“We were patrolling down Avenida International, it’s the road that takes you from Zona Centro to coast of Tijuana. It was unusually busy due to a makeshift military checkpoint manned by the army but we took the shoulder on the left to bypass all the other vehicles. A military truck (a four door Silverado equipped with seats and guard bars to hold yourself up as you rode in the back along with six others) stopped, and before I had a chance to even put my FX at the ready the element in front of my squad opened fire on a green SUV in traffic.

The five men who were in my squad opened up as well. I stood there frozen. Fire ceased and we kept advancing along the road. As I passed the SUV we fired upon, I saw the carnage and what looked like three dead bodies and I was able to see a broken AK stock on the passenger side covered in blood.

To this day I don’t know if it was because I really had no clue of what was about to happen is the reason why I froze or it was just that one first time you see someone lose their life so violently before your eyes; but I felt like my heart was going to explode and I leaned over the tail gate and puked as we drove away.

We had close calls after that but nothing ever felt like that day.

We traveled that same road hundreds of times after that and I could see the US on the other side of the wall and I often wonder now if Americans really know what happens on the other side of that wall and really want a civil war like so many claim with so much political division we have today.

When you go fight in another country such as Afghanistan or Iraq you are made believe that those people are not human but in your own soil with people you have so much in common with it’s different. Also we are blessed in the United States because when we come home from other countries people here blindly thank you for your service. Countries such as Mexico and Afganistán the military often holds a different place in peoples mind set.

American service men now feel betrayed by their government because after 20 years of fighting Afghanistan is back where it was in 2001. Mexico is back where it was in 2007 and we did terrible things to our own people here thinking we were on Gods side. Reality is that since the beginning of time men have killed their fellow men while being the same side, the poor manipulated side.”
– Anonymous Mexican Marine. Amphibious Brigade. Mexico 2011.
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This story was documented by Battles and Beers (TM) Every soldier has a story, and every story deserves to be told.