Irish-English officer opens up on brutal time fighting Al Qaeda butchers in Iraq & Afghanistan after 9/11 terror attack
Mark Stoneman, 56, was inspired by his grandfather, who fought in the
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Mark was deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan
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The Middle East was ravaged by war after the 9/11 terrorist attack
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Born to an Irish mum and
At 18, he moved to
Mark told us: 'When I applied I ran into the British class system where if I wasn't from the right family and didn't go to the right
'I have an interview and everything is going swimmingly with a retired officer, he liked me, it became so apparent that I was qualified for the job until he said, 'When was your dad an officer?', and I said, 'He wasn't, he was a private', and he went 'Oh', and that was the end of the interview.
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'And I was very disillusioned so I up and left, I went to America and got a scholarship to
Mark studied history at High Point University in
He quickly climbed the ranks to become an officer before the horrific 9/11 terrorist attack on Manhattan's Twin Towers, which led to the US invasion of Saddam Hussain-controlled
Mark said: '9/11 happened and I was like, I can't get out now.
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GOING AFTER ENEMY
'I knew that we were going to war, I knew I had a duty to lead my soldiers, and there'd be combat. I had just been promoted to captain.
'Everything was focused on Iraq, going there, keeping people alive.
Mastermind behind 9/11 attacks Khalid Sheikh Mohammed agrees plea deal to avoid death penalty after years in jail
"I wasn't part of the invasion in 2003 but I was in command of a unit in 2004 of about 106 soldiers.
'I had about six months to train them. We went to Iraq for a year where we were responsible for the stability, security, and development of three villages, about 50,000 people.
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'For a year we were in combat with insurgents, Iraqis who didn't want us there, but they were also attacking civilians trying to go about their daily lives, and my obligation was to protect them as much as to go after the enemy.'
Mark said that while some in the Diyala Province in Iraq were grateful for their presence, there was constant combat with
'If someone was working with us, say we hired an electrician to fix streetlight, which happened, they killed that guy to send a message to everyone else, don't work with the Americans, even though we were trying to do something good.
RITUAL KILLING
'We fought against
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'It was long periods of boredom interspersed with moments of sheer terror, we were driving around, most days nothing would happen, then some days they would shoot a rocket at us, you could never predict when it was going to happen, it was a constant challenge as a leader.'
And Mark revealed one of the worst things he came across while deployed.
He told us: 'Towards the end there was a guy that I became very friendly with. He was the mayor of the village.
'I thought he was coming around to democracy and moving his country forward.
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'Then one night I was eating dinner with him and he informed me there's going to be a ritual killing the next day of two teenagers caught having extramarital sex, that violated the norms so the respective families were going to execute them.
'I was completely shocked and disappointed, all this work we had put in for
GLIMPSE OF HUMANITY
While on his second deployment in Iraq in 2010, Mark suffered a devastating attack on the soldiers he was training.
He said: 'Al Qaeda attacked the base we were on, they blew up a 500 pound bomb at the gate, a couple hundred feet from where I was and killed all the Iraqis guarding it, that was probably the worst point, I knew those guys.'
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But he explained there were moments of humanity among the constant fighting, including in 2005 sport brought the soldiers and locals together.
He said: 'I supported Ipswich town
'And someone I'd never met collected 500 shirts and we managed to get them out and we gave them to men and boys and outfitted a whole league with these shirts.
'Regardless of us being there, we could unite around football, we could agree that playing football was a good thing.
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'I look back on that as one of the happiest moments of my life, we were able to do something for these people who were dirt poor.'
Mark, now a history teacher in
He told us: 'My brain works differently now that it did in 2004, because you're constantly under stress, every day. I'm functional and I have a good life but it changes you.'
MARK'S book 'Driving Around, Waiting To Get Blown Up' is available now.
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The US army deployed troops to Iraq in 2003
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Mark has written a book on his experiences
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Mark was the head of a peacekeeping force
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