Ragged Edge: A US Marine's Account of Leading the Iraqi Army Fifth Battalion

412 Pages·2017·21.809 MB·English

by  Michael Zacchea, Ted Kemp, Paul Eaton

Z
A “A superb account of the efforts to build an Iraqi army from scratch.
MEMOIR / MILITARY C
Every commander in chief contemplating intervention should read this.”
KC Deployed to Iraq in March 2004 after
EH —General Anthony C. Zinni (USMC-ret.), former commander the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, US
ME of US Central Command
“Zacchea and Kemp have nailed it. They accurately captured the inspiration, joys, sor- A Marine Michael Zacchea thought he had
P
rows, and deep frustrations we had in standing up the new Iraqi Army and Special landed a plum assignment. His team’s mission
was to build, train, and lead in combat the first
Police Forces in the early years of the Iraq War. This book is a great read for anyone
Iraqi Army battalion trained by the US military.
struggling to understand what it was like on the ground, and it’s also a fine primer for Quickly, he realized he was faced with a
R
anyone preparing to advise foreign forces. Highly recommended.” nearly impossible task. With just two weeks’
training based on outdated and irrelevant mate-
—Lieutenant General Jeffrey S. Buchanan, commander of US Army North, A R A G G E D
rials, no language instruction, and few cultural
former deputy commander of US Forces Afghanistan tips for interacting with his battalion of Shi-
G
ites, Sunnis, Kurds, Yazidis, and others, Zac-
chea arrived at his base in Kirkush to learn his
G
recruits would need beds, boots, uniforms, and
E D G E
“A must-read for anyone who wants to understand what went wrong for the United E equipment. His Iraqi officer counterparts spoke
LIEUTENANT COLONEL MICHAEL ZACCHEA
States in Iraq—and whether we should put troops in Syria.” little English. He had just two months to trans-
(USMC-ret.) led the Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis D form his men—mostly poor, uneducated farm-
of the Iraqi Fifth Battalion and their US advisers. —Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, chief international correspondent, CNBC
ers—into a cohesive rifle battalion that would
He won two Bronze Stars, the Purple Heart,
fight a new insurgency erupting across Iraq.
and Iraq’s Order of the Lion of Babylon. A veter- E
In order to stand up a fighting battalion,
ans’ advocate with VoteVets.org and elsewhere,
Zacchea knew, he would have to understand
D
“The Ragged Edge is a compelling narrative of one Marine’s year in Iraq and his efforts
he has appeared widely as a public speaker; in
LEADING THE IRAQI ARMY his men. Unlike other combat Marines in Iraq
several documentaries, including Thank You for to build a new Iraqi Army. Michael Zacchea offers his unique perspective on American G at the time, he immersed himself in Iraq’s cul-
Your Service (2015); and on NPR and CBS News,
involvement in the Middle East—a perspective that can only be gleaned from firsthand ture: learning its languages, eating its foods,
FIFTH BATTALION
among other news outlets. Zacchea is currently
E observing its traditions—even being inducted
director of the UConn Entrepreneur Bootcamp experience.” —US Representative Elizabeth H. Esty (Fifth District, Connecticut)
into one of its Sunni tribes. A constant source of
for Veterans with Disabilities. He lives in Con-
both pride and frustration, the Iraqi Army Fifth
necticut.
Battalion went on to fight bravely at the Battle
of Fallujah against the forces that would even-
TED KEMP is an editor, writer, and foreign cor-
tually form ISIS.
respondent for CNBC Digital. Previously, he was
The Ragged Edge is Zacchea’s deeply per-
digital bureau chief for CNBC EMEA (Europe,
sonal and powerful account of hopeful deter-
Middle East, and Africa), based in London. He
mination, of brotherhood and betrayal, and of
lives in New York City.
cultural ignorance and misunderstanding. It
sheds light on the dangerous pitfalls of training
Jacket design: Andrew Brozyna foreign troops to fight murderous insurgents
Back cover photo: © Michael Zacchea and terrorists, precisely when such wartime
MICHAEL ZACCHEA TED KEMP
Front cover photo: The Iraqi Fifth Battalion, Third
collaboration is happening more than at any
Brigade, and its advisers, 2004. © Michael Zacchea
Major General Paul D. Eaton (US Army-ret.) other time in US history.
Printed in the United States of America
R A G G E D
E D G E
LEADING THE IRAQI ARMY
FIFTH BATTALION
MICHAEL ZACCHEA TED KEMP
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Copyright © 2017 by Michael Zacchea and Ted Kemp
All rights reserved
Published by Chicago Review Press Incorporated
814 North Franklin Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610
ISBN 978‑1‑ 61373‑841‑2
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n- Publication Data
Names: Zacchea, Michael, author | Kemp, Ted, author
Title: The ragged edge : a marine’s account of leading the Iraqi Army Fifth
Battalion / Michael Zacchea and Ted Kemp.
Description: Chicago, Illinois : Chicago Review Press Incorporated, 2017.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016032840 (print) | LCCN 2016056156 (ebook) | ISBN
9781613738412 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781613738429 (pdf) | ISBN
9781613738443 (epub) | ISBN 9781613738436 (Kindle)
Subjects: LCSH: Zacchea, Michael. | Iraq. Jaysh. Battalion, 5th. |
Iraq—Armed Forces—History. | Iraq War, 2003–2011.
Classification: LCC UA853.I75 Z33 2017 (print) | LCC UA853.I75 (ebook) | DDC
956.7044/342—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016032840
Typesetting: Nord Compo
Interior photos: All photos by Michael Zacchea unless otherwise indicated.
Printed in the United States of America
5 4 3 2 1
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Better the Arabs do it tolerably than that you do it perfectly.
—T. E. Lawrence
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CONTENTS
Authors’ Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Foreword by Major General Paul D . Eaton (US Army–ret .) ix
Abbreviations, Terms, and Order of Infantry . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Part I: Kirkush
1 Bird Dog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Kirkush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3 Green Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4 How Training Worked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
5 Wasta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
6 The Other Side of the Wire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Part II: Taji
7 Sovereign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
8 Taking Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
9 Abducted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
10 “The First Bullet Will Be for Me” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Part III: Fallujah
11 The Road to Fallujah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
12 Before the Breach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
13 City of Mosques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
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14 RPG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
15 Al- Hadra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
16 Rules of Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Part IV: Taji
17 Blooded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
18 Lion of Babylon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
19 Irhabi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
20 Going to See the Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
21 Delivered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365

About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
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AUTHORS’ NOTE
The names of some of The surviving iraqis in this book have been
altered in order to protect them and their families from retaliation.
vii
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