"We Thought We Were Going to Die Every Night" | Ramadi Veteran Story With Marin Raider Joshua Shores

Today on Combat Story, we hear the story of Joshua "Josh" Shores — Marine infantry combat veteran, Purple Heart recipient, former Marine Raider, retired firefighter, entrepreneur, and author of Counting on Death: A Marine Infantryman's Journey from the Front Lines of Combat to the Fight for Peace.

Josh served with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines during some of the hardest fighting in Ramadi before later deploying to Afghanistan with Marine Special Operations. In this conversation, he takes us through the reality of combat as a 19-year-old Marine, the burden of surviving when others did not, and the long fight to make peace with the memories that followed him home.

Although AJ and Josh never served together, this episode becomes a deeply relatable conversation between two Marines who carried similar experiences through different units, deployments, and years of war. There are moments where the interview gives way to recognition, where both men are able to sit inside the same memories, ask harder questions, and give language to parts of combat that are rarely spoken about clearly.

This episode goes far beyond firefights and deployments.

Josh speaks candidly about the culture inside the infantry during the height of the Iraq War, the emotional toll of losing friends to IEDs, the confusion of counterinsurgency warfare, survivor's guilt, shame, identity, suicide, and the struggle many veterans face trying to reconnect with life after combat.

This is a conversation about consequence.
About brotherhood.
About grief.
And about trying to find peace after war.

🎙️ Guest — Joshua "Josh" Shores
Marine infantry combat veteran, Purple Heart recipient, former Marine Raider, retired firefighter, entrepreneur, and author of Counting on Death. He served with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines in Ramadi before later deploying to Afghanistan with Marine Special Operations.

🔗 Find Joshua Online:

📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CountingOnDeath/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshuashoresofficial/
🔗 Website: https://www.countingondeath.com
📕 Book (Counting on Death):
https://www.amazon.com/Counting-Death-Marine-Infantrymans-Journey/dp/1636245706/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-1#detailBullets_feature_div
🎧 Audiobook:
https://www.audible.com/pd/Counting-on-Death-Audiobook/B0F1Z1HJSG?source_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp

🎙️ Host AJ Pasciuti

AJ Pasciuti is a retired Marine Force Recon Scout Sniper and Infantry Weapons Officer (Marine Gunner), author of Darkhorse: Harnessing Hidden Potential in War and Life, and host of the Combat Story Podcast, where veterans share honest, unfiltered stories of service, leadership, and life after combat.

🔗 Find AJ Online:

📕 Book (Darkhorse): https://www.ajpasciuti.com/book

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ajpasciuti/

📘 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelo-pasciuti/

🔗 Website: https://www.ajpasciuti.com/

🎧 Featured Combat Story Episodes with AJ

👉 Combat Story Podcast – Part 1 (USMC Sniper & Force Recon) - Battle of Fallujah | Shooting w/ Chris Kyle | American Sniper | AJ Pasciuti https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4QI-5sNeCs

👉 Combat Story Podcast – Part 2 (Sniper vs Sniper Battle) - Killing the Enemy's Most Lethal Sniper | Force Recon | AJ Pasciuti https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5Ggly1TGAU