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Part 2 with Navy Corpsman Mike Rakebrandt about the hidden weight a senior line Corpsman carries in Ramadi, from quiet BAS check-ins to making split-second calls that keep Marines alive. We also discuss what hits hardest on the way home: Gold Star families, survivor’s guilt, and a system that does not follow up when the war is over. 

• how BAS conversations keep doubt from spiraling 
• the homecoming moments
• talking with Gold Star families and answering impossible questions 
• missions that stand out, including Bug Hunt and House Party 
• Operation Traveler and keeping a badly wounded detainee alive
• friction between field medical care and medical staff 
• non-combat medicine that impacts readiness, from flu to abscesses 
• the Purple Heart curse 
• handoff lessons to the incoming unit 
• survivor’s guilt, anxiety, and feeling like two different people 
• the lack of meaningful post-deployment medical follow-up 

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If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088

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 @ [email protected], or via the podcast website above. 

All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM 

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We talk with Mike Rakebrandt about what it takes to prepare Navy Corpsmen when everything is fast, messy, and unforgiving. You can train for trauma medicine, but you can’t rehearse the moment you’re staring at a catastrophic wound and the only objective is “get him to the bird alive.” We also dig into the hidden work: medevac planning, moral injury, and the quiet counseling Corpsmen do so Marines can stay focused and make it home. 

• rebuilding a battalion Corpsman team after turnover
• gearing training and medical loadouts for IEDs, blast trauma, and head injuries 
• scrounging supplies from hospitals
• carrying every loss personally and the leadership mindset behind it 
• the cluster minefield incident and how discipline beats panic 
• Kuwait transit problems, illness management, and early deployment friction 
• planning medevac sites and integrating corpsmen input into raids 
• psychological first aid, grief control, and being the “rock” for Marines 
• moral ambiguity in an insurgency and a role for faith 

If you like what you've heard, this is a multi part episode. Make sure you listen to the rest of the story. 

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If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088

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 @ [email protected], or via the podcast website above. 

All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM 

Send us Fan Mail

Part 2 of Andrew Kern from Mobile Assault Platoon One shifts from a summer lull into intense July and August gunfights, including a rooftop engagement that breaks an ambush and relieves pressure on pinned-down troops. An RPG comes straight at him and he has enough time to think, “Well, I’m dead,” before it blasts into the Humvee instead. We also get candid about Iraqi security forces, the randomness of getting wounded, and what service means when the paperwork never matches what happened.

• an Iraqi unit’s reputation 
• rebuilding Iraqi police and army forces 
• the July 13 government center run-in and the July 14th aftermath
• a Route Michigan battle and the rooftop overwatch
• the moral debate around a wounded combatant
• an RPG strike on a Humvee door and a Purple Heart story
• bridge duty, rockets, return fire, and the boredom between chaos
• left seat right seat, the handover to the next unit
• looking back after 22 years on brotherhood, identity, and meaning

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If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088

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 @ [email protected], or via the podcast website above. 

All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM 

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Andrew Kern leads off part 1 arriving as a brand-new Marine in Weapons Company and how the path from San Mateo training to Ramadi changes his view of what “ready” really means. He walks us through the early Iraq War confusion, the shift from SASO to a more kinetic fight, and some key moments from April 2004 and Hurricane Point. 

• checking in as a boot and learning the personalities fast 
• pre-deployment training  including MOUT Town and control techniques 
• Arabic benefits and fails 
• March Air Force Base;  early-war training gets improvised 
• chaotic flight overseas 
• Kuwait staging then the cold convoy North
• first impressions of Ramadi
• early hearts and minds patrols
• Morris’ death, the Farhan brothers raid, and kicking the hornet's nest 
• bug hunts, loudspeaker taunts, and the mortars 

If you like what you've heard, this is a multi part episode. Make sure you listen to the rest of the story. 

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If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088

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 @ [email protected], or via the podcast website above. 

All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM 

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Dave closes out the days in Ramadi when one unarmored truck, one hit, and one Marine leader’s absence changes the emotional temperature of the whole platoon. We also talk honestly about what comes after, when you make it home with your family but your body still remembers and reacts like you haven't left combat. 

• Recounting late June and July contact and casualties
• What Sgt. Conde represented as a leader, mentor, and friend 
• The way grief shows up as rage, focus, and routine work 
• How constant contact blurs together and makes you numb 
• July 21 QRF memories and the ethics of firefights near a mosque 
• Left seat right seat missions
• Coming home with a new baby 
• Compartmentalizing for years and getting cracked open by a reunion
• Starting therapy, finding the right fit

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If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088

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 @ [email protected], or via the podcast website above. 

All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM 

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We keep the timeline moving in part 2 with David Silton as he relives the IED on April 2 and the brutal stretch of fighting that follows in Ramadi. We talk through what it feels like to operate with a concussion, how split second decisions get made in combat, and why the rules and the reality sometimes collide. 

• IED strike, shrapnel injuries, and getting knocked unconscious 
• Concussion symptoms, memory gaps, and still going out on missions 
• April 6 heavy contact near Easy Street
• Improvised breaching, close quarters shooting, and finding a weapons cache 
• Army 113s arriving under fire 
• Mark 19 and .50 cal employment
• Time perception in long firefights and what it does to recall 
• Rules of engagement: compassion vs survival mode, and civilian casualties 
• April 10 bug hunt, Cobra support, lioness teams, and getting stuck under fire 
• Operation Treasure Island drownings, sleep deprivation, and hallucinating while driving 
• Training Iraqi police and doubts about the handover plan 
• Constant incoming and becoming numb to mortars 

If you like what you've heard, this is a multi part episode. Make sure you listen to the rest of the story. 

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If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088

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 @ [email protected], or via the podcast website above. 

All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM 

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We start part 1 with Dave Silton of MAP 3 about the long buildup to Ramadi, from broken barracks and platoon hazing to urban combat training and the messy logistics of finally leaving. He shares what it feels like to arrive with a “hearts and minds” mindset, confront how unprepared everyone is for IED reality, and still find ways to cope when the pressure hits. 

• Dave’s role in 2/4 as a driver and team leader
• Barracks life, hazing, and how a unit gets tight 
• 9/11 memories and the strange limbo of Operation Noble Eagle 
• Okinawa training, ship life
• Pre-deployment schools, language training
• Deployment-day chaos, missing gear, and a rushed goodbye with family 
• Kuwait acclimatization, scavenged gear
• Camel spider fear, early IED training gaps
• First impressions of Ramadi and Hurricane Point
• Care packages, trading food, and crucial routines 
• Stress after firefights, and how Marines try to shut the brain off 
• Getting sick after eating local food 

If you like what you've heard, this is a multi part episode. Make sure you listen to the rest of the story. 

----------------------------------------------
If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088

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 @ [email protected], or via the podcast website above. 

All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM 

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Part 2 of Eli Mann and he paints how a brand-new Marine grows up fast, from early training and culture shocks to the hard specifics of 2004. His story gets  into fear, guilt, and communication breakdowns, then land on what “constant vigilance” really means when you carry the lessons forward. 

• arriving to the unit as a PFC and feeling "lost in the sauce" 
• March Air Force Base and Mount Town training
• the value of practical hip-pocket classes 
• April cordon and search missions
• casualties that shape the platoon and rumors that spread in the hooch 
• VBIED warnings and comms choke points 
• late July and August tension rising and the fear of VBIED tactics 
• coming home on the Freedom Bird
• leadership influences and the lesson of staying alert

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If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088

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 @ [email protected], or via the podcast website above. 

All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM 

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This interview starts out with Eli Mann about arriving in Ramadi in 2004 and watching early optimism get replaced by a new kind of focus built from heat, mortars, and the grind of convoy life. He walks us through a bicycle IED, the long recovery missions, and the small moments of humor and music. 

• first days at Hurricane Point and adapting to the squad bay life 
• downtime rituals, music, writing, and the pranks
• incoming mortars, near misses
• the bicycle IED and the shock of civilian reactions 
• switching roles from dismount to driver and up-armored Humvees 
• QRF missions, overwatch at key sites, and seeing death up close 
• searching the Euphrates River for missing Marines, the toll of exhaustion 
• recovering fallen Marines, rumors, media presence
• the mosque incident, the sandstorm, and leadership moments

If you like what you've heard, this is a multi part episode. Make sure you listen to the rest of the story. 

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If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088

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 @ [email protected], or via the podcast website above. 

All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM 

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We pick up Part 2 with James Anderson as he connects the experience of Ramadi 2004 to the weird contrast of other people's big bases outside of town, ship life, and the small moments that define a deployment. We talk reintegration, leadership that actually shows up for Marines, and how combat reshapes training, responsibility, and the meaning of brotherhood. 

• carrying Ramadi lessons forward 
• feeling the surreal safety of large bases compared to city outposts 
• getting tested by leadership games, inter-service friction 
• finding normal life inside the hooch  
• navigating family contact and never knowing the real timeline 
• First Sergeant Mack as a leader who knows his Marines 
• coming home, and a first night lapse in judgement
• learning why post-combat training feels fake 
• fighting morale-killing busywork
• reliving a rocket strike, a fire, a working party gone wrong, and a near miss injury 
• naming the Marines who stood out, the value of reunions, and what it all means 

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If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088

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 @ [email protected], or via the podcast website above. 

All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM