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Constant Combat
This veteran-led podcast highlights the experiences of Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, starting with their harrowing 2004 deployment to Ramadi; a 9 month combat tour which resulted in the highest casualties in a single deployment - a deployment that most Americans have never heard about. Through candid conversations surrounding these events, the series also explores earlier experiences that shaped the Marines, emphasizing their grit, humor, and humanity while aiming to honor their stories authentically.
Episodes
90 episodes
Endurance for One Moment More - David Silton (part 3 of 3)
Dave closes out the days in Ramadi when one unarmored truck, one hit, and one Marine leader’s absence changes the emotional temperature of the whole platoon. We also talk honestly about what comes after, when you make it home with your family b...
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Endurance for One Moment More - David Silton (part 2 of 3)
We keep the timeline moving in part 2 with David Silton as he relives the IED on April 2 and the brutal stretch of fighting that follows in Ramadi. We talk through what it feels like to operate with a concussion, how split second decisions get ...
Endurance for One Moment More - David Silton (part 1 of 3)
We start part 1 with Dave Silton of MAP 3 about the long buildup to Ramadi, from broken barracks and platoon hazing to urban combat training and the messy logistics of finally leaving. He shares what it feels like to arrive with a “hearts and m...
When Optimism Meets Combat - Elijah Mann (part 2 of 2)
Part 2 of Eli Mann and he paints how a brand-new Marine grows up fast, from early training and culture shocks to the hard specifics of 2004. His story gets into fear, guilt, and communication breakdowns, then land on what “constant vigila...
When Optimism Meets Combat - Elijah Mann (part 1 of 2)
This interview starts out with Eli Mann about arriving in Ramadi in 2004 and watching early optimism get replaced by a new kind of focus built from heat, mortars, and the grind of convoy life. He walks us through a bicycle IED, the long recover...
Fast Track to the Front Line - James Anderson (part 2 of 2)
We pick up Part 2 with James Anderson as he connects the experience of Ramadi 2004 to the weird contrast of other people's big bases outside of town, ship life, and the small moments that define a deployment. We talk reintegration, leadership t...
Fast Track to the Front Line - James Anderson (part 1 of 2)
We talk with Jim Anderson from Mobile Assault Platoon 2 about getting rerouted from SOI into a combat replacement pipeline and how a brand-new Marine earns a place in a weapons platoon through truck workups, call signs, brutal first contacts, a...
A Ground Pounder in the Gun Line - David Escalante
Its a flurry of moments from David Escalante to trace his path from a half rations private to a combat-tested Marine in Ramadi in 2004. He talks us through the moments that are still clear in his mind, from incoming mortars and raids, to taking...
What Happens After You Accept Death - William Webster (part 2 of 2)
Part 2 with Billy Webster from Mobile Assault Platoon 2 and trace the days when contact kept stacking, ammo ran low, and every decision started to feel permanent. He also talks honestly about what follows you home, how we cope in the quiet mome...
What Happens After You Accept Death - William Webster (part 1 of 2)
We talk with William Webster about arriving as a brand-new Marine and getting rushed into a Ramadi deployment where the mission keeps changing and the gear never feels caught up. Billy relives the night of April 4, the first major casualty for ...
Never was a Good Knife Made of Bad Steel - Curtis Neill (part 3 of 3)
Closing part 3 with Curtis Neill, we trade stories about Ramadi 2004, from split-second rooftop decisions to convoy fights where an RPG almost hits the truck. We also talk about leadership, ego, and how we keep the people we lost present by pre...
Never was a Good Knife Made of Bad Steel - Curtis Neill (part 2 of 3)
In Part 2, Curt digs down into Ramadi’s early fights, from a tense rescue at a pump house to the street-level choices that are still vivid years later. We also unpack a chaotic Abrams friendly fire incident, the injuries and silence that follow...
Never was a Good Knife Made of Bad Steel - Curtis Neill (part 1 of 3)
Curt Neill walks us down the strange chain of events that takes him from reenlisting before 9/11 to getting promoted so fast that Headquarters Marine Corps later flags it as a mistake. Then we rewind and fast-forward through Panama, Desert Stor...
How Much Of Survival In War Is Luck? - Chris Winder (part 2 of 2)
We pick up part 2 with Chris Winder as he walks us through a chaotic moment after an IED blast to the quiet weight of whats in your head during these overwhelming events. He also takes a big picture view including leadership lessons, chemical s...
How Much Of Survival In War Is Luck? - Chris Winder (part 1 of 2)
Part 1 with Chris Winder gives us what it feels like to hit the fleet as a brand new PFC and then roll straight into Iraq in 2004. We talk through the small mistakes, the ugly routines, and the weird routines you accept because you don’t know a...
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 decisio...
You Don't Mess With Doc - Carlo Dealca (part 1 of 2)
We interview HM3 Carlo Dealca to trace how a Navy Corpsman goes from a clinic and 9/11 at sea to greenside life with 2/4 and earning trust with an infantry unit. The story builds from Kuwait and the convoy to Ramadi into the shock of IEDs and t...
Smokepits and Scuttlebutt - Benjamin Thibeault (part 2 of 2)
In Part 2, Ben Thibeault zooms in on the memory that nothing about Ramadi felt built for success, and then digging into what combat looked like when equipment was short, plans changed mid-move, and you still had to bring everyone home. Ben...
Smokepits and Scuttlebutt - Benjamin Thibeault (part 1 of 2)
Ben Thibeault’s story starts fast, and it only gets faster from there. He describes what it’s like to arrive in Iraq as a new Marine with big briefings, blurry timelines, and the sense that you’re stepping into something nobody can fully explai...
The Blood Stripes - Lewis Layton (part 2 of 2)
We pick up part 2 with Lew Layton and trace how Ramadi shifts from early IED shortcomings to rapid escalation, brutal missions, and losses that still echo decades later. We also talk about the leadership that held things together, the dark humo...
The Blood Stripes - Lewis Layton (part 1 of 2)
We start off part 1 with Lew Layton to trace how a Marine goes from Okinawa, some California training, and squad leader school... to the confusion and violence of Ramadi in 2004. We swap stories about the gear, the radios, the near misses, and ...
Red Star Clusters - Bill Groves (part 2 of 2)
In part 2, we swap Bill Groves stories that still feel like yesterday even years later, from a tank round snapping past our position to the summer shift when enemy fire gets sharp and accurate. We also talk about the weird day-to-day details th...
Red Star Clusters - Bill Groves (part 1 of 2)
This time, we talk with MAP2 Lance Corporal Bill Groves about the fast ramp from Okinawa training cycles to the first brutal weeks in Ramadi in 2004, including the moments that made everything feel real. From miserable workups and broken flight...
Courage From The Messy Middle Ground - Reagan Hodges (part 3 of 3)
A bonus 3rd hour with Reagan Hodges as he adds some sharper detail, from reenlisting before 9/11 to the split-second fights that still replay in his head. We talk about why brotherhood can feel like the best and worst part of war at the same ti...
Courage From The Messy Middle Ground - Reagan Hodges (part 2 of 3)
Part 2 for Reagan Hodges with some gunfight stories and some memories of how the body keeps score. We also dig into what real combat leadership looks like, how grief shows up at strange times, and a little post traumatic growth. • ...