Nick Kelly recounts Ramadi in 2004, from the first push, to the government center, to the fight that swallowed Easy Street, and the strange silence of coming home. Nick also paints the story of what lingers. It's the humanizing part: calling a parent from an accidentally open phone center; cleaning carbon off steel because it steadies the mind; reading about Vietnam under desert stars; and deciding how much of the past to carry into the present.
• background as 0331 in a Mobile Assault Platoon
• training gaps versus urban combat reality
• convoy north, first IEDs, arrival in Ramadi
• April 6, government center push and Easy Street fight
• close engagements with Mk-19
• casualties and battlefield triage
• April 7, Route Nova ambush and tree-top fighters
• car bombs, jam clears, alley fights
• night ambushes, tanks, and near misses
• downtime rituals, books, music
• family support and perspective
• meaning, memory, and choosing when to speak
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If you are a member of Weapons Company or someone with a story about Weapons Company 2/4 in 2004, please come tell some stories with us - 20 mins or 20 hours! Help paint the canvas of an archival story for others to know what it was like. Contact us @ RamadiPodcast@gmail.com, or via the podcast website above.
All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM
