Huesing, Scott, Echo In Ramadi, The Firsthand Story Of U.S. Marines In Iraq’s Deadliest City, Regnery History, 2018
Echo In Ramadi by Scott Huesing who was the commander of Echo Company of the 4th Marine Regiment in Anbar from 2006-07 provides what was probably a common view of Iraq by many American troops. He thought their main job was hunting down insurgents and killing them. Anything else was largely a distraction. He didn’t believe in working with Iraqis and had general contempt for the Iraqi government. Most of his book is committed to explaining what it was like to lead Marines.
Huseing covers his deployment to Ramadi and Rutba in Anbar province from the end of 2006 to early 2007. His main priority was to conduct patrols and raids into the two areas to find, kill or arrest militants. Ramadi was so dangerous at the time that his unit only operated at night to take advantage of the Marines’ night vision equipment.
The author spends most of his time describing his men. He gives a brief background to each and then a specific event. For instance, he talks about how he lost a few Marines and the experience of pilots who had to fly their bodies home. Others suffered PTSD when they returned to the U.S.. One Marine got overly excited during an operation and shot a young Iraqi woman inside her home by accident and felt guilty afterwards. Huseing’s main theme was that he was extremely proud to lead young men. He believed in doing all the menial jobs with them such as filling sandbags and was always out front rather than sitting back in a command post. His stories just exude a sense of honor that he felt while with Echo Company.
Probably the most touching part of Echo In Ramadi is the stories about after their deployment. Two of his Marines committed suicide because of stress. Huseing also had panic attacks and became addicted to pain killers and drinking and crashed his jeep into a ditch. Few cover the aftermath of combat deployments and the heavy toll it takes upon people.
The book gives an overall negative view of Iraqis which was a common opinion from other 1st hand accounts by Americans that served during the U.S. occupation. He didn’t like working with the Iraqi Security Forces or government because he thought they were incompetent. He thought trying to win hearts and minds of the Iraqi populace was a waste of time. He mentions how his unit would take over people’s homes and turn them into bases and occupy them for weeks on end. Sometimes he felt a bit guilty about it but his mission was more important than displacing people. This was why the U.S. was losing the war in Iraq. American forces stayed in camps and would venture out usually get bombed or get into a gun battle and then return back to their bases. They believed they could kill their way out of the country which was never going to happen. The author unknowingly portrayed all the problems with that view.
There are better books than Echo In Ramadi about what it was like for US combat units in Iraq. That’s not to say that it is bad. Huseing obviously loved his men, his unit and being a commander. His stories are well told. It’s just that the bigger picture of what was going on in Iraq is largely missing and other soldiers and Marines had more to say.
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