Loopster
06-07-2007, 07:35 AM
11:20 pm April 4th 2004 not much activity for the five man of Company B, of the 711th Signals Battalion of Alabama’s National Guard, stationed between the Coalition Provisional Authority building and the building used by the Spanish troops in Camp Golf (also known as Base Al Andalus). The rest of the Company is at Camp Baker nearly a kilometer north of their position.
The humvee that connects camp’s communication with CENTCOM military net is working without trouble. First Sergeant Kritner is reading while two of his men - privates Tim Jones and Jason Lebishack - are playing domino with some Iraqi kids a couple of meters away. The other two team members –Sergeant Danny Harper and Specialist Michael Acquaviva – decided to take advantage of their time in Camp Golf and get something to eat. At the time they were chatting with some CPA’s civilians and their escort, a mix of Backwater’s contractors and Salvadorian commandos.
A minute past 11:25 Kritner hears what seemed a series of firecrackers exploding near him. When he comes out of his vehicle the noise gets louder and he can discern that is the crackling of automatic weapons. They are firing agaisnt their position. He orders Jones and Lebishack to pick their weapons and equipment. The orders didn’t need to be repeated, the Iraqi kids have run inside the building. Sgt climbs over his vehicle structure to see over the other vehicles parked. He sees some buses two hundred meters from his position, from them black clad man with green rags over their heads are pouring out. Several RPGs are shot from the ornamental wall that delimits the camp’s perimeter. They blow in the parking lot and on the walls of the CPA’s building. Other explosions follow between the buildings, this ones sound like mortar rounds, that’s a sound their used to in Najaf.
Kritner orders Lebishack behind the vehicle and to open fire against the assailants. Jones stays init and calls for reinforcements through all the possible frequencies….No answer. First Sergeant stays on top of the hummve and shoots toward the wave of militia men that is trying to engulf them. He aims at an enemy and shoots. Too quick, the burst impacts against a wooden pole fifteen meters from his target. He exhales, relaxes, aims and shoots and a black dressed figure falls to the ground in a crimson splash. Lebishack looks at his sergeant and repeats the process; the assailants suffer the first casualties.
Kritner after finishing the first clip pulls out two grenades from his (correaje) and leaves them on his side before inserting a new clip. One is high explosive the other is incendiary…the communication equipment must be destroyed if they are overcome. It can’t fall intact in the enemy’s hands. He decided not to tell Jones and Lebishack unless it becomes absolutely necessary.
Danny Harper and Michael Acquaviva interrupted their meal after the heard the intense shooting outside. The security team members stood up and some of them took the Provisional Authority personal to the fortified zone of the building. Right then the Blackwater’s team leader came in and informed that they were under assault. All the team members stampede towards the building across from them to take positions on the roof. Harper and Acquacviva are still sitting in the mess hall; they’ve been left by themselves in just a second.
The last of the Backwater’s contractors going out turns around and ask them if they aren’t going with them. Both stand up and leave the mess hall. They can notice the different sounds made by bullets passing over them, and those that ricochet against the ground and the walls around them. They jump into their humvee and pick three Salvadorian soldiers also coming from the mess hall, and drive the few yards that separates them form Kritner position. They place their vehicle joined with the other humvee to form a palisade. Harper goes first followed by Acquaviva, but before he reaches his comrades Whiteboy – Backwater’s team leader- stops him. He point’s to Acquaviva’s weapon and urges him to go to the roof, they are about to be overcome. Acquaviva is the SAW shooter of Kirtner’s squad. Kritner is in that moment arguing with the crew of a Spanish armored vehicle that was cutting into their firing angle. Without delay Acquaviva moves to the roof. There some Salvadorians, a few members of the security team, the Backwater’s guys, two civilians from the CPA and an US Army officer are firing their weapons non stop. With him another SAW shooter has claimed to roof, Marines’ corporal Loonie Young. Someone from Blackwater tells them to cover an arch from 11:00 to 3:00, they area through which more assailants are trying to get into the camp. Michael takes his position, just between marine Young and the army officer, a captain. He aims and shoot in automatic at the same time that the Marine’s corporal does. Half a dozen figures fall to the ground instantly.
Sergeants Kritner and Harper consider their options. Lebishack´s calls for reinforcements are fruitless; all camps and bases are under attack at the same time. They decided to call in the rest the 711th Company.
First Sergeant Bradford Snipes has been stuck to the radio since 11:00 a.m.; he and Sergeant Mikel Stroud are trying to understand the requests coming from Camp Golf. The voices of Kritner and Captain Cline – the company’s officer- are mixing and they only understand that the main gate is under attack, that the troops are running out of ammunition and that there are snipers in the hospital that has an overview of the road between both buildings.
At 12:00 p.m. Bradford sends Mikel to get ready the two transport Hummve of the unit. Meanwhile he tours the defensive positions and takes a man of each three. He seizes two clips from each man, the only heavy machine gun and half the rocket launchers. He rides shotgun in the first vehicle and orders the drivers to change their speeds and turn frequently to try to evade the snipers. Snipes checks his watch meanwhile his man load the vehicles with all the ammo they can find: it’s 12:15 p.m.
Acquaviva is changing the clip, is his last box of ammunition. He is taking advantage that corporal Young is able to shoot again. He weapon had jammed due to the long bursts in automatic that nearly melt the barrel.
He aims again to the area between the avenue and the southwest corner of the hospital. From there is where someone had fired the RPGs that past over their heads in the last minute. He shoots a short volley then captain Mathew Eddy falls back with a soft complaint. Michael thinks the captain has been hit in the face by one of the shells expelled from his weapon. He asks him how he feels and bows to help him and a bullet pierces the air were he was standing a moment a go hitting an air condition conduct.
The captain is bleeding profusely; the wound goes side to side through his chest. When he removes the captain’s bulletproof vest to treat him the ground of the roof fills with warm blood sprouting from the officer. The captain is starting to convulse.
Corporal Young has stopped shooting and is looking to the scene developing beside him when he is hit in the back, just over his heart. He fall face down and Acquaviva is not sure what to do. The captain is bleeding out in his arms and Marine Young is lying over the roof. One of the Blackwater guys grabs the marine and pulls him behind the roof access. Acquaviva does the same with the officer and helps the contractor, nicknamed “Doc”, to apply coagulant solution over the wounds of both men stopping instantly the hemorrhages. Corporal Young is conscious and wants to go back to fight, but he can’t barely move, so they send him with the captain to be tended by a Spanish doctor in the fortified area of the building.
Acquaviva and Doc return to the shooting area and then see Pyro, another of the Blackwater team member, directing a Salvadorian soldier armed with a grenade launcher towards an objective. The Salvadorian, nicknamed Alcón, is struck on the left side of his mouth and falls, another contractor pulls him from the area. Pyro picks the weapon of the fallen man and aims. A moment later the 5th floor of the Hospital is impacted and the shooting calms for a while.
The men over the roof make a recount…they merely have one clip each left.
A burst of bullets bounces over the front of the first vehicle and Bradford and his men are shooting towards the hospital. Without a doubt they must have more than one floor occupied at the hospital. They travel the kilometer full speed regardless of the skidding and changes of direction. The second vehicle’s driver has even seen a tracer bullet going left to right in front of him. The militia men are starting to move towards the opposite side of the camp.
They are arriving to the entrance of Camp Golf, afraid that fire is going to come from the Hospital and the southeastern corner pining them before the reach the base perimeter. Then a VEC-25, a Spanish armored vehicle, speeds to reach them and cover them with its armor. The Spanish’s vehicle has two tires flatted by the shooting, but its canon is still at work and blows up a van from where they were going to be attacked. Bradford's two Hummves enter in Camp Golf and they watch an identical vehicle firing against the buses trying to unload militiamen on the other side…
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/7586/graficosatnajaf2da2.th.jpg (http://img257.imageshack.us/my.php?image=graficosatnajaf2da2.jpg)http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/29/graficosatelite1ic9.th.jpg (http://img294.imageshack.us/my.php?image=graficosatelite1ic9.jpg)http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/1331/graficosatelite2hv1.th.jpg (http://img257.imageshack.us/my.php?image=graficosatelite2hv1.jpg)http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/2734/graficosatelite3aw1.th.jpg (http://img513.imageshack.us/my.php?image=graficosatelite3aw1.jpg)
The humvee that connects camp’s communication with CENTCOM military net is working without trouble. First Sergeant Kritner is reading while two of his men - privates Tim Jones and Jason Lebishack - are playing domino with some Iraqi kids a couple of meters away. The other two team members –Sergeant Danny Harper and Specialist Michael Acquaviva – decided to take advantage of their time in Camp Golf and get something to eat. At the time they were chatting with some CPA’s civilians and their escort, a mix of Backwater’s contractors and Salvadorian commandos.
A minute past 11:25 Kritner hears what seemed a series of firecrackers exploding near him. When he comes out of his vehicle the noise gets louder and he can discern that is the crackling of automatic weapons. They are firing agaisnt their position. He orders Jones and Lebishack to pick their weapons and equipment. The orders didn’t need to be repeated, the Iraqi kids have run inside the building. Sgt climbs over his vehicle structure to see over the other vehicles parked. He sees some buses two hundred meters from his position, from them black clad man with green rags over their heads are pouring out. Several RPGs are shot from the ornamental wall that delimits the camp’s perimeter. They blow in the parking lot and on the walls of the CPA’s building. Other explosions follow between the buildings, this ones sound like mortar rounds, that’s a sound their used to in Najaf.
Kritner orders Lebishack behind the vehicle and to open fire against the assailants. Jones stays init and calls for reinforcements through all the possible frequencies….No answer. First Sergeant stays on top of the hummve and shoots toward the wave of militia men that is trying to engulf them. He aims at an enemy and shoots. Too quick, the burst impacts against a wooden pole fifteen meters from his target. He exhales, relaxes, aims and shoots and a black dressed figure falls to the ground in a crimson splash. Lebishack looks at his sergeant and repeats the process; the assailants suffer the first casualties.
Kritner after finishing the first clip pulls out two grenades from his (correaje) and leaves them on his side before inserting a new clip. One is high explosive the other is incendiary…the communication equipment must be destroyed if they are overcome. It can’t fall intact in the enemy’s hands. He decided not to tell Jones and Lebishack unless it becomes absolutely necessary.
Danny Harper and Michael Acquaviva interrupted their meal after the heard the intense shooting outside. The security team members stood up and some of them took the Provisional Authority personal to the fortified zone of the building. Right then the Blackwater’s team leader came in and informed that they were under assault. All the team members stampede towards the building across from them to take positions on the roof. Harper and Acquacviva are still sitting in the mess hall; they’ve been left by themselves in just a second.
The last of the Backwater’s contractors going out turns around and ask them if they aren’t going with them. Both stand up and leave the mess hall. They can notice the different sounds made by bullets passing over them, and those that ricochet against the ground and the walls around them. They jump into their humvee and pick three Salvadorian soldiers also coming from the mess hall, and drive the few yards that separates them form Kritner position. They place their vehicle joined with the other humvee to form a palisade. Harper goes first followed by Acquaviva, but before he reaches his comrades Whiteboy – Backwater’s team leader- stops him. He point’s to Acquaviva’s weapon and urges him to go to the roof, they are about to be overcome. Acquaviva is the SAW shooter of Kirtner’s squad. Kritner is in that moment arguing with the crew of a Spanish armored vehicle that was cutting into their firing angle. Without delay Acquaviva moves to the roof. There some Salvadorians, a few members of the security team, the Backwater’s guys, two civilians from the CPA and an US Army officer are firing their weapons non stop. With him another SAW shooter has claimed to roof, Marines’ corporal Loonie Young. Someone from Blackwater tells them to cover an arch from 11:00 to 3:00, they area through which more assailants are trying to get into the camp. Michael takes his position, just between marine Young and the army officer, a captain. He aims and shoot in automatic at the same time that the Marine’s corporal does. Half a dozen figures fall to the ground instantly.
Sergeants Kritner and Harper consider their options. Lebishack´s calls for reinforcements are fruitless; all camps and bases are under attack at the same time. They decided to call in the rest the 711th Company.
First Sergeant Bradford Snipes has been stuck to the radio since 11:00 a.m.; he and Sergeant Mikel Stroud are trying to understand the requests coming from Camp Golf. The voices of Kritner and Captain Cline – the company’s officer- are mixing and they only understand that the main gate is under attack, that the troops are running out of ammunition and that there are snipers in the hospital that has an overview of the road between both buildings.
At 12:00 p.m. Bradford sends Mikel to get ready the two transport Hummve of the unit. Meanwhile he tours the defensive positions and takes a man of each three. He seizes two clips from each man, the only heavy machine gun and half the rocket launchers. He rides shotgun in the first vehicle and orders the drivers to change their speeds and turn frequently to try to evade the snipers. Snipes checks his watch meanwhile his man load the vehicles with all the ammo they can find: it’s 12:15 p.m.
Acquaviva is changing the clip, is his last box of ammunition. He is taking advantage that corporal Young is able to shoot again. He weapon had jammed due to the long bursts in automatic that nearly melt the barrel.
He aims again to the area between the avenue and the southwest corner of the hospital. From there is where someone had fired the RPGs that past over their heads in the last minute. He shoots a short volley then captain Mathew Eddy falls back with a soft complaint. Michael thinks the captain has been hit in the face by one of the shells expelled from his weapon. He asks him how he feels and bows to help him and a bullet pierces the air were he was standing a moment a go hitting an air condition conduct.
The captain is bleeding profusely; the wound goes side to side through his chest. When he removes the captain’s bulletproof vest to treat him the ground of the roof fills with warm blood sprouting from the officer. The captain is starting to convulse.
Corporal Young has stopped shooting and is looking to the scene developing beside him when he is hit in the back, just over his heart. He fall face down and Acquaviva is not sure what to do. The captain is bleeding out in his arms and Marine Young is lying over the roof. One of the Blackwater guys grabs the marine and pulls him behind the roof access. Acquaviva does the same with the officer and helps the contractor, nicknamed “Doc”, to apply coagulant solution over the wounds of both men stopping instantly the hemorrhages. Corporal Young is conscious and wants to go back to fight, but he can’t barely move, so they send him with the captain to be tended by a Spanish doctor in the fortified area of the building.
Acquaviva and Doc return to the shooting area and then see Pyro, another of the Blackwater team member, directing a Salvadorian soldier armed with a grenade launcher towards an objective. The Salvadorian, nicknamed Alcón, is struck on the left side of his mouth and falls, another contractor pulls him from the area. Pyro picks the weapon of the fallen man and aims. A moment later the 5th floor of the Hospital is impacted and the shooting calms for a while.
The men over the roof make a recount…they merely have one clip each left.
A burst of bullets bounces over the front of the first vehicle and Bradford and his men are shooting towards the hospital. Without a doubt they must have more than one floor occupied at the hospital. They travel the kilometer full speed regardless of the skidding and changes of direction. The second vehicle’s driver has even seen a tracer bullet going left to right in front of him. The militia men are starting to move towards the opposite side of the camp.
They are arriving to the entrance of Camp Golf, afraid that fire is going to come from the Hospital and the southeastern corner pining them before the reach the base perimeter. Then a VEC-25, a Spanish armored vehicle, speeds to reach them and cover them with its armor. The Spanish’s vehicle has two tires flatted by the shooting, but its canon is still at work and blows up a van from where they were going to be attacked. Bradford's two Hummves enter in Camp Golf and they watch an identical vehicle firing against the buses trying to unload militiamen on the other side…
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/7586/graficosatnajaf2da2.th.jpg (http://img257.imageshack.us/my.php?image=graficosatnajaf2da2.jpg)http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/29/graficosatelite1ic9.th.jpg (http://img294.imageshack.us/my.php?image=graficosatelite1ic9.jpg)http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/1331/graficosatelite2hv1.th.jpg (http://img257.imageshack.us/my.php?image=graficosatelite2hv1.jpg)http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/2734/graficosatelite3aw1.th.jpg (http://img513.imageshack.us/my.php?image=graficosatelite3aw1.jpg)