Shot in the head (by an AK47) and started the Battle of Fallujah -LCpl Brad Simmons [Podcast Ep. 3]
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- Опубліковано 11 вер 2024
- Fallujah, Iraq was considered one of the most dangerous places in the world. Following the brutal ambush, killing, hanging and mutilations of four Blackwater security contractors, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force kicked off a major assault to cordon off Fallujah.
Young LCpl (Lance Corporal) Brad Simmons was a team leader tasked with a new mission where he would be shot in the back of the head with an AK47 type weapon (impacting under his helmet).
The subsequent events of Brad's head-shot would jumpstart the first Battle of Fallujah, and subsequently leading to the second Battle of Fallujah months later - considered the deadliest urban combat by the U.S. Marine Corps since the Battle of Huế city in Vietnam, 1968.
In this episode, Brad recounts his time Fallujah and Iraq, but more importantly how he returned home and dealt with the hardship that ensued from Iraq.
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Download the audio version of this episode at www.9hpodcast.com
Brad's channel: ua-cam.com/channels/MdE9RKSUiKs-YaQvlgOutA.html
Henry, I'd love to hear about Brad's opinion on some current issues like the Marines ditching belt feds and tanks. The XM5 in 6.8x51 and the supposed reasons for the Army wanting this M-14 redux with a super expensive and complicated optic. In Rhodesia each trooper carried one small Belgium V40 Type Mini Frag Grenade (used by our Special Forces in Vietnam too) and and one White Phosphorus Grenade and used both to take out close up enemies in both the bush and in villages/bunkers, etc. The Army M67 seems too powerful for close-in use and needlessly big and heavy and the lack of a WP Grenade, especially in a city fight seems stupid to me. Also, would Brad have wished for a flame thrower and/or flame throwing tanks, which the US gave up on after Vietnam, which seemed stupid to me based on their performance in the Pacific Theatre during WW2. Great show, thanks for the effort to help veterans still struggling with PTSD and other issues, time well spent.
Nice podcast Henry…Cheeseburger MRE’s I’ve never tried one of those. Sounds good!
You might want to take a look at Terrence Popp.
He jumped into panama with the rangers and was wounded.
After that he was in the US special forces.
Then he was a team and platoon leader in company f 425 (LRRP) of the michigan national guard.
He deployed with them to iraq in 2003/2004, was NCOIC of Abu Ghraib (when Falludscha was going on), became their 1. sgt and was wounded again (TBI).
He is proud that he has brought all the guys in his company back.
He was in the US military for 30+ years and now has a show on yt and other plattforms where he uses his experiences and humor to prevent people to make stupid desicions and to help them not to delete themselves.
So far he has close to 500 people who came forward and contacted him that he is the reason they didn`t choose a permanent solution for a temporaty problem. If it`s wrong but true it`s Redonkulas.
Be aware that because of his TBI and hardly sleeps he has no filter.
By by by 22
Where did Brad’s channel go?
Thank you for putting this together. Much love and respect to Brad. Though there's nothing easy about these topics, having two well-spoken and intelligent people to discuss them makes a world of difference.
Honestly it's quite a great thing he's comfortable enough to share these stories and things now, I completely understand his mentality and the problem with bottling up trauma especially with people who don't understand anything about the situation. People are forced to take extreme measures to survive, it's the kind of environment that truly forces you to be a 'monster' to survive.
Ditto.
I served with this guy back in 2004. 2/1 Fox Co. It's crazy to hear people talk about things you remember being in
My memory is crap thanks to TBI....I remember your name but I can't place you.....what platoon were you in?
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 machine gunner with 2nd platoon along with Sturdy, Thomas, McBride, and others
I was in the convoy that got hit with 1st Sgt. They cas-evaced me after that, sent me home
@@tda271 ok.....I Gotha.....how you been keeping?
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 just living like everyone else
One of the realest guys ever no internet Rambo stuff . I couldn’t stop watching. Extremely honest nothing but respect
thats crazy because my dad says the same about the ptsd and ww2 and the solders having time to decompress on the boat for a few months, when he came back from vietnam they were suddenly on a plane then back state side on a base in less then a day. as soon as they got back they all went to sleep, a 2nd lieutenant thought it would be funny to open the door and blow a whistle, well the vc when they ambushed they would blow whistles, so instantly a soldier jumped off his bunk who was near the door and half asleep started beating the shit outta lieutenant with pure intent to kill. they eventually dragged the guy off the lieutenant, the 2nd started sceaming all bloodied how he was gonna get him court marshaled, but all the sergeants roasted his ass and told him to go fuck himself pulling that shit after they just got out of a warzone.
They should have shoved that rape whistle up the Lt’s ass!
That's insane.. when the lieutenants never experience actual combat, and then want to pull shit like that🤦♂️
Henry, you did a masterful job of not interrupting him. Hopefully, it helped Brad to be able to tell his stories. My grandfather was a Marine aviator who flew SBDs in the Pacific theater during WWII. He came back and was an alcoholic but eventually overcame it and lived a long productive life as a real estate appraiser.
Thank you Brad for sharing your story. Semper Fi
Funny, just finished re-reading/ listening to the book House To House by SSG David Bellavia, MoH recipient. Task force 2-2 1st ID, Fallujah, November 2004. Absolutely insane read, and really hits home the life and attitude of being an infantryman, and especially being an infantry NCO.
@@fullm3taljacket we all tried to read it in basic training, and to our surprise toward the end of our cycle, a new drill sergeant shows up named Stuckert and has a 1st ID patch on. Luckily he wasn't assigned to our platoon, so we stayed way the hell away from him lol.
I usually listen to podcasts in bits or in the background. I sat through this whole talk just purely listening. Thanks for talking about this side of life too. With a perfect tone throughout as well.
Huge respect to Brad Simmons for being able to talk about what he's been through. I hope others can find help in his words
He should very much write a book, his story telling is great
I've personally found it easier to talk and relate to other vets than trying to talk to a therapist or shrink.
You might want to take a look at Terrence Popp.
He jumped into panama with the rangers and was wounded.
After that he was in the US special forces.
Then he was a team and platoon leader in company f 425 (LRRP) of the michigan national guard.
He deployed with them to iraq in 2003/2004, was NCOIC of Abu Ghraib (when Falludscha was going on), became their 1. sgt and was wounded again (TBI).
He is proud that he has brought all the guys in his company back.
He was in the US military for 30+ years and now has a show on yt and other plattforms where he uses his experiences and humor to prevent people to make stupid desicions and to help them not to delete themselves.
So far he has close to 500 people who came forward and contacted him that he is the reason they didn`t choose a permanent solution for a temporaty problem. If it`s wrong but true it`s Redonkulas.
Be aware that because of his TBI and hardly sleeps he has no filter.
I was at Camp Fallujah when we had to go take city again. Pretty much the exact same time as Simmoms. I was a Data Dink, so I thankfully never took direct fire. We did get ass loads of mortars and rockets lobbed at us though.
One of my primary jobs was maintaining 100% up time for the scan eagle feed. It was brand new at the time, but it was crazy useful. I watched many ground battles in the streets of Fallujah on that feed. They also used that drone to direct arty fire, so I also watch many many 155mm HE rounds fall on that city.
One of the stand outs was when they wrecked a sniper hiding in one of the Minarets on a Mosque. He had been firing at a column of Marines for a while and they couldn't get cleared to go in and they couldn't hit him from the ground. After a while a CO got tired of it and just called for 5 shots. The 155s were only about 300yds from my work trailer so I knew when the shots went out, and it was an exact 10 count before the splash was shown on the drone feed. They put one right in that guys lap.
Semper Fi!
Of course the CO wants to pull a dog and pony show when Mad Dog pulls up
The CO should have lead the effort and put himself in the line of fire, like his troops and taken the whole company with armor support. Plus it would be nice to have a military reason for putting the lives of your troops at risk.
@@jager6863 that sounds romantic and all .....the band of brothers....Capt. Winters lead from the front stuff.....in reality I would not want the CO to put himself in the line of fire unless it was absolutely necessary. If that guys goes down.....who is directing the company?
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 i was glued to this podcast the last 30 minutes. Hope you get more opportunities to talk
My buddy told me about a guy shot in the helmet,, around the time of the first battle of Fallujah in 2004, only it was a guy with snipers on a overwatch position. From what I remember him telling me, they had a patrol in the alley street below and this staff sergeant or some buddy I can't recall their rank , shoots one of the Marines of this overwatch team in the helmet on the roof above by mistake. I remember my friend telling me about the guy getting hit between the eyes, in the helmet and the bullet was sticking through its tip touching the guys forehead. I imagine it left one heck of a welt! One time that kid, who he may of been a sniper, jumped from a vehicle off the back of the hillbilly armoured gun truck they used back then and staggered quite a bit afterwards, as my buddy asked "Are you Alright?" The kid said he was still was having issues with getting his head rung from the hit of the M16A4...
One aspect of how combat affected soldiers differently as related to Post Combat/Trauma Stress in WWII vs later conflicts, but is rarely discussed is the age/maturity levels of the individuals when they were sent into harms way. If I remember correctly the average age of US Combatants in WWII was 26. Obviously there were also plenty of men that were as young as 18 serving as well but I would say that because at that time the US was still populated by rural, and small town communities where kids were expected to help out on the farm or within the family business or odd jobs for neighbors plus doing chores at home and when time permitted attend school as well they developed a maturity far beyond what kids of the same ages would've had post WWII. The fact is that generation was the last one where a large percentage of them knew what true hardship, hunger, and lack of certainty about their future or even survival for many was real and tangible. They were growing up during the Great Depression, watching as friends, neighbors, and relatives lost everything. Watching their parents not eat so that the children would have at least a little bit to eat. They were often accomplished at hunting as well as preparing animals, sometimes animals they themselves had raised, to become dinner. All of these things have a very profound effect on the human mind. Most people who are not brought up in a stressful, austere, and hard environment are still developing their sense of self, their sense of right and wrong, their views about the world around them well into their early 20s. It's not until a person reaches their mid 20s or later for some that they start to have a firm grasp on who they really are. Most of the younger WWII veterans also had the benefit of not only growing up in a home with both a mother and a father, but then having a lot of older men around them when they went to war. Studies have shown the dramatic affects that having an older male role model to look to during these formative years, especially when experiencing stressful and traumatic events, can have. Conversely since the end of WWII we've seen a shift away from the rural lives American people previously lived, and in general much less hardship being faced while growing g up. Kids were allowed to be kids even as they entered college. They never got to know the hunger and fatigue, stress and even dangers their pre WWII parents faced as children. While the single parent situation wasn't quite the norm until much later in many families dad was now absent do to long hours spent away from the home working for an employer. The young boys were not spending time helping dad at the family business or on the farm, not hunting, or helping to butcher the chicken for Sunday dinner. This means they had less guidance towards becoming a man, less knowledge about the real physical world around them and then one day they find themselves sitting in a jungle in Southeast Asia accompanied by a bunch of other largely clueless young men wondering who was going to get zapped next. Because of the rotational policies in Vietnam it was not uncommon to see a 20 year old buck Sgtas a squad leader, a 23 or 24 year old "Acting Plt Sgt" with SSgt stripes and a 22 year old 2nd LT. Certainty it was not always the case but it wasn't a rare situation. Later conflicts saw young men with an even easier upbringing, fewer strong and positive male role models while growing up, and living in a society that provided less and less moral guidance, and expecting less and less maturity out of our young men. Beyond getting good enough grades to go to college someday it seems like very little is demanded from young people.
A house is only as secure and stable as the ground the foundation sits on. Build it on top of swampy wet ground or shifting sand and as soon as you start having storms it begins to fall apart and without some intervention it will eventually collapse. Our military is largely formed of people who do not have a foundation built on ground that helps build a solid stable adult. One look at our society now shows just how shaky the ground under us really has become. It's not really surprising that we've seen such astronomical increases in PTSD among our veterans. Before anyone takes this as me disrespecting our younger veterans, I want you to know that could not be further from. My goals. I myself am a VA rated Disabled Combat Veteran (PTSD and hearing loss) and have been working within a nonprofit PTSD treatment and support organization as a mentor and counselor to help provide some relief for combat veterans, first responders, and their families for about 5 years now. My Grandfather fought and was wounded quite severely in WWII, my dad fought in Vietnam (2.5 tours) and came home pretty messed up, and I lost an uncle, SSgt David Allen Parker, 5th Group SF, Green Beret Medic, KIA 6 April 1968, Tay Ninh Province South Vietnam. I brought up the things that I mention because I believe that these issues are key to understanding certain aspects at the root of PTSD, and only through a better understanding of contributing factors can we help those who suffer and possibly help prevent some of the suffering of future veterans.
Really brought back some memories!!
The Salad Days........if the salad was that brown nasty salad from the gas station
Great episode. Brad had a great story that seems to parallel so many others from the GWOT. Again, great episode.
This channel doesn’t get the recognition it deserves, but just know that these longer form videos are much appreciated
Great podcast as usual. Difficult areas to talk about easily but much respect to you both for the honest and non flinching discussion.
fanstastic conversation -- Brad, thanks for being so candid and personal about your experience
thank you both very much my ptsd comes from "other than war" but the honesty and plain language makes it real.. thanks
Brad's not alone; mine and I read the kids too, and mine and I used them on occasion to help keep things cool. You deserve to come home alive.
Brad, thank you for being open and discussing these traumatic experiences. I'm just a civilian, but I have many military vets in my family history, and I have an intense love and respect for those who serve our great country, especially those who see combat. I teared up when you were talking about your father and counselors not being able to help you, and you feeling like an outcast because of the horrific experiences you lived through. I'm sorry, brother. I hope and pray that your future is as bright as the midday sun.
That platoon Sgt putting them in danger was how frags happened in Vietnam. Bad leadership stops being leaders one way or another.
Thank you for your service and sharing these experiences Brad. It's important for those of us who have not experienced these things; to not only be aware of them, but understand that we, cannot, by definition, understand. Respect.
My goodness. This podcast is eye opening. It's infuriating how many Americans take America for granted.
You got it flipped man
Brad is a great story teller, thanks for this video, Henry and Joshua!
Brad shrugs it of aparently so casually and yet there is a heavy curtain behind his eye. He has done things and has seen things that makes it so difficult for others to bear, and yet he soldiers on, with the realisation that it is not easy, but it is something that must be done. He takes no pride for his actions, he assumes no shame. He went, he came back, he lives on.
Imagine how much strength of character it takes to be like that.
I usually shut up on comments but this was a absolutely wonderful interview. What was most striking is how he laughed at things and that caused Henry to be quiet, unsure whether to laugh or not. (the head story) Been there. I laughed at several things he said that Henry was respectfully quiet on. I have the same thing happen when I tell stories from my job. I can totally relate to the awkward silence. Not disparaging Heny at all here. Much respect. Anytime content can make me laugh and cry bit within an hour, it was well worth it.
Wow! Thank you both! What an honest and open discussion about war. There was nothing that Brad said about his time in Fallujah that I would not have done if I was in his shoes. It takes a brave person to talk about warfare, how it effects you mentally and the toll it takes when you re-enter civilian life. This video should be made mandatory for all returning vets to help them heal.
I am so pissed...that I did not find out about your podcasts sooner. Awesome stuff!
Glad I found your alternative channel, this is some fresh and interesting content.
Great interview , massive respect to Brad. Nice to hear experiences from a “normal” soldier instead of the tier 1 SOF guys. ✊✌️
These Marines deserved better leadership than they got stuck with.
That Victorville facility was but a gleam in somebody's eye when I got out. Glad to hear they got it up and running.
This is best down to earth war story I’ve ever heard. Semper Fi Marine!
It would be cool if you could revisit with some of the guests and do a Q&A with questions from viewers/Patreon members
Very thoughtful and thought filled interview, Thank both of you gentlemen for sharing.
Crazy times. I was in Baghdad from March 2004 through March 2005 with 1st Cav as an infantryman. Those HMMWVs we had where like driving something out of Mad Max. Haha. This podcast brings back a lot of memories.
Decompression time is an interesting thing.
Right off the top I can't even compare life to that of a combat veteran. I'm just some regular civ, used to do construction, got messed up in a crash, now I'm a Paul Blart. I work with homeless drug addicts. Every shift is full of violence, fists, dirty syringes, improvised weapons, guns, etc. We see people turn blue every single shift(overdose). Something as simple as taking the bus home instead of driving a few minutes directly is really noticeable. Although it takes me about 45 minutes to get home by bus it's a great time to try to turn off and let my guard down a few notches.
Once again it's nothing comparable to combat but the discussions of decompression time caused me to reflect a bit.
Huge thanks to Brad for sharing his experiences.
Sounds like there should be more councellors with combat experience. I really wish every veteran someone to talk to
In 1981, I worked with a former Army veteran who had served in Vietnam back in the late 60's. He had been a sergeant, had briefly mentioned to me some of his experiences, & he was suffering from PTSD. He ended up going to the VA for help. I happened to run into him in 2000. We exchanged pleasantries, & I found out that he was getting ready to retire from the VA. He joked that he went in as a patient & was leaving as a counselor. I hope that he is doing well today.
I clicked the link in the description of the 9h Reviews m16A2 Vidja as soon as Brad asked "do you want me to get into this?"
L.Cpl Simmons, thank you for validating the way of telling stories of trauma as a method of processing. For what it's worth, you did what you had to do to keep your boys safe. That's a worthy mission if I've ever heard of one.
Pushing emotion down until you can’t feel it anymore is a Midwest thing I hear a lot. Tends to end badly.
It works for a while and keeps you functioning for a bit then all of a sudden it stops working and everything goes to shit rapidly
It’s a male thing. The Midwest isn’t unique.
@@hansgruber9685 I can confirm it's a big male trait pretty much everywhere
The Germans have a good saying, in English it translates to basically, "If you keep everything inside you, it will eat you alive, so you need to get it out" basically by talking with your peers that you respect. They even teach this to paramedics who have kids die in their arms or deal with bad auto crashes or fires, where you can't figure out whose body parts are whose, etc.
@@jager6863 Did they teach that at the Bergen Belsen orientation?
Thank both for this podcast. Support of the US Soldier, before, during, after and forever is a priority.
THIS..is what ‘GREAT’ podcasts are made of. Thanks Henry..thanks Brad, y’all ACED it!
This was a good detailed account of what the combat was like in fahlugia. Usually you get snippet of firefights. Also it would be better if combat vets were councilors as the typical psychology major hasn't experienced anything remotely as intense as his clients. Sounds like he found one that could relate.
Thank you sincerely for the vulnerable candid discussion ❤
This should be a far more popular podcast.
Awesome interview!!!
Where did he get his 1911 sidearm from? Smuggled into country or acquired once in Iraq?
How prevalent was it for guys to bring/carry personal sidearms that weren’t issued?
Its pretty typical for troops to want to bring personal side arms when they know they are going into a combat zone. It's really a waste of weight that can be better spent on ammo for your rifle and/or the SAW, etc. My buddy said that when he was getting deployed to Iraq, all the gun stores around Ft. Bragg were quickly sold out of military caliber handguns.
Was watching the 9 Hole review of the M16A1/M16A2 with Brad Simmons and was enjoying it thoroughly but the second he mentioned being shot in the head while running and then said there was a podcast on it, I dipped to the comments and immediately hit that link. Unreal story
The stories about General Mattis were one of the highlights of this episode for sure. The man absolutely exemplifies everything military command leadership should strive to be. The man acted invincible for you grunts, not for his own enjoyment, and it had an obvious and immediate benefit on his men's morale, clearly, judging from your reaction to his presence every time he showed up. I'm also glad you guys spent so much time on mental health issues, as they're one of the major factors that prevented me from serving around 2009, when I would have been old enough to have enlisted and made it through basic training otherwise. That and my knees. I suspect given the shortage we've got going on now, they'd probably take me today, but i'm +100lb and my vision has continued to go year by year. IDK if they could ever whip my fat ass into shape now lmao. Take care of yourselves, I know what true severe trauma can do to a person, especially when experienced early in life, and I spent much of my adolescence from 2001 onward, posted up on the internet of the time, passing my free time at my PC, so I saw all the worst shit that got posted online in that era as well. People beheaded with a pocket knife by insurgents all over, kids blown up, the works, but none of it ever truly hit me until I saw the carnage after a kid from my class got hit by a train. It wasn't the sight that got to me, as much as it was the smell. I was over 50 feet away and I could smell the stench of aerosolized human all over, it smelled like a meat shop where the refrigerator had stopped working, and they hadn't been able to get rid of the bad product yet. Only a few minutes in the sun and already it was noticeable by everyone within at least 50 feet. Then that shit happened again something like a dozen times throughout my entire time in my school system, enough that the CDC got involved because it was in the .001% for the chances of multiple suicide clusters happening like that in the same area. You can probably figure out where I grew up with that info, it's the only time it's ever happened in the history of the history of the CDC. Growing up with that early trauma through all of that, then waking up one day and every class period is preoccupied by the news, because around 3 hours before I woke up for school that day, 2 planes crashed into and felled the twin towers of the WTC, and after that everything went to shit. People just got way more polarized and aggressive, and there was noticeably more racism among my classmates as well. I'm glad I didn't go over there in the end, I don't know what it would have accomplished beyond proving to myself I could do it, that I could handle it mentally. It was a stupid fucking idea if you ask me today. Had we been there fighting for a cause, doing good work, helping people, and building a real democracy, I could have justified it all to myself, but hindsight is 20/20, and after seeing how Afghanistan immediately folded to the Taliban after we pulled out, it almost feels like we just made things worse in the end. Sure we capped Osama, but we could have just as easily done that by leaving a nuclear sub hiding on the seabed in the Arabian Sea until needed, to launch a missile strike against him or any of his leadership, if the CIA didn't get to him first, we didn't need to invade to accomplish our mission.
Very interesting video and I hope to see more of Brad. Not military myself but I just want to say it’s rough reaching out and finding help. There’s a stigmatism that asking for help or caring for yourself makes you less of a man. I personally feel like I have to constantly fight not just myself but this stigma and my own family that represents it in order to better myself.
After coming out and saying “I need help with depression” I’ve found my grandparents and even parents just have the mentality of “suck it up” or meds are for pussies.
Hearing that even a badass like Brad needs counseling makes my own fight to help myself feel justified and empowered. Again Ive not been through anything remotely close to what Brad has but I have my own difficulties and need help in my own way. Thank you Brad for adding your voice to fighting this stigmatism!
If a guy like Brad isn’t a man for going through what he has and saying he needs help then we’re fucked. Fighting for yourself is the hardest thing you can go through and it’s a constant battle. Brad is absolutely a man for taking that fight and bettering himself for it and helping others!
If meds work for your depression you have a weak mind to begin with
Thank you Brad for sharing your stories. Thank you for your service. I wish you the best in years to come... Thank you Henry for putting this together.
Big thanks guys, for this! Brad, you kickass and it brings home a lot things that no one gets. Lil-by-lil, coming home. Semper-Fi!
Lots of great points… that’s why I only “share” with other combat vets now… it ya haven’t been there - they can’t understand
Fantastic episode
Around the 58/59 minute time stamp, Brad talks about being in the war zone, then a week later Back in the States buying a soda!
Serious shit! Did the same late 2004 myself from NW Iraq. It does take time to readjust!
A very real candid interview!
All the best to you Brad!
Scouts Out!
Thank you for sharing your story. This is a story that needs to be told.
No way he’s on a podcast now! This guys UA-cam channel is awesome. Much love to the big homie brad🫡
Thanks Brad!
Thank you for sharing this honest and incredible story about your experience in Iraq. Semper Fi and Carry On!
You were trying to stay alive! God bless you! Thankyou for serving!
Brad will do great even outside of the military. Thanks for sharing!
Awesome story Brad. Cool 1911 too.
Great story, great marine. Great hosting job; allowing your guest to talk all the way through.
Surprisingly this is not the first time I heard this story about the PEQ-2s and lack of training before hand.
right! some dude said I was full of it because he had a peq4 in like 99
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 some dude said I got all the info in my story from this video
Thank you for giving us your time and telling us your incredible story
Thank you for sharing some of your stories, it was a pleasure to listen to you!
Respect. This is eye opening on so many different levels.
GREAT INTERVIEW.
Much love to our veterans 💜
My kind of interview. Sit back and let these guys talk. Hung on every word. Thank you, Veterans.
If I was doing an interview recounting my time in combat, my mom would decide that’s the perfect time to start cleaning too.
One of the most useful interviews I've ever seen. Many thanks.
Very powerful. Thank you for doing this. Not everyone can talk about what we saw and did, and hearing this helped. Counseling is work, and find a good counselor is difficult, but help is out there and it is not at the bottom of a bottle or the muzzle of a gun. Please reach out if you need help. We all fought together, now we need to be there for each other.
i’ll be honest this staff sargent alone is why i could do be in the military i’ve had enough horror stories told to me about incompetency be it front lines or logistics
Semper Fi brother. Thank you for sharing your combat experience.
Great job. Ill never forget our Japanese DIs. Senior Drill insructor Montoya, was built like a gymnast. Totally ripped. Hé was The standard of tack, and berring. Total professional.
14:59 reminds me of the scene in Aliens when SGT ordered his marines “we can’t have any firing in here, I need you to collect all magazines and grenades”
😊As a vet I know that serving in the military changes you. Sometimes for good and sometimes for bad, the rest of your life you have to learn to adjust to it.
1:00:45 back in 2011 10th mountain got back to Ft Polk from a pretty bad Afghanistan deployment, it was right before Thanksgiving.
A few days after the black friday sale I was talking to a a friend of mine that worked at the Wal-Mart in town she told me that the place was packed full of people when some dumbass employee dropped a pallet on the floor instead of just sitting it down it made a really loud snap like a round cracking past you.
My friend saw 4 guys grab the floor one of which was her son in law these guys' stupid dependas drug them into a crowded store days after they had been in Afghanistan getting shot at so they could blow their deployment money on cheap Chinese junk.
Then you wonder why the divorce rate in the military is so high
Back in the 1950's a friend's son had returned from Marine basic for some leave. His parents took him to the beach. He fell asleep on his towel. His Mom decided to wake him up, like when his was a kid, tickling the bottom of his foot. The Marine immediately sprang to life in a fighting stance and was ready to destroy the "threat", luckily he realized it was Mom.
Appreciate this, was attached to 1st-mardiv.
I can relate somewhat to this story. My experiences are trivial compared to this but I've been in some very tense combat in Battlefield 4.
24:39 Shot in head story starts
Semper Fi brother. "No better friend, no worse enemy"
Thanks guys. Respect
Thanks for sharing your journey post combat... sharing is caring
Thank you for telling your story.
Glad you're still alive👍
The part about the commandant of the marine corps in the hospital had me rolling, easily one of the funniest stories I’ve heard
In my defense.....I saw the camera crew first and started yelling ...I didn't know it was the Commandant until it was too late
@@m26_lemon_grenade55 I feel like we all had those moments. I was in 29 and I heard some guys behind me complaining about problems in my unit. I spun around and began to interject my opinion (I love a good complaining) and then I realized it was a good portion of my chain of command that was talking to each other.
Fascinating interview. Thank you for sharing this type of content.
Awesome podcast
I think everyone in that E 2/1 platoon but two guys got the purple heart, one of the two guys " Sandman" later told me he got his purple heart,... but that while he was with my buddy who is the only one without a purple heart , Sandman said he felt he was " Covered by an umbrella of ( prayer) protection" by being next to my buddy... he said the whole time he was never farther than 120 meters from him, even on patrol, he said he wanted to be close to him. I remembered meeting a retired Army Lt Colonel David M Kithcart, who'd prayed for me as a child and I shared this knowledge of Jesus and imparted this prayer of the Anointing of Christ from Kithcart to him.
thankyou both for the podcast and very best wishes to Brad for the future.
I would as a person not having served say that on the day you threatened the mans house with the grenade it was the logical thing (not immoral) to do
You saved yourself, your squad, the mans house, insergents that would have been killed and possibly the fathers/brothers of some of those children that you kept in the yard along with mothers and wifes that would have lost someone
So your brain that day worked on logic not anything immoral, be glad that you are a clear thinker even if subconsiously
Thank you for sharing !!!!
Thanks for your service.
Best debrief video I've watched... Thank you.
1:08:51 It may not feel normal to counselors or random people, but it’s ABSOLUTELY normal to those of us who have weathered the storm. We’ve got your back, have faith.