S1: Hey San Diego , it's Andrew Bracken in for Jade Heinemann today , a new documentary series tells the story of one local marine unit's combat experience in Afghanistan , plus a visit to Mount Soledad this Veteran's Day. This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. This Veterans Day , a new documentary tells the story of a local marine unit deployed to the Sangin Valley in Helmand province in the fall of 2010. They suffered the highest casualty rate of any marine unit during the war in Afghanistan. The documentary is called Ronin three The Battle for Sangan.
S2: Anytime I think of singing , I just think of Death Valley death trap survival.
S1: My colleague Andrew Dyer visited Camp Pendleton for a special screening of the documentary. He's , of course , military and veterans affairs reporter here at KPBS. Andrew , hello. So , you know , take us back to 2010 to when the also known as the Darkhorse Battalion is deployed to Helmand Province.
S3: So this is kind of during the the Obama surge in Afghanistan and this region of , of Afghanistan , Helmand Province , the Sangin Valley. Um , this is like where the they grow the opium poppies. Um , so you've got like this economic engine there. You've got the Taliban entrenched in there. And the British had actually been in charge of the area for a few years. Um , they had suffered some , a lot of casualties. They split and we came in. Right. So , um , the Marines , there was one marine unit there , like during the summer. Um , but then when three , five third Battalion , fifth Marines showed up in September of 2010 , Um , they kind of got a quick reality check of what what combat was going to be , uh , in the Valley during their deployment. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And tell us more about what happened that day. And just when that the three five Marines , that's their their unit when they took kind of took control of the area. Yeah.
S3: Yeah. So the the dark horse Battalion. Um , so Sangin is it's a little bit different than other , uh , combat zones in Afghanistan. Right. It's it's it's kind of flat and there's big fields. Um , in the town , there would be like these little murder holes and buildings where they'd get shot at from from Taliban troops. But it was it was out in the fields. Um , where instead of having these , like , roadside IEDs , uh , the Taliban started using pressure plate IEDs. These were IEDs that would be buried under the trail. And when you stepped on it , it would it would blow up. And they were designed to maim , not to kill. And , um , This created just such a difficult environment for Marines , because every time they left the FOB on patrol , that's the forward operating base. You know , they could expect to get into a firefight , but then there were also these IEDs buried in. At any moment , the guy walking in front of you could could just blow up. Right. So there was a lot of , uh , uh , anxiety about going on patrol. A lot of the Marines who were injured came back with amputations. So whenever you see , like , um , a reunion of of these troops , you'll , you'll see a lot of prosthetics and stuff , because , uh , that combat zone at that time was just that intense.
S1: Well , and , um , you mentioned there was like a mixture of firefight , but also these improvised explosive devices that were kind of common to their , um , what were casualties like? I mean , you know , what what what happened to the Darkhorse Marines there?
S3: So three five is about a thousand Marines. Uh , over the deployment , 25 were killed , um , four of them. On the first day that they took over that , um , that area , uh , killed in an IED , blew up a vehicle. The next day , three Marines stepped on IEDs and were killed. Um , so , you know , they learned as they as they went and they adapted their tactics. They they changed the way that they would walk. You know , they started doing these Ranger columns , which is , uh , walking single file , which is something normally the Marines don't train to do that. But because of what was happening on the ground in Sangin , you started to only want to step in the same place the guy in front of you stepped because of the threat of these IEDs. Um , but yeah. So the 25 killed , uh , about 200 injured. Um , and then the unit that relieved them , uh , first first Battalion , fifth Marines won five. Um , they lost. Um , they didn't have as many killed in action. They had , I think , like 19 killed in action , but they also had 200 injured. So , um , even the unit that relieved them , um , you know , once the fighting season started again , it was , uh , it was the same old thing. So it was a that period of time and those deployments , uh , from our units up at Camp Pendleton , were just like , uh , kind of like an apex point in , like , uh , the war in Afghanistan at its absolute worst. Mhm.
S1: Mhm. You talked to one veteran who survived that battle , Steven Brooks , who was just 19 when he arrived in Afghanistan. What did he tell you about his his experience?
S3: So he's got a very , um , I really appreciated talking with him. He's got a very kind of a nuanced approach to things. You know , clearly he's , um , adjusted back to , quote unquote , normal life , you know , fairly well , um , he just says it's complicated. You know , he's got a lot of complicated emotions , you know , sadness , you know , but also like that brotherhood and that survival of what he and the other Marines went through. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. And here's a little bit of of what he had to tell you.
S4: It was an area that had never been occupied by American forces before. We didn't exactly know what we were going into. We faced overwhelming odds and overcame joy , loss , everything kind of all rolled into one.
S1: And again , that was veteran Steven Brooks there. I mean , how do veterans of that battle reflect on it now? You know , we're talking , you know , over 15 years later.
S3: So , you know , everybody has their own kind of relationship with their own service and with their own experiences and with their own trauma. And , you know , combat is traumatic. Uh , and , you know , it affects people in different ways coming out of it. A few years ago , there was a podcast called Third Squad about a unit from one five that went through Sangin , and I went and heard some Marines talk at the Midway Museum about that. And , you know , they really dealt with a lot of what they call a moral injury. So moral injury is this concept for vets who kind of feel bad about what they were doing while they were overseas. And what these Marines talked a lot about was like they started seeing Afghans , all Afghans , as the enemy because you didn't know who the enemy was. And so you have this kind of you saw your friend get blown up and you just want to get revenge , and you start to dehumanize the people that you're there to , to protect. Right? They're there to protect these villagers from the Taliban. And so they had done a lot of work. You know , it takes , you know , therapy and stuff. And they've done a lot of work to come to terms with with that and what had happened over there. but , um. That's the same thing that , um , Brooks talked about was like , you know , it takes work. You know , there's a lot of resources out there. There's there's therapy. And , you know , for him , like , he just wanted people to know , you know , the the stereotype of , like , these damaged veterans , you know , shellshocked and PTSD and all this stuff. Like , those are those are stereotypes. That is not most people who , um , who are in society right now who experience that combat. Right? They are normal people. Some of them may be sitting next to you in a studio. I'm not. I'm not one of them. I was on a I was on a.
S1: Veteran , though.
S3: Yeah , yeah , yeah. But you know , combat veterans in particular I think get a bad rap sometimes because of whatever people's preconceived notions are about that combat experience. And , um , sometimes they kind of have to , to battle through that.
S1: Well , you also got the reaction of , you know , current day Marines , which I think is pretty interesting. Last week you attended a film screening of of this film at at Camp Pendleton. What was the reaction like from , you know , Marines now serving?
S3: It's interesting because three five is actually deployed right now on the 11th MEU. They're out there on the box or near on doing that operation. So , um , there wasn't a whole lot of them there , but the ones that were there , part of like the stay behind crew. And , um , it's always interesting when you talk to Marines because for an infantry marine , you have to understand their entire work life is training for combat. So what you do day in and day out is trained to be in situations like what was in Sangin , right? So , um , it can be monotonous. It can be repetitive. You're constantly doing these arduous hikes and going out and doing field operations. Um , and so for those Marines , there's a little bit of a sense that they missed out on the war because they , you know , we are no longer in Afghanistan and Iraq , and you have a generation of of people that came before them who saw all the combat they wanted , all the combat they could handle. And now it's , you know , it's a peacetime quote unquote , uh , experience for them. And it's all training. So , um , one of the things that he said , learning the history of the unit really , you know , makes him proud. But also , you know , he appreciates like the the training because that's something that came up in the documentary is , is whenever things did get bad and saying and it was their training that kept them alive and that that allowed them to , to get through that. So he said it was good to hear that because , you know , that's kind of all they do right now is train. But he , um , he kind of came away with a new appreciation of what had happened before.
S1: That's really interesting. I mean , even just what you mentioned about just that kind of fear of missing out , in a sense , I imagine that's happened in other eras of the military as well. I mean , some of the experiences you're describing , um , you know , in this case of this film , I imagine be similar to veterans from Vietnam or from other conflicts as well. Yeah. How are you just kind of reflecting on this story on Veterans Day? Um , yeah , just like as a veteran yourself.
S3: Well , I think it just it talks to the motivations. What makes people want to join the military? Everybody has their own reasons. But , you know , people want to serve , you know , it's service , right? And like , for me , when nine over 11 happened , you know , I didn't know what was going to happen , but I knew something was going to happen. And I didn't want to miss that. Right. So I joined the Navy because I felt like I wanted to be part of whatever was going to come. Um , and I think that a lot of people who go into the military , especially if you join the Marines and you want to be an infantryman. You are joining the two fight like that's why you are doing that and that is what you are training to do. So you kind of it's kind of strange looking at it from the outside , knowing you know , what the consequences are of combat. But , you know , these are these are very young guys and , you know , on the beginning of their life and they're looking for adventure. And this is one way to to get it.
S1: I've been speaking with Andrew Dyer. He's military and veterans affairs reporter here at KPBS. The documentary Ronin three The Battle for Sangin is streaming now on Amazon , Amazon Prime Video. Andrew , thanks so much for being here.
S3: Thank you.
S5: That's our show for today. I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
