You Don't Mess With Doc - Carlo Dealca (part 2 of 2)

Part 2 of Doc Dealca’s memories as a Navy Corpsman in Ramadi 2004, from treating brutal wounds under fire to what follows him home, including grief, anger, work at the VA, and the pull toward camaraderie and purpose.
He digs into the decisions and limits that define battlefield triage: how you move casualties under pressure and how dark humor shows up right beside fear. Doc Carlo Dealca also shares a hard memory... the moment when Marines look to the Corpsman for certainty and comfort, but the truth is that you simply don’t know.
Then the story widens hooch life and what it’s like to come home with a shorter fuse.

• the post-fight high 
• treating Conde’s shoulder wound 
• rolling through a hostile market 
• working a serious gunshot wound under fire 
• slower days of searches 
• treating civilians caught in crossfire 
• the IED that kills Sgt. Ken Conde
• hooch life as stress relief 
• July car bombs and heavy engagements near key sites 
• coming home with a shorter temper 
• working at the VA with homelessness and substance abuse as GWOT vets arrive 
• choosing policing to find camaraderie 

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Transcript

After The April 6 Fight

SPEAKER_05 0:12

But you know, after that, after the six man, we went after that fight. I I remember going to the um to the um to the uh Junction City afterwards. Uh you know, it felt like, you know, I don't know if you guys felt the same way, but it felt like we just won a championship afterwards. Oh, yeah. That's how I felt. Like we won, you know, a very important game. It was probably one of the best feelings I've ever had, you know, to go through that with the guys. And, you know, it's it's hard to replace it, you know, and never experienced that again. And and I remember when we got there, Ember Rapaz was telling his the story outside, like on the fight and stuff. You know, I was like, come on, man, you know, chill, dude, you know, piling it to the domestics and stuff. So yeah, it felt it felt great afterwards. It felt great afterwards, you know. So that's all I remember on the six.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Um that if you don't, if you don't mind, I want to go just touch back on Condi real quick. Um, just just just from the injury, because uh since you're the one that was treating him, like when that was a it was a it was a through and through from his shoulder and then came out as upper and then kind of in his lap curtain roll and yeah, it was like yeah, it was like close to his felt like it was like it looked like his shoulder blade close to it.

SPEAKER_05 1:39

It was

Treating Condi’s Shoulder Wound

SPEAKER_05 1:40

some big old hole.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

And then did he when you guys got back to either JC or Hurricane Point or whatever, did he get more patched up or did you patch him up some more? And then did I guess my where I'm going with that is is that he was out only for a little bit. And then he kept he kept going back. But I know he struggled with some numbness.

SPEAKER_05 2:00

Yeah, he did. Um he so he got treated obviously after after the fight. He went to Junction City, got fixed up over there, and uh, and we took care of the rest uh for uh maintenance. We were cleaning it for him and uh changing the dressing for him. Uh, and I think he's getting seen. He was getting seen also at the BAS. Oh but our part uh throughout the time when he was out, one of our our jobs is to uh clean it up for him, you know, and uh change the bandages for him. So I don't I don't even remember if they sued that up. I don't think they did. I remember we had to pack it.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

I was gonna say my remember my memory was packing, because I remember you guys swapping it out and him bitching.

SPEAKER_05 2:44

Yeah, we're packing it, you know, because that thing, and from what I remember, I was like, dude, that looked like it's infected, you know, because you know, and that's why he was losing a lot of his uh like he got some numbness or something. And like, it looks like it's infected, man, you know. So I I don't know what the BAS, I don't remember. I don't know what they did as far as like uh medication-wise, uh, they probably gave him some antibiotics, you know, for um to keep the uh and some motion, obviously. True for uh keep the swelling down, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 3:20

So that's the uh you made sure that he changed the socks, they just hydrated.

SPEAKER_05 3:26

Yeah, and you know, uh uh I was telling Kandy, like, man, you can you know you can go home, you know. It's like no man, what are you talking about, dog? I ain't gone home, dude.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

You know, there's quite a few of our guys that got pretty, you know, they they could have easily gone home and they didn't. Uh I know we had I'm not gonna tell somebody else's story, but I know of at least two guys that also had wounds enough that needed to get packed and repacked because I was helping with that. And so um yeah, we we went with a lot of warriors, that's for sure. It's amazing, you know.

SPEAKER_05 4:02

It's amazing he could have gone home easily. Um, because it's that that anybody else, man, like you know, um that that that that kind of wound would be going home, like straight off, right? You know, so but that just show you how he is, his character, you know. Um he's like uh modern day hero for me. Um so good dude, good dude.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Well, he didn't uh he didn't rest long and neither did you because you guys went right back out on the morning of the seventh.

unknown 4:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Remember much of the seventh?

SPEAKER_05 4:45

That was crazy. So I remember going out with uh the psyop guys.

unknown 4:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 4:55

Yeah. And um I I don't remember the uh I guess the XO was with us. I don't I don't remember. I was always I I mean obviously I didn't pay attention to the uh the briefings and stuff. I just worry about

Rolling Out On April 7

SPEAKER_05 5:10

my medical stuff. Sure. Um so that day I remember we had to go stop by Junction City first to pick those guys up. And uh we went the freaking town, and the town was for some odd reason. I was expecting it to be still empty from the fighting. There was a lot of motherfuckers out there, dude.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:32

The city was full. And uh they were me mugging us, and uh Silton was driving with me, and Campo was this time was in the truck, uh, and Rapazo. Rapazo was the the vehicle commander. Um we were in the middle of the market, and they're saying stuff on that loudspeaker. Um and um Silton had his, you know, he's driving like a gangster, you know, with his elbow out in the window. Nice. And uh some of these freaking, some of these fools, some of these guys, somebody threw a big old brick, dude, and nailed Silton right in his elbow. Oh, and yeah, and it it fucked him up. Uh so I pulled my gun out and everybody just scattered. Everybody scattered. And I'm like, what are you doing, man? It's like this is crazy, you know, like, because it felt like they were coming, being it almost felt like they're gonna be on top of us because they were getting pretty close to the truck. Nobody was

Brick Attack In The Market

SPEAKER_05 6:35

I don't remember anybody walking with the trucks. I remember just being in the truck and we're driving like, I don't know, five miles per hour through the city through the uh downtown, and while while they're saying stuff on the speaker. So we did that, and I think we ran into a after we got through the city, we ran into like a some sort of funeral.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

Oh yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:01

And after the funeral, we went back to the uh, it's like Rob Nova, I believe. And as we took uh contact there, um some dudes were hanging from the uh palm trees. Yeah. Shooting RPGs, kind of nuts. And uh as soon as we start taking fire, I started shooting again. Like once you guys start shooting, I'm gonna start shooting. I don't care where it is. I just started shooting it, spray in the bushes. It don't matter, they might be there. So I started shooting. And uh I get out the truck, and uh I remember the guys dismounted, and um they called me up again, they corming up like the first vehicle. So, and they were still shooting. So I remember telling Silton, like, hey man, you know, give me uh, I need uh keep shooting and I'm gonna run and tell the guys or the rest

Contact And Cummings’ Gunshot Wound

SPEAKER_05 8:05

of the guys to keep shooting. So I ran. I felt like it was a far run. But every time I would run towards uh where Cummings was, the first vehicle was second. And every time I passed the truck, I was like, keep shooting.

SPEAKER_03 8:19

Keep shooting.

SPEAKER_05 8:22

Keep shooting and just running. I don't know how I probably looked ridiculous doing it. I felt like I was I felt like I was running a 4-3, but I probably wasn't. I kept on running. And uh and I got coming, and you know, and I'm like, it's like what do you hit? It's like hitting the uh he's hitting the back or something. And I look him up, and I'm like the first word that came out of my mouth was holy fuck, that's a big ass fucking hole. And I remember Cummings saying, Oh, thanks a lot, Doug. That really makes me feel better. And uh and I keep I pulled Brown, like, hey, keep fucking shooting, you know. I'm gonna try to fix him up. So I try to do uh I was trying to find the entrance wound, and I remember looking and I stuck my pinky in it, and I could see my pinkies through the hole. And like, oh, there it is, and I stopped it, uh, getting some uh bandages and like just get the fuck out of here. And I remember Brown hitting me with the Mark 19 can, the empty can.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:31

And then reloaded. He I was working on uh on the guy, and he he's like, give me another can, Doc. And he freaking he hits me right in the fucking head with the can, hooked them up with another one, they kept on shooting. So I was in the high the high bag, so we we took we took uh Cummings to to the um uh Junction City. Yeah uh that's where he got fixed up. I I can remember when he was when they put him on that that gurney, I could hear him screaming, screaming, like, oh shit, dude. I'm like, he's fine. You know, he looked he's fine with me, he's talking like you know, the whole time. I didn't feel like he was in any any trouble at all. Like, you know, the way the way he was and the way, you know, the the way the injury was from what I saw. I didn't see anything to where he'd be in any trouble for some for some odd reason. I didn't see any chest wound or anything. Or he didn't have he didn't have a hard time breathing for the death way because the way he was talking to me.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:34

So he was uh he was good to go in. But he was he was like um that's uh he's screaming. It's still stuck in my head when they put him in the uh I don't know what they were doing, but later I found out. I don't know what it's knackers that told you. I think he was knackers who was saying it. I guess the uh catheter. That's probably what happened. He was screaming because of the catheter.

SPEAKER_01 10:57

Yeah, they probably put a foley in him and it, you know. Dude, no dude wants a tube in their penis, man. There's no matter what it is.

SPEAKER_05 11:03

And I can understand now because I thought the way he was he was uh screaming, I thought they were doing something crazy, you know.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Yeah, there's no telling.

SPEAKER_05 11:13

Yeah, so that's uh that's that's what that's what I remember from the seventh. After that, I don't remember what we did uh after we dropped the comings off.

SPEAKER_01 11:22

Yeah. Yeah. So from my notes, there was a little bit of something on the eighth where we kind of searched, but there wasn't an there's maybe a couple little pop shot gun fights, like you know, minutes of an exchange, but nothing that was significant. And then we found some field hospitals that was called Operation County Fair. Uh, and then the ninth was the same. Went out, looked around the city, nothing really big happened. Uh, most to my memory, it was only one or two weapons company platoons even went out for a couple of hours and didn't even nothing significant. And then April

April 8 To 10 And Bug Hunts

SPEAKER_01 12:00

10th is when all hands on deck. Basically, everybody who could possibly go outside the wire went outside the wire, and that was every everybody, Fox, Echo, Golf, uh, all the weapons was out. And we did the first bug hunt up in the Sophia district.

unknown 12:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:17

We went with uh, I didn't do any of their searches, but I know they went to a house and they took some uh they were taking some detainees. Um I remember we have a couple lionesses with us that day. Um uh and I remember they took fire uh at the same time uh from the fields, I believe. You know, and I remember my um the uh yeah, I don't, you know we they uh what else that they uh it took some fire, but I don't know how long it was. I don't know if Echo got in trouble that day. Um you know I know Gunny, you know, the they want they pushed forward and oh no, Gunny, uh first sergeant went forward. I think was the first sergeant with us that day.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

Yeah, he was out, he was out of the yeah, the exo, the CO, everybody, everybody. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 13:17

Yeah, he was out there and uh you know he was out there pushing and I stayed with the vehicle with the uh with the with the guns. So every time we would have to push, somebody a corpsman usually would uh have to stay back with the with the vehicle. I think Z or I say uh oh sorry, I keep saying his nickname and his first name. He was the one with the uh the guys that was pushing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:40

So cool, man.

SPEAKER_03 13:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

Well, after that, it kind of slowed down, right? Uh just out of curiosity from your uh opinion, do you like sort of that April 6th through 10th time period? Do you have a kind of an idea how many casualties you ended up treating?

SPEAKER_05 14:07

Uh trying to remember.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

I mean, I you may not have counted on your fingers or anything like that, but I'm just curious, you know, was it a dozen people or was it more?

Civilian Crossfire And Hard Choices

SPEAKER_05 14:16

I treated some civilians uh who got caught during that time, got caught in the uh crossfire. Uh I remember one guy, I don't know what the date is finally July or June type of it was hot as shit. I remember it was hot and there was uh took some uh there's a firefight out there. I think golf was out there engaging somebody, and there's a family got caught in the crossfire. I tweeted a couple of the a guy got shot like eight times by a saw. And I remember trying to fix him up, and uh, you know, like somebody said, not gonna name anything. So it's like, yeah, don't waste our don't waste the bandages on. I was like, dog, he's shot eight times. Let me at least give him something. And you know, we ended up escorting him. I think one of the guys was hit and uh in a and a kid was hit. Um and uh we're like, we're gonna escort him out of the lines to uh so they can go to the hospital and so nobody would shoot him. And while we were escorting him because they're in front, uh I think golf company freaking lit him up and uh it was crazy, man. Like the guy got hit, he's freaking, his uh hands were freaking, he got hit in his hand and he was hanging. And uh he's like, oh, he's okay. He kept on driving. I was like, what are you guys doing? He kept on, I kept on driving forward. I was like, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna stop him. Just find these, they're out of the line. Yeah. So I I remember asking the golf guys, like, damn, dude, you guys, you guys almost shot us. Like, oh, we didn't know. I was like, all right, cool. We went back, we went back in. Uh went back in and did what we did. So I think we ended up going to combat apples afterwards, after that, after that scenario. I remember talking to the corpsman, you know. Like, you know, I was kind of at the time, I think I was kind of kind of pissed because I think I worked on the I worked on one of the guys there. I think the guy ended up dying. So you get shot of that car pretty good, and he you just wasted my bag and you ended up doing it. Got smoked, man. He ended up getting smoked. So like, all right, whatever, man. You guys gotta do what you gotta do. So but that's one of the ones that I remember not so I remember Candy's, you know, his last one when he passed away. That's one of the hardest ones. That day I remember we uh been out all night with the CEO. And um towards the end, you know, I was looking forward for the child to go to um JC to get our breakfast. And somebody like decided we'd gotta go through uh I think, I don't know, I think from what I from what I remember, somebody said

The IED That Killed Condi

SPEAKER_05 17:20

somebody wanted to see where the snipers got got an ambush. Uh so or the building or whatnot. So we went past by just with we turned around that's when uh Condi was hit with an IED. Um that was very unfortunate. Um with that one. Uh that was pretty hard because I remember that. I remember when he got hit, because when when the IED came, I blew up. The uh Candy's hit. So I ran to him. I remember him being on the ground, kinda, he was having compulsions. He was locking, locking his jaws, and I was trying to open his airway. Um, I couldn't do it, you know, because I didn't want him to swallow his tongue. Um and we decided to uh just get him to um the BAS combat outpost. Yeah. Because it's fairly close to where we were. Um and you know, when we got there, they were working out, they worked on him, try to work on him as much as they can. He was alive for them. Um when we when we got him there. I remember them kicking me out of the the uh the room because you know, I'm like kind of not freaking out, but you know, I was just kind of like in the way. Um they put me out there. And I still remember, uh, you know, they I it was one of the things they like live lived with me for a while because you know, the guys were asking, you know, Silvan was asking me, and some of the guys were like, hey, guys gonna be alright, right? You know, doctor's gonna be alright. And I couldn't, and I couldn't say, I couldn't say, you know, I couldn't say, you know, anything. You know, I couldn't say anything. And obviously later on that day, you know, found out he passed away. Yeah. That was pretty hard.

SPEAKER_01 19:26

It sounds like from Knacker's version of the story, he didn't make it far in the flight either. So it uh I mean that's at least my interpretation of the way he told the story. That is unique to your medical training as well, that uh, you know, people want to hear, they want to hear the truth, but they also want to hear some kind of reinforcement or maybe comfort. And and as a corpsman, you're not trained to tell stuff you don't know. And so that that is really hard, man. You want to comfort your friends, but but you're also not gonna bullshit them, and so you you're kind of stuck in a hard spot.

SPEAKER_05 20:04

You just, you know, like uh when I first saw him, that you know, when I first got to him, uh the way he's it it looked, uh it didn't it didn't look good, you know, it didn't look good. Uh but it I remember him responding. Uh like I used to squeeze my finger if you can hear me, you know, and he would squeeze. Uh now I don't know if it was, you know, because he was having convulsions, but uh at the time I'm thinking, you know, he can hear me, you know. Um but you know it didn't look good. There's a lot of swelling. Um already, you know, he's it was puffing up, his eyes were popping up. So it was it was tough. It was tough. And I was kind of like um disappointed myself, you know, that I couldn't do much of a whole lot of anything at that time, you know.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

I mean, 22 years later, I I think I can say with relative certainty, even if that had happened in a hospital right next to a surgery suite, his chance of survival is very low. I mean, just a a closed head injury of any kind of trauma like that is is hard to survive. And so you you did the damn best you could with what you had, man. There's uh I don't I don't you know I know it's hard to how do you tell your young self that, but there's nothing you could have done.

SPEAKER_05 21:32

So yeah, with that, you know, he was you know, he's a he's such uh you know, such a good good marine man, like probably a best example of a leader uh in some of the things that he taught me, even though it's a short period of time, you know, I used it until today. And I kind of just like live my life, you know, on how Connie would do it or how he would do it to not disappoint his uh uh memory and I try to do my best to live you know a good life for him you know to for his neck you know to his memory um not to disappoint him I just don't want to be a disappointment for him you know so I try to do my best um but you know like even now as a as a leader now with the uh in the police department you know I still use uh I still use him as an example or what what what did he do you know this and that you know some of the things I learned from him I know it's not much I know he he kind of gave me a hard time a little bit you know what there too because I I I'd be joking around with him every now and then you know because I think there was a rumor we're getting I remember one time uh I think I think I remember there was a rumor one time that I think we're getting extended or something I'm like man I was telling him like I ain't I'm not getting extended dude fuck all that I'll shoot myself in the the leg or something just joking around with him trying to go home he's like man do that dog I'll kill you I was like nah man I'm just playing I'm playing I'm playing come on man I'm playing I'll shoot you dog man but the you know the best the best thing that you know it was an honor best honor best thing that he ever said to me was like you know I still remember it he's like uh until today he's like yeah man I'm not you know doc you know I want to mess with Doc man you know he he uh he knows what he's doing and he patched me up already so I'm not messing with him he's good to go and that's like the biggest honor I've ever received from anyone you know earning his trust dude you know you know what I mean yeah but once I earn his trust I'm like shit I'm good I'm good he's the street now yeah yeah he's easy so he's yeah he's a good dude nice so we'll move into a little less serious topic for a minute and we'll go back to some of the dates maybe uh what do you remember from Hooch Life man what did you do to to kind of de-stress other than smoke new ports uh well we smoked a lot of new ports and Royales obviously yeah hell yeah those Royales yeah because I'm a mental smoker yeah at the time yeah I stopped smoking now uh

Hooch Life And Decompressing

SPEAKER_05 24:30

but we uh I played a lot of I I didn't really play the Xbox because I'd rather have the guys uh you know enjoy themselves I just watched them play and uh and I I'm kind of like the little brother who don't I don't know I didn't want to ask them to play but I I just watched them play halo you know and talk shit at the same time. Yeah mind you I'm like 23 I'm probably older than most of the guys there was 23 at the time so and watched Dave Chappelle you know watch movies and that's how that's how I actually got introduced to Dave Chappelle because of that because of uh being in the hooch so uh watched Dave Chappelle and you know we wrestled around a lot I actually have pictures of it in my uh album um you know uh read a lot of uh magazines you know FHM I didn't really read any of the porn stuff it's like it's kind of like yeah I'm not doing that here dude just read a lot of FHM of Maxwell you know uh Maxo Sports Illustrated magazines man basically I remember I asked my uh my aunt who was in New York she she wrote me a letter like hey what magazines do you want and I asked them for like FHL and Max and she didn't send me any she thought it was porn that's what it just gave me just gave me a slam mask the slam online slam magazine basketball magazines all that yeah um my and I also my mom sent me uh a rice cooker dude uh when I was there you can use the micro rice yeah man Filipinos dude we're gonna eat our rice nice yeah so where do you get the rice from well my mom dude sent it to rice she sent the rice too she sent the rice she sent some rice and um instant uh Ponce you guys know about Poncer yeah yeah yeah and she's sending boxes adults and now I would share with the guys you know uh I would feed them you know especially uh Moonus you know he's my bodyguard out there Moon you know he's uh and I always made fun of my call I told him I'd call him J Lo because he got big booty that's awesome big big booty Latino dude uh so he was and I would share with him Filipino food and um yeah and Latham and I'd share with him um because you know I'd take care of the guys because you know they they they're my bodyguards per se right yeah so I we shared a lot of food and I think I remember I left uh I left that uh that rice cooker there it wasn't even it wasn't even the plug and plug one is my mom sent me the one that you can put in a microwave oh so so it's a microwave rice had fresh rice and Filipino food when I was there nice man that's smart especially with the number of times we didn't get chow you you were a fucking hero oh yeah I was I was hooking up the dudes I even I think some of the guys even start getting like sardines Filipino sardines is better than MRE you know with a little bit of lemon in it it was good it was all good so I I think I brought it on bridge watch to smell like fish out there that's right couldn't couldn't smell any worse than that bridge did no no no so but I I listened to you know I have my little portable DVD out there to watch some movies some hodge some of the Haji movies um and the C D C D players listen to music and all of that yeah so yeah I mean not much not much you can do there I spent a lot of money on the freaking phones yeah remember that yeah my my um my my my oldest was being born was born when I was gone so I was on the phones a lot you know okay talking to my ex-wife at the time and my mom so and they played I played around with them too with the dodgeball and all that oh yeah oh yeah I remember you out there hitting golf balls and I remember you out there playing dodgeball for sure yeah dodgeball yeah and I played uh actually I played basketball too there's a basketball hoop yeah yeah yeah the yeah I remember Gunny Crutcher playing a lot of basketball over there with the uh the truck company guys yeah where was the basketball hoop I don't remember that there was one over there close to the BAS I believe yeah it was in between BAS and where the mechanics had their tools stashed in that con X box I remember going against Latham and uh uh Munas and them so they thought I couldn't play man I told them like don't don't let that don't let the Filipino hype you know fool you though it's good we played played quite a bit they were pretty good uh give them that they were pretty good I've tried to handle my you know handle my own sound nice well kind of wind it down July August the rest of it anything stand out to you any missions or anything you can remember um there's uh I think this is probably July time frame um you there was uh I I think you made it in Ollie North's um uh war stories uh I was with that you know obviously because Lachard was on it uh that he um the car bomb I remember that yeah um uh I still remember that because I dude like I could see I remember seeing a kid that was waving because we remember got up armored humbies right yeah right and uh and I remember um the kid that's the kid that landed next to my vehicle the body and um oh that sucks and uh I could see it and I remember I was about to get out try to help the kid out and you know they were like no we gotta keep moving and I look and I was like I don't think I can do much you know he was she was pretty jacked up yeah um so we kept going that kept

July VBIEDs And Mosque Firefights

SPEAKER_05 31:20

through the solars though Sedamus Mosque.

SPEAKER_01 31:22

Yep that's when we start hitting that building there was it uh was it like a it was taking like machine gun fire from that building right I think yeah so that was July 21st specifically uh OP OP library got hit by explosives but then at the same time they had cracked off an IED um in between where golf company was and where headquarters was by Saddam's mosque. So it effectively separated golf company from being able to reinforce headquarters and headquarters got pinned down which is why you guys got sent out that's at least that's the story I remember. And then yeah there was a tall building and I don't remember what that building was it was not the Ag Center but it was near the Ag Center. And uh yeah you guys were taking a ton of machine gun fire and RPGs from the window from multiple different windows. But when you when Matt 3 rolled up just all hell broke loose because you guys brought up a mark and an a 50 and we were going back and forth hitting it and made it so everybody could maneuver because up to that point everybody was pinned down.

SPEAKER_05 32:26

Yeah remember we let loose on that on that building man um I think I think it had pepper as the gunner and coming to those back already some wrongs on that building. I remember seeing the guys I it was like that video on the War Stories where they're uh they had the green green Hum V with the with the high back the green one.

SPEAKER_01 32:58

And I remember some of the guys who were walking between the wall and the Hum V because there's an IED right here on the uh on the right side of the Hum V and they're just kind of like using the Hum V as the shield was like man I don't know man that looked like a bad idea that thing goes off you know yeah but they were able to make it like the whole intersection was like booby trap with the with uh IEDs was the sergeant major out there too yep sergeant major one out there sergeant major and the uh battalion commander were both out there um trying to remember a lot I think we rolled I think sledgehammer rolled out for that one too yeah I'm pretty sure that's I'm pretty sure that's the one I'm remembering yeah so there were three V bids that day two of them hit map three and one hit whichever whichever 81s unit uh went out I think that might have been the second one dude yeah I don't remember the second V V I D. Yeah damn yeah it it was right at it was right at the end and it was uh they caught they caught part of it on video it it doesn't even look like anything on the video but you can see the fireball roll across the the street oh really I thought that was a different one it's not when uh the guy from 2-5 got hit no so that was in the that's so this is it's funny that's uh I can see why you would blend that together because it was within a week of each other when the Captain Rapicult got hit from 2-5 was on July 14th which was a week prior to this and that was in the market square there was that little slalom area in the middle like right before you went in the main market where all the guys were selling um the illegal stolen gas yeah the gas yeah and it was the gas cans that were booby trapped and blew up and and burned prior and uh Captain Rapical yeah I remember that one when that was the week after after the engagement at Bidon Mosque other way around so uh two two five guy got hit one week later you guys got hemmed up at the at Saddam's mosque yeah it's a lot of fighting holy shit yeah it's thinking about this it it was weird that it was weird I mean realistically basically every day there was a person from weapons company or a a unit from weapons company that was engaged somehow uh basically from April on and even before that most days in March somebody was engaged but specifically it really ramped up um not long after uh condhi got hit so basically it was like July 3rd the put the police station got blown up I don't remember what day it was in July but early in July the governor uh of the of Al Ambar province got kidnapped um the ag center got hit like there was there's uh op hotel and op library both got hit because that was where the fox company guys were up on the ops okay yeah it was a lot it was a lot of stuff and it just kept going and going and going and then uh kind of culminated in so July 28th the week after that was when the cobra pilot got shot on the way to rein reinforce uh us and sledgehammer in the south of the city and that was when the F-16 started doing the flyovers and shit okay okay and then August was Operation Traveler that was the biggest thing that happened in there's other stuff too but that was the biggest thing yeah it's it's you know just my memory is kind of like getting all jumbled up you know like I remember some of the some of the things like like the uh some of the longest top days were uh like looking for the guys from the guys the the guys that drowned from Fox company that was long yeah I remember that was work you know that was really that was May 1st through the yeah so it was right basically four straight days of searching for them dudes yeah yeah it was uh you know it was long man uh we I remember not getting a lot of sleep uh those times you know it was uh it was kind of it was nuts you know so well kind of winding down towards the end of the deployment you remember what it felt like to to finally leave and pack up um good evening I remember you know when I was about to go home you know when we're packing up it felt great you know like like it's like I said it's like winning almost like winning a championship you know that kind of stuff right uh it's unfortunate we lost you know Condi at the time you obviously that weighs heavily on us um um I remember going to uh next door at JC after the you know to to uh wind down or whatnot and I remember there's like somebody I don't know maybe it might have been Cox man like spreading rumor about J Lo dying or something at J Lo Halle Berry yeah Halle Berry somebody said Halleck Berry died and I was like no way you know it's funny the shit that that fucking military dudes especially Marines and Corpsmen will fucking start mourning just just based on like oh god Halle Berry died like oh yeah oh I was disappointed though you've never met her you have no idea no no you don't even know I exist yeah but you know um you know Cox is uh sorry to I'm kind of like uh reiterate back some of the stuff in hooch the hooch life or whatnot yeah Cox dude um it's a funny dude uh I remember that dude um he I think we got called out and he was fool was trying to cut his hair and um he's trying to shave his head and he went out there he's like all half shaven you know with still like uh um shaving cream on his head looking crazy and and he he was he was kind of suspicious man that dude man because he's kind of I was trying to think he was like kind of uh like kind of gay or something because he would do like torqueing and stuff in the uh like in the uh in the hooch like he was part of like I was like man what the hell he pulled his shorts up all the way up and made it like a tongue like he was nuts dude and you know uh he he's such a character he made he made the the deployment uh easy you know well not easy but you know enjoyable like he he was at a great entertainment uh with him and he he was able to come up with a lot of things TV or whatnot

Packing Up And Final Weeks

SPEAKER_01 40:10

DVDs whatever you know so he's always trying to ask me for pills uh you know trying to help him sleep so I think I gave him a good amount of Benadryl so I think and one time I ran out and he kept bugging me and um I gave him suit of it instead obviously he didn't sleep I gave him suit of it like here take some suit of it also take this no leave me alone Doug so but he's he's a good dude man you know and heat and uh McKenzie I have pictures though over here where I'm messing around with McKenzie while he was sleeping I have pictures of uh Davis uh I don't know I think it might have been it's probably Cox who he's uh one of the race he stole somebody's bra from the clothesline uh and and do you remember did you see this Shane oh yeah oh yeah I was there for this one yeah you're there and uh I have pictures of it and they made uh Davis wear this that I remember and uh and we were making him do like uh sexy moves or something man he was pulling his pants down a little bit yeah and uh and um and I will picture of I don't remember it I have a picture and I have like a cup of his freaking tits dude you know I was just like holding on to it I was like oh my god dude what am I doing so and everybody I think Lachard was in there to coughing it too I was like oh my god nice so but it's the Hoot life stuff man he's he's it's it was I mean it it was enjoyable you know like the stuff inside obviously the outside stuff is different but you know being inside like it it's kind of hard to like you know think about it like you see these guys inside you know you see 17 year old 18 year olds 19 year olds but then you know the cold blooded warriors you know when you go outside like savages yeah you know what I mean it's crazy like even you guys right like when I was there you know like I always thought you guys were like at the in your 30s already just the way you guys were like so mature you know but I didn't I didn't know you guys were the same age as me.

SPEAKER_05 42:39

You know you guys carried yourself very professional you know good lead we have great leadership um uh Williams and um Lachard obviously Candy even uh Sakaki when he went to our platoon you know it was it was awesome like very mature like you know I have never seen that before even even in policing I don't see it you know I don't see it um uh maybe I'm just it's different out here but you guys were outstanding man um even uh McKenzie you know um gunny crutcher those guys so he's he's he's something else too gunny because he's got that uh he's uh he keeps saying dag on every every sentence doggone this dog on that you know remember so he's he's he's a good he's a good dude um yeah you guys are I always looked up to you guys you know that the leadership um looked up to what you guys did and I always thought you guys were fairly mature for your for your age man um like thinking about some of the younger guys like eight now like Kelly and um and uh Davis and uh who's the other whose gun is the driver do you Guys remember his name. He's got glasses. Very skinny. Drawing a blank blank. Jeez, man.

SPEAKER_01 44:12

The only guys I can remember the glasses from your platoon are Neil, but you already mentioned Neil.

SPEAKER_05 44:16

Yeah, Neil. It's got a tin on him. Very skinny. Very skinny guy. He's one of the drivers.

SPEAKER_01 44:30

I don't know. I'd have to look at a picture. Yeah, I don't remember.

SPEAKER_05 44:33

Yeah. You know, very young, man. Like very outstanding on how they perform outside, outside the water and during during stressful situations. And, you know, now as in charge of the police department, right? Like the I see some young guys. I'm like, how do you guys gonna perform out there? You know, like it's different, man. It's different, dude. You know, like, you know, it's different. So but going back to like towards the end of deployment, like at Junction City. Um, you know, when we got there, obviously I felt fairly safe, you know. They put us on those uh uh coochies there with AC, real nice. Uh they had a they have a little um what's it called NWR? They have like TVs and stuff.

SPEAKER_03 45:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:30

So and they have the Piet over there. And I remember the Pieto over there, they have a lot of Filipinos, and uh they have a lot of Philippine, like Philippine, Filipino ladies. I remember the dudes when I just try to hit on them. I was like, come on, guys, you know, come on, dude. Those are just deployment glasses.

SPEAKER_03 45:54

Stop, dude. Stop, man.

SPEAKER_04 45:56

Yeah, they try to invite try to invite us to their hooch, you know, to make some Filipino for we should go, Doc. We should go.

SPEAKER_05 46:03

Because I'm talking to, because uh I was still fairly fluent in Filipino Tagalog.

SPEAKER_02 46:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 46:09

So I was talking to them. Uh and they're like, oh, we should go. I was like, nah, dude, come on, man. We try not to get in trouble, dude. We're about to go home. So but yeah, and after that, I don't remember we went to Al Assad after JC, right?

SPEAKER_01 46:27

Yeah, took seven tons over to Al-Assad.

SPEAKER_05 46:30

Yep, and there we we rolled out, dude, you know. Um oh by the way, the whole time over here, I don't remember. I don't remember the flight over here. I know it was miserable.

SPEAKER_03 46:42

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_05 46:43

It was miserable. And I remember you, I remember you messing around. Uh I don't know, on the polls over there. Was that you?

SPEAKER_01 46:52

And I don't know. What do you remember? Maybe.

SPEAKER_05 46:56

I think you were, I think it was you. Uh, but I took some flexor, dude, so I was out the whole time. That's good. You were smart. I was I was out. I don't remember much. Other than the New Jersey and all of that. New Jersey and Maine, I think. You see, Maine.

SPEAKER_01 47:13

So yeah, yeah, I think Bangor, Maine is is one of the stops.

SPEAKER_05 47:17

Yeah. So, but yeah, after we got back from the States, I pretty much went back to uh the clinic, dude. Uh that was it.

SPEAKER_01 47:31

So any uh anything stand out when you got home? Any and it since you went basically straight back to your your clinic life, uh, and you had a new kid and you I mean you had a lot of life changes all of a sudden. Anything anything weird or you just go right back to work?

SPEAKER_05 47:48

Uh I took some time off. Uh I actually picked up my son back here in Michigan

Coming Home Anger And VA Reality

SPEAKER_05 47:55

uh after after we got back. I think two days later, I went to Michigan to pick him up.

SPEAKER_03 48:00

Nice.

SPEAKER_05 48:01

Uh came back home, came back to Camp Pendleton. Um it was it was it was kind of rough, man. Came back, dude. Like, you know, I don't know how it was, but they they said they'll change or something when I got back, you know. Um my temper wasn't the same. You know, temper was very, you know, uh short, I should say.

SPEAKER_01 48:28

Sure.

SPEAKER_05 48:28

And uh it's getting in a lot of fights over there at the clinic. I got back, um, you know, um after that, you know, they transferred me to a different clinic, 13 in the area, um, so I can be attached with uh um Dr. Bunco. You remember him?

SPEAKER_01 48:51

I do, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 48:52

HM1, yeah. Yeah. So he was the I believe he picked up Chief, so he was the chief over there. So I was with I was with him until I got out.

SPEAKER_01 49:02

So that's good, man. That's uh that's a good that's a good dude to lean on. So that's good. Yeah, nice.

SPEAKER_05 49:08

Yeah, yeah. Good old Chief Carbanko, HM1, man. HM1 Carbanco, I think, when he was with us 2-4. So yeah, he's good. I think he's still he got out, he's out already. I think he still works for like was this uh I think he might still work for the military.

SPEAKER_01 49:26

Oh, does he? Yeah, cool.

SPEAKER_05 49:27

Yeah. Um, so yeah, get done, man. I mean, I I know you guys thought about like how the VA stuff, you know, I after I got out, I worked with the VA for nine years. So, and you know, seeing, you know, like you you guys said it before, like they weren't ready, right? You know, with the the PTSD stuff and the injuries, and I I just don't think they were ready in in any capacity, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_01 50:01

Um and I I it's kind of true with everything in 2004, where we weren't ready with the gear, we weren't ready with the vehicles, we didn't have enough ammo initially. We did, you know, it's just a lot of little things. Uh we didn't even have simple stuff like food and water figured out initially, right?

SPEAKER_05 50:19

So, but yeah, that's why I worked with the VA. I mean, because I saw a lot of the guys coming back, you know. I worked directly with like the uh substance abuse area of the VA, like the homeless area, or the homeless. It's called the call it domiciliary. But we basically it's almost like we house uh with uh substance abuse problems. And initially when I got there, it's a lot of like uh, you know, 90s eras uh veterans and some Vietnam guys. But uh the longer I was there, started getting more of the G Watt kids, the GWAT guys. And like, come on, and you know, they kind of lean on me. We just kind of talk talk to each other, you know, about things and you know, about their experience and how how there's a lot of struggles with dump. So uh I stayed there for nine years, then went back, went to policing. So I've been there ever since. Um I just kinda uh go ahead. No, please continue. Oh I just want to do, you know, like I went back to I went to policing because I kind of miss the camaraderie, man. I was always trying to like get that same, same feeling again from, you know, on 04. Right like, you know, that not so much like getting a firefight, but I found out out the hard work that I can't do the same shit, like shit, in the Romadi as as a cop and as a cop because you know, you can't be cut cussing up people and being overly aggressive, so I was kind of overly aggressive in the beginning. So got into a little bit of trouble from being doing that, and it's toned down now. So but I went back to policing for the camaraderie part, so again, that same uh rush, you know. So we tired the one.

SPEAKER_01 52:34

So it's it's surprising to me, but I mean maybe it shouldn't be a surprise, but how many guys from Weapons Company either went the distance, stayed in 20, 22, 23? We've got a couple of guys at 24, 25 years, uh, or stayed in public service in some way. Like it's I don't know. I it speaks to the it speaks to the people of weapons company. I don't know exactly how to really wrap my head around exactly what that means, but it's I don't know, it's a good feeling. It's a good dedicated group of dudes, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_05 53:10

A lot of us, a lot of the guys that you know I think they became police officers, dude. You know. Um I don't know if I mean I know I think Silton's a police officer. He is. So, and I think Cummings is a police officer.

SPEAKER_01 53:26

I didn't know that, but that doesn't surprise me. I know Rake Rake Brandt was for a while. Um from my platoon, Grove Groves was uh Lopez, Gonzalez, multiple other people were all in policing.

Policing For Camaraderie And Goodbye

SPEAKER_05 53:42

I think as soon as he got out, uh he he was a cop, he was a police officer at the he became a police officer too. My uh partner Hughes.

SPEAKER_04 53:52

Nice.

SPEAKER_05 53:53

It was uh, you know, we he just I don't know, it shows the characterized, I suppose, with the the guys. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:01

So well, cool, man. Well, we've been uh talking for about two hours now. Is there anything you feel like we didn't yeah? Anything we didn't cover?

SPEAKER_05 54:12

Not that I can think of, man. You know, I really appreciate you guys doing this. Um I uh it's like I said, it's all it's therapeutic for me. Nice. You know. Uh I know I I there's not a day that I don't think about you guys. Not a day. Every single day I'm thinking about, not in a bad way, but you know, in a good way. Yeah. About the guys that I want, you know, we I deployed with you guys. I mean, you know, I and I just use it for motivation, you know. I miss I miss you guys. I miss I would have gone to uh the 20-year reunion of planning on it until I get tasked to go to a staff and command.

SPEAKER_01 54:54

So yeah, life happens unfortunately.

SPEAKER_05 54:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 54:58

So but no there's there's a lot of talk amongst all the guys from 2004 specifically. I I don't know too much about our juniors and even some of our seniors, uh, about trying to do more frequent reunions just because of that reason. There's a lot of us who aren't here anymore, so hopefully that happens.

SPEAKER_05 55:15

Hopefully it does. So just keep up the good work, man. You guys are doing an amazing job. Thanks, dude. You know, next time, man, you're gonna be like Sean Ryan show. You know, maybe we can help you guys out with a studio, uh-huh. You know, yeah, it'd be cool. It'd be cool, you know. So yeah, you guys are amazing, dude. You guys are like freaking therapies, man. Therapists. So it's good stuff. Good stuff, man.

SPEAKER_01 55:45

Thanks, bro. All right, well, I'll be appreciated. I'll be in touch. Um yeah, have a good day, dude. I'm uh I'm glad to talk to you. I'm glad you answered when I reached out, and I I miss you too. That's why I reached out, man. It was good.

SPEAKER_05 55:57

Appreciate it, man. All right, take care, guys. Take care. All right, be well, buddy.

SPEAKER_00 56:02

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