Manuel Gonzalez’s notes are exceptional for a charged stretch in Ramadi: VBIEDs, mortars, a TOW shot that made TV, a lifesaving tire shot, and the quiet grit of drivers, gunners, and leaders who kept moving. Outside of the shots and incoming, he also discusses denied extensions, training standards, and how bonds last.
• Oliver North encounter and the grenade mindset
• VBIED engagement, mortar fire, a TOW shot
• City-wide cascade of IEDs, RPGs, and QRF responses
• Operation Traveler and urban sniper contact
• Near misses, decisive marksmanship, and restraint
• Guard duty alerts, fallen Cobra pilot, mortars by the hooch
• A promotion without chevrons as comic relief
• Awards that never came and leadership that still matters
• CAT versus mortars culture, training, and FDC standards
• Coping tools: workouts, books, spades, and distance from home
• Unsung roles of drivers, navigators, and NCOs
• Transition to college and finding real support
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All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM
