This past weekend, me and my college friends had a reunion in Mexico. Amazingly, nearly everyone who was invited managed to fit this mini-vacation into their busy schedules and we all had a great time.
One of the people who tagged along with us because he is a friend of a friend was a 22 year old U.S. Marine. Once I found out he was a Marine, I entered into a long conversation with him about Iraq. This is what he told me:
"I was deployed twice to Iraq. The first time was during the initial invasion. The Iraqi people were very happy to see U.S. Marines after the initial invasion. Saddam truly was a tyrant, and they were happy that an another outside nation had the heart and determination to get rid of such a horrible person."
"The second time I went to Iraq, our unit took Fallujah. By this point, most Iraqis angry with us. They said that U.S. troops needed to leave Iraq. They were glad that Saddam was gone but the overwhelming view was the U.S. troops are now a burden on their society and have not been able to effectively do anything beneficial for the Iraqi people outside of deposing saddam"
"The second time I went to Iraq, our unit took Fallujah. By this point, most Iraqis angry with us. They said that U.S. troops needed to leave Iraq. They were glad that Saddam was gone but the overwhelming view was the U.S. troops are now a burden on their society and have not been able to effectively do anything beneficial for the Iraqi people outside of deposing saddam"
I asked him about Fallujah and he gave me the following account:
"We were in Fallujah. We gave the people 24 hours notice before we wrecked the place. Everyone who wasn't a bad guy had already cleared out of the city because they knew what was coming"
He went on to describe the process of going from house to house not knowing what you were going to find. "We would smash through a door and see a young guy with a Kalishnakoff (AK-47) or someone holding 2 grenades in their hands. They weren't even pointing them at us, but we could only do one thing..." His eyes started to well up with tears as I could see the pain of having to take another person's life, even if they were "the bad guys."
I quickly changed the subject because I wanted this young man to have a good time.
Here he was with a bunch of people he didn't know, and I wanted him to feel as comfortable as possible. So we did what any group of fun seeking young people would do...we played poker and board games all night long, while drinking massive quantities of alcohol.
The next day he told me a little bit more about his courageous service to this country.
After Fallujah, this 22 year old U.S. Marine was injured twice in the span of 9 days. The first time, a bomb exploded near his vehicle. Two of his friends were killed instantly, and he sustained shrapnel injuries.
9 days later, he was out on patrol again. Thats a true hero. You sustain shrapnel injuries and lose 2 close friends and nine days later your back on patrol.
This time, a rocket propelled grenade slammed through a window of his humvee and killed everyone inside the vehicle except for him. Somehow, he was able to survive, but not before sustaining major nerve damage and losing the hearing in his right ear. He was in a hospital for a few weeks.
You may be asking, what does he think of the Iraq War? Well this U.S. Marine - this hero - is now quite bitter and disillusioned. He told me "We didn't go to war for a bunch of fucking politicians, we went because we thought we were doing the right thing." It was clear that he thinks the war is a mistake.
In less than 10 days, he lost 6 good friends in his unit. Overall, He has lost more than 10 of his closest friends in Iraq. He used to be an excellent golfer, now he can't even swing a club. He can't hear well because the RPG exploded within 4 feet of where he was sitting and his ear drum was damaged. And he is one of the lucky ones. He can still walk. He can still play poker and drink alcohol.
He is probably going back to Iraq in September.
Heartbroken, I asked him "Why? Isn't there any way you can get out of it? Isn't it enough that you lost feeling in your left hand and can no longer hear out of one ear?"
He said, "Well, my trigger finger is on my right hand, so they still think I can fire a weapon. And I see these young guys who have never been in combat. They are gung ho. But truthfully, they have no fucking clue. They ask me 'We'll be ok, right?' and all I can say is "I hope so."
He went on to state that "I feel like these guys won't last one day in Iraq. They just don't understand what real combat is like. They don't know that they are fighting for politicians. There is no reason for us to be there. Iraqis hate us more and more every day. If I go back to Iraq, its one less of these young guys who won't have to endure what I have. They are unprepared and I don't have the heart to send them into combat in my place, they will get eaten alive."
Thats the definition of a true American Hero.
You hear that Jonah Goldberg? Or are you too busy furiously typing behind your keyboard in supoprt of this war while making sure the yellow "Support the Troops" ribbon doesn't fall off your car?
So that was my vacation with a U.S. Marine. Now, when I hear Dick Cheney or Donald Rumsfeld saying the escalating violence in Iraq is a good sign that the insurgents are 'desperate' I am not sure how I will restrain myself.