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24 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY october 24-30, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com brutal, and arbitrary dictator. I knew then his days in power were numbered. “Changiz, those savages are your brothers.” Another said, “They touch a hair on any American’s head, we should nuke all of Iran into dust.” “You belong with them, Changiz, not us!” I responded with the only words I could think of: “Shut the fuck up!” How could my teammates appreciate the depth and complexity of my feelings as I watched radical Islamic students chant anti-American slogans and burn the American flag? I’d grown up in Iran. My father, uncle, cousins, and two of my brothers still lived there. In fact, our house stood a mere half a mile away from the U.S. Embassy. I’d visited the compound in 1974 to secure a visa that allowed me to travel to the United States. Five years later, I was a proud American citizen and a member of the Green Berets. One evening I got into a fight with four fellow Green Berets around the pool table in the team lounge. Another morning, just after PT, five guys jumped me on the first-floor barracks. Having trained for years in self-defense and martial arts, I knew how to defend myself. A couple of my SF buddies came to my aid. The staff sergeant on duty heard the ruckus and broke it up, and reported it to our first sergeant. The next morning, with two black-eyes and a swollen lip, I stood in formation with eighty-four other Green Berets when I heard the first sergeant call my name. “Corporal Lahidji, front and center!” I stepped forward, shoulders back. “Yes, sir.” “At ease…” the first sergeant started. “Listen guys...This guy’s a fucking American, and he’s a Green Beret, regardless of where he comes from. He works his ass off, and he’s here to protect the American people. So I don’t want you to fuck with him anymore. You understand?” He repeated his statement three times, for which I was enormously grateful. Knowing Tehran like the back of my hand and knowing that I could help free the hostages, I went to see First Sergeant David Huckson, who helped me compose a letter to President Carter. It said: “Dear President Carter: My name is Sergeant Changiz Lahidji and I am an Iranian native serving in special Forces at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Please give me permission to choose an A-Team and deploy to Iran to free the American hostages. I know the area well, and used to play soccer at the stadium across the street from the U.S. Embassy. With your approval and support, I am sure I can come up with a plan that will succeed. Please don’t say no.” Reprinted with permission from Lahidji. ■ ■ ■ Lahidji spied McCullough and Fergus in the commissary one day and felt motivated to talk to a fellow veteran who looked like he needed help. “That’s who I am, I love people. I always laugh, even if a guy or a woman doesn’t like me, I don’t care,” Lahidji says, with a wave of his arm. He introduced himself and the two talked for a bit. Lahidji asked McCullough if he’d be interested in reading his book, Full Battle Rattle, and gave McCullough his phone number. (The title refers to the combat gear a soldier carries into battle.) McCullough says following along on audiobooks has been a struggle for him, but Lahidji’s book was different. “I just couldn’t stop,” he says. “I think it was a day-and-a-half later [that] I called him, and I go, ‘Dude, lunch.’ Next thing you know we’re hanging out all the time.” Despite McCullough’s disabilities, which often leave him unable to complete tasks, he became energized by wanting to help Lahidji in the face of discriminatory practices—McCullough complained up the chain of command of a bank after a local branch refused to cash a check for Lahidji, for example. Believing Lahidji had been unfairly treated in his book deal, McCullough helped him end his contract with the publisher and retain the rights to his book. “I have to sleep a lot, but I have time,” McCullough says. “And when I get into a helping mode—that I can do lying down 18 hours a day.” Lahidji says that at first, he didn’t think McCullough could help him, but “I could tell as he was talking to me he was talking from his inside, his heart,” Lahidji says. “He is helping me try to expose my life to the people so they know what I did and we can do. I’m very pleased. I guess God put him in my way.” “Working with Changiz has been a real blessing,” McCullough says. “It’s been a mutually beneficial relationship on the whole.” As advice for young people, Lahidji offers that there are some things more important than chasing money. “Don’t ask too much, do what you can do for yourself and your country. Money is good, don’t get me wrong, but invest in honesty and friendship,” he says. ■ ■ ■ Part of what motivates McCullough is his anger over the racism Lahidji has been the target of, both during his military career and in civilian life, some overt, some subtle. Lahidji shrugs when asked about the racism he’s encountered and in his ever-jovial manner says that when it happens he smiles and says, “Come on, I’ll buy you a beer, don’t worry about it. Let’s go talk about it.” “People get away with treating him poorly,” McCullough says. “People need to know that he exists, they need to know the things he has done, and the fact that he’s an immigrant.” The two men believe that vetted immigrants are a valuable asset to the U.S. Lahidji, who calls himself an “American by heart,” has his own personal message for the Republican presidential nominee: “I want to say to Mr. Trump, not all immigrants are bad. We [helped] build this country, regardless of white, blue, yellow, black—I don’t care. To me, God said, don’t beg [for] anything—do, work and help people and help your comrade and be honest.” Recently they ordered 100 copies of Full Battle Rattle for Lahidji to sign in both English and Farsi. Some of the proceeds from sales will go to the Wounded Warrior Project. (“I owe them my life,” McCullough says.) The signed copies are currently for sale locally at River House Books and Bookworks, as well as on eBay. Ultimately, Lahidji and McCullough hope the book falls into the hands of someone who will carry Lahidji’s unique immigrant story to wider release as a documentary. McCullough can’t get out very much due to his disabilities, but since meeting Lahidji he makes a point of going out during the week with Fergus to join his friend on walks, to share stories, make plans and mostly, to invest in their new friendship. Signed copies of Full Battle Rattle are available at River House Books, 208 Crossroads Blvd., Carmel and Bookworks, 667 Lighthouse Ave., Pacific Grove. It’s also available on eBay from idealacquisition. Proceeds go to the Wounded Warrior Project. For more information, email McCulloughPress@gmail.com. Excerpt continued from previous page Lahidji shows off a jacket with military patches collected during his career. It’s just one of dozens of items he’s saved from his time in the Army and as a military contractor overseas. “People need to know that [Lahidji] exists, the things he has done and the fact that he’s an immigrant.” - Steve McCullough

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