Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
5:45 | By the age of fourteen, Daniel McConnell had decided to join the military. He had actually signed up to try out for the SEALs but a Marine recruiter got hold of him and asked, what happens if you don't make it?
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When new Marine Daniel McConnell got to the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, he found that some of old hands were helpful and mentoring but then there were the guys who hazed you unmercifully. Almost right away, they deployed to Iraq and he was on security detail at an air base for a while, then into the fray in the streets.
The IED incident that took the life of Corpsman Charles Sare is seared into the memory of Daniel McConnell. He was driving the Humvee behind the one that took the blast and he was witness to the horrible effects of the fireball.
The contact was all at a distance until the Marines got into the town of Hit. Daniel McConnell remembers a lot of firefights on rooftops and how he carried a friend to to the Medevac chopper. The Marine returned a month later, turning down the chance to go home.
Returning home after that first deployment caused a strange state of mind in Daniel McConnell. He was actually bitter at how easy everyone had it in the real world back home. Combat had changed him. When he returned to training, there were further frustrations.
The 2nd Iraq deployment was thankfully more peaceful than the first. Daniel McConnell was again in the town of Hit but with way less fighting. He lost his job as vehicle commander for pointing out why his sergeant had no idea what he was doing. After the tour, he reenlisted and moved on from the 3-4 Marines.
To begin his life after the Marines, Daniel McConnell first made a missionary trip to China where it's illegal to be a missionary. Then he went back to school, got the BBA and the MBA and saw his business KO'd by COVID. Time to start again.
You have to honor the ones who were lost. Daniel McConnell made it back from Iraq and he tries to life his life as a legacy for the ones who didn't. The reunions help.
