Has America Forgotten Ramadi? 20 Years Later | Veterans Day with Major Scott Huesing, USMC (Ret.)

On the 20th-anniversary year of the Battle of Ramadi, Major Scott Huesing, USMC (Ret.) joins A.J. Rice on Dangerous Laughter for a Veterans Day conversation about combat, courage, sacrifice, leadership and preserving the stories of those who served. Huesing spent 24 years in the Marine Corps and completed 10 overseas deployments. During 2006–2007, he commanded Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines through intense urban combat in Ramadi, Iraq. His experience became the basis for his bestselling military memoir: Echo in Ramadi: The Firsthand Story of U.S. Marines in Iraq’s Deadliest City Topics include: • Major Scott Huesing • Echo Company • 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines • Battle of Ramadi • Second Battle of Ramadi • Iraq War • Urban warfare • House-to-house combat • Marine Corps leadership • Courage under fire • Fear in combat • Command responsibility • Combat casualties • Gold Star families • Iraqi interpreters • Samawi “Big Sam” Al Helli • Iraq and Afghanistan • Gallows humor • Military transition • Veteran mental health and reintegration • Military memoirs • Veteran authors • Solid Copy Media • Preserving military history Huesing explains why popular ideas about courage can bear little resemblance to what courage feels like in combat. Fear is not the opposite of courage. For the Marines he led, courage often meant being afraid, understanding the danger and moving forward anyway because the men beside them depended on it. The conversation also examines the unique challenges of urban combat. Ramadi placed Marines inside a dense city where threats could emerge from streets, rooftops, buildings and neighborhoods, often at extremely close range. THE COST OF COMMAND Huesing reflects on one of the hardest responsibilities of leadership: Losing Marines under his command. He recalls the emotional toll of those losses and the responsibility of communicating with families after a Marine was killed. Those experiences eventually became central to Echo in Ramadi, which Huesing wrote as a tribute to the Marines, sailors and families who lived the story. BIG SAM A.J. and Scott also discuss Samawi “Big Sam” Al Helli, an Iraqi interpreter who worked alongside American Marines and soldiers while facing serious danger himself. Al Helli eventually came to the United States, became a U.S. citizen and later joined the U.S. Navy Reserve. His story illustrates the extraordinary risks taken by Iraqi interpreters who supported American forces. AFTER THE WAR Huesing later founded Solid Copy Media, which works with veterans, first responders and others who served to help them write and publish their stories. The mission reflects one of the central themes of this Veterans Day episode: If those who lived history do not record it, eventually someone else will tell their story for them. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS 00:00 Dangerous Laughter Opening 01:36 Meet Major Scott Huesing, USMC (Ret.) 03:35 Ramadi’s 20th Anniversary and the 2006 Political Backdrop 08:06 Inside the Battle of Ramadi: Urban Combat 11:41 First Day in Ramadi: Incoming Fire 16:02 Battle of Ramadi Combat Footage 18:12 What Courage Really Feels Like Under Fire 21:13 Iraq and Afghanistan: What Did Winning Mean? 26:24 Gallows Humor and Surreal Combat Moments 29:40 Big Sam: From Iraqi Interpreter to U.S. Navy Officer 31:43 Marine Leadership: Trusting Those You Lead 34:11 Philadelphia, Tun Tavern and Marine Corps Banter 36:22 Solid Copy Media: Helping Veterans Become Authors 41:27 Preserving Stories of Survival and Military Service 47:11 Writing a Book: Coaching, Publishing and Finding Your Voice 54:44 Friendly Fire, the MARSOC 3 and Closing Tribute ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ MAJOR SCOTT HUESING, USMC (RET.) Official Website: https://scotthuesing.com/ Echo in Ramadi: https://scotthuesing.com/echo-in-ramadi Solid Copy Media: https://solidcopymedia.com/ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ DANGEROUS LAUGHTER https://dangerouslaughter.com/ Podcast: https://dangerous-laughter.castos.com/ A.J. RICE https://ajricepr.com/ Publius National Post: https://publiusnationalpost.substack.com/