A Day in Iraq
By CSM Clifford
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Here's the latest report of my travels throughout the Iraqi Theater of Operations.
The big news is still the great work our EOD soldiers are doing to rid the country
of hazardous explosive ordnance. I specifically observed the EOD Company from Fort
Lewis perform a removal and destruction of SA-2 Surface to Air Missiles from a
Baghdad neighborhood. We're also assisted by engineers that do the heavy lifting,
and Navy EOD technicians. Unfortunately, I was unable to get shots of the explosion
because of the terrain. I plan to see this operation again in the future and hope
to get photos then as we'll probably be on a different, more photographer friendly,
demolition site. While in Baghdad we saw the Jordanian Embassy bombing as it was
only a few miles from us. It was quite large as I'm sure you've seen on TV. I
assumed it was just a demo shot so I didn't take any photos of the cloud. I later
learned that I was wrong. Next time I'm taking pictures of everything. Also, we
were subject to harassment firing while the soldiers worked on the SA-2s. This
type of firing happens all the time and consists of unseen smart asses firing their
weapons up in the air just to see us react. After the first couple of shots nobody
even looks up anymore, leaving it to the security forces to handle. Just another
thing that makes this deployment so interesting.
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Here are a few pictures from the Baghdad area where the troops were working. I
included the picture of myself so you could see the mosque in the background.
The GIs call this the 'Mother of All Mosques.' Iraqis have told the soldiers that
Saddam built it in '91 in celebration of the Iraq victory over America. I guess
his next mosque will be really big.
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Finally, after the operation we were targeted by an IED as we were heading back
to the 3ID Ord Bn's headquarters. The Group Commander and some staff officers of
the 3ID were traveling in the second vehicle in line. I was right behind in the
third vehicle along with two Group HQ soldiers and another 3ID Ord Bn soldier.
The IED detonated just to the rear and about three feet to the right of the
commander's vehicle. The detonation was about 20 feet in front of me. Most of
us, who were there, suspect that there was about a pound of explosives. Not a
huge bomb but enough to kill, if detonated just right. As the explosion
completely obscured my view of the road in front we slammed to a halt and
reversed rather quickly. How our driver didn't hit vehicles behind us I'll
never know. After exiting the vehicle and setting up security, three of us
entered the smoke shrouded kill zone to check for casualties. We immediately
realized that the vehicle was not disabled and had departed the area. Since no
radio communications were answered, we moved the convoy forward at a high rate
of speed, catching the first two vehicles about a mile up the road. At this
point there were some civilians about so we blocked the road and drew down on
anything moving but fortunately no shooting was necessary. At that point I
learned that the Group Commander was wounded in the arm and was receiving first
aid. Later he received a few stitches. Although his arm is sore, his wound is
relatively minor. Fortunately the timing of the bomber was just a little off.
A second either way and it might have been a much different story for either
the Group Commander or myself, and those traveling with us.
A few thoughts about this incident: First, our training kicked in automatically.
A few words or a gesture to our soldiers was all it took to get them posted in
the right positions. All those 'unrealistic' ARTEP scenarios turned out to be
pretty realistic after all. Even during the event I thought, 'this is just like
an ARTEP.' Our soldiers (EOD and support soldiers alike) responded like machines.
They did not hesitate or shrink from danger at any point. The same cannot be said
for most of the other soldiers. Had the IED been followed up by an ambush we would
have been in trouble because at that point it would have been about four of us
against the world. I didn't see too many other soldiers in the other half dozen
vehicles or so even getting out of your vehicles. By the time the other soldiers
would have gotten in gear we might have had more casualties. The bottom line is
that individual training, no matter how hokey it may seem, is important. Do not
take short cuts or assume that 'this will never happen' because it just might.
Soldiers do perform as they are trained. Sometimes, the boring, repetitive
training is the most important training. I do not mean to criticize other soldiers,
only to emphasize the importance of routine training to save lives.
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