Time Code | Speaker | Narrative |
00:00 | Zoe | This is an oral history interview conducted for the witness to war: Serving a Nation project at Nauset Regional High School on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. For the sake of this interview, please state your full name and community in which you now reside. |
00:27 | David Marriott | My name is David Robert Marriott, I live in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, and my friends call me Rob. |
00:34 | Zoe | Okay; what war did you serve in, and how long were you there? |
00:38 | David Marriott | I served in the, uh, Operation Enduring Freedom war, um, in Afghanistan, and I was there from October of 2012 to July of 2013. |
00:50 | Zoe | So, we're just gonna talk about your early life; how old were you when you knew you wanted to join the military, if you did know? |
00:58 | David Marriott | Um, I think I knew when I was, even in elementary school I think I knew. Um, I didn't join until the year after I graduated high school. I was 19. |
01:12 | Zoe | What kind of interest did you have in war/war history? |
01:16 | David Marriott | Uh, the history part of it, I grew up in the Hudson Valley in New York, so um, a lot of Revolutionary War history up there and um, even now I serve in the oldest militia unit in the country, you know. It's a Massachusetts unit that served in the civil war and Revolutionary War, so history's a great part of it. |
01:45 | Zoe | Where did you grow up-- did you have any hobbies or sports, like what kind of schools did you go to? |
01:51 | David Marriott | I went to public schools, I went to the Hendrick-Hudson school district, so that's a Valley school in upstate New York, so that's about 35 miles north of New York city. So, I grew up in Peekskill, New York, and my hobbies were, um, ice hockey, and, um, outdoors things, like I liked to run cross-country, um, I liked hiking, climbing, camping. |
02:22 | Zoe | So, what was your reaction, um, now that you have grown up and what was your reaction when you found out you were leaving and when you left home and when you got to Afghanistan? |
02:33 | David Marriott | That’s um, that’s interesting, because I didn’t have to go. Um, my contract was almost up and I could’ve elected to get out, um, but I was older, I’m an older soldier and I got out for eighteen years and I knew that the window was closing on my chance, and when I was in the national guard after I got out of the Marine Corps, some paperwork got filed up and I didn’t get the chance to serve in the first um, desert storm wars and I felt that as a professional soldier, I wanted to go; and I knew that even though my family didn’t want me to go, I had to talk to them and tell them that this was my career and that I was gonna fulfill my career and do at least twenty years and that we needed to make this decision and I wanted their support, so. My feelings, yeah some people are forced to go because they’re in that unit but I wasn’t so it was kind of a personal thing for me, to make that decision. |
03:31 | Zoe | What was your life like before you left? |
03:34 | David Marriott | It was tough, um, we had to get a lot of things, um, squared away, that’s kind of a military way of saying it, but in your life you need to make sure that, you know, you know where your doctors are, and where your support is, and um, when you transition from civilian um, health benefits to uh, military health benefits there’s a bit of a transition of what doctors you can use. We were lucky ‘cause we were already in the tri-care system, and that’s what the military uses, so now I’m in a reserved tri-care, when you are in active duty you get an active duty tri-care, so it was a little bit better; but um, you have to make sure that things are taken care of. We had, uh, we were lucky we had a lot of community support and uh, things were good for my family. |
04:20 | Zoe | So that was a fairly difficult transition. |
04:23 | David Marriott | More so for them. (stuttering) I’ll tell you it’s easier for the soldier; most will tell you that their family has it much harder than they do, that the people who stay home behind will have to deal with the separation. You’re always, I was always busy. I didn’t have time to think about it a lot. |
04:40 | Zoe | What were some of your biggest challenges while you were out there? |
04:43 | David Marriott | Well, I’m a medic, so my challenges are the um, dare I say the complications that could happen on a convoy, when something blows up. So we think about that every time and we prepare ourselves. We have what’s called, um, combat lifesavers, who aren’t quite medics but they can do some skills. You always have to make sure they’re combat lifesaver bags are ready to go, and that they have, um, they’re prepared. We have stretchers, we have ways of communications we have to prepare, we have to think about rally points, if we get into a situation where there’s activity, we have to think about pick up sites if we have to call in for an air evacuation, um, and even when you’re not busy, you know, as a, as a medic, I was kind of like a nurse. I was in charge of 36 people, and I had to take care of their daily needs as far as boo-boos and band-aids and things like that, whether they need to go see a doctor about, uh, their shoulder or their wrist because we were an engineer unit and they would use hammers and they’d hurt themselves. |
05:49 | Zoe | Had there ever been any challenges, difficulties, the complications you had mentioned? |
05:55 | David Marriott | We did not have any explosions. We were very fortunate, um, we were in a certain part of Afghanistan where the Taliban acted and operated, and we’d traveled over those roads, and, we traveled a lot, um, one road we traveled on blew up an hour after we’d traveled over it, and it is a life-changer. Sometimes there was uh, ambushes on bridges we would drive over, we just, we were lucky. |
06:25 | Zoe | Were there any times where you had to fear for your own safety? |
06:32 | David Marriott | In a way, you know, we had to dismount, which means get out of the truck, and the truck is your safety; and there was times we had to get out and, parts of the truck broke, you have these things that are called mine rollers in front of the truck about, say, 10 meters, and one day the mine rollers broke and we had to chase them down, you know, and we had to get, (stuttering) put security out and get out of the truck and get it and it was kind of comical when you think about it, but it was, you know, the very thing that’s supposed to save you is causing you to be out there and, you know, in danger. |
07:04 | Zoe | What were some of your best memories/your worst memories? You were out there for a little while. |
07:09 | David Marriott | I, um, I made some lifelong friends. You know, we were busy, and, uh, when we weren’t busy we spent a lot of time in the gym together, um, we would do things. Um, you know, just going to a meal when you weren’t out on patrol, um, sharing a meal with, um, your brothers and sisters. You know, our unit was an integrated unit, we had women in the unit, so we had a chance to, uh, you know share meals together. You know, we uh, just celebrated Thanksgiving so we sent some uh, you know on Facebook, you know pictures of our Thanksgiving celebration, we happened to be at a base where we could celebrate. I spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with those people, those were great memories. |
07:52 | Zoe | So you’re still in touch with a lot of them? |
07:54 | David Marriott | I am. Even though we’re not in the same units anymore, I am. |
07:58 | Zoe | What was the craziest thing that happened while you were there? |
08:03 | David Marriott | (Laughing) We got, um, that road that blew up, we still had to travel around that road, and, um, whenever you leave the safety of your road that gets patrolled, ‘cause there’s a patrol that goes out in the morning and searches for mines, okay, and they declare the road safe, and once you do that, that’s great, but we had to go around that road, and we were on a hillside, and one of the vehicles got stuck, and these vehicles are very top-heavy, so they evacuated everybody, and, except for the driver and the gunner, and, we had to perform security and the sun was going down, and we were in a Taliban neighborhood; and um, we decided to work it out, and luckily, uh, again, we were very fortunate. |
08:46 | Zoe | What was running through your head throughout that experience? |
08:49 | David Marriott | Um, ‘gee, I’d really like to get out of here.’ (laughter) Um, you know, professionally, you know I gotta know what to think about. As a medic, I think about mechanism of injury. What could go wrong here that I might need to step in and do something, but really, ‘why can’t we just get on with it and get out of here?’ |
09:11 | Zoe | So, what were the people like while you were there? Did you get to have any involvement in the communities out there, were they friendly, not-so-friendly? |
09:20 | David Marriott | I did get some interaction with local Afghan-is and that was in a place, um, outside of Al Masaak, um, which is in the far reaches of Kandahar Province. We were able to, um, they had like a bazaar, where locals would come around just outside of the gate, and have their wares out. You know, a lot of it was Chinese junk, but it was, um, you know, they have um, certain minerals that are unique to that area and they made them into some jewelry, or trinkets and things like that, and, um, I managed to come home with a rug, that uh, I waited for a while, I bartered for it, I wasn’t ready to buy it, because it wasn’t in good condition but I knew it was authentic because (stuttering) it was an everyday Afghan rug, it wasn’t something that came from somewhere else, and they sold to unsuspecting people, which they do there, and uh, but the people were nice and we got to know some interpreters, who were local and they were very nice. |
10:31 | Zoe | How many times, like, did you get a lot of opportunity to talk to your family while you were out there? How hard was it being away from them? |
10:38 | David Marriott | Um, well it was hard being away from them, um, we’re pretty close, you know, I think it’s, I take it for granted but um, we’re really close. Um, and, so it was hard, you know, um, but they have this thing, um, I’ll show my age but when I was in the Marine Corps, in the 80’s, we had um, satellite phone where I would talk to you, and you’d hear me, respond, and it was not like a conversation like we’re having now. Now, you get a calling card. You put money on it, and as long as the phone’s not busy and you’re not busy, you could use it. So we were able to communicate, um, you could buy satellite service and do Skype, um, and they had regular, um, they call it morale welfare and recreation centers, where they have computers, you could sign on for, and you could you know, do FaceTime, Skype. |
11:36 | Zoe | So earlier you mentioned you had managed to bring home a rug, do you have any other keepsakes? |
11:43 | David Marriott | Um, I have a little bit of jewelry, um, I have some sweaters, um, I have a set of Romanian uniforms I bartered for, we were with Romanians for a while and uh, it was nice to get to know them, and especially when you think about our different branches of the, our, different armies, you know, it wasn’t that long ago where they were like, our “enemies” because they were Russian allies. When I first joined the Marine Corps they were Russian allies and now we’re out there doing patrols with them. |
12:19 | Zoe | Are there any, like, special stories attached to those? |
12:23 | David Marriott | Um, well I went to a Romanian church service which was very difficult to understand, it was orthodox type thing, it was uh, you know we kind of searched out our spirituality at times, and we sometimes liked to think that the faith helps you when you’re there and um, some of the special times, actually in a more, easy-going church I got to know some people from Kenya; and um, they worked for civilian contractors um, at our main base and they had a uh, a Christian fellowship church service that was better than any army church service week we’d have, sometimes we’d get army um, chaplains come out and talk to us and it was more like they were uh, lecturing us, and uh were certainly part of the uh, the international christian fellowship. |
13:16 | Zoe | Was that something that helped you through the whole experience? |
13:20 | David Marriott | Just uh, in a friendly way. I mean sure, you know, I do think spirituality, we prayed before all our um, patrols; if you wanted to pray, you were given that opportunity and uh, I shared this when I got home, you know I uh, said that uh, on this patrol because I’m the medic, I said uh, you know, ‘let your hands be my hands.’ you know, ‘if something happens, let my hands be your hands, your hands be my hands’ um, but I’m still in contact with some of those people from Kenya, you know, I get emails and things like that, it’s cool. |
13:53 | Zoe | Where else did you get the opportunity to travel, did you get to travel a lot? |
13:57 | David Marriott | Um, when I was in the Marine Corps I got a chance to go other places. As a national guards guy, you don’t get that year-round training cycle where you might go to Germany or Panama or somewhere like that, but in the marine corp. when you’re active duty, I’ve been to Okinawa, I’ve been to the Philippines, I’ve been to Norway, I’ve been to Diego Garcia, um, and I could’ve traveled more, I wish I did travel more. I’ve been, yeah. |
14:29 | Zoe | If you ever had the chance to go back now, or change anything that you did while you were out there, would you? |
14:39 | David Marriott | Yeah, in a way, uh, I would change, I would do it, I would do it with an infantry unit, or a ranger unit, or a special forces unit, or do it younger, be more involved. Even civil affairs, they go out and meet people and make a difference to people, boots on the ground. You know, we mostly went places and built things and didn’t do things outside of the base. The one time we acted outside of the base was when we were going somewhere to build something; and then when I was at the Romanian place, some of those kids who lived outside of the base, we treated some of them. Um, I got the chance to treat some of them with a Romanian doctor and that was kind of fun. |
15:20 | Zoe | What if you were in one of those different forces, which one do you think would be your ideal, and like, why? |
15:28 | David Marriott | Probably rangers. Or if I had stayed in the Marine Corps; the problem with staying in the Marine Corps is you can’t be a medic in the Marine Corps, they use navy corp men. |
15:39 | Zoe | So you wanted to help people? |
15:39 | David Marriott | Well, I, I found that nitch. You know, when I became a, uh, a medic, you know I said ‘I really like this,’ and I became a medic because of the navy corp men. You know, when it came time to change careers, um, that’s why. |
15:58 | Zoe | What was it like, being able to travel and go through all of these things? |
16:05 | David Marriott | Well, you know it's not traveling as a civilian where you could actually, see more of the local countryside and population you know. In the military, especially in a war zone you're restricted to what you can see and do, you know. You really are, I know it recommended as a form of traveling, you know it's not the best way to go to see a lot of where you're going. When I was in the Marine Corps I did-- we spent six weeks in the Philippines, we had a little bit of time off, and Norway the same thing. But in Afghanistan-- I didn't see all of Afghanistan. I saw a slice of it, I didn't see-- I couldn't tell you I saw, I know Afghanistan really well. |
16:51 | Zoe | How did you decide like, that you wanted to pursue a military career? What was that final, like "I wanna go do this"? |
17:01 | David Marriott | Well when I got out of high school, I-- I didn't make the most of my chances in the first year in college. I kinda--- yeah I was wasting my time, I wasn't ready. So I decided to go in the Marine Corps, and that was great. But I-- my calling was something different, and I got out, you know. And I decided I was gonna pursue this calling, that I really enjoyed it and you know, I didn't-- I'm not doing it anymore, I do it a little bit on the side. But I don't do it anymore it's not a great family profession for me, but it was something that made me get out of the Marine Corps at the time. |
17:36 | Zoe | It seems like it's all pretty emotional experience, between handling people and your coworkers, the people you're beside everyday. What were some of the most, overwhelming, you know, things that you wouldn't be able to forget, like what were those experiences? |
17:59 | David Marriott | I-I was, I'm friends with, there's like three of us who hung out side by side, the whole time. You know, and we were there, on on almost every patrol, and we went places they relied on us to do things. When I wasn't, when we were on these bases I became not just the medic, I became the plumber too. One of my buddies was the electrician, one of my buddies was the carpenter. And we became friends, and it was great, you know. We talk still and we follow each others lives and you know on certain times of the year we make sure we contact each other. I wouldn't say some of the things we built made us bond, but just being together doing it. |
18:56 | Zoe | So as a medic, you saw, a lot, but were there any injuries that you had to help, heal like that you had to handle that were really-- |
19:06 | David Marriott | No, no I didn't see any trauma like that. We prepare for it, and I'm probably better prepared for it now than I was then because we continue to prepare for it. We didn't have that kind of an injury, and I'm glad you know, for me I liked this career you know. So I continue to train, and I don't mind seeing those things, but I wouldn't wish them on my brothers and sisters just to have that experience. |
19:44 | Zoe | What was it like coming home for you, after you went home after all of this, and you formed all of these bonds and had all of these crazy experiences? Coming home must've been crazy. |
20:00 | David Marriott | It was weird it was like you're out on the tip of the spear, you're out everyday. And all of a sudden it's like you can go home now, and then you get to the States and they don't let you go home, they make you stay in Texas for 30 days. And it's kinda a time to decompress, and make sure you don't have any, you go through a lot of medical screenings and both medical and psychological to make sure you're prepared to go home and ready to go home. And a lot of it works, a lot of it doesn't work, a lot of people had problems anyway. You know, just being over there affects people in different ways. You know, I feel like it was okay for me, but certainly people who did the same exact things as I did, and might have even been safer than I was came home a little bit of PTSD. And you know that's not a judgement thing, were all different, we all react to those things differently. I just thought it was kinda odd because you're coming home, and for me I came home in July, so now it's summer time and you know a couple of weeks ago I was in, you know in Afghanistan, and now I'm at the beach. |
21:06 | Zoe | So returning to daily life was difficult for you, how did your family help you through that? |
21:12 | David Marriott | Actually my family was okay with what I was doing until school started. I didn't jump back into plumbing until after the summer was over cause I rode out my-- we had some leave money you know saved up to enjoy the summer, go on a family vacation. And then we were kinda enjoying the summer and I picked up a job bartending for a couple months, but when school started, like we hadn't seen you in 9 months and now we don't see you anymore so you need to get back into plumbing. So they kinda pointed me in the right direction with that cause, who knows I'd still be doing that you know. |
21:50 | Zoe | Yeah, was it scary for your family to have you come home and to see you with a little bit of PTSD? Was it difficult for them? |
21:57 | David Marriott | No I don't think I had that, like some people do you know, I think I wanted to ease into it. You know like we had some like crazy pictures that were in the paper even of us celebrating when we got home, but even then I think, the army kinda messed us up that way, told us we'd be home on the 17th, which happened-- actually happens to be my son's birthday and instead they got us in on the 18th at like 2 o'clock in the morning. Really it was kinda anti-climatic because they were like waiting all day the day before, it was hard for them. But no we generally were enthusiastic to be with each other, and and get you know-- if anything it was hard cause like my whole family wanted to share that experience, you know, extended family and immediate family, not like, not my wife and son. And we weren't ready to do that yet, we hadn't had any time together, we really needed to like say no we need to spend some time together before we do that. |
22:54 | Zoe | How does all of this still affect your daily life? |
22:56 | David Marriott | Well we're still not out of the woods yet as far as deployments go. And I'm a full timer for about six more years, and that's about the time I'll be eligible for retirement, and-- so we know based on what is going on in our world today that deployments are gonna be part of our future, and that's kinda hard because, we look at the years ahead, and they're all important years you know for a family who has a student in high school you know. And that's what we're upon, you know and that's happening next year for us. And you don't wanna miss that year, so we're a little bit scared of that. |
23:43 | Zoe | Has that in any way affected, you know your relationship with your son, has he looked up to you more, has it made it easier, harder? |
23:50 | David Marriott | At times I think he's looked up to it, you know there was some writing thing he had to do, in middle school, but it was a private thing and he did write about me, and I got word of it, but it's nothing we shared. You know I'm happy he did that, but I'd rather he was proud of the whole package, not just the military part of it because that, you know for a soldier-citizen, not a full timer there's more to it than just the military part of it you know, there's also you know going to work everyday, so that, you know he could play football and things like that. You know just have the opportunity to you know, I've had my opportunity you know and I hope you know that he's proud of the other things, not just the army. |
24:32 | Zoe | If you could go back and do this whole thing over again, or even if you didn't do it over again, if you went back at all what past experiences would you use to help you better that whole experience? |
24:45 | David Marriott | I might've stayed in, instead of getting out to pursue cooking, I might've stayed in the Marine Corps. And as difficult that may have been I mean what-- part of the reason I got out was because I've seen what the Marine Corps did to family life people. You know half the people I knew in the Marine Corps were divorced, and I knew that was a hard way to go. You know, and it still is and it hasn't changed at all, but I also believe in destiny. That you know, you gotta meet, if you're gonna meet that person and fall in love and get married and have children, you're gonna, you're gonna do that anyway. You know, I don't think it matters whether you know you're a plumber or a waiter or a cook or a soldier, Marine. You know it's gonna happen so I wouldn't believe that I wouldn't have had this family if I stayed in the Marine Corps. I found that I-- I missed it when I got out and I probably shouldn't have gotten out. |
25:41 | Zoe | Does any of the things you saw, like does any of it ever scare you the way that it affected people's family lives and personal lives. Does any of it ever come back, and sort of frighten you every once in a while now that you're home? |
25:57 | David Marriott | No, no I will tell you driving through Kandahar City the first time was extremely exhilarating, you know you were like wow this is crazy, these people are absolutely nuts on the road. And you never know what's gonna happen, and you can see how dangerous this is because you can't see that far away from anything and the dangers are around any corner. But you know, I didn't see any of that horrific blast that some people, I don't know if you've seen them on TV, or on YouTube. But the videos are, I mean when a vehicle gets blown up its horrific and I am so grateful that didn't happen to anybody I know. I wouldn't mind being there for them, but it's a life changer, if you get blown up it's a life changer. |
26:41 | Zoe | Has any of it, anything that you saw, obviously you said that you didn't see any combat, but has this experience changed the way that you see current events? Do you look at this stuff going on, out where it is bad, still is bad in the Middle East, do you ever see that and sorta step back and think about you were there? |
27:03 | David Marriott | Well yeah, I know you know I- I grew up kinda liberal you know and I think I've become more conservative to what I see in the world. You know, maybe not you know in a personal way here but like I'm not as tolerant of of people having the right to defend themselves that way you know. I know it's a form of warfare and probably the best way for them to do it you know who could fight a country like America conventionally anyway. But I- I- I don't approve of it, you know it makes me wanna-- I'm I'm I'm not happy about it, I don't like seeing people-- I'm a concert go-er, I could've been at that concert in Paris you know. You know-- easily. And I I would hate to think that that'd happen to anyone I know. |
27:55 | Zoe | So that's definitely changed you as a person. |
27:59 | David Marriott | I think even current events are changing me as a person that the way that-- Cause I've been home since ISIS has become more active, and it's just really disheartening sometimes to see people, their way of life being challenged, they probably go out and pursue happiness. You know I think that's what separates our country from other countries and it's that we have that inherent, it's in writing to pursue happiness you know, it's not implied, it's right there. |
28:27 | Zoe | What advice would you give to anybody considering pursuing a military career? |
28:33 | David Marriott | I I wouldn't do it just to, I was fortunate you know I found a a maybe a dormant nitch that was there, you know maybe I shouldn't have gone in right after high school. But it's not for everybody. There's a lot of great opportunity the technological part of it now is so much greater you know you could learn a job, you don't need to just carry a weapon, even though you're gonna carry a weapon anyway. But you know your job your career, there's a lot of good stuff, but you know I I I would hope, I I would like to counsel people, I don't think the best people to talk to about joining the military are recruiters you know if you wanted to find out if the military was for you ask me cause I'll tell you straight up whether its the recruiters telling you the truth or not cause it's just it's not for anybody. I don't know if our country is doing justice to young people you know, the people they have filling those quotas are recruiters, and not people that care about their overall careers. |
29:36 | Zoe | How would you react if your son ever told you that he wanted to follow in your footsteps? |
29:41 | David Marriott | Well when I came back from the last school I went to, I said you know "if you join the army or the Marine Corps before talking to me, you know don't do it" You know there's other options out there I didn't do that and I know I broke my mother's heart when I joined the Marine Corps you know, and I didn't realize that until I left for bootcamp you know, especially what the Marine Corps was and is you know, it's different than joining the Navy or Coast Guard. And I met a young man over Thanksgiving weekend and he was sitting next to his mother and telling me he was gonna join the Marine Corps and I said do you know what that means to your mother, like really because it's not easy, you know it's a hard way of life because you're gonna be deployed. And you know when I was, I went to bootcamp in 1983 you know, I didn't have to go fight the war for the Marines for 4 years. It's changed now, in the last I wanna say 14 years, the Marine Corps you would've been deployed at least twice in a four year span. You know certain army duties are like that too. Some National Guards even get deployed multiple times in that time frame. It never happened in our history before. |
31:01 | Zoe | That's crazy, looking back would you ever change how you approached the situation regarding you know explaining to your mom what you were doing? |
31:12 | David Marriott | No, they wouldn't have-- I I had to do it that way. You know and it worked out alright, you know I've been very fortunate you know I've had some good experiences you know some good leadership along the way that pointed me in the right direction and now I get the chance to return the favor, I'm in a leadership position where I'm at and it's kinda nice. |
31:39 | Zoe | Do you plan on putting yourself out there again? |
31:42 | David Marriott | I think I'll go again before I retire, I'm almost positive. |
31:48 | Zoe | Well thank you so much for coming in and doing this for us, it was great speaking with you and learning about your experiences. |
31:55 | David Marriott | My pleasure thank you very much. |
31:56 | Zoe | Thank you. |