If people reading this article wish to round out their understanding of the "Battle of Fallujah," I recommend googling "Dar Jamail Fallujah."
What is written here by Elliot Ackerman can use further context. He states that in one instance,"when we killed them it felt like murder." Exactly.
Listen to independent, un-embedded journalist Dar Jamail describe what it was like to get into Fallujah while US bombs fell on hospitals and ambulances, and US sniper bullets tore children and grandmothers apart, while US negotiators insisted on sending the last journalists from Al Jazeera out of the battle zone. It's been on YouTube since 2008.
Then try to re-frame this article, beyond the context of Memorial Day. It won't be fun or celebratory, but it will be more honest.
26
Mr. Ackerman
How very nice of you to write about the courage shown by US Marines during the battle for Falluja. Interesting that you leave out the fact that the US used white phosphorus as an offensive weapon during the battle. No mention of the massacres and war crimes committed by US forces (see reporting of George Monbiot). Puts a slightly different spin on things.
23
Wow. This is the real thing. Courage, bravery, selflessness, care for one's friends... this is what makes man a man.
The self-righteous whining of assorted cafe ideologues is a universe away.
14
I honor the courage, and salute the bravery, and empathize with the fear, of all who served in Iraq.
I have contempt for the misjudgment, the poor planning, and the strategic ineptness of the elected officials (from the highest levels of the Executive on down) who put them in harm's way.
28
Reclaims the real, terrifying experiences of combat from sanitized versions by the military brass and historians. You would never read a version like this of British military actions...'stiff-upper-lip old boy'...
3
This article is part of my moral education.
4
Every politician, especially the ones attempting to gin-up cute little wars in Iran, Syria, Libya, Niger, and who-knows-where, should be required to read this account of what happens on the ground. That, followed by "Matterhorn," and, for good measure, a showing of "Koringal."
Then...vote.
6
Sir,
Thank you for sharing this authentic account of what a soldier experiences in combat. Reading it singed my soul in a manner I am unable to describe. At the end of it all one is left with a question beating inside one's head like a sledgehammer: why did all these people, soldiers and civilians alike, had to die?
I suppose you wish to keep your uniform, unwashed, for every fiber in it by itself is a memorial to your comrades who did not return. May you have a healthy and peaceful life.
14
Keep writing, Mr. Ackerman - that IS consequential!
8
Thank you. Especially on this Memorial Weekend.
Four Tennyson quotes come to mind:
“Theirs not to make reply: Theirs not to reason why: Theirs but to do and die.”
‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’
“I am a part of all that I have met.”
‘Ulysses’
“Better not be at all than not be noble.”
‘The Princess’
“Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.”
‘Locksley Hall’
5
Thank you for sharing this. Somewhat akin to "hate the sin and love the sinner", we hated that foolish, foolish, war of choice; but we both are thankful there are men like you who take the time to tell us what you went through. Hopefully, so no one will have to follow your footsteps.
God Bless You.
5
Sir, you are a hero. So, be proud of yourself and that 15 year old uniform.
9
This is awkward. First of all, looked at against the broad canvas of war, the number of casualties is paltry. In Normandy there is a cemetery that holds the mortal remains of the more than 9,300 Americans who died fighting for the liberation of Europe between June 5 and early July 1944...
Secondly, what has the sacrifice of these brave Marines achieved? Why did you fight in Fallujah? What did Iraq do to the US to warrant being invaded and having hundreds of thousands of its citizens, most of them long-suffering victims of Saddam Hussein, killed?
Looking back, looking at what the Middle East is like today, what did you achieve? What it worth it? Can Americans rest more easy? Is the world a safer place? Have you learned anything?
28
Left out of this advertisement for the Pentagon is the why?
The implication is US soldiers were teleported by magic to Iraq from where they had to fight their way back home.
In reality, US soldiers were in Iraq to steal the country's oil for the benefit of Dick 'Halliburton' Cheney and his petroleum industry buddies. That's the why: Americans in Iraq were thieves, plain and simple.
As it turns out the oil in the ground in Iraq was too costly to extract, from Halliburton's own assessment of the situation. All of the country's corroded and obsolete petroleum infrastructure needed rebuilding from the ground up ... over a decade at a cost of billions. Like the other Pentagon crusades since 1945, the US invasion of Iraq was a fools' errand.
As the US winds itself up to invade petro-states Venezuela and Iran to try to steal oil again, there will be more tales of sacrifice and heroism like this one, more advertising for the Pentagon.
21
Stirring, absolutely bone-chilling account, reads like it was written by Dexter Filkins. Send a copy to John Bolton.
10
Why are Bush and Cheney not in prison?
27
You don't have to carry out illegal orders. The men who attacked civilians in Fallujah (300 known dead) bought in to Bush II's GWOT. They made their choice to fight for Bush II's ego, which was based on the lie of WMD. Shame on all of them.
10
Is the NYT publishing this now to gin up support for the brave marines who will try to obliterate Iran? The NYT has never met a war it didn't support. I agree with the reader who called this article "war porn."
20
And for what?
9
I am so sorry that Lieutenant Ackerman fought, and many of his comrades died, for a lie told by the likes of Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condi Rice, and George W. Bush, none of whom are fit to shine his boots.
30
It has often been said that "War is Hell!" This article shows why.
Sadly, humans still haven't learned to get along without killing each other; pure stupidity from a supposedly intelligent species!!
3
Great writing. It reminded me of the great Vietnam war novel, Matterhorn. I served in the Marines and any grunt who had you as their Lieutenant was a lucky man. I look forward to reading your books.
8
Brave man. It’s evident that he learned what he was trained to do and kept mindful of all of it while in constant mortal danger. He most definitely earned the high honors awarded to him.
His recollections repeat the accounts of combat by participants in the battles of World War II, and of every intense prolonged combat related at all other times.
Sending people to war is no small matter. It is often done for reasons that do not justify the costs to the people who must fight. However, that does not change the gallantry and noble sacrifices of those who must do the fighting. Accounts like these illustrate why soldiers fight as they do and what heroism is about.
But for the citizens of a democracy, it is a lesson that when political leaders call for war or saber rattling policies, the costs can be very high.
6
Thank-you. As long as American service members question and agonize over their deeds in war, we will continue to have
the finest military in history. It is when we are so hardened that we take pleasure in killing that we become a menace. As long as our military performs as did you and your platoon in Falluja, our country is protected against the worst the world can throw at us.
No matter if the war was questionable at the outset, the military served honorably. I admire John Kerry who served, but who came home to fight against a war that should never have happened and who ultimately became one of our greatest leaders for peace.
5
Elliot - Semper Fi brother. It remains one of my greatest honors to have served with you in 1/8. Thank you for all your selfless service and for sharing your experiences with us all in such an eloquent and powerful way.
29
An amazing an gut wrenching story of heroism. I am reminded about how much we owe these guys. I am also reminded that there were equally as many heroes on the other side, to whom the Iraqis owe much. They were defending their country from foreign invaders. I only hope some of our guys get to meet up with some of their guys, and share their common bond: Patriotism.
4
Mr. Ackerman - This was a very painful read, though appropriate for Memorial Day, as we remember those in our armed forces who have lost their lives - well they deserve the honor and recognition. The pain is the same as I remember having during the Vietnam War - which was televised, as wars since have not been. I felt the Vietnam War was a terrible mistake by our nation, and I felt the same way about the War in Iraq. We have endless wars for what seem to be highly dubious reasons. I just hope and pray that our country one day gives up its self-appointed role as the world's policeman.
98
Elliot, thank you for sharing this. I know it must have been difficult. I hope you have someone to talk with. The uniform/clothing is symbolic of your experience in Iraq. Most veterans who suffer from PTSD, are stuck in time, like that bundle of bloody clothes. God bless and Semper Fi.
27
Thank you Mr. Ackerman for your courage and for the courage you give me to oppose the Iraqi war(s) and most wars while still being able to celebrate and admire the qualities of a hero. Perhaps if we try, we don't need guns, blood and death to find such courage. It's all around us every day.
33
Harrowing. I feel sad for all those involved. The biggest foreign policy blunder since Vietmam. The fault is ours, the civilians, who allowed soldiers like Ackerman to be stampeded into a senseless war. In the run up to the invasion, people were calling anti-war protesters commies, traitors, radicals, etc. Have we learned anything?
14
@Jess How amazingly true! And now the military machine is gearing up for a senseless conflict with Iran. And more soldiers will die for a policy blunder by government officials that have never seen the horror of combat!!
5
Why were you there? What purpose did you serve? By what perverse sense of history did you persuade yourself that invading Iraq was a useful response to 9/11? All secular Arab governments were more terrified of Al Qaeda than we were. We renditioned suspected terrorists to the very countries whose secular despots we have since overthrown (pace Assad). While I am always awed that soldiers don’t simply go mad during battle, as fragging showed in Vietnam, we have enough military history from Homer to Vietnam to warn against adventurism against cultures about which we know little to nothing. I remind you that you came home but the average Iraqi is still there. Saddam said when captured that Bush just broke the Middle East and we smirked as a nation, listening to imbeciles like Cheney and Rumsfeld and W about the western myth of a Sunni vs Shia schism in Islam. I am sorry for your experience but you chose it and were rewarded for it. Better you had read a book about our war policies in foreign places.
14
It does not matter to the people fighting why they are in the fight. It never is. Once any battle begins the stakes of the fight are survival or extinction.
The time to argue for the justification for wars are before they start. Once they do, it’s still the politicians not the military who remain responsible for the continued fighting or truces or armistices or peace treaties.
10
For the finest and most compassionate description of effect of war on the infantry soldier read “With the Old Breed” EB Sledge’s memoir of the Pacific War and Jonathan Shay’s “Achilles in Vietman” a psychiatrist’s view that PTSD is a wound as honorable and disabling as any other combat wound. These two books will disabuse readers of this Marine’s honest memoir of the horror of Felluja of any hollywood fantasy that war represents the glorious adventures of heroes.
12
It has often been said that the first casualty of wars is the truth.
3
Iraq 2 War started by the admitted war criminal Bush 2 was pound for pound the greatest military blunder in our history.
I say that because even though the American death toll was low in comparison to other disastrous wars, the Cold War was ended by Gorby already but American wanted to continue it in Iraq.
We should have known, as opposed to other imperialistic wars that were in vogue before that we got involved in like Vietnam, a complete disaster and blunder.
PS: For all the right wings hawks who will answer if there are any and will say Reagan ended the Cold War, here are the facts, Gorby ended the Cold War, America and the USSR lost it, Germany and Japan won it and Reagan and future presidents like Bush 2 continued the Cold War.,
10
I can't even imagine...
The WSJ for Memorial Day ran a very good story on Medal of Honor winners and how difficult life is for many of them. And so I looked up Medal of Honor winners. Time and again, it was "threw himself on a grenade to save comrades." Not once, not twice but scores of times--covered a live grenade with his body.
I can't even imagine.
Years ago, for Memorial Day, I watched episodes of The Civil War between backyard barbecues. Now, I watch episodes of The Vietnam War. Perhaps I should not, because it is hard not to be angry.
Dubya, a coward who ducked service, sending brave men, who did not know they were brave until the moment called, into hellholes like Falluja for no good reason. LBJ and Nixon, neither of whom saw combat, sending men, brave or not, into a hopeless war they knew--THEY KNEW--could not be won, all the while lying on television and radio and campaign stages, with nearly 60,000 never coming back, paying for politicians' lies with their blood. Now, we have another coward as commander in chief who lied to avoid service.
Deep breath.
I never was in the military. At airport gates, I applaud, along with everyone else, when a service member gets on the plane ahead of the rest of us, but I am not thanking them, really, for their service or for protecting us. I am thanking them for being an inspiration. Selflessness is a rare quality. That it reigns to the extent it does in life or death situations...
I cannot imagine.
9
For those who've read this piece about Falluja, you owe it to yourself to also read Elliot Ackerman's novels.
For example:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/04/books/review/elliot-ackerman-waiting-for-eden.html
3
Glorification of all things military will prove the bane of America. This war was launched on a lie and therefore drains it of any pretense of righteousness or dignity. No matter the individual heroics and their lachrymose portrayals, at the end of the day, all the blood spilt amounts to nothing more than an empire's guilt. On "Memorial Day", Americans, if they have a conscience, should pause, and in the quiet candlelight of their private thought, blush at the horrors we have wrought.
14
Outstanding... best piece of War Journalism since Dispatches… I am humbled & blown away.
7
Valiant, disciplined, heartbreaking. I have no disrespect for these troops, but do they understand even today that they were nothing but pawns in a pointless and grisly game? Why were they there? What did they accomplish? Crickets. Meanwhile chicken hawk war criminal Cheney and his family live in unassailable luxury (even though he cannot leave the US without fear of being arrested)
13
@Chuck Burton do not make the mistake believing that military personnel don't understand what is going on, that they don't know they are pawns in a pointless and grisly game.
Yet they still want to serve their country and be a part of something bigger than themselves, and I don't expect a lot of people to understand the reasons.
4
The author and this story only concerns itself with the 2nd battle of Fallujah (as it was spelled then in the New York Times).
For those who have forgotten the first battle for Fallujah was commenced in early April 2004 and called off abruptly after the Marines had taken an unexpected thrashing during George W. Bush's re-election campaign resulting in much criticism and scorn directed at Bush. I urge the editors at the Times and everyone else to read the Times account of that first battle of Fallujah with particular attention to the quote in that article by General Conway who was not at all pleased that President called off a battle that had already taken the lives of over 100 Marines in about a week. General Conway's remarks can be refined down to his intense feeling that the operation should not have been started only to be abandon for political reasons after so many Marines had been sent to their deaths.
Without the above context this memoir by Mr. Ackerman is not good history.
15
Those "insurgents" that the world is teeming with can also be described as "defenders of their country", just like anyone invading America would encounter. The invasion of Iraq was a war crime, from which America learned nothing.
20
Thank you for your service, Elliot Ackerman. This war story needs to be told to inform and educate all Americans of the huge costs of service and human sacrifice
3
@aries I'm not so sure I understand why so many had to pay that cost in this particular war/invasion. Please educate me why so many innocent people had to die so Bush 2 and Cheney could win a second term and military contractors, such as Cheney's firm, Halliburton, could receive so much tax payer money?
8
@Sue Salvesen I am not suggesting that we need wars. I pray for an end to all wars. I am simply expressing my support for the men and women who are faced with the horrors of fighting our wars, no matter who put them on the front lines. Mr. Ackerman's account touches my heart.
3
Brilliant writing.
The dude, despite the fancy sport coat and the 100 dollar Manhattan hair cut, still looks like you wouldn't want to meet him in an alley.
That's a Marine, and that's always been a Marine and it always will be.
2
Why were U.S. Marines in Fallujah?
What has America gained or lost as a result of this ' battle'?
Who was the ' enemy' at Fallujah?
What is the ' ememy' perspective on this battle?
16
The Sunni uprising that kicked of the insurgency after the fall of Saddam’s regime was largely centered in Fallujah. The Marine engagement was an attempt to end that insurgency. They destroyed the city but the insurgency continued.
3
My late friend Ned Colt was an NBC correspondent in Iraq.Shortly after the battle he and his crew were sent to Falluja. They were captured and held by the Majahudin. Years later he was recalling their time of captivity. I commented that " NBC must have paid a ton of money to get you out of there. " No, Actually", he said, "the Mullas told the Majahudin that if they didn't let us go, the marines would come back. That did it, they let us go.'
8
How sad to see fine soldiers sent to fight the wrong fight against ordinary people who just wanted to live their lives according to their own values. Fallujah is a reenactment of Lidice.
13
A graphic description of war from someone wearing the boots on the ground.
2
Eric please save that cloth; memory and respect the Core woven.
1
With all respect to soldiers who sign up to do what they're told regardless the ethical considerations, or because they're desperate and don't know what else to do, or for the camaraderie, or because they actually believe that they're serving their fellow humans, it's particularly horrible that the architect of this corporate war for oil, and the father of ISIS, Dick Cheney, walks free today, when he and his boy George-- the mother is ISIS-- truly belong in the Hague. They killed more Americans than the suicide Saudis did on 9/11, and over a hundred thousand Iraqis, many of the children. Nope, no one should have had to sacrifice their life for Halliburton.
17
Having known several Iraqis while in college, I know that while Saddam Hussein was universally hated, no Iraqis wanted to be invaded and occupied by the United States.
16
@Kaari And have hundreds of thousands of their citizens killed in a useless war!!
6
Thank you for your service.
3
Commenting earlier as to the "two battles" People often ask why March 2003 when the UN inspectors (where one half of the personnel were CIA) wanted more time for inspections. The UN leadership sought to lobby for more time. The reason more time was not given..is because the sand storms come in April and May...and with June..the temps can exceed 115 degrees. Plus, if some recall "W" was doing poorly in the polls..the war and the totally false assumption Iraq was part of the 9/11 was a fraud beyond all frauds on the American public. The deaths on the 2nd attach were more than the 1st, but totals exceed 100 US KIA..plus several hundred seriously wounded.
I sat down with a nurse at the Defac one day...I asked about (with some calm and circumstance)..what is like in the emergency room...She looked at me and said this: "What do you say to an 19 year old who just lost both his legs..?" As a career infantryman (11A) in the US Army with many deployments, I have faith in our leadership (especially with T)..the deaths of so many are and were the responsibility at that time..Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld. I ask..is this the America we fight for?
5
@RH You have faith in our leadership?? Especially with T? With Bolton? Have you paid any attention to what is going on over the last 2 1/2 years???
5
If one is in a chain of command, one has faith in one’s leadership. It’s what obeying orders in our military requires. But I have met some in the military and former military who do or had done their duty while seriously considering the possibility that those in the highest leadership were fools.
1
How is it that you dont mention the number of irakis killed, warriors, civilians ?
Reminds of the VIETNAM war, you pretty often understand that AMERICA lost 55 000 soldiers lives but it’s much harder to find the number for the Vietnamese which is over 2 million (soldiers and civilians), what a massacre !
So what is the total number for the Irak war ? the illegal war.
10
“We don’t do body counts” (Rumsfeld, or one of the other war criminals)
The US went to great lengths to prevent journalists, and by extension, the American public, from knowing the death toll in Iraq.
6
I read lots of military history, mostly World War 1. Nothing is as poignant in understanding that war than visiting a battlefield cemetery in the French countryside and standing quietly before the grave of one soldier whose marker is at the very farthest corner of the cemetery.
None of us civilians will truly know the depth of sacrifice that men like Lt Ackerman and his comrades have given in the service of our country. I use the word "comrades" because I don't have the right to use the word "brothers" - it is holier than any word for God and should not be used by any others than only by those who know what it means. His and others' stories remind us that no war is ever really won, especially for those who have been at ground level in the middle of intense fear and witness the blood of their friends. We should remain speechless except to grasp their hands and say "thank you" into their eyes. It's the only gesture we can adequately give because we'll never really understand.
3
How did they serve us, or the wider interests of the nation by attacking a country that didn’t threaten us using manufactured intelligence?
What did that 2.5 trillion dollars buy us other than blowback, regional instability, and a strengthened of insurgents, radicals, mullah and rival nations such as Iran?
8
@Patrick Cone Thanking him for what? Killing a lot of people for no apparent or good reason?
3
Bolton, Pompeo, and Trump should be forced to listen to a reading of this account. We need them to stop playing at war and imagining an attack on Iran would be anything but a disaster.
6
I quite literally cried all through reading this piece. I cried for Mr. Ackerman and his men, the horror they endured and its lasting impact on the survivors. I cried for the brown "enemy" and the innocents who found their country occupied by a hostile foreign army and did what we would likely do if we were in the same situation. I cried for the memory of my own classmates who had fallen in Vietnam under similar circumstances so many years before with no visible reward for their precious sacrifice. And I cry for the next wave of dedicated, selfless young Americans who will be sent on an impossible and deadly mission based on half-truths and outright lies by war-mongering politicians and "statesmen" whose lives will never be personally touched by the bloody mayhem that Mr. Ackerman so vividly describes. Thank you for reminding us of the grim reality behind all the platitudes and cliches.
10
maybe the thing to do with the uniform is to ask if moma will preserve it and keep it on display in their museum. just a thought
1
Free colleges would have saved so many lives, some of the best any nation has to offer. Military recruiters will have a harder time persuading the young men to go on an adventure. The wealthy will always find a bone spur to dodge draft, and get richer by the sacrifice of the servicemen, and then go on to become president hugging the flag.
11
@A
So who will do the nations fighting?
"The nation that will insist on drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking done by cowards." &
" concessions to adversaries only end in self reproach, and the more strictly they are avoided the greater will be the chance of security." - Thucydides
1
I always worry when I see a veteran willing to make revisions to his or her experience in a public space but does not then really talk about the emotional trauma that haunts most of those men and women returning from war.
Neighbors of mine had a son who fought in Fallujah and I come from a family of veterans. The most pressing problem facing our veteran community is the unfathomably high suicide rates, over 20 a day. Every veteran needs to talk about this issue and we, as a nation, need to champion and secure the funding and mental health services that veterans deserve.
10
Mr. Ackerman describes in great detail the heroic efforts of the American servicemen in taking of Falluja. And we should of course acknowledge their heroism and sacrifice.
But he hails to mention that those servicemen were sent to Iraq to find nonexistent WMD's, whose alleged existence was based on fabricated evidence. And more importantly, he fails to mention that those he was fighting against were merely defending their country against an outside invader with far superior powers and resources, and their efforts against overwhelming odds were at least as heroic.
107
@JB He doesn't mention those things because they don't matter to the personal experiences of the soldiers doing our nation's bidding. The story is about the personal experiences and fears he and his platoon went through. None of the boots on the ground generated that intelligence. They didn't make the decision to invade. They simply fought and lived...or died.
102
@JB this is not a political piece. It is a narrative about his personal experiences as a combatant on the ground.
26
@JB A rather large contingent, if not the majority of fighters in Falluja where not citizens of Falluja, and in many cases of Iraq either, don’t attempt to romanticize the people that were fighting our Marines. None of them where people you’d invite over for dinner, or want as a neighbor. Look up the Falluja torture house and in general research this battle in particular. Sometimes combat truly is between the forces of good and evil.
17
Mr. Ackerman, this account of the battle for Falluja is stirring, riveting and, at the same time, somewhat sickening. You write with such clarity and honesty that it cannot but move anyone who reads it. I absolutely commend your service and those of your comrades in arms and said a little prayer for those who did not make it home.
That having been said, what kept occurring to me over and over again as I read this tale of incredible bravery and dedication to serving this country is that, in the bigger picture of things, it was an absolutely, completely unnecessary undertaking. President George W. Bush methodically contrived completely false pretenses for attacking a country that was not a threat to America. We slaughtered thousands and thousands of innocents, who like you and me, only lived to work, eat, provide shelter and clothing for themselves and raise their children hopefully in peace.
As an Air Force veteran and son of an Army battalion commander who served in Vietnam in 1968 during the battle of Hue, I also see the scores of young men and women every time I visit the VA who are physically mangled and emotionally scarred for life. Iraq was an utter tragedy.
Mr. Ackerman, may the remainder of your years be many and may you experience great joy and peace each day. And may all Americans show far greater wisdom and concern for our men and women in uniform in choosing our future political leaders. God bless America this Memorial Day.
274
@Rich D Well said. I thank the author for his service. As for the war in Iraq, my sentiments about it have never changed. When I first heard the idea mentioned I thought it would be the biggest, most easily avoided waste of life and treasure and largest blow to the perception of the US of all time. Not one good thing happened as a result. Everyone died to make the world worse. My sentiments over time have not wavered in the slightest. They never will.
37
@Rich D
Now the 2020 pre-election wave of conflict is being assembled for reasons even more bogus. After 2001 at least there had been an attack (by Saudis) which testosteroned us into attacking Iraq in pre-election 2004. The puppies of war then made up their "intelligence" just as our current manipulators of this shallow president feed him tweetable factoids. Fool us once shame on you. Fool us again shame on all of us.
24
@Rich D
What do the Iraqi veterans on the other side aka the ' enemy" call the ' Battle of Fallujah'?
Americans don't call what happened on December 7, 1941 the Battle of Pearl Harbor.
Neither America nor Japan refer to what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki as ' battles'.
The Soviet Union aka Russia calls World War II the Great Patriotic War. About 27.5 million Soviets died.
China calls World War II the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Around 30 million Chinese died.
The Jews call World War II the Holocaust. About 6 million Jews died.
What Americans call the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese call the American War.
The Confederates call the Civil War the War Against Northern Aggression and the Lost Cause.
6
I spent 7 years in the Marine Corps but never saw combat . When I was in the corps it became evident that some Marines were born warriors. That is , especially proficient when it came to exchanging fire with the enemy and most importantly leading others in to combat . Everyone does their duty , but only a very few can function with the level of competence and courage that leads to the battle field result that ends with a silver star . Thank God for people like Mr Ackerman . Semper Fidelis .
13
Whenever I read these first hand accounts of war, I cannot help but think, why? Why exactly do we send our brave sons and daughters to fight for causes that make no sense. What have we gotten out of the last few wars we have been fighting? I blame our representatives for being so short sighted and beholden to the private contractors that see dollar signs with every conflict around the world. These donors make war possible.
Thank you, Mr. Ackerman. Thank you for your bravery and first hand account of this forever war. However, I hope to never read another story such as this.
9
@Sue Salvesen
One hopes that because Mr. Ackerman--and others who served and lived to write about it--has written what he has that the rest of us will begin to think more carefully about the reality of what those who serve in our stead undergo. A volunteer military has had the unfortunate consequence of freeing the rest of us from careful consideration of our own duties and obligations as citizens. (And before the critical among you start lobbing reply grenades, don't preach at me; I lost my nephew in Afghanistan, and have been forced,
as a result, to confront my own selfish ignorance.)
3
About 5 years ago, I met a new employee at the ski shop where I worked in my semi-retirement. The VA had helped him find that job. Over lunch we talked about being brothers wearing different uniforms for our country in different wars.
But my "tour" during the Vietnam War was easier than most. I was an aircraft engine mechanic in California working on C-97 cargo planes. He, on the other hand, had survived four tours of combat in Afghanistan with the US Army. His PTSD forced an Honorable Discharge into civilian life.
He shared with me the reasons for his PTSD symptoms over the course of a lunch break. He told me, while firefights with an enemy driven by religious zeal can be terrifying, it was the end of those firefights that effected him the most: In the silence and the dust, he helped carry the wounded and the dead — his brothers — to the evac' helicopter. That was what ended his Army career.
We must never forget all of our heroes, including those who are still dealing with the horror of combat years later. PTSD can put the brakes on a soldier's healing where no physical wounds exist.
Remember them. Honor them. And, not just this Memorial Day weekend.
18
I read one explanation of PTSD being the normal response to a very abnormal and horrible experience.
1
To Lieutenant Ackerman and all those who have served and fought under our country's flag thank you for your service. Hopefully, your account of this battle will make all of us pause and think prior to committing American women and men to another armed conflict.
10
If we are to look upon these servicemen and admire them for their bravery and service to country, should we not do the same to those Iraqis whom they are fighting? After all, the Iraqi militiamen were not only fighting off invaders (us), but were also hugely out-gunned fighting an enemy country that had spent the last 60 years arming itself to the teeth.
14
It's a species problem, the need to go to war regardless of the justification offered by those who order our young men and women into combat. Peace is an outlier, a random event that diminishes over time as the need to make the other bleed rises to the surface. Hemingway said that we wouldn't fight this August, that it's still too soon. But the year after that, or the year after that, we fight...
3
@Tribal Elder Baloney justification of killing others whose country we invaded under false pretenses.
4
My thinks to Mr Ackerman for his moving account. My oldest grandson recently turned 18, and is bound for college, paying for which will be a struggle and result in a large debt. I strongly advised him not to be temped to join any branch of the military seeking GI Bill or anything else. There is a near certainty that youth of his generation will be sent into politically inspired useless combat just as was Mr. Ackerman.
11
@JAE I often wonder if the rising expense of getting an education is related to the need for more service members. If poor and working class children see an opportunity to receive money in order to go to college and remain out of debt, they might take that chance. Sad that it is usually the poorer population that serves and ultimately goes to battle and not the Trumps of the country. Perhaps, if we had mandatory service, the rich and powerful would not be so keen on getting us into these unjust wars.
3
Today,I will limp up Grand Avenue in Maspeth, Queens with about 15 other Vietnam veterans. It is not an impressive group. We will pass out small American flags to the local children. These children are Korean,Uzbek,Peruvian and occasionally native born. They will have no clue who we are. That is okay.
I am not walking for them. I am walking for my fellow soldiers who died in combat and cannot walk now. It has been a half a century and the reasons for why we fought are meaningless now.
Who cares. They are dead. I am not.
Today,I remember them.
I hope fifty years from now Lt. Ackerman can walk down some nameless street in America and remember his buddies. I, also hope, he has a long life as a chronicler of their struggles. They deserve this. He earned it.
God Bless You
26
I say this very gently: I am pretty sure Mr. Ackerman and others that experienced combat care much to read what commenters have to say about politics then and now. I think mostly they just want us, who will never share their combat experiences, to listen well.
15
After watching what happened in Iraq, governments of many countries around the world drew the same lesson: We must possess nuclear weapons to deter U.S. armed forces from invading our territory and overthrowing us. No doubt the North Koreans reached this logical conclusion.
18
Isn't this a Catch-22?
NK: We must have nuclear weapons so the US will not attack us.
USA: We must develop more and more powerful nuclear weapons to assure we can destroy NK if they use theirs.
And round and round it goes.
2
I appreciate the names of the fallen.
The picture of the unit shows what this country is all about, and how it can work together.
6
So moving ... superbly written. I loved the honesty.
14
Like @Dan Moerman, I read this and wept. And like @Anthony, I hardly feel worthy to respond. Still, I will say: My appreciation for this testimony goes beyond words. As a member of an extended family whose members voluntarily served in the US armed forces (grandfathers, fathers, uncles, brothers, cousins, and now even a niece), I can't thank you enough. My kin have hardly talked about their war experiences, except to say that—even if they opposed our government's cause and/or methods—they felt bound to their oath to serve the US Commander in Chief. I pray that our current POTUS will cease his blustering and do all within his power to avert our country's unnecessary involvement in future wars. May he spare the lives and other devastations of our military personnel—men and women alike—and all the devastations that come to their families.
13
I'm curious how Ackerman became a Lieutenant. The Marines are a little weird in that they don't have a formal commission track like other branches. There's no West Point for Marines. You either go through Annapolis or a Navy ROTC program and elect to become a Marine. The other option is OCS. Marine Officer Candidates School. The only Marine officers I knew who went to Iraq all went through OCS.
I bring this up because OCS isn't quite like heading to the recruiter's office and signing up. You're generally required to hold an undergraduate degree before the Corp will even consider your application. The incentives are therefore a little different. With few exceptions, no one is saying you have to go to Iraq. There are usually other options for an OCS candidate.
My friend who was also a Lieutenant in Falluja described the experience as basically blowing up Iraqi houses when they found guns, keeping high school students from getting shot, and getting mortared every day for a month. He signed up because his father was a Marine and he had nothing better to do. I wonder what motivated Ackerman.
My favorite summary of the Iraq War though came from a grunt recently returned. I asked him how the military was working out. He said, "Someone has to peel the potatoes."
4
@Andy My husband went through USMC OCS. He went to Iraq as a major--in 2004, 2005, and 2006--7 month deployments. Believe me, he had no choice in the matter.
9
@Andy the USMC has several different officer accession programs, not only OSC or Annapolis. They also have several enlisted to officer programs - such as Limited Duty Officer, Warrant Officer, Enlisted Commissioning Program, and the Marine Corps Enlisted Educational Program.
2
Because of Vietnam, and the shameful treatment given to people who were drafted and had no choice but to fight, we've now been cowed into the "thank you for your service" mentality. Even though our service is now completely voluntary. Even though anyone who enlisted in the run up to Iraq, or after, should have known there was no justification for the war. We need to have a reckoning with those responsible -- both those who led the country into it, and those who volunteered at a time when they should have known it was a war of choice, with no justification. This piece, glorifying the sack of a city as part of an invasion that is a moral stain on our country, should have never been published.
20
@Brian While I agree with much of what you wrote, I think reading horrendous accounts of brutality and murder (the author's words) is important. If we do not see the futility of trying to control other people through force, we will never learn from our mistakes. Sadly, war is our main jobs program in the U.S. It provides every representative's district with jobs and campaign donations via the military industrial complex. It's always about money and power for our, so called, "leaders".
8
There was a justification for the war. Our intelligence agencies believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. As it turned out later, that intelligence was wrong but none of us, including you, knew that at the time.
1
@Brian
Thank you. Indeed, Fallujah made Mai Lai look like childsplay but our press was more independent in those days.
4
As a Vietnam Veteran, I can say one thing with all certainty, the 1500 troops that Trump plans to send to the Middle East will not include any of his children nor the children from most of his administration.
65
Four American contractors were hung in Fallujah . The marines responded and basically wiped out this Sunni city . The battles still rage. Invading Iraq was a mistake . Marines need to learn to say that they will not serve in senseless wars .
22
@Same As It Ever Was ... sounds like the Marines' did the right thing in response to the murder of the American contractors.
The marines nor any of our military will ever tell a President no, even when the generals know their going to war under false pretenses.
2
Powerful stuff. I’m glad you guys took the fight to the radicals there. It was a smashing battle and will long be remembered for the bravery of our guys like you.
10
what bravery reducing a city to rubble with was because of American lies.
3
Wow. I don’t even feel worthy to respond to this. I’m sad that the war hawks like Bolton won’t read this because they only get their news from the state news agency: Fox. This should be required reading for all Congressmen, Senators and members of the the Executive Branch that have anything at all to do with sending young men to war.
42
@Anthony If only the political side (Bush, Cheney, Trump, Bolton etc) were anywhere near the level of competence that our military demonstrates. The political "leadership" of war has been the weakest link since the Vietnam conflict.
6
@Anthony
Sadly, our gigantic "Military Industrial Complex" is amply supported by both sides of the aisle. Fewer than ten Democratic senators voted against last years $750 billion plus war budget; and fewer than forty Democratic House members voted nay. The MIC is a powerful lobby and contributes mightily to their campaigns.
8
@Anthony you think Bolton cares one bit about accounts like this?
2
I've noticed that both my boys, who each gung-ho enlisted in the combat Infantry out of high school, have each kept their uniforms too, like you have done. One went to Iraq, the other to Afghanistan. But both, while in, very soon grew to hate the Military, and still do. They each say the Military will only lie to you, and to our country, and you cannot trust whatever it says.
113
It is hard for me to accept that GW Bush and most Americans were so ready to invade a UN sanctioned country, with an enforced no fly zone around it, with a cooked up excuse of Weapons of Mass Destruction, halfway around the would and at cost of $2.4 trillion
According to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report published in October 2007, the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could cost taxpayers a total of $2.4 trillion by 2017 when counting the huge interest costs because combat is being financed with borrowed money.
It was all for nothing, except for those predatory military industrial entities that profit by using the precious flesh and blood of our youth and then, abandon them when they are horribly wounded and in great need after being used for the profit of others.
I suppose, if we looked at the private investment portfolios of many of our elected representatives in those days leading up to war, we would likely see substantial investments in the private sector corporations that profit from conflict and death. Predatory Greed has been stalking our country for a long, long time. It is the Achilles heel of capitalism and it will has been and will destroy us all.
All you can do is watch, unless, unless...you vote for change.
41
It would have taken more courage as a Marine, to say this war is wrong. Killing Iraqis is wrong. I refuse to do it.
The US raises a lot of youth who think war and fighting are a glorious way to prove their courage.
Such thinking keeps producing cannon fodder for the wars to protect the interests of the global elite.
There is absolutely nothing noble in fighting such wars.
27
Falluja, times hundreds and thousands, would be what American soldiers and Marines would face if sent into ground action in Iran. Against a better armed and better trained opposition.
6
I am looking for an apology to the people of Iraq and Falluja from a foreign army which came into their city killing civilians and defenders, reducing them to piles of wet, black rags. I might as well be reading about the Battle of Omdurman when Kitchener's British army used superior weaponry to kill thousands of native defenders to secure possession of the Sudan in 1898. Imperialism is imperialism, Brits or US Marines. It never changes. Get ready for its next, senseless act in Iran.
37
And then there were the victims of a city surrounded, besieged and destroyed in one of the most vengeful and shameful episodes of mass murder in our military's history. I'm not surprised some marine's couldn't take it.
19
I read this, and wept.
10
@Dan Moerman
I did as well. How can we keep doing this just to enrich the portfolios of the war mongers? We know from as far back as Viet Nam that we are lied to and manipulated by the military industrial complex. We have not fought an "honest" war since WWII. It's all been for the glory of the Haliburtons and their ilk. I think we've spent more than enough blood for the Cheneys, Boltons, and Trumps of the USA - who rarely, if ever, go themselves or send their own.
3
Thank you for reminding us of the horrors of war. In our world of iPhones, drones and cruise missiles, we forget about pierced femoral arteries, blood on the floor mixed with salt, and death.
I hope future generations will heed John Lennon... give peace a chance
22
Wars should be fought by old men, not the young, they are the future, they should not be scarred so, they deserve better. It's old men who start wars, let them fight it.
33
No matter what anyone says, these soldiers saw how they helped the people of Iraq.
3
@Daphne Sanitz I must have read a different article than you. Please tell me how the people of Iraq have been helped by us invading their country?
5
Thank you for this piece. The most honest account of the reality of war I’ve read since Eugene Stoners work, “With the Old Breed”.
8
@Charles Davis
It was Eugene Sledge and I agree a very good book.
3
@Charles Davis With The Old Breed was written by Eugene Sledge.
1
@Charles Davis
Eugene Sledge - not Stoners.
1
This tells us nothing of the justice or injustice of the invasion and conquest of Iraq.
10
This should be mandatory reading for all American and, at large, for all people to understand what war is. It is at the same level as " With the Old Breed" from E. Sledge, another look from a Marines on the ground at what real war is.
Only one word comes to me : respect.
15
Great article, this is why I subscribe to the Times.
10
I hope and wish that your writing might have enough influence that your children might not have to experience what you have.
It seems that those who have never had to carry a human gushing with blood to aid, or never had to go to the aid of another at personal risk are always the first to pound the drums and bugle of war.
7
Incredible essay.
7
Dying for Halliburton in an unnecessary war we were lied into. The bravery is powerful but the cause mindless. How does Dick Cheney walk free among us?
39
@spinoza And how does George W Bush enjoy his retirement pursuits, like painting pictures of his dogs? Where are the consequences for failure on the part of Bush, Cheney, Wolfowitz, and the other political types, who clearly had no idea what to expect in Iraq or Afghanistan, but who claimed it would be a "cake walk." How can we tolerate our current president, who claims his gut knows "more than the generals" ?
7
I may be a peacenick. But today, this is what I’m thinking after reading your account: God bless you, Elliot, and all your comrades in arms. I wish you and your surviving colleagues long, healthy and happy lives. It doesn’t matter whether or not you should have been there. The point is that you were there, and did what you had to do under the circumstances at gallantly, professionally, and at great cost. You and your colleagues profoundly deserve to be honored.
20
Damnable, damnable war. And humans never learn.
How deeply is it wound in the human species? Tribalism? Ancient hatreds?
I can only say this: no brass bands, no celebration, no confetti.
Only heads bowed soberly, in grief.
6
This is war porn. An exciting and romantic true adventure story, it's one more glorification of war and the military.
Lt. Ackerman won his medal as part of a murderous large-scale failure in aid of a larger-scale crime. In telling us how he was a tough Marine leading tough Marines, he still doesn't seem to know or to acknowledge that it was a war crime for Bush to attack Iraq.
Did he kill people? Why shouldn't he say yes or no or I don't know, whichever is true? It's a simple question. I can only suppose he doesn't want to answer truthfully without an elaborate apologia pro vita sua. He gets no medal for that one.
This piece is a symptom of the US addiction to militarism and war. The US armed forces (except for the Coast Guard) exist only to kill and destroy. War is destructive of the humanity of those who do it, even the 'winners'. I see the wreckage from these evil wars any day at the VA hospital, but the invisible damage to families and to communities ripples far beyond that.
When someone thanks me for my own service I try to say, 'Please don't. I know you are being kind, and I thank you for that, but please don't thank me. I'm ashamed of what we did and nobody should be thanked for doing it.' But mostly I don't say it because it upsets people too much and it upsets me too and there is usually no time for me to explain or talk about it.
America: lots of guns, lots of killing, at home and abroad.
45
Hey Monk.
Right on target. I’m an RN at the VA. Nicely said and a lot of us feel this way.
I am not a vet. But some of us civilians get it. Thanks to you.
David
12
@PoloniusMonk
You got it right, bro. Vietnam. Iraq. We come, we kill (one of ours to ten, twenty, thirty of theirs), we destroy, we leave, we get our medals, we write books, we get parades. God bless America.
10
@PoloniusMonk
as a good liberal let me say "oh please" . You managed to entirely miss the point of the article and instead decided to pontificate and mischaracterize it.
11
Brilliant.
From a distant colleague, a grunt with E 2/3, whose military career ended abruptly on the third day of Tet in 1968.
Please keep writing.
10
"resulted in the fiercest urban combat since the battle for Hue in Vietnam in 1968"
and was the biggest waste of energy, men, resources since Vietnam in 1968.
Plus, we have probably retaken Fellujah five times since that original "victory".
Additionally, the battle of Fellujah destroyed most of the homes of thousands of residents displacing many of them all the way to Europe thereby destabilizing Europe and moving Europe toward right wing governments.
The Iraq War, just exactly like the Vietnam war, was, and is, a completely unnecessary destructive activity sponsored by the USA for profit.
33
@Michael
As hundreds of thousands of refugees have poured out of the Middle East into Europe and Scandinavia, I have come to the conclusion that Russia's bombings in Syria are all part of Putin's master plan to disrupt those European and Scandinavian countries with overwhelming pressure to deal with the refugee crisis.
And as the refugees make their way from country to country, Putin's PR machine has spurred racist and nationalist movements to disrupt his perceived opponents to the west.
If Putin is successful in retaking Ukraine, he will probably invade the former Soviet holdings in Eastern Europe, and the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
SO when Trump gives Putin his bromantic bear hugs, we should all be very worried.
3
My father fought for three years in the South Pacific during WW II, spending his time hopping from island to island securing airfields so the US could launch air raids closer and closer to Japan. This story is eerily reminiscent of the stories he told me when I was growing up of fighting especially in Manila and other Philippine cities. He never wanted recognition or glory (although he won a bronze star) but he wanted us to know the horror of war and never wanted us to go to war in Vietnam Nam. War is war and even with new equipment and technology remains the same. He remained scarred psychologically till he died something my brother and I only realized when he was gone.
Political debates are fine and there is time for questioning of politicians but let’s honor these men. Unless you’ve been there you will never understand.
15
I worked with a U.S. Army veteran of the battle of Falluja, and after hearing his stories of what happened, wished they could be told on a broader canvas. Hopefully this article will be a part of that so that more Americans understand the sacrifice that were made there.
12
In 2003, just 16% of us were against invading Iraq. It was a time of rah, rah, shock and awe, until Americans started dying, including the contractors at Fallujah 19 months earlier. I know that in every conflict we have engaged, there are incredible people such as Mr. Ackerman who arise from the horror, waste, ugliness, pain, confusion, and killing to document so well what happened. I just wish we Americans would think a lot more before engaging in these conflicts. That can only happen if enough informed people vote. Elections matter. And war is not a video game. Everyone in it is affected, not just those wounded, killed, or fighting.
16
@Mike S. Not all of our elected reps supported invading Iraq. One is running for POTUS: Bernie Sanders. He had the foresight to understand that war was for profit and not to liberate Iraqis.
7
Did they find the WMDs in Falluja? I don't seem to remember.
And how is it we are still describing the Iraqis as 'insurgents' in their own country? We sent brave men and women out to this nightmare on false pretenses, but we never had a truth commission, so we are left with war gore narratives on which to dwell without the historical truth or context.
58
@WRosenthal
They did find WMD's in IraQ. Not as many as was expected but they were there.
2
Rocket Squirrel: your reply is misleading and essentially wrong. Some chemical weapons shells were found, many of which were from the Iran-Iraq war period, but no nukes and no nuke program were found — and nukes were the reason given for the invasion.
11
What were they? Where were they? And how did they threaten us?
7
10 or 15 years from now a US marine will probably pen a similar Memorial Day Weekend article in the NYT about his recollections fighting in Shiraz or Tabriz. And no doubt it will be similarly myopic about the invented excuses for going to war with Iran and the appalling civilian casualties and regional fallout.
None of the architects of the Iraq War were sent to The Hague in orange jumpsuits. They all moved on to corporate or academic jobs or are enjoying retirement. Including the torturers. One of them, John Bolton, is part of the Trump Administration and methodically escalating tensions with Iran. He’s not chastened by the Iraq War, why would he be? How did any of us hold him accountable?
When we go to war with Iran, the American public will cheer Our Hero’s who are Defending Our Freedoms. It’s what we do. The corporate media will be breathlessly excited again. It’s what it does. The lessons of the Iraq War will be forgotten, just as the Vietnam War before it. We never really wanted to learn them.
70
@Xoxarle -- "When we go to war with Iran, the American public will cheer."
Not all of us will cheer. Many are so tired and angry about young men and women sent to fight stupid, useless wars that we will demonstrate in the streets again and again to protest YET ANOTHER war being fought for a president's ego-soothing made-up reasons and little more.
Eliot Ackerman is a genuine hero, but he was a hero in a war fought for fraudulent reasons that has consumed our country for 16 years.
It has alienated people who could have been our friends if our politicians weren't so vain they couldn't see beyond using overwhelming force to quell an "insurgency" that was actually a revolt against what we had done to their country.
The hostility against the US in Iran that has led us again to the brink of beginning a stupid war is also a revolt against what we did to their country beginning with placing the Shah again to royalty after Iran had become a democratic country.
I salute Mr. Ackerman, but I hope (against hope, actually) that his courage and actions will be unnecessary again, unless the next war is an actual existential crisis for our country, as World War II was.
12
Stunning. So well crafted to deliver in a quiet way, the insane, unpredictable heartbeat of battle.
Thank you.
9
Meanwhile, do the brave Iraqi patriots who fought and died to free their country from American invaders get a memorial day? Do they get medals?
They fought without possibility of medical evacuation when wounded, without an army, without pay, without air support, without MREs, without hope of victory, against overwhelming odds. And they did it to defend their country when it was invaded under false pretenses. So who are the real heroes?
45
You seem to imply that this man, telling the truth of his experience which is sorely needed, somehow diminishes the story of the Iraqis. What’s that about? This is the Marines story. Let their soldiers tell theirs. There was enough suffering to go around.
20
@Charles Davis Enough suffering? Not by the Americans. They do not know the horror of that invasion. We destroyed, beyond description. We didn't lose our cities, hundreds of thousands of families. To a ruthless, torturing invader of unlimited resources and power, willfully using lies to justify the carnage.
16
@A Cynic
Heroes? I got the impression the fighters were religious fanatics, who had used violence for decades against people who disagreed with them, who today, would use violence against anyone who disagreed with them--if they were still alive.
Moreover, the Iraqi fighters claimed they were doing Allah's bidding, that Allah was on their side.
They got wiped out.
Isn't your argument with Allah?
2
While I appreciate the openness of this account, it is mindboggling to me how these people are honored as heroes in the US. The war was illegal and senseless, with hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths and catastrophic consequences for the region and the world. They should not have been there in the first place. Not a shred of respect from me!
13
@KB You are confusing the individuals who did their best to serve their country in an honorable and selfless way - they were all volunteers - with the immoral and wrongheaded policies of the president and Congress. Those who served should be honored.
18
Thank you for the response, but I strongly disagree. They were the ones that pulled the trigger. Being a soldier doesn't absolve anyone of questioning the moral foundations and human consequences of their behaviour. They should have refused to go. Those that didn't are as guilty as the criminals who sent them there.
2
I understand. Had the U.S. not invaded Iraq, there would have been no Sunni uprising, Saddam was their leader, he suppressed the Shia majority and the Kurds in order to keep Sunnis dominant. But the insurgents in Fallujah were terrorizing innocent people as well as the Shia dominated government forces. Letting them terrorize was not the moral thing to do either.
The "first insurgents" were people defending their neighborhoods, no?
22
Wow, what a great account and makes me so impressed of American forces and their metal. Great, human and inspirational.
1
This is one of the most haunting and thought-provoking pieces I’ve read in a while, and Lt. Ackerman’s harrowing prose will linger with me throughout this Memorial Day weekend.
Regardless of one’s opinions about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, we often forget that the battles are not fought by politicians, but by real men and women, engaging in the most violent battles imaginable. People with individual reasons for having joined the armed services, and their own hopes and fears and families. Stories such as this one serve to remind us of the brutal realities of modern combat, and the sacrifices made by our warriors in our names.
May this story and others like it help us to not only remember our war dead, but inspire us to once again become the America that leads through peace and international cooperation, and engages in lethal wars very reluctantly and only when absolutely just and necessary.
17
@Mark It was a cakewalk compared to the American civil war or the trenches of WWI. Christ, the Americans had air conditioned housing, an army of people feeding them, short 11 month tours, air power, medivac, and (despite Trump's lies) pretty decent post-war medical attention. And pensions. And family left here -- people who were not bombed into oblivion.
6
@Mark "May this story and others like it help us to not only remember our war dead, but inspire us to once again become the America that leads through peace and international cooperation, and engages in lethal wars very reluctantly and only when absolutely just and necessary."
May I ask when this time of "lead(ing) through peace and international cooperation" took place? I'm 52 years old, and I have never seen the U.S. do this under any president and congress. After all, it's not their children and grandchildren being sent into combat.
2
I was in Iraq in 2004, a platoon leader like Mr Ackerman.
I remember the exact day and moment that I knew something was off at a very macro level. Our tank section had just rushed out to a major supply route to protect a flipped over KBR delivery truck. Chatting with the driver, I asked him about life as an unarmed contractor in a hostile war zone. He told me that he was making $200k a year tax free so it was worth it. Then he retired to take a nap in another truck while my soldiers and I stayed alert in the blistering July sun to ensure his safety.
We both were just doing our jobs, but...?
64
@kos03
I must remind others that the KBR driver got his $200K job because then-VP Dick Cheney insisted on a no-bid contract to his fomer employer, Halliburton, the parent company of KBR (KellogBrown&Root). Cheney was Halliburton CEO before being tapped at Bush43's veep.
I will always believe Cheney had hefty commissions put aside for him in some secret account at an offshore bank, as thanks for the billions made in the supply chain and oil field repairs. Evidence? Just a hunch.
13
Just keeping the demands upon the size of the active military small in Iraq. Trump is not the first deceptive elected official who has conned the American people by manipulating appearances.
3
Elliott Ackerman and the soldiers under his command are to be lauded for their courage under fire in one of the fiercest battles in Iraq.
And like any good writer, Ackerman strives to fill in the gaps in the romanticized official version of his commendation. The list of American casualties is beyond sad—all under thirty and most under twenty-two years of age.
But there are other gaps that need to be narrated.
Military discipline is a function of the chain of command. Ackerman and his charges had no choice but to participate in the battle of Fallujah.
But did they ever question their presence in Iraq, a foreign country, and their mandate to depose Saddam Hussein? Did these soldiers appreciate the fact that the insurgents had wives, children, mothers, fathers, siblings who loved them and worried about their fates? They were human beings too defending the sovereignty of their nation in a stronghold of Hussein’s Baath Party.
Track pants? That is pretty feeble armor to be taking on American war planes, artillery, M-16s, and kevlar. The insurgents were extraordinarily gutsy—just like the Viet Cong and the mujahideen—because they were motivated by belief.
The Iraq campaign no doubt spurred on more insurgency and hatred of America and the exodus of thousands of Iraqis from their wartorn land.
Soldiers enlist to serve the military, but conscientious objection may have been the more ethical route to take.
What a waste of precious young lives.
23
@Chance
You raise a good point about conscientious objection. But these days, going into the military often seems to be the only "decent paying job" around for many of our young people. Just think if the military budget were cut in half - we could have a peaceful, constructive Civilian Conservation Corps instead. Repair our national parks, work in communities of need. A wish, a dream, but a nice one to think about this Memorial Day.
6
Thank you very much for your service. Never forget. Powerfully and beautifully written. This will stick with me for awhile.
10
But whom did he really serve?
3
You are a hero my friend. I only wish the people who sent you to war could have a glimmer of understanding of what they were asking you to do.
12
Shame about the laminated Bible verses. For comfort, fine. But too easily misconstrued as motivation.
5
Thank you very much for this insightful and heart-wrenching account.
When I read it, I'm of two minds:
A) I don't want any of the Marines to take any casualties at all. I want them to return to their families here in the US safe and sound.
B) At the same time, the underdog here is not the Marine Corps. The US enjoyed complete military and material superiority in Iraq - notice that the "enemy" in Fallujah is running around in track suits while our men have Kevlar helmets, body armor, tanks, complete control of the air, state-of-the art communications equipment, etc.
But we had no right to be there. That's just a fact. Under international law, the invasion of Iraq was completely unjustified. It was NOT a war of self-defense by any stretch of the imagination. And the "insurgents" were doing exactly what we would do if we were under foreign military occupation. It pains me to say that. But it's true.
129
Thank-you for your bravery, leadership and telling this story. I have one question: Why?
8
Thank you for your story. It should be required reading for all those who order our young men and women into harm's way and those preparing to enlist. Most of our young today barely acknowledge the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Vietnam is ancient history. Flat draped coffins, broken families, and broken bodies are the price too many have paid for our freedoms. Memorial Day is for the fallen not just a three-day holiday weekend. Lest we forget.
29
@trucklt May I ask how we are more "free" as a result of this invasion? I'd say we stirred up a hornets nest by invading Iraq, thus creating a less free and prosperous (except for the contractors) society.
2
What this moving account of courage under horrible conditions reminds us is that our leaders bear a heavy responsibility to risk the lives of our fighting men and women only when the threat to our security requires it. Lieut. Ackerman and his men, even those who survived, paid a heavy price in their country's service, for which we can never repay them. But our elected leaders can ensure that no more service personnel will suffer for political goals rather than for reasons of national security.
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I'm at a loss for words, I just feel chills. God bless you.
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The US military will decimate any foe. That anyone would oppose them is suicide. Yet, they do. Their motivation to is beyond my comprehension.
On 9/11 I walked down the the 'promenade', an overlook above the BQE that stares directly into Manhattan. I began to cry, as I recognized that our anger would be unleashed, with terrible consequences.
Saddam Hussein had made an assassination attempt on Bush Sr. Bush Jr. used the pent up anger of 9/11 for retribution against Saddam. Like the Vietnam war, the reasons for going to war were invented from thin air.
The story herein tells of the horrors of war. If attacked, we must respond militarily. But no one has attacked us since Pearl Harbor, and yet we find excuses to sacrifice the lives of our men, and to kill those who oppose them.
Eisenhower warned us of this. The Military-Industrial complex needs periodic wars to keep its profits going. Will America ever learn?
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For those who don't question or challenge the questioner and just obey orders, I believe you are doing a dis-service to our country. Memorial day was set as a holiday by Lincoln to remember the souls of those who died for the Union. The Union was preserved and we withstood the strongest challenge to our Union, a civil war! The brave men who lost their lives did so to save the larger goal - the preservation of our Union, the USofA.
What did the brave 82 men who lost their lives in Falluja gain? Sadly the answer is nothing. Yes nothing in Hue, Vietnam, nothing in Falluja or the larger battle in Iraq. That these Marines are brave is not the question, but bravery in the cause of gaining nothing is foolish.
We as a democratic country need to think twice before we put our brave soldiers in harms way. People and politicians who are responsible for causing such debacles need to be brought to justice and punished if necessary. Then and only then will we have learned from our mistakes and not repeat them again and again. The only people who have paid for this folly, are the families of the dead soldiers. It may seems harsh to say it but we will be fooling ourselves if we don't: They died for nothing! I hope we all remember that on this Memorial day.
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@Theni I note the sheer triviality of this sentence :
-----"For those who don't question or challenge the questioner and just obey orders"....as if somehow "just" obeying orders is easy and is for the befuddled, ignorant troops.
People can serve honorably and still question, and still follow orders.
Ok, as a Vietnam Veteran, I will say it.
Bush's Iraq War was a war crime. He and Cheney lied and tricked the US into a "shock and awe" obliteration of a sovereign nation so that we could steal its oil and...
Just like in Vietnam, we lost many brave, fine people because of incompetent, courage deprived leaders, and a Congress too afraid to stand alone against the war mongering.
There is much evidence that Nixon destroyed the 1968 Peace Talks just so he could get elected, and over 20,000 American troops died before peace was again available.
I fear there will be young people, mostly male, who will see this article and see in it inspiration, to become something or someone by diving into the glory of war. That would be a tragedy.
The Iraq War was, like most wars, profitable for a few, and an enduring nightmare for many.
May the United Nations one day install peace by having a true International Court that holds all nations to war crimes laws and puts people like Nixon, and Bush, and Cheney behind bars.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
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@Hugh Massengill young, mostly male's who would join are not the demographic that reads the NY Times.
I agree that the Iraq war was for profit.
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@Mary
I would hope that Senators and Congressional representatives do read the NYT --and will think hard about sending troops to Iran under Bolton and Trump's leadership.
Any of Elliot Ackerman's three novels would be valuable reading for them. I particularly recommend "Waiting for Eden."
Know a young person considering military service? Give him (or her) a book or two?
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@Hugh Massengill
Fair appraisal IMO. One of the less mentioned aspects of the rush to "get" Saddam was the timing. I believe for example the reason the UN Inspectors were not awarded the six months they requested to find WMDs was the summer of 2004 presidential campaign. I believe the Bush team planned a six month total military victory and a few months post-war pre-election strut leading to a Bush coronation. Did not quite go that way as this brave warrior testifies.
The same may be happening for the Trump pre-election Iran conflict. Beware the demons.
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Elliot Ackerman wrote that sometimes people back home asked if he ever killed anyone. In about 1963 in a conversation with my grandfather Jack Siegel who was wounded in France, I asked if he had killed anyone he replied "I don't know. I could see men falling on either side of me as we charged toward the trenches of the German machine gun position but, we couldn't see the Germans. They were hidden in the trenches. Then the gas struck us and I don't recall anything after that. It just knocked me out and the next thing I knew I awoke several days later in field hospital." He told me more of the battle before he was felled including laying close to the earth and feeling shrapnel striking his helmet from grenades and artillery strikes.
In about 1969 the Army sent Grandpa his Purple Heart along with a letter of acknowledgment by the Army and testament by a friend who served with him. My mother revealed to me that she believed that man may have been the one who saved grandpa on the battlefield that day in France. She also was very surprised that grandpa said anything to me at all as he never spoke of the war. Sometimes I feel guilty that I asked but, later when I served I recalled his words about not being able to see the enemy. I'm 71 now. I enlisted in October 1966. The Vietnam War altered the lives of everyone of that era. One of my high school classmates, a Marine was killed in 1969. He sat next to me in biology class and others. Vietnam and Iraq were needless and senseless.
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It is true that most men who served in combat don't reveal everything. Some don't because of modesty and other's don't because they can't relive the sheer horror and terror that overwhelmed them. My dad served in the Pacific in the Army Engineer Corps. He never ever said a word. He did talk about his time in the states. There is an album of mom (a Navy WAVE) and dad from about January1941 to his home coming on Valentine's Day 1946. My two grandfathers served in World War I. Jack Siegel was awarded the Purple Heart during the Battle of Meuse Argonne, When I was about 14 I once asked him about the war and I recall his deep shudder as he began to tell me of charging into German machine guns being horrified as men on either side of him fell. In late 1969 when I came home from my Army service I asked my mother what grandpa Siegel said about my coming home. She said he offered one word; "Good". My other grandfather was a Marine in WWI and a Navy Corpsman at Normandy in WWII. He would tell of being proud of his Marine service. It was on the beaches at Normandy that he spoke of caring for the wounded and how he was awed by the size of the invasion. He saved the life of a German POW who a wounded British Commando wanted to kill while being transported to England. My uncle was blown out of a truck in the Korean War and only said how lucky he was. Mom, a Navy Petty officer told of reading letters sent to wives and girlfriends waiting for their men. Some of them she said were shocking.
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I found this account of the Battle for Fallujah to be stirring, obviously heartfelt, and enlightening. I do resent the attempts to minimize the efforts of our soldiers to follow their orders by bringing in the politics that led to this. As a Vietnam vet, I can criticize the politics that led us into these conflicts but I can do nothing but honor our fighters.
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@P. G. Seymour We can honor our service people while at the same time try to make everyone understand the senselessness of these types of war. Blindly saying, "thanks" without perspective will not prevent another Vietnam or Iraq war. Speaking about the brutality and abject failures of our elected representatives may prevent another one. Perhaps if brave men and women stand up against power and greed, we will overcome this for profit carnage.
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@Sue Salvesen make it two different actions then. You have the ability to thank a service member (less the politics) and appreciate their narrative while simultaneously working to avoid war. These two are not mutually exclusive and do not have to be conflated.
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Nice writing. Very moving. One feels as if one were there, but of course without the fear.
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On behalf of all children of veterans of America, a heart-felt thank you for your service; may you feel the gratitude of your country on this and every Memorial Day. My father, a proud veteran who could not speak of the battles, served in Normandy, the liberation of Paris and the Ardennes. Before he died, recently, at nearly 95, we asked him how he felt about his WW2 years as a U.S. Army soldier, he said, "it was a privilege".
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@Carey Adina Karmel Yes, he deserves many accolades. Unfortunately, the war Mr. Ackerman served in, had absolutely no purpose other than to enrich Dick Cheney and his friends' pockets at the expense of thousands of innocent lives. WW2 was a far different war than Korea, Vietnam, or Iraq.
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It is very sad that so many comments seem trapped in the idea that the battle achieved nothing. Tactical narratives and suffering always feel pointless and terrible. But history proves otherwise, and that is the only real recompense these men can have.
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@Walsh I don’t think the argument is that the war achieved nothing. Except in the 21st century war is an outdated strategy especially when there is no specific villain. In WW2 we knew who the villain was. In Afghanistan and Iraq it is much more complex. Nation states in the Middle East and the global south are places of paradox and intricacies that many western governments fail to understand. Finally, history has taught us that war is not a pre requisite for democracy. Take Ghana or Senegal for instance. Countries have their own personalities. It is best when they decide things for themselves rather than a foreign interference.
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@Walsh Please tell me what was achieved by your country and our country invading Iraq. Mass migration? Rise in extremist groups? Starvation?
This is one of the most stirring accounts I’ve ever read, brilliantly woven together.
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Thank you for your service to your country. Without your bravery and the courage of your comments we were able to free Falujah from the Iraqis. The battle for Falujah was pivotal for the success of US invasion. And what a success it was. America is no longer threatened by weapons of mass destruction, and the Middle East now is an island of peace and democracy, just like Prez Bush said it would be. Congrats to Ackerman and guys. They sacrificed to keep us free, prosperous and peaceful.
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@Mark Rabine
As a veteran, I sincerely appreciate your kind words this Memorial Day weekend, but "the Middle East now is an island of peace and democracy" is perhaps the most inaccurate statement I have ever read. Since the invasion of Iraq, the Middle East has been turned upside down and perhaps in the last 20 years there has been more conflict than at any time in modern history there. America completely destabilized the region, causing more potential peril for all of us. Look at Syria, look at the rise of ISIS. Yes, Mr. Ackerman is incredibly brave as were his Marines and their service is absolutely exemplary, but the United States has caused nothing but havoc in the region, beginning with the invasion of Iraq.
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@Rich D
Um, it was clearly a sarcastic remark. It misfired because it was mixed in with praise for Mr. Ackerman, which he probably didn’t mean.
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I’m hoping his statement was perfect irony. He almost had me too.
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The story, the individuals, and their contexts are incredibly complicated.
Strong writing!
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Well written article. Those days were very challenging and the men of all services deserve a great deal of credit for their heroics during our long involvement in Iraq.
That said, there were two battles..the first shortly after the four Blackwater contractors were killed..in that engagement both Marines and Army assaulted the city only to be told to "stand down" after several days of fighting and the lost of a number of our people. The second battle was outlines in this article...in this context, the insurgents were able to reinforce their positions, plan the assault by the Marines and Army personnel..and hence were able to kill many of our people..some 84 plus. President Bush at that time was asked by PM Malaki to stop the initial assault..and that request was granted over the objections of local on the ground commanders..but, Bush as commander in chief gave the direct order to stand down. Many of the deaths attributed to this horrific battle are the direct responsibility of Bush-Cheney.
But, overall, the men of the Marines, Army, Special Operations personnel and Air Force personnel accomplished a very difficult and demanding task. Their bravery will live on for generations.
RH/Balad-2005-2006
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Mr. Ackerman, my husband is a former Marine who served in Afghanistan and Iraq who still will only tell me a few stories, not all, of his experiences there. Thank you for all of the details.
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@Olivia Thank you for your service, Olivia. "They also serve," I know. And thank your husband.
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Quite simply the most stunning and moving piece of writing I have read in a long, long time.
Everything in me wanted to stop reading. But I couldn't stop reading. I felt as though I owed it to Mr. Ackerman, to those who served under him, to all who served and still serve, to feel the horror, the pain and the grief that washed over me as he, through his elegant eloquence, made the battle of Falluja come alive for me.
To those who fought, to those who survived, to those who made the ultimate sacrifice, we all owe a debt that can never be paid.
Let me say it again: A debt that can never be paid.
Semper Fi.
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@Rusty Inman My sentiments exactly, I wanted to stop reading, but couldn't, as you said, I felt I owed it to Mr. Ackerman to continue reading. His writing is superb, and I will read his books, especially his upcoming memoir. His writing reminds me of Michael Herr's "Dispatches" which is one of the great pieces of war journalism, written when he was a reporter for Esquire in Vietnam at the height of the war, and there is one chapter about the battle of Hue, which like Fallujah, was urban warfare. Michael Herr also wrote the narration for "Apocalypse Now", which demonstrated the absurdity of war more vividly than any movie. These writings, as does Mr. Ackerman's make it especially poignant that no man can ever know what it's like to be in battle if he hasn't been. While we all wish that no one ever has to experience what Mr. Ackerman describes, the sad fate of mankind is that this tortuous rite of passage will be undergone by young men until we gain some higher understanding as a species, which based on our 10,000 year history seems doubtful at best. What I appreciate about Mr. Ackerman's writing is that he was able to communicate in such a short space both the horror, and the strength to survive that horror, as well as the lifetime haunting of his psyche that was permanently imprinted upon his soul.
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"Official documents can never tell us the whole story of war." As the proud daughter of a Marine who served in the Pacific in WWII, it was not until his death that I had the honor of reading the journal that he kept during the war. As a teenager, he took me to the VFW where he would go to talk and listen to vets. He spent his last Memorial Day in 2005 talking and listening to a Marine who had served in Falluja. That young man sent a Marine flag to my dad's funeral later that year. Mr. Ackerman, thank you for your story and allowing me to reflect. Semper Fi.
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Mr. Ackerman, thank you for this engaging account of your time in combat. You have a gift for writing.
I believe this fight for Fallujah was the second time that the Marine Corps was tasked to seize the city. The following is an account of that first assault on Fallujah, in April, 2004, by Robert Kaplan in The Atlantic - https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/07/five-days-in-fallujah/303450/. Mr. Ackerman's account of leading young Americans in close combat mirrors Robert Kaplan's riveting description of that first effort to clear and hold Fallujah. In both events, American warriors stepped into a brutal fight because the national leadership decided that this action was vital to 'national security.'
Stories such as these reveal that close quarters fighting is a 'young man's game,' stated by myself with acute awareness and regret that these ferocious fights and the resulting costs were made for a war that was a colossal mistake by our American 'leadership.' Mr. Ackerman's company C.O. was spot-on in telling him that his experience in this inferno was going to be the highlight of his life's experiences.
As an old Marine grunt who never experienced anything like Mr. Ackerman's fights, I have to confess to being a bit jealous. The testing of one's courage under fire is an allure that has attracted hundreds of thousands of young Americans to sign up and serve. And my thoughts for this Memorial Day will be for those warriors who paid the full price.
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Just remember the next time you complain about the electoral college.
A substantial majority of our warriors are Republican and are from the heartland. These patriots generally don’t come from NYC or LA.
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@Jay Lincoln
Jay, this is completely unnecessary. It is also not true. The data available from 2014 indicate that the Southern portion of the United States does make up ~44% of the military. This is not a substantial majority. States like Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and others are low on enlistments. The numbers also show that in 2014 Florida had about 12,600 enlistments, Texas about 16,000 and California about 19,000.
I responded because I’m a Marine. I served in Afghanistan and Iraq and we had people from everywhere. My platoon was made up of people from California, Tennessee, New York, Oregon, Texas, Antigua (Caribbean Nation), Kentucky, and Rhode Island. One of our squad leaders in Iraq was from Jamaica and we had a Staff Sgt. who was from Bosnia and these weren’t people who moved to the heartland when they were children. They were adults who left their country of origin and made the US their home. Those are only the Marines I can remember off the top of my head. The heartland does not have a monopoly on service or patriotism and neither do the political parties in the US. Republicans and Democrats and Libertarians love this country and have fought for it. Let’s try and remember them as a nation not as political partisans.
Please keep the politics out of Memorial Day.
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I enlisted in the Navy after finishing high school in Alaska. My nephew from California is serving in the USAF. My wife's grandfather, father, and uncle (NYC residents) served in the Army and Navy. My step-dad went from Maryland into the Naval Academy. Patriotism does not depend on geography.
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@Jay Lincoln please sir, California has one of the largest military enlistment. Also there are many ways in which people serve this country. There are teachers who have died from gun violence whilst protecting their students. Let’s stop using the military as a cudgel for petty politics. Also the president you worship, dodged the draft 5 times. Where is your outrage?
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Thank you for your service, Mr Ackerman. I have read your books and enjoyed them. "Waiting for Eden" was a harrowing novel that explored the lingering effects of war. However, I wish the NYT would give more space to Afghans and Iraqi's to share their perspective on what it means to be at war in the past 15 years or so. In addition, I wish we Americans paid attention to our country's wars and its effects on people whose land the war is taking place. So far, our wars have been written and explored through the lenses of American soldiers. It is time to hear from the Afghans, Iraqi's and Yemeni's. The young boys and girls who are growing up with the trauma of war hanging over their future. NYT please bring these voices to us. Once again, thank you for your service.
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In 2006 the 1st Battalion, 24th Marines, a reserve infantry battalion out of Michigan, deployed to Falluja for a seven-month tour. The insurgency was going strong at that time. I was a support officer back in Michigan, and ended up making several casualty calls for Marines from my unit killed in Falluja. Many of the parents asked me what their son died for. I always said, "For their buddies." Semper Fi, Ackerman. Good job.
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@Paul McBride
Wrong- like their comrades in Vietnam they died in wars of aggression at the hands of patriots defending their land from an often racially and religiously tinged American imperialism. This is also why the devastating 9/11 attacks happened as massive retaliation in kind for Operation Desert Storm- something many in the region and those of us who are experts on it here had explicitly warned Washington would happen if it failed to realize that the age of Kipling and impunity for the White Mans Burden was long over .
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@M.R. Khan You're both right, in different ways. Right about the too often errant, immoral and corrupt policy choices and decisions to put the flower of our country into harm's way, and right about the valor, commitment and camaraderie of the grunts on the ground who salute and go in unquestioningly. Just as we as a society have asked.
Commander of the 1st Marine Division, then Maj. Gen. Jim Mattis was astounded at the illogic and folly of invading Iraq in 2003. But he saluted in response to his orders, went to prepare his troops and led them into battle. Would we have it any other way?
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You are both right.
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