This is Jocko Podcast Number 449 with Echo Charles and me Jocko Willink.

Good evening.

In an abandoned house in the northeast section of Fallujah,

members of the 1st Battalion third Marines known as the

Lava Dogs froze when they heard a series of clicks coming from one remaining room of the compound.

grenade pins.

Most of the military deaths in Fallujah

during that first week of the US invasion

happened inside buildings like this,

where insurgents hid in upper rooms

and threw grenades

down at the Marines as they moved upward.

There were a lot of head and face injuries.

And while the lava dogs considered themselves

some of the toughest

Marines around. They named themselves out of respect

for the jagged pumice they trained on back in Hawaii.

Just being a lava dog didn't shield you from a grenade's fancy special effects.

Being careful did.

Being focused did.

Having your weapon locked and loaded when you inched around every corner did.

Click, click, click,

...