Constant Combat

Ramadi Podcast

This veteran-led podcast highlights the experiences of Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, starting with their harrowing 2004 deployment to Ramadi; a 9 month combat tour which resulted in the highest casualties in a single deployment - a deployment that most Americans have never heard about. Through candid conversations surrounding these events, the series also explores earlier experiences that shaped the Marines, emphasizing their grit, humor, and humanity while aiming to honor their stories authentically.

  1. 2 NGÀY TRƯỚC

    Chaos, Culture, and Carrot Cake - Chris Kackley (part 1 of 2)

    Send a text Chris Kackley tells how a three‑day stop in Hawaii turned into short detour on the way to Ramadi, how broken and inadequate gear forced us to improvise, and why the bond we built now powers some late‑night calls and reunions. Humor and hard lessons come from Chris as he revisits bridges, raids, and the rules that kept shifting. • WhatsApp and Facebook as our modern radio net • Reunion plans and why dates matter • The Marine bond across eras and the birthday culture • Boot camp to SOI to Hawaii to Iraq in days • Broken flights, hangars, and C‑141s • Sandbags, Kevlar blankets, taped Maglights, improvised slings • Early Ramadi missions, ROE shifts • Night raids, cordons, and battalion‑wide ops • Bridge posts and bored Marines • Why Ramadi was underreported compared with Fallujah • Backyard mount towns and adaptation If you like what you've heard, this is a multi part episode. Make sure you listen to the rest of the story. ---------------------------------------------- If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088 If you are a member of Weapons Company or someone with a story about Weapons Company 2/4 in 2004, please come tell some stories with us - 20 mins or 20 hours! Help paint the canvas of an archival story for others to know what it was like. Contact us @ RamadiPodcast@gmail.com, or via the podcast website above. All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM

    59 phút

  2. 2 NGÀY TRƯỚC

    Chaos, Culture, and Carrot Cake - Chris Kackley (part 2 of 2)

    Send a text Part two with Chris Kackley of Mobile Assault Platoon 1.  Chris tells a volatile slice of Ramadi: from a rooftop firefight to a near-miss RPG, and several good leadership examples that made the difference. Kackley also remembers some humorous hooch life, care packages, camp guard... and moments of honoring friends who didn’t come home. • riding with Oliver North and engaging from a stadium rooftop • rare air support overhead and lessons learned after contact • early April raids and the long waits that followed • IED strikes, an RPG near miss, and split-second decisions • heat, fleas, lost AC units • chow lines, MREs, and care packages • posts, river defenses, and unreliable local partners • weapons caches, disabled rifles, and strange battlefield finds • honoring the fallen through family ties and yearly acts of service ---------------------------------------------- If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088 If you are a member of Weapons Company or someone with a story about Weapons Company 2/4 in 2004, please come tell some stories with us - 20 mins or 20 hours! Help paint the canvas of an archival story for others to know what it was like. Contact us @ RamadiPodcast@gmail.com, or via the podcast website above. All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM

    52 phút

  3. 6 NGÀY TRƯỚC

    A Chiefs Logbook - Manuel Gonzales (part 1 of 2)

    Send us a text Manny Gonzalez talks about his third deployment in 4 years. This time to Ramadi as a combat replacement. He went from advising a Marine Corps video game to landing in Ramadi and learning the Mark 19 overnight. The story moves through shifting IED tactics, hard losses, small wins, and the leaders who kept him steady. • combat casualty replacement orders  • reflections as on the invasion as a mortarmen • rapid shift to patrols, raids, overwatch and medevac • evolving IED threats, pressure plates and trip beams • arrival in Ramadi, early KIA and Fox wounded • water tower blast, VBIED mass casualty and triage • Mark 19 crash course with Ritchie and Coleman’s morale leadership • door‑kicking failures, stealth OP exfil and restraint • sniper ambush impact and rising tempo of attacks • daily life notes, mortar fire on Hurricane Point  If you like what you've heard, this is a multi part episode. Make sure you listen to the rest of the story. ---------------------------------------------- If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088 If you are a member of Weapons Company or someone with a story about Weapons Company 2/4 in 2004, please come tell some stories with us - 20 mins or 20 hours! Help paint the canvas of an archival story for others to know what it was like. Contact us @ RamadiPodcast@gmail.com, or via the podcast website above. All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM

    1 giờ 4 phút

  4. 6 NGÀY TRƯỚC

    A Chiefs Logbook - Manuel Gonzales (part 2 of 2)

    Send us a text Manuel Gonzalez’s notes are exceptional for a charged stretch in Ramadi: VBIEDs, mortars, a TOW shot that made TV, a lifesaving tire shot, and the quiet grit of drivers, gunners, and leaders who kept moving. Outside of the shots and incoming, he also discusses denied extensions, training standards, and how bonds last. • Oliver North encounter and the grenade mindset • VBIED engagement, mortar fire, a TOW shot • City-wide cascade of IEDs, RPGs, and QRF responses • Operation Traveler and urban sniper contact • Near misses, decisive marksmanship, and restraint • Guard duty alerts, fallen Cobra pilot, mortars by the hooch • A promotion without chevrons as comic relief • Awards that never came and leadership that still matters • CAT versus mortars culture, training, and FDC standards • Coping tools: workouts, books, spades, and distance from home • Unsung roles of drivers, navigators, and NCOs • Transition to college and finding real support ---------------------------------------------- If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088 If you are a member of Weapons Company or someone with a story about Weapons Company 2/4 in 2004, please come tell some stories with us - 20 mins or 20 hours! Help paint the canvas of an archival story for others to know what it was like. Contact us @ RamadiPodcast@gmail.com, or via the podcast website above. All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM

    1 giờ

  5. 4 THG 2

    The Path From The Dark Side - Joshua Alderette (part 1 of 2)

    Send us a text Josh Alderette gives a candid oral history: a young lance corporal is yanked from his team and dropped into 81s as a TOW gunner, right after losing a friend. The early Ramadi period shows how expectations fractured early. They were sold stabilization... then hit with IED craters, night missions, and gear failures under stress.  What lingers isn’t only violence; it’s the culture that kept people from seeking care. • transfer from MAP 2 to 81s and leadership pushback • March AFB spin-up, open-bolt lessons, early blasts • stigma around getting medical care, undocumented wounds • April 4–6 turning point • friendly fire on Nova, gear failures, light loadouts • killing time through gallows humor, pranks, and cards • chasing adrenaline after war, a hotel incident... and recovery • TOW employment in Ramadi If you like what you've heard. This is a multi part episode. Make sure you listen to the rest of the story. ---------------------------------------------- If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088 If you are a member of Weapons Company or someone with a story about Weapons Company 2/4 in 2004, please come tell some stories with us - 20 mins or 20 hours! Help paint the canvas of an archival story for others to know what it was like. Contact us @ RamadiPodcast@gmail.com, or via the podcast website above. All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM

    1 giờ 2 phút

  6. 4 THG 2

    The Path From The Dark Side - Joshua Alderette (part 2 of 2)

    Send us a text “We went from amateur to professional in two days.” Ambushes, mortars, Bradleys, and the fog of war as told by Josh Alderette in part 2 of our conversation. Two brutal April days, from convoy ambushes and mortar fire, and the small human moments that still echo decades later. We talk tactics, errors, lucky breaks, and how those hours turned kids into adults overnight. • the white Opel • mortars, counter-battery, and sensing incoming • April 6 push to Echo Company under ambush • rooftop fights, IEDs and palm grove contact • evacuating wounded down Nova under fire • DShK in a tower, TOW impacts and ammo runners • sprinting for the RPG launcher under fire • pranks, bonding and keeping morale intact • left seat right seat frustrations • later deployments, shifting tactics and geopolitics • pride, regret and meaning after combat ---------------------------------------------- If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088 If you are a member of Weapons Company or someone with a story about Weapons Company 2/4 in 2004, please come tell some stories with us - 20 mins or 20 hours! Help paint the canvas of an archival story for others to know what it was like. Contact us @ RamadiPodcast@gmail.com, or via the podcast website above. All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM

    1 giờ 4 phút

  7. 30 THG 1

    The Real Machine Gun Kelly - Nick Kelly

    Send us a text Nick Kelly recounts Ramadi in 2004, from the first push, to the government center, to the fight that swallowed Easy Street, and the strange silence of coming home. Nick also paints the story of what lingers. It's the humanizing part: calling a parent from an accidentally open phone center; cleaning carbon off steel because it steadies the mind; reading about Vietnam under desert stars; and deciding how much of the past to carry into the present.  • background as 0331 in a Mobile Assault Platoon • training gaps versus urban combat reality • convoy north, first IEDs, arrival in Ramadi • April 6, government center push and Easy Street fight • close engagements with Mk-19 • casualties and battlefield triage • April 7, Route Nova ambush and tree-top fighters • car bombs, jam clears, alley fights • night ambushes, tanks, and near misses • downtime rituals, books, music • family support and perspective • meaning, memory, and choosing when to speak ---------------------------------------------- If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088 If you are a member of Weapons Company or someone with a story about Weapons Company 2/4 in 2004, please come tell some stories with us - 20 mins or 20 hours! Help paint the canvas of an archival story for others to know what it was like. Contact us @ RamadiPodcast@gmail.com, or via the podcast website above. All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM

    1 giờ 10 phút

  8. 26 THG 1

    A Lifetime of Explosives - Heath McKenzie (part 1 of 2)

    Send us a text Heath McKenzie's story comes with a lot of laughs sprinkled into a good recounting of some busy days. The streets emptied and everyone knew what came next. If you listen closely, he gives an excellent account of tactical changes made from lessons learned. We walk through April 6 and 7 as Golf pinned down... QRFs ambushed from both east and west, and a small team surging ahead to break the line while the rest of the convoy wrestles contact on every block. • joining 2-4 on the heels of 9/11 • Okinawa extension, stop-loss, MP assignment • Kuwait training with Brits • improvised armor and welded gun mounts • April 6–7 ambushes • casualty evacuation under fire • April 10 bug hunt and a bridge overwatch mortar find • partnering with ODA for raids and cordons • patrol rotations, QRF rhythm, daily grind • Conde’s death on Route Michigan and survivor’s guilt If you like what you've heard, this is a multi part episode. Make sure you listen to the rest of the story. ---------------------------------------------- If you like what you heard, please subscribe on your favorite podcast service or follow our webpage for direct downloads @ https://www.buzzsprout.com/2525088 If you are a member of Weapons Company or someone with a story about Weapons Company 2/4 in 2004, please come tell some stories with us - 20 mins or 20 hours! Help paint the canvas of an archival story for others to know what it was like. Contact us @ RamadiPodcast@gmail.com, or via the podcast website above. All music used with permission by soundbay: https://www.youtube.com/@soundbay_RFM

    49 phút
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Giới Thiệu

This veteran-led podcast highlights the experiences of Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, starting with their harrowing 2004 deployment to Ramadi; a 9 month combat tour which resulted in the highest casualties in a single deployment - a deployment that most Americans have never heard about. Through candid conversations surrounding these events, the series also explores earlier experiences that shaped the Marines, emphasizing their grit, humor, and humanity while aiming to honor their stories authentically.

Thông Tin

  • Nhà sáng tạo
    Ramadi Podcast
  • Năm hoạt động
    2025 - 2026
  • Tập
    47
  • Xếp hạng
    Thô tục
  • Bản quyền
    © 2026 Constant Combat
  • Trang web chương trình
    Constant Combat