Patrick Henson: His Story, Part 1 — He Went to Iraq Three Times

Caleb: Alright, welcome to the human element. I'm Caleb and today we're talking with someone very close to me. It's my brother Patrick Henson. Hey Patrick, how's it going?

patrick henson: Another day Living the Life.

Caleb: That's right. Where you at? Arkansas, right?

patrick henson: Yep, Van Buren. Yeah.

Caleb: so Patrick was in basic training on September eleventh, two thousand one, so it makes his story a little unique. He served in the invasion of Iraq in two thousand three and deployed two more times to Iraq, after that, totaling for three, correct?

patrick henson: Yep. We were we were a little busy.

Caleb: Yeah. Just a little bit. What your all of them were w were they eighteen months?

patrick henson: So no, I did what is it, two twelves and a fifteen. Is

Caleb: Mm. Okay.

patrick henson: that right? Thirty nine months

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: total.

Caleb: Long time still. so today it's not a history lesson. It's a conversation about a person how it one day can change everything, and what it costs to go back again and again because he was a part of the generation that went back numerous times back to back, didn't really get a break, which we'll talk about. I guess we can go ahead and list it now. His deployments were from two thousand three to two thousand four, two thousand five to two thousand six. And then two thousand seven to two thousand nine. So they're pretty much back to back. so yeah, thank you for being here. thank you for serving, obviously,

patrick henson: Yeah. Hi man.

Caleb: and you know, this is for the Veterans Day episode, it's gonna be releasing on Veterans Day. So the first one. so before we go back to the very beginning, is there anything you want people to know about you? Who you are before, you know, or after the uniform? So obviously, we don't want the uniform to define who we are like it does a lot of us.

patrick henson: Hey, I don't care about I and we'll get into it. I had to leave.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: so and I knew from a young age that that uniform was gonna be who I was.

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: So I I don't really I'm not concerned about that defining me, but but since I've gotten out, I've been a coach, I've been a scout leader, I've been well We're trying the YouTube personality thing. So yeah.

Caleb: Yeah. Which we'll give a shout out to that so everybody can go check out that as well. yeah, and I mean know that you expected, you know y your goal was to retire, obviously, which you did, just not probably the way you wanted to retire.

patrick henson: Yeah, that plan didn't go it I I got the retirement. It just didn't happen the way I wanted it to.

Caleb: Right. And but, you know, also it's a blessing as well because you got to spend time with your kids growing up and doing all those things that,

patrick henson: man.

Caleb: you know, you would have missed out on for sure that you missed out on, you know, already in the beginning. So you got to make

patrick henson: Yes.

Caleb: up for that time.

patrick henson: It it was absolutely a blessing in disguise.

Caleb: Yeah, for sure. So I guess tell the people watching where you kinda grew up, what it was like growing up for you, where you went to school, s some little things like

patrick henson: I grew up in well yeah, I grew up in Piedmont my enti more or less my entire life. Missouri. it was great. my biological parents were never married.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: but I was fortunate enough to where my mom's family, my stepdad's family, and my real dad's family all lived within about a mile of one another.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: So I got to grow up with everybody. It was great.

Caleb: Yeah, 'cause we grew up in a place called Lick Branch. Yeah,

patrick henson: The holler.

Caleb: it's the holler. It's what I call the Harlem of Wayne County, but

patrick henson: It is. Hey it it was rough out there, but it was great too.

Caleb: Yeah, and that's what was cool about about me and you is that, we didn't live together per se, but we still lived close enough that we always seen each other. Especially at the bus stop. So

patrick henson: Yeah, you were Yeah, your your the end of the of y'all's driveway was my bus stop. I lived

Caleb: Right. So

patrick henson: what was it? One, two about six houses up.

Caleb: Six houses that yeah. At least I didn't have to walk though.

patrick henson: Something like that, five or six. Yeah. it it was great though, because out there where we lived, no one messed with you.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: The the kind of downside was is especially for me, is I had family everywhere watching everything I did. Now don't yeah, don't

Caleb: Mm. Yeah, it was like every other house. So

patrick henson: get confused. I still got in a lot of trouble.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: but there was woods everywhere which you know give me my passions for the outdoors.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: Hunting and building, you know, survival shelters is what I thought they were at the time. Yeah. Yeah. Well

Caleb: Yeah. We'll st stick for it.

patrick henson: growing up, you know, like most kids in the nineties and definitely, you know, the eighties.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: It was If it's not pouring rain or bone chilling cold, if the sun's out, so are you. Get outside, do something.

Caleb: Yep. Tell Mama still street lights came on.

patrick henson: Well, we didn't have a street light up at my end of the road. You start hearing crickets, so you better get home.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: But like we had a Nintendo at the house and that thing didn't come on until after dark. And even then, it was super iffy.

Caleb: Yeah. That's how old he is. N Nintendo.

patrick henson: I'm older than the internet.

Caleb: And I'm sure a lot of people probably that are gonna hear this and watch this probably had no idea that I even had another brother. Well, here he is. For the people who

patrick henson: Did ya?

Caleb: don't know. a lot of people probably didn't even know about my little brother either, but they learned about him, so now we're gonna learn about the other one. guess question when you were growing up You probably had a lot of role models, obviously. Who stands out to you the most right now? That you think help shaped you? It's definitely not a trick question. It's just a

patrick henson: No It's tough.

Caleb: There's probably more than one.

patrick henson: My yeah, my both of my dads

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: were huge influences in different ways. my stepdad, Richard, naturally I was around him a whole lot more.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: But Like he's the one who got me into cars and trucks and jeep well, not technically Jeeps, but because we never owned one of them, but you know, in the automotive scene.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: And then my dad, my dad Rodney, he got me into more of the hunting and outdoorsy stuff.

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: So I'm a combination.

Caleb: That's what was cool is living where we did, you had the best of both worlds and you didn't have to go out of your way to you know, to see either one. So it worked out real well.

patrick henson: Yeah. And then my my gr my mom's mom, my grandma Pat, I blame her for my military side.

Caleb: Yeah, okay. Yeah.

patrick henson: She she showed me Rambo and missing

Caleb: Ha ha

patrick henson: an action when I was five.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: And after I seen Rambo first blood the first time, or maybe the

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: second time, I was like, that's it right

Caleb: That's what wanna do.

patrick henson: there.

Caleb: That was gonna be one of my questions. So there you go. No, you're all good.

patrick henson: sorry.

Caleb: Yeah, no. So I was wondering if, you know, if someone influenced you to join the military or or what what led to that. And so movies, huh?

patrick henson: So yeah, I mean we're all influenced by movies to a degree.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: And me, I have always been, for lack of a better word, sensitive to music and movies kind of showing me my way.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: You know, like you hear a a song about a husband who's just a real good man. Or one that sticks out in my head right now is wait in a truck by

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: Hardy, I think it is. But I'm

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: like, yes, that's the kind of man I wanna be. I wanna stick up for people, I wanna you know,

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: whatever. And I mean, that might not be the right way to go about it, especially, you know, talking to a cop. But you know, just so like watching Rambo and seeing the toughness, just not

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: wanting to be weak, I guess. It really.

Caleb: And just for everybody watching, this was before nine eleven. This is pre nine eleven. This is before war. This is before we knew we were even going anywhere

patrick henson: Let's see, that would have been

Caleb: like that. So

patrick henson: I was five so that have been five sixish, so eighty eight, eighty nine.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: what nineteen Yeah.

Caleb: Nineteen, yeah.

patrick henson: There's a nineteen in the beginning of my birth years.

Caleb: Yeah, 'cause today, you know, we have people that don't even weren't even born during nine eleven. I mean, it's in the history books now, so it's pretty wild.

patrick henson: Yeah. I I was just talking I was talking to the wife about that. 'cause I just did the Veterans Day parade here.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: And I was like, you know, like we have adults right now that were born after nine eleven. Like they don't understand. Yeah.

Caleb: Did I work with cops that are born after nine eleven. So it's yeah, it's it's mind blowing to me too.

patrick henson: I I went to one of Uriah's graduations, my oldest son, and he was graduating Green Green Platoon and you know, so he can

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: go do the secret squirrel stuff. And his sergeant major joined like five years after me.

Caleb: Yeah. It's crazy.

patrick henson: he come in in six. I'm like these are babies.

Caleb: Yeah. It's the old generation now.

patrick henson: Yeah.

Caleb: what so yeah, so talking about the military, what what did you hope that it would give you or maybe change in you? Did you seek anything like like a change?

patrick henson: Yes. So when I went in, I was gung ho and naive at the same time.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: And a lot of people I've talked to, I told I went in with an unrealistic goal in mind. And again, it was probably a movie that put it in my mind. But I wanted to go in. I wanted to learn everything to do with The we'll just call it the infantry lifestyle.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: The guns, the explosives, the all of it, right?

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: Because when I got out, I wanted to be a cleaner. And if anybody don't know what a cleaner is, that's a hitman.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: Hey look. But once I got in I would say it took basic training in AIT changed who I was. for me that was It was more basic training in AIT was sixteen weeks. I was there a little longer because of I went in in the summer and we had all the split ops.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: the kids that got a their national guard, whatever, and they've only got the summer. So they're like, you're active duty. We have you for at least the next two years. So you just Yeah.

Caleb: They put you on a holdover pretty much to get you into the next yeah. Yeah

patrick henson: So I was at thirtieth eight A G, so they was just kinda like sit on your hands here.

Caleb: Yeah. Yeah, for those listening that doesn't understand how that works, that's it's called O set and some of the jobs like his and then when I join w artillery you go to one place for all your training. And that's what they'll do. get in no hurry and they will put you somewhere and you will sit there and wait a couple of weeks before th they're ready to start you off with your next phase. 'Cause some people will go to basic training in one place and then they'll go to training for their job in a whole nother state.

patrick henson: Yeah.

Caleb: that's not how it works for some certain MOSs or jobs in the army, so

patrick henson: Yeah. Infantry, like you said, is OSIT, which is one station unit training.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: And you have the same drills from the day you walk in to the day you walk out. A soldier.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: You know, you walk in the shabby civilian, you walk out a ready to go soldier, and I

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: use that loosely

Caleb: what did it change like once you got through basic and the not going into the one thing yet, if you can. The not he was in basic training during

patrick henson: So

Caleb: nine eleven. I guess we can hit on that now actually, since we're there. 'Cause that would be a big change, so

patrick henson: okay, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I I hear what you're saying now. So our hometown. Look look, you know what, there's no reason to beat around the bush. Our hometown when I was growing up was very racist.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: It it really was. Anyone who wa wasn't like everybody else will go

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: that way with it, they didn't last. Typically three days to a week was the most before they were

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: ran off. And you know, maturity and life has taught me, you know, that's not the way you should be. Especially three deployments counting on people who don't look like me.

Caleb: the military will definitely change that too 'cause you're

patrick henson: Yeah.

Caleb: with so many different people.

patrick henson: I by the end of my time in basic training, all of that was gone. And you know, like I didn't realize because growing up around it as

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: much as I did, I didn't realize it. You know, it was just

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: these are the words you say, you know,

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: whatever. And by the time I got to Graduation, people that I would have never given the time of day are great friends

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: and I w I went through basic training in one. Here we are twenty five years later. I'm still talking to some of these guys.

Caleb: Yeah. Yeah. It Yeah, it'll

patrick henson: So it

Caleb: definitely change you when it comes to stuff like that. you know, and that's just a a product of where you're where you're born, you know, that it is a thing for people that don't understand that or listen or that

patrick henson: And it was great.

Caleb: are listening, it's it's just it becomes normal to you because that's what you know. and then when you get out into the real world you realize that that small two thousand person towns, not very not very big in the in the big world. So

patrick henson: Yeah. You don't realize how closed minded you are if you just stay there.

Caleb: Yeah. And that's why I tell so many people, like, you gotta get away from those places, like like when I left, you know, I never went back. It's like you never really went back, so

patrick henson: I went back, I was and we'll we'll hit on that later, when I got out and the way I got out, I didn't really A lot of stuff a lot of stuff that there is now wasn't available necessarily then for finding a place to live or whatever.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: And where I was in life at that point, I thought family was going to be the answer.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: So going, you know, back to the home to my hometown, our hometown, whatever, it seemed like the right choice.

Caleb: Yeah. But then you have all these other things going on too that you have to

patrick henson: Yeah.

Caleb: now you you're bringing back home and having to figure out how to deal with that a place that can't really help you with that.

patrick henson: Yeah.

Caleb: so basic training, where where did you go to basic training at?

patrick henson: I was at Fort Benning in Delta Company 258. Dude, I had three of the craziest drill sergeants, and none of them were alike. I had drill sergeant Turner,

Caleb: I can remember two of mine, yeah.

patrick henson: I had drill sergeant Turner, I had drill sergeant Williams, and Drill Sergeant Stolen. Hurt. I don't know. So so

Caleb: Why is it that almost everybody in the army's had a drill sergeant Williams? 'Cause I have too.

patrick henson: My senior drill sergeant was drill sergeant Turner. Now, we didn't do this to his face, but we all called him The mad face baby killer or baby face killer, something like that.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: So he had a picture of him in Desert Storm up on the wall.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: And it was him leaned over a Hum V, and his battle buddy took a bayonet and carved the word kill into his back. And you could literally see the blood running down it.

Caleb: It is pretty extreme,

patrick henson: So

Caleb: yeah.

patrick henson: yeah, he was crazy. I caught him walk through walking through the bay at night. I woke up because I sleep super light, I always have.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: But and I thought he had a shirt on. But he walked back to, because the latrine's at the back of the bay.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: He came back through and I risked opening my eyes to get a good look, and he had I think you had the same kind of PTs I had, the gray shirts with the big A on it. So

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: they had just gone to those when I had come in. And he had that A tattooed on his back. This dude was all army. I thought I was hoo-a,

Caleb: Yeah. E you breathe and sleep it.

patrick henson: I thought I was all army by the time I got out. No, this dude.

Caleb: I can't say that I've ever seen anyone that with that tattooed on So that's impressive.

patrick henson: So I then we had Joel Sergeant Williams. For context, he was a black guy and he had this gold tooth, right? And he would suck on that thing and call everybody a stupid dummy. That was his thing. And this dude, he he never got super loud. He just made you feel so insignificant. When he he'd suck on that tooth, he'd be like you stupid dummy. And and I know I don't do it

Caleb: It's like major pain.

patrick henson: any yeah. Dude, yes, major pain just without the attitude. I mean, he had some attitude, but like he didn't think he was, you know, the the top of the top, like major pain, but

Caleb: That's funny. Yeah.

patrick henson: and then Drill sergeant stolen, he was the one that I was like, I want to be that guy. he was very professional. I mean, he'd yell at you and whatnot, because

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: that's the job. But he also his uniform motivated you. Like this guy knew what he was

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: talking about. And he would he told us a story one time or his story one time. His first three years in the military, he never made it to a unit. He was always in a school. So when I come in, we wore BDUs.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: You could have four patches, so airborne, aerosol, whatever, on your

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: uniform. And that was all you could wear, no matter how many you had. This dude would rotate uniforms and never wear the same one twice.

Caleb: And have different patches for everything, yeah.

patrick henson: He had all. And yeah. So

Caleb: That's impressive, yeah. 'Cause you don't see that a lot.

patrick henson: I was like, Yes, that's the guy I wanna be.

Caleb: That's what I want.

patrick henson: Except for I don't want to jump out of airplanes. I'm

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: scared of heights. So

Caleb: did you ever do any of this but aerosol or anything?

patrick henson: So when I originally went up and enlisted at MEPS in St. Louis,

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: again, naive, didn't know what I didn't know. Movies had kind of led me astray. I signed up for Airborne Ranger.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: Had no clue what airborne was.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: The guys that jump out of airplanes are paratroopers. So I thought airborne must be what I later found out was air assault. I wanted to be the guy sliding out the rope on the helicopter. I had no use for that airplane.

Caleb: Right, right, right.

patrick henson: So I signed up, whatever, and I did a delay the delayed entry program. So I signed

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: up at 17. I waited the year. I went after I graduated. B I couldn't get in the military fast enough. Like I don't know, I think I enlisted a week after I turned seventeen, maybe

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: two. but again I'd known my whole yeah.

Caleb: Then for the next year you got to learn a lot before you went.

patrick henson: Yeah. Absolutely. I learned I was an idiot. So when I went back the second time to Meps, you know, reconfirmed my swear in and

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: all that. And I was like, Hey, we gotta change this airborne thing. And she's like, Why? And my stepdad had told me this thing my entire life. There's only two things that fall out of the sky. Bird shit and fools. And so I and I told them that and they got a kick out of it. And she's like, all right, well if you do that, you're going to lose your ranger contract.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: But you can always volunteer to go to ranger school later on. I just wasn't getting the rip contract. So you know I wouldn't get the train up to go. I if

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: I ever went, I'd have to go in cold. I'm like done. I'm not jumping out of a plane.

Caleb: No.

patrick henson: So I got my contract changed But something happened in with like me getting to the unit and whatnot. They had my old contract.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: I had my new. So in the end, I did everything up to three jumps before they finally figured out that I wasn't supposed to be there. And then I'm like, let me stay. I got two more and I'm done. And they're like, no, you're out.

Caleb: That sucks. Right. man, that sucks. Yeah.

patrick henson: Later on after I got out I ended up actually getting my wings. I

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: well later on years two or three years after I was in the unit, we had guys coming in who had went to jump school, they'd done two or they'd done three jumps and broke their leg or something like that and got

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: sent home. Well they ended up getting their wings 'cause they did three jumps. I was like, hang on now. I did too.

Caleb: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

patrick henson: And so It took me about a year and a half after I got out, writing letters and whatnot. And finally they were just like, I know they were tired of hearing from me. I'm like, look, you you're dealing with a guy who's retired and has nothing better to do with his life than write you letters. So keep messing around. I'll photocopy

Caleb: Yeah. That's

patrick henson: this thing and I will mail one every day until you do this for me. So

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: I got a little certificate, I got the certificate and a set of wings mailed to me and it was basically like, Now leave us alone.

Caleb: That's a pretty big deal though for the military to even do that, so after you're already gone. so you've signed up and then you're in basic training, nine eleven happens. And this is a very

patrick henson: yeah, I remember that day very well.

Caleb: very different for most people, who remember nine everybody remembers where they're at on nine eleven if you were alive and old enough to remember.

patrick henson: yeah.

Caleb: so Yeah, walk me through that whole day, from when you woke up, I guess, until how that day ended. That'll cover pretty much everything that I was gonna ask, so

patrick henson: Yeah. So that day was an exciting day for an infantryman. Right. We had just come out of total control. for those of you that don't know, total control is typically the first four weeks of basic training. Like everything is scrutinized. Yeah,

Caleb: R red face for a lot of people.

patrick henson: they changed what I went through it was total control, and then they went to Colors and numbers, I don't

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: know. As it's gotten softer, it's changed. But but total control, you always had a drill sergeant with eyes on you. Always.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: ours got extended twice.

Caleb: For being bad. That's what happens.

patrick henson: We had a dude we went to the infantry museum. He bought a king size Rhesus and thought he was gonna sneak it back in his crotch. So the entire company got hemmed up and we got total control extended. But anyway, we get out of total control and we're learning mount, so missions on urban terrain. we're learning how to kick in a door, how to clear a room, how to clear a building.

Caleb: Which would become the basis of the new war.

patrick henson: yeah. So we're we get up like I said, we get up in the morning, we eat, we go to chow or do PT, go to hygiene, go to chow, get on the cattle cars. For those of you that have never done one of them, you've you've not lived until you've been in

Caleb: Hmm. You're missing out.

patrick henson: a in a legitimate cow hauler and packed in

Caleb: think it's the closest thing it's the closest thing to a modern day train ride to the Holocaust, I think. That's what I always referred it to. 'Cause they just push you into it. Yeah. It's the only difference. But you're all crammed

patrick henson: Yeah, except for you you're not going to die. But

Caleb: in there like sardines and you can't move, so

patrick henson: Yeah. And nobody driving the truck or putting you on that truck cares about your safety at all. 'Cause even

Caleb: That's

patrick henson: in Japan and stuff or China, they got the commuter the subways that are packed full. That's real close. But they can

Caleb: Yeah. Yeah.

patrick henson: they do care about your safety in there.

Caleb: kinda funny now because they always made you wear a helmet no matter what you did, but yet they'd throw you in that thing and

patrick henson: yeah.

Caleb: shake you up and not care.

patrick henson: We had a bunch of guys get teeth knocked out because when I went

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: through we had the big parachute helmets. We didn't have the little go fast that well our Kevlars were

Caleb: Yeah. The kill buller, yeah. Yeah, the leather strap.

patrick henson: no it was a web, but it was just like it come down and it made a V and your chin stuck through it, you know. Kinda like the four ones, like when we got the Mitch helmets.

Caleb: Mm. Mm. Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: it had the two but no, you had that little thin sweat band.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: in it and it was like a suspension system in there. It didn't matter what you did. You hit your head with that and it still hurt. It was just there to keep bullets from going in, hopefully. But yeah, I watch

Caleb: That's great.

patrick henson: guys get their teeth knocked out with them.

Caleb: So you were on that on your way to Chow? that what said?

patrick henson: So no, we we went to Chow, then we jumped in that. We went out to at

Caleb: one of the ranges.

patrick henson: Benning, they're called the ranges are a Malone. I don't know why. And I don't know what Malone it was, but they had telephone poles in the ground as walls, and they have a doorway in it,

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: and it was in sand. But we like I said, we just got off total control and the drill sergeants quote unquote rewarded us they was going play some music. cool. What do they play? Death metal. But we're all excited to hear it. It's

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: not cadence and it's not somebody telling us we're worthless. So this is the greatest music ever played. Right. And it's on a radio station. And we're learning how to stack up and you know how to go in and how to peel left and right and we're each position supposed to go and the radio cuts. The first tower had just been hit. And like we had been told, you know, when they turn the radio on, if you guys get distracted, you'll lose it, whatever. So like we hear about a plane crashing in the US. We're trying to do the right thing, but we also are very interested.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: And once it comes out, like, hey, this is what happened, you know, they start gathering us around the radio and about that time the second tower got hit. And they promptly called for transport, took us back to the bays, brought in the old school TV like you had in school, you know, or we did, rolled

Caleb: Rolled it in on the cart.

patrick henson: it in on the little media cart and turned

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: it on. And we watched news coverage for eight hours.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: They opened for us it was a huge deal. we didn't have cell phones back then and whatnot. but they we had like six phones down in the company area, six or eight,

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: something like that. And they went through and if you was from New York or whatever, you got first dips on the phone. So they'd send you down and you could try and call your family, make sure, you know, whatever.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: And We had a few guys in the unit. or I say in the unit. it was my platoon because, you know, in basic training, you basically only know your platoon.

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: But we had, I think it was three that had lost people. and then we had one guy who had come in. He was in the company. I don't think he was in our platoon. It's hard to remember. he had been a New York fire department firefighter. So

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: he really struggled because, they lost guys in the towers and stuff. Yeah,

Caleb: So you probably knew all several of

patrick henson: his station was one of the first stations that had actually made it to the towers.

Caleb: Wow. So they end up letting them people go home or

patrick henson: We had one that decided to He didn't get out, he just they were like, Look, you can recycle basically, go home for the next couple months. It was a couple months before we ever seen him again. Or

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: we didn't see him again. Let's see, that would have been week six. I think we seen him again week twelve, thirteen maybe. He was coming back. yeah, yeah,

Caleb: Going through what he missed and all that.

patrick henson: he was gonna s start back he came and he was a holdover for second platoon. and then when I think Echo Company was the next company that had picked up their new recruits,

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: and when they hit Mount Phase, he just went to them

Caleb: He dropped in.

patrick henson: and dropped in and picked up with his career.

Caleb: Yeah. That's interesting. Yeah. yeah, I didn't expect that that'd been people in your platoon, but makes sense. I mean, people from all over. Yeah.

patrick henson: yeah, they're from everywhere.

Caleb: What what did you feel like in training once the news got around? Was it just the sadness, I guess, or shock I g you

patrick henson: So

Caleb: know?

patrick henson: So it was it was a weird environment. You had you could tell the difference in why people had enlisted. Right?

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: You had the kids that came in for money, you know, they wanted to go to college and whatnot. you had The ones who were just doing it out of family obligation, you know,

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: their family somebody has always been in, kind of thing. and then you had the group that I was that I was honestly in. The guys who wanted to go.

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: You know, we were when I joined, nothing was going on, whatever. And I was disappointed about it. but I was also of the mindset We got twenty years. There's lots of schools and stuff I can do to get to where I can go see action.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: See if that's what I really want. so those like we were sad for our friends and whatnot and their families and for everybody, but we were also like, Okay, it's go

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: time, let you know, hand me, you know, a hand me my weapon, send me on my way.

Caleb: And that's you know, if you'd never b been in the military, especially infantry world and combat arms, like that's what you joined for.

patrick henson: Yeah.

Caleb: I mean, to be honest, it's what it is. So at what point

patrick henson: Yeah. You wanted to shoot stuff and blow stuff up.

Caleb: right. At what point did did you realize like that that's what was coming?

patrick henson: Same day.

Caleb: Yeah. Once you realize

patrick henson: We had a we had a first sergeant for our company who he you know, people call him straight shooter, whatever, no BS, whatever.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: we come back off the range or that evening after everybody had kind of gotten to call home. We'd made it through dinner chow, they had a company formation, and he's like, Look, guys, I'm gonna put it to you like this. This is the first time that the US has ever been attacked on its own soil.

Caleb: Mm-hmm. Since Pearl Harbor, yeah.

patrick henson: More or less since we've been a country. Yeah. but this is like in the continental,

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: you know. so just know that any day they can call and be like, everybody's going. You've made it through basic training, you know how to point a rifle, you know how to shoot it, that's good enough. You know. So he's like like he had us believing that night and every day going forward that. at any day. those cattle trucks were gonna pull up and

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: we were going and it didn't actually work that quick.

Caleb: Yeah, 'cause you would end up in a completely different war. Kind of in a way.

patrick henson: Th there was Yeah, there was definitely Some it felt like feet dragging

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: as far as me getting there. Because you know, that was September eleventh, two thousand one. I didn't deploy for a minute.

Caleb: March two thousand three.

patrick henson: Yeah. March or April. I always forget when I

Caleb: Yeah. What a

patrick henson: left and when I come back.

Caleb: What? so I mean you would probably say the training got a little harder after nine eleven. You got a little more serious.

patrick henson: we had honestly just started into the what I would call the AIT phase of it.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: So I don't I mean you don't know what you don't know. You know, we don't know how hard it was

Caleb: Right. That's true.

patrick henson: gonna be before.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: I'll say that the dr my drill sergeants personally gave us a lot less slack. Like you were expected to be perfect. And I'm not saying, you know, drill sergeants give slack or at least back then. I don't know about now. From what you're I my oldest told me, well, probably.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: But anywho, I digress. they were, you know, hey, this is the way you do it. And if you deviated the slightest, no, it's not like that. It's like this. You do it like this. And they they really drilled home that that's how it was.

Caleb: Yeah. Yeah. Get a lot more real for them knowing that

patrick henson: I think fortunately for me, yeah, fortunately for me, all three of my drill sergeants had been in Desert Storm.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: So we were fortunate enough to have a guy, senior NCOs that knew what was coming to a degree.

Caleb: Yeah. Had some experience in it, yeah. Not, you know, definitely not it's gonna be a lot different than Desert Storm was, but

patrick henson: Yeah, but they had at least been somewhere done something

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: to a degree.

Caleb: Okay, so say you're finished with training. now we're we're pretty much at war at this point. at least in the sense with Taliban and Afghanistan. 'Cause that came pretty quick.

patrick henson: Yeah. I Iraq was a little slow. Yeah.

Caleb: It's w a couple of years later, yeah. So after basic training, where did you go? What unit were you assigned to and stuff?

patrick henson: So I went to Fort Carson, Colorado and I was stationed with Fourth ID.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: Third Brigade, one eight Fighting Eagles, Bravo Company. First platoon.

Caleb: And interesting, before we started this, you told me that you had actually been with them pretty much your entire career, which is rare.

patrick henson: I I got there like a a week and a half after Thanksgiving in O one and I didn't leave there until I don't know. I was in the Warrior Transition unit for a year or so and March of ele two thousand eleven is when I ETS. So till two

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: thousand and eight. I was there, late two thousand eight.

Caleb: for most people in the military, it's nowadays at least. it's different then because early days of war, but you usually don't spend more than three years in a location now, so they're removing

patrick henson: Yeah, usually usually when you make NCO,

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: you know, make E five, even corporal sometimes, if your unit wants to be evil to you like that, because you get all the responsibility and none of the pay as a corporal.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: But when I made E five, there was talk about moving me, but we ended up deploying it. I got to stay with my guys. But As great as that was, you know, I had to prove myself. I had people

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: constantly watching, looking for me to be showing favoritism because well I yeah, I had just

Caleb: It's a lot harder, for sure.

patrick henson: been doing keg stands with these guys. And now all of a sudden I'm an E five and I'm in charge of And I mean,

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: I literally mean Sunday night I had been doing keg stands and Monday morning I got promoted. So yeah.

Caleb: Promoted. Yeah. Which is why the military does that, but it has its pros and its cons. I just knocked my charger out. Hold on.

patrick henson: You're good.

Caleb: it has its pros and cons for sure.

patrick henson: I'll say I had better. Yeah. my guys, you know, I we had been battle buddies and whatnot together. I would say my guys pushed harder for me and would do more for me because they knew who I was and how I was. So like

Caleb: Right. That's why I th sometimes I think it's a good thing, you know, if if it's the right person, you know, that's getting it. And then other times

patrick henson: And it helps if you're a leader and not a boss.

Caleb: right. Big difference in in those two things for sure. the fourth ID. I'm sure the atmosphere's quite a bit different because everybody knows what's coming at this point. What was training like then? Like when you showed up, what were they doing?

patrick henson: So when I went to Fort Carson, when so you know, you get your orders cut for your duty station and basic training.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: And everybody told me going there it was gonna be super chill because Fort Carson at the time. They called it a retirement base. Basically, people just went there to retire. So the people who weren't wanting to deploy and stuff were like, dude, this is awesome. And I'm like, what do you mean? They're like, yeah, you probably never go anywhere. These guys

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: are trying to they're there to retire. And I'm like, no, that's not good. I don't want to go there.

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: I was supposed to have gone to some place, when I I had my initial contract was Airborne Ranger. And

Caleb: Should be yeah.

patrick henson: it had me going to Bragg to 82nd. So I'm going from high speed, low drag to sitting on my hands watching paint dry.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: now when I got there, it wasn't as bad as they had made it out to be. But so in up by Colorado Springs, in a town called Pueblo. and it's public knowledge so I'm not scared. there's a chemical depot. It's

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: where they get rid of mustard gas and stuff like that. So my company had just come back from a thirty day rotation of guarding that place when I got there. So we were we kind of trained up a little bit.

Caleb: It's more of a R and R type thing for most people.

patrick henson: But we were a mechanized unit. Yeah, we were a mechanized unit. So us going into Afghanistan wasn't really a big deal. Like

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: we they could send us as light infantry, but they weren't going to. Fourth ID has two

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: two brigades, two battalions of light and two battalions of Two brigades of light and two brigades of heavy, or they did.

Caleb: Mm, mm-hmm.

patrick henson: first and fourth, I think, were light, and second and third were heavy. So we had our Bradleys. And they don't do good in the mountains.

Caleb: So the light we're training up for Afghanistan, pretty much.

patrick henson: Yeah, they were probably getting ready to go and whatnot, but they were down at Fort Hood. We were the only battalion there in Carson or brigade.

Caleb: That's right. They are down in the hood. Yeah. They moved them back.

patrick henson: Not now. Now now they're running Yeah. About the time I was getting out, they brought back.

Caleb: Yeah. That's interesting about the depot that they'll pull they were pulling active duty guys to guard that. Hmm.

patrick henson: Mm-hmm. yeah. Well yeah, you gotta think that's a sensitive area.

Caleb: Yeah, for sure.

patrick henson: And they want as much firepower

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: down there. could you imagine someone getting a hold of even two drums

Caleb: No.

patrick henson: of mustard gas? And and mustard gas

Caleb: Yeah, it's some bad stuff. No, it makes total sense.

patrick henson: yeah, mustard gas is the only one that I know for sure is there, but They deal with all of the chemical stuff that, you know, we're

Caleb: Yeah, so I'm sure there's a lot more.

patrick henson: supposed to be getting rid of and Geneva Convention says we can't play with anymore and all that.

Caleb: Yeah. how was how was your leadership in your company there?

patrick henson: Hmm. So a little rev roll reversal for you here. Yeah, I was talking about how basic training changed me.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: I got to my unit, felt good about myself, I had changed, got rid of my race, I won't say it was gone at that point. I was working on it hard,

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: I think it's kinda like being an alcoholic or whatever. You're rec you're always recovering. Like

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: I would say I'm cured of it. but someone's gonna argue. So whatever. But anyway, I get there and I have a Platoon sergeant. And his name is Drakeford. I can't I don't know his first name. I can't remember. I don't want to know it. This guy he hated all white people and made no secret of it. But he was the worst leader I have ever had. This guy would take off do you know what WCAP is? It's like the military's boxing program and sports and stuff like that. So

Caleb: okay, yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: he taught boxing or had something to do with it. He would make us sit in the back of the company and wait for him. He would go teach that, go home and eat dinner, and then come back and release us.

Caleb: That's real leadership right there.

patrick henson: Yeah. And some EO complaints got filed and whatnot.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: And about us being, we would literally be there until twenty three hundred waiting on him. And all it was was strictly he just needed to say go home.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: But he would a phone call, a text, whatever send a runner, who cares?

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: But no. But so some complaints got filed and we so they would make the battalion commander would release everybody, is how bad this was. And he would tell us, you go hide in your room until everybody's gone. And then in 30 minutes you come back down to the company and you wait. I'll release you when I'm done with you. And yeah. We dealt I dealt with that

Caleb: How long did it five?

patrick henson: kind of leadership. And now it was just him. my squad leader and all them. Super cool. Very informative. learned a lot about the Bradley.

Caleb: They're probably hating it just as much. they're dealing with him too, so I mean w what were so was was the first sergeant and captain just not involved to know this?

patrick henson: Yeah. Some of some of were buddy buddy, but they were cl I'm telling you, dude, he he would have us hide until like

Caleb: Yeah. and of course being a low ranking you're too at that point you're just like, Well, I'm not saying nothing, like I'm not gonna be a snitch and Yeah.

patrick henson: RE sixes wouldn't. This guy belittled them so badly.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: but yeah, he would literally make us go and sit in like our barracks had a common area and

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: we'd go sit there and wait. And like when Top and the CO would leave for the day, he'd be like,

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: All right, they're gone. Come back down to the company and wait. Be on standby.

Caleb: Yeah. There's usually always one somewhere. And they're always the worst and that's horrible because that's your first experience of the real army at that point. You're probably like

patrick henson: Yeah. But I'll say this though. It was worth dealing with him for the rest of the leadership that I got throughout my career. And not just

Caleb: Yeah. That's good.

patrick henson: at the platoon level battalion division, you know, like I had a pretty blessed career after that.

Caleb: That's important, especially during that time. Did that guy go to Iraq with you? Okay. That's probably a good thing.

patrick henson: No. No. Yeah. I I could never I had two platoon sergeants that were both they had both come off the trail as we called it, you know,

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: the drill sergeant trail. And I always forget which order they came in. I had Berg and Thurman. I loved both of them. we we were worried when we got them that these guys are gonna be total

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: assholes. And they got there and for the first

Caleb: They're just stoked to get away from Traydoc.

patrick henson: for the first couple days, you know, they're still in that mentality. And

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: they're like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. No. These guys have already done this. They know what they're doing for the most part. And if they don't, I've got four E6s, five six E fives, and whatnot that can line them out.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: I don't have to be that guy no more. And they chilled out and they were awesome.

Caleb: Yeah. Yeah, it's I mean my understanding the drill sergeant life is not very fun and is probably one of the worst jobs in the army just because of the hours and

patrick henson: It was one I wanted though.

Caleb: so We you're at Carson now. let's see, and this is two thousand and one. When

patrick henson: Yeah.

Caleb: so I mean you didn't get word about Iraq until three. How did that come about? How'd you find out about that you were going to Iraq?

patrick henson: That was a process, man. That was a horrible process for a lot of people. we just kinda you know, we knew it was coming. You know, you see

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: the news, whatnot. We

Caleb: I guess at that point well, because Bush was given Saddam ultimatums up until

patrick henson: Yeah.

Caleb: you know, that actual point. Did you were you over there for the actual invasion invasion? Like you rolled across the border, no? You it was after that?

patrick henson: So so the way it went down is to back up and get we're gonna get both the questions answered in there.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: they started shocking awe, right?

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: I don't know how much of that you remember, but that was when they bombed everything.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: And about the time that started, it was hey, fourth ID, you guys have been, you know, you're heavy. Saddam's got tanks. We need something that can handle tanks. So guess what? You're going.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: so we was on notice for a while, but we should have deployed a whole lot sooner. But we had there was a problem with Turkey.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: So we were going to put our stuff on the boats, get over to Turkey, download, and push from north to south. We was gonna pinch them at Kuwait.

Caleb: Everybody was gonna close in on from north and south ends at least.

patrick henson: Well, yeah. for our I guess I just know we were headed in from the north and we were headed to Kuwait. You know, basically on a if it's military you kill it until you get to Kuwait.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: so I mean that w you know, that was a specialist mindset at the time. You know that that's the level of information I was getting, you know.

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: This is our job, this is what we're doing, this is how we're going. You don't need to know anything more than that. Turkey wouldn't let us in, Turkey wouldn't let us in, and what ended up happening is third ID out of Georgia, they did the initial push from Kuwait because

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: we had to wait for all of our stuff. Yeah, third ID was coming

Caleb: To get moved to Kuwait.

patrick henson: from the bottom up, fourth ID was coming from the top down. meet in the middle kind of thing. but third ID was already there and we had to bring the ships from Turk up by Turkey down into Kuwait and dis unload them and all that.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: so third ID had pushed up to Baghdad and s kind of sort secured that area by the time we left To go up and they put us on heads, two Bradleys

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: per hat, and then we rolled up on those up to just outside of Baghdad, and then they kicked us off. And it was like, here's Iraq, there's you know, there's a dictator here and an army, go to work.

Caleb: Yeah. Yeah, 'cause at that time Saddam's still out there. You're still

patrick henson: yeah, he was

Caleb: facing a a traditional type military at this point.

patrick henson: No. Come to find out not really. by the time Third No, by the t

Caleb: So they wasn't uniformed at that point.

patrick henson: by the time Third ID got up to Baghdad, they had stripped uniforms. I mean uniforms were everywhere in the streets when we drove through. They really were.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: yeah. The

Caleb: Guess those what, the Revolutionary Guards, the only ones that really stuck around a little longer than everybody else.

patrick henson: yeah, Republican Guard. I don't know. But yeah.

Caleb: Republican, yeah. Revolutionaries. That's the Iran. Yeah, Republican guard, yeah, yeah.

patrick henson: The Republican Guard, we kept hearing stories, and I call them stories because I don't think any of them was any of it was true later. But

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: that, they were still by Saddam's side in uniform, not just wearing, you know. civvies and blu everybody blending in.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: now how how much truth there was to that, I don't know. I never to my knowledge, I never faced anybody that was ever in a uniform. Not not a traditional uniform.

Caleb: Right. What how long did it take you to get from the border, do you remember, to Baghdad?

patrick henson: Border to Baghdad. A night.

Caleb: So you guys drove pretty much straight through.

patrick henson: Yeah. Yeah. they put us on Hetz in Kuwait. early in the day and based

Caleb: This is before I EDs, right?

patrick henson: yeah, I remember the first IED.

Caleb: Yeah. This is before the IED because it people didn't know IEDs wasn't always a part of the Iraq war. That came a little later.

patrick henson: Nope. I remember when they started out being soda can size.

Caleb: Yeah, they really improved them.

patrick henson: Yep, and we our armor was sandbags in the floor. Floorboard

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: of soft skin Humvees. Yeah. Wild West. But

Caleb: So the trip up wasn't too bad.

patrick henson: no. we got like I said, we got put on a head, which is basically a semi for anybody who don't know. just it holds a whole lot of weight. they put us on it and they were like, look, we don't want you to shoot. off of the trucks but because it could twist the trailer.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: But you know, it was also it

Caleb: Well say they had you guys chillin' in your in the Bradleys like why they're hauling

patrick henson: So yeah, I was a driver at the time. So

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: I was in my driver's hole. My gunner and my Bradley commander were up in the turret and our nine dismounts were sitting sitting and sleeping in the back. And that's just the way it was. And like,

Caleb: It works. Yeah.

patrick henson: I'm gonna tell you real some real world stuff. Like, these guys, like, you know, we're we're going through this country and it's just this massive convoy, right? And someone's like, Hey dude, I gotta pee, or I gotta drop a deuce, whatever. Open the troop door, step out, they walk across the deck of the truck, pee off the side or

Caleb: Yeah, going down the road.

patrick henson: hang a butt cheek off the side and it's like, my god. know.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: And hey, I I'm not saying I was any better. You know,

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: I remember hanging off the front of my Bradley, but it's just crazy.

Caleb: Well, if you're anything like me, I guarantee you've peed enough Gatorade bottles that you probably can't remember how many, just from being inside the vehicles, so

patrick henson: So I've got a story about those that has has turned me away from that. We

Caleb: We'd do it just because we didn't want to get picked off by a sniper, so we used our caterate bottles in the Humbies.

patrick henson: Yeah, yeah, I I totally get all that. So and up until we had a guy get hurt.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: Right? And he got evaced out. Trying to think. I think it was my second tour. But and I know this is a little skip ahead, but this dude was so lazy. He he would get up in the middle of the night, and his chew was like, or room, whatever you want to call it,

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: was like 30 feet from portajohn.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: He would pee in bottles again, whatever.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: Have your piss bottle for the night, you're too lazy to get up and get dressed, or you don't want someone seeing you in your skivmies. I don't whatever.

Caleb: At least throw it away the next day.

patrick henson: When we cleaned up his room, there was fifty piss bottles. And since then

Caleb: I've seen it. I've seen that happen too.

patrick henson: I have sworn I will never use one. Ever. I don't care how cold it is outside. I don't I don't care. Don't look in my direction if you don't want to see you

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: know, if I'm can camping with the scouts or whatever, like I tuck myself off I'll climb

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: down out of my tent, whatever, and pee on a tire,

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: but I will not Yeah. Like and it was it was Yeah.

Caleb: Yeah, I've seen that too, and it's pretty nasty. It was actually a s it was another staff sergeant too that I'd seen do that, sadly.

patrick henson: This this kid was What was he? I think he was a specialist. He might have only been a PFC. I think he was a PFC. but you know, and it wasn't like he you remember the two liter water bottles they had?

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: Like they're not the fat necks, you know, it's not like a Gator b Gatorade bottle, it's like it's like a 20 ounce bottle, right?

Caleb: Yeah, no. No little bit of

patrick henson: And these things you can clearly tell. that they've been wet because they've got dust, mud dust on Right?

Caleb: No.

patrick henson: And we had to and you could smell it.

Caleb: that's gross.

patrick henson: And Luckily he wasn't my soldier, so I didn't have to feel bad about

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: Some that had fallen through the cracks. Someone wasn't checking that that space.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: And his roommates dropped the ball by not telling on him.

Caleb: Surprised they ain't beat him up.

patrick henson: I've seen it for less

Caleb: Yeah. So let's see. You've made it to Baghdad. No baths. No running water.

patrick henson: Nope.

Caleb: Being a crap in office am I?

patrick henson: Yep.

Caleb: so I mean being mechanized, you guys are probably living out of your Bradleys.

patrick henson: yeah.

Caleb: because there's not really bases at this point in time.

patrick henson: No.

Caleb: When I guess tell me about the first time that you got into contact.

patrick henson: w what kind of contact we talking here, like actually getting shot at or first time we had someone try and do something dumb? Because they're two different things.

Caleb: Alright, tell me the dumb thing first and then we'll get into the other part.

patrick henson: Okay, so we got a briefing and this continue on with the Hetz, right? We got to Baghdad, we get unloaded, whatever, and they give us this big briefing, and we had our rucksacks and our duffel bags strapped to the side of them.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: Right. And what was happening was these cars would come up beside you and try and cut the sides of the bags. And all your stuff

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: would fall out on the ground and they would steal it. And we and what would happen is a car would get in front of the lead vehicle, right? And slow down.

Caleb: Let's slow it down.

patrick henson: And then a car on the side would come up, cut the bags, bolt, and then they would both go. And they were like, don't slow down. This is exactly what's gonna happen if someone does that to you, an insurance scam.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: if they try that, don't stop. Okay, well, my vehicle happened to be in the lead. And old dude kept getting up there and I I wasn't slowing down. And I told my commander, my Bradley commander, I like, hey, this fool's about to find out. And I said, I ain't stopping. there's no sense in getting, we don't want it in an ambush or anything. And he's like, absolutely,

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: don't stop. That dude slammed on his brakes, and that 33-ton Bradley at 35 miles an hour just kept going.

Caleb: One right over top of it.

patrick henson: Yep. And it's to my knowledge, and because like we could talk, we had a frequency to where all the drivers could talk to one another.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: And I know. For sure and my entire company, everybody ran that car over.

Caleb: So he w there wasn't nothing left of that one.

patrick henson: And we had the entire battalion with us behind us. So I don't know if anybody else ran it over, but I can speak for what is it, four, eight, twelve, sixteen Bradleys we had in the company. Every one of them took a turn.

Caleb: it was probably pretty pretty smashed by the time everybody else got to it.

patrick henson: Yeah.

Caleb: That's what they get though, yeah. Yes, and that was I guess that was the first thing.

patrick henson: so yeah, that that was that was less than an hour off the heads. now the first time we got shot at Yeah, that that was an interesting situation. the first time you get shot at, you really find out who you are. And I ain't gonna say any names, but I had a I had a leader. When we took contact He panicked. And I'm I'm no Keanu Reeves with bullet time and whatnot, but our little brother kind of said the same thing he was talking about, you know, like thing like when he got hurt, you know, things slowed down, comes becomes crystal clear. And

Caleb: Yeah. Right. Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: some people have it, some don't. It doesn't mean, you know, I've had plenty of leaders that they just Everything stayed normal speed for them, but they knew what they were doing.

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: But for me, it was like bullet time or whatever you want to call it. Time slowed down and everything that I'd ever learned, you know, I couldn't tell you how to set up an L-shaped ambush to save my life, you know, on a normal day. Let a round crack off. I can

Caleb: Mm-hmm. That muscle memory kick in.

patrick henson: tell you exactly where everybody goes, you know. And so Everybody's looking at the team leader and we're like, Yeah.

Caleb: So are you guys dismounted? Okay.

patrick henson: because at this point we're doing kind of like a presence patrol kind of thing.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: You know, we'll go in somewhere, we'll take over a house, set the Bradlings out for security, and then send little runners out, like squad level. Teams and just scout out is all you're doing

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: and showing people, hey, we're here. Which I'm not I never understood that entire especially back at the beginning. It's like, hey, we're right here, come come shoot at us. Yeah. Instead of Well, yeah, we did too, but later

Caleb: Yeah. Shoot me. Yeah. We still did we still did that later on too. But

patrick henson: on when you've got like a company or a battalion level fob, you're going

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: out being like, Hey, look, we're here to protect you. Whatever, you're not going out there just trying to draw bullets. So I didn't understand

Caleb: Yeah. That's magnets.

patrick henson: it, but it wasn't my job to understand it. But yeah, we went out and I still respect the dude to this day and he did eventually get better, but old dude just lost his cool. He he went

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: into panic mode and everybody was standing there in the road, like, what do I do? You know, where do I go?

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: And finally I was like, All right. And I just started hollering at people, Hey, go over here, go over there. Get find something that hide until we can figure out where it's coming from.

Caleb: Yeah. Some cover.

patrick henson: And we can get get line back out and get some clear dish instructions.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: And if you still can't figure it out, just you know the bullets come from that way, just start shooting that way. Hit

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: a stop. And it it was definitely eye opening because I totally, you know, in my mind, I had been I was a driver, so I had volunteered to go out on this. I wasn't even a dismount at the time. And I was like I I was still I had that itch, but I had that fear also that I was gonna be that guy. The I've got it all built up in my head. I'm

Caleb: Yeah. That froze. Yeah.

patrick henson: I'm I'm a hero, or whatever. And I can see it in my head, you know, the first crack of the round and basically wet yourself and not know what to do. It just didn't turn out that way.

Caleb: Yeah. How many how many were there at that time? Like was it one person? Or was it a like a ambush?

patrick henson: probably. No. It was we were getting felt out. Yeah.

Caleb: Okay.

patrick henson: eight ten pop shop, eight, ten rounds and they'd cut bait and then

Caleb: Trying to l see what your reactions are.

patrick henson: yeah, see see how we're gonna react and 'cause they hadn't seen us before.

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: Cause we were once we got past Baghdad, we were it was all brand new. There wasn't nobody ahead of us in

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: the direction we were headed.

Caleb: You guys were the first ones up there, yeah.

patrick henson: Yeah, through a lot of it.

Caleb: and this is what that you said April, somewhere in there probably.

patrick henson: we I don't think we got to so we'll say I deployed in April. So this would have been May June because you know you spend like a month in Kuwait training up.

Caleb: Yeah, something quite, yeah.

patrick henson: So we're beginning of summer.

Caleb: So between that moment and your next big incident in June, did anything else happen?

patrick henson: No. not to me. yeah.

Caleb: Just normal. Yeah, just your

patrick henson: we did some craziness, you know. took a Bradley on them floating bridges across the I wanna say it was the Tigris. It might have

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: been the Euphrates, I don't know. I didn't have a map and my job was to just drive wherever I was told, so

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: look man, I I was an E four, so I was in the peak of my Sham Shield and E four mafia days.

Caleb: Driving driving's driving's pretty it's a pretty fun job really sometimes over there.

patrick henson: Yeah, but anybody who's ever been in when you get

Caleb: But yeah, you wasn't in you didn't care about that.

patrick henson: yeah, you make E4, you get that sham shield, as we called it, or you're in the E4 mod you, you're trying to do as little as possible. my job's to drive. I do exactly what I'm told.

Caleb: Yeah. Don't ask me to do anything else.

patrick henson: That's right. I do the bare minimum.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: I do what my job says I do these things. That's where I live.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: it's not my job to recon a map. That's what I got a a commander for,

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: so like a lot of and that's probably a shitty way to have been, but I I am who I am and I have no apologies for it. My my people liked me, so I'm good. Yep.

Caleb: So your birthday comes June tenth, correct? now we talked before, they want to give you the day off because your platoon sergeant doesn't want to be that guy.

patrick henson: Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, he he definitely he told me, I ain't calling your mom on your birthday to tell her you got killed. That's just not happening. Your start and end date will not be the same.

Caleb: Yeah. Up until that point have you guys lost and did you lose anybody up until that point?

patrick henson: So I'm gonna give you a little bit of a spoiler. In three tours, my platoon didn't lose anybody.

Caleb: That's amazing.

patrick henson: we had some people get hurt,

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: some minor stuff. but no. We didn't

Caleb: Yeah, that's impressive.

patrick henson: our company didn't lose anyone until I it was shortly after June,

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: July July to September, something like that.

Caleb: That was the company. That lost

patrick henson: Yeah.

Caleb: my yeah. And the your platoon you never did. Okay.

patrick henson: No. No.

Caleb: so walk us through what happened on June eleventh.

patrick henson: So I got to volunteer for another patrol. we were set up in a a bigger hasty company level hasty base

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: more of a comp combat outpost I I still had that fire. you know I wanted to kick in doors and do the things and I was like, let me go. Let me go. And finally, because the story of my life, I have no problems just annoying people until they give me what I want and get to get me out of their hair. So hey, sometimes that's how the military is.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: You just have to annoy somebody. So

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: I got them to let me go. got super lucky. We got stopped going out and given so when we deployed Iraq, not everybody had plates or body

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: armor plates, right? And on top of that, you only had the guys who did get only got a front plate.

Caleb: Yeah. So with no rear plates. 'Cause everybody sh

patrick henson: they didn't have enough.

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: So I was a driver. You know, I'm surrounded by armor. I didn't get a plate. But

Caleb: You didn't have a plate. Yeah.

patrick henson: we were leaving and they stopped us because they got a truckload of plates. Like they brought in the old school

Caleb: So as you're leaving the the the the compound, they stop you to give you plates. Okay.

patrick henson: Yeah, they stopped us at the gate. Yeah, we were walking out. The truck was coming in and they're like, hang on, nobody leaves. We've got, body, ceramic plates, right?

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: For you. And everybody's getting two. You know, like, wow. So we

Caleb: Yeah. It's Christmas.

patrick henson: waited, got, you know, they basically st they had someone climb up in the bed of this truck, and it was like a grain. style truck trailer

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: right and they got this old school single cab truck pulling it like from vietnam yeah no it's a military truck like from vietnam era

Caleb: Yeah, with all the little dangly things on it. Or is it a military truck? okay. Yeah.

patrick henson: so anyway someone climbs up in the back of it I don't even know who it was probably the supply guy nobody cares right But he's just like, who needs a plate? Raise your hand. You know, all right, how many you need? One or two. I need one. And he'd throw it at you.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: And catch it and you run off to the side and put it in your vest, whatever. And I I needed two. I got my two, whatever. Everybody in the patrol is we've got our plates and they're like, all right, we're out. So we leave. And all we're doing with presence patrol, hearts, the army's big thing at the time was hearts and minds. No, we're walking.

Caleb: She's just going out and driving around, bincing. Walking, walking, yeah.

patrick henson: Like we're right there and we're just walking out whatever. And we called it hearts and minds. a lot of people didn't like the response to that, which was usually, yeah, hearts and minds, two to the chest, one to the head. We got this.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: But in in the infantry, that's your the way you're taught to shoot. Two to the chest, one to the head. so anyway, we get out, we're just knocking on doors, saying hi, you know, hey, if there's anything you need, let us know. You know, the 'cause we were in like a village outside a village. It it if the well isn't working, let us know we'll get a mechanic to come and look at it. the town's power system isn't working, let us know we'll get a mechanic to come look at it. Like anything you need, we can help you with. All you have to do is ask. And

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: all we ask is if there's any soldiers or I don't think AQI or Al Qaeda in Iraq was a thing yet. ISIS, whatever. It all runs

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: together. But I don't think any of them was really around yet. I think we were still trying to fight the conventional army that had gone into guerrilla tactics.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: But yeah, I went to knock on a door and got shot through the door. And thank God.

Caleb: So they shot through the door.

patrick henson: yeah, door never opened. It it come through the door. Hit my plate and broke my plate. And

Caleb: What was it? What kind of round?

patrick henson: slug.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: I got shot out of by a old school double barrel 12 gauge through a door into my plate, knocked the teetotal crap out of me, and when the plate broke right there in your sternum where you got that little dip,

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: I have three little bitty scars where the ceramic poked through

Caleb: Pierced it.

patrick henson: and pricked my skin, but it knocked me. I woke up so

Caleb: To knock you off your feet?

patrick henson: yeah, it knocked me out.

Caleb: Okay.

patrick henson: I woke up on the ground just long enough to see everything hazy. I passed out again and I woke up at the cache.

Caleb: What it's kinda surprising that that is it luck that that plate stopped a slug from a twelve gauge? That close? Shoulda. I'd okay, the door of metal. So it slowed down quite a bit by the time it went through that door, yeah.

patrick henson: no, it totally should have. it was through a metal door. their doors are metal. Yeah. but I mean it's they stop armor piercing bullets. It should stop a slug. It's just

Caleb: What a so it it knocks you out cold.

patrick henson: yeah

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: Yeah, turned my whole chest purple for about a week.

Caleb: What yeah, so you woke up in the in the base hospital or doctor's office 'cause they don't have hospitals, but

patrick henson: Yeah, the cash.

Caleb: yeah. what did they how long were you out for for that?

patrick henson: how long before I went back to work?

Caleb: Yeah. Did they send you out anywhere else or they just you just got better and back out the

patrick henson: I was back out I was back out the next day.

Caleb: back to back. Yeah.

patrick henson: they checked me over, 'cause I said, it knocked me pretty well clean out. And it took me a little while to wake back up. Like I wasn't I don't know how to explain it, you know. It just literally put me to sleep, basically.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: It was an hour. everybody knew I was fine. there was no blood. There they by the time I come to, you know, I'd already been checked over. I

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: was laying on a stretcher with no shirt 'cause they'd cut they cut the shirt in the top, which really upset me. you know, and I'm laying there in my fatigue bottoms and my boots on and whatnot and Doc looked at me and he was like, Yeah, he's fine. He'll come too in a minute. And once we was at the cache, no. No.

Caleb: You didn't get a purple heart out of that either, did you? Because it didn't draw blood.

patrick henson: It a it actually drew blood, but I wasn't so I turned down the purple heart twice. Because both times

Caleb: Okay.

patrick henson: it was stupid. But I didn't even get a chance at a purple heart there. No one put it in.

Caleb: Sounds about right.

patrick henson: Well it and I appreciated it. I

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: really did. Because in my first tour, I had I had several NCOs that had been to Desert Storm that were in charge, you know,

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: and they were very by the book. You

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: know, have to get this, that, and the other to qualify. Like when we got our CIBs.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: It took us next to forever to get because they would not let us get it. Or wouldn't put it in or whatever until we met every deal.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: Exactly. Like we lost it. Cause you like one of the things is you gotta be in a a firefight for a certain amount of time, so many times within a certain amount of time, right? Like it's all these time hacks. We missed it

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: by an hour once. And they were like, Nope, start over.

Caleb: I can tell you they don't follow that anymore. 'Cause I've seen people get for nothing.

patrick henson: No, by by my second and third tour, guys would be in country for 30 days and they'd hand it to them.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: But that's why, I got my tattoo of mine, but it's because I take a lot of pride in it. I earned it

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: a hundred percent. Now I'm not saying there's not guys who don't come who didn't come in and if you was in my unit, typically, especially our first tour. And our second tour, you definitely earned it inside thirty days.

Caleb: We're getting it. Yeah. What what happened to the old boy who shot shot ya?

patrick henson: Well, my understanding is that one of my battle buddies dumped two saw drums into the house before anybody could get into it. So I'm pretty sure he got to go see if they really get seventy two versions or not,

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: but I'm not entirely sure.

Caleb: Yeah. Well I'd say

patrick henson: He he may have taken a different path.

Caleb: So you've been shot. What an what happened the rest of that deployment? Anything?

patrick henson: So that deployment, honestly, the next

Caleb: three, four. Yeah.

patrick henson: Do what?

Caleb: So that was three, four.

patrick henson: Yeah. So that deployment, it honestly s I had a big incident happen that honestly set my set my whole career. we did a raid

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: and I came around a corner and I had a twelve year old little boy, twelve, thirteen ish, point an AK straight at me.

Caleb: Or you outside, I guess, is like an alleyway.

patrick henson: Yeah, we were outside a compound. He was basically gate gate guard. You know, stand there guarding the entrance a little bit. I don't know where he was headed, what he was honestly doing. Like we met at the corner of the building or of the fence. I to

Caleb: So how far from each other you think you are at this point? And this is a twelve year old, thirteen year old kid with an A K forty seven.

patrick henson: Yeah, I could have spit in his eye. I mean,

Caleb: Okay. So you guys are close, close.

patrick henson: yeah. I could have done what had to be done with a knife versus my rifle probably as quick. yeah. We both froze.

Caleb: Mm. So you come around the corner and he points this this AK like does this kid like have no fear at this point? Like what do you see in him?

patrick henson: We were both like, shit. I didn't r he I didn't realize he was gonna be there.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: And I wa he didn't hear me coming because well The whole reason I was scouting ahead was because of my past or my my past growing up hunting and stuff, knowing how to walk on different types of stuff. Yeah, and be yeah.

Caleb: gonna be in quiet. So you're ca you're kinda recon in ahead for everybody.

patrick henson: I I was headed up to check the for the breach is what I

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: was doing. I was just going up to see how we was gonna get in the gate. If we could use bolt cutters, if we needed to hurry up and make a directional charge, something like this.

Caleb: Uh-huh.

patrick henson: And I popped I come up over this little knoll and hit the edge of the wall. Come down the edge of the wall. I'm ready to cut that corner and I spin around it and he's right there. I mean there's maybe two feet between the end of our barrels.

Caleb: Mm-hmm. So it's close, close, yeah.

patrick henson: And it yeah, it honestly come down to Who recovered quickest?

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: Because we were both shocked that the other one was there. And My gun went off. I I was carrying a saw and I heard I heard it go off. I seen the flash and Yeah. Like I was surprised.

Caleb: So your training kicks in, it's muscle memory at this point. you probably don't even realize you you're going through the steps, but you don't even realize I know how it feels, but I know a lot of people probably don't. Like in those instances that's where things slow down and you're doing things that you don't even know you're doing You but you're doing the right things

patrick henson: Yeah.

Caleb: because this is what you were taught. But you're just like, What is happening? Like this isn't me but it's happening. Yeah.

patrick henson: Yeah, absolutely.

Caleb: That's just to explain some of the people that are listening. That's that's what it's like. you'll realize, for me when I do it, my gun's in my hand and I'm like, How did that get there? I don't even remember touching it, you know? So it's going off

patrick henson: Yeah. Yeah, I don't remember taking the safety off or nothing like that. And

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: in all honesty, I heard the shots, you know. I I hear I hear the gunfire. I see the flash. I don't know if I shot or he did at this point. Like I'm waiting for the pain.

Caleb: So you're trying to see th maybe you're the one being shot at this point.

patrick henson: Yeah. I thought I was done when

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: I seen the flashes. like I said, I kind of stood there waiting for something to hurt, to feel something.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: And then like the next thing I realize is this kid's laying on the ground.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: And you know, I did too. Like it he was down. kick the gun away. I've got it s slung at the low ready and I'm like patting myself down and whatnot, hey, am I bleeding anywhere? Do I need to holler?

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: And but by the you know, within a minute, my entire squad's there. And they're,

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: you know, get the whole, what's going on? What happened? But that was That was super hard on me.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: I you know, I grew up with cousins and stuff that I hung out with all the time. And they were all about that age.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: And then you and Matt, you guys were

Caleb: Yeah, not much older probably. At that point. Yeah. Yeah. What

patrick henson: Yeah. You'd have been what, eighth grade? In O one?

Caleb: yeah. Yeah. 'Cause I was in eighth grade here in nine ele one, yeah. Seventh in O one. So

patrick henson: So that'd have been three.

Caleb: Yeah. What a so did he I'm assuming he died instantly.

patrick henson: yeah. It it ended up being I let off a like a ten round burst.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: I didn't fire my gun the rest of the day. It's

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: the only reason I've got a general idea. And I carried a hundred round as we called them nutsack for the saw instead of that stupid heavy two hundred round one. And

Caleb: Right. The big plastic, yeah.

patrick henson: when I had to fill out my AAR, you know, my after action review, I

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: had to count for my rounds. they wanted, hey, a just a general idea how many did you fire? Well. I knew there was a hundred in there, so I just counted them and

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: I fired something like ten, you know, give or take. but yeah, that met that messed me up hardcore.

Caleb: So do you feel like this kid had did he have any fear when like when you were looking at him?

patrick henson: Well, he had as much fear as I did.

Caleb: Could you tell Yeah.

patrick henson: he he was shocked, I was shocked.

Caleb: But you could feel by looking at him like this kid was gonna he w he wanted to kill you. Yeah.

patrick henson: yeah, he he had to have, he had an AK. Yeah.

Caleb: Yeah, for sure.

patrick henson: Like there's no reason for a kid to have an AK at that age standing

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: outside a suspected d I don't know. It wasn't an IED factory. we hadn't made it that far yet. like a stronghold is what

Caleb: RPG, something like that, maybe. Yeah.

patrick henson: we we suspected it to be. We expected to find some former Republican guard soldiers or regular army whatever guys there. So this kid had absolutely no reason to be there.

Caleb: What did you guys r run into anybody else at that point? Like after that incident there?

patrick henson: yeah, we took four or five military agent males as POWs.

Caleb: They can all surrender to that point. Once you guys hit it and all that.

patrick henson: it took a few minutes before anybody actually went and breached. it

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: was actually kinda funny. We're standing out there around us like, what the hell happened, you know?

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: I mean more or less they're you know, they're checking on me, making sure I'm good, you know, that kind of stuff, but Yeah. Especially for our platoon, 'cause

Caleb: Well, I'm sure, it's a big shock to everybody as well, It's not something you expect to to see or deal with.

patrick henson: yeah, it it was the first time we had ever seen anything like that. So but yeah, we took I wanna say, four or five detainees and we did, you know.

Caleb: Mm-hmm. What can I a like so what did they do with the boy, do you know? Lefty. And that's not something like I don't I mean I kinda figured as much, but just for people listening at that point in time during the war, like that's how it is. Like

patrick henson: We left him. Yeah. So yeah, at at that point in time the ROE or the rules of engagement were it was the Wild West, I'll put

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: it that way. and they got worse before they got better.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: later on in that deployment when IED started becoming a thing. I I got myself in some trouble for questioning or an order

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: because we were told if it was a military aged male out at night with a shovel, you shoot on site.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: Okay, to a point I can understand that, but these were farmers in the area we

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: was at at they quit farming at dark. They're walking home.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: And you know, I wasn't trying to be a bleeding heart or anything, but I also didn't want to shoot someone who was innocent.

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: You know, I don't I don't care. I I don't consider a shovel a weapon.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: And I ref I told him I I was a gunner at the time on a Humvee. And I was like, I will not shoot somebody for carrying a shovel. Yeah. I if if they're on the side of the

Caleb: it's one thing that they're digging, and it's dark and but

patrick henson: road digging, I'm your Huckleberry. You know, I I

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: I I'll shoot whoever you want. But old dudes just walking I can clearly see the field a hundred meters behind him. And he's walking towards town to go home or whatever.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: no, I'm not shooting him. And

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: it got me in some trouble, like nothing major. Like I get I got chewed pretty hard.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: And they took my gun away, you know, my gunner slot away. Okay.

Caleb: Yeah. Right.

patrick henson: I don't have to stand up there in the rain, threaten me with a good time. You know. Like my conscience is gonna be clear when I leave. You

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: know, I everybody I shot was had intent, so

Caleb: Right. anything else come to mind for that one? That deployment?

patrick henson: well I was saying with that kid and it I struggled with that real hard. I

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: ended up going on like I at that point I was done with the military. I I and my chain of command, God bless them, they were like, look, we gotta send him home. And

Caleb: So that you're going through these emotions while you're still there, right after this has occurred.

patrick henson: Yeah. So they pulled me off patrol out after I shot him for a couple days to start with.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: And in OIF one they weren't giving us leave.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: Well, they got a few slots and it happened to be a lottery kind of thing. My squad leader got one of those slots. And he ended up giving it up for me to go home.

Caleb: It's awesome.

patrick henson: Yeah, he he was he was a great guy, is a great guy. I still talk to him. I owe that dude my life a couple times over. but I went home and my my she was my girlfriend at the time and my wife now, but the guy who became my father in law is the one who fixed me, as I'll say it. And

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: like everybody he didn't do anything different than anybody else. Cause you know, like you can either handle shooting somebody or you can't. and there's nothing wrong with either side of it, especially, you know, in the military. Maybe outside of it might be questionable.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: But they all told me the same thing. Look, man, it's either for you or it's not. And I went home on leave, went to Kentucky to where my father in law lived at the time.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: And he was he had been a tunnel rat in Vietnam.

Caleb: Okay. Yeah.

patrick henson: And he didn't talk to anybody hardly about his time. when they came back, they had it real hard. Wasn't like when we did and people were waiting for us to pat us on our back and tell us good job and all that. So he didn't talk about it.

Caleb: Right. Yeah, we had welcome people. You know.

patrick henson: And the wife, she went to bed and I was kind of sitting up with him and I hadn't said nothing to him. And we were just watching TV and whatnot. And he pauses the TV and he's like, All right, out with it. He goes, There's something wrong. I can see it. And he goes, and I got an idea what it is. So let's hear it.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: just like all of us do, deny, deny, deny.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: He's like, Let me tell you a story about something that happened to me. okay. And he told me his story. had a woman carrying a baby walk up to him, spread her legs, and drop three live grenades out. And he shot and ran.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: you know, which Because they did stuff like that is why our soldiers were called what they were called unjustly, But he he told me, he's like, Look, tell me your story. So I told him. And he's like, Okay, gotcha. and he's like, I'm gonna I'm gonna say it to you the simplest way I know how. You either need to get bit you can either handle it, then and if that's the case, get busy getting over it.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: If you can't handle it, that's fine too. No shame. But get busy getting out.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: It's not for you. And there was something about, somebody who had been through it, had struggled with it, with things that he had done, telling me that that I was like, Okay. it it just made yeah, it just made

Caleb: Yeah, it's advice that you could trust. Yeah.

patrick henson: it click. Now my platoon sergeant, my first sergeant, my CEO, everybody had told me the same thing. It just I don't know, something about coming from him it made it click.

Caleb: Yeah. Okay. so that's when you were on leave. You came home on leave from that. so then you go back

patrick henson: Yeah.

Caleb: and you're doing a little better at this point after

patrick henson: man, it it was like being back to day one.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: Once I accepted it, this is the part of the job. it wasn't my cousins that I shot. It was a hostile twelve, thirteen year old little boy that was going to kill me.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: once all of that kind of clicked into place, it you know, it was back to being Tuesday.

Caleb: Right. did it ever bother you anymore after that?

patrick henson: That here and there, I still have regrets, it was a kid.

Caleb: Of course. Right.

patrick henson: but not not to the extent that Other stuff did.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: I can talk about that, and it's it's not a big deal.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: But yeah, I a lot of that's a lot of stuff I just come to grips with. this is my job. This is what I signed up for.

Caleb: Right. Somebody's somebody has to do the job at some point, you know. At that

patrick henson: Yeah. I w you know like I knew a lot of guys who had shame about what they did and whatnot. And I I had a few of like, how do you not? And I'm like, dude, I've got no problems answering for every trigger pull.

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: That's how. Like

Caleb: That's the way it should be, Like it's

patrick henson: Yeah, I never I don't feel like I ever did anything that compromised my integrity.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: so yeah,

Caleb: any more moments like that during that deployment that you recall or that you wanna mention?

patrick henson: We had the big shootout in Samara, which is where I really owe my team leader my life. we did the the currency exchange.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: they were taken Saddam this is after Saddam's fallen. and they're taking his face off of the currency

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: and putting their religious leaders on it. And we were on a bank or at a bank for ICE. ICE was with us, International Currency Exchange, not the other ICE.

Caleb: I didn't know there was another one. Interesting.

patrick henson: yeah, it they they deal with c foreign all currency.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: So from what I understand, I don't know. These are the things I'm told I just go with it, right?

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: I was a specialist, I wasn't worried about fact checking, but I did see the the letters I C E on the side of the Hum V that they were in. Delivering money, okay? So yeah.

Caleb: Right. And they wasn't there kicking people out, so

patrick henson: Yeah, yeah, they weren't deporting people.

Caleb: they w they wasn't

patrick henson: I mean, kind of. They deported them to like another realm,

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: but when that fifty cal kicked off. But we had a complex ambush happen. And

Caleb: So this was planned, it was deliberate.

patrick henson: yeah. They hit us from three sides. you know, and like the one kinda hard rule of engagement we had was you could not shoot at hospitals or anything religious.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: And we was taking sniper fire from the Golden Mosque in Samara. Which fast forward quite a f I guess a year or two later, somebody didn't pay attention to that rule and that thing got leveled. But

Caleb: Is that the one that tank leveled?

patrick henson: Yeah.

Caleb: Okay. Yeah.

patrick henson: We was gonna level it with our Bradley, but we we kept getting turned down on it. But we were taking hot and heavy sniper fire from it. But I was a sawgunner and the bank we were on the building across from the bank covering the south and east side.

Caleb: Mm.

patrick henson: And I'm at the foot of the wall covering the south and I don't know what happened. it it w the whole day became a shit show real quick. you know, like I said, complex ambul ambush, they just start hitting us, and I went through two drums through my saw. the only thing I have left is magazines. And anybody who's ever tried shooting magazines out of a saw.

Caleb: It doesn't work very well.

patrick henson: We'll attest that that sucks. And I had one magazine that would function in the saw. So I'd put it in, I'd fire, you know, and I for whatever reason I threw it right down in front of me instead of off to the side or in my dump pouch. Because they were the Army steel mags at the time.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: And I grab another one, shove it in, and it wouldn't work. It jam, it it wouldn't feed, it would whatever. Well, I went through all seven magazines. I've got no ammo. So I'm down behind the wall, stripping rounds out of a mag, putting them in the one good one, and firing.

Caleb: That works, yeah.

patrick henson: And I had a guy step around the corner with an RPG and fire it. And All I seen was this red combed football coming at my head. And Shaw, my squad leader, he tackled me to the ground and it went right where my head was and hit a for those who don't know, they have water tanks on top of their ceilings or on top of their roof for heating their water.

Caleb: Mm. The plastic white, yeah.

patrick henson: And It was metal and my butt my battle buddy was sitting on one and it hit it and blew up under him. And he took a bunch of shrapnel, but he was okay. yeah. Yeah, it was super slow motion.

Caleb: So that RPG was it like that slow motion all over again as you're watching it. Yeah. Which RPGs are kinda slow, but I'm sure it's a lot slower than that.

patrick henson: The the bad thing about it was it was slow motion and I was froze because

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: I could see this fiery red cone just coming for me and The other than my battle buddy getting hurt, I was pissed off because that dude had poked his head out twice and I had missed both times with that saw. So I was like, Yeah, he was waiting on it. Yeah.

Caleb: So so he was counting on you reloading when he came around that corner. Yeah.

patrick henson: And I popped up and as soon as I popped up over the wall, it fired. Like he w he had already whipped out, gotten his little kneeling position and

Caleb: Waiting for you.

patrick henson: Durka Durka Allah Jahaded and

Caleb: Yeah. Huh.

patrick henson: But it it like everything happened within Well, we was in that firefight for an hour and a half. eventually they got the money delivered and They were like, all right, we can cut bait. And our Bradley's finally come up. And the only thing that sounds better than a Bradley cut pulling up to save you and that main gun going off is an A ten.

Caleb: Mm-hmm.

patrick henson: And I've had both of them save me, save my bacon, and I will attest that there's the A ten,

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: then the Bradley. Because there ain't nothing like that thump thum thum thum noise

Caleb: Yeah.

patrick henson: that the Bradley makes. Especially when you're a Bradley guy.

Caleb: Right.

patrick henson: that's your baby that's your steel horse coming to drive you home.

Caleb: Yeah. Yeah, you got lucky on that one for sure.

patrick henson: Yeah.

Caleb: and that was the first deployment still?

patrick henson: Yeah. Yeah, that was November thirtieth, two thousand three. And then after that it was pretty well quiet that tour.