FIGHT CARD: The backstory to the Smosh's Package Benefit Raffle.
FIGHT CARD, MAIN EVENT:
Josh Clark (USA) vs. Cancer (Hell).
Given the currently running benefit raffle (3/31/23 – 5/26/23) for Sgt Josh Clark (USMC) organized by Standing Offhand and hosted on the americansnipers.org website, I felt it would be helpful to provide some background on who you’re supporting through the raffle. If I could impress upon you how I know Josh, I would but that’s impossible. This is the best I can do… -Jeff
Josh is a Marine Scout/Sniper. I met him in Sept 2004 when my Marine Corps unit relieved his at the end of their combat tour south of Baghdad. They had spent the hot horrible summer there and dealt with a lot that year. This was during a high point for the insurgency and their area of operation, the one we were now occupying, was known as the “Triangle of Death.” This was due to the number of kidnappings and executions in that region over the previous 2 or so years. A lot of movement, redirecting, and adaptation was taking place for US forces there and it was shortly after Josh’s unit departed that Operation Phantom Fury took place in Fallujah.
Josh returned home to Camp LeJeune where he finished his 10 year service to the Marine Corps in 2005. In Jan of 2006, the 2 of us found ourselves together again in the Worldwide Personal Protective Services course for Triple Canopy, Inc. (TC). This is a security contracting company servicing Dept. of State and Dept. of Defense contracts for security services around the world. He and I went to work for TC over the next year and a half, finding ourselves rooming together at the US Embassy Office in Basra, Iraq. Both of us were snipers for TC, he on the mobile side and I on fixed site. This meant that Josh was accompanying dignitaries from the US Embassy during meetings off our compound with various officials of the Iraqi government. These were typically at some large building somewhere in the city with a title of, “Ministry of (whatever)” on the front. My job was to help manage the physical security of the embassy grounds, including a 140-man Peruvian guard force, while also performing the sniper job on the property. As summer 2006 rolled in, the activity level of the insurgency increased: their rocket and mortar attacks became more frequent and with higher volume, we experienced small arms fire from small groups of fighters from across a river, and a very small number of Iraqi workers who came and went from our compound actually disappeared. It got to the point where all mobile operations where our diplomats traveled outside the walls, ceased. The only meetings allowed to be held were now conducted only at the US Embassy Office and those Iraqi officials requesting a meeting had to come to us. Our workforce inside the compound effectively doubled with all the mobile guys now participating in fixed site security. And because of this, Josh and I spent more time together working.
Because we were also roommates, we got to actually know each other. I knew his wife’s name and heard her voice when they talked. He learned the same about me. We talked about kids and future ambitions and what we wanted to do with the money we were making as contractors. We conducted training on the small range we had at the back of the compound and drove to Kuwait once to zero rifles at longer distances. I got to know Josh as a man and a human, not as just a callsign (Smosh) or a voice at the other end of a radio. I bought a hunting bow online and had the whole kit shipped to me there, arrows, target, and all. He thought I was fucking crazy but we all did somewhat outlandish things in order to stave off boredom and mischief. We hit the gym; A LOT. Everyone was getting damned strong because all we had there was a gym, a chow hall, and a bed. It’s not like we could go to a movie or hit a bar on the weekends. We found entertainment in what we could do, what we could control, and what we could get away with.
Spring of ’07 I rotated home. Typically we’d spend 3 months in-country with one month home. This time around I decided I wasn’t going back unless I absolutely had to, the emotional toll being too great on my wife, a pile of young children, and me. So I went back to my actual career and applied to the Phoenix Police Dept for the 2nd time in my life. Actually, it was the PD in Tempe AZ I specifically applied to but I was aggressively recruited into Phoenix by a retired Marine Master Sergeant and Phoenix PD Lt. with a mission of grabbing returning Jarheads by the neck once we got there. I had a very small window to get hired before having to go back to Iraq and somehow, they got it done. The Marine Corps Mafia was alive and well, both within the Phoenix Police Dept and in the civilian communities of the Phoenix valley.
Josh stayed on with TC for another 9 years and wound up instructing for them in Louisiana. He returned to Iraq several times and rose to the equivalent of Battalion Cmdr as the Project Manager at the Baghdad worksite. Following his time with TC, Josh made it home for good and joined the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office where he spent the next 4 years as a firearms instructor, narcotics agent, and swat team member. There’s no doubt he used all he’d learned overseas, both in combat and as a contractor, to rise quickly as an incredible resource. Kudos to EBRSO for recognizing what they had in front of them: the goofy tall dude with a disarming smile and accent but who possessed experience and leadership ability they had probably never seen before. Josh is (still) someone I’d take 2 steps back from and shoot 3 times before tying up with. But he’s also the guy I’d follow through a door without question. The photos of him in a bump helmet and life vest while burning around the waterways with a rifle are inspiring and joyous. I see life and gratitude in his eyes when I look at those pictures. There’s the embrace of being home and a well-adjusted air about him, probably in good part due to the relief that there weren’t things inside him to fight. Going to combat and/or living within an active combat zone takes its toll (as we all know) but none of us knows exactly how we’re going to respond to it, what we’re going to bring back, or what, however small, is going to put up a fight. There’s a lot of anxiety waiting to see what rears its ugly head, and how it might affect those we love. Josh was relieved, at least to a degree, that whatever he brought home with him was manageable. It’s clearly evident in his eyes and smile.
His run with EBRSO didn’t last long and he found himself once again headed to the middle east, this time to Amman, Jordan. It’s funny how this hell hole literally on the other side of the world and with whom we could not be more culturally different from, draws us back like some kind of karmatic fucking magnet. I know: that’s not even a word but it’s accurate nonetheless. A different security company needed a director of training there and he fit the bill. He also fell in love there, with a kitten. Yeah, you read that right; a fucking cat. Josh jumped through all the hoops, filled out all the paperwork, and made all the calls in order to bring some pussy home to the US on a commercial flight. I guess that makes it, a legal resident?? “Mr. Fred” resides with him in his apartment to this day: who knew… He’s flat-faced, has a porn-stache, and his whiskers point straight out the front of his face. Josh loves the damned thing and has a picture of him as the lock screen on his phone.
This brings us to within a year of this writing. His last work was chasing executive protection details around the US and it was during this time that he developed some health problems and was misdiagnosed last May. That has since turned into stage 4 colon and liver cancer. Shit got real, real fast. He is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatment, both infusion and oral. He’s had 3 out of 4 infusions and he’s been responding well to it: his docs are scheduling liver surgery in the coming months followed by more to address his colon and lymphatic system. It helps tremendously that Josh is in excellent physical, psychological, and emotional shape. Never one to let any of those things slide, he maintained his fitness through his previous symptoms and kept working as if it would all pass. This is paying dividends now and his treatment has been aggressive. In my own speaking with medical professionals, most of whom I’m very close with, some of this positivity is likely a coping mechanism. There is sure to exist a certain degree of fear in facing something that can kill him but that he cannot see or actively fight in front of him, with his hands and all his acquired skills. There’s a loss of control as if all he can do is wait and hope. But therein lies his biggest ally, his greatest strength: his Faith. Josh is a convicted Christian man. It is important to him and sustains him in his most difficult and highest-consequence mission to date. And while he may be coping with all of this harsh realization and percentages and alternate outcomes to the life he had planned only 4 months ago, he also knows that at the end of the day his book has already been written, despite the fear that may accompany it. He has trust. Trust in the God that brought him home from Kosovo and Iraq, multiple times. Trust in the gift of watching his boys turn into men and enlist in the US Army, one of them giving him a grandson and granddaughter. Trust in the outpouring of support coming directly from the men he’s fought alongside and whom have all placed their lives in each other’s hands. Josh believes and knows he is loved. There is no rifle he’s ever shouldered as powerful as this one.
If some of this has touched your heart or caused your own reflection to stare you in the face, I encourage you to help Josh yourself. He represents thousands of humans in this country alone who face these circumstances every year so think of this as an opportunity. This is a way to demonstrate the phrase, “thank you for you service.” IN NO WAY is this a guilt trip, a tactic to play on your heartstrings, or a way to say this is anyone’s obligation. I am asking for your help, for you to give. But there is no judgement here. Josh is a very dear and close friend and despite the less-than-awesome circumstances he finds himself in, it is important to me that you know who he is. Our raffle launches on 3/31 and will go 8 weeks, ending on 5/26. Tickets are $50 each and can be purchased at www.americansnipers.org
A drawing for the winner will occur on Memorial Day, 5/29 with an announcement on the Standing Offhand IG page and followed up by an email directly to the winner. So what’s in the winner’s package, you ask? Check it out:
Daniel Defense Delta 5 Pro 24” HPALMA, 6.5CM bolt action rifle in OD green.
Leupold Mk5HD 3.6-18X44, FFP PR1 mrad riflescope.
Hogsaddle PIG0311 tripod, ball head, PIG Saddle, and SS Loophole sling.
Two Vets Tripod, Inc No Name V2 tripod and 55mm ball head with ARCA mount.
Air Armor Tech Extreme 16 scope cover, coyote.
Triad Tactical tapered rear bags X2 (large and standard), data book and data book cover, and precision rifle case.
Outdoorsmans Zeiss SFL 40 10X40 binoculars.
Marsupial Gear magnetic enclosed bino chest pack, magnetic LRF pouch, and zippered accessory pouch.
Mystery Ranch Blitz 35 daypack, coyote.
MilMak Blades/Copper State Knife Co. Ward Hunter, cerakote orange.
Vortex Razor HD4000 laser rangefinder.
Wilderness Athlete Mastermind Combo: Edge, At Ease, and Unplug.
K9 Athlete Top Dog Stack: New Dog, K9 Pro, and Hydrate & Recover.
6 Primal Coffee Cowboy Blend, 5lbs.
Velox Training Group training certificate for one course seat.
ModTac Training Group coupon for the suppressor shield of your choice.
Standing Offhand training certificate for a seat in selected courses out of our course catalog ($1000 value).
Standing Offhand Hornady Match 6.5CM ammo, 200 rounds.
Shipping for all items included in the package will be handled by Standing Offhand except for the FFL transfer to the winner. Thank you for taking the time to read this and invest in a man’s life. Our society and country need men like Josh, and the Lord knows he’s paid his dues. Please consider helping him out and supporting the companies who’ve made it all possible.
R,
Jeff.