Battle Scars: Twenty Years Later: 3d Battalion 5th Marines Looks Back at the Iraq War and How it Changed Their Lives

by Chip Reid

Chip Reid was an embedded reporter with 3d Battalion 5th Marines as they fought their way from Kuwait to Baghdad in 2003, interviewing the young Marines within hours of brutal combat actions.

The most eye-opening, and terrifying, story in Chip Reid's career as a journalist was the six weeks he spent with 3d Battalion, 5th Marines, during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, as a correspondent for NBC News. Traveling shoulder-to-shoulder with the young Marines, he had unparalleled access, witnessing them in combat, and interviewing as many as he could persuade his bosses to put on air, allowing them to tell their war stories in their own words.

It took only 22 days for the Marines of 3/5 to fight their way to Baghdad, but the effects on those who fought have lasted a lifetime. They lost a number of their own in battle, and others suffered life-threatening injuries. Of those who returned - even if they avoided physical scars - many have had to find their own way through survivor's guilt and the nightmare of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, with all its attendant miseries.

Twenty years on, Chip sat down with the Marines of 3/5 once more. They told Chip inspiring stories of heroism in battle, of camaraderie and comrades lost, of patriotism and belief in mission, of recovery and success in both military and civilian life, and of the new appreciation for life that results from Post-Traumatic Growth. Visceral and searingly honest, this book is a tribute to the Marines for their service, and for the many sacrifices they made then, and that many still make today.

Table of Contents

Preface
Mr. Magoo Goes To War

Part From Kuwait to Baghdad at the Tip of the Spear
Chapter 1: The Ground War Begins
Chapter 2: First Combat
Chapter 3: Two Days from Hell
Chapter 4: The Battle at Devil’s Ditch
Chapter 5: Winning The Hearts of the Iraqi People
Chapter 7: Arrival in Baghdad

Part Twenty Years Later
Chapter 8: Consequences of Being Trained to Kill
Chapter 9: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Post-Traumatic Growth
Chapter 10: Marines Tell Their Stories Of PTSD and PTG
Chapter 11: Marine Families Tell Their Stories of PTSD and PTG
Chapter 12: Lives Transformed by the Marines
Chapter 13: Marines Who Loved It So Much They Made It a Career
Chapter 14: Opinions About the Iraq War Today
Chapter 15: In Memory

An Emotional Mountaintop Reunion

256 pages, Hardcover

Published September 30, 2023

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book in which a journalist is enchanted by Marines. I knew two of the officers in this battalion. I hear what really happened in Iraq. My biggest takeaway from all this blood and sacrifice was learning of the term PTG- post traumatic growth, which is shorthand for: what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. All everyone talks about is PTSD. It so dominates any conversation about veterans and war.

[Neil sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book that really gets into the effects of PTSD and how soldiers have overcome the disorder

[billt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Battle Scars is a remarkable book on many levels and offers a vivid and realistic first-hand portrayal of being in a war zone and the resulting life-long effects on the participants. As NBC's national correspondent covering the 2003 Iraq War, the author rode with the Marines front-line battalion and provided nightly reports from Ground Zero. A couple decades later he tracked down and interviewed over 40 of those Marines.

The battle scenes in the book's first section are necessarily intense--at times harrowing-
-and help provide an understanding of the long-term effect on the soldiers. The following sections include the recent interviews with the Marines. Many suffered PTSD for multiple years and a compelling part of the book is how much professional counseling (and the ensuing Post Traumatic Growth) helped ease those struggles. It was also clear the vast majority of all those interviewed were not only extremely proud to be Marines but also expressed how it helped them develop to become quite successful later in life.

It's become a cliche in book reviews to use the word "impactful", but this book truly was in a profound and positive way. It's well-structured, well-written, and most importantly...very real.