As a platoon searched for bombs, the enemy tried to attack them. It didn’t end well.
Augusto Giacoman
Augusto Giacoman served as an infantry officer with 1/5 Infantry and 1/2 Stryker Cavalry, deploying twice to Iraq in 2005, and 2007-2008. He currently works at the management consultancy Strategy&, and is chairperson of the board at Service to School, a nonprofit helping veterans achieve their educational goals.
Posted inReflections
Moral Waivers for War—”I Was Shocked, but We Needed Men.”
Not everyone is fit for the Army, but a loophole overlooks that.
Posted inReflections
Rage and the Manger
Back from a deployment and triggered by the mundane, a former infantry officer discovers his unprovoked rage.
Posted inReflections
Being Hunted by the Sadr City Sniper
There are many moments in war—the surprises, the close calls. A former infantry officer reflects on one that had both.
Posted inReflections
Pumpkin Head and the Horror Show
A former infantry officer contemplates the numbing effects of war and inhumanity.
Posted inReflections
Pop Bangers, “Barbie Girl,” and IED Explosions
Augusto Giacoman danced to Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” as his convoy patrolled Mosul, Iraq. And then the IED exploded.
Posted inReflections
As a West Point Cadet, I Volunteered to Be “The Hot Sauce Man”
A midnight raid on a West Point dorm in which Augusto Giacoman was armed with hot sauce prepared him for war better than West Point’s rigid rules.
Posted inReflections
Go In For A Military Haircut, Leave With A Beating
Augusto Giacoman went in for a haircut, high and tight. Then things went terribly wrong.
Posted inReflections
Remembering the Day I Parked Our Stryker on Top of an IED
Augusto Giacoman parked his Stryker under the streetlights and then the bomb exploded. What happened next is a hazy mixture of memory and nightmare.
Posted inReflections
“We Owned the Night”—a Midnight Raid in Iraq With Screaming Banshees
Augusto Giacoman almost jumped for joy when he was assigned his first midnight raid, but what he saw that night quickly changed his mind.
Posted inReflections
The Frog’s Revenge Came in the Form of Iraqi Rockets
Augusto Giacoman’s humanity was reduced to instinct as the rockets began to hit, and he understood how the frog he’d encountered as a child must have felt.
