Marez

Mass., died in Marez, Iraq, on May 31, of non-combat related causes.

Gulf War II 2006

Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds sustained Feb. 20 while supporting combat operations at Combat Outpost Marez, Iraq.

Gulf War II 2010

Just a few minutes earlier, I had eaten lunch in that tent—the mess tent at Forward Operating Base FOB Marez in Mosul, Iraq, about 250 miles northwest of Baghdad in the province of Nineveh.

Hope Unseen Captain Scott M. Smiley 2010

Riikka learned what those of us at FOB Marez had known for nearly a day: her husband was not okay.

Hope Unseen Captain Scott M. Smiley 2010

Our platoon prepared to roll out of Marez at about 11 A.M. My Stryker sat at the front of the convoy as we waited for our exact departure time to arrive.

Hope Unseen Captain Scott M. Smiley 2010

I hate to admit it, but exiting the outside wire boundary of FOB Marez with my platoon induced a sort of Pavlovian fear response inside me.

Hope Unseen Captain Scott M. Smiley 2010

Ahmed Said, the man who blew himself up and killed Captain J., shouldered the blue-collar load in the bombing of the FOB Marez dining facility, but clearly he was not the brains of the operation.

Hope Unseen Captain Scott M. Smiley 2010

This same scene repeated itself in multiple spots around the FOB Marez mess tent.

Hope Unseen Captain Scott M. Smiley 2010

Ahmed, a twenty-year-old Saudi medical student, had been working at FOB Marez for close to two months.

Hope Unseen Captain Scott M. Smiley 2010

With the dust of Ahmed Said settling and food dripping off the walls in the FOB Marez mess tent, a senior officer grabbed Dave Webb and directed him to confirm deaths and then sort, identify, and bag bodies.

Hope Unseen Captain Scott M. Smiley 2010