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We talk with Jim Anderson from Mobile Assault Platoon 2 about getting rerouted from SOI into a combat replacement pipeline and how a brand-new Marine earns a place in a weapons platoon through truck workups, call signs, brutal first contacts, and the relentless tempo. Jim also reflects on being a “replacement” and the quiet ways that can shape belonging, pride, and memory when a unit has already been through intense fighting. 

• getting pulled for deployment at the end of SOI to Combat Replacement Company 2 
• the rushed gear-up cycle, hurry up and wait
• the journey through Kuwait and Al-Asad with no clear assignment
• arriving at Hurricane Point at night and meeting the platoon
• early lessons on IED awareness, five and twenty-fives, and rookie mistakes 
• learning the M240 and TOW routines 
• first major contact, comms failure, and pushing through an ambush 
• movement to contact fights, rooftop shooters, and the reality of urban density on combat operations. 
• the long view on Ramadi’s pace, identity as a replacement, and what gets forgotten 

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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Its a flurry of moments from David Escalante to trace his path from a half rations private to a combat-tested Marine in Ramadi in 2004. He talks us through the moments that are still clear in his mind, from incoming mortars and raids, to taking contact on the bridge posts. 

• landing in 81s without mortar training
• pre-deployment training memories 
• the flight over, Kuwait heat, and the convoy into Iraq
• arriving at Hurricane Point and settling into task cycles
• first KIAs, early missions
• firefights, door kicks
• raids with Army soldiers and the confusion of who gets credit
• bridge watch, seeing air support, and hearing the fight from a post
• hooch life, smoke breaks, cards, workouts, and calling home under incoming
• the round that hits his flak jacket and what it felt like in the moment
• IED pressure, EOD waits, wire hazards in turrets, and tough QRF recoveries
• coming home, delayed processing, and leading junior Marines on later deployments

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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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Part 2 with Billy Webster from Mobile Assault Platoon 2 and trace the days when contact kept stacking, ammo ran low, and every decision started to feel permanent. He also talks honestly about what follows you home, how we cope in the quiet moments, and why asking for help can be the most disciplined thing you do. 
William shares what he saw, what he did, and what he still carries, including the detail that the last things you do might matter more than you realize.

• April 6 as QRF and the shock of casualties 
• Foot patrol IED sweeps
• Relieving pinned-down Marines and evacuating wounded 
• A house breach that almost killed a family 
• April 10 cordon operations
• The checkpoint pickup with blood and bodies 
• Taking over as a gunner
• Getting shot... and then staying in the turret 
• Calling home after being wounded
• Hooch life pranks and small rituals that kept him going
• PTSD years later, funerals, brotherhood, and choosing therapy 

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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 William Webster about arriving as a brand-new Marine and getting rushed into a Ramadi deployment where the mission keeps changing and the gear never feels caught up. Billy relives the night of April 4, the first major casualty for weapons company, and what it does to you when there is no time to grieve but you still have to roll out again. 

• getting rerouted after SOI and joining a depleted unit 
• the shock of meeting the platoon then hearing Iraq is next month 
• pre-deployment training and the long chain of travel into theater 
• first impressions of Iraq 
• Humvee vulnerability, exposed gunners and learning gear midstream 
• insurgency realities and changing rules of engagement 
• early missions, driver skill and why convoy discipline matters 
• April 4 RPG attack
• making peace with mortality 
• grieving, lessons learned, and building new SOP

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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Closing part 3 with Curtis Neill, we trade stories about Ramadi 2004, from split-second rooftop decisions to convoy fights where an RPG almost hits the truck. We also talk about leadership, ego, and how we keep the people we lost present by preserving their stories. 

• rejoining the platoon and what the ODA partnership made possible 
• the warning shot that ricochets 
• A “Trojan” clandestine plan 
• the taxi-stand disguise
• RPG near miss
• early IED lessons,  and a blue-on-blue scare across the river 
• the 2/4 to 2/5 handoff and how replacements learned with blood 
• being an older Marine with prior combat experience and choosing when to speak 
• remembering Sgt Ken Conde
• reflecting on what Ramadi means decades later 
• building a memorial project with dog tags and bib numbers 

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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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In Part 2, Curt digs down into Ramadi’s early fights, from a tense rescue at a pump house to the street-level choices that are still vivid years later. We also unpack a chaotic Abrams friendly fire incident, the injuries and silence that followed, and how a sudden ODA assignment pulled Marines into the hunt for Zarqawi.

• Recovering a missing Marine
• Suspected IEDs and the ugly uncertainty of movement to contact
• Spotting insurgents celebrating and the restraint ROEs
• Abrams tank friendly fire and the scramble after
• Getting recruited for an ODA with Green Berets and training at an intense pace
• Learning the mission focus on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi 
• Fireworks, and the strange moments inside a war zone

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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Curt Neill walks us down the strange chain of events that takes him from reenlisting before 9/11 to getting promoted so fast that Headquarters Marine Corps later flags it as a mistake. Then we rewind and fast-forward through Panama, Desert Storm, and Ramadi to pull out the leadership decisions and combat realities. 

• reenlisting after a long break and landing back at Camp Pendleton 
• NJP fallout and the long climb back 
• a former drill instructor reappearing as First Sergeant 
• a “mystery” promotion and the email saying it never should have happened 
• moving from the armory into platoon roles
• mentoring Marines and why fear-based leadership backfires 
• Panama jungle training turning into real-world combat posture 
• pre-deployment MOUT training and early CQB lessons 
• Desert Storm gas threat memories 
• convoying into Ramadi and how the first IED changes everything 
• April missions, Morris getting hit, and the pace of no sleep 
• tracking a blood trail to a house a Ramadi

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 Chris Winder as he walks us through a chaotic moment after an IED blast to the quiet weight of whats in your head during these overwhelming events. He also takes a big picture view including leadership lessons, chemical scares, coming home, and what all of it means two decades later. 

• Engineers sweeping for IEDs
• Stopping a taxi and losing control of a growing crowd 
• A curfew chase
• How good leaders raise the bar
• Rethinking “shitbag” labels and how the system treats coping 
• April 6 bridge watch
• The sniper house story
• Handling the fallen and seeing the hidden toll of a casualty officers life
• CS gas, chemical threats, and changing behavior 
• Coming home to Camp Pendleton
• What Ramadi means 20 years later to Chris and why it still matters 

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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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Part 1 with Chris Winder gives us what it feels like to hit the fleet as a brand new PFC and then roll straight into Iraq in 2004. We talk through the small mistakes, the ugly routines, and the weird routines you accept because you don’t know any different yet. 

• arriving to the unit and landing in Weapons Company 
• rumors, routines, and senior guys’ confidence 
• C-141 fear factory 
• reflecting on loss in Kuwait
• the night vision lens cap mistake
• blacked out driving, road hazards, NVG issues 
• a rear mounted SAW and good leadership
• Hurricane Point living conditions
• “short starts” and the body’s stress response before rolling out 
• Concertina wire accident at the gate 
• QRF aftermath, clearing a mosque
• IED realities, armor upgrades 
• Warlock jammers, detonators, and why trust in tech fades 

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 Doc Dealca’s memories as a Navy Corpsman in Ramadi 2004, from treating brutal wounds under fire to what follows him home, including grief, anger, work at the VA, and the pull toward camaraderie and purpose.
He digs into the decisions and limits that define battlefield triage: how you move casualties under pressure and how dark humor shows up right beside fear. Doc Carlo Dealca also shares a hard memory... the moment when Marines look to the Corpsman for certainty and comfort, but the truth is that you simply don’t know.
Then the story widens hooch life and what it’s like to come home with a shorter fuse.

• the post-fight high 
• treating Conde’s shoulder wound 
• rolling through a hostile market 
• working a serious gunshot wound under fire 
• slower days of searches 
• treating civilians caught in crossfire 
• the IED that kills Sgt. Ken Conde
• hooch life as stress relief 
• July car bombs and heavy engagements near key sites 
• coming home with a shorter temper 
• working at the VA with homelessness and substance abuse as GWOT vets arrive 
• choosing policing to find camaraderie 

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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