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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.

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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