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We revisit Ramadi 2004 with Jon Wade to trace how hard lessons learned became durable leadership in his later career as a senior NCO and Staff NCO. We end on brotherhood, nerves at the finish, and what it means to bring people home.

• early raids blocked by chains, walls, missing tools
• switch from textbook CQB... to shock and overwhelm
• April 6–10 battle: motorbikes, shifting ROE
• intel gaps and rare feedback on detainees
• HVT hit with Delta and Oliver North present
• corrupt cop raid with large caches and documents
• unit culture built through a new family and trust, repetition
• leadership lessons carried to Afghanistan
• final weeks’ nerves, rituals, and an IED close call
• reflection on ego, stewardship, and bringing everyone home

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If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088

If you are a member of Weapons Company or someone with a story about Weapons Company 2/4 in 2004, please come tell some stories with us - 20 mins or 20 hours! Help paint the canvas of an archival story for others to know what it was like. Contact us @ RamadiPodcast@gmail.com, or via the podcast website above.

All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM

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We catch up with Jon Wade from the 81mm mortars platoon. He details some sharp turns from the workup and flight over.... to the long, slow convoy into Iraq, where a medevac on the highway snaps everyone into a new reality. A reality that shaped how we fought and how he led in the future.

• joining 81s in Oki
• Super Bowl bet, broken jet, snow PT in Jersey
• acclimatizing in Kuwait
• the long convoy, first medevac seen, stress and luck
• living under daily mortars and calm under fire
• Seabees welding, improvised armor, morale and protection
• evolving IED threat, bad briefings, learning from craters
• Warth’s evacuation
• static crews, MAP tactics, and machine gunners’ impact
• curfew stop with foreign nationals and command discipline
• first sustained gunfight, rooftop shooter, controlled clearing

If you like what you've heard, this is a multi part episode. Make sure you listen to the rest of the story.

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If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088

If you are a member of Weapons Company or someone with a story about Weapons Company 2/4 in 2004, please come tell some stories with us - 20 mins or 20 hours! Help paint the canvas of an archival story for others to know what it was like. Contact us @ RamadiPodcast@gmail.com, or via the podcast website above.

All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM

Send us a text

Part 2 with Dan Ackles from Rainmaker Platoon to recall Ramadi’s chaos, the missions that went right... until they didn’t, and the people who made it possible to keep going. Language barriers, split-second choices, and the loss of a close mentor anchor a hard look at meaning, duty, and memory.

• language barriers
• raids with potential intel issues and gestures over words
• the IED that wounded 2 Marines and a stalled recovery
• the blast that killed Savage
• leadership under fire and Doc Contreras’ lifesaving work
• culture shocks and unit humor as relief
• sandstorms, broken roofs, and improvising logistics
• the Barwana MEU follow-up deployment
• weighing whether Iraq changed and what brotherhood means now

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If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088

If you are a member of Weapons Company or someone with a story about Weapons Company 2/4 in 2004, please come tell some stories with us - 20 mins or 20 hours! Help paint the canvas of an archival story for others to know what it was like. Contact us @ RamadiPodcast@gmail.com, or via the podcast website above.

All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM