Posted on 07/24/2010 10:54:06 AM PDT by smoothsailing
by Nathaniel R. Helms | July 23, 2010
This is the second in a three-part series. Read part one of the interview here. The third part is coming soon.
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It’s hard to believe recently retired LtCol Jeffrey Chessani is the guy the United States Marine Corps spent millions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of man hours unsuccessfully trying to destroy. He just finished nearly five years in a living hell defending himself from a presumably overwhelming institutional attack--a “Frozen Chosin” in microcosm--with amazing cool aplomb.
Chessani spent most of his time in Marine Corps purgatory, in his case a windowless basement office in the bowels of Camp Pendleton, a pariah of sorts among the Marines who worked there. He was sent there for the infamous “Haditha Massacre” – the most inane of labels for an event that never happened.
LtCol Chessani wasn’t shunned during his ordeal, he said. He was received at polite distance and kept there. “The officers and staff NCOs were sympathetic. They treated me very well.”
One of the former Marine lawyers who worked the case said Thursday that senior Marines saw him the way whole people “see warriors without limbs, a combination of awe and empathy, maybe even a little badly disguised pity.”
To be sure Chessani didn’t say that, he’s a Marine through and through.
“I joined the Marine Corps because I wanted to be the best,” he said. Chessani joined the infantry because it is the cutting edge, he said, where the action is. Most men can’t run with 18-year-olds while in their forties. Chessani said he always sought the challenge despite the hazards. He loved leading Marines into battle.
His last deployment to Iraq was his finale. After the Marine Corps saw fit to relieve him the only thing he ever commanded again was his desk. Good Marines don’t complain, however, they do what they are told, he said. Despite twenty years honing his unique craft he was told to stay in the basement and write plans.
“I had a real job. I wrote plans, developed plans for the base,” he explained.
Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller, one of the greatest Marines of them all, said great Marines always remain stoic in the face of terrible adversity. For that reason alone Chessani stands tall among the Corps’ many legends. He never said a public word about his situation for almost five years and even now he won’t play the blame game.
Chessani would probably scoff at the notion he deserves any special mention. He calls it being “prideful.” He was decidedly uncomfortable when personal superlatives were tossed his way. He gave credit only to his young Marines. Chessani described himself as a good Marine officer on an ordinary career track toward retirement. By 2005 when he commanded 3/1 his aspirations included making colonel before he retired. He said it was never a sure bet. He still had to be selected and the jump from lieutenant colonel to full bird colonel was a wide, hard one. At best he hoped for an advanced school where he could come home at night to his family for a while.
“I think they considered all that in the winter. Before we got home (March 2006) I had anticipated I would be considered,” he opined. “My Marines had done a fantastic job. We were denying them caches. We had found something like 450 caches that kept weapons away from them. My job was paying attention to the lives and welfare of my Marines. My goal was to bring all of them home.”
We took away the enemies’ ability to attack my Marines and civilians
The battalion suffered four dead during his combat command. He reeled off the names of the decedents without hesitation, starting with 20-year old Lance Corporal Miguel “T.J.” Terrazas, the grinning kid in the Humvee that got blown in half at the start of the day-long fight on Routes Chestnut and Viper. He was the first to die.
Two other young Marines died when they approached a seemingly abandoned vehicle that turned out to be a car bomb. Three times Chessani said they made a terrible mistake. He thought he should have trained them better. In another incident a sergeant died. It was evident he still grieved their losses. The year before at Fallujah the battalion suffered 33 deaths.
“There was so much going on all the time and it was so hard to keep track of the details,” Chessani said. He had almost 2,000 Marines, soldiers and Iraqi units flung over an area bigger than Rhode Island. He said “it was my responsibility” to keep track of them all.
“We worked closely with our Human Exploitation Teams (HET) and my S-2 (Captain, later Major Jeffrey Dinsmore) was a bulldog. I was so lucky to have him. He knew what was going on. We got those weapons. We took away the enemies’ ability to attack my Marines and civilians. The people were safer. Not even the insurgents wanted to kill civilians if they didn’t have to. We took away the means.”
That was about as verbose as the professional infantry officer ever got.
Major General Richard Huck and Colonel Stephen Davis, his commanding general and regimental commander respectively, rated Chessani among the best officers they had ever commanded. They said things like he “Leads Marines from front in every operation. Demonstrates moral courage every day. Doesn’t hesitate to report bad news fast or contest unrealistic plans/poor concepts,” etc. etc. Both of them recommended him for a colonelcy and advanced schools.
One could almost hear Chessani shrugging through the phone when his efficiency report was mentioned. He dismissed the superlatives Huck and Davis used as ordinary hyperbole for end of tour officers. He said so in a soft, reasoned voice bereft of guile. When explaining complicated matters he often referred to spiritual examples; he had plenty of time to contemplate them. When Chessani said “I learned to trust God instead of men” it was a telling moment, the only flash of pain he revealed.
Chessani – he prefers Jeff now – told his story calmly. His stoicism reminded this observer of stories about Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Lockwood; a brilliant, unassuming infantry officer who led Two-Seven Marines at Toktong Pass in Korea. It was the key to the 20,000 man reinforced 1st Marine Division surviving the onslaught of 250,000 screaming Chinamen. Lockwood managed to complete his mission without any histrionics. Like Lockwood, Chessani said his first priority was completing the mission. Saving his men’s lives was second; sparing the enemy was never even mentioned. That is what Marines do, he added without apology. It was an important insight into understanding Chessani’s thinking in the aftermath of the Haditha debacle.
I was humbled to command these men
Chessani’s career path before the Haditha debacle was a primer for successful Marines. Now 46, he was raised in the small town of Rangely, Colorado, where he graduated from high school in 1982. He went on to receive a B.A. from the University of Northern Colorado in 1988. During his military career he participated in the 1989 Operation Just Cause (Invasion of Panama), the 1991 Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm) as well as Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Chessani did three deployments to Iraq, the first time as a major and Executive Officer of 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, and the second as the operations officer of Regimental Combat Team One, RCT-1. As such he helped plan both operations into Fallujah in 2004 where 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines made a big name for itself. He didn’t anticipate he would one day command it, he said.
The second foray in Fallujah was the most desperate fight Marines had been in since Hue, South Vietnam in ’68. The Thundering Third, arguably the most ferocious infantry battalion in the fight, led the way.
“I knew what 3/1 did at Fallujah, especially the second time. When I put in my package for a battalion I didn’t know I would get it. I was humbled to command these men. Sometimes I didn’t feel adequate for the task,” he said.
Chessani continued that narrative with words like remarkable and profound. He said the young Marines he commanded were the best and bravest in the world. He was unabashed about it....
Please continue reading at Defend Our Marines
A Chaplin story ...
Learned just recently, from Chesty’s book, that Chaplin Otto Sporrer was awarded a Silver Star for Chosin action.
Learned in 1993, from a class of 43 reunion (Father Sporrer’s former HS students), how he probably earned it. Scuttlebutt has it that Sporrer removed his insignia and took command to organize and lead a successful retreat.
Sporrer wanted to be at the reunion, but he wasn’t able to make it.
God bless our Haditha Marines.
They hold a special place in my heart.
Amen, Velveeta
Major BUMP!
A Poem Worth Reading
He was getting old and paunchy
And his hair was falling fast,
And he sat around the Legion,
Telling stories of the past.
Of a war that he once fought in
And the deeds that he had done,
In his exploits with his buddies;
They were heroes, every one.
And ‘tho sometimes to his neighbors
His tales became a joke,
All his buddies listened quietly
For they knew where of he spoke.
But we’ll hear his tales no longer,
For ol’ Jim has passed away,
And the world’s a little poorer
For a Soldier died today.
He won’t be mourned by many,
Just his children and his wife.
For he lived an ordinary,
Very quiet sort of life.. He held a job and raised a family,
Going quietly on his way;
And the world won’t note his passing,
‘Tho a Soldier died today.
When politicians leave this earth,
Their bodies lie in state,
While thousands note their passing,
And proclaim that they were great. Papers tell of their life stories
From the time that they were young
But the passing of a Soldier
Goes unnoticed, and unsung.
Is the greatest contribution
To the welfare of our land,
Some jerk who breaks his promise
And cons his fellow man?
Or the ordinary fellow
Who in times of war and strife,
Goes off to serve his country
And offers up his life?
The politician’s stipend
And the style in which he lives,
Are often disproportionate,
To the service that he gives.
While the ordinary Soldier,
Who offered up his all,
Is paid off with a medal
And perhaps a pension, small.
It is not the politicians
With their compromise and ploys,
Who won for us the freedom
That our country now enjoys. Should you find yourself in danger,
With your enemies at hand,
Would you really want some cop-out,
With his ever waffling stand?
Or would you want a Soldier—
His home, his country, his kin,
Just a common Soldier,
Who would fight until the end.
He was just a common Soldier,
And his ranks are growing thin,
But his presence should remind us
We may need his like again. For when countries are in conflict,
We find the Soldier’s part
Is to clean up all the troubles
That the politicians start.
If we cannot do him honor
While he’s here to hear the praise,
Then at least let’s give him homage
At the ending of his days.
Perhaps just a simple headline
In the paper that might say:
“OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING,
A SOLDIER DIED TODAY.” A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable ‘To My Country’ for an amount “up to and including my life.”
That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.
Lt. Col Chessani,
My family and millions of Americans thank you for your service. The honor and dignity you have shown throughout the Haditha persecutions is a testament to your character and convictions. You sir are truly one of the few, the proud, A United States Marine.
May God Bless You and grant you and your family happiness and serenity in your retirement.
God Bless Our Haditha Marines
Darryl, Theresa, Jaclyn, Justin
Amen, Sir!
God Bless The Haditha Marines indeed!
Well said, Darryl!
Jane Gilvary stated it well also!
Good post!
I hope all is going well for your family.
Semper Fidelis,
LH
bttt
Lancey,
Nice to hear from you. Thank you and all here at FR for the support you have given my son and our family. Justin has returned to the civi life quite well. He’s weighing his options and I believe college is in his future. We’ve played a few rounds of golf, fished and worked on some firearms together. He even has a girlfriend. Getting back to some sort of normalcy.
T and I are just praying for Frank. He has a good legal team and I’m sure they are doing their best to work for his complete exoneration. Justin will be in Pendleton to testify on Frank’s behalf. Theresa and I would love to be there but I don’t believe it will happen. Our prayers are for Rosemarie and the Wuterich family.
This should have ended a long time ago. No one will ever convince me that Mattis didn’t cave to the pressure. He got his fourth star and is now head of Cent Com. I believe this was more than a coincidence.
God Bless Our Haditha Marines
Darryl
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