They Called us

From the Arizona Congressman a 21stcentury Band of Brothers chronicling the eternal bonds forged between the Marines of Lima Company the hardesthit unit of the Iraq War At first they were “Lucky Lima.” Infantryman Ruben Gallego and his brothers in Lima Company—3rd Battalion 25th Marines young men drawn from bluecollar towns immigrant households Navajo reservations—returned unscathed on patrol after patrol through the increasingly violent al Anbar region of Iraq looking for weapons caches and insurgents trying to destabilize the nascent Iraqi government. After two months in Iraq Lima didnt have a casualty not a single Purple Heart no injury worse than a blister. Lucky Lima. Then in May 2005 Lima’s fortunes flipped. Unknown to Ruben and his fellow grunts al Anbar had recently become a haven for al Qaeda in Mesopotamia. The bin Ladensponsored group had recruited radicals from all over the world for jihad against the Americans. On one fateful day they were lured into a death house the ambush cost the lives of two men including a platoon sergeant. Two days later Ruben’s best friend Jonathon Grant died in an IED attack along with several others. Events worsened from there. A disastrous operation in Haditha in August claimed the lives of thirteen Marines when an IED destroyed their amphibious vehicle. It was the worst singleday loss for the Marines since the 1983 Beirut bombings. By the time 325 went home in November it had lost more men than any other single unit in the war. Fortysix Marines and two Navy Corpsmen serving with the battalion in Iraq were killed in action during their roughly ninemonth activation. They Called Us “Lucky” details Ruben Gallego’s journey and includes harrowing accounts of some of the war’s most costly battles. It details the struggles and the successes of Ruben—now a member of Congress—and the rest of Lima Company following Iraq examining the complicated matter of PTSD. And it serves as a tribute to Ruben’s fallen comrades who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.