Roderick “Roger” Pugh grew up on well water and outhouses in Grove Hill, Alabama, learning to hunt and fish before he ever imagined joining the Army. He enlisted in June 2001 hoping to follow his cousin into the Marine Corps — until he found out he’d have to learn to swim. A few months later, he was in the middle of basic training at Fort Benning when 9/11 happened, and the country he’d just signed up to defend changed overnight.
Roger deployed to Iraq during the initial invasion in 2003, running security as a 240 gunner before his path crossed with an SF sniper team at the Karbala Gap — a moment that would eventually reshape his entire military career. He fought through the push into Baghdad, helped clear out the Baghdad Zoo, and slept on a pallet of cash while guarding an Iraqi bank. Years later, on a second deployment, he survived an IED explosion that his own EOD team told him should have killed him — and was present for the execution of Saddam Hussein, a moment he says he’ll never forget the sound of.
Roger eventually became, by his own account and years of research, the first African American sniper in the Iraq campaign and U.S. Army history — a title he only discovered and came forward with years after leaving the service. But the episode isn’t just about the missions. Roger speaks candidly about fourteen years of therapy, the friends he’s lost to combat and to their own hands, and a suicide attempt of his own. It’s a conversation about what it costs to serve, and what it takes to carry that weight home.
Roger is now medically retired and the author of the memoir 2 Lives: Memoir of the 1st African American Sniper in the Iraq Campaign & US Army History, based on true events from his life. Listen to the full conversation on the Ask A Vet Podcast, available now on YouTube, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Follow more of Roger’s story: https://thebamamist.com/