Whisper
12-15-2005, 12:25 PM
Thought I would post this for you guys, it's from a friend of mine i served with in the Nebraska National Guard. We were in the LRSD (Airborne) unit together back when i was a lowly E-1 and he was a mere E-4. I'm out now, and came out as an officer, but he stayed in. Heres his latest news from Iraq.
I hope your ready for this...
On December 9th, I got another piece of shrapnel in my leg, but we kicked the insurgents in the nuts! The Marines control that area and they couldn't handle it, so they called for us to recover that vehicle; they were bitchin' the whole time! The whole time they were watching insurgents throw Molotov cocktails at the vehicle. Which a picture of it burning was on Yahoo News by that night. Link to the pic on Yahoo News http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/051210/ids_photos_india_wl/ra1951486497.jpg
I'll tell you what exactly happened from my point of view. We knew when we got the call to go recover it that it was going to be a hot area. So, I had everyone that was going to dismount get a full combat load of hand grenades, smoke, and flash bangs. We also plused up the platoon with Headquarters and two people from Second Platoon. When we got there we were going to dismount and clear buildings on either side. We had two teams dismount to clear the area of any insurgents. One team went to the North and my team went to the South. As we started to clear the buildings to the south we started to get small arms fire from the north were our other team was. They couldn't see it but was able to stop them from firing on us. After it was all over, we didn't even know we were being fired on. That's because our other team did there job and did it well. We came to our third building to clear and it was like a two-story mini-mall. With several of unfinished shops. We couldn't find the stairs and we need to clear that second level. I pulled out a hand grenade and had everyone take cover. I pulled the pin and I had a death grip on the hand grenade. I have never thrown a live grenade in combat. Needless to say I was a little nervous, especially throwing it above my head. When I threw it, everyone else was a little nervous also. Everyone for about a second thought the spoon was the grenade but it wasn't. The grenade went to the second floor and exploded in it's intended spot. We continued to move down the corridor and came to a "T" intersection. We had insurgents to our left down another corridor and I had SPC Munoz shoot a M203 HE (High Explosive) round at the store fronts. At the same time, we got attacked from my rear. To my rear was SSG G, SGT O, PFC S. Which was an open wall that faced an open field and the road that was south of the down vehicle. At that moment we either got hit by a hand grenade or an RPG. Not really sure. I just know that SGT O and I got hit with shrapnel. At first I didn't know I was hit. I just thought something hit me in the leg. My shin felt like it was on fire and numb. Almost like a bad sunburn. I didn't see any hole in the pant leg or blood so I thought I was good to go. At the same time I was checking my self over, SGT O was yelling that he got hit. SSG G and SPC M checked him out and saw nothing either. Then they saw insurgents on a roof top to our north (across the road were Alpha Section was). SSG G told SPC M to fire another M203 HE round at them. SPC M killed them all. SGT O yelled that he was bleeding and needed to be extracted. We still couldn't find an entry wound but you can't argue the fact that he was bleeding. I tried to radio back that I was coming out of our area to take SGT O to our medic. I couldn't reach anyone, damn ICOMs. I then noticed a break in a wall back to our vehicle and I asked SGT O if he could walk. He held on to my shoulder until I got him to the medic. This all took about 15-20 min. I then looked to see if I could link back up with my section. They were moving back to the road and I was able to run up to them. They were about 100 m from the vehicle. As we got to the next corner which was only 50 meters from were I linked up with them. PFC S, who was on point, told SPC M, that he notice wires coming out of some rubble. SPC M without thinking grabbed his knife and cut the wires to the IED before the Insurgents could ignite it. At the same time Alpha Section was moving along the North side of the road and ran into rockets pointed at the road (obviously to hit a convoy). SGT D destroyed the Senao base station by shooting it. Both sections were then able to cross the road and secure the disabled vehicle site. EOD was then brought up to make sure the site was clear of any other IEDs. We then had the recovery vehicles move up to us and start hooking the down vehicle up. My section was able to secure a strong point in a store right in front of the disabled vehicle. Alpha Section was able to secure a bank, after they had to blow the doors off to get in. They noticed that the vaults had chains with a padlock on them. They didn't have time to search the area and pushed the information on the radio for the Marines to come back and check them out for possible weapons/explosive cache (LT pushed this to the BDE S2). All the buildings that we cleared were suppose to be empty but we all found evidence of people sleeping there. Alpha Section found a hide with Molotov c***tails and a fuel can. SGT D dumped the fuel out and later regreted not setting it ablaze. After we were secure in our building, my shin started to throb and hurt and was then able to sit down and check my shin. My sock was soaked in blood and I could see an entrance wound. I was still able to walk and waited until the medic got closer before I went to the vehicle. EOD came to our location to make sure the IED the SPC Muoz cut the wires to was truly disabled. PFC S took up near side security and I took up far side security on the road and SPC M showed EOD were the IED was located. Yes, I had to cross a known danger area of the road and go back to the way we just came. There were several males down the street but were unarmed. We were told not fire upon them, just observe them .Once we had that intersection secured we brought up the rest of the vehicles and I was able to see the medic. The medic checked out my leg and confirmed that there was a piece of shrapnel in there still but would not be able to do anything until we got back to base. SGT O was able to rejoin the fight so I took him back with me to pull far security until we pulled out. Once the vehicle was hooked up we pulled it back to base. I saw the Doctor and once I pull up my pant leg and pulled down my sock, the piece of shrapnel came out. The only thing the Doctor and I could figure out is, out in the field when the medic was trying to push it out like a zit the medic must have dislodged it enough and with me running and jumping that it got caught on the sock and when I pulled it down the sock pulled it out. Freaky! So, now I have two pieces of shrapnel. SGT O's shrapnel is lodged in his leg about 3 inches. They were unable to remove it for fear of doing more damage to the tissue. So he know has a piece of shrapnel in his leg. Hopefully someday it will work it's way out.
Were told later that night in our leaders meeting that people were talking about what the CAV did in Ramadi. They were glad someone was finally able to put it to the insurgents and make that area a little safer.
As you can see I have been a little busy since my last e-mail! I now have been put in for two Purple Hearts. I'll wait to see if they get approved. An update to my shrapnel wound. I went back to the Doctor yesterday and I have nerve damage that extends from the wound to just below the ankle. Right now it's numb and I have no feeling in that area. The doctor said it would take several months for the nerves to grow back, Great!
Later,
Name Withheld for PERSEC
I hope your ready for this...
On December 9th, I got another piece of shrapnel in my leg, but we kicked the insurgents in the nuts! The Marines control that area and they couldn't handle it, so they called for us to recover that vehicle; they were bitchin' the whole time! The whole time they were watching insurgents throw Molotov cocktails at the vehicle. Which a picture of it burning was on Yahoo News by that night. Link to the pic on Yahoo News http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/051210/ids_photos_india_wl/ra1951486497.jpg
I'll tell you what exactly happened from my point of view. We knew when we got the call to go recover it that it was going to be a hot area. So, I had everyone that was going to dismount get a full combat load of hand grenades, smoke, and flash bangs. We also plused up the platoon with Headquarters and two people from Second Platoon. When we got there we were going to dismount and clear buildings on either side. We had two teams dismount to clear the area of any insurgents. One team went to the North and my team went to the South. As we started to clear the buildings to the south we started to get small arms fire from the north were our other team was. They couldn't see it but was able to stop them from firing on us. After it was all over, we didn't even know we were being fired on. That's because our other team did there job and did it well. We came to our third building to clear and it was like a two-story mini-mall. With several of unfinished shops. We couldn't find the stairs and we need to clear that second level. I pulled out a hand grenade and had everyone take cover. I pulled the pin and I had a death grip on the hand grenade. I have never thrown a live grenade in combat. Needless to say I was a little nervous, especially throwing it above my head. When I threw it, everyone else was a little nervous also. Everyone for about a second thought the spoon was the grenade but it wasn't. The grenade went to the second floor and exploded in it's intended spot. We continued to move down the corridor and came to a "T" intersection. We had insurgents to our left down another corridor and I had SPC Munoz shoot a M203 HE (High Explosive) round at the store fronts. At the same time, we got attacked from my rear. To my rear was SSG G, SGT O, PFC S. Which was an open wall that faced an open field and the road that was south of the down vehicle. At that moment we either got hit by a hand grenade or an RPG. Not really sure. I just know that SGT O and I got hit with shrapnel. At first I didn't know I was hit. I just thought something hit me in the leg. My shin felt like it was on fire and numb. Almost like a bad sunburn. I didn't see any hole in the pant leg or blood so I thought I was good to go. At the same time I was checking my self over, SGT O was yelling that he got hit. SSG G and SPC M checked him out and saw nothing either. Then they saw insurgents on a roof top to our north (across the road were Alpha Section was). SSG G told SPC M to fire another M203 HE round at them. SPC M killed them all. SGT O yelled that he was bleeding and needed to be extracted. We still couldn't find an entry wound but you can't argue the fact that he was bleeding. I tried to radio back that I was coming out of our area to take SGT O to our medic. I couldn't reach anyone, damn ICOMs. I then noticed a break in a wall back to our vehicle and I asked SGT O if he could walk. He held on to my shoulder until I got him to the medic. This all took about 15-20 min. I then looked to see if I could link back up with my section. They were moving back to the road and I was able to run up to them. They were about 100 m from the vehicle. As we got to the next corner which was only 50 meters from were I linked up with them. PFC S, who was on point, told SPC M, that he notice wires coming out of some rubble. SPC M without thinking grabbed his knife and cut the wires to the IED before the Insurgents could ignite it. At the same time Alpha Section was moving along the North side of the road and ran into rockets pointed at the road (obviously to hit a convoy). SGT D destroyed the Senao base station by shooting it. Both sections were then able to cross the road and secure the disabled vehicle site. EOD was then brought up to make sure the site was clear of any other IEDs. We then had the recovery vehicles move up to us and start hooking the down vehicle up. My section was able to secure a strong point in a store right in front of the disabled vehicle. Alpha Section was able to secure a bank, after they had to blow the doors off to get in. They noticed that the vaults had chains with a padlock on them. They didn't have time to search the area and pushed the information on the radio for the Marines to come back and check them out for possible weapons/explosive cache (LT pushed this to the BDE S2). All the buildings that we cleared were suppose to be empty but we all found evidence of people sleeping there. Alpha Section found a hide with Molotov c***tails and a fuel can. SGT D dumped the fuel out and later regreted not setting it ablaze. After we were secure in our building, my shin started to throb and hurt and was then able to sit down and check my shin. My sock was soaked in blood and I could see an entrance wound. I was still able to walk and waited until the medic got closer before I went to the vehicle. EOD came to our location to make sure the IED the SPC Muoz cut the wires to was truly disabled. PFC S took up near side security and I took up far side security on the road and SPC M showed EOD were the IED was located. Yes, I had to cross a known danger area of the road and go back to the way we just came. There were several males down the street but were unarmed. We were told not fire upon them, just observe them .Once we had that intersection secured we brought up the rest of the vehicles and I was able to see the medic. The medic checked out my leg and confirmed that there was a piece of shrapnel in there still but would not be able to do anything until we got back to base. SGT O was able to rejoin the fight so I took him back with me to pull far security until we pulled out. Once the vehicle was hooked up we pulled it back to base. I saw the Doctor and once I pull up my pant leg and pulled down my sock, the piece of shrapnel came out. The only thing the Doctor and I could figure out is, out in the field when the medic was trying to push it out like a zit the medic must have dislodged it enough and with me running and jumping that it got caught on the sock and when I pulled it down the sock pulled it out. Freaky! So, now I have two pieces of shrapnel. SGT O's shrapnel is lodged in his leg about 3 inches. They were unable to remove it for fear of doing more damage to the tissue. So he know has a piece of shrapnel in his leg. Hopefully someday it will work it's way out.
Were told later that night in our leaders meeting that people were talking about what the CAV did in Ramadi. They were glad someone was finally able to put it to the insurgents and make that area a little safer.
As you can see I have been a little busy since my last e-mail! I now have been put in for two Purple Hearts. I'll wait to see if they get approved. An update to my shrapnel wound. I went back to the Doctor yesterday and I have nerve damage that extends from the wound to just below the ankle. Right now it's numb and I have no feeling in that area. The doctor said it would take several months for the nerves to grow back, Great!
Later,
Name Withheld for PERSEC