This was unlike any mission we'd been taught about in Ranger history.

We sent 100 guys and they had, like, a battalion, So we were outnumbered.

My chief here was, um are gonna have the guts to go forward.

You're gonna have that that courage has a 19 year old private.

Well, I was truly gave myself into I had no clue.

The Haditha Dam was essentially very important strategic point for the invasion of Iraq.

It provided one of the only main highways across the Euphrates.

It provided hydroelectric power to the western half of Iraq.

The initial fear was that the Iraqi army might sabotage the dam and actually flood the entire city of Geetha.

This would be disastrous to the people there, but it would also be disastrous to the invasion.

The idea was that it would go very, quite simple, and we would seize this hard point and then hold on to it for about 30 hours.

And then by then the conventional forces would believe us.

And so things just didn't quite go that way.

As you pull up to the damn.

I remember seeing it for the first time, and it was just so huge.

The structure itself was how many stories?

But it's in the double digits.

I'm sure I need The dam was about two miles long, about 150 feet tall.

Okay, Way.

Pull it to the damn.

My platoon was tasked with taking a series of buildings on near side.

As we approached, we saw some members of the Iraqi army, which we sit tight and detained.

And we're preparing to take the rest of the hydroelectric facility you know, were hoping we could do it quietly.

Don't even think about the fact that I was shooting until after I fired 45 rounds.

And, you know, we always stop shooting because their targets weren't standing any longer.

It took probably a good 30 seconds to realize that we just shot somebody.

It was all those things that always I thought about it, you know, going in the infantry, engaging, you know, the enemy is something that you're supposed to look forward to.

Something I always wondered if I'd have the ability to do.

And you know, when it happened, it didn't feel like the way I thought it would feel.

E didn't really feel anything.

Yeah, it didn't feel real at the time.

You know, I didn't feel any different than training, and then it just, you know, before I really had time to let it all sink in the battle, you know, kind of just erupted.

All of a sudden, these RPGs are flying up in the air and air bursting over us.

We began doing gun runs overhead.

Must have woke up the village, and everybody knew that we were there.

And this thing became the scariest mission that I had ever been on in my life.

Felt almost overwhelming at that point because the far got so accurate.

One of our Rangers look to peek over his position and at that point was hit by a large piece of shrapnel.

Immediately that the call from Medic came as we're running.

Remember, rounds continue to come in.

We'd run, you will hear the round coming.

We'd have to hit the dirt.

We get back up, start writing again.

When I got there, they had I'm leaning up against the wall.

You know, I never I had kind of expecting something manageable.

You know, I wasn't inspect expecting you?

Nope.

Entering head trauma.

You know, I felt like I froze all of a sudden.

It was with reality, you know?

Was was I was scared, you know, Like, it was the worst thing I've ever seen in my entire life.

Remember, My pretence aren't saying, you know, you guys got this.

It probably wasn't but five or 10 seconds.

You know, if that that I was frozen, it felt like eternity.

You know, I never want to work on one of my buddies.

You know, a guy named Jeremy Feldbusch.

I knew him.

All right.

You know, I knew him pretty well.

I think we partied together a couple times.

He was a mortar hman.

And, um, you know, like I said, those rounds are effective and, uh, got him right in the forehead.

It is immediately went to work published, unresponsive, and he wasn't breathing, But he had a very strong radio pulls in his wrist.

And that indicated me that, you know, he was very much still alive.

I listened for breathing and could hear gurgling, which indicated to me that he had an obstructed airway.

And so the automatic was prepared to do a tracheotomy.

Nobody wants to do that kind of procedure, you know, in such an Unsterile and chaotic environment.

Luckily, we didn't need to do that.

I start to suction his mouth.

It was essentially try blood and flush in the back of his throat.

And when I was able to clear that that blood and flush out of his throat, you know, he was able to choose him breathing on his own.

And so we started a lot of moment.

Chairman is a big boy.

I had him at the shoulders and a couple of guys haven't the legs and hips and had passed him to other guys on the other side of the wall.

Things were happening so quickly they pulled him from my grasp.

I think I was at that point you and fear for Jeremy's life.

We drove to the center of the dam.

I had his head sitting in my lab.

I didn't want this head to touch the ground again.

Is this this this life, you know, most fair minds.

I had my life side away for someone to you replace me.

They brought him in the back of a Humvee.

They had converted into a makeshift litter and they brought him to the center of the control point.

It was a lot to take in.

I just remember that Look when Matt looked at me, you know, And he was, you know, his mops.

He was covered in blood.

And, you know, I just remember him handing over and saying, You know, I know that you guys will do what needs to happen, You know, in there in judgment, there's this sense that the medics can save just about anybody.

If you're still alive and kicking when you get to us, we'll take care of you and we'll do whatever we need to do whether it be fly a plane fly, have burned down to come pick you up.

We'll make sure that you're treated right, whether dead or alive.

And that's something that we all live by.

For him to be one of the first guys they're t save Feldbusch is life be honest First combat mission ever.

I mean, you can't rise to the occasion better than that.

He did a good job treating Feldbusch, and, um, you know Feldbusch is alive and there's a lot to say.

For that Feldbusch is able to recover, and to quite successfully, he was the first spokesman for the Wounded Warrior project.

I don't think that I would develop into, you know, the Ranger that I did if it had not been for documents influence since it was like a dad going, man.

I helped that guy become what he is, and I was proud of him.

I'm still proud of him.

I'll always be proud.

Andy.

The damn very much was my coming of age.

It taught me that courage is not being fearless, but courage is is moving forward and sparred of the fear.

Fear is something that's overcome a ble.