Constitution Day 2023: Never forget what they died for

“Never forget what he died for.”  Those were the words of grieving parents as they handed me a tiny black leatherbound copy of the U.S. Constitution. Their only child, Alex, died of the wounds he sustained in combat after our platoon suffered a catastrophic IED ambush on May 1, 2006.

I carry this small book with me every day and, of course, yesterday – on Constitution Day – I recalled again that heartbreaking conversation.

Our recon platoon had been positioned to block enemy movement out of an area where the rest of our battalion was operating, and we decided to wait until dark to move to our next blocking position. The decision was mine but was made with input from my excellent platoon sergeant and from all three team leaders – including Alex. That evening I had one of the most meaningful conversations with Alex and I was coming to admire his intellect, wisdom, and his very evident care for the Marines in his team.

This was my third combat deployment, but I had only recently joined 2^nd Recon Battalion and was appointed as the platoon commander just weeks before heading to Iraq when the previous platoon commander resigned. Conducting “initial counseling” (where you formally get to know each of the men and share your commander’s intent, philosophy, etc.) in a combat environment is not ideal – so you have to squeeze it in as part of the process of communicating in between missions, etc. So, I was just barely getting to know these patriotic heroes by that fateful night.

In our leadership huddle that evening to plan our movement, we discussed how –until that point in the war– most IED attacks were conducted by remote detonation. As most of our jihadist enemies didn’t yet possess night vision devices (NODs), we figured driving really fast at night using our own NODs was the best option for avoiding an attack. That night however, our platoon, and many others, encountered a new attack technique across the entire area of operations.  One that involved pressure-initiated detonation. Today we know that Iranian leaders such as Qasem Soleimani were instrumental in helping our enemies with the rapid adaptiveness of IED techniques. (This was obviously overlooked recently by US STRATCOM, in their decision to host an Iranian former ambassador who called Soleimani “a hero fighting terrorism.”)

Not long into our blacked-out movement I saw the Euphrates River flash red and felt the pressure of a blast behind us. My own HMMWV had passed over the pressure initiator just seconds prior. To this day I do not know why it hadn’t exploded then.

Opening my door and looking back I saw Corporal Jeff Elmore lying in the road and on fire, but he quickly rolled and put himself out – running over to Alex to start helping extinguish the flames on his armor and uniform.  The length of the mission necessitated that we bring plenty of extra fuel and now this fuel was burning on our precious Marines’ clothes, armor and bodies.

Both Corporal Jeff Elmore and our “Doc” John Martinez received Bronze Star Medals with Combat Distinguishing Devices for their heroism that night, braving flames and constantly detonating ordnance to move their wounded brothers to safety, treating them on the ground and in the air after MEDEVAC helicopters arrived. Ultimately, we lost four of America’s best from the attack that night – Alex Carbonaro, Cory Palmer, Brad Fulks, and Robert Moscillo.

That Memorial Day I sent back an email about the sacrifices of these four men, which my colleague Chris Holton arranged to have published online. It is worth a read to learn more about these heroes.

Alex, Cory, Brad, and Robert are far from the only men to die for the principles enshrined in the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. America was the first country in history to build a system of governance around the self-evident truth that all men are created equal in their possession of natural, inalienable rights. The Constitution’s authors had no illusions that to preserve that precious concept would require a “common defense” in order “secure the blessings of liberty.”

In June of this year, a Gallup poll revealed that Americans’ faith in the U.S. military has declined to the lowest level in 26 years. Military recruitment has dropped so low as to be almost universally described as “in crisis.” There are a number of reasons why this is so, some of them quite legitimate. In future days I will be more than willing to enter that debate and examine those issues in greater detail.But not today.

I remain grateful for Alex’s parents providing me with a daily reminder that the sacrifices made by men like Alex, Cory, Brad and Robert cannot be sullied by any petty political or partisan considerations of the moment but are instead a testimony to the eternal truths upon which our nation was founded.

May we never forget what they died for.