Constant Combat

Send us Fan Mail 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 any different yet.  • arriving to the unit and landing in Weapons Company  • rumors, routines, and senior guys’ confidence  • C-141 fear fac...

Send us Fan Mail 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 scares, coming home, and what all of it means two decades later.  • Engineers sweeping for IEDs • Stopping a taxi and losing control of a gr...

Send us Fan Mail 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 the chaos of April 6 on Easy Street, where Doc treats wounded under fire and remembers every second.  • getting from a branch clinic into an...

Send us Fan Mail 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 decisions and limits that define battlefield triage: how you move casualties under pressure and how dark humor shows up right beside fear. Doc Carlo...

Send us Fan Mail 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 explain until it’s already happening. Ben talks about how he kept steady at Hurricane Point, then the warning signs of trouble, and first big fig...

Send us Fan Mail 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 shares blunt memories of recovering wrecked Humvees without a wrecker, dealing with evolving threats and equipment, and split-second problem so...

Send us Fan Mail 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 a lot of unique moments about small unit leadership.  • Lew’s background and early leadership roles  • The flight over, Kuwait preparation,...

Send us Fan Mail 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 humor that kept morale alive, and what service means after a 20+ year career as a Marine leader.  • Early IED awareness, door debates, and why...

Send us Fan Mail 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 flights to firefights, IEDs, and the uneasy question of who could be trusted, Bill tells the details in the way only he can recount.  • joining t...

Send us Fan Mail 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 that stick, how unit handoffs can fail, and why the bonds from that time still don’t fade.  • getting shot at by an Abrams • the bridge guard...

Send us Fan Mail We bring on Reagan Hodges and talk how a hard-charging Marine who struggled in garrison becomes the kind of fighter everyone counts on when Ramadi turns. We talk through the training, the chaos, the losses, and the moments that still follow you home.  • bouncing between ranks and learning to own consequences  • pre-deployment workups • why the command keeps him despite repeated tr...

Send us Fan Mail 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.   • an RPK gunner at close range • hypervigilance  • trust-based leadership • pride in the platoon and the rage behind disrespecting the fallen  • faith a...

Send us Fan Mail 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 time, and what leadership, luck, and grief look like on the ground.  • returning to the Marines after a break and why it felt like home  • Ok...

Send us Fan Mail Paul Hess starts his story as a brand new join... and straight to combat driver and dismounted Marine. Great recollections including the convoy into Iraq and the first overwhelming sights and sounds of Ramadi. We also discuss early urban combat realities at Hurricane Point, from IEDs and route tactics to the anger of not having a visible enemy to fight.  • Paul Hess’s background a...

Send us Fan Mail Paul Hess part 2, reminds us that there is no polished and shiny versions of the Ramadi 2004 story: famous names showing up on base, mortars landing close, and memories that still feel foggy or sharp at the wrong times. We also talk hooch life, boredom, friendship, and why coming home can be harder than anyone expects.  • Dan Rather at Hurricane Point  • Oliver North riding along ...

Send us Fan Mail We catch up with Lance Corporal Ruben Ventocilla as he walks us from pre-deployment training to the heat and chaos of Ramadi in 2004, including IED strikes, gear shortages, and the constant need to adapt. He also leads us through his medevac to Baghdad story and where his service sits with him 20 years later.  • black ice in New Jersey  • leadership and training details that stick...

Send us Fan Mail We capture the story from MAP 1's Yancy Harris to trade Ramadi 2004 memories that swing from terrifying to absurd in the span of a sentence. A lot of the conversation centers on how routine danger shapes a unit’s nerves. It's RPG paranoia, the weird routines that kept him going, and what it feels like to come home and the long memories of deployment.  • a mistaken RPG at...

Send us Fan Mail Straight shooting story from Ranie Ruthig, a mechanic Staff Sergeant who became a Lioness in 2004 Ramadi, building a mission from nothing, learning the culture, and surviving April’s chaos with Weapons Company Marines. The stories are raw, funny, and unfiltered, and full of details that can only come directly from the woman who lived it. • converting Camp Rifle to Junction City wi...

Send us Fan Mail Part 2 with Ranie Ruthig, one of the original Lioness soldiers who was often attached to Weapons Company, to illustrate how early missions in Ramadi evolve from outreach to intel work and high-risk convoy life. We also get her blunt take on standards, unit culture, and why her view on women in combat is more complicated than people expect.  • early “hearts and minds” runs to schoo...

Send us Fan Mail You can feel the choice before you hear it; Sergeant Lopez with a clear path to promotion walks away from the safe bet to stand next to his brother and friends in Ramadi. That decision by John Mark becomes the spine of this story... from a division-level meritorious board to Ramadi as a combat replacement with his brother, tracing how training, discipline, and fast decisions hold...

Send us Fan Mail Part two with John Mark Lopez and trace a four-man team’s cordon-and-overwatch role, the shift from highbacks to up-armored, and the thin line between luck and skill. Leadership, loss, and life after service tie the story together with hard-earned lessons that he carries on to his personal goals and civilian career. • rooftop overwatch and night raids • improvised armor in highbac...

Send us Fan Mail Excellent interview with the Company XO, Lucas "Duke" Wells detailing how a Marine weapons company became a mobile, citywide cavalry in Ramadi, evolving from thin intel and a weak handover to a five-platoon rotation that broke sieges and mastered the streets. The story follows raids, April’s turning points, a midyear enemy shift, and hard choices that made the unit deadl...

Send us Fan Mail Part two with the XO, Duke Wells, going through a near‑fatal friendly fire, a catastrophic VBIED, and the daily grind of raids, politics, and broken systems. The thread throughout the chaos is team, leadership, and the choices that keep people alive. He closes with a view 20 years removed and what that means.  • a tank round on Route Michigan exposing comms and deconfliction gaps...

Send us Fan Mail Everyone has a Joe Herscher story, even Joe: a theater student watches Heartbreak Ridge, and joins the Marines, and then finds himself in Ramadi learning decisiveness under fire. We walk through some pre-war Okinawa moments, the first ambush, April’s street battles, and a desperate standoff. • why a comedy dreamer chose infantry and mortars • culture shock in the fleet and Okinawa...

Send us Fan Mail Part two with Joe Herscher from Rainmaker Platoon, moving from firefights and improvised humor to the hard road of leaving war, finding sobriety, and building a life that serves others. What sounds like a short story is a life time of change and cultivated rehabilitation, and a story about healing. • remembering Savage and the chaos of May 12th  • field versus garrison Marines • l...