Hanford, Calif. – Marine Lance Cpl. Roel Ryan Briones says he is tormented by two memories of Nov. 19 in Hadithah, Iraq.
The first is of the body of his best friend and fellow Marine blown apart just after dawn by a roadside bomb. The second is the lifeless form of a small Iraqi girl, one of two dozen unarmed civilians allegedly killed by members of his unit, Kilo Company 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.
Briones, a wiry, soft-spoken, 21-year-old former high school football player interviewed Sunday at his family home in Hanford, said he was not among the small group of Marines that military investigators have concluded killed the unarmed civilians, including children and elderly men and women.
The parents of Briones and those of Lance Cpl. Andrew Wright, 20, said Monday their sons were ordered to photograph the scene when they were sent to help remove the bodies.
“They ranged from little babies to adult males and females,” Briones said. “I’ll never be able to get that out of my head. I can still smell the blood. This left something in my head and heart.”
Briones said that his camera was confiscated.
His mother, Susie, said the military had done little to help her son deal with his post-traumatic stress disorder.
“I know Ryan is going through some major trauma right now,” she said.
Patty and Frederick Wright of Novato, Calif., said their son had turned over his information to the Navy.
“He is the Forrest Gump of the military,” Frederick Wright said. “He ended up in the spotlight through no fault of his own.”
At least two military investigations are underway into the incident at Hadithah, which is emerging as possibly the worst case of criminal misconduct by U.S. forces in the 3-year-old Iraq war.
Of the 12 Marines being investigated, three or four are thought to have done the killing, according to officials briefed on the investigation. The others are being investigated for failing to stop the killings or for not reporting the incident truthfully.
The chairman of the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday on CBS’s “The Early Show” that “it would be premature for me to judge” the outcome of a Pentagon investigation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
