then I got qualified as an EMTI, um, as an instructor, EMT instructor.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah, that's the same, that's the same as like it's almost the same level of training as a uh EMT in the United States as a paramedic. EMTI, the only thing you're missing is just some of the advanced cardiac care, but for the most part, you're like you're like 90% there to being a paramedic.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, yeah. Oh, okay. So um, yeah, that what what people have have to understand is like um the the civilian side of uh the training on um emt and the like you'd be surprised actually how many corpsmen actually fail out of EMT school. The reason why is because their mentality is geared towards trauma and combat, right? So their um triage and their um mentality is totally different from a paramedic. Paramedics, um, they they're limited to certain things and they always think about like you know, person is gonna survive. They need to be able to get that person in the rear as soon as possible, which is this pretty much the same concept, but the separation is uh basically the the mentality of uh keep as many Marines, as many guns as you can, right? That's the mentality of um Corman, the the combat, the the combat medicine um combat medicine aspect of uh corra training is um okay, when you triage somebody, who do you go first? You go to the person that you can actually put on a gun as fast as you can to treat and then you send them out.
SPEAKER_03:The best medicine is best medicine is fire superiority. Exactly. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:That's fine. I love this is good. This is I love this conversation, man. This is fascinating.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:So so yeah, the uh the mentality is totally different. Um, so a lot of corpsmen actually fell out of EMT school, you know, because the the civilian side of it, they they look at it as um like, well, no, that's wrong. We were taught this way. So you have to, you know, have a different mindset going into that in order to actually pass the course and stuff. So it was it's pretty difficult trying like you know, in in core school, it they drill it into your head, you know, this is what you need to do. And next thing you know, you go to um EMT school, it's totally different. Like, oh crap, you know, wait, I have to actually call somebody to give them an IV. What's going on? You know, right? It's it's it's weird.
SPEAKER_01:Not just string a 550 chord and uh drop a bunch of IVs in a bunch of people because uh it was a little too hot outside. Exactly. Exactly.
SPEAKER_03:I mean the populations are different too. Uh as a combat corpsman, you're treating 18 mostly 18 to 20 year olds with a traumatic injury, and as an emt you're mostly treating grandma and grandpa having a heart attack or a stroke. Absolutely. Like it's just not it's just not the same focus at all.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it's it's a different world, it's a different way of like looking at things and stuff, you know. So, yeah. I mean, you're able to tell a Marine to like uh grab a straw and suck it the fuck up, you won't be able to sell out to say that's a civilian. Nope. I mean, fuck you, you'll get your license yanked right away.
SPEAKER_01:Here's a new pair of socks, here's your motron, walk on. Exactly, exactly, exactly.
SPEAKER_00:So it's totally different.
SPEAKER_01:So do you feel like you had like even though the tactics maybe weren't there and maybe the gear wasn't completely there, do you feel that you were knowledgeable? Prepared, uh prepared, you know, going into Iraq in 04?
SPEAKER_00:That so the basic knowledge that I had that we had um is it's really good enough to be able to actually like um carry you through a combat scenario like that. But a lot of those uh things you learn as you go. Like when when I was uh throughout the whole deployment, my mind was going a thousand miles an hour. Basically, what's going through my mind is different scenarios, right? Different scenarios of injury. It kind of messed me up a little bit because um it's like you're using a marine, like one of your guys, to actually go through a scenario. Um, say for example, one of the scenarios will be like, okay, if I if this guy has a traumatic amputation of the right leg or um traumatic amputation of the right leg, what do I do? What's my what's my next step? What's uh what do I grab? So you have your med bag memorized, right? So this is where I grab, this is what I do. And those scenarios are constantly going on in your head, like every second, um, even through even through patrols and stuff like that. Like um, you're in the truck, I'm in the truck, like looking out, like um keeping an eye out, having my head on a swivel, and my mind is racing, going through different scenarios all the time, especially when you know you're about to get into you know into a firefight. You know, there's times where you know, and you know for a fact you can get into a firefight. So your mind doubles. It it like the speed doubles in your mind. You just like go up and like, okay, what's gonna happen if I get like uh uh somebody gets disinvolved or somebody you know takes a uh takes uh a bullet to the neck. Those are the things that's going through your head. You wanna know, you wanna, it's basically kind of like a I guess um practice for you to be able to handle a scenario when it does actually go down. I have gone through all sessions uh certain types of like I've gone through all types of like scenarios on my head that I covered pretty much everything, you know, after that when I at the end of the deployment and stuff, because I would hear about injuries from other platoons or something like that. I would play it in my head, okay, what do I do during that situation? And that would go on my head like repeatedly, you know, all day for that whole day until you know I actually get it down to like okay, so when this happens, it's gonna be muscle memory that actually doing stuff.
SPEAKER_03:So now I'm gonna give you a little bit of credit because uh if that was your level of stress and your level of mental load, I had a high cognitive load as leadership as well, but I certainly didn't have that level of medical planning, uh mental load in the deployment. From the outside, you looked very happy. You were one of the happiest fucking dudes I can remember, literally every day. Smiling and jokes and dancing around and having a good time.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's that's how that's how I dealt with it. So that's good.
SPEAKER_03:You you your outward facing persona was the opposite of what you're describing that your inward monologue was was doing for you.
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. I mean, I mean, I couldn't show that, you know, I couldn't show that like um specifically during like um like when some one of our guys get hurt, you know. I I I can't be freaking out, right? Just imagine a corman. Yeah, just imagine a corman freaking out one day, you know, you got a boil woman through your chest. I'm like, yeah, okay. Yeah, oh shit, oh shit, anybody know what to do?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, can someone call a corpsman for the corpsman? Yeah, that doesn't work. Can we time out for a second? Now, on top of that, just uh lay an extra layer on that. What kind of weapons training did you have prior to that deployment? Because you came to us so late, and one of the things I remember being at least jarring to me from a planning standpoint was we're short people, we need to add as many guns to this platoon as possible. Oh, we're issuing the Corman rifles. Like you guys are, and we weren't going to initially, but Gunny Gunny Muraki comes over and he grabs us all aside and he's like, We're not getting any replacements anytime soon. He's like, We've all had a command, whatever. He's like, I have more rifles. We're given the Corman rifles, they're gonna be in the stack, they're gonna be shooters. If you enter a house, they're gonna be in the stack. And I was like, uh fucking okay, great. I don't know that that our corpsman have ever done that. So now I'm curious, did you have any weapons training prior to that?
SPEAKER_00:FMTB actually took you through um weapons training. That's that's about it. No, nothing like a CQB or anything like that. I learned that in country, uh just by um observing you guys and um doing doing those things. I I'll just jump in to whatever you guys are doing and you know learn it as I go, you know. Um, other than that, there was none. There was no no type of training, um, Navy boot camp. They should just started actually doing this now. This would be actually taking them to uh rifle and pistol calls. When I was when I was in RDC, well, uh it's a uh drill instructor for Navy, yeah. I push boots, and um they actually started doing uh rifle and pistol qualification in there and stuff. And I was like, what? What is going on? You know, like it was it was weird. When I I went through, I didn't do any of that stuff. Um the first time I ever actually got any kind of uh weapons training is um is through FMTV. So FMTV taught me, you know, the basics of um weapons handling. Uh after that, I learned through experience through you guys, you know, um what I needed to do in certain situations, like you know, close quarters combat, all this stuff. You know, it was just like I I took everything that you said and get like kind of uh it was gold to me. Like I learned everything that I I kept everything, you know, that you guys taught me throughout my whole entire career. So because it's it's needed, it's really needed. Like you said before, uh we're running, we're running low on personnel. And funny story is like uh when I first got there, I remember uh my TO weapon was a uh nine mil. Yeah, and that's the only thing we can have. And I'm like sitting there, like looking at this thing, getting into those firefights. I'm like, what the fuck am I doing, dude? It's like I got a fucking peace shooter, and these guys are fucking shooting at me with fucking you know sniper rifles and like RPK, and like what the fuck, dude? And um, so I started uh I started uh talking to the uh the gunners. Gunners want a nine mil. That was their thing. They wanted a nine mil because it's so easy to actually take out and shoot whenever an enemy gets close, right? Yeah, instead of like shooting a cruiser weapon, where you know, if you have enemy. So close to you, firing a uh you know a Mark 19 is not really gonna be conducive, you know, to it's gonna hurt you, but yeah, it's not gonna hurt a lot. So they um I started trading them. It's like, hey, you want my Nightman? Let me get your like uh let me get your musket, you know, your uh what is it, M16A? We had M16A4s, A4s, yeah. These giant fucking weapons and shit. That's like out there. Full length rifles, yeah. Exactly. So I started trading. I think Webster uh was the one I was uh traded with Calais, I think. He was uh Calais was uh he was uh on the gun, right?
SPEAKER_03:Calais did both. He was gunning and driving. He drove a quite quite a lot.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I I started trading those guys and stuff. Like, hey, you want my nine mil? I'll take your uh you know your rifle and stuff. So JD was getting pissed off because I had a rifle walking around. I was like, what the fuck are you doing with a rifle, dude? I was like, I don't know, I'm I'm not gonna get fucking stuck shooting the fucking, you know, shooting the pistol. Like, no, you're not combatant. It's like, yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_03:I bet the enemy would have adhered to that rule too.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. Yeah. Uh when uh they told me that uh when JD came up to say, hey doc, come with me. I was like, what the fuck is going on? He's like, am I in trouble for the fucking, you know, for the for the rifle again? Takes me to the armory and he's like, pick whatever you want. I was like, fuck yeah. It was like fucking it was like it. I was happy. I was like grabbing all sorts of different shit. I had like fucking like 20 mags. I was just like putting in my pocket, putting in my drop, my my uh drop pouch and putting in my uh cargo pocket. Like I was just loading up, dude. I was like, yes. Yeah, so I after that I got my own rifle. Um the nine mil, I uh you know, whenever uh the uh the gunners like needed it, they I I just give it to them, you know. But ended up by towards the end of the deployment, they started getting uh um nine mils. Um we did, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:We got a case of nine mils in July or something like that. Yeah, because I finally got one too.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, it was uh it was it was uh it was a learning curve, it was a huge, huge learning curve and stuff. So my mentality is back then is like um as far as like having a rifle is is preventive medicine, right? Uh preventive medicine is like you shoot you shoot them before they shoot you guys. Yeah, you can't do that with a nine mil.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, well, especially not the old you you got uh 2nd Battalion 4th Marines armory issued nine mils, which were had 50,000 rounds put through them and the barrel rattled. And so it would probably the the bullet's gonna go somewhere in that direction. Yeah, it's not gonna it's not gonna hit what you're aiming at. Yeah. You'd almost hear the bullet rattle down the barrel.
SPEAKER_01:Sorry area targets.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And that's that's one thing too. Like, um, I want to give advice to the uh the corpsman that's out there now. It's like um they always like uh try to use medical as a uh scapegoat to get out of things, right? Um they'll they'll come up with different, you know, they'll come up with different reasons not to actually do things that the Marines are doing. But if you actually do the things that the Marines are doing, you'll know exactly what they're going through and you'll appreciate it a lot more. I was doing watches, I was doing truck watches, I was doing uh watches up on the uh bridge.
SPEAKER_03:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:Um I was doing everything that they did because uh um it's it's a way to actually help them out too, because um that I'm one more person to be able to do those things so they can get rest. It's like uh it's one of those things, like do like be part uh be part of the platoon, not this person that's special or whatever. Like when when it comes down to it, lay down some rounds when somebody gets hurt, you know, put your rifle down and treat them. That's basically what you need to do. So you can't just be one mindset. I've seen people just sit in sit in the vehicles the whole time waiting for an injury to come in. It's like fuck that shit, you know. Like one, the vehicle is pretty basically a giant target, so there's no way I'm gonna be sitting in there the whole time. So I'll be I'll be dismounting, you know, might do my 525s, you know, get the fuck away from the truck.
SPEAKER_01:You did mention that you uh you you know you would hear about the other injuries from other platoons and and whatnot. Yeah, but did you like did you hook up with and uh you know sit down with like Hinkle and uh Contreras or Rake Brandt and stuff like that and be like, all right, let's figure stuff out.
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah, constantly, constantly. Well, not figure stuff out, but um listen to their story. Uh one, it's it's good because it actually they're able to actually uh um kind of decompress by telling the story and stuff like that, and you're able to be there for them and say help them through it because they just went through that and um their Marines are still going through that, and you know it's it's a very emotional time. So being able to sit there and listen to their stories, you know, just sit there and listen. Um, you're able to help them out, and on top of that, you're able to uh learn from those lessons and actually put that into your little toolbox, you know, later on. So it's okay, so that happens, this is what I'm gonna do because either they, you know, this is what they did and stuff, this is what they saw. Um, so those scenarios starts back up again, you know. The um gunner height IEDs, you know, those are fucking killers, right? Gunner height IEDs, the um the gunshot wound from shoulder to shoulder, that was a good one. That took me a while to figure that shit out. Like uh entrance wound rum. What is it? Entrance wound on the right. No, I'm sorry, entrance wound on the left, exit wound on the right shoulder. Just imagine the damage is caused on the way out, you know. So, what do you do in certain scenarios like that? You know, a uh an arterial bleed right on the groin area. That's that's actually a hard thing to do. You know, after that, I started carrying hemostats with me and stuff like that. Because those things are in their goal, you know, that stops bleeding. Just grab it, make sure that the uh the actual artery doesn't like retract because it will spasm. So right before it retracts, grab that too, they grab that, and then you know put a uh hemostat on there to stop the bleeding because the groin area is is an area where it's hard to get to. So it's just it's it's crazy.
SPEAKER_03:That was that uh that was the wound that was made famous in the Black Hawk Down scenario. Black Hawk Down, yeah. They covered in the movie, but that uh a whole bunch of, and I imagine you probably learned this at some point. A whole bunch of military medical SOPs all changed after they went over and over and over. They were like, this guy would have survived easily had we been able to control that bleed. And there was a whole bunch of different devices that were invented to try to figure things out, and and a lot of them came back to exactly what you said is if you have to cut down and clamp that artery with a set of hemostats, was what they came down to.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. It's it's it's pretty amazing all the things I've learned. Actually, I took all the stuff I learned from our deployment and created it on through my career. I became a um I became a uh combat trauma um instructor. I uh I started training Marines, even in country too. I started training like for my platoons, every single person. Well, I was doing it when um when we were over there actually. Like every single person I trusted that they'll be able to actually save my life if I go down because the training that I gave them, I know I feel confident that they'd be able to do that and have no problems doing it. Yep. Uh it actually happened during that one time uh with um I don't know, it was golf company or uh it was a high back that got that got hit. Yes um outside the marketplace. Um and you guys did amazing what you guys did. So Navi was over there, I believe, with you guys, right? Yes, and um, like uh I think it was somebody that came up to me, he's like, Doc, the training that you gave us was invaluable. And I still get people nowadays that that tells me it's like dude, I was in a club and this guy gets shot, and I did this, and it was pretty amazing. These are all the things you taught me, and I was able to save their lives. I was like, dude, that's good. That's good.
SPEAKER_03:I do remember going through those scenarios with you in the hooch where we were doing. I mean, now they have that whole American College of Surgeons campaign called Stop the Bleed. And it's funny, I laughed when I went, I like read through it all and I went through it all with some different people, and it was identical. I was like, Oh, this is exactly what we're doing with the Corman in 2004. Like it they didn't do anything any different. It was, you know, direct pressure and tourniquets and all this kind of stuff. And that's all the same stuff.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It was uh it was a it is a great learning experience, but at the same time, you know, I wish I didn't have to go that far, but it was it was very invaluable throughout my whole career as far as like uh being able to treat Marines. Like after that, I did pour more deployments. You guys know that, right? I did four to uh four tours. I actually got to the point where I actually volunteered in country to extend um extend more. I did a one-year, I did a one-year tour over there. I just didn't want to go back. That's how I dealt with things, you know. So people dealt with things, but people deal with things like different ways, um, like drinking, you know, doing all that stuff. I I didn't do any of that stuff, so I um just kept volunteering, just kept raising my hands, like yeah, I'll go, I'll keep going.
SPEAKER_03:So where else did you go?
SPEAKER_00:Um, all in Iraq. Um I went through a lot like all the phases in uh of Iraq. I went through it was a uh um the CQB uh phase of it, the the um urban terrain, uh then it became a police action, and then it became a support action. I went through all that.
SPEAKER_03:So what years were you there in what cities do you remember?
SPEAKER_00:So I went to TQ. Um then from TQ went to TQ Takatam Airbase. Tacatum Airbase, yeah. Okay, um, Al-Assad. I I got dispatched out from there because um um I got attached to the different units and stuff. I got attached to I think the one in Al-Assad. Um, I was doing ops with CIA because that was a police action already. So we were actually doing um, I was actually doing medical investigations and stuff, going out there looking at the injuries and stuff like that, writing it down, and at the same time patrolling to try to get information um on people.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, interesting.
SPEAKER_00:Um what year was that? That was in 06, I believe.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, I was thinking that would be later, but that okay, yeah, 06.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, 06. And then um, wait, oh man, oh seven, maybe.
SPEAKER_03:This is what happens when you this is what happens when you get old, man. All starts to blend together.
SPEAKER_00:Exactly, exactly. Yeah, um, but um, all the operating, like I've I've been to a Mitt and Pit team, Met Bit and Pit team, which is the Iraqi training team, stuff like that.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00:I did uh coverage for that. I I did that. I was a corner for that.
SPEAKER_03:Were you teaching were you teaching medical to the Iraqis?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_03:I bet that was very interesting, actually.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, dude, it was it was it was hair-raising China. Like these are the guys that actually you were like uh shooting at and in 04, right? Next thing you know, you got these guys covering your back, like fuck, dude. I'm gonna die. I was just like, You look familiar. Yeah, no. So yeah, um, like uh, whenever we go on patrols, I go in there with them, you know. Like uh, yeah, it was uh it was pretty air raising. I did the uh police action, like um medical investigation with CIA. What is it? Uh secur um security um ISF, individual security forces, uh for the big dog. I did one, I actually did one for um for uh Barack Obama actually when he was like going around the country and stuff like that campaigning before he became president.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, 2009, right? That was uh presidential campaign.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I believe so, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I didn't I was in Baghdad at that time and I remember.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, you were yeah, I think I I was actually uh one of the stops we made is actually in Ramadi. So think about like going back to the place that you you know it all started and stuff, and like, oh shit, all right. And uh remember uh Radsky uh tore off like a limb off of this tree that we had um in front of our hooch, right? Yes, and he planted it on the ground and started watering it every day. Yes, right? That thing is that thing is gigantic now. Huge. Yeah, that thing actually grew. That's it grew pretty big. That's hilarious. Yeah, I went back over to um I went back over to Hurricane Point and I saw it. I was like, Holy shit, what the fuck? It's a big ass tree now.
SPEAKER_03:I forgot about that. We talk shit to that guy every day. He would go out and pour a canteen of water on that tree every day. He's like, I'm I'm watering my pet and like talk all kinds of shit. That's hilarious. I hope he listens to this and he and he gets a good laugh that it's treeless. I hope so. Yeah, he was the only one that was right.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's hilarious.
SPEAKER_00:So it's pretty persistent. He's like, it's gonna grow, it's gonna grow to that gigantic tree. I was like, No, it's not. So every time I'm like, I think who was it that would actually try to pull it out? It was Groves that would try to pull it out.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, they'd fight over it, and we'd go out and pee on it at night.
SPEAKER_00:We did all kinds of stuff, yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, that thing survived, dude.
SPEAKER_03:So not to not to drag you back to 2004, but I am. I mean, obviously that's the focus of the podcast. But also, if you wish to go through some of it, I'm curious when you used your medical skills some of the time or any memories you have of anything, realistically. But what was the do you remember the first time you treated anybody? So here, I'll try to jog your memory. The first time I remember our platoon, since we were in the same platoon, the first time I remember our platoon getting to a place where anybody got hit was March 31st. We went out way north of the city on a different highway, and there were five Army Brigade engineers who had been hit by an IED, and that vehicle was destroyed. And as far as I know, those five guys were in pieces, but there were other casualties, people that were hit. I don't know if you had to treat them at that time.
SPEAKER_00:I did, I did, but I don't remember the actual the actual injuries that they actually had. Um was that the the LAD one? No, it was the LAD.
SPEAKER_03:No, that was way later. This was these was this was a Human This was a Humvee column, and one of the Humvees got hit. And the the five of the guys that were in that Humvee were were dead right there. But there were but other people got hit in the vehicle behind them. That was what I remember.
SPEAKER_00:I created so many that I don't even remember most of the majority of them.
SPEAKER_03:Well, then let's go. What was the first one that you remember?
SPEAKER_00:Okay, um, I remember that that what I just said as far as the um oh well there's also those guys, uh, the uh the engineers, combat engineer guys up in um Dan Road.
SPEAKER_03:That's a great one. That was um if you wish to tell that story, I'd love to hear it. Yeah, um that was on that was later in the deployment, but that was May 29th, was when the engineers were uh hit on the IED May. Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, like a lot of these things that are actually like um like when I was listening to you know Jesse's uh uh podcast, like he he corrected some of my memory, you know, because um yeah, like as far as like um you know cohen actually getting blown out of there, I don't I don't remember that. I don't remember um him actually getting like he was on the ground um right in front of the truck when he actually got hit. For for the life of me, I thought it was when he he was inside the truck that he actually got hit when he and and he was in the gun at the time.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And for some reason, I I thought I remember pulling him out of the the the Hum V because that's when I saw and I hope it was uh injury day memory is one of those things where you could both be you could both be wrong and you could both be right. And it's really hard to it's really hard to know. Yeah. Uh all I know and you're talking about when Morris got hit uh specifically on April 4th, and Morris, to my understanding, again, I showed up after everything, but from what I saw of the vehicle and what you guys described, Morris was on the ground because he had already climbed out of the truck and he was hit in the back basically with that RPG, and it bounced like most of the impact he took, but some of it hit the truck. And that's Miranda was in the driver's seat, I guess, and he got hit. And according to Jordan, Cohen was in the gun, but I didn't know that he was in the gun.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, see, uh those things right there is what I mean. Like, I'm this thing is pretty therapeutic for him because it's actually like jogging some of the uh the memories that I I thought, you know, I like I I forgot, or um, I have it in the wrong sequence or something like that, you know. Or I kind of mix everything up because like all those deployments, I'm I'm actually mixing some of the deployments uh like after that into this one.
SPEAKER_03:Of course, of course, that's that's natural. Yeah, so so you talked about the you talked about the engineers on the dam. Let's talk about that one first.
SPEAKER_00:So it was crazy because um I remember you guys like uh arguing um and JD getting pissed off because he didn't want to do that up, right? The reason why he didn't want to do one of the didn't want to do that up because he didn't want to put us in danger, because that road, uh that dam, it's it we called it dam road, right? That's what it was. Yeah, it was like elevated from the actual main road, and I think that's about Michigan on that main road, correct?
SPEAKER_03:Main road was Michigan, that's correct. And this were this is the Habanya Dam that was out east of the city of Ramadi, in between Habanya and Ramadi. The elevated road that you're talking about is actually the dam itself. That area the the area just to the south of it naturally flooded multiple times a year, but definitely during the rainy season, and would trap hundreds of millions of gallons of water that all the farmers in the local area would siphon off and use for their fields. Yeah, and so what our the engineers were tasked to do was to clear that dam because there was intel that there was going to be somebody try to blow up the dam. And the task order we were given was to make sure that the engineers could walk down that dam with metal with metal detectors, yeah, yeah. And you you could go ahead and tell your part of what you saw the argument. I remember the argument because I remember arguing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Um, JD was pissed off. He didn't want to do that because he didn't want to put us in danger. Because one, we're in an elevated position, a sniper can get us, no problem. Two, um, there was like blind areas on Route Michigan that a triggerman could be to actually set off the actual IED when we get closer. He didn't want to put trucks on top. So he ended up like, I guess you guys ended up like putting some of the trucks on Route Michigan and putting dismounts out away from Route Michigan to see uh see if there's any triggerman, trigger man that's actually gonna be, you know, like setting up IEDs on Route Michigan and on the damn road. I think it was uh my truck, um, my truck that actually ended up going up on the top of that that round on top of the damn road and um basically following the engineers. There was two guys, two engineers that were just following. And um, I keep overhearing it on the radio, it was like, hey, keep your distance, keep your distance. And um it was Rabbit that was driving that truck. Yep.
SPEAKER_03:So Hampton, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Hampton, yes, yeah, Hampton was uh driving that truck. And um he kept getting too close to them. JD and you kept yelling at him, it was like, what the fuck are you doing? Back up, back up. So he'll back up, he's like, This is bullshit, you know. It's just fucking he had one leg hanging out, and he had like one uh he had the door open, and I was patrolling, I was on foot, um, patrolling right next to the uh the truck. So I was behind the actual door itself, and he just kept driving. This is fucking boring, you know. He's just drinking his uh drinking the uh Gatorade, and he keep reaching back and grabbing some more rippets and stuff, and I was like, hey, give me some of that, you know. So I grabbed rippet now and just drinking rippets while I uh I patrol because to my left it's pretty much all open. You can see everything, right? So there isn't really nothing to worry about, right? And I had the truck to my right, so he was providing cover. Basically, I was just keeping an eye on the um the engineers. So JD, um everybody kept yelling at um at Hampton to back away. So he would like, you know, push his brakes and he just wait until those guys actually um you know get a distance and then he'll go, he'll he'll bounce basically. That's what he was trying to do. I remember um stopping because um the engineer guys stopped and they were both of them are over this um over this little spot on the road that they they keep going, um like hearing some beeping on there, and um they they were like uh jabbing it with their shovels and stuff, right? And I looked over to the left to make sure that there's nobody trying to take them out or anything, and then as soon as I looked over to the right, next thing I know, it just explodes, right? These guys were directly on top of that IED and it was just like a cloud of dust, just they disappeared, right? It was just a cloud of dust and you couldn't even see them. Um one of their one of the guys' thumb actually hits me on my flat, right? So as soon as I um as soon as we as soon as we um as soon as that happened, I started running all the way. Um I started running towards that area, um, not even not even caring about like a secondary IED or anything like that. I was just like, you know, run, run. Um so I just started running. And the first person I saw um was this this uh one sergeant, I believe, and he just kept telling me, he's like, don't worry about me, don't worry about me. This guy is pretty fucked up. I mean, his I think his arm, um, his right arm was uh was missing and um his right leg was his right leg was gone. And I remember him telling me, he's like, don't worry about me, help him out, help him out. I was like, what the fuck? Yeah, you pretty fucked up yourself, but all right. So I go over and get to this guy and get to his um his buddy, and he was he was pretty gone. Um his legs were his legs were the crazy the the way the blast hit him because he was standing on top of the ID, the blast hit him from underneath and basically took all the meat off of his leg, his thigh, and just it was gone, right? So there was like a couple of uh a couple of muscles still attached to his legs, but everything else in the inside was gone. It was it was it blew off, right? Now, IDs when they hit, it's actually a pretty pretty dirty but clean injury at the same time because it cauterizes booms right away, right? Because the uh the the heat just cauterizes it. So like you see this burnt flash and all that stuff, right? And um I started grabbing this guy, and for some reason, for some reason he can still lift his leg up, right? And I was trying to uh put a tourniquet on him and um he just kept keeps uh lifting his leg up. So I had to grab his bone and just like put it down and actually sit on his legs to for him to not move his thigh because I was still until I can actually get the uh tourniquet on him. So I put the tourniquet on him, and then I was calling, I remember calling out and say, give me the stretcher, give me the stretcher. And um, I think it was Rabbit that pulled up and uh got the stretcher out and um we put it on the ground, got this guy on there, but during that at that time, um Natividad, the other corpsman, um was actually there already, and he was treating the other guy. So the guy was um the person I was treating, he was losing a lot of blood. So uh yeah, um, I think he was losing a lot of blood. I put the tourniquet on, stopped the bleeding, and I um tried to give him well, I attempted to give him uh morphine, but when I uh I gave him morphine, the uh injector was upside down. So I put my thumb right over the injector, right? I put my thumb right over that injector and I jabbed it in there. I was like, oh fuck. I see I see the needle go through my actual like uh my actual nails. Like, oh shit, I done fucked up. So next thing I know, I pulled up a little bit and then it emptied out of my thumb. My thumb oh no, my thumb just like fucking swelled up like crazy. It was huge, right?
SPEAKER_03:And um what's funny is you didn't seem to care about your thumb being huge.
SPEAKER_00:No, no, but uh um we got this guy in the stretcher, and luckily those Bradley's that was actually um in the area. We got this guy loaded up in a Bradley, and they took him straight back to um.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I think you I think you messed that memory up, my friend, because we did not which one you stuck the guy, you stuck the guy with the tourniquet thighs in my truck, in the back of my truck, and the guy with the missing arm and missing leg went in the back of uh either your vehicle or Harden's vehicle, but Harden jumped in the vehicle and we drove them to Combat Outpost.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, okay. I thought for some reason it was Bradley that pulled up.
SPEAKER_03:Not for that, not for that up. And the only reason why, and here is why I remember is probably the morphine. Well, I was gonna say exactly you actually have a really good reason not to remember you were and that was I was I was oscillating between terror because the guy you put in my truck, his eyes were missing. Um, most of the muscle of the one side of his chest was missing. You you could see exposed bone. Uh the your description was very apt. His as I remember, his right thigh was open like a book, all the way down to the bone. You had put a tourniquet on it, but all the muscle was just wide open, and it literally looked like a fanned out encyclopedia. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen. And uh both of his eyes were gone. He was blind, but he was still able to talk. Yeah. And the whole way back, he was he was issuing his last rights essentially. He was saying, Please tell my wife that you know I did well, you know, I'm I'm very sorry, and I don't think I'm gonna make it, and all this stuff. And we're we're yelling at him, no, you're gonna make it, you're gonna be fine, not having any clue if he's gonna make it. He looked that was the worst thing I had seen to that point. And that was even after April, after seeing all those other guys get wounded. But that was the worst overall wounding I had seen. I don't remember what happened to the other casualty, but uh me and Harden linked up at combat outpost and brought the vehicles back. But that was the same day uh where after we came back, uh Sledgehammer, which was Blake's platoon, was at the arches and they were securing Route Michigan at the arches. And we drove past that VBIED that later got the uh Echo QRF high back and blew them up on the road. It was on that same day. That was on the same day, sir. That was a very busy day. So, right after we got all of our guys together after evacuing the engineers, we went up to the cemetery mountain and were parked up there, and that's where the VID got the high back, and we drove down with Lieutenant Wells, and everybody was treating everything.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Wow. That was that's yeah. Memories really, really mixed up.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. Well, you've been busy for 20 years. It's uh easy, it's easy to get things a little bit uh confused. I only have this one medical memory of Bundy injecting himself with morphine and being high for the next four or five hours.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so anyways, uh I would do remember when it actually kicked in because I remembered all the stuff prior to that, and then um we get him on the stretcher, and I was um on the front of the litter on the um on the front right, and um we're running, and I remember like just like straining. I was like, oh fuck, you know, I'm having a hard time breathing, you know, because we're running. We got this guy, and um, I'm trying to keep in step with everybody else because if you don't keep in step, obviously got the uh casualties gonna fall. And on top of that, we were going downhill because it's pretty steep, huge, steep, steep incline.
SPEAKER_03:It's a it's a dam.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, exactly. So and we were trying to run him down over there, and we got to keep in step, you know, in order to not lose the patient, um, to the uh evac vehicle. And it was when we got to the bottom of that decline that all of a sudden everything just started slowing down. It was like I was like, Oh yeah, it's kicking in. So, well, we they give us two morphines, so just you know, for situations like that. Well, it's not really meant for situations like that, but um um I ended up giving them the other morphine, but um it was just like my my breathing just started slowing down, and everything was just like oh in slow motion, and I was just like smiling for some reason, I don't know why. And got to the highest shit, yeah. I was high. And I remember I'm not a doctor, but I know why. I kept looking down on my thumb and like, oh my god, that thing's gigantic. It's just like I was like looking down while I'm running, looking down on my thumb, it's like, oh my god, that is huge, you know. And I just kept it was like hyper focused on my thumb.
SPEAKER_03:Right. That's what I remember laughing at you, then looking over and being horrified at the guy you're loading in my truck, yeah, and then laughing at you and like, what the fuck is going on? And you were just giggling. Oh my god, it was the weirdest, most surreal moment ever.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, um, I remember uh big boy uh coming up to me, like after we got him loaded up, and I guess you guys uh took him back to the room. Um, big boy um going up to me, he's like, Are you okay, Doc? He's like, No, not at all. I was like, I'm not okay. And he's like, he's like, What happened? And I showed him my thumb, it was like gigantic, right? He's like, he's like, I stuck myself with morphine. He's like, Oh fuck, that thing is huge.
SPEAKER_01:If you like what you've heard, this is a multi part episode. Make sure you listen to the rest of the story.