Ex-marine Sergeant Rudy Reyes said that he was shown videos to desensitize him to violence during a BBC documentary called “Once Upon A Time In Iraq,” according to Daily Mail.
Reyes is described by BBC as one of a small group of elite Recon Marines sent ahead of the main invasion of Iraq in 2003. Reyes said he was shown real-life footage of people’s heads being shot by snipers as part of his training, according to the video obtained by the Daily Mail. (RELATED: Dashcam Video Shows Cop Saving A 3-Week-Old Choking Baby)
“In our boot camp, do you know how we say the word “yes”? It’s the word “kill.” It’s the only way you can say “yes”,” says Reyes in the documentary obtained by Daily Mail. Reyes reportedly says that when the team went into ballistics they were shown slowed footage of people being shot in the head.
“They’re slowing it down in slow motion, head expanding three times the size, then vacuum collapse, then brains and skull,” Reyes said, per the Daily Mail. Reyes reportedly said that he questioned if he was able to go through with his mission “because there was still some human in me.”
Both sides of the story, told by the people who survived the defining conflict of our times.
Once Upon A Time in Iraq begins Monday 13th July, @BBCTwo 9pm.
A new 5-part documentary series from KEO Films directed by James Bluemel. pic.twitter.com/hSw1wlEcBN
— KEO films (@KEOfilms) July 10, 2020
A review of the show by The Guardian says that Reyes also discussed killing civilians during his time in Iraq. Reyes said he and his team reportedly placed signs in Arabic to mark a roadblock, but some civilians who could not read drove through the signs and were subsequently killed. “Yes it’s worth it,” Reyes reportedly says, “I mean it has to be worth it. What’s the alternative?”