Memoirs of an Outlaw: Life in the Sandbox

Chapter 39: Leadership

The trip back to the base was quiet. The usual internal radio banter was non-existent. When we got back, we quietly dismounted our vehicle, grabbed our gear, and headed to our cots in the hangar. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see several of the officers speaking to Staff Sergeant Phelps about what had happened. There was no yelling going on, but I could tell our leadership was pissed.

Honigsberg made his way over to my cot, and we started talking about what had gone down.

“Honnie,” I said, calling him by his nickname, “what the hell happened? You guys left us hanging out there.”

“Dude, it wasn’t my fault, I swear,” Honigsberg said. “Phelps didn’t want Rankin pulling fire watch so he split it up between he and I. He had me do first watch and then he was taking second watch.”

Honigsberg paused for a moment to make sure Phelps wasn’t around and then continued, “After I finished my fire watch, I woke him up and then I fell asleep. Next thing I know, I wake up and I see Phelps passed out in the turret.  And, on top of that, his fucking comm helmet was disconnected so he never heard a thing. I woke his ass up and I think that’s when he realized he fucked up. He woke up Rankin, had you guys come back, and then we met up with Mays’ vehicle.”

“Dude, he’s screwed,” I said.

“Yeah, no shit. Glad it’s not me,” Honigsberg replied.

We continued to chat for a few more minutes before we were approached by Lieutenants Snipes and May. They seemed very concerned over the whole ordeal and began to question us. Honigsberg reiterated everything he had said to me, and then they both turned to me to get my side of the story. I rehashed what Honigsberg said and then added our part of the story from where my team and I were positioned. They both thanked us for giving them our side of the story and left.

A day later, we were all goofing around in the hangar, packing up our gear for the ride back to Camp Baharia the next morning. Sergeant Travis Madden headed over to where I was and we started talking for a bit. After a few minutes, Lieutenants May and Snipes headed over to where we were and called for the rest of the platoon to meet at their location. Once everyone was huddled around, Lieutenant May began to discuss what had happened during the raid. He stated that Phelps was going to be working for Lieutenant Walker as part of the advance party to go back home. As such, he was packing up his gear and heading back to Baharia in the next few hours. In his place, Sergeant Madden would be the acting platoon sergeant.

While it felt kind of weird having Phelps lose his position, I was thrilled to have Madden as our platoon sergeant. Madden, a tall, lanky, red-haired guy from Kansas, was a very smart, firm yet fair Marine whom everyone throughout the company had a lot of respect for. What made it even better was that I considered Madden a very good friend and had known him since I first entered the fleet, as he was also with me on my first deployment. I looked around and saw that I wasn’t the only one excited about the change. The whole platoon had a slight grin on their faces. This was definitely going to be a good change of pace for everyone.

Once Lieutenant May was done discussing the change with us, he and Madden left to discuss other matters. I turned to Sprenger, and we both started talking about how great it was going to be with Madden in charge. We finished packing our gear and went about our business for the rest of the day.

Early the next morning as we were getting ready to leave on our trek back to Baharia, I realized it was going to be an even more enjoyable experience having Madden as the platoon sergeant. As he was replacing Phelps, he would also be my vehicle commander. I was totally psyched. Madden was good at rigging the comm gear so we could listen to music, so I knew we were going to have a nice ride back.

Just before dawn, our company parted ways with Iskandariyah. We were finally on our way back to Baharia. It felt as if a huge weight was being lifted off our shoulders. We were headed back to our home. And with only a month or so to go, our deployment was drawing down. There was finally a light at the end of the tunnel. As we’d soon learn, we still weren’t clear, but at least there was hope. That ride back was one of the best and most enjoyable road marches I experienced in Iraq. Everything seemed perfect.