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Engel: ‘I’ve seen so many ugly things’
Most often, the images that make it on television of the U.S. troops, of them running, kicking down doors, fighting insurgents. But when you embed with them, you’re doing what they do. You’re spending time with them also when they’re relaxing, getting their haircut, talking to their families over the phone. You get to see them as human beings
I remember in 2004 i was on an embed with marines in Ramadi. We were on this terrible combat outpost. It was dusty, and they were attacked every day. One guy told us, “it’s not about hearts and minds out here, but finding the enemy and putting two in his heart and one in his mind.”
I met this young marine lieutenant, Brian Iglesias, a very tough guy. He had this Marine slogan tattooed across his chest. The first time I saw him, he was standing over the body of a dead insurgent.
“It’s a good day!”
And we say a good day not because we enjoy walking around and killing people but these bad guys attack us on a daily basis.
It is very brutal, but after some time, you do start to see things from their perspective. And I’ve always been amazed at what these guys are willing to sacrifice for each other.
That night, Iglesias and his men went out looking for a lost soldier. There’d been an attack. A soldier had been killed. And another amid all the chaos had been accidentally left behind. He was alone in Ramadi.
“Last time he was seen was at the government center”
“You gotta move slow, move stealthy cuz you know those sons of bitches are out there. This ain’t a hurry up race. Stay in the shadows—stay outta the light.”
And just these Marines, just a few guys in some pick-up trucks were calling out his name, searching for him.
I couldn’t believe it. After searching pretty much through the night, they found him alive.
“Roger—got him. We got him—got the kid”
“We don’t have beer or cake or ice cream or soda. But we’ll still celebrate. We have some strawberry milk.”
Even more amazing just a few hours later, the Marines were sitting around playing poker as if nothing had happened.
GUNNERY SERGEANT PATRICK TRACY: “You go over there to Fox Company, can ask any Marine in that company—hey, do you wanna go home right now—give you a ticket—no harm done—i don’t think one man would take that—not one. Except maybe Robert, they might joke about it but if it really ever came down to it walk away from their Marines? Walk away from the people their with? I wouldn’t.”
Ramadi was very tough, but i found this same bond almost everywhere I went. There was another time i was with Marine Reservists in this town called hit.
Back home, these were normal guys, plumbers and cops. Now they were marching miles a day. Most had lost 40 or 50 pounds.
MARINE CAPTAIN SEAN O'NEILL: In the end, you share socks, you share baby powder, you share baby wipes, you share everything. So, when times get necessary, you share everything. It makes for a tight platoon.”
Their feet were rotting.
“I don’t know what’s going on here. I got some cracks, a little bleeding going on.”
There was this one lance corporal, Anton Ozoni. Back home, he worked in the ladies department at Saks Fifth Avenue.
“I sell shoes, purses, dresses, everything. No matter. The whole store.”
But here he was a machine gunner, a warrior, and they called him animal mother. He had shrapnel on his back
“The other 10 guys in your squad, that’s what keeps you going.”
But embedding with the troops does have serious risks.
January 10, 2005: Mosul
VIDEO DIARY: There is still a lot of fire coming at us. Some of it is exploding in the car that was hit by an improvised explosive device. U.S. troops are retaliating; trying to fight off what they think could be an intense ambush.
A soldier saved my life that day. Amid all the gunfire, this guy came up, stood in front of me, protecting me with his body, raised his rifle and started firing back. Then he just walked away. I never saw him again.
I’ve been personally very lucky. But we have lost one soundman, Jeremy Little. He was killed in Fallujah. CBS’s correspondent, Kimberly Dosier was badly injured, her crew killed. ABC’s anchorman, Bob Woodruff was also badly injured.
But as long as the soldiers are here, I think reporters have an absolute obligation to go out with them. Otherwise, people back home will have no idea what the war actually looks like from the ground level for the troops.
As these deployments have been adding up it does take a toll on the soldier. No matter how tough they are, it’s affecting not only them but also their families.
ENGEL: “You’re on your second wife already?”
HARRIS:(laughs) “Yeah second”
ENGEL: “And some kids? Two kids how old are they?”
HARRIS: “I have a 9-year-old daughter and a 6-year-old son”
ENGEL: “And how are they holding up?”
HARRIS: “Their holding up pretty good, yeah my son going strong you know you have your, my nine year old is kinda being rebellious because you know father not home”
“There’s been several occasions where you know soldiers will have a girlfriend back home, and all of a sudden they don’t have a girlfriend any more and they get down about it.”
“A jody is the guy that’s back home with your wife or girlfriend. That’s what a jody is. You never want that to happen to you, and you try not to be a jody yourself.”
The war has changed on the soldiers. Initially, they were fighting, they were told, to try and protect their families back home from a terrorist attack. Then it was to support democracy and then to try and protect the Iraqi people from a civil war. It’s gotten more and more vague and more complicated. And no one has bothered to explain to the soldiers that they’re fighting a different war.
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