A Few Bad Men: The True Story of U.S. Marines Ambushed in Afghanistan and Betrayed in America by Major Fred Galvin USMC (Ret.) & Sal Manna

Author:Major Fred Galvin USMC (Ret.) & Sal Manna [Galvin USMC (Ret.), Major Fred]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781637584149
Publisher: Post Hill Press
Published: 2022-06-06T16:00:00+00:00

Yet Kearney had already ordered all of Fox Company out of Afghanistan on March 10, an order conveyed by Wendell the next day.

The first large group of my Marines flew out of Bagram and landed in Kuwait on March 23. Kearney ensured that everyone in Fox Company was out of Afghanistan by March 31.

Ironically, the day the last member of Fox Company left Afghanistan, our personnel support of five men, from the minimum support package of six that we had requested for months, finally arrived—just in time to create a total of 120 members of Fox Company dismissed from the country.

Soon after we were gone, Klein’s new jacket arrived too.

Flying into Kuwait, Fox Company was billeted at the Udari Range, a staging post in the country’s northwest. As we waited for our next assignment, we learned that Montanus and Hejlik would also be arriving and would pay us a visit. I thought they might be coming to hear our side of the story of March 4 in person. But I received a heads-up call from a friend at MARSOC headquarters tipping me off that they had another mission.

“You could feel the headman’s axe hanging,” said Big Dave at the COI.

Montanus took East and me aside outside the barracks. “Nobody will ever say that you did anything wrong tactically, Fred,” he said to me, “but you are a field grade officer and as a field grade officer you have to be political and that is where you have failed.”

He turned to East and asked, “Is it true? Is it true your Marines were drunk and throwing grenades?”

We protested our innocence but knew that whatever we said would hold little weight with Montanus.

On Tuesday, April 3, he ordered me to bring Fox Company together in formation. Montanus stood off to the side of my Marines and, lacking the guts to do what a superior officer ought to do in such a case, he instead ordered me to announce that I was being relieved of command.

I had never seen or heard of a commander being relieved in public quite like that. It was the most demeaning thing I have ever done.

“I am honored to have served as the Fox Company commander,” I told my Marines, trying to hide my anguish and remain stoic. “I am honored to have had the privilege and responsibility to lead men of your caliber and commitment.”

They stared at me and I could see their jaws clench. They were angry and confused.

“But I have lost the trust and confidence of our leaders,” I continued, “and have been relieved of command.”

In the awkward silence that followed, I turned sharply and marched away with Big Dave at my side to a waiting car that hastily drove us to Kuwait International Airport, from where we would fly to North Carolina.

I was devastated. After twenty years in the Marines, I had no idea what the future held in store for me. Court-martial? Prison? Would I lose my family of blood brothers? What then? I had no answers, only questions.

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