COMBAT STORIES FROM Iraq

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Showing : Iraq Videos

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  Jason Lilley - Marines +11 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  It takes a lot of heart to become a Marine but it takes even more to become a Reconnaissance Marine. To endure the rigorous physical and mental challenges means you are one of the elite. This group of Recon Marines shares their personal stories of joining the Corps and how they came to Recon during a pivotal time in history. Part 1 of 3. (Caution: strong language)

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  Blair Dell - Navy +16 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  Nobody had heard of Fallujah when Blair Dell got there. Everyone in his Marine Recon unit was happy when Gen. Mattis gave them free reign in their mission. They began to run into Syrian fighters but had trouble getting the higher ups to believe it. They also encountered civilians who quietly thanked them for getting rid of the bad guys.

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  Rudy Reyes - Marines +10 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  It put some hard bark on him. When Rudy Reyes came back to Iraq, the intense fighting in Fallujah and Ramadi changed him and hardened his outlook. After an ambush cost one of the men both his arms, he began taking the most dangerous clandestine missions.

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  Jason Lilley - Marines +11 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  The routine convoy was stopped in its tracks by dozens of Jihadis. Jason Lilley was in the back and his group veered off to mount a counter-ambush. The first vehicle had been hit with an RPG and the enemy was firing from multiple locations. Captain Brent Morel led a charge straight at them while Lilley's group of Marines blasted them from the rear. For this action, he was awarded the Silver Star. (Caution: strong language)

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  Peter Sprenger - Army +15 Total Videos

  101st Airborne

  Slammed by powerful explosives, 2LT Sprenger describes the sheer terror of being blinded and badly injured. He relives the heroic efforts of those who helped him scramble to safety.

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  Mike Schlitz - Army +5 Total Videos

  4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division

  Mike Schlitz tells about the circumstances that led to his injury and all of the life changes that occurred as a result.

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  Chris Pinkerton - Army +16 Total Videos

  25th ID (ABN)

  2LT Pinkerton dramatically recalls what happened after an explosive projectile slammed into an army truck injuring two buddies and killing an officer all the soldiers respected.

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  George Howard - Marines +8 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  They thought it was over. In 2003 the men of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion stormed into Iraq during the initial assault. They returned home triumphant, mission accomplished. But then the word came that there would be an emergency redeployment. Saddam may be gone but the job was not finished and they were going to Fallujah. Part 3 of 3. (Caution: strong language)

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  Blair Dell - Marines +16 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  It takes a lot of heart to become a Marine but it takes even more to become a Reconnaissance Marine. To endure the rigorous physical and mental challenges means you are one of the elite. This group of Recon Marines shares their personal stories of joining the Corps and how they came to Recon during a pivotal time in history. Part 1 of 3. (Caution: strong language)

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  George Howard - Marines +8 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  As Operation Iraqi Freedom unfolded, the mission of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion was to draw out Saddam's forces and engage them while larger bodies of troops moved on Baghdad. With one Recon platoon, a journalist was embedded who turned their story into a series of articles, a book and an award winning Hollywood production named Generation Kill. Part 2 of 3. (Caution: strong language)

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  Josh Ray Person - Marines +9 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  It takes a lot of heart to become a Marine but it takes even more to become a Reconnaissance Marine. To endure the rigorous physical and mental challenges means you are one of the elite. This group of Recon Marines shares their personal stories of joining the Corps and how they came to Recon during a pivotal time in history. Part 1 of 3. (Caution: strong language)

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  Jason Lilley - Marines +11 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  They thought it was over. In 2003 the men of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion stormed into Iraq during the initial assault. They returned home triumphant, mission accomplished. But then the word came that there would be an emergency redeployment. Saddam may be gone but the job was not finished and they were going to Fallujah. Part 3 of 3. (Caution: strong language)

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  John Christeson - Marines +14 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  As Operation Iraqi Freedom unfolded, the mission of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion was to draw out Saddam's forces and engage them while larger bodies of troops moved on Baghdad. With one Recon platoon, a journalist was embedded who turned their story into a series of articles, a book and an award winning Hollywood production named Generation Kill. Part 2 of 3. (Caution: strong language)

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  Blair Dell - Marines +16 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  As Operation Iraqi Freedom unfolded, the mission of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion was to draw out Saddam's forces and engage them while larger bodies of troops moved on Baghdad. With one Recon platoon, a journalist was embedded who turned their story into a series of articles, a book and an award winning Hollywood production named Generation Kill. Part 2 of 3. (Caution: strong language)

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  John Christeson - Marines +14 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  They thought it was over. In 2003 the men of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion stormed into Iraq during the initial assault. They returned home triumphant, mission accomplished. But then the word came that there would be an emergency redeployment. Saddam may be gone but the job was not finished and they were going to Fallujah. Part 3 of 3. (Caution: strong language)

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  George Howard - Marines +8 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  He was stuck as a valet after leaving the Marines but a chance meeting put George Howard on an upward path at a mortgage brokerage firm. The market crashed in 2008 so he returned to Iraq as a contractor but then, ironically, the financial crisis afforded him a new job possibility.

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  Josh Ray Person - Marines +9 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  They were the envy of everyone in the US military. Recon Marine Josh Ray Person and his unit were in Australia when the 9/11 attacks occurred and, before the year was out, they were among the first American boots on the ground in Afghanistan. Next stop, Iraq.

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  Rudy Reyes - Marines +10 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  His father and his stepfather were both Vietnam Marines and, following a rough childhood, Rudy Reyes followed in their footsteps. He excelled at boot camp and the School of Infantry because he arrived in top physical shape and he had a determined attitude. He was not going to be dominated in any way.

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  John Christeson - Marines +14 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  After he left the Marine Corps, John Christeson wasted no time. He did a little security contracting and finished college and then considered applying to the Marine officer program. He needed a hard-to-get waiver to do that.

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  Blair Dell - Navy +16 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  What is the Golden Hour? It's a popular concept that states that an injured person's chances of survival are much greater if they get to a medical facility within an hour. Corpsman Blair Dell explains why there's a couple of things wrong with that, especially when you make it into a doctrine.

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  John Christeson - Marines +14 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  It takes a lot of heart to become a Marine but it takes even more to become a Reconnaissance Marine. To endure the rigorous physical and mental challenges means you are one of the elite. This group of Recon Marines shares their personal stories of joining the Corps and how they came to Recon during a pivotal time in history. Part 1 of 3. (Caution: strong language)

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  George Howard - Marines +8 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  He came from the pristine Montana wilderness. George Howard loved that part but he wanted to leave and do something else. He went to see a recruiter and the Marine dress blues snagged another one.

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  Blair Dell - Marines +16 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  They thought it was over. In 2003 the men of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion stormed into Iraq during the initial assault. They returned home triumphant, mission accomplished. But then the word came that there would be an emergency redeployment. Saddam may be gone but the job was not finished and they were going to Fallujah. Part 3 of 3. (Caution: strong language)

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  John Christeson - Marines +14 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  He had run track in high school and found the physical training in boot camp to be a little less difficult than he'd imagined. John Christeson was also doing well in the School of Infantry when Recon came calling with a screening for potential trainees.

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  Jason Lilley - Marines +11 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  By the time he reached high school, divorce had made him withdrawn and depressed. A roommate got him thinking about the Marine Corps and he began training on his own. Soon he was in San Diego training for real at boot camp and the School of Infantry.

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  Blair Dell - Navy +16 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  As Blair Dell began his training for the Recon Marines, he met instructors that he would later serve with in the field. The training was brutal and difficult but he was determined not to quit. As he moved through the pipeline, he had a demanding physical training test scheduled for Sept. 11, 2001. It was postponed.

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  Jason Lilley - Marines +11 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  In the Spring of 2003 Jason Lilley deployed to the Kuwait desert in preparation for Operation Iraqi Freedom. He had just joined the elite 1st Reconnaissance Battalion and he and his new buddies had trained hard for this moment. As he waited to cross the border, ordnance filled the sky, coursing into Iraq. (Caution: strong language)

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  George Howard - Marines +8 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  The first few days were uneventful but, of course, that didn't last. George Howard was pushing into Iraq with the 1st Recon Marines and when they got to Nasiriyah the war was inescapable. He began to question how long his time as a Marine was going to be.

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  Jason Lilley - Marines +11 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  As Operation Iraqi Freedom unfolded, the mission of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion was to draw out Saddam's forces and engage them while larger bodies of troops moved on Baghdad. With one Recon platoon, a journalist was embedded who turned their story into a series of articles, a book and an award winning Hollywood production named Generation Kill. Part 2 of 3. (Caution: strong language)

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  Josh Ray Person - Marines +9 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  It was memorable. Through the berm and into Iraq, driving through the desert at night. Recon Marine Josh Ray Person was at the wheel and he was also driving when the unit was later ambushed on a bridge. As the war progressed, he encountered many Iraqis who wanted to join in and kill Saddam. (Caution: strong language)