Security Platoon Blog

Blog by Pfc. Jerry Murphy

When I attached to Regimental Combat Team 1 at the beginning of this month from 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines, I wasn’t sure exactly what I would be doing while I waited to go on R&R leave at the end of the month.

A couple days into my time here, my officer-in-charge told me that I would be spending the next couple of weeks with RCT-1’s Security Platoon, video taping the Marines’ every move to include everything from conducting missions “outside the wire” to sitting around laughing and passing the time.

At first, I was a little tense about the assignment. I wasn’t sure how I would be treated as an “outsider” coming in with a video camera for just a couple weeks then leaving, not to mention the video I was to shoot would be put packaged as a documentary and released for the world to see.

So as I prepared for our first meeting, I kind of felt like a kid nearing his first day of school. But I tried to remain optimistic because you just never know how things are going to turn out.

When I arrived at their doorstep it seemed as if in the blink of an eye I was one of them, laughing and joking like I had known them for months. Several of the Marines had grasped the whole video concept pretty quickly, and begged me for time on film.

Out of the platoon of about 25 Marines, I have interviewed and spoken to guys from Texas (considering more than half of the Marine Corps seems to be from Texas, that was no surprise), Illinois, California, Florida, Oklahoma and several other places in the U.S. All of them have had very interesting stories to tell. They talked about their hometown, their families and friends, their jobs in the Marine Corps, previous deployments and what they do while on leave.

I found that some of the most interesting conversations came from Marines who, as infantrymen, served during the initial pushes into Iraq and Afghanistan. They had very intriguing stories about their experiences during the early stages of the war.

All Marines have a story to tell, and I am glad that I have had the opportunity to spend this time with these Marines, talking to them and allowing them to tell their story in more of an informal state.

In the video documentary I am packaging, I follow the Marines as they conduct convoy missions to the Habbaniyah Tourist Village, into the city of Fallujah and a trip to eat dinner with a local sheikh. The video will also include candid interviews with the Marines as they sit around and joke with one another, a tour of a “can” that the Marines aboard Camp Fallujah reside in and footage of a few of the Marines playing poker to pass the time.