October 15, 2004
The Most Offensive Thing I Saw In Iraq
Combat can be pretty heavy stuff with all the gallows humor and what not, so it’s pretty hard to be offended by anything. However, this photograph actually managed to offend me.
The details of this story are fuzzy. Some of our guys were visiting a man and his family to reward him with some new shoes for being so helpful with intelligence. The mans’s brother allegedly threw a hand grenade from within the house. The grenade never made it out of the house and exploded inside the house, wounding one or both of the men. It is unclear who the grenade was intended for. It is assumed that the grenade thrower was unhappy with his brother’s giving information to the Americans. Despite whatever nuances there might have been with the story, a soldier with a reputation for acting decisively entered the building and shot and killed both men.
The only fact that I am certain of is that two men were killed. I also trust that there was an explosion or grenade. I was a part of the force that responded to the event. The rest is hearsay and conjecture.
Then rolled in Hunter Six– the battalion commander.
Hearing that there was bloodshed, our BC came to the scene with his coterie to skulk around. While the family of these two men were in the backyard and out of sight, grieving in what I can only describe as the most memorable display of human anguish I’ve seen in my life, this man poses over one of the dead bodies and has his photograph taken. I do not know who took these photos. (JCH 2012)
The house belonging to the family
Lt. Col. Mark R. Warnecke, New York Army National Guard, commander of the 2/108th Infantry, FOB O’Ryan, Ad Dujayl, Iraq.
March 8th, 2014 at 7:20 pm
What a fuckin piece of shit. This guy not only shows what a dirtbag he is, but wasn’t even the guy who made the kill. If he was anything like my commander over there (same time in Camp Caldwell – Captain Orlando Ortega) he probably had one of his officer buddies put him up for a medal for his fake heroism. By the way man, LOVE your book so far. It is the most honest account of our time over there I have ever read. Thank you.
August 30th, 2014 at 12:10 am
Warnecke, a real snake, and egomaniac.
June 9th, 2015 at 7:30 pm
Your BC is a dick, just like my company commander, always showing up late to the gunfight, even putting us in harms way at times- submitting a CAB for him and his truck every time. Dickbag
October 28th, 2016 at 12:45 am
I was with Charlie Company 2-108 for the 2003/2005 deployment to Iraq from beginning to end. Our company getting traded to TF 1-26 and getting away from that ass fuck douche cunt pedo bear faggot Warneckee was the best thing that we could’ve wished for short of getting our orders cancelled. Fuck that guy and his butt buddy Wicks.
November 26th, 2017 at 7:29 am
Captain brockmiller?