Marine Corps
From 2008 - 2012 I served in the United States Marine Corps, deploying twice to Afghanistan with the 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines. The lives lost by our unit just between the 2009 and 2011 deployments comprise 6% of all USMC combat deaths throughout the entire twenty years of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). Below are our words, tears, sacrifice, and warnings. War is real. And it is paid in blood, limbs, trauma, and the lives of our youngest and most patriotic adults.
60 Minutes (12:52)
Listen to the names of the fallen, look at the faces of those saying farewell to our brothers, and know that when the Secretary of Defense says that Diversity isn’t our strength, he never fought with the Marines. Leaders see people as pieces of a puzzle, embracing the skills earned over a lifetime to benefit the whole.
If you want a robot get a drone, not a Marine.
Youtube Description:
Scott Pelley spends time with a U.S. Marine company battling the enemy in Helmand Province, sent there as part of President Obama's troop buildup in Afghanistan.
NPR (3:44)
As the President drives our country into war with Nigeria, Venezuela, and anyone who slights his ego, listen to the heroes of the Second Battalion, Eighth Marines speak to the reality and the suffering. These men I had the honor of serving with are the same age as college freshmen and juniors. Hear the words of those who fought, and let them guide us to peace before we sacrifice the lives and limbs of another generation.
Youtube Description:
U.S. Marines with the 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment.
On foot and under fire in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Members of Golf Company pushed deep into the heart of the Helmand River Valley in an attempt to secure this part of the country in advance of the Afghan elections in August.
PBS (54:39)
A reminder of the value PBS brings to a divisive and misinformation-filled news world. Journalists who risked their lives daily right alongside the warriors of 2/8 Echo, my sister company. All Americans unfamiliar with what happened during the worst years of Afghanistan, or why we shouldn’t be sending infantry Marines into our cities should take the time to watch this.
Youtube Description:
In this 2009 documentary, FRONTLINE producers Martin Smith and Marcela Gaviria travel across Afghanistan and Pakistan to see firsthand how President Obama’s strategy took shape, delivering vivid, on-the-ground reporting from the war's many fronts.
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In “Obama’s War”, Correspondent Martin Smith interviews top generals, diplomats and government officials to understand the internal debates over President Obama's grand attempt to combat terrorism at its roots. With the brunt of the work falling on rank-and-file soldiers in the unforgiving landscape of Helmand province, the Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan, FRONTLINE embedded with Echo Company of the 2nd Marines, 8th Battalion. Since the Marines' arrival that July, Helmand had become the most lethal battlefield in Afghanistan. But FRONTLINE found the Marines trying to act as armed diplomats, attempting to build the necessary trust for badly needed economic development.