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We interview HM3 Carlo Dealca to trace how a Navy Corpsman goes from a clinic and 9/11 at sea to greenside life with 2/4 and earning trust with an infantry unit. The story builds from Kuwait and the convoy to Ramadi into the shock of IEDs and the chaos of April 6 on Easy Street, where Doc treats wounded under fire and remembers every second. 

• getting from a branch clinic into an infantry battalion 
• why he chooses Corpsman life
• training confidence, mental rehearsal, and early-war gear limitations 
• building and hauling medical bags, scrounging tourniquets 
• the cold convoy north, first impressions of Ramadi 
• the first IED hit 
• BAS relationships
• guard duty stories, local food, and staying healthy in-country 
• April 6 kickoff
• treating multiple casualties, triage under pressure

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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In Part 2, Ben Thibeault zooms in on the memory that nothing about Ramadi felt built for success, and then digging into what combat looked like when equipment was short, plans changed mid-move, and you still had to bring everyone home. Ben shares blunt memories of recovering wrecked Humvees without a wrecker, dealing with evolving threats and equipment, and split-second problem solving. He wraps with discussions of trust in small unit leadership, and what the legacy is to him.  

• recovering disabled Humvees
• remembering LCpl Savage's last mission
• VBIED blast under the bridge 
• changing how we ride and fight
• narrowing focus to your sector and fundamentals 
• how complacency creeps in
• interactions with Iraqi kids and civilians
• frustrations with local police
• the insurgency adapting
• coming home with almost no transition and barracks life 
• why reunions and long-form talks help make sense of it all 

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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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Ben Thibeault’s story starts fast, and it only gets faster from there. He describes what it’s like to arrive in Iraq as a new Marine with big briefings, blurry timelines, and the sense that you’re stepping into something nobody can fully explain until it’s already happening. Ben talks about how he kept steady at Hurricane Point, then the warning signs of trouble, and first big fights that make the mission feel 'real'. 

• arriving to the fleet through Hawaii and Pendleton chaos 
• joining the Marine Corps at 22 after a wake-up call 
• March Air Force Base training
• Kuwait as the first reality check
• first impressions of Ramadi
• sandbags, smoke pit culture and why cigarettes became currency 
• how he killed time in the hooch
• care packages
• “absence of the normal” and the city going quiet before April 6 
• convoy roles, rear security, and fragmented awareness
• April 7 alleyway security under small arms fire and warning shots 
• IED strikes, evacuations and the shift from abstract risk to personal loss 

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

We pick up part 2 with Lew Layton and trace how Ramadi shifts from early IED shortcomings to rapid escalation, brutal missions, and losses that still echo decades later. We also talk about the leadership that held things together, the dark humor that kept morale alive, and what service means after a 20+ year career as a Marine leader. 

• Early IED awareness, door debates, and why the threat felt unreal at first 
• The speed of escalation
• April 10 bug hunt operations and how battalion control works in practice 
• Moving bodies for accountability and intel, and why it still feels surreal 
• Admiration for standout leaders
• Late April and May casualties, including the impact of Savage’s death 
• Grief, professionalism, and returning to mission as a coping method 
• Why it took twenty years to tell these stories out loud 
• Funny hooch moments, rocket immunity, and the role of humor 
• Leadership failures elsewhere and the belief that Marines deserve good leaders 

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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 off part 1 with Lew Layton to trace how a Marine goes from Okinawa, some California training, and squad leader school... to the confusion and violence of Ramadi in 2004. We swap stories about the gear, the radios, the near misses, and a lot of unique moments about small unit leadership. 

• Lew’s background and early leadership roles 
• The flight over, Kuwait preparation, and early weapon safety lessons 
• First impressions of Ramadi and how thin the handoff feels 
• Learning routes, spotting IEDs, and getting hit early 
• A casualty evacuation story
• Night movement problems
• Improvised gear, armor shortages, and hydration discipline 
• April 2004 firefights and adapting tactics 
• The General Mattis PRR moment and comms frustrations 
• IED jamming skepticism and the near misses that stick 

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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In part 2, we swap Bill Groves stories that still feel like yesterday even years later, from a tank round snapping past our position to the summer shift when enemy fire gets sharp and accurate. We also talk about the weird day-to-day details that stick, how unit handoffs can fail, and why the bonds from that time still don’t fade. 

• getting shot at by an Abrams
• the bridge guard post mess and rumors that spiral fast 
• getting put on hard labor
• hooch life stories, dumb injuries, and the stuff we did to pass time 
• the heat
• firefights in the south and the shift to more accurate enemy shooting 
• faith arguments in the truck and “no atheists in a foxhole” 
• Junction City stories 
• the 2/5 handoff 
• coming home 
• drones, contractors, and finding insurgent propaganda videos 
• looking back 22 years later and what the brotherhood means now 

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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

This time, we talk with MAP2 Lance Corporal Bill Groves about the fast ramp from Okinawa training cycles to the first brutal weeks in Ramadi in 2004, including the moments that made everything feel real. From miserable workups and broken flights to firefights, IEDs, and the uneasy question of who could be trusted, Bill tells the details in the way only he can recount. 

• joining the platoon late in Okinawa and racing into the Ramadi buildup
• Bridgeport misery 
• MOUT Town training
• aircraft breakdowns and surprise layovers
• the convoy from Kuwait 
• first days in Ramadi and the shock of immediate mass-casualty scenes
• half doors and early IED lessons
• April contacts including friendly fire confusion across the river
• extended firefights on April 6 and 7
• decompression rituals after contact and the way habits change
• contractors and interpreters 
• Operation Treasure Island 
• the Habaniya dam sweep, the VBIED blast, and casualty evacuation
• cemetery hill landmine and a later night QRF to an LAV strike

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 

Send us Fan Mail

A bonus 3rd hour with Reagan Hodges as he adds some sharper detail, from reenlisting before 9/11 to the split-second fights that still replay in his head. We talk about why brotherhood can feel like the best and worst part of war at the same time, and what leadership, luck, and grief look like on the ground. 

• returning to the Marines after a break and why it felt like home 
• Okinawa bonding
• pre-deployment training stress
• Jeremiah “Savage” as the guy who gets things done 
• leading Marines hard while trusting the chain of command 
• Weapons Company as the cavalry and why everyone wants the call 
• April fights, rooftop exposure
• interpreter reliability, the mosque camera story
•  the reality of “blue on blue”
• April 10 bug hunt
• a ten-foot gunfight again with a little more detail
• Purple Hearts, and the awards process 

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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 for Reagan Hodges with some gunfight stories and some memories of how the body keeps score. We also dig into what real combat leadership looks like, how grief shows up at strange times, and a little post traumatic growth.
 
• an RPK gunner at close range
• hypervigilance 
• trust-based leadership
• pride in the platoon and the rage behind disrespecting the fallen 
• faith and a grandmother’s war-time mindset 
• losing friends
• the sniper rooftop deaths and why rumors fill information gaps 
• mixed feelings about war stories becoming public through a book 
• coming home, wanting to redeploy
• veteran suicide prevention work and speaking bluntly with love 
• post-traumatic growth and challenging guilt for missing the fight 

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 

Send us Fan Mail

We bring on Reagan Hodges and talk how a hard-charging Marine who struggled in garrison becomes the kind of fighter everyone counts on when Ramadi turns. We talk through the training, the chaos, the losses, and the moments that still follow you home. 

• bouncing between ranks and learning to own consequences 
• pre-deployment workups
• why the command keeps him despite repeated trouble 
• the Sergeant Major Booker confrontation
• hazing, pressure-testing, and building calluses in infantry culture 
• first impressions of Ramadi
• QRF response and a graphic truck scene
• how constant contact distorts timelines and memory 
• Farhan capture, detainees under fire, and the uglier logistics of the fight 
• April 6 escalation, IEDs, and what it shows about insurgent tactics 
• Lioness attached to the platoon and the reality of women near frontline combat 

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