“When the information about who was a casualty passed over the radio, a feeling of morbid relief always came over me when I found out it wasn’t one of my close friends.

Don’t get me wrong, my heart broke for everyone who was killed or wounded, but a little part of me was always relieved when it wasn’t one of my boys, you know? Better so and so than so and so. I don’t expect you to understand. In the infantry we are all brothers, but some of us are closer than others.

I would have traded places with any single one of them in a heartbeat, but I was always relieved to hear that one of my best buddies wasn’t the one who got hit. It’s f*cked up, but I guess that’s just the way it is.

I myself was a casualty once, and my proudest moment was killing the man who shot me.”
– Anonymous US Marine, Battle of Marjah, 2010.
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This interview was conducted by Battles and Beers. As we always say here at Battles and Beers (TM) Every soldier has a story, and every story deserves to be told.