It’s been 20 years since President George W. Bush gave the order for the American Armed Forces to invade Iraq. FOX News journalist Griff Jenkins remembers it like it was yesterday because he was on the ground with them.
The Tennessee native grew up with a reverence and deep, patriotic respect for those who served. His father was a proud Marine who fought in the Korean War, though he never talked about his time in service.
“My mom used to always get mad at me when I would go into dad’s closet and play ‘soldier’ with his USMC sword from his service days, but I always found that to be the coolest thing ever,” Jenkins shared. “Years after my father passed away, my mom gave me some old Kodak slides she found in a box that dad had taken as a young Marine traveling the world. They are among my favorite images of him to this day.”
Jenkins fell in love with the art of storytelling at a young age. He graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1993. “Compelling stories met with the duty and diligence of getting the facts right and the context for people to understand is what I enjoy pursuing above all else,” he explained.
He built a career in radio and, from 2001 through 2003, produced Oliver North’s War Stories. Jenkins was also associate producer for Common Sense Radio with Oliver North. In 2003, he left for FOX News.
Only months later, he was in Iraq.
On the Ground at War
“It wasn’t until I found myself embedded with Marine Medium Helicopter Unit HMM 268 “Red Dragons” as a cameraman during the invasion of Iraq/OIF 1 that I fully understood and appreciated the dedication and sacrifice of our heroic service members,” Jenkins told WATM. “Nothing changes you more than reporting in combat zones and nothing prepares you for the real thing until you are in it. There is a romanticized perception of a tough guy like you see in the movies but the reality is very different. You learn that very quickly when the bullets start to fly and you see things that are very hard to witness and process.”
On March 20, 2003, the world watched as American fighting forces went after Saddam Hussein and the reports of his weapons of mass destruction.
In the opening hours of the war, Jenkins and the unit he was assigned to found themselves in the southern Al-Faw Peninsula, where intelligence suggested Saddam Hussein would torch the oil fields and mount a fierce fight.
“Ollie and I agreed that we would ride on separate helicopters in the event that one of us did not make it so the other could tell the story. In the last moments before we lifted to head into battle the commanding officer moved me to a different helicopter than the one I was originally assigned to. That helicopter went down and everyone aboard lost their lives, including some of the first Marine casualties of the war,” Jenkins said. “ For the next several weeks, I got to bear witness to the most courageous, compassionate and dedicated heroes America has to offer.”
When Jenkins reflects on his time in Iraq, many memories stick out. Being saved by crew chief Amanda Hoenes was one of them, though during an interview, Hoenes laughingly joked that she saved herself from being the person who let the FOX News cameraman fall out of her helicopter.
He also witnessed the battle for Saddam’s palace in Baghdad firsthand.
“We flew into the palace and landed in the backyard and took heavy fire from every direction to get wounded Marines out,” Jenkins shared. “It was the most terrifying experience of my life and it was the first flight that morning of a total of 13 trips in and out. Every time we did it, the fight got more and more intense.”
Though going through the experience of the invasion was terrifying and brutally horrifying, there were some lighter moments he said he cherishes to this day.
“After the combat operations of the invasion had subsided, we were somewhere north of Tikrit, and we learned that we would be wrapping up things and soon heading back to Kuwait. This is when North and the Marines decided it would be a good idea to indoctrinate me as an honorary Red Dragon,” he laughed. “This entailed them duct-taping me to a litter and taking turns shaving my head. While that might sound like an unpleasant hair-cutting experience, I can tell you it was among the greatest honors of my life. Here I had lived, breathed, sweated, bled, laughed and cried with these heroes for our short time together, yet they felt a connection to me.”
After four months of filming and reporting, he returned home only to go back to Iraq before the end of the year. Jenkins was embedded in combat again in 2004, 2006 and 2016.
During Labor Day Weekend 2023, Jenkins was reunited with his Red Dragons for a reunion sponsored by Semper FI & America’s Fund.
“It was great to see so many faces I haven’t seen since those days and catching up on life. Learning what everyone is doing and also hearing about the good and bad that has happened in the two decades since. I had never been to a military reunion before but now understand why they are so important,” Jenkins said. “I was a speaker and thought a long time about what I would say to them but in the end, it just came to me that I should just tell them how amazing, brave and heroic they truly are and let them hear from my perspective how important they are to me and the country.”
When asked what he would want people to take away from his story and experience on the ground for the Iraq War, he was direct.
“Regardless of politics or opinions, there are many heroes across every branch of the military who volunteered to put their lives on the line to fight for the freedoms we share in this great nation. We must never forget their courage, dedication, sacrifice and service,” Jenkins implored. My call to action is simply live your life worthy of their sacrifice. We note it every Memorial Day, but for Gold Star families, every day is Memorial Day. For me, I try every day to remember and honor the four marine heroes we lost on that first night. Maj. Jay Aubin, Captain Ryan Beaupre, Staff Sgt. Kendall Waters-Bey and Cpl. Brian Kennedy.”