Photo By Spc. Benjamin Fox | Pfc. Matthew Taylor, 1-12 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st...... read more read more
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By Pfc. Ben Fox
3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division
KHAN BANI SA'AD, Iraq - Gathered around a makeshift table made from a sheet of plywood resting on Meals Ready-To-Eat boxes, Soldiers at Khan Bani Sa'ad played a game of cards in the middle of their compound.
These Soldiers talked, joked and fought the entire game as if they all had known each other their whole lives. The truth is, many of these men have known each other for just over a year, some even less.
"I just came to this platoon four or five months ago," said Spc. Miguel Luzunaris, or "LZ" as his friends call him.
Yet, at this compound run by the 1-12 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, the men have bonded in the same way a family would after years of living together.
"I would put my life on the line for everybody out here," said Luzunaris.
"It's more of a brotherhood than anything out here," said Spc. Jeffrey Marder.
"We are with each other 24 hours a day, seven days a week," he said.
In this "brotherhood," the Soldiers have built their bonds from the experiences they share.
"When you're out there and you have to trust your life to your friends, it brings you a little bit closer," said Pfc. Matthew Taylor, the platoon's combat medic.
"If you're pulling 360 security or doing (small kill teams) at night, you are watching out for each other," he said.
"Infantry, we are in the fight a little deeper than anybody else," said Luzunaris. "You have to trust the man behind you, and you have to trust the man in front of you.
"I think we are a lot closer because we go through a lot of stuff together," he said.
"We go on numerous missions, and the missions are always more than one person," said Marder. "Everybody is helping each other out."
Not only do the Soldiers come closer together through combat experiences, but personal experiences also increase the bond they share.
"We are all dealing with close to the same things," said Luzunaris.
"We all have family... back at home," he said. "We are all trying to get back to them.
"It's the support, 'I know you have your family and I have mine so let's help each other make it back to them,'" said Luzunaris. "We all just gather up... and take care of each other."
"We are always going through certain instances... or certain personal problems that may happen within the platoon," said Marder. "People just need to come to you to talk or you need to go to somebody else just to talk to."
Many of the Soldiers feel like they are just as close to each other as they are to their families back home.
"I treat them like I do my brothers," said Taylor. "I have two younger brothers and a younger sister.
"They are as much family as my own family," he said. "If they need something, I'm there for them and they are there for me."
"You get to know everybody around you," said Marder. "You get to know their lifestyle and their home life, even their personal life.
"I know the same amount about my brother as I do these guys," he said.
"I just wasn't born from the same family," said Marder. "Brothers from another mother basically."
The men also get into brotherly fights.
"We rag on each other like you wouldn't believe," said Taylor.
"Griff and I as roommates...every day we are messing with each other," said Luzunaris. "If he isn't messing with me, I'm going to pick a fight with him.
"Just because, I guess we feel comfortable like that," he said.
"It doesn't feel right if we don't bicker with each other at least once a day," said Luzunaris. "If I can fight with you and five minutes later we are back laughing, that's when you really know that is a real friend right there."
These Soldiers are also willing to put their lives on the line for each other.
"Friends are friends but... family, you always have them," said Luzunaris.
"Even if I don't get along with one of them, if we are in a firefight out there... they are going to protect you," he said.
"I have friends back at home... now that I think about it, they are more acquaintances," said Marder. "I'm not too sure that my friends back at home would jump in front of a bullet like these guys would for me."
"And I would do the same for them," he said.
| Date Taken: | 05.16.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 05.16.2007 14:35 |
| Story ID: | 10420 |
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| Web Views: | 207 |
| Downloads: | 149 |
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