My name is Eddie Black and I am 34 years old (written in 2005). I served 5 years active duty with the Marines
and got out in 1994. Since then I've lived in a couple of different states, gone to a few colleges and have had
a good time living life.
When 9/11 happened I tried to get back into the Marines. Somebody lost the paperwork and it didn't happen.
Then the war was over (Mission Accomplished), except that it wasn't really over. It wasn't until last year when I
saw the Nick Berg video and the news of the bodies of the Blackwater contractors, that I got enraged. I
looked around and saw that it seemed everyone had forgotten our troops over there, Iraq was now a political
topic and wasn't real anymore.
I joined the Oregon National Guard and became an infantryman. Two months later I was told that the unit I had
joined (Eugene, Oregon, already in Iraq for two months) were undermanned and taking casualties and would I
go help out? I said yes, it was why I joined.
Things were surreal. After four weeks of planning and training and getting gear, I finally landed at BIAP
(Baghdad International Airport) in the middle of the night. It was quiet, save for military aircraft coming and
going. A Company came and picked the twenty of us up. We were issued rifles on the spot. Everyone was
wearing nightvision. I was throw in the backseat of a humvee and told to watch outside of the window. We
rolled down the street in total darkness. I was nervous.
Everyone made light humor of me, constantly on guard and watching everything. They had already learned
what to watch and what not to watch. It was on a wide street two blocks north of Sadir City that some of
Sadir's goons fired mortars at us, my first contact with the enemy, that it sank in for me. The mortar rounds
exploded very near our position and they were walking them up on us. We scattered out and returned fire. I
took a spot on the roof of a shack and watched my field of fire. The roof next to me was constantly giving out
rounds of 240 and 203 (a machine gun and a grenade launcher). The Iraqi troops that were with us had left
with EOD, who decided that a firefight was not what they came to do and ditched us. We, being infantry,
stayed for three hours and continued the fight.
After this I was loosened up. I wasn't as nervous anymore. I learned to have fun and smile more at people. I
received a lot of hugs from people glad to be out from under Saddam's reign. I've eaten candy give to me by
grandmothers while on foot patrol down the street. One day my squad was out and we were surrounded by
fifty school girls in uniform who were walking to school. They smiled and giggled at us and we shared a road
for a few blocks. I've passed out box after box after box after box of toys and school supplies to kids who
loved everything we gave away.
I've pulled guard duty on a frozen night, burning anything that will burn, with Iraqi troops, talking about the days
of Desert Storm when he was fighting for Saddam and I was a Marine, both on opposite sides, and how much
he loved that we had ousted Saddam. He told me how their helmet's were plastic, how they had no
ammunition for their AK-47's, how they were out in the middle of the desert with no food or water. Now we
were sharing my Starbucks coffee at a fire in Baghdad, ready to go out on patrol to look for and destroy
insurgents that just blew up a carbomb at a hospital and killed thirty people.
I remember my first car bomb site and the body parts all over the place. There were no military personnel in
the damage, it was all civilian. I remember how rabid and fearless the Iraqi troops became over time, how
they were hungry to find the insurgents and end their terror. There are soccer fields springing up everywhere
in Baghdad and these Iraqi troops want their streets back. They are coming back slowly.
I remember going with the Marines 20 clicks south of Baghdad and finding caches of weapons and
explosives in every third gravesite at a cemetary at a small village. This area had been a hotbed of activity
and the Marines were glad to have us with them for a month. We found a huge cache (the one that was lost
before the election that Kerry criticized President Bush over) and when we blew it up it created a crater 90'
wide and 20' deep and the shockwave is visible, racing across the desert and knocks you back when you are
a 1000 meters away. I have the video... I'll send it. (look in videos section on MySpace)
I remember driving down the streets of Baghdad in the middle of the night at 55 mph, just one platoon, about 7
humvees, and my rig being the last one, and a roadside bomb barely missing us by about 20 meters.
I remember election day and an old woman, barely able to walk, being helped down the road by her son to the
polling station. No cars were allowed to drive for the day before, day of, and day after the election (car bombs
were a risk) and how surreal it was to be in the middle of a city the size of Baghdad where there were NO
traffic at all and people were playing soccer in the streets and celebrating.
I remember a friend of mine who was acting as a gunner in another humvee who was sent a case of playing
cards from a casino. Cars would not be allowed to drive close to us while we are driving around (security
threat with car bombs and all) and instead of shooting at them with his weapon, he would throw a deck of
cards as hard as he could. It would explode in a cloud of cards going in a million direction and the car would
stop. The driver was just a bonehead not paying attention, my friend had stopped the car without firing a shot,
and we laughed at him throwing the cards.
and got out in 1994. Since then I've lived in a couple of different states, gone to a few colleges and have had
a good time living life.
When 9/11 happened I tried to get back into the Marines. Somebody lost the paperwork and it didn't happen.
Then the war was over (Mission Accomplished), except that it wasn't really over. It wasn't until last year when I
saw the Nick Berg video and the news of the bodies of the Blackwater contractors, that I got enraged. I
looked around and saw that it seemed everyone had forgotten our troops over there, Iraq was now a political
topic and wasn't real anymore.
I joined the Oregon National Guard and became an infantryman. Two months later I was told that the unit I had
joined (Eugene, Oregon, already in Iraq for two months) were undermanned and taking casualties and would I
go help out? I said yes, it was why I joined.
Things were surreal. After four weeks of planning and training and getting gear, I finally landed at BIAP
(Baghdad International Airport) in the middle of the night. It was quiet, save for military aircraft coming and
going. A Company came and picked the twenty of us up. We were issued rifles on the spot. Everyone was
wearing nightvision. I was throw in the backseat of a humvee and told to watch outside of the window. We
rolled down the street in total darkness. I was nervous.
Everyone made light humor of me, constantly on guard and watching everything. They had already learned
what to watch and what not to watch. It was on a wide street two blocks north of Sadir City that some of
Sadir's goons fired mortars at us, my first contact with the enemy, that it sank in for me. The mortar rounds
exploded very near our position and they were walking them up on us. We scattered out and returned fire. I
took a spot on the roof of a shack and watched my field of fire. The roof next to me was constantly giving out
rounds of 240 and 203 (a machine gun and a grenade launcher). The Iraqi troops that were with us had left
with EOD, who decided that a firefight was not what they came to do and ditched us. We, being infantry,
stayed for three hours and continued the fight.
After this I was loosened up. I wasn't as nervous anymore. I learned to have fun and smile more at people. I
received a lot of hugs from people glad to be out from under Saddam's reign. I've eaten candy give to me by
grandmothers while on foot patrol down the street. One day my squad was out and we were surrounded by
fifty school girls in uniform who were walking to school. They smiled and giggled at us and we shared a road
for a few blocks. I've passed out box after box after box after box of toys and school supplies to kids who
loved everything we gave away.
I've pulled guard duty on a frozen night, burning anything that will burn, with Iraqi troops, talking about the days
of Desert Storm when he was fighting for Saddam and I was a Marine, both on opposite sides, and how much
he loved that we had ousted Saddam. He told me how their helmet's were plastic, how they had no
ammunition for their AK-47's, how they were out in the middle of the desert with no food or water. Now we
were sharing my Starbucks coffee at a fire in Baghdad, ready to go out on patrol to look for and destroy
insurgents that just blew up a carbomb at a hospital and killed thirty people.
I remember my first car bomb site and the body parts all over the place. There were no military personnel in
the damage, it was all civilian. I remember how rabid and fearless the Iraqi troops became over time, how
they were hungry to find the insurgents and end their terror. There are soccer fields springing up everywhere
in Baghdad and these Iraqi troops want their streets back. They are coming back slowly.
I remember going with the Marines 20 clicks south of Baghdad and finding caches of weapons and
explosives in every third gravesite at a cemetary at a small village. This area had been a hotbed of activity
and the Marines were glad to have us with them for a month. We found a huge cache (the one that was lost
before the election that Kerry criticized President Bush over) and when we blew it up it created a crater 90'
wide and 20' deep and the shockwave is visible, racing across the desert and knocks you back when you are
a 1000 meters away. I have the video... I'll send it. (look in videos section on MySpace)
I remember driving down the streets of Baghdad in the middle of the night at 55 mph, just one platoon, about 7
humvees, and my rig being the last one, and a roadside bomb barely missing us by about 20 meters.
I remember election day and an old woman, barely able to walk, being helped down the road by her son to the
polling station. No cars were allowed to drive for the day before, day of, and day after the election (car bombs
were a risk) and how surreal it was to be in the middle of a city the size of Baghdad where there were NO
traffic at all and people were playing soccer in the streets and celebrating.
I remember a friend of mine who was acting as a gunner in another humvee who was sent a case of playing
cards from a casino. Cars would not be allowed to drive close to us while we are driving around (security
threat with car bombs and all) and instead of shooting at them with his weapon, he would throw a deck of
cards as hard as he could. It would explode in a cloud of cards going in a million direction and the car would
stop. The driver was just a bonehead not paying attention, my friend had stopped the car without firing a shot,
and we laughed at him throwing the cards.
Remembering Iraq