Memoirs of an Outlaw: Life in the Sandbox

Chapter 41: Alpha Company

The mood of the platoon had changed from excited prior to leaving Baharia to downright disheartened when we arrived at Camp Scania. Picking up Alpha Company was supposed to be the beginning of the end. And that end was not supposed to include another one of our brothers hurt or dead. Thankfully, Herman was going to live to see another day, but it was still concerning knowing that he was severely injured.

When we finally arrived, word must have passed to Alpha Company that we had an incident on the way down there. We pulled into the gravel parking lot next to the LAVs from Alpha Company, dismounted, and walked over to where some of the Marines from Alpha were sitting around. In the mix I could see some familiar faces. Sergeant Martin Basso, a friend of mine from Infantry School, and Staff Sergeant Chris Keisler, one of my old platoon sergeants, came over and struck up conversation with a few of us asking what had happened. We rehashed the story, and they both expressed their condolences. I could tell they were both genuinely concerned for us as well as themselves. I’m sure the last thing they wanted to hear on their first day in country was that a fellow Marine was severely wounded. It’s not exactly the best welcoming present.

After a few minutes of sitting around, we got word that we would be grabbing some chow before heading out. We all headed to the chow hall, grabbed some pretty decent food, and made our way to the long tables. I sought out Basso and sat down next to him. Sprenger and Klinger accompanied me and sat on either side of the table. Eventually, Staff Sergeant Keisler made his way over to our location and sat beside Basso. For the next half hour or so, we began to retell some of our experiences in Fallujah and answer as many questions as they had for us. We also asked them questions about any gossip they heard and how things were back home.

The chow hall began to fill up with a lot of Marines from other units, and it became apparent people were waiting on us to get up, so after devouring what was left on our trays, we stood up and headed back toward the vehicles. When we got back to where we had parked, we found out that we wouldn’t be heading out for a few more hours because they wanted to complete this leg of the road march at night so as to reduce the possibility of getting hit by an IED. Since I was a bit tired from the ride down, I had a smoke, lay down on the ground next to my vehicle, and used my helmet as a headrest so I could catch a few zees.

A couple of hours passed by, and nightfall came. All the Marines began to wrap up what they were doing and started putting their gear on and mounting up into the vehicles. Lieutenant May, Lieutenant Snipes, and the officers from Alpha Company, along with the platoon sergeants, were gathered around in a circle going over the route back to Baharia one more time. They wanted to ensure no one got lost. After a few minutes of discussion, Lieutenant May, Lieutenant Snipes, and Sergeant Madden headed back to our vehicles and instructed everyone to get ready to move out. Once they were aboard their LAVs, they rogered up over the communications channel, and the engines roared to life. A couple minutes passed, and the road march back began.

The trip back to Baharia seemed to go by a bit quicker. It was probably due to the fact we were going a bit faster than when we headed down. And it also helped that there were no incidents on the way back. We pulled into Baharia shortly after dawn, and I was dead tired, as was pretty much everyone else. Thankfully, rather than have everyone gather to do a debrief, the officers dismissed us and told us to get some sleep. I immediately headed back to the hooch and passed out.

It was coming up on noon when I finally awoke from my nap. Some of the other guys from the platoon were already up, and word was spreading that there was going to be a company formation after lunch. I quickly threw on my clothes, grabbed Klinger and Sprenger, and headed over to the chow hall to get a bite to eat before formation.

After lunch, we headed back to our company area and saw some Marines already getting into formation. As everyone else started trickling back from chow, the formation grew bigger and bigger. Across from us, Alpha Company was also getting into formation. It took about twenty minutes or so before all the Marines from both companies were in formation.