Hunters: U.S. Snipers in the War on Terror (25 page)

A year later, the investigation came to a head. Johnny was taken to trial under an Article 32 hearing, similar to a civilian preliminary hearing, to determine if Johnny would face the most serious of court-martials, the general court-martial. The stress was enough to break anyone, but Johnny felt relieved to end a year-long wait and start the process.

The official trial lasted two days, in July 2008. The first day of trial was surreal. Johnny arrived at the small Camp Pendleton, California, courtroom in his service Charlie uniform, but the atmosphere was not as dramatic as he had anticipated. Everyone was cordial, and the prosecutor was nice enough to greet him with a handshake. It seemed that everyone genuinely wanted him to be found innocent, but the charges still proceeded.

He faced two counts of manslaughter and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, with a minimum sentence of forty years in prison. A mix of emotions ran through him. He felt betrayed by the service he loved and angry that the officers responsible for the process were more concerned about their careers than about the men who fought for them. Deep down, though, he truly believed that he had done the right thing and that any marine, in his shoes, would have done the same.

In the courtroom, Johnny was not alone. His family sat behind him, with fellow marines and friends behind them. Local and national media representatives arrived to cover the trial. During the testimonies, the intelligence officer made him out to be a sloppy marine who had made a crucial error in failing to fully interpret the ROE. Johnny wondered what that paper pusher would have done had he been there, probably nothing but be paralyzed with fear. He did not hate the officer, but he felt bad that the man was willing to say anything to cover his own skin. It was obvious to everyone who really knew Johnny that he was anything but a sloppy Marine.

Johnny was a Marine’s marine. He had joined the Corps in 2003 after reading
Guns Up
, a book about a Marine machine gunner during Vietnam. After that, using a machine gun was all he wanted to do, and while at the School of Infantry, he became a 0332, Marine Corps machine gunner. When he graduated, he was sent to Kilo Company, Third Battalion, First Marines, who were in Kuwait waiting for the invasion of Iraq.

As big as he was, Johnny became the ammo bearer in his machine gun team during his first deployment. On the verge of combat, the marines in his weapons platoon welcomed him when he arrived, and though he was a boot, war was at hand, and he bypassed most of the games that new marines are run through.

When the war kicked off, Johnny was stuffed in the hull of an amtrack. He had just enough room to breathe next to the other marines, the weapons, and the ammo. His unit did not see much action during the first few days, but within a week they were fighting their way through the city of Nasiriyah.

The clash began when a U.S. Army supply truck took a wrong turn into the city. After realizing they were lost, the commanding officer retraced their route, only to be met by fighters waiting in ambush. Eleven soldiers were killed and six captured in the fight. Soon, tanks rescued the unit, followed by U.S. marines with an attack of their own.

Johnny joined the fight when his battalion was told to push into the city and hold security for the rest of the unit. Later that evening, Johnny’s amtrack trailed a group of tanks across the Euphrates River Bridge and into Nasiriyah. They fought down a two-mile stretch of road appropriately named “Ambush Alley,” which at the moment was controlled by remnants of Saddam Hussein’s loyal militants, the Fedayeen. Johnny was wearing his NVGs while scanning the buildings when his amtrack was hit with small arms fire. The enemy looked like ninjas dressed in all black, running, firing, and moving from building to building. It was obvious that they had stashed weapons in different locations.

That night, Johnny helped fight off the attackers. It was his first firefight and very draining, but he was impressed with the massive amount of firepower on his side. M1 Abram battle tanks destroyed buildings, while .50-cal machine guns and MK-19 40mm grenade launchers mounted on the amtracks kept the enemy fighters off the streets. The next morning very little enemy resistance was left, but those who survived used inhuman tactics. Johnny was appalled when he watched some of the men fire in their direction while using women and children as shields.

The next day Johnny’s unit was in full control. The fight in Ambush Alley lasted eight hours. Johnny was exhausted, but satisfied that he’d handled his first fight well. He had made contact with the enemy and lived.

Soon, his unit raced toward Baghdad. They cleared and bypassed nameless towns along the way. When they reached Baghdad, the marines received a surprising reception from civilians. Many Iraqis spoke adequate English and seemed to take interest in the marines’ lives. Occasionally Johnny spoke with civilians about politics and other issues, and most of them were thankful for the U.S. presence.

A few weeks later, Johnny’s time in Iraq was running out. One night he found himself next to a campfire listening to a few marines telling stories. At first he thought they were from his company, but soon he realized that they were snipers. From their stories, he understood that they had experienced an entirely different view of the war. Theirs was one from behind scopes, with vivid images of war and of kills they discussed knowingly. Right then Johnny wanted to become a sniper, but he would have to wait almost two years.

As the first day of trial came to an end, Johnny was in good spirits. The testimonies of his fellow snipers pointed toward the truth: his innocence. The courtroom examined the Rules of Engagement given to the snipers, and Johnny’s platoon commander explained that senior commanders were not clear on when the snipers could engage and what exactly “positive identification” meant to the snipers The reality of it was that senior commanders had not entirely thought out a comprehensive explanation of ROE that was fitting for snipers. The dilemma was that snipers could prevent and disrupt enemy activities with positive identification of actions that appeared to have harmful intent. In other words, they could react based on observed actions that were similar to the enemy’s MO, and Johnny had done just that.

That evening, when the proceeding had closed for the day, Johnny reflected on his time in the Marines. He still loved the Corps and wanted to serve, and the Marines needed warriors like Johnny, but sadly he’d experienced the dark side of the Corps, the political side. He stayed optimistic, and though this turn of events was unfortunate, it only added to his already long list of experiences. Of them all, none was more dangerous than his second deployment, where he had seen action in Fallujah in 2004.

On his second deployment, Johnny first settled in Al-Karma, Iraq. Tension between residents of this small city and the marines were felt immediately. The citizens held allegiance to the insurgency in Fallujah, Al-Karma’s neighboring city to the south.

For the first part of his deployment Johnny was a regular rifleman patrolling streets and roads with the infantry. He arrived disappointed, wanting to be where all the action was, with marines from 1/5 and 2/1 in Fallujah. The incredible amount of fighting there is what drew Johnny. He wanted to help destroy the insurgency, but he would have to wait.

In one year, many things had changed in Iraq. Johnny’s unit was on the defense when they arrived. It was totally different from their experience during the invasion, where they consistently set about offensive operations. Other things had changed, too. Now civilians despised U.S. troops and their presence, whereas during his first deployment, Johnny was welcomed in most places. Also, the fighting was more intense now, especially in the predominantly Sunni areas where Johnny happened to be. Above all, the major difference, though, was the insurgents’ primary weapon, the IED, and it was not long until Johnny was affected by one.

One day his platoon set out to meet with a local leader. Security and stabilization operations pushed for marines and soldiers to uphold relations with locals. That day, Johnny’s commander was to ensure that the leader was receiving U.S. supplies for his community. The meeting went as planned, and while Johnny waited outside for security, a group of kids threw rocks at his Humvee, a normal reception in that town. Johnny was glad to finish up, and the ride back to base was quiet. Almost no one drove on the roads, which should have been a sign. Johnny was standing in the turret on security when he glanced at the vehicle behind his. There he saw a gigantic plume of smoke forming into a mushroom cloud.

He immediately yelled for his driver to stop, while the vehicle behind him was blasted with an IED. It flashed in his mind that he was supposed to be in that vehicle but had been moved at the last moment. Metal and dirt rained down around Johnny’s gun truck before he and his interpreter ran for the injured marines behind them.

“Security!” yelled Johnny when he reached the battered vehicle. One side of the Humvee was completely bashed in, and the marines inside were severely injured. The first person he came across was Johnny’s good friend. His cammies were shredded from the blast and his glasses lay shattered nearby. Blood oozed from his leg and he was passed out. Johnny cringed when he also saw that a chunk of the man’s head was missing. Seconds later, the marine opened his eyes, but shock set in and he just stared into space. When he regained consciousness, he cried out for his brother, who was also a marine.

The platoon sergeant had also been hit but was fully conscious. He was missing both forearms, but he still directed the marines. The driver escaped with only minor injuries. For Johnny, the destructive power of the IEDs left a lasting impression.

Though this was his first brush with an IED, it was not his last. Weeks later, Johnny was manning an entry control point in a marketplace in town. Interaction with civilians was always exciting, but also dangerous, especially while remaining in the same place. That was the best way to get ambushed or mortared. That day a man sparked up a conversation with Johnny. The Arab spoke broken English and talked of his home country, Jordan, and was very sociable, asking Johnny about politics and economic issues. The conversation was short and more enjoyable than being watched suspiciously by the locals.

After the man left, Johnny noticed something on the ground behind him. It looked suspicious, and he casually examined the item, hoping to avoid attention. When he stepped closer, he realized that it was a mortar shaped into an IED. He tried not to panic while walking to his squad leader nearby and telling him the news. His squad leader was skeptical at first, but soon he confirmed that it was an IED. They cleared the area without the device exploding. That area was notorious for IEDs, which had previously injured three other marines there. The battalion wanted no more of that and allowed the squad to try stopping the men placing bombs there.

Johnny was furious. The man had set him up. He did not dwell on it too long, because that night his squad set up an ambush. At 0100, they patrolled through the streets and alleys near the previous spot, and surprisingly the entire squad made it into position without being compromised. They hid in a palm grove and spread out on watch.

With his Aimpoint, Johnny scanned the roadway. The bipods under his M16 steadied the rifle while he placed the red dot reticle on target areas. Hours later a man appeared 150 meters away. Johnny focused his night vision and saw that the man was digging on the road. No one in their right mind would be digging on the roads in the middle of the night, especially because the ROE stated that anyone doing so would be shot. That was all that Johnny needed. He had positive identification. The target fit the ROE, and he took aim.

When the man stopped digging, Johnny placed his reticle on his back and fired two shots. The man fell right there. Seconds later a car appeared from the shadows, loaded the injured man, and drove off. Johnny convinced the squad leader to search the area and found blood next to a small hole where the man had been digging. Consequently, after the incident, there were not many IEDs emplaced on that stretch of road.

The next few months were uneventful for Johnny, except for the occasional house-to-house search. All the while, the situation in Fallujah was getting more intense. The marines from 3/1 heard that they might be going over to help with fighting the insurgency, but they had to wait until after summer, when the temperature dropped.

By October 2004, Johnny and his unit had gotten the call to be part of Operation Phantom Fury. The offensive mission called for Marine and certain Army units to clear the Sunni stronghold. The men in Johnny’s unit were sick of the patrolling they had been doing for months and that they were frequently targeted with IEDs. To add to their frustration, the insurgents rarely dared face Johnny’s unit head-on, but this was marines’ time to get some payback.

Every marine in country wanted to be in the fight, and Johnny was no exception. Fallujah was said to be in complete control by insurgents, who declared that nobody would take it from them. By November that declaration was going to be put to the test.

Days before the operation, Johnny was retasked. His machine gun team was given a Humvee. Their new gun truck had two M240G light machine guns, and Johnny decided to use one for reserve. His truck was to operate in conjunction with another Humvee mounted with an MK-19 fully automatic grenade launcher. They would support each other while providing fire for the advancing infantry during the fight. Together, the supporting vehicles and the infantrymen prepared for the fight and rehearsed the action to come.

Inside the city, insurgents had plenty of time to prepare, as well. They had held the city for more than six months, with no U.S. patrols entering in. A few thousand enemy fighters organized ambush sites and prepared weapons and ammo caches, as well as booby traps. They promised to counterattack once the marines set foot in the city. They received warning from the marines, and by the time the attack began, the insurgents, not willing to fight to the death, were gone.