Sweat, Sacrifice and Camel Spiders: Marine Corps Museum's New Exhibits Capture Global War on Terrorism

Retired Maj. David McGrath on Wednesday stood in front of a new exhibit in the National Museum of the Marine Corps that depicts a harrowing moment of combat he experienced, one emblematic of the Global War on Terrorism -- or as he put it, "a day in the office."

A life-sized model of McGrath, molded from a cast of his own body, is shown calling in a medical evacuation for a turret gunner thrown from his hatch after his up-armored vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device during a 2010 counterinsurgency mission in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

A massive crater pocks the ground under the vehicle as a corpsman tends to the gunner and McGrath -- then a captain with Special Operations Task Force 82 -- is speaking into a radio. It was one of the new exhibits shown to reporters this week in the museum that depicts pre- and post-9/11 Marine Corps actions, and each of the countless details in the 20,000 square feet of galleries tells a story like his.

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"We did this. I had my sleeves rolled. These are the glasses I wore. These are the boots I had," McGrath said of the process it took to bring that moment to a real-as-can-be depiction for the museum. "And you try to make it as accurate as possible."

Sweat and grime drip off the figures modeled after actual Marines. A scent cannon will blast the essence of cordite and burning plastic that wafted through Fallujah, Iraq. A holographic camel spider crawls across the wall of a model outpost in Afghanistan, scattered with energy drinks and sunflower seeds. Every dress uniform represents a Marine killed in action.

From the 1983 Beirut bombing to the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the galleries usher guests through an immersive 40-plus years of Marine Corps history, ones defined by tragedy, heroism and a deep reverence unique to the service's flagship museum located in Quantico, Virginia.

"It is fitting, as we approach the 250th anniversary of the birth of the Marine Corps, which will be next year, that we are now able to tell the story of the last half century of the Marine Corps," Keil Gentry, director of National Museum of the Marine Corps, told reporters Wednesday during a tour of the exhibits.

"During these two galleries, we are honoring the selfless service of those Marines and also the sacrifice of the 1,514 Marines who were killed in action during that time," he said. "We want to reinvigorate the spirit of today's Marines, and we want to inspire young men and women to be the next generation of Marines."

The unveiling of the galleries comes after an arduous, hard-fought 13 years of effort, upward of $20 million spent, feedback from Marines themselves, and donations from service members and their families who want to preserve their stories in the museum.

Museum officials told Military.com that it was a challenge to build up these displays -- many of which were hand-sculpted by artists -- given that the history of the Global War on Terrorism is both long and recently ended.

"That was actually one of the issues that we have, being a modern-day gallery," Chuck Girbovan, the exhibit chief, told reporters. "We don't have a lot of donations of this time period, and it was a problem because people weren't ready to let go of their artifacts. So, we built these and designed these galleries such that the cases were much more flexible and easier to change out, so that when we actually got more artifacts, it was easier to put them on display."

The galleries will open to the public Oct. 6, but on Wednesday, current and former Marines stood next to the exhibits that represented depictions of their own service during those conflicts -- a surreal experience, they told Military.com.

Marine veteran Riane Moser was a member of a female engagement team, or FET, when she deployed to Afghanistan in 2010. Made up of volunteers, the teams were meant to communicate and ingratiate themselves with Afghan women during the war, given the country's cultural prohibitions on male-to-female interactions.

The daughter of a makeup artist, Moser recalled Afghan women and girls painting her face with ivory foundation sticks and charcoal eyeliner. It was memories like those that Moser said the museum evoked for her.

"What I had in common with the women and children was makeup, in that moment," she told Military.com. "That's all they wanted to do, was do my makeup, and that's the experience that I always kind of come back to with reflection."

The Marine Corps employed a similar program in Iraq.

Moser and her friend Saje Mrowinksi, who was a young lance corporal when she deployed to Afghanistan, stood next to the museum's life-sized models of Marine women in Iraq embarking on the same mission they did on their FETs.

"There are weird feelings. ... I feel like most veterans who've gone to any of these locations will probably experience that same feeling coming into [the museum]," Mrowinski said. "It's not something you can necessarily describe, but maybe it's a little bit of anxiousness, maybe it's a little bit of reminiscing and also a loving experience of knowing that you'll never have that place and time again, but what you did have out there -- and that family you were deployed with -- is now preserved in history."

For many of the Marines whom Military.com spoke to at the exhibit, the wars are still fresh. The galleries themselves represent a turning tide for how the public -- and service members -- view those conflicts as the U.S. military has withdrawn from them, outside of conflict in places such as Iraq and Syria that is ongoing today.

Moser and Mrowinski continue to watch the population of Afghan women who are being oppressed by the Taliban regime after the chaotic U.S. military withdrawal in 2021. The Taliban have enforced religious laws in the country that have oppressed women, stripping them of education, safety and a voice, leading to fear and protest.

"To this day, I can tell you right now, the way the Afghan women are responding to the Taliban takeover and still protesting, still finding their voice and ways to get out there and push for a change to still happen -- that wouldn't have happened if we weren't out there," Mrowinksi said. "We were there as a safety blanket, and we were a measure of communication and understanding."

For the Marines there -- and many of the service members who deployed to those conflicts Military.com has spoken to -- the sentiment of "it mattered" rang true in the museum. In some places, signs warn veterans that the exhibits may cause emotional responses, and Military.com previously reported that the museum opened a respite room for those affected by the galleries.

But officials told reporters that the galleries were not only meant to preserve the recent history of Marine Corps actions during the pre- and post-9/11 conflicts, but also to pay tribute to those who lost their lives and provide a foundation for current and future generations of Marines to look toward as they prepare for conflicts.

"There's the contention that we pulled out of Afghanistan the way we did, people are upset about it," Marine Capt. Lance Palmer, a prior-enlisted explosive ordnance disposal officer told Military.com. "Just know that what you did made a difference for that civilian populace, for your brothers and sisters to your left and right. Everything you did mattered, whether you know it or not."

Standing in front of glass cases that showed the weapons of war that America's enemies wielded during those conflicts, Palmer said that future generations of Marines should take away from the galleries that they should always be prepared.

"When 9/11 happened, I guarantee you those Marines that were doing some sort of training that day or found out what occurred didn't realize what would come of that," he said. "They learned very quick, right? 'I have to prepare for war.'"

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