Transcript
Jocko Willink (0:00)
This is Jocko, podcast number 492 with Echo Charles and me, Jocko Willink. Good evening, Echo.
Echo Charles (0:05)
Good evening.
Jocko Willink (0:06)
The dealer NCO's carefully placed Lanzarin's remains into the ambulance for the final 100 yard ride to the helipad. First Sergeant Shaw commanded order arms. And in unison the salutes dropped. Wordlessly, the formation closed ranks behind the ambulance and followed it into the darkness to the edge of the helipad. The chopping sound of two Marine CH46C Knight helicopters in the distance soon replaced the constant hum of generators powering Camp Radi as the whir of the rotors grew louder, the members of the silent crowd stood a little straighter as the helicopters flared to land. A dust cloud of sand and pebbles filled the air, prickling the faces of the assembled soldiers. The back ramps of the Sea Knight dropped and two crew chief moved swiftly across the helipad, came to attention, saluted, then led the dealer NCOs to the aircraft for Lanzarin's trip back home. Colonel McFarland and I stood next to the ambulance in silence. Within minutes the back ramp rose. The assembled crowd snapped to attention as the wine of the engines increased. First Sergeant Shaw's voice filled the air again. Present arms. With the blade spinning faster, the lifting helicopter's prop wash blue sand harder into the faces of the troops gathered in formation, this time holding their salutes until the birds were out of sight. Again Shaw commanded the formation. Order arms. For Staff Sergeant Lanzarin, it was the beginning of his journey back to his grieving family. For the rest of us, it was time to continue the mission. Some soldiers left immediately, grieving on their own. Others milled about in small groups telling stories about their departed friend. Remember that time? Or you remember when he took the Some just stood quietly, sobbing or kicking the dirt and vowing vengeance. As we walked down the hill from the helipad, Colonel McFarland put his arm around me and asked me how I was doing. Sir, I'm fine, we're fine, I replied as I slinked out of his embrace. I had a job to do and for the sake of the unit, I could not go wobbly. Now my job was to lead the living. Tony, you know dealer has taken 25% casualties? He asked as I was lighting a cigar. Getting back into character. Yes sir. More. Counting the guys from Dagger, Chris Stilling's advisor team has lost almost 50%, I acknowledged. Colonel McFarland had seen a lot of injury and death in the past four months, as had we all up to that point, I had never thought of it as a percentage, but as individuals. Scotty Love and Crombie were dead. Rozonski had lost his legs and Sergeant McCool was shot. Now Sergeant Lands was gone. My guess is that one of the staff officers at the brigade headquarters ran the numbers and the magnitude of what Team Dealer was accomplishing and the cost associated with their success hit Colonel McFarland all at once. I'll get you guys some more help, he promised. I was truly grateful. I thanked him and he turned and walked away into the night. And that right there is an excerpt from a book called Ramadi Declassified and was written by Colonel Tony Dean, is a book that I discussed with Colonel Dean on podcast 452. And in that section of the book and on the podcast we talked about Team Dealer, death dealers, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry, 1st Armored Division, who was attached to 135 arm armor under Colonel Dean. And we talked about their aggressive drive to accomplish the mission despite the sacrifice and the heavy losses. And while it was Colonel Sean McFarlane with the strategic goal and leaders like Colonel Dean turning that strategy into operational objectives, it was the soldiers and Marines in the company's place, platoons, squads and fire teams that were out there making it happen and taking the fight to the enemy in companies like Dealer. It is an honor to have one of the soldiers of Team Dealer with us here tonight to share his experiences in violent combat and his experiences after Staff Sergeant retired, Ryan Jackson. Thank you, Ryan. Thanks for joining us, man.