Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

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Andrew Samuelson

Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) | 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division

Andrew Samuelson was on the advance team that went to Afghanistan to prep for the arrival of the full battalion. They immediately discovered that the Army didn't really have a mission for them. After a couple of quick support missions for other units, it was decided that they would be the Quick Reaction Force for a large area. (2:39)
It was a simple task that would last a few hours but Andrew Samuelson's platoon stayed for 45 days beside that river. They were there to provide security while divers searched for the bodies of two drowned Americans. The Taliban sensed an opportunity. (10:32)
Many of the Taliban would go to Pakistan for the winter but they returned in the spring and the fighting would begin again. This year they had their eyes on Kandahar city and Andrew Samuelson's unit was blocking the way. (5:59)
The Rules of Engagement were onerous in Afghanistan. Andrew Samuelson wonders why he wasn't allowed to shoot obvious enemy combatants. That's not how you win a war. (2:05)
They tried to advise the unit that was replacing them but the new guys weren't listening. On his way out of the base as he was heading home, Andrew Samuelson recalls the look of sheer terror in a young private's face. (5:18)
Andrew Witzel

Operation Iraqi Freedom | 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion

Joining the Marines was his way out of the small Arizona town where he grew up. Andrew Witzel had a single father and three brothers so the Marine Corps may have been a little quieter. He was still in high school when the 9/11 attacks hardened his desire to become a Marine. (4:52)
The rumor was that Andrew Witzel's company had been disbanded because the Marines in it were degenerates, but then there are a lot of rumors among PFC's. At any rate it was reconstituted in the run up to his battalion's deployment to Iraq. They stopped briefly in Kuwait, which he remembers as the hottest place on Earth. (5:48)
During the Battle of Fallujah, Andrew Witzel's unit was tasked with securing the two bridges where a mob had lynched American contractors. Then, they set up a blocking position on the Fallujah peninsula. His light armored vehicle had already taken an IED blast before they got there and, before they would leave, it would take an even bigger one that nearly knocked it out of the war. (Caution: strong language.) (8:04)
The men of C Company got a belated Marine Cops birthday celebration while refitting at Camp Ramadi. Even then, it was kind of an insult considering what happened with the awards handed out that day. Their new mission was overwatch on one of the big Iraqi highways, where there was a blind spot between two outposts. That was trouble. (Caution: strong language.) (5:05)
After his Iraq deployment, Andrew Witzel did what Marines like to do. He had a few drinks. Then he had a few more. Eventually, this would lead to him not drinking any more. At the time, though, he was lucky to get an assignment to Okinawa and then with a Marine Expeditionary Unit that would see him on a year long voyage around the Pacific. (Caution: strong language.) (6:50)