Category: War Stories

I was alone, on leave, and traveling through Europe not too long ago. Looking back, I really should not have been traveling alone—but plans I’d had to link up with a buddy of mine had fallen through.

Our conversation soon became a pseudo chess match. I would say things like, “Tell me more about yourself,” and “How did you learn English so well?” He would counter with, “Enough about me, tell me about what you do in the U.S. Tell me about life in the U.S.”

Diyaa jumped off the front of the Pander, and let’s just say he began briskly walking away, the fear showing on his face. He was scared shitless for some reason. If this was indeed an IIS safehouse, or a former secret residence of Saddam, it might still have some folks inside it if Saddam was […]

By late April, we had probably conducted at least 20 missions in and around Baghdad looking for WMDs and HVTs. Obviously, we never found any WMDs, but we did find a lot of weapons caches, bunkers, Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) safehouses, and torture chambers. I remember one IIS safehouse in particular. A kind Iraqi gentleman […]

It was an eery gray outside. The black of the metal and cinder block buildings contrasted with the light grey of the night sky. I was able to make out most of what was around because my eyes were accustomed to the near pitch black inside of the aircraft from the preceding 40 minute joyride […]

As the ground war continued to make huge gains in terms of defeating the remaining Republican Guard units of Saddam’s Army, we prepared to insert into Baghdad. As we sat on the tarmac of the desert airstrip, all I could think about was the fresh evening air and how it was all about to change. […]

I had been in Afghanistan for eight months. After Watan I’d returned to the SOTF, where the timed dragged on and the excitement slumped. When the summer came they sent me back to Helmand, back to Nahr-e Saraj, to a place called Shurakay; just a stone’s throw from my old stomping ground at Watan. Things […]

As soon as the insurgent pulled the trigger on his AK-47 and the first rounds hit me in the chest and side, I woke up. I immediately felt the adrenaline rushing through my body as I grabbed my chest in pain. I sat up in bed, drenched in sweat and hyperventilating. Trying to focus my […]

After the first two missions to conduct an airborne assault on Saddam International Airport were cancelled, I began to think that maybe we weren’t going to die after all in a hail of hot Iraqi bullets. Landing in a hot LZ at 3AM surrounded by enemy armor and mech infantry would most assuredly resemble Dante’s […]

Delta was lying on his back on the table, his face fraught with emotion and veiled confusion. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the scene around him.

My unit was conducting an exercise that included an airborne insertion into a friendly host nation airfield that was followed by a relatively short dismounted movement to our objective.  Once we got to the objective, we’d be there for a certain amount of time before our relief showed up to augment our force and further […]

No shit there I was, sprinting away from the GOV, shaking my head in disbelief as my buddy “Delta” nonchalantly chucked a random flash bang into the backseat.  I glanced back towards the armory as shouts of dismay and utter surprise rang out from the truck, with copious cussing thrown in for extra measure.   […]