Speaker 1: Welcome to Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in
Speaker 1: this edition is Mike Ergo. He is a US Marine
Speaker 1: Corps veteran who served in the Iraq War, including the
Speaker 1: Second Battle of Fallujah in November and December two thousand
Speaker 1: and four. In today's conversation, Mike will discuss his preparation
Speaker 1: for battle, offer vivid detail of house to house fighting
Speaker 1: against enemy insurgents, and the difficulty of losing very close
Speaker 1: friends during the course of the battle. But we begin
Speaker 1: at the beginning of his story out west.
Speaker 2: I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and raised
Speaker 2: in Walnut Creek, California.
Speaker 1: And had there been a history of military service in
Speaker 1: your family.
Speaker 2: I have a grandfather, my maternal grandfather, who's in the
Speaker 2: Korean War in the Navy. I don't know him very well,
Speaker 2: so in my immediate family there's no military service. It
Speaker 2: was an unfamiliar territory for me.
Speaker 1: Why did you decide to join the service and why
Speaker 1: did you choose the Marines.
Speaker 2: Growing up, my grandfather, my paternal grandfather, knew a lot
Speaker 2: of World War Two Marines and would tell me stories
Speaker 2: about them and the Marines and the World War two
Speaker 2: and how they fought in the Pacific, and I became
Speaker 2: enamored with that and just the idea of service. I
Speaker 2: also grew up as an evangelical Christian, and so I
Speaker 2: would go and do acts of service in spring break
Speaker 2: and through the summer in different countries to help build houses,
Speaker 2: and the idea of service really stuck with me. And
Speaker 2: my senior year of high school, I realized I didn't
Speaker 2: want to go to college like all of my peers.
Speaker 2: I came from a pretty affluent city and everyone was
Speaker 2: going to Ivy League or University of California schools or
Speaker 2: top schools. Didn't have that same drive to continue my education.
Speaker 2: And I realized that I could join the military. And
Speaker 2: for me, it wasn't even about joining just the military,
Speaker 2: it was specifically the Marine Corps and I did that. Initially.
Speaker 2: I joined to be the Marine Corps band, and you know,
Speaker 2: made quite the career change, you know, very early on,
Speaker 2: but it's how I started. I auditioned with my saxophone
Speaker 2: and passed, and you know, entered the Marine Corps planning
Speaker 2: to be a musician.
Speaker 1: Now you joined in two thousand and one, correct.
Speaker 2: Correct, Yes, I joined in two thousand and one. Spring
Speaker 2: of two thousand and one, I joined joined the delayed
Speaker 2: entry program, and went to boot camp in October of
Speaker 2: two thousand and one.
Speaker 1: Here's the most important question about this. Alto or, tenor sacks.
Speaker 2: Tenor sacks, Okay, yeah, tenor and baritone?
Speaker 1: Nice, you got the big ones.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And so you mentioned that you enlisted in the spring
Speaker 1: of two thousand and one. Obviously it's just a few
Speaker 1: months after that that the nine to eleven attacks happened.
Speaker 1: Just about everything changes. At what point did you decide
Speaker 1: that you needed to shift to infantry.
Speaker 2: I had inklings early on in boot camp that I
Speaker 2: wanted to change right after nine to eleven. I was
Speaker 2: wanted to do anything other than being the band. I
Speaker 2: just remembered wanting to fight for the country, and I
Speaker 2: just had this ping all along that I needed to
Speaker 2: do something different, that I didn't feel comfortable myself. I
Speaker 2: didn't feel comfortable playing the saxophone stateside while Marines were
Speaker 2: going to be deployed overseas, and eventually, while I was
Speaker 2: in the school of Music in Little Creek, Virginia at
Speaker 2: the base there, I asked if I could be disenrolled
Speaker 2: from the school and transferred to the Infantry, and they
Speaker 2: were happy to meet my needs there.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like going through those weeks of basic
Speaker 1: training maybe changed your mindset a little bit?
Speaker 2: I think it did. I really enjoyed the time in
Speaker 2: the field. I really enjoyed learning infantry skills, even the
Speaker 2: little mounts that we learned to boot camp and being outdoors,
Speaker 2: being with the guys doing what I felt was real
Speaker 2: Marine Corps stuff, And I realized that that wouldn't be
Speaker 2: part of my life. It would be heavily garrison life
Speaker 2: and wearing a dress and service uniforms instead of camouflage.
Speaker 1: So once you shifted to the infantry, where were you assigned?
Speaker 2: Once I got switched over the infantry, I got sent
Speaker 2: to Camp Geiger, North Carolina. And it was interesting because
Speaker 2: I'd done bringing combat training the non infantry school version
Speaker 2: in San Diego and Camp Pendleton, and so now I
Speaker 2: got to do the full infantry school, but in North
Speaker 2: Carolina this time. And so I spent the summer there
Speaker 2: learning more infantry tactics and being outdoors, getting bit by
Speaker 2: mosquitoes and ticks and everything else.
Speaker 1: And then what did they do with you?
Speaker 2: I get a signed to the Camp Lejoun. The funny
Speaker 2: part of that was they told us, all right, gents,
Speaker 2: listen up, you're going to be assigned either to somewhere
Speaker 2: in Hawaii or Camp Pendleton. So I said, great, and
Speaker 2: you know it's a win win situation there. And then
Speaker 2: next thing I know, I'm taking a bus around the
Speaker 2: corner to Camp La June. So it was very fitting
Speaker 2: and it got me used to how things change in
Speaker 2: the military.
Speaker 1: What additional training did you do at Lea June before
Speaker 1: deploying at Lajune?
Speaker 2: But before deploying the first time in two thousand and three,
Speaker 2: we did a lot of urban combat training. We did
Speaker 2: a lot of patrolling, We did a lot of direct
Speaker 2: action and ambush. We did a lot of training on
Speaker 2: amtraks and amphibious vehicles. And I remember one thing in
Speaker 2: particular we did. We did the nuclear, biological and chemical training.
Speaker 2: And I was the newest guy to the unit of
Speaker 2: my patoon, and so when they found that out, they said, okay,
Speaker 2: you're the designated guy. And I asked what that meant,
Speaker 2: and they said, well, if we get a gas attack
Speaker 2: and we're not sure if it's all clear, then you
Speaker 2: know you're going to hand off your rifle and we're
Speaker 2: gonna take your gas mask off and just observe you. Okay,
Speaker 2: so you're gonna watch me to make sure you know
Speaker 2: if I if I die or not. And they're like, yeah,
Speaker 2: you're not important to the mission. You're the newest guy.
Speaker 2: And I just I said okay, and then it's it's
Speaker 2: sunk in. And that night I went out in town.
Speaker 2: I got a tattoo that says expendable across my back.
Speaker 2: Just I had to laugh about it because you know,
Speaker 2: it was either laugh or cry, and I chose to laugh.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I was either that or we'll look around for
Speaker 1: your saxophone again exactly.
Speaker 2: So what do you get myself into?
Speaker 1: So when did you deploy to Iraq?
Speaker 2: Employed deployed to Iraq the first time. It was March fourth,
Speaker 2: two thousand and three. We left on ship and we
Speaker 2: took the We're on the USS Carter Hall LSD fifty
Speaker 2: and we we flew into Moses, Iraq that spring after
Speaker 2: the initial invasion had already happened. And you know, we
Speaker 2: guarded the airport for a few weeks and nothing remarkable happened.
Speaker 2: And in fact, I didn't fire a single shot that
Speaker 2: first deployment. And I remember when we came back just
Speaker 2: talking to friends and you know who were in my
Speaker 2: platoon and saying, man, we missed Iraq, we missed Afghanistan.
Speaker 2: Both these wars are over now, and how do we
Speaker 2: miss out on two wars? And we obviously didn't know
Speaker 2: what was to come?
Speaker 1: What kind of training did you focus on before the
Speaker 1: second deployment?
Speaker 2: Before the second deployment, we focused on what they called
Speaker 2: stability and Support Operations or SASSO, and we were really
Speaker 2: just planning to be more like diplomats and go around
Speaker 2: make sure while the rebuilding effort in Iraq was taking place,
Speaker 2: that we could interface with the population and talk to
Speaker 2: the Iraqis and make sure their needs were getting met
Speaker 2: while we provide security for the workers to rebuild the infrastructure.
Speaker 1: Was there any sort of urban combat training?
Speaker 2: We did urban combat training too, and that was my
Speaker 2: favorite part. I was hoping we'd get to use it
Speaker 2: as a you know, young naive. What was I a
Speaker 2: twenty one year old at that time? And so we
Speaker 2: did we did. We did our infantry training and combat
Speaker 2: training still and that was the norm for us. So
Speaker 2: it wasn't like I guess we focused a little bit
Speaker 2: more on urban combat. But I think in the back
Speaker 2: of our minds, we are being told we probably wouldn't
Speaker 2: use it, and so we were planning on just going
Speaker 2: to Iraq and you know, shaking hands at people and.
Speaker 1: So thinking about heading over for the first deployment and
Speaker 1: then the second one. Certainly the second time, it sounds
Speaker 1: like you thought it was going to be a fairly simple,
Speaker 1: uh deployment. But even on the first one, were there
Speaker 1: any particular thoughts that that you remember about I'm heading
Speaker 1: into a war zone here.
Speaker 2: We were getting sent over to yeah, be part of
Speaker 2: the war. I just remember thinking, I've done all this training,
Speaker 2: but I'm not sure I feel completely ready, because I
Speaker 2: was nervous, and I was I think more than anything,
Speaker 2: I was really worried about letting my guys down. That's
Speaker 2: the most important thing to me. Getting hurt, getting killed, Yeah,
Speaker 2: that was concerned. But I didn't want to let my
Speaker 2: guys down. I didn't want to be a liability, and
Speaker 2: I didn't want to have anyone else get hurt because
Speaker 2: of me, And so that was the first first.
Speaker 1: Thing on my mind. By the time you're deploying the
Speaker 1: second time, how would you describe the bond within your platoon.
Speaker 2: By the second time we deployed, I was now one
Speaker 2: of the senior Marines in our platoon. And I've been
Speaker 2: through a deployment with the guys, my contemporaries, the other
Speaker 2: corporals and Sarzans and really close, really close, especially with
Speaker 2: a guy named Todd Godwin, and he deployed with us.
Speaker 2: He was part of my platoon for the first deployment
Speaker 2: and then he changed over and he's part of the
Speaker 2: Scott sniper platoon afterwards. And when I showed up to
Speaker 2: my unit, I was one of two guys. Everybody had
Speaker 2: formed their friends, and so I was the lowest of
Speaker 2: the low and I really nobody wanted to be around me.
Speaker 2: I was. I was the guy that even the boots,
Speaker 2: the young guys you know, looked to do the working
Speaker 2: parties and you know, give the most flock too. So
Speaker 2: I felt like I really earned the friendships I had
Speaker 2: and proved myself and really enjoyed being around the guys.
Speaker 2: So by the time we were ready for the second deployment,
Speaker 2: I felt good about everybody around me, and I felt
Speaker 2: good about the you know, the Marines that were under
Speaker 2: my care too, and the guys. We spent a lot
Speaker 2: of time together I remember part of our training in
Speaker 2: the garrison too was you know, sometimes we'd go to
Speaker 2: lunch together and that was that was we were ordered
Speaker 2: to do that so we'd get to know our guys better.
Speaker 2: And at the time I didn't appreciate it, but you know,
Speaker 2: looking back, it helped me get a lot closer to
Speaker 2: these guys. And I was never a fan of getting hazed,
Speaker 2: and I was never a fan of you know, a
Speaker 2: lot of the I felt like a necessary punishments and stuff.
Speaker 2: So I held my guys to a strict standard. But
Speaker 2: I leveled them and talk with them just you know,
Speaker 2: man and man, marine and marine, and see what I
Speaker 2: could do to be a good leader for them. And
Speaker 2: I felt like my team was as close as any
Speaker 2: that we had in platoon.
Speaker 1: That's Mike Ergo, a US Marine Corps veteran of Iraq,
Speaker 1: including the brutal Second Battle of Fallujah in late two
Speaker 1: thousand and four Still to come. Ergo walks us through
Speaker 1: his role in the battle in riveting an honest detail
Speaker 1: and the toll the intense combat inflicted upon him for
Speaker 1: several years after that. But up next, Ergo explains his
Speaker 1: leadership role as a team leader in his platoon and
Speaker 1: getting the signal to go into battle. I'm Greg Corumbus
Speaker 1: and this is Veteran Chronicles.
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Speaker 1: This says Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in
Speaker 1: this edition is Mike Ergo. He's a US Marine Corps
Speaker 1: veteran of the Iraq War and the Second Battle of
Speaker 1: Fallujah in November and December two thousand and four. We
Speaker 1: now pick up his story as Ergo explains how his
Speaker 1: company prepared for the battle, how he found out the
Speaker 1: battle was definitely going to happen, and what it's like
Speaker 1: to get the order to go. But first he explains
Speaker 1: his role as a team leader inside his platoon.
Speaker 2: So, as a team leader, I was directly under the
Speaker 2: command of my squad leader, Sergeant Martinez. And as a
Speaker 2: team leader, I was charged with taking care of three others.
Speaker 2: So I had my appointment, my sagunner and the assistant sawgunner,
Speaker 2: So three guys under me. And so, you know, especially
Speaker 2: in urban combat, it meant that we'd have a very
Speaker 2: unique experience because a lot of the battle was fought
Speaker 2: squad at the squad level, you know, thirteen guys at
Speaker 2: a time, and so it was my responsibility ability to
Speaker 2: make sure that they had different fields of fire covered,
Speaker 2: you know, you know, if they were hurt, of course,
Speaker 2: you know, make sure they get care, but you know,
Speaker 2: placing them where they needed to go in the stack,
Speaker 2: and we're kicking open doors and sometimes clearing buildings just
Speaker 2: with four guys, and so I had to coordinate all
Speaker 2: that movement.
Speaker 1: At what point after you got to Iraq on the
Speaker 1: second deployment did you start to get wind of there's
Speaker 1: probably going to be a second battle of Fallujah and
Speaker 1: we're probably going to be part of it.
Speaker 2: I think even going into the deployment, we had seen
Speaker 2: the news coverage of the contractors who were dragged to
Speaker 2: the streets of Fallujah and in April during the first
Speaker 2: battle of Fallujah, and so I think it would be
Speaker 2: inaccurate if I said going into it, we didn't have
Speaker 2: an inkling that we might be part of something to
Speaker 2: fight a battle there again. And so it felt like
Speaker 2: forever that we were, you know, sitting around or not
Speaker 2: sitting around, patrolling around the desert looking for these phantoms
Speaker 2: that shoot mortars and disappear, and it didn't feel like
Speaker 2: maybe until a couple months in that we really started
Speaker 2: there was starting me in a buzz that we might
Speaker 2: be going to Flujah whispers here and there, and you know,
Speaker 2: we spent part of July down there, but never going
Speaker 2: inside the city. So a lot of the deployment experience
Speaker 2: was we think something big is going to happen, and
Speaker 2: maybe we would show up to a city and patrol
Speaker 2: it and nothing would happen, and so build ups and
Speaker 2: let downs and boredom. And so I think it was
Speaker 2: even when you heard we might be going in Fallujah,
Speaker 2: the myself and others were skeptical.
Speaker 1: When did it become super real obvious that you were
Speaker 1: headed in.
Speaker 2: It became very real in September of that year that
Speaker 2: when we headed down to Camp Fallujah and we're told, look,
Speaker 2: something's going to happen. We're going to be part of something.
Speaker 2: It's important that you don't communicate this to people, and
Speaker 2: it's important that we know we keep opsec and we
Speaker 2: don't let people know, don't telegraph our movements here. And
Speaker 2: so they're being very cautious about like what we'd say
Speaker 2: back home, not censoring us, but just telling us, like, look,
Speaker 2: something's going to happen. More to come, We're going to
Speaker 2: do a lot of training, and so we kind of
Speaker 2: read between the lines that we're probably going to assault
Speaker 2: the city of Fellujah, especially in October when we were
Speaker 2: you know, at Camp Fallojia doing drills and practicing things
Speaker 2: and doing you know urban combat, you know training.
Speaker 1: And so when did you get the briefing on not
Speaker 1: only that we're doing this, when we're doing this, and
Speaker 1: what your role is your platoon?
Speaker 2: I think, as I remember, it was pretty close to
Speaker 2: the actual start of the operation that we got briefed.
Speaker 2: You know, we felt like we were training, training, training,
Speaker 2: waiting for something to happen, just kind of like in
Speaker 2: the queue, and then finally like we got the word, hey,
Speaker 2: we're going in soon. You know, make sure stuff's packed
Speaker 2: or stuff's ready, everything's you know, squared away and good
Speaker 2: to go. You guys are ready. So it didn't feel
Speaker 2: like maybe but a week or two before, as I
Speaker 2: remember it, that it really became real, like we're going now,
Speaker 2: it's going to happen. But yeah, it was. It was
Speaker 2: such a big build up.
Speaker 1: At this point. You've been in the core for about
Speaker 1: three and a half years, and as you mentioned, there
Speaker 1: hadn't been much of any combat that you've seen at
Speaker 1: that point. You know, going in here, it's going to
Speaker 1: be very likely a different story. What's going through your
Speaker 1: mind at that point.
Speaker 2: In my mind before we went into the city of Fellujah,
Speaker 2: I started to think, Okay, it's good possibility and I'm
Speaker 2: gonna come I'm not gonna come out of this, and
Speaker 2: it's good possibility. People I know were gonna get hurt
Speaker 2: and killed. And I couldn't help but look around and
Speaker 2: look at my friends and kind of guess like, who
Speaker 2: could it be? Like who's who's it going to be?
Speaker 2: Is that that gets hurt or gets killed? And you know,
Speaker 2: what's what's this going to be? Like? It's it's not
Speaker 2: gonna be as it is now. After and there was
Speaker 2: there was some concern about dying, but like the first deployment,
Speaker 2: I was more focused on, Okay, now I have, you know,
Speaker 2: a small but significant leadership position as a team leader,
Speaker 2: and I was just very concerned that I make sure
Speaker 2: my guys get out safely and that I'm a good
Speaker 2: leader for them. Failing them was the biggest fear. Failing
Speaker 2: the guys I had my charge, the biggest fear I had,
Speaker 2: more than death or getting hurt.
Speaker 1: What's it like when you get that ghost signal?
Speaker 2: I remember thinking, well, we're going into combat. This is
Speaker 2: the real deal, you know, having the doubts am I ready?
Speaker 2: Will I freeze? Will I wimp out in front of
Speaker 2: my guys? You know, will I do something that gets
Speaker 2: them hurt or killed? And I think the fear that
Speaker 2: I might fail my guys really helped me to step
Speaker 2: up and face those those moments as we're going in,
Speaker 2: because what I knew without being communicated explicitly, is that
Speaker 2: the bearing that I had and my ability to remain
Speaker 2: as calm as possible with these guys would help them
Speaker 2: remain calm in order for them to do their job.
Speaker 2: And so where if it had been just me there,
Speaker 2: you know, I might have freaked out a little bit more,
Speaker 2: you know, but I had to maintain appearances so my
Speaker 2: guys could say as calm as possible and be ready.
Speaker 1: That's Mike Ergo. He's a US Marine Corps veteran of
Speaker 1: the Iraq War. He served in the Second Battle of
Speaker 1: Fallujah in November and December two thousand and four. When
Speaker 1: we come back, Ergo tells us about the start of
Speaker 1: the battle for his unit, the first sign of significant resistance,
Speaker 1: and the difficult house to house fighting throughout the battle.
Speaker 1: I'm Greg Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles. This is
Speaker 1: Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in this edition
Speaker 1: is Mike Ergo. He's a US Marine Corps veteran of
Speaker 1: the Iraq War, including the Battle of Falluja in November
Speaker 1: and December two thousand and four. In a moment, you'll
Speaker 1: hear Ergo describe house to house fighting to clear out
Speaker 1: enemy insurgents. But we now continue with his story of
Speaker 1: the Battle of Fallujah as he explains how the fight started.
Speaker 1: For him.
Speaker 2: We went into the city under the covered darkness, and
Speaker 2: it was loud, lots of gunfire all around, seeing tracers
Speaker 2: go overhead, and you were assaulting the city and amtraks,
Speaker 2: you know, these amphibious vehicles that you know, we're just
Speaker 2: right around the desert with and we don't know exactly
Speaker 2: where we're going. In my mind, I mean, we're just
Speaker 2: making turns in a city and eventually they're going to
Speaker 2: let us out. The ramp drops. I'm the first one
Speaker 2: to get out of our vehicle and I run down
Speaker 2: the ramp and immediately I get a step and a
Speaker 2: half and I trip and fallow my face and before
Speaker 2: I can even be embarrassed about, you know, like this
Speaker 2: is my grand entrance in a combat and I fall
Speaker 2: on my face. I'm like, you know what I trip over,
Speaker 2: you know, felt like a you know, a sack of
Speaker 2: grain or something. I look and it's a dead insurgent.
Speaker 2: I tripped over lying there with you know, one arm
Speaker 2: shot off, and it's like, very very quickly a step
Speaker 2: and half into combat, a Mario faced, you know, with
Speaker 2: death right there right in my face. Literally, I get
Speaker 2: up and you know, brush myself off, make sure my
Speaker 2: weapon's still there, and you know, get everyone else off.
Speaker 2: It didn't really skip a beat, you know, it's like
Speaker 2: you follow you get up, I mean, following a lot
Speaker 2: of times and training, you got to get up and
Speaker 2: continue the mission. So make sure my guys were okay,
Speaker 2: and then we started patrolling out.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about the next morning then, Lieutenant Barnes
Speaker 1: describes it as all hell broke loose as you guys
Speaker 1: were at the Mayor's complex. Explain what was happening and
Speaker 1: how you guys responded.
Speaker 2: What I remember about that first morning of daylight is
Speaker 2: hearing the mosques and the call of prayer from these
Speaker 2: mosques around the city being echoed. And instead of just
Speaker 2: the call the prayer, it was like there were these
Speaker 2: very intense discussions or very intense you know speech. He's
Speaker 2: coming out of these mosques and asking our interpreter Sammy, like, hey,
Speaker 2: what are they saying. They're like, well, the basics are
Speaker 2: that this is your time to come and fight and
Speaker 2: kill the Americans. They're here, and it's your duty, you know,
Speaker 2: for jihad. And so we're hearing this coming out of
Speaker 2: these mosses of very intense speeches, and you know, we're
Speaker 2: getting fire from different directions. You know. I'm I'm on
Speaker 2: the ground watching, you know, RPGs go over my head
Speaker 2: and explode into buildings and trees. I'm seeing people blocks
Speaker 2: away running across the street back and forth closer to us,
Speaker 2: you know, bounding. I think the most poignant moment of
Speaker 2: that early morning was a group of women and some
Speaker 2: kids walking towards us, and they have these white flags
Speaker 2: are waving, and I was telling them, you know, to
Speaker 2: come come over here to us, you know, because our
Speaker 2: protocol was civilians in the battle area, get them behind
Speaker 2: us and get them to safety and get them out
Speaker 2: of the crossfire. And the look on these women's faces,
Speaker 2: they were terrified. So I said, good, we'll get them
Speaker 2: out of the battle space right here. Get them in
Speaker 2: the middle of the marriage complex. You know, there's a
Speaker 2: lot of walls around. We can get them food, water,
Speaker 2: everything else. Get in place to sit down. And there
Speaker 2: was these men behind them, directing them almost with their hands,
Speaker 2: with their hands on their backs, telling them where to go.
Speaker 2: And they were using these poor women to maneuver around
Speaker 2: the city. And I thought, okay, well, if you use
Speaker 2: the white flag, you have to come towards us. And
Speaker 2: so in my mind I thought, well, technically we can
Speaker 2: start shooting. I wasn't about to start shooting women, not
Speaker 2: even close. And we watched helplessly and as these people
Speaker 2: were moved from one building to the next, and these
Speaker 2: guys behind him with these just crazed look is the
Speaker 2: best way I can describe it. To have them under
Speaker 2: control and just trying to weigh the consequences, you know, Okay,
Speaker 2: I didn't murder women and children. Good check. Also, what
Speaker 2: are these guys going to do now they have the
Speaker 2: drop on us from somewhere else. We allowed them to maneuver,
Speaker 2: and so that was when the battle space became less
Speaker 2: black and white and more of a gray shade of like, Okay,
Speaker 2: sometimes there's not a right or wrong decision we can make.
Speaker 2: It feels like it's not very clear. And so that
Speaker 2: was the first first step into that kind of gray
Speaker 2: zone of like, well, do the best we can.
Speaker 1: They think they were surveilling you and gathering intel basically
Speaker 1: on your position.
Speaker 2: I think that these guys knew are rules of engagement
Speaker 2: and that we would likely not shoot the women and
Speaker 2: know I will never be able to prove this. But
Speaker 2: when we lost Lieutenant Malcolm on the roof, the fire
Speaker 2: came from towards the buildings where these guys maneuvered to
Speaker 2: I mean, that was the first time I felt I
Speaker 2: guess what I call now is survivor's guilt. It's just
Speaker 2: this never ending loop in my head. As long as
Speaker 2: we had a downtime of okay, Lieutenant Malcolm, who used
Speaker 2: to be our platoon commander before Lieutenant Barnes, a man
Speaker 2: who I knew as well as and listened, guy, I
Speaker 2: could know, you know, an officer there was shot and killed.
Speaker 2: And did I fail them? Right there? Did what I
Speaker 2: do fail them? And not be able to find a
Speaker 2: clear answer, and then also having to set that aside
Speaker 2: because you're getting briefed. Hey, next morning, we're moving out,
Speaker 2: we're crossing Route fran into deeper into the city, push south,
Speaker 2: and so having to have it wasn't the first person
Speaker 2: we lost, you know, earlier in the deployment, we'd lost
Speaker 2: my best friend Todd Godwin, who killed by an ID
Speaker 2: in July twentieth, two thousand and four. And so having
Speaker 2: to compartmentalize grief and then walk back into you know,
Speaker 2: being a leader and leading men into operations. You know,
Speaker 2: being able to compart my compartmentalize my feelings and go
Speaker 2: back into combat wasn't new, but it was. It was like, well,
Speaker 2: I guess the whole thing about this later, and but
Speaker 2: we we have to move on with there's more stuff
Speaker 2: to do.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the order was given to that the next
Speaker 1: morning we're moving out. We're going to cross the frame,
Speaker 1: the highway that divides Fallujah. What was the plan to
Speaker 1: do that.
Speaker 2: I don't remember the exact plan, other than we were
Speaker 2: going to We're going to have a lot of artillery
Speaker 2: and support of fire, basically fire a big barrage at
Speaker 2: some of the bigger buildings across the street, and under
Speaker 2: that cover we'd maneuver across the highway and into an
Speaker 2: alley way or a street going north to south, and
Speaker 2: so we'd use that cover of heavy fire to move
Speaker 2: and then just start kicking indoors one by one all
Speaker 2: the way down the rest of the city there. So
Speaker 2: we knew, okay, yeah, we had our initial entry into
Speaker 2: the Maris complex and you know we did that. But
Speaker 2: this is where the real urban combat of like clearing
Speaker 2: houses starts, and this is where you know, the casualties
Speaker 2: might start piling up because you know we're gonna have
Speaker 2: to kick open doors where people are waiting for us.
Speaker 1: Is that the location known as Haji Alley.
Speaker 2: This is yeah, what we called Hajji Alley. It was
Speaker 2: uh yeah, pretty intense.
Speaker 1: Explain how you went about clearing the houses.
Speaker 2: So to clearhouse first, we had to clear the courtyard
Speaker 2: card of the house. So a lot of these houses
Speaker 2: had gates and you know gated yards, and so we'd
Speaker 2: open the gate, either kick it open or use the latch.
Speaker 2: Sometimes you can just open the door. So we'd open that.
Speaker 2: You scan the courtyard, you know, both the corners, make
Speaker 2: sure nobody was trying to get the drop on us. There.
Speaker 2: We'd stack up on the door and as quickly as possible,
Speaker 2: I would take turns with my point man of going
Speaker 2: in first, and I just I didn't feel right about
Speaker 2: always having my point man going first, and I wanted
Speaker 2: to show my guys I was invested in this too.
Speaker 2: And so by the by a squad or by team,
Speaker 2: we'd stack up on a door, you know, on one
Speaker 2: of the sides of it, someone from the rear would
Speaker 2: kind of we'd call it bumping, you know, you bump
Speaker 2: the person in front of us, and then they know
Speaker 2: to kick the door open. And then we'd enter the
Speaker 2: room in the space inside the house, trying to scan
Speaker 2: all the different corners up and down, left to right
Speaker 2: to make sure that people weren't hiding waiting to shoot us.
Speaker 2: And so we'd trained on this day in, day out,
Speaker 2: so we didn't have to figure out more than what
Speaker 2: the variables of how big the room was, you know,
Speaker 2: in terms of everyone knew where they were going based
Speaker 2: on where they were on that stack. Especially at the
Speaker 2: team level of just the four of us.
Speaker 1: It was a well oiled machine.
Speaker 2: Felt like a pretty well oiled machine. And yeah, we'd
Speaker 2: kick open the door, look around if there's someone in there,
Speaker 2: and start shooting. First day, we didn't encounter anybody in
Speaker 2: the houses, I cleared anybody alive and so we weren't
Speaker 2: shooting people. So we'd clear from the bottom up to
Speaker 2: the top and sometimes hold firm or a whole position
Speaker 2: on a rooftop and wait to maneuver from there.
Speaker 1: For the insurgency you did face, how would you describe
Speaker 1: them as fighters?
Speaker 2: A lot of the insurgents we faced, some of them
Speaker 2: were pretty brazen. I remember about that first day is
Speaker 2: there were these guys, you know, with bandoliers and Ammo
Speaker 2: and either pkam machine guns or RPKs or AK forty
Speaker 2: seven's or RPGs shooting at us. But some of the
Speaker 2: guys would jump in the middle of the street, fire
Speaker 2: a big barrage of fire, and then jump back in
Speaker 2: the cover. And what was really eerie is I would
Speaker 2: see some of these guys, you know, take fire themselves
Speaker 2: as we were shooting back at them, and they get
Speaker 2: hit a few times, and some would continue to run
Speaker 2: like almost they were like they were hopped up in
Speaker 2: some kind of drug where they could withstand that and
Speaker 2: keep going. And so it spooked us out a little
Speaker 2: because we're like, we're hitting them and they're not falling,
Speaker 2: And that started getting our heads a little bit. But
Speaker 2: I remember feeling a mix of emotions towards these men
Speaker 2: we were fighting against. One is, I was fundamentally against
Speaker 2: what they stood for, and I was still angry one that,
Speaker 2: you know, people on their side had killed my best friend,
Speaker 2: Todd Godwin. They'd taken Lieutenant Malcolm away from us, and
Speaker 2: you know, and what they stood for was against my
Speaker 2: belief system, and so I was. I was angry about that.
Speaker 2: But at the same time, you know, I had to
Speaker 2: admit that I had some respects for their willingness to fight.
Speaker 2: You know, just like a you know, maybe a boxer
Speaker 2: or UFC would kind of respect their opponents and touch
Speaker 2: gloves at the beginning. It's like, Okay, we're fighting. We're
Speaker 2: we're both fighting here. These are our roles, and so
Speaker 2: I respect the level of commitment they had in that way.
Speaker 2: It's I couldn't describe that at the time as a
Speaker 2: young twenty one year old. You know, this only reflections
Speaker 2: of a guy who's had twenty years to think about it.
Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit about the Alamo, what that
Speaker 1: was and the type of combat that was happening there.
Speaker 2: Uh, the Alamo was a three or four story building.
Speaker 2: I think three story building in the middle of a
Speaker 2: large field, and I remember assaulting this towards the objective
Speaker 2: there to take this house, and there's nobody inside it.
Speaker 2: We went firm. We held our position there for a
Speaker 2: day and calm at first. And then my squad and
Speaker 2: I were on the roof of this building and we
Speaker 2: took fire from a couple of different directions, you know,
Speaker 2: from I believe the west, across the route Henry, and
Speaker 2: from the south. From from it felt like we're taking
Speaker 2: fire from everywhere, you know. I think what was happening
Speaker 2: was we were, you know, trying to figure out where
Speaker 2: we were and how to best hit us, and you know,
Speaker 2: all hell breaks loose eventually. What I remember two big
Speaker 2: moments for me. There were scanning across the street looking
Speaker 2: to my west, and a brick exploding under my hand.
Speaker 2: I thought for sure, you know, I supporting my rifle
Speaker 2: in my left hand, and I thought for sure I
Speaker 2: lost a finger or something. But miraculously nothing was there.
Speaker 2: Just this brick was no longer there, and I had
Speaker 2: no bullet in me, And I said, you know what,
Speaker 2: that was a single shot, well aimed, just missed me.
Speaker 2: I'm going to take a break so I sat down.
Speaker 2: I had a cigarette and kind of had to, you know,
Speaker 2: breathe out that, you know, adrenaline rush of almost getting
Speaker 2: shot right there. So I have one one cigarette and
Speaker 2: then I get back up my friend Nate Fox, who's
Speaker 2: sitting right beside me there, Hey, you want another cigarette?
Speaker 2: And for whatever reason, I mean, I was a chainsmoker
Speaker 2: back then, I said no, thank you. You know, I'm good.
Speaker 2: I got back up on the wall. Next thing I know,
Speaker 2: there's a woosh, bricks explode and I'm and then it
Speaker 2: all goes black and putting the pieces together later, I mean,
Speaker 2: we'd just been hit by an RPG and I was
Speaker 2: knocked and conscious by it. And the best way I
Speaker 2: can describe it, it was very similar to the beach
Speaker 2: scene and Saving Private Ryan, where Tom Hanks's character, you know,
Speaker 2: there's a blast and he can't hear anything, and then
Speaker 2: slowly it starts to come in and you can hear
Speaker 2: them saying we got to get out of here, you know,
Speaker 2: we got to move. And you know, I couldn't make
Speaker 2: up or down or left or right, and I just
Speaker 2: knew I was looking up and I had no idea
Speaker 2: what had happened. And then all of a sudden, you know,
Speaker 2: my vision starts to expand. It's no longer tunnel vision.
Speaker 2: I started to be able to hear sounds, and all
Speaker 2: of a sudden, it's a full fledged gunfight, and I'm
Speaker 2: hearing Sergeant Leo, Sergeant Billy Leo yelling he just got hit.
Speaker 2: I don't know how bad, but he's grabbing his leg.
Speaker 2: Nate Fox is right there grabbing his shoulder. And I
Speaker 2: was looking around, so I see Leo. Yeah, I drag
Speaker 2: him off the roof, get him so we can get
Speaker 2: a meta backed. And I was doing that before I
Speaker 2: really knew what I was doing. It was almost like
Speaker 2: I was watching my body move and drag him off
Speaker 2: the roof. And you know, it was just the training
Speaker 2: set in, and so it was very confusing, to say
Speaker 2: the least way to wake back up. You know, my
Speaker 2: belt was wrung, I was concussed. It was very confusing,
Speaker 2: you know. I remember bits and pieces of it. This
Speaker 2: building we started we called the Alamo that day because
Speaker 2: it felt like we're making, you know, our last stand,
Speaker 2: like Davy krocking and everybody just getting blasted. I was
Speaker 2: in a room downstairs, probably on the second or third floor,
Speaker 2: facing the West, and it seemed like just non stop.
Speaker 2: Every every few minutes, another RPG hitting the side of
Speaker 2: the building there, and I remember just getting my belt
Speaker 2: rung again and again. It's just concussion, concussion, concussion, the
Speaker 2: air tasting almost like if he chew up an aspirin
Speaker 2: as the residue from an RPG. And I just remember
Speaker 2: that being a distinct century experience, and not being able
Speaker 2: to hear, and just being you know, agitated, angry, you know,
Speaker 2: because we're just getting blasted and there's nothing we can do.
Speaker 1: That's Mike Ergo, a US Marine Corps veteran of the
Speaker 1: Iraq War and the Second Battle of Fallujah in late
Speaker 1: two thousand and four. Up next, Ergo explains how he
Speaker 1: became resigned to the fact he would die there and
Speaker 1: how that actually freed him to do his job well,
Speaker 1: and he describes the devastation of losing platoon mate Bradley Faircloth.
Speaker 1: That's next. I'm Greg Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles.
Speaker 1: This is Veterans Chronicles. I'm Greg Corumbus. Our guest in
Speaker 1: this edition is US Marine Corps veteran Mike Ergo, who
Speaker 1: is sharing his story of service in the second Battle
Speaker 1: of Fallujah during the Iraq War in late two thousand
Speaker 1: and four. In a moment, Ergo describes the of losing
Speaker 1: another close friend and the impact that had on his platoon.
Speaker 1: But first he explains how they finally got away from
Speaker 1: the Alamo and moved on to the next objective.
Speaker 2: I remember, I think it was that night or very
Speaker 2: early the next morning, under the cover of darkness. Again,
Speaker 2: we patrolled, I believe it was east a few blocks
Speaker 2: to another building, and as we left, you know, every time,
Speaker 2: we're expecting to get hit, because a lot of us
Speaker 2: were shell shocked, Like I remember hearing the definition of
Speaker 2: being shell shocked, you know, from studying World War One, especially,
Speaker 2: like what does that even mean? And my slight taste
Speaker 2: just slight, nothing compared to those guys, But of getting
Speaker 2: hit with RPG after RPG after RPG that day, I
Speaker 2: understood what shell shock meant, of a taste of it.
Speaker 2: And so as soon as we stepped out of that building,
Speaker 2: I'm like, we're just going to get shot. We're going
Speaker 2: to get shot. And I remember feeling very afraid and
Speaker 2: my mood was very low, just feeling dark, like hopeless.
Speaker 2: Nothing happened. We didn't have to move that far to
Speaker 2: the next building, where we ended up sleeping the next
Speaker 2: night and setting up on that day. But we weren't ready.
Speaker 2: I wasn't ready. I wasn't mentally prepared after that, you know,
Speaker 2: I was. I felt like I was.
Speaker 1: Almost out of the game well in our remaining time.
Speaker 1: I certainly want to get your thoughts on what was
Speaker 1: probably the toughest day of the battle for your platoon,
Speaker 1: and that's the loss of Bradley Faircloth around Thanksgiving. Where
Speaker 1: were you as that happened and how do you remember
Speaker 1: that whole situation unfolding.
Speaker 2: I was an overwatch with my team when brad Faircloth
Speaker 2: was killed, and he was in a building, in a
Speaker 2: house that I had personally cleared three times, because after
Speaker 2: we pushed from north to south in the city, we'd
Speaker 2: go and start back clearing the houses because we knew
Speaker 2: these guys moved around, they were smart, and so I
Speaker 2: had cleared that house with my team three times, and
Speaker 2: I remember just hearing gunfire, big big spray gunfire, a
Speaker 2: lot of yelling, and then two guys running across, hopping
Speaker 2: the fence and leaving. You know, we shot out a
Speaker 2: mist eventually got him. Learning that Faircloth was hit and
Speaker 2: then he was killed. Hard to comprehend because Faircloth, Brad,
Speaker 2: he was a Marines marine. You know, I feel lucky
Speaker 2: that I was able to give him. The nickname we
Speaker 2: called him was the Barbarian, because we had a company
Speaker 2: wide dodgeball tournament. Me and a couple of friends started
Speaker 2: this right before he deployed. No one had cars anymore,
Speaker 2: so we just had a bunch of guys with nothing
Speaker 2: to do with a lot of pre war aggression, and
Speaker 2: we needed something to get that out of our system.
Speaker 2: So we played dodgeball. A ran on the PX, got
Speaker 2: a bunch of dodgeballs, and he played up front, was
Speaker 2: pegging dudes in the face all day long, dodging these
Speaker 2: and we're like, you're a barbarian, and that nickname stuck.
Speaker 2: And so even Lieutenant Barnes is like, hey, Barbarian, you good.
Speaker 2: You know, like that was his name, and he was
Speaker 2: a Marine's marine, you know, he was. He was always
Speaker 2: out front. He was as brave as they come. And
Speaker 2: for him to be killed, it was it was hard
Speaker 2: to comprehend, you know, the shock of anyone, you know, dying,
Speaker 2: but especially for him to be killed, you know, it
Speaker 2: felt like something in the Platun died in us that
Speaker 2: day because you know, between him and Billy Leo, I mean,
Speaker 2: he was he was the spirit of that platoon too,
Speaker 2: you know, we everyone respected him. What happens after a
Speaker 2: big fight, a lot of downtime, a lot of downtime,
Speaker 2: and thinking, okay, if he can get killed, I mean,
Speaker 2: who's next, And just also knowing that, like, Okay, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna have to put this away right now. You know,
Speaker 2: someone that I care about, that I love as a
Speaker 2: brother has been shot and killed. I'm gonna have to
Speaker 2: bury this deep in my soul and maybe someday touch it,
Speaker 2: but right now it's not the time, because the mission
Speaker 2: just kept rolling on. We had to keep going, you know,
Speaker 2: so just knowing that that one hurt, that one really hurt,
Speaker 2: you know, and and you know a lot of people
Speaker 2: were dying, so it was not Eventually with my psyche,
Speaker 2: it started to become like, okay, if he can die,
Speaker 2: how many times can I kick open a door and
Speaker 2: expect to live with someone waiting to shoot me? So
Speaker 2: we're the odds. And at that time though I'd made
Speaker 2: my peace with death. Fortunately because of what happened to
Speaker 2: me a few days earlier, you know, having my own
Speaker 2: pretty intense gun battle with my squad and my team.
Speaker 2: But the important thing out of that was that I
Speaker 2: was no longer afraid of dying. I come to peace.
Speaker 2: I was like, I'm not gonna make it out of
Speaker 2: the city, so I'm going to do the best job
Speaker 2: I can to make sure my guys make it out,
Speaker 2: you know, and it just but losing Brad after that,
Speaker 2: I was like, this is there's nothing fun about this.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's nothing fun about being here, you know.
Speaker 2: I have the pre Fallujah experience of wanting to be
Speaker 2: in a big gun fight, being a war, and then
Speaker 2: after the reality it was like, yeah, people you know
Speaker 2: will get hurt and killed and they'll be dead and
Speaker 2: there's nothing you can do about it. You'll never see
Speaker 2: him again. I just know that I'll be just a
Speaker 2: big void.
Speaker 1: You mentioned a moment ago that you had come to
Speaker 1: the conclusion you weren't going to make it out of
Speaker 1: Fallujah live. So when you get to middle of the
Speaker 1: second week in December and the battle's over and you're
Speaker 1: still alive, how do you process that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question of how to process still
Speaker 2: being alive, And it's It's something I've largely been doing
Speaker 2: for the past twenty years of I'm still alive. I
Speaker 2: have to remind myself of that, like I'm still alive. Life,
Speaker 2: life still happens. And I had a friend, another veteran,
Speaker 2: who told me, you know, it's okay to be happy,
Speaker 2: but almost needing permission to do that. For a lot
Speaker 2: of years, I carried the survivor's guilt, you know. Even
Speaker 2: getting back out of the city of Fallujah and back
Speaker 2: into the camp, I went out to my friend Robbie
Speaker 2: Landars and Hey, where's Dave, our friend Dave Hawk, you know,
Speaker 2: because the three of us went through infantry school together
Speaker 2: and he was in Brava company. I want to see
Speaker 2: how he did. He's like, got shot in the face. Man,
Speaker 2: he's dead. And so that was, you know, like even
Speaker 2: when I was out of the city, there's another just
Speaker 2: kicking the gut of oh, okay, who else then? You know,
Speaker 2: like I went through a lot of dark years too,
Speaker 2: just trying to basically not actively kill myself, but passively
Speaker 2: riding my motorcycle, blacked out, getting drunk a lot, trying
Speaker 2: to process what I'd seen, not believe in it, but
Speaker 2: fresh out of that battle there.
Speaker 1: How did I.
Speaker 2: Process still being alive? It wasn't something I could even comprehend.
Speaker 2: You know, that question showed up, but I had no
Speaker 2: answer for it. I knew that, you know, still, even
Speaker 2: though we were out of the city of Flujia, we're
Speaker 2: still in Iraq, and I I guess, you know, I
Speaker 2: guess I'll figure this out as a civilian someday.
Speaker 1: Talk a little bit more about that, that journey, because
Speaker 1: I know you do a lot of work with mental
Speaker 1: health now and helping others. So what was what was
Speaker 1: the turning point for you?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I spent about seven years trying to drink as
Speaker 2: much alcohol as possible and do as many drugs as
Speaker 2: I could to get out of my head and not
Speaker 2: feel either the horror of panic attacks or intrusive thoughts,
Speaker 2: or remembering parts of the battle, or the just the
Speaker 2: crippling survivor's guild. And you know, my wife, we'd grown
Speaker 2: up together and she knew me. We're friends and started
Speaker 2: dating while I was in the Marine Corps, and eventually
Speaker 2: she said, look, I know that there's a good person
Speaker 2: inside of you right now, but what you're doing to yourself,
Speaker 2: I can't be part of it. Anymore, and we've been
Speaker 2: married for about four years. At that point, she said,
Speaker 2: you either have to stop drinking and using drugs or
Speaker 2: I can't be here anymore. And so it was a
Speaker 2: July eleventh of twenty twelve. I made a decision no
Speaker 2: more drugs and alcohol and then began this humongous journey
Speaker 2: of processing what felt like a tsunami of feelings that
Speaker 2: would hit me, you know, guilt him, I a piece
Speaker 2: of garbage for surviving when when people I thought we
Speaker 2: were better marines than I was, did not, panic attacks,
Speaker 2: memories of death and killing, feelings of abject terror, like
Speaker 2: walking down the stairs, and then all of a sudden
Speaker 2: having this full body memory of walking down the stairs
Speaker 2: and getting shot at and at my house in Wallut Creek, California,
Speaker 2: going paralyzed like like on my stairs, just lying there
Speaker 2: and trying to breathe. So I faced all of that. Luckily,
Speaker 2: I had a good marine friend who was part of
Speaker 2: the sober community who helped bring me to some recovery
Speaker 2: groups and meetings. And you know, I've been meeting with
Speaker 2: a therapist too, and I just remember telling me this
Speaker 2: is why I was still using and drinking, you know,
Speaker 2: like what do you want to do with your life now?
Speaker 2: You know you talk about purpose and I said, well,
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know what can compare it
Speaker 2: to being in urban combat. There's nothing. It felt like
Speaker 2: my life was anti climatic at that point, but yet
Speaker 2: she'd helped me in such a way that I felt
Speaker 2: this tremendous hope. Now, no, I wasn't suicidal anymore. I'd
Speaker 2: stopped harming, you know, myself through drinks, dragging and drinking.
Speaker 2: And she said, well, what about doing this kind of work?
Speaker 2: And it was it was an epiphany right there. I said, yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, if I can have this kind of hope,
Speaker 2: maybe I want to pass this on to other people.
Speaker 2: It was like I needed permission to be happy, and
Speaker 2: permission to be alive, and permission to continue on with
Speaker 2: my life. And it's almost like in that moment she
Speaker 2: had given me that permission. And I realized how many
Speaker 2: of us, you know, my brothers and sisters who fought
Speaker 2: been overseas in combat, feeling that same way. And I
Speaker 2: was like, Okay, this is something I can do that
Speaker 2: has to me that same amount of purpose and passion
Speaker 2: I can put behind this effort to help people on
Speaker 2: the other side of combat now, and so I've been
Speaker 2: doing that since since twenty twelve. I'm a director of
Speaker 2: a VA Vet center and we see veterans every day
Speaker 2: from you know, all walks of life and all conflicts,
Speaker 2: and so yeah, I've been able to be someone who's
Speaker 2: gotten help from a VET center and now someone who's
Speaker 2: worked at a VET center. I saw I'm both a
Speaker 2: provider and a veteran, and that combination can be a
Speaker 2: tough line to walk sometimes because I've had my own
Speaker 2: experiences and I got to worry about transference and got
Speaker 2: to worry about, you know, realizing that I'm the one
Speaker 2: helping people, but I'm not invincible to feeling the same
Speaker 2: kind of feelings they have. So it's been a nice
Speaker 2: balancing act. But it's been something I've been doing through
Speaker 2: a lot of physical activity and a lot of meditation,
Speaker 2: clean living and in terms of you know, absence from
Speaker 2: drugs and alcohol. And for me, I'm someone who's always
Speaker 2: needed a big reason to do something. I need to
Speaker 2: have my passion involved or I just can't put up
Speaker 2: the effort, you know. For instance, I participate in triathlons,
Speaker 2: and like Ironman trathlons and I can't be bothered to
Speaker 2: work out unless I have a race or some big
Speaker 2: event coming up. And so just the what I do
Speaker 2: with the Vet Center gives me that purpose to get
Speaker 2: up every day and to love my family and to
Speaker 2: you know, take care of my vets.
Speaker 1: Thank you for sharing that. We talked earlier before, we
Speaker 1: talked about the battle about the bond that exists among
Speaker 1: the guys in a platoon and down to the squad
Speaker 1: and team level. It's twenty years later now, and just
Speaker 1: from the other couple of guys that you came in with,
Speaker 1: that's obvious that that bond still exists many years after
Speaker 1: you've left. And from what I understand, the bond still
Speaker 1: exists between many of you guys and Bradley Fairclough's mom. Yeah, Kathleen,
Speaker 1: So talk a little bit about that and how that endures.
Speaker 2: You know, I hadn't seen a lot of these guys
Speaker 2: for twenty years. The last time I saw Miss Kathleen
Speaker 2: Faircloth and some of these guys was at Kathleen's house
Speaker 2: in Fair Hope, Alabama, And we're there in two thousand
Speaker 2: and six, April two thousand and six to see her.
Speaker 2: To Bradley was getting a statue dedicated to his high school,
Speaker 2: and so we're there for that dedication. And so I
Speaker 2: haven't seen these guys in twenty years, but as soon
Speaker 2: as I walk up and I see him, it smiles,
Speaker 2: it's hugs. It's like not missing a beat, you know,
Speaker 2: catching up with each other. You know, sometimes we we
Speaker 2: only know what each other's up to through seeing pictures
Speaker 2: on Facebook or social media. But the closeness that bond
Speaker 2: just as strong as it would have been if we
Speaker 2: had seen each other yesterday, as ugly as the death
Speaker 2: and the killing in wartime can be. The message I
Speaker 2: take away is that the bond of love and connection
Speaker 2: is so much stronger that it trendscends all of that.
Speaker 2: That's why we're here together this weekend, you know, spending
Speaker 2: time with each other think, you know, talk about things
Speaker 2: that for a lot of us are difficult to talk about.
Speaker 2: I've talked about this a few times with people and
Speaker 2: shared my experience and process that and therapy, and I
Speaker 2: know some of these guys haven't had the chance to
Speaker 2: do that, and so for them it's a little more raw.
Speaker 2: But they're willing, just like I am, to come here
Speaker 2: because that bond is that much stronger, and so that's
Speaker 2: what I took away from my experience in the Marine
Speaker 2: Corps and combat is that when you're with people in
Speaker 2: adverse situations and you form those bonds, you can't nothing
Speaker 2: can break that, and not even death.
Speaker 1: Last question for you, sir, what are you most proud
Speaker 1: of from your time in the service.
Speaker 2: I'm most proud of the fact that I can talk
Speaker 2: to guys who are in my charge who thank me
Speaker 2: for being a good leader. And it's difficult for me
Speaker 2: to say that because I don't like a spotlight or
Speaker 2: I don't not trying to brag, however, I'm bringing that up.
Speaker 2: He's just because that was important to me. I didn't
Speaker 2: want to fail these guys, and we went through hell
Speaker 2: together and for someone to say that I did anything positive,
Speaker 2: that I helped them, just knowing the tremendous responsibility I
Speaker 2: had of trying to take care of these guys, for
Speaker 2: them to have some positive words to say about me,
Speaker 2: it means the world.
Speaker 1: Mike. It's been an amazing conversation. I thank you so
Speaker 1: much for your time today, and I especially thank you
Speaker 1: for your service to our country.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: Mike Ergo is a veteran of the US Marine Corps.
Speaker 1: He served in the Iraq War, including the Second Battle
Speaker 1: of Fallujah in November and December two thousand and four.
Speaker 1: I'm Greg Corumbus and this is Veterans Chronicles. Hi, this
Speaker 1: is Greg Corumbus and thanks for listening to Veterans Chronicles,
Speaker 1: a presentation of the American Veterans Center. For more information,
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