War Interupts my Vacation

5 troops hurt in Iraq checkpoint bombing

By Kim Gamel - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jan 30, 2008 12:03:22 EST

BAGHDAD — A bomb exploded at a checkpoint Tuesday in Baghdad, wounding five American soldiers and three civilians, the U.S. military said. Iraqi officials claimed it was a suicide bombing and said two people were killed.
The attack occurred just after noon as women were being searched before being allowed to enter a commercial street in the predominantly Sunni Amariyah neighborhood in southwest Baghdad, according to a local police official and an Iraqi army officer.
Navy Cmdr. Scott Rye, a U.S. military spokesman, said initial reporting indicated it was not a suicide attack but a bomb that was left at the checkpoint and later detonated. He said no deaths were reported, but five soldiers and three civilians were wounded.

So now you know how my last few days have been…
I’ll spare you the details, but my patrol was hit by an IED that wounded five of the eight of us on the ground. Myself, SGT McPherson, and PFC Le (Thank God he was OK, he was our Medic) were all uninjured. Wounded in the attack were SPC Watson, SPC Gucwa, SPC Griffen, CPL Edwards (a Delta Company attachment), and PV2 Collins. They are all OK, but some are out of the fight for good. I expect SPC Gucwa and CPL Edwards to be back within three weeks and SPC Griffen to be back in three months. SPC Watson and PV2 Collins may or may not return to us. In any case everyone still has all of their body parts and is in good spirits.
As for myself, I was hit in the butt and arm by flying debris, but I am fine. I hope that nothing I did or failed to do led to this, but all I can do is keep doing the best I can do. I was so very impressed by the actions of all of my guys, especially Le and McPherson on the ground. We were very, very fortunate that no one was killed. The IED was composed of explosives surrounded by steel ball bearings. When it exploded it sent the giant BBs flying through the air at us. It is normally a directional weapon, meaning it is designed to send the BBs in a general direction rather than just in every direction. For a multitude of reasons this ended up being a good thing and nearly all of the wounds were to the legs. This type of IED is incredibly lethal against unarmored targets, but due to the circular shape of the BBs doesn’t penetrate armor very well. Still, all of the wounded had at least one BB lodged into them, and the doctors left most of them in. I’m not sure how they’ll get through the metal detectors at airports, but thank god that may be the only long lasting problem they have from this.
In any case, we soldier on. Less than 24 hours later McPherson and I were back on the ground in that exact same spot securing the checkpoint again. That which does not kill us makes us stronger and I think my PLT (and of course myself) will be stronger and better prepared to avoid any other potentially deadly attacks against us in the future.

Adam