We would always infiltrate at night. The valleys of Kunar Province were ruthless, but in the cover of darkness, we moved with impunity. Even if the Taliban knew we were coming, they left us alone. They had no answer for our night vision goggles and infrared targeting systems.
But the daytime was different. “Sun’s out, guns out” had a very different meaning in the Ganjgal or the Sholay or the Shonkrai than it did when I was just a kid at the Jersey Shore a few years before. And as dawn broke and the sun began to illuminate our fighting positions for the enemy to see, we prepared for combat.
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I would transition from clear ballistic glasses to shades, I would take a deep breath, and I would ask God to grant me courage—and perhaps another day on planet earth if it wasn’t too much trouble.
I was sixteen on 9/11 and joined the Marine Corps because of that horrible day. I deployed four times in my nine years, serving in both Iraq and Afghanistan. And while I am immensely proud of my service and the sacrifices made by those who I had the privilege of serving alongside, many of us feel a tremendous sense of shame in watching the deterioration of Afghanistan before our eyes.
We think of the hard work we put in, the friends we lost, the mental and physical injuries we sustained in doing what we knew to be right.
I believe I speak for many of my fellow vets when I say that I am tired of bearing the brunt of the politicians’ folly.
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Nick De Gregorio is a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is exploring a run for Congress in New Jersey’s Fifth District. A Bergen County native, he lives in Fair Lawn with his wife and two young children.
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