This page was updated on Sep 13, 2016
Butterfly Trigger Warning!
Without realizing it I’ve been posting shit that might upset people. When I revisit these pictures my mind can go pretty dark. I generally write stream of consciousness style. I post first and ask questions later. Then I don’t edit unless it’s dumb grammatical shit.
I despise radical Islam. These feelings are going to come out from time to time. So will my right wing political views and other bullshit.
Why am I Doing This?
Not very many people know about what happened in Ramadi in 2004. It was in the news a bit and it wasn’t exactly ignored but I think the Marines that fought there (me included) deserve a bit more recognition. I believe that my unit, 2nd Battalion 4th Marines (2/4), deserves a place in history for our actions. I’d be happy with a monument the size of Mt Everest on top of the White House but maybe that’s not thinking big enough.
We were a battalion that wasn’t taken seriously. When the rest of the Marine Corps was sent to war, we were sent to Okinawa. We were there for a year. None of us expected to be sent to Iraq just a short while after we got back from that stupid island of mojo, taco rice, and $20 hand jobs.
We were undertrained but we were motivated. We really didn’t know what we were getting into. It’s one thing to kick a hornet’s nest, it’s another thing to be deployed inside of one.
We spent seven months securing that city. In the modern era of warfare, to the best of my knowledge we took the most casualties of any unit regardless of theater of operation, service, or length of deployment. To the best of my knowledge we inflicted about ten times the amount of casualties we took on the enemy.
In addition to sending information out into the ether I am selfishly using this blog to gear up to write a book. I’m not a writer by trade and my memory has largely been boozed away so I’m hoping that by writing this blog, my brain will get a jump start. A book has already been written on this subject from a platoon commander’s POV, it’s called Joker One. I highly recommend it.
Additional Information:
The General Structure
I finally got around to scanning my old photos. They were all taken with disposable cameras in terrible lighting conditions. Some of the photos didn’t scan very well and very few of them are high quality.
Each photo has some memories attached to it though. I simply intend to post a photo or two or three with a story or some thoughts and I’m going to keep going until I run out. Maybe I’ll think of other things. Maybe I’ll get in touch with other 2/4 Ramadi Vets and they’ll have some stories to share.
Semper Fi
Ramadi Bastards 