Marines in The Battle of Marjah | USMC NCO | Author | Choices Not Chances Podcast | Ryan Rogers
Combat Story
Ryan Fugit
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 21 January 2023
⏱️ 129 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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Today we hear the Combat Story of Ryan Rogers, a Marine Corps NCO who led Marines during the Battle of Marjah aka Operation Moshtarak which was a huge and intense International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) offensive in Helmand Province, Afghanistan involving 15,000 Afghan, American, British, Canadian, Danish, and Estonian troops, and the largest joint operation of the War in Afghanistan up to that point in 2010.
The purpose of the operation was to remove the Taliban from Marja, thus eliminating the last Taliban stronghold in central Helmand Province. This was Ryan’s first experience of intense combat and we spend significant time on the fighting which began literally after stepping off the Chinook on the LZ.
Many don’t know this about me but the Battle of Marjah had a profound impact on me personally in 2010 and was a primary reason I found my way to the CIA (which we touch on in this podcast).
After his intense combat experience, Ryan turned to drinking but then found his path and purpose, writing the book “The Lions of Marjah” about his experiences during this battle and co-hosting the Choices Not Chances podcast.
This is a great one ya’ll. I don’t usually tear up during an interview but this one had me and Ryan in tears at one point talking about the relationships created down range. I know ya’ll are going to enjoy this one.
Find Ryan Online:
- Ryan’s Linktree https://linktr.ee/combatstory
- Merch https://www.bonfire.com/store/combats...
- Instagram @combatstory https://www.instagram.com/combatstory
- Facebook @combatstoryofficial https://fb.me/combatstoryofficial
- Send us messages at https://m.me/combatstoryofficial
- Learn more about Ryan www.combatstory.com/aboutus
- Intro Song: Sport Rock from Audio Jungle
Find Ryan Rogers Online:
- Ryan's book Lions of Marjah https://www.amazon.com/Lions-Marjah-Combat-As-Saw/dp/0578891220
- Twitter @RyanRog98054437 https://twitter.com/ryanrog98054437
- Choices Not Chances Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsqcmxKqaR4dIFFpaJxhtrQ
Show Notes:
00:00 - Intro
00:59 - Guest Introduction (Ryan Rogers)
02:25 - Interview begins
03:45 - Choices Not Chances Podcast
06:22 - Ryan's childhood and inspiration on joinging the military
11:27 - Ryan's family's reaction to him joining the Marines
13:02 - Why did Ryan choose to join the Marines
14:22 - Training for the Marines
22:38 - Americans Evacuated from Lebanon mission
27:40 - Does Hunting experience help in the Marines
30:20 - First time you found yourself downrange
32:45 - The yearning for combat
36:51 - The origins of the Lions of Marjah book
42:05 - Operation Moshtarak
49:03 - Relationship with the brand new squad in combat
51:53 - Dropping in the center of the fight
01:04:40 - The days that followed
01:18:20 - Any particullarly hard missions
01:25:41 - Building the bonds of combat Veterans
01:32:49 - The responsibilities of a USMC Squad Leader
01:38:19 - The transition out
01:42:33 - The emotional challenges of being a Marine
01:45:44 - Finding purpose
01:49:50 - Any sentimental items
01:51:00 - Would you do it all again
01:52:42 - Listener comments and shout outs
01:54:33 - Sights Smells bring you back to combat
01:55:49 - Funniest memory of the time downrange
02:02:19 - Advice to 18-22 year olds
02:05:48 - Best piece of advice during your career
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I as a squad leader shouldn't ideally be shooting that much and I should be |
| 0:05.2 | more marking so a lot of times my first six eight ten rounds would be |
| 0:08.7 | tracers so I could mark targets for my squad so I get up and as soon as I get |
| 0:13.6 | up into that corner into that firing position I catch two guys with Soviet |
| 0:17.9 | block medium machine guns running up this little canal line that runs north |
| 0:23.5 | away from us to their trees and foliage I guess that they were about 300 so I |
| 0:28.1 | put my you know tip of the chevron put my 300 wow and I fire and it's a tracer |
| 0:33.3 | you know I told my guys hey I got to tracer hits it like just below its feet |
| 0:37.2 | so I shifted up the four wow fold them boom he goes down welcome to combat |
| 0:42.5 | story I'm Ryan fugit and I serve war zone tours as an army attack helicopter |
| 0:46.4 | pilot and CIA officer over a 15-year career I'm fascinated by the experiences of |
| 0:51.5 | the elite and combat on this show I interview some of the best to understand |
| 0:55.9 | what combat felt like on their front lines this is combat story today we |
| 1:00.7 | hear the combat story of Ryan Rogers a Marine Corps NCO who led Marines during |
| 1:05.5 | the Battle of Marja a K operation washtaric which was a huge and intense |
| 1:10.1 | international security assistance force or ISAP offensive and helmet |
| 1:14.5 | province Afghanistan in 2010 it involved 15,000 Afghan American British |
| 1:19.9 | Canadian Danish and Estonian troops and the largest joint operation of the war |
| 1:24.9 | up to that point the purpose of the operation was to remove a Taliban stronghold |
| 1:29.3 | from Marja that's eliminating the last stronghold in helmet province this was |
| 1:33.5 | Ryan's first experience of intense combat and we spent significant time on |
| 1:37.5 | the fighting which began literally after stepping or falling off the |
... |
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