They Called Us “Lucky”: The Life and Afterlife of the Iraq War’s Hardest Hit Unit

Ruben Gallego was in a life of limbo when the call to serve came. He had worked his way up from lower middle class roots in Chicago, working hard in school and jobs to gain admission to Harvard. After initial success, an uninspiring academic semester left him out of school and searching for something. He went into a Marine Corps recruiting office, and soon he was a reservist.

His life’s trajectory would be forever altered post-September 11, when the Global War on Terror was launched, and Ruben would be deployed to Iraq in 2005. His company would be dubbed “Lucky Lima,” but that was a double-sided nickname. The cruel twist of fate would wreak havoc on his unit. Ruben would arrive home alive, but forever changed. As he dove into work and politics, his true test would be self-exploration in reconciling his time over there.

They Called Us Lucky is a forthright memoir about a man who fought enemies, both external and internal. The journey of the soldier doesn’t end when they are discharged, as Gallego shows, the adjustment is constant. The scars of war permeate even the toughest of soldiers and Gallego’s memoir proves that with empathy and sympathy.