. >> my men were in contact on three different locations. the company commander was in contact. 1st platoonas in contact. >> every position was getting attacked was getting attacked by two or three positions. >> reporter: and then the radio call mott hoped would never come. >> [ bleep ], god damn it! >> what happened? >> three casualties. >> reporter: one of the casualties, the popular sergeant. the stronger the rapids, the more we loved it. took some wild risks when i was young. but i was still taking a risk with my cholesterol. anyone with high cholesterol may be at increased risk of heart attack. diet and exercise weren't enough for me. i stopped kidding myself. i've been eating healthier, exercising more, and now i'm also taking lipitor. if you've been kidding yourself about high cholesterol, stop. along with diet, lipitor has been shown to lower bad cholesterol 39 to 60 percent. lipitor is fda approved to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients who have heart disease or risk factors for heart disease. [ female announcer ] lipitor is not for everyone, including people wit

i didn't care about i had to say it but i didn't really care about anybody that was outside of my platoon. once we crossed into iraq we were roll into these towns like a bunch of cowboys shooting the place. we went into the rashid. it was an actual military compound it's in a huge military compound it's pulled in there was an abrams tank that was parked in one of the entrances. and i started asking me what was going on because there was some demonstrators down the road and. i asked him if any of mad any weapons and he said no. and so what are you going to. you know they're going to stage a coup against sister anything like that and he said no rape there just down there are certain you know chains and yelling i go behind my home beat and terrapins an m.r.e. and all a sudden i hear a gunshot i step out from behind my home be. a series of stuff out from the hamas home be my marines are discharging their weapons and the demonstrators so on sling my weapon and opposed to the stock up and. the thought of the rifle stuck open in my shoulder and i start firing and i'm hitting i'm hitting the demo

to me care about how i hate to say it but i didn't really care about anybody that was outside of my platoon. once we crossed into iraq we were roll into these towns like a bunch of cowboys shooting the place up. we went into the rashid. it was an actual military compounds and huge military compound we pulled in there was an abrams tank that was parked at one of the entrances. and started asking me what was going on because there were some demonstrators down the road and. i asked him if any of them had any weapons and he said no. and so what are you going to. do you know they're going to stage a coup against a store or anything like that and he said no they they're just down there said and you know chant and yell and i go behind my home v. and terrapins an m.r.e. and all sudden i hear a gunshot i step out from behind my humvee. as soon as i stuff out from behind my own be my marines are destroying their weapons and the demonstrators so on selling my weapon and i posted the stock up and. it was the rifle stock up on my shoulder and i start firing and i'm hitting i'm hitting the demonstrators

. >> there's not a marine in my platoon that hasn't been blown up five or six times. >> reporter: there'sa traumatic brain injuries among veteran groups. >> being blown up so many times, concussions and dealing with headaches for the rest of your life pretty much. >> reporter: lifetime effects are leading some to ask for veteran assistance. there are 2.7 million americans collecting va disability. and 837,000 currently unemployed. today the chief confirmed that veterans can get all the help they need. >> we must commit to them, commit to our veteran, commit to those who sacraficed so much. to make sure we commit to them for the rest of their lives. >> reporter: today in oakland, a's fans thanked service members for risking their lives. >> ♪ the game dedicated to u.s. troop and to the bay area nonprofit troops select that gives aid to veterans. >> we're very proud that we are able to give veteran members all they need to be effective on the front lines. >> reporter: the founder of that organization told us tonight that it now ships 2- tons of supplies each month. i'm heather holmes, ktvu n

. >> there's not a marine in my platoon that hasn't been blown up five or six times. >> reporter: there'seen a traumatic brain injuries among veteran groups. >> being blown up so many times, concussions and dealing with headaches for the rest of your life pretty much. >> reporter: lifetime effects are leading some to ask for veteran assistance. there are 2.7 million americans collecting va disability. and 837,000 currently unemployed. today the chief confirmed that veterans can get all the help they need. >> we must commit to them, commit to our veteran, commit to those who sacraficed so much. to make sure we commit to them for the rest of their lives. >> reporter: today in oakland, a's fans thanked service members for risking their lives. >> ♪ the game dedicated to u.s. troop and to the bay area nonprofit troops select that gives aid to veterans. >> we're very proud that we are able to give veteran members all they need to be effective on the front lines. >> reporter: the founder of that organization told us tonight that it now ships 2- tons of supplies each month. i'm heather holmes, kt

for myself i work out with my platoon, about 46 marines, for a good year training with them, then eventuallyhem. an for myself just to turn around and go home is really an after-thought. it's impossible to do for us. we have to be for our guys, be on patrol with them constantly and be able to put ourselves on the line as well and do what we ask them to do plain and simple. really it's no question in my mind that would i go back, it is just when i need to go back. >> now so much of our military effort in afghanistan really started with osama bin laden and the attacks on the twin towers in new york city. now as you return to afghanistan, knowing that osama bin laden has been eliminated, does that sort of change your outlook and your view of what you're going to be doing over there? >> not exactly. i mean of course, every american, it is good what happened with osama bin laden happened and for those new yorkers especially that were heavily hit by 9/11 to kind of get that closure. but for ourselves, i mean the overall mission remains the same and when i was over there, yeah, that was kind of an

instructor started remember that i had to sit on the floor where i was a platoon cross-legged hands our knees and sit still for an hour until my butt fell asleep in the my legs fell asleep in. everybody's. sleep right ok so if you remember that well it seems that there's some of that going on again except i don't know if you've heard but we've got a war going on in afghanistan still still still get the longest war a nation's history war forgotten korea. perhaps and you know how much it cost by the way just out of gas is more than a penny just a little bit little bit more to pay it's one of the numbers are so big as to be irrelevant at this point i think ten million dollars an hour. i can't even get my head around that and i think it's ten billion ten billion a month ok all right well anyway some more big government stuff which is well anyways in afghanistan there's a new interesting study that's called yes yes and it is bun done by the joint mental health advisory team number seven and the first six couldn't figure out that combat causes p.t.s.d. well we'll get to that but here we go and this is what the new study found is tha

my brother was a swift boat commander under his chain of command. i was the black sheep of the family, i joined the marine corps and served as a platoon and company commander that was part of a battalion landing team. all of us returned from that war unscathed, or so we thought. in 1983 my brother was diagnosed with lymphoma, and normally you either have hodge kins or non-hodgkin's lymphoma. he was one of half a dozen cases in the medical history that had both. he also had a son that was born with severe learning disabilities. he fit the profeel of many of our veterans -- profile of many of our veterans who were returning and suffering from agent orange exposure. the bit el ironny for my family was it was my father who had ordered the spreading of agent orange in vietnam. let me explain briefly why that was done. the navy was experiencing a 72% casualty rate. anybody who served one year in the brown water navy, a 72% chance of being killed or wounded. and the reason for that was they were traversing these narrow waterways with heavy vegetation on either bank, affording the enemy great concealment in which he could set up his ambushes, and the boat would be

me he was in vietnam, and remember when we went down to see my son's graduation, sorry, and he was telling us about everybody in his platoon and the guys that died, and this was vietnam, and he is telling us what their inspiration was in life, and he still remembered that. i said, how come you remember that? and he said, because to remember is to honor them, so by coming here and talking with the families, you know, and remembering what they did and it honors their life and their sacrifice. >> and just to remind for our viewers out, there your son, you told us died in fallujah in iraq, and this is 2004, right? >> yes. >> in the height of the violence there. >> yes, sir. actually my son, brian, and david branning walked into a courtyard, and they were ambushed, and it was actually a perfect set-up, but think that because of brian and david's entry to the building, it foiled them from getting everybody in the platoon which is why it is incredible that they were the only two who got hit. they had bullets ricocheting off of them, and this is armor piercing rounds, and they don't do that, but for two guys to get it out of the w