Jan 10, 2021 · 9 min
The car was no IED. It was a Father and two sons. They were not combatants; they simply did not recognize that the highway they were driving down had become a combat zone. I never saw inside the car but one child was killed. The father was shot through the gut, and the living son in the arm. I can barely imagine the fear they must’ve experienced suddenly coming under a hail of machine gun fire, then being trapped in that car while we fired grenades at them. Eventually we got a corpsman and an interpreter to provide aid to them and they were taken to the hospital. I have no idea if the family were ever compensated the standard $2500 for our slaughter of their child, the destruction of their car, or their wounds. I do know they must carry the scars and pain of that event every day 15 years later, assuming they have survived the last 15 years of conflict. For years I blamed them for their carelessness, then I blamed the Marine corps for its carelessness, and now I know the only people to blame are those who started this war in the first place. These kinds of moments are everyday occurrences in war. They are predictable outcomes of turning someone’s town into a war zone. This happens in all wars, no matter how well intended or executed. There are no “good” wars. If I were religious, I would deeply fear an unforgiving god. I carry the guilt of taking a life, making a father bury his son, and nearly killing him because I was scared and in the wrong place. If there is a god, I hope I can be forgiven. This podcast is my penance and I hope all of you listening will share it and tell others it is time to end these wars and give peace to this family I destroyed but never met.
Veteran Podcast Network