Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:06 | The battalion commander had let it be known. We are going to deploy soon. We don't know when or where we are going but we will be going. Knowing how his CO thought, Joel Reinesch knew he would be right at the front, wherever it was.
Keywords : Joel Reinesch Bryan McCoy Jim Mattis 81mm mortar Camp Pendleton Kuwait Iraq
His father was a Vietnam Marine with two tours. Joel Reinisch always had it in the back of his mind that he'd like to follow that path but he also wanted to study law enforcement at college. He was pretty far along with that when he decided to make a change.
Joel Reinesch was sleeping on the couch when his roommate woke him up. You want to see this. When the second plane hit the tower, he knew it was something worse than some accident. He had entered the Marines delayed entry program but he called his recruiter. Get me in now.
Only days into boot camp, Joel Reinesch suffered two sprained ankles. He toughed it out through his initial strength test but a DI spotted his bruised and swollen ankles so he was dispatched to sick bay. It wasn't like going to the doctor at home. (Caution: strong language)
I should be saluting you. That's what the DI said to Joel Reinesch after looking over his records, implying that the recruit was officer material. He didn't go to OCS but he was made the Scribe and the Prac Recruit. Now he had responsibilities, which worked out fine. (Caution: strong language)
It sure wasn't like San Diego. When Joel Reinesch arrived at Twentynine Palms, it was 105 degrees and miserable. The outfit was solid, though, with excellent leadership. (Caution: strong language)
Joel Reinesch was called to the duty hut where he thought he was going to be cleaning something. Where's your notepad? That was what he heard, instead of being handed a mop. He had been promoted to squad leader. (Caution: strong language)
The wait in Kuwait was long, hot and dusty. Marine mortarman Joel Reinesch was excited to get the invasion underway but, at first, it was just a boring drive. Until it wasn't. The unit would soon suffer their first KIA in combat.
Before his unit got to Baghdad, Joel Reinesch went through a terrific firefight at the Dujayl Canal. The Marines prevailed, of course, but an Amtrac suffered a direct hit from an artillery round.
There was a lot of media around during the invasion. Joel Reinesch remembers National Geographic, Fox News and a newspaper reporter who wrote a book about the charismatic battalion commander. He led his men all the way to Baghdad where they pulled down the statue of Saddam Hussein.
The fighting was over and Iraq had not yet descended into total anarchy. Joel Reinesch left Baghdad and his unit waited out the time until they were sent home at Diwaniyah, a town they had passed through and fought in during the invasion. It was an awful place and time because the entire battalion got sick.
About a month into his second deployment to Iraq, the Blackwater contractors were killed in Fallujah. The mission immediately changed for Joel Reinesch. His unit headed there and readied to sweep into the town but, once they had started, the word came all the way from Washington. Pause in place. (Caution: strong language)
After being pulled out of Fallujah, Joel Reinesch saw his fiercest action in the town of Karmah. As a forward observer, he lost count of the fire missions he directed that day. Eventually, he exhausted the battery's supply of rounds. (Caution: strong language)
What song takes his mind back to Iraq? Joel Reinesch has a definite answer to that and he has a few thoughts on the legacy of the war and the veterans who fought in it.
