thedrifter
10-22-08, 04:28 AM
Iraq veteran, writer Fick ‘99 celebrated in HBO series
By Nathan Swire, The Dartmouth Staff
Published on Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Most Dartmouth alumni never experience a firefight in the heart of Iraq’s Fertile Crescent, but when Nathaniel Fick ‘99 became a marine officer he knew to expect an unusual path after college.
Fick served in the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the marines, which led the invasion of central Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. The battalion’s story was covered by Rolling Stone’s Evan Wright, who wrote about the battalion in his article “The Killer Elite.” The article became a book — “Generation Kill” (2004) — and the book became an HBO series by the same name.
Fick published his own account of his five years in the marines, “One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer” two years after his service ended, in 2005. In his book, Fick explains that majoring in classics at Dartmouth propelled him toward public service. He learned about ancient Greece, where every citizen was required to help defend the city-state and serve the common good. Those studies, combined with courses in international relations, led him to consider a career in the military.
Fick remembers hearing a speech by Tom Ricks, then the Wall Street Journal’s Pentagon correspondent, in which Ricks advocated ROTC recruitment on college campuses. When asked how he could condone militarizing college campuses, Ricks insisted, “No, you’re wrong, it will liberalize the military.”
After speaking with Ricks, Fick entered the marine Platoon Leader Force program during the summer after his junior year. Upon graduating from Dartmouth, Fick attended The Basic School, the marine officer training school, and was eventually commissioned as an infantry officer.
Fick said many of his peers were surprised and curious at his decision.
“For most of us at Dartmouth, military service was not something that we had ever considered,” he said. “It was something our grandfathers did, not something that we did.”
Fick and his platoon were training in Australia during the events of September 11, 2001. He said his platoon knew that those attacks would mean their immediate deployment to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“I think we felt all the same emotions that most Americans felt that day – the anger, the fear — but there was one important difference,” Fick said, “We were actually in a position to go do something about it. So we had a strong sense of purpose, and, I confess, it felt good.”
Fick was stationed in Afghanistan where he fought alongside the Afghani Northern Alliance to fight the Taliban from October 2001 until January 2002. After the Taliban fell, the Americans received intelligence that much of the Al Qaeda leadership was hiding in Tora Bora, a cave complex on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. At the last minute, the Northern Alliance, rather than the Americans, was given responsibility for the mission, and it failed to capture the Al Qaeda leaders.
“That was, I think, our last, best chance to get these guys in one place, and frankly I think we screwed it up,” Fick said, “We’ve been suffering the consequences of it ever since.”
When Operation Iraqi Freedom began, Fick was stationed in Kuwait as a lieutenant in the First Reconnaissance Battalion, which he said has a reputation as “the elite of the elite.” During the initial stages of the war, First Recon traveled ahead of the invasion force to flush out enemies and gather information.
“Along the way we kind of saw and did it all,” Fick said, “We ran into the Iraqi army, we ran into the Fedayeen insurgents, we ran into wounded and terrified people who were happy to have us there, and we ran into people who were shooting at us and not so happy to have us there.”
Fick said the Rolling Stone article about First Recon was “accurate,” adding that Wright had earned the right to tell the story by subjecting himself to the same dangers as the marines. He noted, however, that the HBO series “Generation Kill” exaggerated some aspects of the story for dramatic effect.
“It is probably better viewed as entertainment than as documentary,” he said. “None of the people in it were as bad or good as they are portrayed.”
Fick recalled that he decided to write his memoirs after his hand-picked replacement in First Recon — an infantry officer named Brent Morel — was killed in the first offensive against Fallujah.
“I felt at that point that we’d heard from the politicians and we’d heard from the journalists and we’d heard from the generals, but we didn’t really hear from the people fighting the war,” Fick said.
In addition to his memoirs, Fick has written several articles in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Monthly on public service and the current wars. Fick has criticized the decision to invade Iraq, saying it distracted from the original war in Afghanistan.
“I believe that the United States should fight wars very seldom, and when we do fight them we should win,” he said.
On public service, Fick argued for the same ideals that first convinced him to join the marines.
“I believe that, in a free society, we all have an obligation to give something back,” he said. “I feel quite strongly that places like Dartmouth have a social mission; they have a mission to ensure that their graduates do something for the common good.”
The seven-part series “Generation Kill” premiered on HBO this summer and will air again in late November.
Ellie
By Nathan Swire, The Dartmouth Staff
Published on Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Most Dartmouth alumni never experience a firefight in the heart of Iraq’s Fertile Crescent, but when Nathaniel Fick ‘99 became a marine officer he knew to expect an unusual path after college.
Fick served in the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the marines, which led the invasion of central Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. The battalion’s story was covered by Rolling Stone’s Evan Wright, who wrote about the battalion in his article “The Killer Elite.” The article became a book — “Generation Kill” (2004) — and the book became an HBO series by the same name.
Fick published his own account of his five years in the marines, “One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer” two years after his service ended, in 2005. In his book, Fick explains that majoring in classics at Dartmouth propelled him toward public service. He learned about ancient Greece, where every citizen was required to help defend the city-state and serve the common good. Those studies, combined with courses in international relations, led him to consider a career in the military.
Fick remembers hearing a speech by Tom Ricks, then the Wall Street Journal’s Pentagon correspondent, in which Ricks advocated ROTC recruitment on college campuses. When asked how he could condone militarizing college campuses, Ricks insisted, “No, you’re wrong, it will liberalize the military.”
After speaking with Ricks, Fick entered the marine Platoon Leader Force program during the summer after his junior year. Upon graduating from Dartmouth, Fick attended The Basic School, the marine officer training school, and was eventually commissioned as an infantry officer.
Fick said many of his peers were surprised and curious at his decision.
“For most of us at Dartmouth, military service was not something that we had ever considered,” he said. “It was something our grandfathers did, not something that we did.”
Fick and his platoon were training in Australia during the events of September 11, 2001. He said his platoon knew that those attacks would mean their immediate deployment to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“I think we felt all the same emotions that most Americans felt that day – the anger, the fear — but there was one important difference,” Fick said, “We were actually in a position to go do something about it. So we had a strong sense of purpose, and, I confess, it felt good.”
Fick was stationed in Afghanistan where he fought alongside the Afghani Northern Alliance to fight the Taliban from October 2001 until January 2002. After the Taliban fell, the Americans received intelligence that much of the Al Qaeda leadership was hiding in Tora Bora, a cave complex on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. At the last minute, the Northern Alliance, rather than the Americans, was given responsibility for the mission, and it failed to capture the Al Qaeda leaders.
“That was, I think, our last, best chance to get these guys in one place, and frankly I think we screwed it up,” Fick said, “We’ve been suffering the consequences of it ever since.”
When Operation Iraqi Freedom began, Fick was stationed in Kuwait as a lieutenant in the First Reconnaissance Battalion, which he said has a reputation as “the elite of the elite.” During the initial stages of the war, First Recon traveled ahead of the invasion force to flush out enemies and gather information.
“Along the way we kind of saw and did it all,” Fick said, “We ran into the Iraqi army, we ran into the Fedayeen insurgents, we ran into wounded and terrified people who were happy to have us there, and we ran into people who were shooting at us and not so happy to have us there.”
Fick said the Rolling Stone article about First Recon was “accurate,” adding that Wright had earned the right to tell the story by subjecting himself to the same dangers as the marines. He noted, however, that the HBO series “Generation Kill” exaggerated some aspects of the story for dramatic effect.
“It is probably better viewed as entertainment than as documentary,” he said. “None of the people in it were as bad or good as they are portrayed.”
Fick recalled that he decided to write his memoirs after his hand-picked replacement in First Recon — an infantry officer named Brent Morel — was killed in the first offensive against Fallujah.
“I felt at that point that we’d heard from the politicians and we’d heard from the journalists and we’d heard from the generals, but we didn’t really hear from the people fighting the war,” Fick said.
In addition to his memoirs, Fick has written several articles in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Monthly on public service and the current wars. Fick has criticized the decision to invade Iraq, saying it distracted from the original war in Afghanistan.
“I believe that the United States should fight wars very seldom, and when we do fight them we should win,” he said.
On public service, Fick argued for the same ideals that first convinced him to join the marines.
“I believe that, in a free society, we all have an obligation to give something back,” he said. “I feel quite strongly that places like Dartmouth have a social mission; they have a mission to ensure that their graduates do something for the common good.”
The seven-part series “Generation Kill” premiered on HBO this summer and will air again in late November.
Ellie