Help From The Sky - Part II

After being here for seven months, “Delta Company”, has been very fortunate. Back in the fall last year we lost two soldiers to a suicide car bomb and then in January I was wounded from a roadside bomb. But since then our company has been very lucky. Granted we have had our share of losses, we have done what we needed to do and faired better then many other companies out here.

That was until 1700hrs (5pm) last night. At around dusk yesterday, 1st platoon, “Danger Platoon” was moving into hide positions to over watch the highway and hunt IED Teams that have been very active in the area. That is when their lead tank, Danger 1-3 stuck a massive IED, detonating it under the track on the right side engulfing the tank in a cloud of smoke and dust.

We have learned from the lessons of others that when there is one IED there is almost always another and no matter how bad you want to run to their rescue, you may just be running into more trouble. Seconds after the blast the rest of the platoon began to search the area for secondary attacks and to clear a path to the disabled tank that was several hundred meters from them.

As the rest of the crew crept safely towards the disabled tank the Tank Commander of the Danger 1-3 began to evaluate his crew. The loader had been blown out of the tank was laying on the top very dazed and suffering from a serious concussion and his foot was dangling in a “not normal” direction and appeared to be broken extremely bad. His gunner was alert but in serious pain. He was saying that his legs and feet hurt really badly and wasn’t going to be able to move on his own, but that he wasn’t bleeding and believes that they were broken badly from the blast that had raised the floor of the tank that had risen up like a loaf of bread in the oven. The driver of tank unconscious at first but came to moments later and only suffered a serious concussion. Which was extremely lucky considering he was the lowest and closest to the blast and a fuel tank next to him had been penetrated and was now spilling fuel. At that point the tank commander began to pull his wounded crew from the tank and prep them for the medic who was moving towards them in another vehicle. By the time the medic “Doc” was there the crew had been pulled out of the tank and the platoon could begin to prepare to evacuate them.

At this same time my platoon was at the FOB nearly 22 miles away and was being “Spun Up” to go and assist our fellow tankers. We moved quickly and were out the gate headed to the area to help secure and support them with whatever they needed. As we crossed the Tigris we were passed over head by two UH-60 “Black Hawk” helicopters headed thier direction, full speed and just over the tree tops. Across the company “net” (The company net is the radio that is set on the channel that the entire company can talk to one another on, as well as support elements with us.) you hear, “Danger 1-5 this is Bad Blood 7-7 in flight to your location for air evac, we are one minute out needing current enemy situation”.

Moments later the birds were on the ground and loading up our guys to take to the next level of care. Soon thereafter we arrived on the scene and helped secure it while a recovery team began limp the tank onto a trailer to bring back to the FOB.

The human body does pretty amazing things when adrenaline takes over. One textbook case would be that of the tank commander of Danger 1-3. He evac’ed his crew and prepped them for evac with an ankle that was broken in 4 places and several shrapnel wounds along his right leg. He did what needed to be done to ensure that his guys were going to be alright and receive the care that they needed.

Today everyone is stable and secure at a hospital up north. Two of the guys will be headed to Germany later to begin many surgeries to fix all the factures in their leg and ankles. There is no doubt that if a Gun Truck were to have hit that IED it would have killed everyone in it. The blast was massive and everyone on that crew is extremely lucky to escape with their lives. These guys were all friends of mine and I have known most of them since I arrived at Ft. Hood a few years ago. With the wounds they sustained it will be a long recovery process for them. Hopefully they will all recover 100% and be there when we all return sometime next year. Thank you all so much for all your prayers and please keep these guys in your prayers as well.

Help From The Sky

Almost every single night of the week there is at least one IED that goes off at our southern boundary on coalition forces. Always between 8:30pm and 1:00am and they are always fairly big. Sometimes it’s homemade explosives maybe with some napalm or a few artillery rounds with some occasional chlorine or ammonia added for extra trouble. Napalm, for those of you wondering what the hell I am talking about is this flammable sticky substance that you can make with some fuel and household cleaners, kinda like the stuff we used in “Nam”. When the IED explodes it ignites the napalm into a huge fireball that will stick to the vehicle passing by. So the vehicle is not only slammed with red hot pieces of shrapnel it also gets a coat of flaming gel that burns it to the ground.

We have tried a million different ways to catch this IED team. But we always just miss them. They either set up further down the road from where we are, or if we set up there they move further up the other direction or as we arrive and get set they detonate the IED right then. We know that they have “spies” that work the area and tip them off on our movements and it just adds to our frustration.

But on Monday night we had some help from the boys of the United States Air Force. A team of F-16 fighters were coming through the area on a mission when they saw a group of three men emplacing an IED along the highway. They continued to watch them from afar while a team of OH-58 Kiowa Warrior Helicopters moved in on the area. When they arrived the IED team had emplaced their IED’s in both the north and south bound lanes and had moved into a hide position in the reeds along a nearby canal. The Kiowa’s spotted them and their “get-a-way” truck (A 1976 single cab Toyota truck that looked like it had been hit by a train) and proceeded to light up the night with a “Hellfire” missile followed by a few rockets and several hundred rounds of 50.cal machine gun fire during three very impressive “gun runs”. After that they reported “No further movement from that location.”

We had been set up in our hide position and had front row seats to the show. Once the choppers were complete it was our turn to move in and clear the area on the foot. We arrived to find a destroyed truck and a larger crater from the missile but no bodies or body parts. After searching the fields nearby for about an hour we were able to track down one of the terrorist attempting to crawl away; his foot had been misplaced during the altercation with the Kiowa’s. We patched his nub up and he said that his other two cohorts had been hit badly but he left them near the canal. A little later they were found down stream doing the face down float. Tuesday night was the first night in quite some time there weren’t any IED’s at our southern boundary. It was chaotic with all the different elements that were working in the area. But as always we go the job done and there are a few less bad guys out there today.


PS – 12 days until I am “suppose” to be home.

Good News For People Who Love Bad News

Maybe there are still a few of you that have yet to see the news but I would really be surprised. Most of you actually knew before I did. I just found out yesterday while Holly and my mother knew on Wednesday. But I guess that’s to be expected from the Army. After three and a half years I should have known better.

But yes, it is true. My unit and every other unit over here has been extended. That’s right; my 12 month tour is now a 15 month tour. So I will miss another Thanksgiving, Christmas, spend my 23rd and 24th birthday here and miss Holly’s birthday which will be for the third year straight.

There are a lot of reasons that this is happening. Mostly cause of “The Surge”, the fact that troops are only getting 10 months back home before having to re-deploy. I think it has to do with both those reasons and the fact that Republicans know they are running out of time until the plug gets pulled on this place. This is thier “Hail Mary” with 3 seconds left in the 4th.

But just like a soldier is supposed to do, we shut up and continue on. One day we will get back home. Hopefully.

Engery Drinks and Pain Killers

As hinted in the title, this war is fueled by enery drinks and pain killers. When the going gets tough, the tough get a Bed Bull and a 1000mg of Tylenol 3. I dont know if I could make it with out em. But no, I'm not a junkie; dont worry. I do hate to ask for things. I mean, I like to think that I am a "grown up" and can provide for myself. But being over here I have very limited means to do that. I deem these things necessary but most likely could do without them, but its nice to have some “comforts” from home over here. With my free time I have created a little wish list of a few things that I just can’t get over here but would love to have. If you are in the giving mood I know just the person to give too; Me.

-Energy Drinks (Red Bull, AMP, Monster Drinks)
-Quaker Instant Oatmeal (Fruit Variety Packs)
-Tuna Fish (Star-Kist packets or peel-able cans)
-Ramen Noodles (Chicken or Beef)
-Air Duster (Air in a can)
-Campbell’s Chunky Soup

[Please, no candy. I have plenty.]


That’s really about it. Thank you all so much for everything that you have sent out here already. I appreciate every bit of it. Please don’t feel obligated to send anything, these are just some helpful hints for those that want to.

Feed Me.

Into The City

So in support of a fellow company we traveled into the city for what was my first time. My company AO (Area of Operations) lies outside the city to the south and covers a smaller farming town. In support of them we were to come in to the city at the break of dawn with local IP’s and begin to search a section of the city along with other platoons from the battalion. Our little piece of the pie wasn’t so little, and being in a Tank Platoon we are challenged even with a lack of man power. A tank platoon has only 16 members; two of ours were on leave giving us 14. Now an infantry platoon has close to 40 in a platoon and figure they some on leave of needed else where we will give them 35, which is still twice as much as us.

So there we are in the heart of the city, all fourteen of us doing the work at the same pace as 35 infantry grunts. From 0600 to just after noon my platoon cleared 104 houses; finding several weapons and one HVT (High Value Target). We had divided up in two teams and each team had five IP’s with us. I was the leader of team two and my and my team cleared a total of 71 of the 104 houses. I really don’t know what Teams 1 hold up was but they did catch that HVT so whatever. But it sounds like everything went smooth right?

Well it did, in total there were 7 IED’s that went off, countless burst of small arms fire and then as we headed out of the city we started taking mortar fire. There was only one destroyed US truck and a US solider injured, and I think three IP’s were killed from separate attacks. They usually take the brunt of the attacks around here. They primarily roll around in thin skinned Chevy Trucks and those don’t take an IED blast to well.

Oh I almost forgot, one of the IED’s was three 130mm rounds stuffed in a dead donkey…

We made it though, and I am finally back here on the FOB for a day and go figure there is a blackout. Not sure why but rumor is a soldier from the main body of my unit down south was killed late last night and one more is holding on barely at a nearby Army hospital. We were briefed that attacks pick up as the weather heats up and they couldn’t be more right. Last month alone IED’s were up 120% in our sector. I am not trying to scare any of you; I just want to let you know what is actually going on here. The media talks about operations on a larger scale and it is usually blown out of proportion. I just want to give you a little view of what life here on the ground is really like. Maybe it’s a sure sign that I need a break but I find my self really enjoying these missions. Most have us have a sort of addiction to this adrenaline rush. But I think I just really need a break.

The silver lining in all this is that there is a break coming for me. I finally have a leave date. I am scheduled to be home on May 8th, it probably will be closer to the 10th by the time I get home but really I don’t care what the exact day is, it’s just the fact that I am going home. I only get 14 days but, fourteen minutes from here would be nice.

So there you go ladies and gents, mark your calendars. Cause I am coming home!

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