The Warrior That Taught me How to be a Better Leader.

I remember the first time I met him, he asked me a few questions and then he proceeded to say, “I want you in my squad.” It was my first year in the Marine Corps Infantry and I was a junior Marine lost in the sauce. I “thought” I was a stud because I had received two meritorious promotions that same year; one during boot camp and another during my training at the school of infantry in Camp Pendleton. I ran a 300 /300PFT (Physical Fitness Test,) and I believed I had “earned,” my right of respect as a Marine. Looking back at this now, its laughable and funny how na?ve I was. If you understand the Marine Corps Infantry culture; you probably also understand that nothing is more important to the Grunt, more than earning your respect in the battlefield, and through the endurance of being battle tested, (Combat Deployments.)

Receiving that acknowledgement from my soon to be Squad leader, that he wanted me to be in his squad was like breaking that first barrier of entry into a new tribe. He had most recently graduated from I.S.L.C. (Infantry Squad Leaders Course,) and you could tell that he really understood how to lead an infantry squad. Unlike other seniors, he didn’t have to use scare tactics or abuse his role as a leader. He was poise, decisive and empathetic with his approach, but we all knew that when Collis said something, we better lock in.

           After the 6-7 month training work-up we all knew we were ready to take on anything, we had grown tremendously as one cohesive unit. We deployed to a place called Gereshk Valley, in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan from April to October 2011, with 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines Lima Co. We were part of 1st platoon, 3rd squad and Collis was our Fearless leader, along with Martin (Nickname: Poppa Martin, and my Fearless team-leader) Bristol and Heartwell two more of the team-leaders, and Favela, (The best Machine Gunner I ever knew,) and other Warriors, which I choose to not mention in order to stay on topic. (You Killers know who you are.)

           Two months into the deployment our platoon received an assault mission, to raid the “Greenhouse,” a known Taliban stronghold. It was a mission that was only supposed to last 48 hours, but due to the positioning of this particular location in the battle-space, the CO decided to keep it for a month. The month of June was heavy for Lima Company and for the entire Dark-side Battalion to say the least. The leadership demonstrated at every level is what pulled us through. Half way through that month we were officially, “Combat ineffective,” which is when a unit has suffered 20-30% casualties. Originally we deployed as a squad with 16 Marines, attachments included. I recall late in June, there was about 7 or 8 of us still out there in the fight, some left due to logistics others left because of wounds.     

           Collis was one of the Marines injured during this time, and so was Bristol. Bristol stepped on a pressure plate IED (Improvised Explosive Device,) the day we initiated the raid on the, “Greenhouse.” It was my first sight of combat, he blew up 10 meters in front of me and I felt as though my heart literally froze in time and everything paused. I remember seeing the IED cloud of smoke/dust kick up about 20 meters, and his body just collapsed. It was a terrifying sight, and a very unfortunate casualty of war, and it’s by the grace of a higher power that he is still with us today.

  Those first few weeks on the roof of the “Greenhouse,” and in the areas surrounding were filled with combat chaos. I cannot recall exactly, but it feels, as though every day of June was a day of combat, eventually it became the norm. Another shot by a sniper simply became regular, receiving small arms fire was typical and grenades over that 5-meter wall seemed practical. I can go into so many different, “War,” stories, but one in particular that is engraved into my brain is of the night before Collis was wounded and the day of. We had just got off post; it was nighttime and Collis called us over to give us his 5-paragraph order for the next day’s mission. I remember specifically him mentioning that on our way to; “Sharks tooth,” the Company FOB, we would patrol through the, “Field of Dreams.” He proceeded to mention that every time other squads patrolled through there someone would become a casualty, Goosebumps ran through my body. However, we had already been battle tested multiple times at this point, we were “Salty,” savage warriors and the mission was always top priority.

           The next day we woke up early and proceeded to get ready for the patrol. Not even 100 meters into the mission and an IED goes off in the wadi, it seemed as though it had gotten wet and the explosion was weaker than usual. We continue pushing forward in the 115* degree weather, and land mine infested fields; every step we took was calculated. As we approach the “Field of Dreams,” a single shot goes off (Sniper,) and everyone drops into the prone position, Collis was hit. His voice comes across the radio behind me where my Team-Leader Martin was positioned, and all I heard was, “Martin they shot me from the South-East, light them up!” I rose to a kneeling position with my SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon,) and began to fire at the Rapid rate into that direction. After 5-10 minutes of fire superiority, we received the order to move and set up an LZ (Landing Zone.) I hadn’t been that afraid to move forward ever in my life and still today, there has never been anything more scary than getting up out of that concealment and into an open field, where the enemy could be spotting you from anywhere.

           As I crossed the wadi into the field where we were securing the LZ, I run by my wounded squad leader. Our Corpsman was patching him up, and right as I pass next to Collis he looks at me dead in the eye and says, “Gonzo, I am going to come back!” I just remember thinking I’ll do anything to make sure this man gets out of here and into the helicopter safely. We set up the L-Shape LZ and the Chopper came and off he went. Literally two weeks later, he came back to the “Greenhouse.” Cody Collis is one of the best Marines and leaders that I have ever had the privilege of working with; he is the definition of an American Hero. His integrity, courage and loyalty are above and beyond the call of duty. I spoke to him most recently and asked him, “why did you come back, you didn’t have to, you had done more than enough for us?” His answer, “I couldn’t leave you guys alone.”