Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
3:50 | It was like being a rock star. When Jason Wilebski returned from Iraq, it was all fire trucks and bands and celebrations and pretty girls. Twentynine Palms was waiting, though.
Keywords : Jason Wilebski Iraq Twentynine Palms CA March Air Force Base
There was a lot of military service in Jason Wilebski's family. By the time he got to high school, he was sure he wanted to be something special, maybe a Navy SEAL. One of his buddies had enlisted in the Marine Corps and began to sell him on that angle.
He was just about finished with high school and set to enter the Marine Corps. Then, one day, Jason Wilebski was walking down the hall and saw people gathered around a television. A plane had hit the Twin Towers. America had been attacked and he felt a new urgency to get to those yellow footprints in San Diego.
When he found out he was assigned to Twentynine Palms, new Marine Jason Wilebski began to be regaled with horror stories about the place. "It was 130 degrees and they were throwing beer bottles at us," claimed one of his instructors, describing his arrival there.
He grew up working on a dairy farm where there was always work to do but Jason Wilebski was now a Marine. The training made that feel like nothing. The pace was relentless as his unit prepared for the invasion of Iraq. (Caution: strong language)
When he pushed into Iraq, Jason Wilebski was part of the Marine infantry attached to a tank unit. At first, he could only hear the sound of the building battle as he rode in a sealed up Amtrac. When he dismounted, he saw a couple of Cobras take out some Iraqi tanks. It was a dazzling display of firepower. (Caution: strong language)
A huge sandstorm kept the Marines buttoned up in their vehicles for hours. After it cleared, they rolled into the town of Al Kut, where the enemy had an ambush set up. SAW gunner Jason Wilebski and Company made them wish they had not done that. Part 1 of 2. (Caution: strong language)
They train you to get out of an ambush by assaulting through it, if you can. That's exactly what Jason Wilebski and his fellow Marines did in the Iraqi town of Al Kut. It helped once thay figured out you had to milk the grenade before you threw it. Part 2 of 2. (Caution: strong language)
Shock and Awe was really working. By the time Jason Wilebski rolled into Baghdad, the Marines had broken and smashed a lot of stuff. Soon, the statue of Saddam was toppled and children were giving them flowers. By the time he left Iraq, children were giving him something else. (Caution: strong language)
During his second tour of Iraq, Jason Wilebski was part of a raid platoon. Their mission was to hit locations of IED makers and high value targets. Then came the push into Fallujah, where he and his fellow Marines fought house to house and collected AK's. Part 1 of 2. (Caution: strong language)
As Jason Wilebski's squad entered an Iraqi house, one of the Marines was shot. The Corpsman tended to him while the others fought on. The next day, a Marine was killed at the same house and that house was reduced to rubble. Then they were told to withdraw. Was it political? Part 2 of 2. (Caution: strong language)
It was great to have a Spectre gunship overhead. Jason Wilebski really appreciated the cover from the air as he fought on the ground in the Iraqi town of Karmah. His unit was taking sniper fire from a mosque but there was a solution for that. (Caution: strong language)
That second tour of Iraq taught Jason Wilebski that he might not be invincible. Before he even made it home to see his wife, he learned that he would be going right back to Fallujah for a third go round.
For a third time, Jason Wilebski deployed to Iraq, this time as a squad leader. He and his Marines were angry that they had been pulled back the last time they were there because they felt they could have finished the job. One thing that was different this time, there were a lot more IED's. (Caution: strong language)
Every day, Jason Wilebski's squad had to escort some women who were the personnel that searched females for the Marines at their base in Fallujah. He told them to vary their route to work every day. They didn't listen. Later, at that same gate, a car was approaching and the driver wouldn't stop. Unfortunately for him, Ski had his shotgun with him. (Caution: strong language)
The flash-bangs they got from the Navy were lousy but the new ones that replaced them were pretty good. Jason Wilebski used one to stop an Iraqi on a tractor who just wouldn't stop coming. A big concern was vehicle borne IED's. Sometimes, the bomb maker was the victim due to the improvised explosives. (Caution: strong language)
Three times around in Iraq and Jason Wilebski was ready for a calmer experience. His next assignment wasn't that calm, though. It involved a lot of live fire training. He was one of the trainers, known as coyotes.
No matter what you think about a conflict, you should support the troops who fight it. That's the message Jason Wilebski wants people to remember. He pays respect to the leaders and grunts he served with and reveals what music they were listening to while breaking up stuff in Iraq.
After being a live fire trainer for a few years, Jason Wilebski got to see the operations side of the Marine Corps in Afghanistan. There were hundreds of thousands of dollars in high tech equipment in the HQ but he still maintained a map with push pins. This impressed the brass. (Caution: strong language)
