Constant Combat

An Extra Dose of Morphine - Mike Bundeson (part 2 of 2)

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Part 2 with Doc Bundeson from Mobile Assault Platoon 2 to trace the most violent stretch of Ramadi in April 2004, when Marines were pinned in houses, snipers were trapped by the river, and convoys fought through ambush after ambush in the Sophia and industrial districts. Then the focus turns to the ethics that define real combat medicine.
There’s humor and heart here too. Hooch pranks, sunsets, and a misreported “face shot”. Twenty years later, we finally admit we all could have called each other sooner. 


• early-war gear limits and cutting flak vests to reach wounds
• April 6–10 ambushes, sniper rescue, route fights
• running out of Mark 19 ammo and forced resupply
• treating wounded Marines and prisoners under Geneva Convention
• mental detachment to do care, reflection afterward
• misreported injuries and comms blackout
• leadership with a soft edge in chaos
• hooch pranks as a pressure valve
• sunsets on the Euphrates as a reset
• breaking 20 years of silence and validating memories

** Warning - These episodes discuss traumatic injuries in graphic detail **


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SPEAKER_02:

This is part two of our conversation with Mike Bundison, Combat Corpsman, Mobile Assault Platoon 2.

SPEAKER_00:

Big Boy has a soft side. He does, yeah, for sure. Not a lot of people know this. Not a lot of people notice it because he's constantly yelling at you guys. That's where my that's more comedy, like that's where I'm constantly laughing at the shit that you know some of the guys do and uh he gets mad at. And um I uh I remember uh he's got a soft side, and um I have blood.

SPEAKER_03:

And for anybody listening to this, big boy was our platoon sergeant. It was uh staff sergeant Patrick Coleman.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Go ahead.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh yeah, so I uh I remember uh like he like looked at me, he's like, You got blood all over you, you got blood over your face, your hands, and stuff like that. So he grabs his canteen, right? And it starts washing my face off, washing my hands off. And I was like sitting there, it's like I I kept looking at saying, like Stafford, I'm fucking thirsty. And he's like, he's pouring this water on me. And I go over, I think I was in my truck already. I I look over at Numer and he's like drinking his uh frozen Gatorade. I was like, hey man, can I have some of that? And he's like, no, so you can't have you'll suck all the juice out. It's like like leave me with just ice and water. I was like, fucking dick. So I just grabbed my hot ass freaking, you know, uh canteen and just start drinking out of that. I was just so thirsty, and it lasted, I didn't even know how long that thing lasted for it, but it lasted for quite a bit. And that whole situation happened as far as like you know, the the high back getting hit. And um, at that time, I think I was we were we were on um um we're still on dam road, weren't we?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh when the when the high back got hit, we were up so above the dam was that cemetery hill where there's a bunch of old there's old families of Ramadi, but there's also some war casualties from their Iraq-Iran war. Okay, and we were up on top of that hill overwatching Michigan. Okay, so yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

So I just remember just like being thirsty that whole fucking day. And hearing that, um, that's when I actually came to is when that whole situation happened on uh uh with the highback. That's when I came to it. They tried to get me in trouble for that too, by the way. Oh, I didn't know. No, oh yeah. When we got back to the rear the next day, it's like, hey, I heard um you injected yourself with morphine. Like they're trying to look at me like I actually did it on purpose, right? I'm like, like, yeah, I accidentally, you know, hit myself with morphine, like my thumb. You know, it was still a little bit swollen, but it wasn't crazy or anything like that. But he's like, Yeah, I I uh injected it upside down. He's like, and they're like, Well, you gotta write a report about it. I was like, report for what? He's like, Well, you accidentally injected yourself, you need to actually write a report. So I had I had to sit there and actually write a report saying what what happened and all that stuff. Nothing came of it, but uh sure they're looking at me like I'm a fucking criminal, like I did it on purpose or something like that. I was like, dude, what why would I do something like that? That's not the first time they tried to uh they tried to actually do something like uh those flak, the flak jackets that we had, they didn't have a quick release on the uh the shoulders, right? Right, right. So it's not like you can take that, it's not like you can take it off. You have to actually like open it up in the front and um get somebody's arm and shoulder off, and you know, get get their get it through the shoulder and then get it through the back and then uh take it off in order to actually look for any kind of like injuries and stuff. Nowadays they have the quick release where you can actually take the whole front end off easily, right? And still use the the sappy plate on the back as a uh C uh a C spine or uh a spine precaution, right? Right. So that the stuff that they have nowadays is nice, but um back then we had those those uh crappy ones, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

The full piece vest. I did not think about that. But now that you're talking about that, that's crazy.

SPEAKER_00:

They did try to get me in trouble with that because I cut one off. Oh, really? What I cut it right off of the top top of the shoulder. That was what what else are you gonna do? Of course you're gonna cut it off. Yeah, yeah. I that was in uh in uh Morris's um Jeffries' uh Jeffrey's case where I cut it off on the top, cut it off on the other side, and just I took the whole thing off, right? Uh to get off of him and um to actually see the injuries that you actually had.

SPEAKER_01:

And um when we got was it the battalion that was going after you?

SPEAKER_00:

Mm-hmm. Yeah, it was battalion. Um well, obviously, you know, chain of command. They talked to sure, yeah. We talked to medical and stuff like that. Medical pose man, it's like, why did you cut it? I was like, I was trying to get to the injury. He's like, Well, that's you know, I believe they said something about it, it was like a thousand dollars uh piece of uh uh um gear and you cut it with value scissors. It's like, well, yeah, I was like, Well, you shouldn't be doing that, you shouldn't be doing that. I was like, Okay, I try not to do it next time, I guess. But yeah, it was like they were more weird about like that stuff than you know, somebody's life. I don't know, it was weird. It was well again.

SPEAKER_03:

This is one of those points where it was so early in the war that no one was ready for that level of sustained combat. We didn't have the medical supplies, we didn't realize how smart it would be to cut off a flak jacket, and so now, unfortunately, the lessons learned by uh E3 Bundy uh were written in, and now they're like, Oh, yeah, well, instead of cutting off flak jackets, why don't we just make a quick release on the top so it comes off so you don't have to twist him and and manipulate limbs of someone who's critically injured? That's that's crazy.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it falls it falls in that same category of us getting in trouble whenever we go to the nicer bases and try and get chow and they'd be like, You're too dirty.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh remember that, right? I do remember that. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01:

Let's custom and courtesies need to take pri take priority to uh to the warfighter. Got it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. So Major Booker was pissed. Oh you threatened somebody's life, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, if you're talking about the time that uh he uh it was actually we're we're gonna be talking to Adams and Martinez here in a minute. If you're talking about the time he called over to Blue Diamond and like threatened the life of the sergeant major over there, yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I do remember that. I do remember that. Yeah, I remember rocking in that.

SPEAKER_01:

That was my that was that was Sledgehammer that had that one.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was pretty yeah, it's pretty cool. I mean, we we had we had a lot of good um support from you know higher ups.

SPEAKER_03:

I felt like our command was uh yeah, I was gonna say I felt like our in our immediate chain of command all the way up to battalion was pretty good. People did not routinely get in trouble for things that didn't make any sense. And that's exactly that that's good. I mean, I do remember some times where they were like, okay, you guys all need to cut your hair every Sunday. And it's like, but really that's the most important thing. Okay, all right, fine, fine.

SPEAKER_00:

That and the blouse, the uh the blouses, yes, yeah, yeah, I can like uh blouse in your boots.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, you gotta blouse your boots, you gotta make sure you can't roll your sleeves, doesn't matter that it's 140 fucking degrees outside.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. I got in trouble for having my my amazing mustache and uh and too long, and my I kept cutting a horseshoe over there. But I had but I had like two and a half inches, and so and like when I got in trouble, it was after a mission, and so I ran my hair, my hand through my hair, but I had so much salt in it that it basically stuck it straight up. Yeah, and Gunny was like, What the fuck?

SPEAKER_00:

Cut that right now. Well, Gunny Maraki, Gunny Maraki uh understood, you know, the whole like how everything was, and he always like backed us out. That dude, dude, was a good man, he's a good leader. Um, I remember uh when I first got to 224, that guy did everything to make fun of me. He would like just single me out for some fucking reason. He's like called me a fucking squid. Like, get the fuck over you, fucking squid, you know. It's like fuck, dude.

SPEAKER_01:

That's just gummy's long love language, though. It really is. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03:

You learn later he only fucks with the people he loves.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. And then um after that, like uh it was during the fire fight that we were in, and it was that time when he had his wrap around fucking sunglasses, right? Yeah, uh, just fucking walking down the middle of this fucking fire fight, like he was window shopping, just shooting. Whenever you see our target, he just pop, you know, pop a couple rounds.

SPEAKER_03:

And he didn't miss, he didn't miss. No, he did not. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00:

It's amazing. When I saw that, I was like, fucking awesome, dude. So that's why I use my Chuck Norris, right? Um, yeah, he's uh I remember uh like uh he goes over to the side, he hugs the wall, and I was like securing this one alleyway, and um he's like, Duh, you got me? I was like, got you, gunny. And then he gets up, he runs across and gets into the middle of the street. So I was like, Fuck yeah, dude. I'm gonna do the same shit. So next thing you know, everybody just stands up. That was like all like hugging the wall. Everybody just stands up and everybody just started walking by him. He's like right in the center on that fucking formation. It was amazing. But um, it was uh it was after that that um he was he was so cool with me. He was like um every time I did uh truck watch, he was sitting over there just hanging out with me, you know. Fucking they were smoking cigarettes.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh yeah, yeah. He he smoked. He what's funny is he never smoked before that, but uh on that deployment, I think everybody was a packaday smoker by that point.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh yeah, yeah. Um, he would uh he'd smoke cigars with me just bullshit and tells me uh like that tells me everything about himself, and he was he was great, dude. And he keeps asking me every day, doc are you okay? Like, yeah, I'm fine, I'm good. So he was very involved. Um, yeah, he had that soft side on him, yeah. Like after he gets to know him, but before that, you know, stand the fuck by.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah. Well, that time that you're referencing was April 7th, which was one of the middays of the main battle of Ramadi. Do you remember much from April 6th, 7th, and 10th, basically? Those are the three biggest days of the Battle of Ramadi. Anything that stands out?

SPEAKER_00:

I remember pulling those guys out from that house. They were pinned down. It was Barger's uh platoon actually that was pinned down in that house. Um, I remember him uh sitting there after we uh pulled them out, sitting there and like um telling me the story, like telling me the story that they were inside the house and um they were receiving fire from like they were receiving enemy fire and they thought that was it for them. I and they're they were like fuck man, we're gonna die here, right? And he said that all of a sudden he starts hearing fucking heavy weapons, like boom, boom, boom, boom. This us fucking and um like fucking unleashing 50 cows, Mark 19s and shit like that. And then after that, they it was just like this one sigh of relief from everybody, just they're here, you know. And I remember him saying, Thank you guys, thank you guys so much for doing this, for doing, you know, it was pretty it's pretty amazing. It was a great feeling that you know we were able to do that uh to actually help them out. And wasn't there somebody that was stuck in a pump house or something like that?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that was the snipers that had gone across the uh across the field. Um if I remember correctly. I know Stay Skull was one of them. I do not remember, I think Santiago was the other one. Um I we had to go find them because they were they were pinned down out there and and kind of separated from the main element. Yeah, they were shot to shit, one thing. Yeah, I mean Stay Skull was shot for sure. I don't remember, I don't remember who else was wounded. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Um that was April 6th, specifically. You're talking about the it was way north of the Sophia district. We had got ambushed on our way to get them, and I don't know how long we fought, three, four hours before we actually got to them. Yeah, uh just basically constant barrage of being surrounded, completely surrounded, uh, by fighting on all sides. And my understanding of what happened at the time based on the after actions reports of piecing everything together from Major Wiley and Major Harrell and the debrief that we got is that our push pulled the main assault off of them. They still got sporadic contact. I mean, they weren't not in contact, they were still getting heavy hit. But that our main push took the main elephant off of them, and the main element came and and tried to attack us, which is why we were surrounded by so many people. Okay. And then uh we fought our way through and moved north and met up with them. Rainmaker joined us, and we did uh an initial push through the fields. There was like you know, a handful of guys, four, five, six, I don't remember how many insurgents, but not many. And we lit all them up out in the field, and then that was when we started you guys went in and started getting the guys out of the house, and we went and found the two guys in the pump house.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, uh Rudy, Rudy was the corpsman for that.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh for rain for rainmaker rainmaker.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I remember seeing Rudy and the high back, and um, he had uh they had an Iraqi uh high uh high value target. That's where I um that's where I remember people using like the craziest fucking things for as uh as a medical implement. Um he used he used a uh um he used a uh an MRE box as a uh um a makeshift uh neck brace for this guy. I remember that. Yeah, I do remember that. So uh that's one of the times like, yeah, I do remember like um he implemented that and uh he was just smiling, like, what is going on here? He's like, I said neck brace, bro. I was like, cool. And then uh they just rolled out. Uh yeah, and we had like a lot, we captured a few people during that time, didn't we?

SPEAKER_03:

We captured quite a few. Uh only one ended up being a high value target. He was some general uh in the Republican Guard. I don't know, I don't know his name. He wasn't as important enough for me to remember his name. But we ended up throwing those guys out on the ground and uh loading up the the wounded Marines. The woman did, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And um, I remember having to treat those um having to treat the Marines and then having to treat the uh the prisoners that we had too.

SPEAKER_03:

So yeah, initially you guys all I don't know what you did, but you bandaged all those guys up enough to where we could throw them in the high back, and then we stole we stole Rainmaker's high back and uh shot our way through Route Nova and made it all the way back to Junction City and got them to Charlie Med. And what I was told again, I left, but that was the goal was that you guys were gonna patch up the Iraqis. Uh one of them was one of them was dead. He was dead at the back of the high back. Yeah, but but the other Iraqis that were wounded got put in the Bradleys and taken to Junction City.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, uh, I I was uh I was feeding those guys and stuff when um when before we loaded up in the Bradley. I do remember that. It was uh it was right next to the river, wasn't it? Yes, some kind of a water feature, yeah. Yes, yes. That was right next to the Euphrates River. Yep. Yep. So yeah, I was uh patching them up and stuff, and um uh I remember Marines. Uh there's this one thing too. It was uh one of the Marines was uh was pissed off um because um I was treating um I was treating their uh I was treating the prisoners and I remember I don't know he wasn't he wasn't with um weapons company that platoon wasn't but they were saying like you know fuck that guy don't don't fucking worry about him like I can't believe you're wasting your your uh medical supplies on that fucking guy is like you know and you can uh you can use that as an you can use that on our Marines. Like this is the time when we already got the Marines loaded up and patched up and and rolling and um they're getting pissed off because uh we we were creating you know we were treating the uh the prisoners and stuff. And um I I understand, I understand their perspective at it, but at the end of the day, you know, it's it's an un unarmed combatant that that's already down and done. You still gotta treat them. You know, maybe they'll have like they'll have like some kind of some kind of information to actually give us or whatever, you know. You still gotta make sure that they're okay. And um I think it was that day where yeah, I remember that. I remember that. And what a lot of people don't understand is like uh that's that's why that's why uh medical personnel protected uh under the Genevieve Convention during wars, because they don't differentiate within like when at the end of the day when everybody's down, they're unarmed, whatever. Um you can't differentiate between you can't differentiate between uh um enemy or friendly, you know. You have to treat everybody, and um that was uh it is it's pretty hard trying to find that balance, but you have to, you know, that's part of your job. You have to find that balance.

SPEAKER_03:

That's uh something I want to kind of elaborate on if you got a minute, because literally minutes before you were treating those people, you were in sustained ambush for multiple hours. I if I my memory serves, it was about three to four hours of straight gun fights where the majority of our platoon, more than half, received wounds. Yeah, uh, multiple people hit with shrapnel, uh, people hit with bullet fragments, all kinds of things. I think you were even wounded at that time. Wasn't that that was yeah, that was a day. That was a day. You caught a bullet in the ass? Yeah, uh shot me a booty. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00:

That was a funny story, though.

SPEAKER_03:

But uh I mean, I don't know that it's that funny, you got shot the ass, but anyway, yeah. So you yourself are wounded by these very people. Lit probably, I mean, it could have even been the very guy you were treating. Not that you would know for sure, but it very well could have been. Uh, because we were snatching guys out of houses, we were you know taking people down and they would throw their weapons aside and we would tie them up and throw them in the back of the highbacks, especially once Rainmaker arrived. Was it a hard mental shift for you that you were literally you were probably shooting and killing this guy and be or people just like him, and then minutes later you're bandaging up his holes so he can survive another day.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's it's see the the mental shift didn't come until afterwards. This is I I always replay the day. Um, at the end of the day, I always replay what happened throughout the day, and that's where that's where you get better. Like, what what can I do? What could I have done better during that time, you know? And um during that time, it was like basically just muscle memory. It's like, okay, um I need to do this because this is what I need to do, you know. Um, don't really have any kind of like emotions attached to it. And that's one thing I have learned to actually do is uh to detach myself from emotions um during situations like that. Uh, because if you allow your emotions to actually get in the way, you won't be able to do your job. You know, emotions can be you can feel all those things until after when when everything's done. You can feel all those things as much as you want until everything's done. And it's it's a it's a shitty way to go about it, but that's that's what needs to be done, you know. You start attaching emotions to it, you'll you're pretty much just worthless, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

It's not my job to evaluate or argue with you, but I disagree. I don't think that that's uh I don't think that's a bad way to go about it. I think that's an extremely mature and intelligent way to go about it is to be remove yourself from the situation. Yeah, and you had a perfect example in your story. There was a Marine there who was allowing his emotions to dictate what he was doing, and what would have been a better choice, pull security or help out one of your brothers rather than get upset with this guy who is no longer a threat. Yeah, yeah. And so I I I think you had a you had your point is very well taken.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I experienced that that uh I don't know, I guess uh that that uh just just being uh being like I guess uh being hated at that moment um because um you were creating the animation. So I was like, oh shit, dude. All right, and this is real. And these are the things that they teach you in in uh FMTV, film every training battalion. Um like uh they teach you this stuff like yeah, this is what happened. You never really believe it until it actually happens, you know. It's like holy shit, it's a real deal, you know. So yeah, like the experience that people had in the past, like take that, you know, take that in like call it as like as something valuable because it it will happen, and once you realize it's true, then you'll you'll be surprised, you know. It's it's crazy. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01:

I was uh just I was just reading uh this uh so it's a book called uh the three the three black war, and it's uh a lot, it's about 2004, 2009 time frame. And uh there's a section, there's a chapter on our battalion in there. And uh there's actually a there's a longer section paragraph talking about that it was recognized by the enemy that that we were such a threat in that we fought so feroc like with such ferocity, but we treated that prisoner so well. Like as soon as as as soon as and and and it was actually quite jarring to the enemy. It actually did psychological things to them, uh, but it also helped us in our larger mission because the Iraqi populace that hadn't you know gone against us was like, okay, well, they're not mindless, you know, yeah people. And so um I think there's a couple of us that you know I I know I take a lot of pride in when the enemy was the enemy, no worst enemy. But when it was but but when but when it was time uh and the bullets stopped flying or it was time to take them in, I was uh tried to do my best to make sure that they were safe.

SPEAKER_00:

So no better friend, no worst enemy. Yeah, damn right. So yeah, I I do remember that time frame. Um uh help me out on the seventh. What happened on the seventh? Well, you kind of you kind of talked about it.

SPEAKER_03:

That was, I mean, we went right back to the same area. We were fighting in the Sophia district, just a we were fighting a little bit more south. Um, the way that a few other people tell it is that Randall made a wrong turn and we ended up getting ambushed at the wrong turn. I don't I don't know that that was true. I was in the fifth vehicle in the column, so I don't know if we made a wrong turn or not. I guess Randall eventually will have to spring up out of hiding and defend himself. I don't know if he made a wrong turn or not. But uh we were in between the industrial district and the Sophia district, and that was where we got hit real hard, and we were we were out there all day. And uh that was when Gunny Muraki was with us specifically. That was when you were describing going down those roads on foot, yeah. Uh because the vehicles wouldn't fit down those narrow corridors uh initially. Um yeah, and there's a lot of stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

Um that was what everybody had to be everybody had to be dismounted to actually provide security for the trucks because uh those alleyways, yeah, they were popping out of alleyways and uh shooting at us at the same time. Yeah, that's when I got popped when I got shot because I was we're taking fire from the rear. So I started laying suppressing fire to the rear, and I had my I had my back turned towards that alleyway, and um somebody was covering that alleyway. Somebody popped around and actually shot an AK and big shit right into my my booty. So nice that was fun. That was funny when they gave me that award.

SPEAKER_03:

I mean, you were shot. What's funny is we talked a lot of shit about you getting shot in the ass. We made fun of you, I think, for the rest of the deployment. Yeah, but you got shot. It wasn't like you fell down and hurt yourself, which you know, some people got purple hearts for falling down when indirect fire happened. No, nobody that I know, but I know that did happen. Uh you got actually shot. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh that take you out of the fight for any length of time.

SPEAKER_00:

Nope. Uh, we ended up going back to the rear because we had to resupply an ammo. Um, because we ran out of ammo that day, right?

SPEAKER_03:

Yep, we went belly up on Mart 19 ammo, and that was our that was our best weapon when they were hiding behind those big fat stone walls. And so we had to go back and resupply before we could go out again.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and then uh like when we were in the rear, I was um I was like uh I was uh uh I was loading up the mag my magazines and um staff sergeant Coleman uh came up and said, Doc, you need to go to medical. I was like, What? I'm good. He's like, No, you're gonna go. So um Navi, uh he told Navi to take me to medical. I'm like, what the fuck? I'm a Corman dude, I can go to medical and but uh it took uh told Navy to take me down to medical. So uh Navi ended up taking me down to medical and they recorded my name down uh as uh being uh a casualty um for that day. I'm like, what the fuck? But we went back out that same day. It was like it was a couple of minutes that um they banished me up and then we ended up going back back out. I didn't want to I didn't want to go down, it was you know, it wasn't anything big. So I remember uh when uh the casualty report came out that night and we were at the COC. Um they reported my injury as getting shot in the face, right? I was like, fuck, dude. And then they reported it to the rear as getting shot in the face, and I was like, uh I was like uh I was like critically injured. They told my parents that. Oh shit, yeah. And this is the this is the messed up thing, is um my I told my I told my mom and dad that we were over there building schools and shit like that. How the fuck you get shot building schools? I was like, I don't know, I'm sorry. And we couldn't use the sapphone for a few days because it was River City. Yep, right, and um like uh we had to wait until uh like a few days until they were all notified, including my parents, saying that I was critically injured.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, they shut down all comms, nobody was allowed to call out, and most people's families got notified long before they were ever able to call. I don't think the first calls were able to go out until like April 14th or 15th. It was way after all the big fights.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

It was that was because so many guys died. They were, I mean, they the Marine Corps liaisons were having to go to people's houses and and deliver the news. Yeah, they were having a hard time tracking people's families down. Like, I remember getting those briefs every day. They're like, the phones are gonna be on tomorrow. You'd go to the brief in the morning. Yeah, the phones will be on tomorrow. We haven't got a hold of everybody yet. It's like, fuck man, I'd like to be able to tell my wife I'm not dead.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, that it became pretty morbid after a while, too. Like that River City thing. Like, we would actually like people would actually get it's kind of messed up because people would get pissed off because they're not able to actually go uh talk to their you know family after somebody dies and stuff like that, you know, is it got pretty morbid. Um, nobody could use the saffron, nothing like that. Because yeah, like people are complaining, like this is bullshit. I was like, I should be able to call my family. It's like, dude, somebody just died bro.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I wonder if somebody recorded that it was your face just to be funny, and then it ended up the joke got worse. No, there were so many things. Things like that though. Coleman got hit on that same day. That was when he got hit in the face. It hit a little artery in his face, and he was spraying blood. Like he had so much blood on him. And I'm like, You're not good. He's like, I'm fucking fine. Leave me alone. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

He wouldn't, yeah, he wouldn't stop. I was like trying to get uh get at him, and you were chasing him down the road trying to get him to stop.

SPEAKER_03:

And he's like, Leave me the fuck alone in the middle of a gunfight ambush. And like, here's Bundy with like a med bag. Oh my god, it was great.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but some of you guys just won't quit, man. Like uh you guys get injured, you just keep going. I'm like trying to chase you guys down and actually patch it up, like do a real quick job to try to get it stopped somehow, you know. And uh you just keep going. I was like, What are you guys? I was like, All right, cool. I'll just stay set. Yeah, I'll just uh take this rifle and uh provide security. Yeah, so yeah, it was uh it's uh did you guys pretty amazing. So the things that you guys did. So what else you got, man?

SPEAKER_03:

Any other memories? Any other memories stand out? They don't even have to be combat memories, they can be goofy shit that happened in the hooch, whatever you want to talk about.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, dude, the goofy shit, like I was always in the center of that shit, dude. Like as far as like uh the goofy shit that happens in the hooch. I always like uh it always involves me, um, or new meyer, one of the two. But you it was Twitter, you and fucking Jim. Um you guys would always fuck with me. You guys would do the fucked up most fucked up things to me. And it was it was it's all fun, obviously, you know, and looking back, it's just fucking hilarious. I remember um you guys were getting um um you guys were getting um you guys were getting um packages from home, and I'm like the only one that wasn't getting anything. I was like, fuck, man. It's like I'm a fucking loser. Everybody's like getting mail, getting packages and stuff like that. And um, you know, Jim decided, you know, he'll take advantage of that fucking weakness and shit. So he fucking gathered all three of you guys up and says, like, hey, let's uh let's take his fucking cover and uh put it in a uh put it in the box and smell it back over to us and shit, right? I was like, uh I remember I remember you guys stole my cover and I was looking for that cover everywhere because that was the only cover I had for me to actually go to Chow and shit. So I had to I had to walk around like I had an extra booty. That was that I was walking around a fucking boonie cover and shit, and uh then like couldn't find that cover for the life of me for like a week or two, I think. I was looking everywhere for that thing. And then um, next thing I know was like um like it was a mail call, and they said, Hey, you got a package? It's like doc, you got a package. It's like cool, I got a package. No, that that can't be. I never get packages, right? Like in I was all excited, like holding my package and like trying to fucking brag out, brag to everybody. I fucking told you somebody loves me, you motherfuckers. I was like, and I and I go in there, fucking flip my knife up, open it up, fucking. It was all like uh it had like newspaper and like all crumpled up paper in there. I was like, Oh, what is that? Must be something good, right? Open it up, it's my fucking cover. And I fucking I was like, what the fuck? And the first thing I look at is you guys is fucking corner over there where uh Jim, you guys are sleeping. I was like, you motherfuckers, you guys are just fucking over there, just laughing your ass off, dude. I was like, fucking dicks, dude.

SPEAKER_03:

We gathered up, we we passed around a helmet, and everybody threw in all the the NCOs threw in their aphies pogs, those fucking bullshit bullshit cardboard coins. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they threw all those in there. That's how we paid to mail that to you. It was we actually took it to Junction City and mailed it to them.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. Oh man, there's uh there's another time when um like I remember uh I remember I was like going to the gym every fucking day. That was like my my um my decompression time. I would just go to the gym, just beat the shit out of myself and just pass out that day. Um it was uh one day when I was on the sat phone and uh my girlfriend at the time like broke up me over fucking in the sat phone, right? Right, and given this was rockets coming in, fucking like motors coming in, like blowing up in the background, like hey, can't be together. I'm like, fuck, dude. So I was all like butthurt about it, right? So I was like, you know what, I'm gonna go to the gym and just like work out. And so I go over to my rack and um I started changing out. And I tell it's like Jim, like, no, he's like, hey dude, are you okay? It's like no man, my girlfriend just broke over me. It's like, are you fucking serious? And his face, like he had a smile when he first approached me. And when he heard that my girlfriend just broke over me, he's like fucking it was like this weird, sad, like happy type of fucking uh emotion in his face. I didn't know what it was, right? Like, what the fuck is going on with him? And then uh he goes over to uh he goes over to Twitter and tells Tweeter, and I think he overheard it, tells Twitter is like, hey dude, you just broke over this girlfriend. Like, oh my god. So Tweeter just stays over in the corner and uh and Jim just sits over in his rack and just like staring at me. Like, and um as I popped it, I'm just gonna go to the gym. I just need to decompress. So I started tripping down, got my boots off, put my fucking socks on, and then um I uh put my shoes on. These fucking dickheads put baby powder into my fucking my GoFasters and shit. And when I put it on, this thing just fucking explodes like fucking baby powder everywhere. I was like, what the fuck? Right? I was like, dude, I really don't need this right now. And I looked over to uh where Jim was fucking sitting at and uh tour was sitting there. It's like they want to laugh, but they couldn't. They wanted it it was just this weird base that they actually made. It's like you guys are fucking dickheads, man. I was like, fuck you guys, and then it's like one of those, uh one of those things, like you know, you uh you kind of like uh uh hurt somebody and you try to make it feel better, right? Like so Jim's like, oh, there's the dude, it's okay. And he's just fucking laughing, he's like trying to hold a smile back. He's like, it's okay, buddy, it's okay. What the fuck, man? They glued my um they glued my protein drink, my uh it's like this jug of protein, um like uh powdered protein onto my make my makeshift fucking shelf that I had like hanging on the wall, like 550 cord. So the 550 cord uh basically held this thing up, and the 550 cord was hooked onto a sandbag that's outside, that's uh holding the actual tarp roof that we had, right? So I just tied that shit up, you know, somehow, but it's staying in you know, I had like a little shelf that I was putting shit on, including my protein drink. These fucking dickheads like actually took super glue and uh they super glued my fucking protein drink on there. So when I grabbed it, everything just fucking falls off. It's like, dude, like took me a while to get that fucking shelf like working and shit. The shit that they would do, bro. Yeah, but yeah, that's why that's why I was um that's why I was always happy over there. It's like looking forward to like you know things like that. I didn't take it very seriously. I was just like, you know, it was all fun.

SPEAKER_03:

There is everybody fucked with everybody all the time. There was no there was no end to the pranks and the humor, which I mean again, like you said, people might have just died, but we were still making jokes because fuck it. Exactly. There was nothing else to do.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you gotta just make the best of what in the situation. So I mean at one point, like uh, I don't know who it was that actually got the supplies for it. Um, we had like a little corner jack shack, but that thing was like fucking the Cadillac of all fucking jack shacks. It was like it had like all sorts of like different magazines that you can choose from, right? Oh yeah, it's got somebody had like a pumper magazine in there. It was fucking weird. That was rabbit.

SPEAKER_03:

That was rabbit. I can I know exactly who that was because he used to always bring it out and be like he'd flip through to the nastiest picture and be like, You tell me if she was here right now. You wouldn't say yes, and we're like, You fucking nasty motherfucker.

SPEAKER_00:

I know uh that thing had lotions, like three different types of lotions. I was like, Well, okay, this is awesome, dude. It was it was bougie, it was bougie.

unknown:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

And everybody thought that they were being fucking um being stealthy, like going into the jack shack at like two, three o'clock in the morning. So like everybody fucking knows you're going, they just go.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, at one point we did put a uh a sign out sheet on the door. Yeah, like you can stop hiding it. There's a sign out sheet that way. Nobody will go in when it's your assigned time.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, like we had um we uh we had E my. Well, I don't know. Uh uh it was that was so weird what he does though. He would stand up and on on the urinal, and he would actually, you know, fucking jack off. They were like, what the fuck, bro? And he would look like at first when you when the first time that's that I walked in on that shit, I thought he was just taking a piss. Right? I was like, cool. So I go right next to the fuck, I go right next to the urinal next to him, and I just started pissing. Oh no, it wasn't it was the toy uh next time he started pissing, and he just like stared at me, and then I fucking realized that this dude's just fucking just jacking off, dude. What the fuck? And he's made he made eye contact, dude. He made eye contact, it's fucking weird. I was like, oh fuck, dude. All right, well, yeah, okay. Like, how's it going? And he actually we actually had like a small bit of conversation, like what's up, and I was I was like, What's up? I was just like, we're making eye contact during this time, and he wasn't stopping, we just kept going, right? Like, what's going on, dude? He's like, nothing, cool, and I just fucking walked out, dude. I just didn't, I could not like put a lot. It was like the whole day. I was just like, I was like, what the fuck just happened? I was like, did that just happen? Like, no, it didn't just happen. It's like, dude, it was it was unbelievable, it was fucking hilarious. The shit that happened, dude. Oh man. Yeah, if it's not, if it's not, if it doesn't involve me or somebody else, it's always it's always something to actually uh smile about. Um like even even like uh when we're on patrol, um the place is hot, uh it's shitty, it smells like shit. I mean, everything everything's just fucking horrible over there, but the sunrise and the sunset is beautiful. So it was like you know, that that sunlight, that the the the sunrise and sunset, like hitting the Euphrates, like it was it was amazing, you know. It's like that brief moment, you know, it's uh everything just goes away. You don't you don't try to think about like anything else, but it's just that brief moment that like wow yeah, it just kind of it's kind of like a break from everything. So it's pretty amazing. Um that's why I've always found the simple um I've always found the simple lining of everything, even though things are hard, it's it's you know, it's nothing to worry about because there's always something there that's will you know hold the memory for you no matter what.

SPEAKER_03:

So dude, that's awesome. That's a good way to think of it too. Yeah, bro, it's been great. It's been great catching up. I'm really glad to see you. And uh I'm glad to see you guys, man.

SPEAKER_00:

It was it's like you, yeah, it's pretty amazing to see you guys.

SPEAKER_01:

Um I really appreciate you sharing, and uh that's especially given some insight. I it's what's been fun is we'll be talking to you know people from different platoons and then you know, yeah, yeah, different ranks and everything. And uh you're our first corpsman, and so it's it's fascinating, you know, like you don't know what you don't know. And there was that that the first part of our conversation was a lot of fun for me. I'm going, oh man, I never thought about that part of it. Yeah, so yeah, so thanks for that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no problem, yeah, no problem. Just thought, let me know, let me know, and then I'll I'll do the same thing.

SPEAKER_03:

Sounds good, perfect. And you know, you you started to talk about it before we ever pushed record, but uh I'm sorry you felt like you couldn't talk initially. That sucks. And I wish you would have reached out, but guess what? We're 20 years out, so now you can, all right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, no, no, no, no. Um what what I'm very appreciative about is like as far as like you guys being being very so so accepting because you guys went through the same thing, you know, uh for for a long time. I thought I was I was the only one, and you know, my my seemed very um like my seemed very arrogant. Like I thought I was the only one that was experiencing this thing, but I didn't realize that you guys were too. And now that kind of makes me feel guilty because I could have reached out and could have helped you guys out too time, you know.

SPEAKER_03:

It's like it it goes both ways. I yeah, so the same exact feeling. I didn't, you know, other people have said the words embarrassment or whatever. I don't know. I have not been able to talk about this for 20 years either. Oh yeah, because I just didn't think anybody would understand. I who who was I gonna talk to? And kind of the same thing you're saying, I could have reached out to you, I could have reached out to to Jimmy, I could have reached out to anybody, but I never did. I never did. Yeah, I just I did what we always do. I put my head down and I put my feet forward, and I and here I am 20 years later, and I but I never have unpacked any of this, and so it's yeah, it's working out that it's that we're able to talk about it now.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's uh like I'm listening to podcasts and everything. Like, as far as like all those things that these guys are telling the saying, the stories that they're saying, it's actually one, it's um kind of verifying all the things I remember because for a while I thought, like, did that really happen? You know, it's like the memory that your memory lies to you, and um yeah, and um just getting that verification that that it's it's amazing. So I mean, my wife, my wife uh is a therapist, and um, you know, she she's helped me out a lot, she's an amazing person. Uh she's like my rock, and um, you know, whenever I'm going through this and I'm just dotting my memory and all that stuff, she would help me out, she would like uh walk me through all these things, and it's helped out a lot, dude. It's uh good. And now this is helping out more, you know. So just kind of verifying those memories and stuff. So nice.

SPEAKER_03:

All right, man. I won't hold you up. It's been good talking to you.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh it's great talking to you guys.

SPEAKER_03:

We'll we'll talk again soon.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, all right, man. You well, buddy. If you like what you heard, make sure you subscribe for future episodes on your favorite podcast service.