The Warhorns Curse - Gavin Callais (part 1 of 2)

Gavin Callais from MAP 2 recounts the whiplash from getting tossed into a unit to rolling up the Iraq highway, where dark humor and constant confusion give way to IED blasts. He paints a vivid picture, from early barracks chaos and field-expedient Humvee fixes to the night several Marines were severely wounded and confusion, blood, and radio problems compress time into fragments. Gavin get into details of what it’s like pushing forward while outnumbered, watching the effects of heavy weapons up close, and coming back to reload magazines you forgot you emptied.
 
• arriving through Hawaii and deployment timelines the hard way 
• working parties and constant tasking 
• pre-deployment training, gear issues, and what actually helped
• barracks shenanigans
• the Humvee breakdown story
• cargo net flights, layovers, and the surreal shift in Kuwait 
• the convoy into Ramadi and Hurricane Point 
• early left seat-right seat patrols and the routine of IED sweeps 
• first IED experiences and the blur of rapid escalation 
• the night Morris is killed and the scramble to regroup 
• April 6 contact, casualty movement, ammo realities

If you like what you heard, this is a multipart episode, please follow for part 2

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If you are a member of Weapons Company or someone with a story about Weapons Company 2/4 in 2004, please come tell some stories with us - 20 mins or 20 hours! Help paint the canvas of an archival story for others to know what it was like. Contact us @ RamadiPodcast@gmail.com, or via the podcast website above. 

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Transcript

Hawaii Mix-Up And Iraq Warning

0:12

Everybody here. Yeah, so in 2004, I was PFC Calais, very fresh to the unit. So I came over with that group of guys from the East Coast that got sent down to Hawaii. Yeah, okay. Which was uh an interesting way of getting there. Um I just finished listening to Websters yesterday, and he said we were down in Hawaii for like a week or two, and uh I remember only being there for like a day and a half because I remember when they started sending everybody back, um, they did it in alphabetical order, and of course, my last name being a C, I was on the first wave back. So, like we got there in the middle of the night. Uh, they had some sergeants and some corporals that picked us up in vans from the airport. Yep. We've been flying in alphas for a long time from the east coast, and uh we get to the airport, it was like one or two in the morning, I think. We get back to the base, and they just start throwing us in random Marines rooms. Yeah, so they started throwing us in just random guys' rooms, and uh the next morning uh they woke us up and they're like, Yeah, don't get an alphabet, just getting camis. So uh they took us to Chow, Chow Hall, and uh after that, we uh I remember standing in formation with uh outside of what I believe was the SIF. So I was like, Well, this is weird. They're gonna we're not even checked in the unit, they're gonna start issuing gear. And uh Battalion Sergeant Major came out and uh I remember him telling us, hey gentleman, he's like, I got some good news, and I got some bad news for you. He said, uh the good news is you're going back to sunny California. And uh I was like, Well, I could live without anything's better than North Carolina. He said, The bad news is y'all are all gonna be in Iraq in a month, and uh I was like, Oh, okay. Because uh to rewind a little bit, uh whenever we were uh in SOI, uh we had weekend liberty one weekend, but we didn't have uh off base liberty. So we were all in the barracks sleeping in, and uh sergeant that was on duty comes in the barracks and he starts waking us all up and making us go downstairs in the barracks, and we're like, man, what the hell is going on? We get down there and it's big screen TV in the uh in the barracks, and it's the footage of them literally pulling Saddam out of the mouse hole. Yeah. So in our minds, we're we're like, oh well, the war's gonna be over. Uh nope, it's far from over. So get back to Pendleton. Like I said, I was on the first wave back. Um I want to say we got there like on a Saturday or a Sunday, and we get to Mainside, and we're on a bus. I forget how many of us there were, because it was like 130 something of us. I want to say that flew over. Oh the legit the logistics of this fuck up is just it's not surprising, but at the same time, it's just it's staggering. I'm imagining some lads corporal with a pen like shitting his pants, like just yeah, yeah. Yeah. So we some building over on the main side, and uh they're like, what are y'all doing here? And so we're trying to explain, and I get they get on the phone, and you know, like, all right, look, uh the cow hall is over there, y'all go eat, and when y'all come back, we're gonna start figuring out what we got to send y'all. So we go and they end up sending us over to Mateo. Uh some guys ended up over in Horno. Uh, some of us ended up in Mateo. So I remember we get off the bus to Mateo, and uh, I think it was a staff NCO that was on duty. He comes out and uh he's like, Yeah, y'all units in the field right now. And we're like, Oh, okay. He's like, Well, we're gonna start putting y'all in barracks rooms, and uh, we'll come find y'all and let y'all know. So they put us up in the barracks, and then I think it was later that night, you guys came in from the field, and I was just sitting in my room. Um, and I remember this because they put me in a room with Barker from 81, so he went UA because I later got interrogated by Staff Sergeant Cook about where Barker was, uh, whenever he went missing. But uh we were just sitting in our room, and uh, I think it was uh I think it was you, Shane, they came and get me, and you were like, hey, you're in my platoon, come on. And uh so you walked me over to the company office, and we walked in the company office, and Lieutenant, I remember this like it was yesterday, Lieutenant Steve was just standing there, and he was like, he was already like changed from his camis and stuff. And basically the message was I don't remember his exact words, were uh we got a lot of training to do in a little bit of time, it's gonna be fast, and taking as much as you can, and we're going over to Iraq. And I was like, Yes, sir. So uh went back over to the barracks. Uh, I think I had liberty the next day because y'all had been in the field for like a week. Um, so all I knew on Mateo at the time was where the PX was, where the child was. That was it. So I'm sleeping the next morning. Somebody knocks my door and I open it, and it's the uh battalion duty, and he's like, hey, get dressed and fall out in the parking lot. And I'm like, what's going on? It's like I thought I thought the unit was off today. So we go out there and uh we were uh voluntoled to uh police call the parking lot. So we're out there butts and beer cans and all this stuff, and like it sucks. Uh-huh. So that was uh my Welcome to the Fleet. Yeah. So it was uh it was a pretty wild time. So I was living over in uh the Red Tops, but like opposite of where all you guys were, we were we were really in like another battalion's area in the barracks. Yep. There was only like a handful of us over there. Um, so I remember like the first few days, it was you know, you never really knew what was going on. Somebody was always coming to get you either go

Pendleton Work Parties And Barracks Mischief

6:00

to formation or go do this or go do that, and it was kind of wild at first. Um but now I remember doing a little bit of training, like in the backyard. Um, I remember shooting a lot of rounds with uh Gunbar. He had that little shooting range set up back there. And um, I just remember, you know, magazine after magazine after magazine. That was the first time I ever saw a speed loader, by the way. Um, and it was at the end of the day after my fingertips were raw from loading back. Yep. And I was like, yeah, that looks like a good investment. That's because all of us we would steal them, they would come in the bulk ammo cans, but they didn't come in the individual ammo cans. And in the bulk ammo cans, we would all of us sergeants and corporals would steal them because we knew. Oh, yeah, that would make sense because I'm pretty sure it was like Tweeter or Horn that had one. So oh yeah, we'd steal them and stick them in our flak jackets because we knew. Yeah. So now I remember doing that. Um, I remember just a lot of working parties. Like I remember being on the grinder like every day, and it felt like we did, it was like Groundhog's Day. I remember the all the connex boxes were staged out there, and we'd go every day for a working party with Gunning Barkey, and uh, it was like we would unload the condex box, do an inventory, load the conex box. Unload the connex box, do an inventory, load the condex box. It was like an everyday affair. Um and then uh I remember doing the uh when we had to lay out all of our camis on the grinder, uh, and they came around with the pump sprayers and sprayed God knows what they were spraying on them. Supposed to be permethrin, but I don't know what it actually ended up being because it didn't smell like permethrin. But Bundy could probably say more than I could, but yeah. I just remember them being stiff as shit after they sprayed them. Yeah. Uh no, so I mean, it w I mean we did a little bit of training, you know. Um I remember, you know, night times it was always the the barrack shenanigans, you know, the NCOs coming and messing with you. Um the field day shenanigans. Um I remember it was late one night, and I think it was like the third time we had failed our room inspection, and all of a sudden there was a bunch of hoorah outside, and we're like, man, what's going on? And they had some I don't remember what NCOs it was, but they were tearing in the New Meyer and Morris, I believe it was, and they got caught lowering furniture off the catwalk with 50 cords. Yep. I remember that because I was on duty, so I was one of those in that was one of my few duty times, and uh yeah, it was and because you guys lived in the other barracks, it was the other battalion's duty that came and found me. And like, hey, we got some of your Marines doing some stupid shit. And I was like, Did you stop them? They're like, nah, you need to see this. I was like, okay. And we come over there, they've got uh either the desk or what something, and they're lowering it down by 550 cord. And it was one of those things like where you're watching a toddler do something stupid where you don't want to say anything, you're afraid they'll fall off the stairs or something. But we didn't we didn't say shit until the the piece of furniture touched down on the ground. They're like, what the fuck are you doing? Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was that was awesome. That was awesome. Yeah, that was pretty funny. Um I remember March Air Force Base. Uh I I remember just being kind of a whirlwind. Um, there was a lot of information that was flowing. Uh and I remember, you know, like Shane yourself and Hard and Tweeter just kind of taking what the what the instructors were giving us, but kind of kind of saying, okay, look, this is good to know, but uh, you know, I remember you guys preaching a lot of tactics to us and saying, hey, look, this is good to know, but this is kind of the way we're gonna approach it kind of deal. Um, I remember doing like the uh checkpoint training and uh V sweeps for IEDs and all that kind of stuff. Um like I said, March March Air Force Base was kind of a blur. It was kind of like we just got in there and it was our first time going on the field with you guys. Uh so yeah, it was interesting. I didn't get to know uh Savage very well because obviously he was in '81s. I was in Nap 2. He had been in for a while. Um I was you know fresh boot. But uh we uh whenever we convoyed down to I think it was San Diego to bring the Humvees to load them on the ship, uh I was Savage's A driver. And we were the last Humvee in I don't know how many Humvees it was that we had going down there, down to I-5. But I remember, I don't remember what officer it was. I know it was an officer that we all gathered around in front of the vehicles before we left Tumblr, and he gave us a brief. And uh, if you have you know trouble, this is you call this number, whatever. So somehow me and Savage ended up being the last vehicle, and we're going down to I-5, and lo and behold, our our home V starts giving us trouble, starts smoking. So Savage pulls over on the shoulder of the I-5, and there's you know, vehicles just flying by us. And uh, so he gets out, he pulls the hood, and I'm out and looking at it. And uh he's like, You got any water? And and like I was like, I have this one water bottle, and so he takes it, he pours it in the radiator, and he's looking at it and it's still smoking, he's trying to start it, and uh, he's like, Hey, come stand on this side. So he wanted me to move from the passenger side to the driver's side on the side of the humvee. So I'm like, okay, he's like, Yeah, block me from traffic, and it was like that red dawn shit, and he pissed in the radiator. Nice. So we get back in the Humvee, and the son of the bitch starts. We're trying to call this number for the lieutenant or the whatever officer it was that gave us the number because I mean everybody's gone. And uh we're calling and nobody's answering. So he's like, I don't know. He's like, I wasn't paying attention, I don't know where we were going. It's like I have no clue. Like, I just got to California, I have no idea where we are. Well, luckily enough, we ended up finding the convoy and looking back up with him and made it down to the port. And uh they bust us back up. But yeah, that was uh that was really my uh my only time I I interacted with Savage really. That's a perfect savage story. That is that that is that is the most perfect savage story I've ever heard. Yep. That I don't know if anybody knew that story or not. I mean, I'm sure he probably told other people what we had to do, but uh I've never heard that. That's hilarious. That's awesome. Yeah, I love it. So, yeah. Uh yeah, after we took the Humvees down there, I mean, I think we left pretty quick. I remember we got a I remember we got a weekend off uh I don't know if it was a 72 or 96. We got right before we we found, I think we found out we were leaving sooner than we initially thought. And they ended up giving us a weekend off. Um, so me and some of the guys that had came from the East Coast, you know, we had just gotten out to California, hadn't really seen anything yet. So we decided to take the green line and go out in town and catch the train down

Crash Course Training And Humvee Fixes

13:10

to San Diego. So, you know, we're 18, 19-year-old boots. Um, you can't go out drinking, you can't do anything. Uh so we're walking around San Diego just sightseeing, and we come across this uh laser tag place. So we're like, well, let's go in there and check that out. So they had like a I don't know, like a 10-year-old kid's birthday party going on, and we ended up getting paired up with these kids playing laser tag, and they whipped our ass. Nice. It so it was not very reassuring with the fact that we were getting ready to deploy it, right? We were like, oh, this is not good. Um so yeah, that was uh that was pretty funny. So we got back to base and I don't know. I I don't remember if I think we might have gone to the field one more time at Pendleton, if I remember right. Maybe it it it's all we did a lot of training. I was gonna say it was all a blur. It felt like every other week we were out in the field for two, three days. Yeah, I remember and I can't remember if it was before we left or right when we came back. I remember being in the field. It had to it had to have been before we left because uh I still didn't know a lot of guys in the company. And I remember we got out to the field and there was this guy carrying around this stick, and I was like, why does this dude have a stick? And come to find out it was Hodges, and for whatever reason he couldn't have a weapon at the time or something, I don't know what the was or whatever. Yeah, I just remember that like everybody was fucking with him about it, but it was funny because he was a Lance Corporal, I remember that, and he was just he was just one of those guys that like I was trying to figure out like okay, this guy looks older, but he's a Lance Corporal, but like nobody really like really messes with him. So it was kind of funny his his podcast about I didn't realize he had been in that long, yeah, all the shit he had done and stuff. So that that kind of made me made me chuckle whenever he was telling his story. So I was like, ah, okay, now I get it. Now you have the rest of the story. But no, um I remember loading up on the buses on the grinder to leave to go to March Air Force Base to fly out. And uh I mean, I was I didn't have anyone out there to like see me off or anything, and like a lot of the guys that had just gotten to the unit. So uh I remember like when we got down there, we packed everything on the buses that we were bringing with us, and uh, I just got on the bus. And uh I remember sitting there and watching all the the older guys, like married guys and the guys that knew people out there, like they were just staying off the bus as long as they could until it was time to go. And I remember sitting there watching, you know, guys telling their wives and kids by and all that stuff. And I remember I just I put my headphones on, I just put my head down because like I don't want to watch this. This is terrible. I mean, it's you know, who knows what's about to happen. And I was like, let's just go. So get on the bus and get over to March. And then the flight. I don't think we need to really go in detail on the flight. I think it's been talked about enough of how shitty that was. Yeah, um, it was cold, sitting on the stupid ass cargo nets, person across from you knee and in between your knees, and yeah, it's really uncomfortable. Um I do remember a couple funny things from uh being at uh was it McGuire Air Base in New Jersey? I think so. Yeah, they I'm pretty sure it's Maguire. Yeah, so I remember we got there and uh they put us in these quote unquote barracks, which is more like hotel rooms, they were fairly nice. Yeah, and I remember the next day we we got up and we PT'd and it was snowing and the Air Force were looking at us like we were crazy. Um well we went to the I don't know if it was breakfast or lunch that day. I remember going to the the chow hall or whatever they call it in the Air Force, and we were sitting there eating, and this Air Force guy walks by and he had an M4 slum and he walks by the table, and I don't remember if it was Tweeter or Harden, but he was like, hey man, he's like, that weapon's hot. And the guy kind of looks at him like he's crazy, and he's like, Hey, put your fucking weapon on safe. And the dude just kind of stands there and looks at him, and he looks down, he's like, Oh, it's good, and like had a magazine in it and everything. I want to say it was hardened because he he got pretty irate about it, and I I don't know, I thought it was pretty funny. And then uh I think it was later that day, or maybe the next day, we went, it was me and a couple other guys, we went to the PX, and we were in there just you know, buying stuff and walking around, and these two Air Force officers walk up to us, two female Air Force officers. I have no clue what their rank is. I knew they were officers, I could tell that. And they were like, Hey, can we uh can we touch y'all camis? And they're like, What? And they're like, Yeah, we we haven't gotten the digitals yet, we're gonna be getting new uniforms. What do they feel like? And they're like touching like our sleeves and our camis and stuff. I was like, all right, this is fucking weird. But uh no, that was Marines were basically animals. I was gonna say, yeah, yeah. Can I pet your floor? The zoo, yeah. Yeah, the zoo came to us. That's awesome. So yeah, we finally finally get back on the plane, and I I don't remember I've heard different stories on different podcasts, but the only other time I remember us landing was in Germany. And I've heard different guys say different timelines. Uh I I've heard some guys say that we were there in Germany for a couple days. Uh, one day, uh from what I remember, I feel like we're only there for like a couple hours, and they came and they're like, all right, the plane's good. And we were like, wait, what? We were grounded for like three days the last time, and now it's like 30 minutes and we're good. Yeah. Yeah, it's all a blur to me. I would love to have an official recounting of what actually happened. It felt like to me we were there a long time, and there was a couple guys who were super sick, and that's the only reason why I remember is they were super sick, and I was worried we were worried and discussing whether or not we were gonna take them to the hospital. That's the only reason why I remember we were there longer. Yeah, yeah. I remember I remember there, I don't remember the Corman and uh trying to like care for the guys that were sick and stuff like that. I didn't remember that. Um but no, we finally got back on the plane and uh and finally landed in Kuwait. I want to say it was it was like early morning, maybe. I think it was still dark maybe when we landed. Uh I remember getting bussed over to Camp Victory. Camp Victory was a blur. I remember being there for a couple weeks, it seemed like. Um, I know they bust us over to the port one day and we picked up all of our Humvees and brought them back to Victory and started outfitting them. Uh that was that was really all a blur, though. I mean, it's everything was kind of moving quickly

Cargo Net Flights And Weird Layovers

20:10

at that point. Um and then it came time to convoy in. And I remember pulling out of Victory in the really early hours of the morning. I remember those street lights that were leading down the the main road that left Camp Victory, and I was just as far as you can see. And uh I was like, well, this is it. Here we go. And uh it was cold. I remember that. Those half doors didn't hold a lot of that engine heat in the in the cab. Yeah, that's for sure. I remember uh driving and driving and driving in the middle of nowhere, seeing nothing but desert, uh, when it finally got daylight, pissing in water bottles while you're driving because the convoy wasn't stopping. And we were the we were the last vehicle in the convoy. Um that seemed seemed to be my trend so far. So and Webster were pulling up the rear. And uh I remember it was it was boring because there was just nothing. Every now and again you'd see like a little chanty or outhouse or something, but it was really nothing but desert. I remember I let uh I was getting kind of tired one day, so I let Webster drive for a little while, and that didn't last long because Webster couldn't drive for shit. In the back seat, so I was like, no, and it was warmer on the front seat too. So I was like, eh, I'll go back to driving. But uh, no, and I remember whenever we whenever we rolled into Ramadi, um, I mean, we had we had been told how big of a city it was, but it was kind of I don't know, I guess maybe hard to believe. Uh means that we just came through, you know, we saw, you know, a couple of little towns on the way in. But uh whenever we got to the city and saw how vast it was, I was like, wow. I was like, I did not expect this. And uh busy, you know, a lot of a lot of people moving around. And then uh I remember driving in Hurricane Point and we pulled in the gate inside the walls and saw the hoochas, and I was like, This is it. But uh yeah, and like so when we got there, um I remember not I remember the whole unit not being there when we first got there, and I honestly didn't realize until this podcast started that there was so many guys that flew up. I thought everybody convoyed up. Yep, but I had no idea because all of us we all drove in the exact same convoy, so I had no idea that anybody flew up. Yeah, I mean, I just chalked it up to uh you know PSC not knowing shit, but yeah, I I I just kind of assumed that everyone drove up uh so the uh that was news to me that they had so many guys that flew. Um, and I remember after everybody did start piling in the hurricane point, it's because it was pretty quiet whenever we got on there, there was really nobody on there. Yeah, but we were the first first convoy that made it there. There was uh I think Drake, Staff Sergeant Drake was there, and maybe Gunny Maraki, somebody else was there as part of the advance party who was there a week prior to us or two weeks prior to us or whatever, and that was it. And they were staying over in the palace temporarily, they didn't even move over to the those shitty shacks that we lived in. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I do remember Staff Sergeant Drake kind of meeting us and saying, Hey, the map too, that's y'all, that's gonna be y'all hoochie over here. And whenever we started parking the envies and walking in, we were like, Wow, okay. Which uh wasn't so bad, I guess. Um then whenever we started uh the the left seat, right seat with the army kind of started, and I managed to I managed to sneak my way into one of those one day with Tweeter. Uh me and Tweeter, I think E my, yeah, E might came in with us. We piled in the backseat of a Humvee with the Army guys, and we were just flying around town, and they were just kind of pointing

Kuwait Staging And Rolling Into Ramadi

24:15

out, you know, different things, areas you want to stay away from. And we stopped somewhere for not an extended period of time, but for a little while. I'm gonna say it was somewhere off Nova, and they were just kind of showing us, you know, uh some of the area. And uh I'll never forget this. The sergeant that we were with from the army, he had a real raspy voice, and I can hear, he had his headset radio so loud, I can hear all the traffic that was coming over it. And somebody kept saying, Hey, this dog, this dog, they kept talking about this dog, and I can hear the dog barking like or like somewhere around us at another Humvee. And uh the sergeant asked me, he's like, Did it bite you? And he's like, No, but he's pretty aggressive, and he's like, I'm gonna do what you gotta do. And uh one shot rang out, and then I didn't hear the dog anymore. So that was my that was my uh left seat, right seat experience when we first got there. Nice. That was your first engagement with the enemy. Yeah, yeah. That was dogs. Yeah, and that was and then after that, it was it was kind of like we just I don't know, I don't know if the rotation got established right away, but it it seemed like we just kind of fell into all right, this is what you're gonna be doing. And I don't really I don't really remember when the actual rotation started or but it's it seemed like we kind of got right to it as soon as we got there. Um I remember doing the I I remember the morning IED sweeps, and at first it was I just kind of thought, all right, well, it's we were kind of doing it down Michigan, and it was the the you know the main route, and all right, we gotta keep it clear so we can keep logistics flowing and all that kind of stuff. But then after a while, it was kind of like uh this is especially after we got hit by a few IEDs, it was like, okay, this is kind of dumb. Like, there's got to be a better way to do this with something, you know. Um but yeah, I remember I remember the the early days in the morning IED sweeps. And then you you might have to refresh my memory on this, Shane. Um the the IED that your truck got hit by whenever we were on our way to combat outposts at night on the prep for a raid. Was that before April 6th? Yes, that was uh basically the night of between March 17th and March 18th. It was at about about 0030 on March 18th. Okay.

Morning IED Sweeps And First Blast

26:40

Yeah, I remember uh I remember what we were doing. We were going to combat outpost to stage, uh say raid, and we were driving down Michigan, blacked out, and you were a few vehicles behind me, I believe, because I think we ran second pretty much the majority of the time. Yeah, we were truck five, five out of six. Yeah, so uh I remember driving down Michigan and we weren't really flying, but we weren't going slow either, and there was no traffic out because it was you know it was late. And uh I remember my my MVGs just white it out, and then all of a sudden I felt the the compression and the explosion. And I remember thinking, holy shit, what was that? And it took me all about two seconds to figure out what it was, but it was uh even though it wasn't even close to our vehicle, I know I just feeling the overpressure of it, you know, the compression, I was I was like, wow, I was like, well, that was freaking scary. And I remember uh big boy getting out and running around and checking on everybody, and uh I guess once we figured out that everybody was good enough to keep going, we made our way over to combat outposts. But uh yeah, that was uh that was definitely a wake-up call um and a reality check of what we were in for. Yeah. Uh and I don't remember much about that raid that night after that. Um I think we just did the raid, and I think we went back to Hurricane 20, if I remember right. That's what I remember, but I was uh heavily concussed and exhausted from not sleeping. So uh it's kind of like an in and out, like I remember three second clips of what happened. I remember talking to Sergeant Major Booker because he came over to our vehicle because we had a tow up and he wanted to look through the tow site to look at the raid site. And then I remember Radsky changing the tires on the vehicle, even though he was concussed too. And yeah, and then I remember 81s did the raid portion of it, I think, or maybe it was golf company. I don't know. I I can't remember, but I feel like it was 81s, and they found deck cord, and the old lady was using deck cord as a uh clothes hanger. That was the biggest thing I remember is is she was using it to hang her laundry on. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so that was our that was our first IED experience. Um I don't I don't really remember a whole lot in between then and um I guess April 4th, uh, whenever Morris uh was uh was killed. I I don't I don't know. I guess that time period was kind of a blur, everything was happening so quickly. Um yeah, I mean there's a couple of things that maybe you'll remember that we were responding to specifically. Uh there was the bike IED that went off and caught Worth, and he got wounded, uh, caught him in the eye. That was with Sledgehammer. Yeah. And we we came out as as QRF. That was that was two days after the IED went off on our convoy. Uh, and then the next thing that we responded to was when Echo Company uh had a guy killed on a foot patrol by an ID. That was on March 30th. That was the next like big thing that I that I can remember. Now there may have been other things, but that's the next big one. Yeah, I don't remember that one. I remember the bike IED because I remember thinking like how like trying to picture that in my head. Uh, but I don't remember the other one that you're talking about. And then I think it was March 31st. At least that's what's on my notes. Now, that doesn't mean my notes are accurate because I scribbled a lot of stuff long after it actually happened. But um March 31st was the one you might remember. We went out about 15, 20 clicks north of the city, and there was a army engineer uh 1st brigade uh engineer group that got that was a satchel charge that got thrown on the the hood of the Humvee, and that Humvee was what was done. There was a a bunch of army guys dead, and and their unit was ineffective, and we were trying to help them. Um yeah, they they were having a lot of issues. I do remember that because then they threw it in the Constantino wire that was in the hood, right? Yeah, so they had Concertino wire spooled up on the front, and that's why we all stopped doing that because we put the truck. Yeah, I do remember that now. Yeah, yeah. So the obviously there was a lot going on. This kind of a blur for me. And then there was uh April 3rd, April 4th. Yeah, I don't I remember that that night very clearly. Um obviously because that was the the night that Morris was hit. Um I'm not even sure how that the idea came about, and I'm not sure how I got roped into it, but uh I ended up on foot with Tweeter and Matronka. Uh-huh. And I remember we left Hurricane Point,

Morris Hit And The April Sixth Fight

32:00

we went over to combat outpost and ate dinner, and we were kind of waiting for it to get dark. Um, I think we were going to set up a vehicle checkpoint maybe in the traffic circle by Saddam's mosque. That was my understanding, is that you guys were gonna, and some of the Iraqi police were supposed to be with you, and I don't know if they ever showed up, but that was the I don't I don't know where the idea came for us to be dismounted on foot. I think it was the I think it was like the Ag Center or something that was on the other end of town, closer to combat outposts, that they believed had weapons coming in and out or something like that. But and I don't know if the idea it was to I don't know if it was something Tweeter pitched to Lieutenant Stevens or how it came about, but I remember we uh we got Cami painted up. Yeah, that was that was Tweeter's idea as far as I remember. Yeah, yeah. We uh we rolled out of the gate. Webster was driving because I was gonna be dismounting. I had the I had the foxtrot on my back. I had rigged up my day pack with the foxtrot. And uh we went uh we went into the city and we went into a neighborhood. It was just getting dark. And if I remember right, the plan was everybody was gonna dismount really fast and start moving around. And then when the vehicles, when everybody mounted back up, me and Jordan and Metroca were gonna stay hidden until the vehicles took off. So we stayed hidden, the vehicles take off, they go to the checkpoint, and then we started patrolling on foot over to the position where we were going to set up this OP. Um, I think it was the AG Center, if I remember right. So we get set in uh right along Michigan, um, kind of in between combat outposts and the traffic circle by the mosque. And we were kind of in this, it wasn't really a ditch, it was kind of like a depression with like some bushes or shrubs or something. So we kind of slid in into there and we were we were hidden, obviously pretty good because we had a foot patrol that walked right past us, and I remember we can see them in one of the streetlights coming. And Tweeter was like, shit, should we alert them that we're here or or you know, just lay low? And I was like, Great, this is not gonna be good. I don't think we had any friendly fire incidents to this point, but I was like, this is gonna be a battle if it happens. But uh no, the whole foot patrol walked right past us, and uh that was like the first sigh of relief uh of the night, I guess you would say. And uh we were we were set in there, I don't know, it seemed like we were there for a good little while, and nothing was happening. There was no one coming in or out of these buildings. Um, and then all of a sudden we hear this explosion, and of course, calms down, there's no radio contact, tweeter kid trying to call back to the section on the Foxtrot, can't get couldn't get anything. So uh we can hear traffic, but we couldn't get anything out. So all we could gather from what I remember was that uh uh somebody was hit. We didn't know who it was, didn't know what was going on. So uh tweeter made the call. He was like, hey, we're gonna we're gonna go, we're gonna start making movement to their position. So we just start booking it down Michigan, and uh we were actually running down the opposite side of the the jerseywall in the middle of Michigan, and all of a sudden this car just comes screaming out of an alleyway to our right. So yeah, we were running and we fell behind the jersey wall uh when this vehicle comes pulling out because and we can we can hear them. It's you know, their windows are down, we can't see into the car because I mean it's pitch black. Um, but we can hear them screaming, you know, in the air because it was guys screaming. And uh, so we're laying down against the jersey wall and we're like, oh shit, they had to have seen us. We were running right down the middle of the street, you know, and uh they're yelling and yelling, and all of a sudden they take off back towards the direction of the traffic circle. Well, while we're on the ground, uh, I don't know if Tweeter grabbed the antenna, if he leaned up against me, but all of a sudden he started getting Randall on the radio through his PRR, through his headset. And uh so he starts trying to radio to him, and still know that we can hear them, but they can't hear us. So we get up and start running again, and we're booking it for a good little while. I remember my heart's pounding, and uh all of a sudden this Humvee comes out from behind us and they scream up to us, and the door opens, and it's Randall, and he's like, Hey, get in. So me and Jordan Matroca opened the back door of the Humvee, and uh we go to jump in, and I remember Bundy sitting back there because I remember we opened the door and I just see Bunny's face and he's just like blank stare. And uh, like I said, I mean it was dark. So we get in the Humvee, and as we're driving, you know, every now and again you hit a street light, and I can see like this, like this like glistening in the Humvee, and I realize it's blood. There's there's blood everywhere in the Humvee. And Randall's trying to talk on the radio and trying to explain to us at the same time what's going on. You know, hey Morris was hit, we had to evacuate. Uh, we got a vehicle down, we're trying to get back to the rest of the section. So we pull up and um I remember Cohen was I think Cohen was still there, I think if I remember right. Yeah, they stayed on the scene. Cohen and and Miranda. Yeah. Cohen was getting down his leg, and Miranda was kind of a little messed up. And uh, I remember seeing the Humvee, and I was like, it didn't look that bad at first. And then that's whenever I think you guys showed up, because y'all were somewhere else, I believe. Yes. Um, and I remember, you know, y'all start talking about putting the plan together of all right, we gotta get this Humvee out of here because when we were just sitting ducks in the middle of this traffic, sir, big open area, and uh that all happened, you know, pretty quick. It it felt like um, I think we had a strap or something that we ended up pulling the humbie back with. But uh I remember we got back to Hurricane Point finally and uh went back to the hooch and just uh you know sitting there and just kind of like Webster said in in his uh interview, you know, we just kind of nobody really knew what to do. Uh nobody wanted to go to sleep, nobody knew what was next. And uh then Big Boy came in and let us know the news, you know, and it was a lot, you know, a lot of emotions, and I kind of remember the same way Webster did is like after we found out and we didn't really know what was next. I think a lot of us just kind of passed out. I think the the adrenaline had faded, and uh I remember waking up the next morning thinking, all right, well, what's gonna happen now? Well, what was happening now was we're going right back out. And uh I remember I think it was I think Big Boy came over to the hooch the next morning and kind of just said, hey, y'all start getting y'all shit on. We're about to go. So I remember uh gearing up, everybody getting on the trucks, getting up to the gate, and I don't remember, was it Nova that we took that day going out? Yeah, so initially it was Michigan. We banked left and took racetrack, took racetrack over to where the Sophia intersection was. I can't remember the name of that that particular intersection, but yeah, I remember we were we were rolling pretty good. Um and it was kind of it was it was that first time that I remember feeling like that eerie feeling because the the streets weren't booming with people and traffic, and it was kind of it was kind of it was kind of weird, you know? Yep. And then we got up, we were on the whatever road we were on, I can't remember the name of it, but I remember it was kind of elevated, and there was like a neighborhood to our left, but it was kind of open to our right. And I remember we were we were hauling ass trying to get to, I believe we were trying to go get to Echo, if I remember right. That's correct. It was it was the Echo QRF and the snipers that were pinned down in the very north end of the Sophia district. Yeah, so I remember we were we were moving pretty good down this road, and all of a sudden we just got opened up one from our left side. And I remember, you know, I think we were the second vehicle again, Randall was in the lead, he was navigating. And uh remember whenever we got ambushed, uh you know, we had those stupid half-armored doors, and I remember just hitting the brakes and laying over to my right over the radio mount. And when I sat back up, we were sideways in the road, and the road was not very wide, so we still had to do like a three-point turn to get turned around. Yeah, and when we finally got turned around, uh your vehicle and all the vehicles behind us, I mean, we're basically already engaging. Um, so we were moving so quick that we had like me, like Randall's vehicle, our vehicle, we kind of flown through the ambush kind of. And we got turned around, we started rolling back up. Uh I remember E my just letting loose with the 50 because I started getting brass in my collar of my flak jacket. Nice, no shit. So now I'm trying to lean out of my window uh over my armor because brass steady pounding me from the 50 cow. And I don't know, I think it was your vehicle and I don't know who else. Y'all y'all started pushing up the street from where the ambush came from. I remember when I finally dismounted uh and made my way to the other side of the homey to kind of see what was going on. Uh, there was like these high cinder block walls on each side of the street. And I you can see these guys just popping up, shooting, popping up, shooting. There's guys in the building. And I remember just watching for a second, just watching the EMI and Roe and Richie just, I mean, just laying rounds. And uh I'd only seen a 50 and a mark shot, you know, in a machine gun range in Pendleton, like where you're shooting way out in the distance, you know. Yeah, yeah. And I just remember seeing all these rounds impacted and the the the Mark 19 rounds hitting and blowing up and the 50 cow rounds just laying waste on this concrete wall and the buildings and stuff. And somehow or another, I think we ended up pushing up this tree a little bit, but my vehicle, and I think Newmeier, Newmeer was Randall's driver, if I remember right. Yes. Okay, so we were still like kind of on the elevated road, and everybody else had started pushing up. And uh, so me and Ema or me and Newmeyer were kind of like rear security looking back on all the kind of open land behind us because they did have some structures out there. And uh, so we didn't really know what was going on because you guys were pushing up the street, and uh I mean you can't hear anything, you have 50 cal in your ear going off. Yes, I didn't have a PRR headset radio at the time. So and there was only at that time, there was only three PRRs anyway. We didn't even have that many. We had three, yeah. We had five trucks and three PRRs and fucking 20 marines all running in every direction. Yeah, so Newmar was like, hey, we're gonna sit tight right here and just hold rear security for the gunners because our two guys were still kind of you know elevated on the street. And uh so I remember me and Newmar were sitting behind the Humvees, we were on a knee, uh providing rear security for the gunners. And these vans, these two vans pull up to these shacks. And they were, I don't know how far they were, they were a pretty good little way. Uh and you can see people just jumping out of these vans, they're running into these huts, running out to the vans, running to the huts, running back to the vans, and they're carrying stuff, but you can't I can't really tell what it is. And Newmar is looking and he's like, I think they're carrying ammo. And I was like, I don't know, I can't tell. It could be suitcase, could be ammo. I have no idea. Well, then they start coming out with RPGs and weapons that you it's like, okay. Well, as soon as they get back out and they start removing weapons, then they start shooting. And so me and Umeyer start shooting, and I think it was Richie that turned around. And it was either Richie or Monroe, I don't remember which one, but they realized that we were taking some shots from over there. Uh, and it was just small arms fire, really, at that point. And uh, I remember one of the gunners just turning, shooting for a little bit, and there was no more movement around the vans or anything. So we started pushing up the street, and uh I think that was the day that Miranda shot the Mercedes car with the AT4. Was that the same day? Maybe I don't remember us having an AT4 on the first day. We might have, but I don't remember having any AT4s. Not I mean, maybe we had one. I remember there was a car parked on the side of the street, and we were worried about trying to go past it. Yeah, but I remember as we started moving up the street, the the cinder block walls that they had kind of had the ambush set up behind, like going into the neighborhood. Um, I remember after getting back in the home, we started driving. I looked both ways uh behind those walls, and there was just guys laid out everywhere. Like Ema and Monroe were just tearing through those walls with the 50s. Yep. And I was like, wow, okay. So I mean that was uh that was another really uh big reality check of the magnitude of the situation, you know. I don't I don't really remember how much more contact we took after we started pushing. I think either the gunners had already kind of laid everybody out or the the ambush kind of broke up, but I remember we did get to uh Echo and Snipers and where they were at, it was kind of like some farmland, but some neighborhood. I remember that. Um but I remember thinking, like, man, we don't have enough guys out here. Like Echo that they were pretty banged up. Uh we were spread thin because I mean we were thin to begin with. I mean, every time we stopped, uh I mean, Tweeter and Webster and Lieutenant Stevens, they would you know are all my truck, they would disappear. It's just me and Ema at the truck. Yep. Uh so I I never knew where anybody was as far as the dismounts go. I mean, as soon as y'all would dismount and take off, I mean, they were to the winds, and I had no clue where anyone was. Yeah, me and Randall never actually had a conversation about it until the sixth. And then when we got back to the hooch on the sixth, we were like, okay, you clearly want to dismount. I'll stay with the trucks. If I go down, you need to come back to the trucks. Someone has to direct the fire because there's no one with the trucks. It's like everybody else is just running around and shooting everybody, and so that that was our plan from then on out. So that's how it went from then on out. Yeah. No, I remember after we finally got to them and we started kind of gathering them and stuff, and I remember them going getting snipers out of the little pump shed or whatever it is they were pinned down in. Yeah. Um and it, but I remember looking around the area we were in and just thinking to myself, like, okay, we don't we don't have enough people out here, like there's no way. And uh, and then I remember seeing, I think Miranda, maybe on rooftop, and I was like, all right, well, at least we got somebody with a vantage point, you know. And then uh I don't remember what section it was of 81s that showed up, but I remember when they showed up, I mean, they were like the the mob, you know, and they had so many freaking guys that remember they dismounted. I was like, all right, well, that makes me feel better. We got a lot more guns in the fight now, yeah. But uh, yeah, I remember, you know, just casualties being loaded up and Humvees taking off and bringing guys to combat outposts and all that. And then uh all of a sudden everyone's like, all right, let's mount up, let's go. And we uh I think we went back to Hurricane Point after that. We did. Yeah, yeah, that was uh and we were basically out of Mark 19 ammo by that point. Um I didn't realize that on the sixth. Yeah, we were basically out of Mark. We did not carry anywhere near as much ammo as we did after that, and we were nearly out of Mark 19 ammo. And yeah, yeah, we were all regrouped back at Hurricane Point after the Cassivacs to uh Junction City, not to combat outpost, but yeah, either way. Yeah, I didn't realize that uh we were running low. Um seventh. I remember I remember going out of the gate on the seventh. Just real quick before you switch to the seventh, and I only want to ask, how and this is something that both Blake and I have asked a lot of people about a lot of different vivid memories. How many enemy KIA and wounded do you think you saw on the sixth? Just to guess. Uh on the sixth? I mean, the guys that came up in the back from the vans, I mean, there had to be at least eight or ten of them. And then the whenever we started, whenever we drove into the neighborhood off that elevated street and we passed those center block walls. I mean, I couldn't even tell you how many guys were laid out behind those walls. Uh, and no telling what was in the buildings, you know. Right. As we moved up that street, I mean we we we stayed taking contact for a good little while until it finally just kind of I don't know if we killed them all or if they started to disperse or what, but I mean, I think both. We killed whoever stayed and then a bunch left, yeah. Yeah, I mean, if I had to guess uh just from rough estimate of what I maybe saw, at least 30. Yeah, if not 50, just just right there in that initial contact that we took. Yeah, I only say that because if I I would have to look back on again on I have one of those little like uh green books that have all your information when you're a sergeant of marines, right? And I think we were 22 people, and then we had the CO and Baxley and prior. So we had three extra, we had 25 Marines total versus a minimum of 50 enemy, probably more, right? We're so we're easily outnumbered, and there was a dishka on one of those roofs, so we were equal gunned, if not outgunned. I don't know, I just find that I find that interesting from a uh perspective standpoint, and we fought up. If you look at the map, we fought up at least three kilometers total before we started taking lighter contact where we could actually break, and Rainmaker joined us and we pushed up to where Echo was. So 3,000 yard fight outguns. I was just curious what uh about what you saw, because that's about what my estimate is at least 50 on the first day, and maybe more. Probably it might have been more than that. Yeah. Well, and uh, do you happen to remember what it felt like coming back to Hurricane Point on the 6th? That'd be the only other thing I wanted to ask you. I remember pulling in the gate. Uh, I think we drove past the clearing barrels, and somebody yelled over the radio, like, hey, clearing barrels or something. So we stuck we like backed up and because you know the adrenaline was still pumping. Uh-huh. I remember getting out on Humvee and cleared my rifle. I remember we got back to the to the hooch, and uh, I think Dunny Markey came out and he was like, Hey, let's

After-Action Counts And Reloading Reality

51:50

let's get restocked. And so we started we had to clear brass out of the vehicles first before we can start reloading any cans of ammo or anything because it's just brass everywhere. So I remember clearing brass, which felt like forever. Um, and then I remember just loading ammo can after ammo can after ammo can and uh you know getting water back in the vehicle. Um and then I was about to I was about to walk in the hooch and I think I don't remember if it's I think it might have been tweeter was like, hey, did you reload your ammo or your uh magazine intent? And like for whatever reason, it just like never crossed my mind, and I was like, oh yeah, I might want to do that. That was probably the first time I realized like how much we had actually shot. Yeah. Uh whenever I started pulling magazines out of my drop pouch and then checking all the ones that were still in my pouches, and I was like, oh, okay, well, we we might have been in that for a little longer and did a little more shooting than I thought we did. But I remember like whenever we finally got done with all that and we sat down, probably the the biggest sigh of relief I've ever felt in my life, probably. Yeah, that's pretty accurate. I remember going to the child hall that night and and let just sitting there, we were all eating us a platoon, and uh you know, everybody was telling, you know, different things that they saw. Cause I mean, obviously, when you start pushing down the street like that, I mean, guys in the front are seeing different things than guys in the back. Uh, you know, the dismount around a lot, they're seeing things that the guys that are standing out by the trucks aren't seeing. So I just remember uh hearing everybody's stories about what they saw and you know uh that kind of thing. I remember I remember being extremely tired. Like after we ate child at night, I remember going back to the hooch and laying down and just being exhausted. Thinking, I probably should drink water because I don't remember drinking water today. Yeah. No, uh that that might have been one of the few nights where uh went to sleep not worrying about indirect fire coming through the canvas tops on the hooch. Passed out that night.