A Soldier Shares

I don't think it's possible to share something from a Soldier enough. Though their words can break our hearts and tear at our souls, they are the honest, every day experiences of those fighting the wars we can only read about safe at home.

The following comes from a man I greatly admire. As he states in his report, he grew up in post war Vietnam. He has grown up with the tragedy and aftermath of war before coming to the States and choosing to fight one. He is a truly inspirational person and someone I simply adore.

A place that I will always remember Personal background: I was the platoon leader for a Signal unit before participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom. All my knowledge in Signal assets came from various exercises in Germany and Poland. It was great experiences and helped me a lot since it built a good solid foundation for a Signal Officer getting ready for any future deployment. Being in a Long Haul platoon leader means that I have to be on the move at least sixty percent of my platoon leader time; therefore, it prepared me as well as all my fellow platoon leaders for any possible tasks. The Desert of Kuwait: On one night of March 2003, the main body of our Signal Battalion received its orders to fly to Kuwait. By late evening, the unit arrived at Kuwait International and finally set foot on Camp Pennsylvania. A week later, we finally arrived at Camp Virginia to join the rest of the Brigade and we were ready to get our equipment from the Port of Kuwait. Once all of our equipment was retrieved, the validating exercise commenced per order of our unit commander. On 19 March 2003, the ground war began that night, and the SCUD attacks also began… SCUD attacks: There is nothing more frustrating to Soldiers than the feeling of being a walking target. Everyone knows the enemy targeted us but the idea that the SCUDs would travel our way was not favored by the troops. One day, seventeen alarms went off, and at least ten of them, we knew were real. The indication that they were real was because the Patriot Batteries would fire and sometimes you could see the missiles intercept the targets in mid air… The most aggravating feeling was that wearing a protective mask really narrows down your vision, you’re feeling trapped most of the time in that tiny prison. We breathe pretty hard and try to not think. The problem began as you wait and continue to watch the sky, waiting for something to happen… Feeling Anger: On 23 March 2003, late evening, there were rumors that the Insurgents had attacked a lost convoy and executed prisoners. The next day, the news and Arab papers were filled with pictures of our dead while the Insurgents laughing and dancing. That enraged all of the troops within the Battalion. The news was they killed our troops and wore civilian clothes; one thing for sure, our troops were determined to go to war. On the evening of 27 March 2003, all troops received Ammo Basic load, with additional anti-tank weapons and we received our marching credit for the next day. It was the longest night I had experienced. I’ve been to war before in Vietnam before coming to the States, but this time, I’ll be attacking an enemy that had everything ready for me to walk into his home turf. One thing for sure, it won’t be a cake walk like everyone said. Crossing into Iraq, 28 March 2003 (or is it 30 March 2003) and arrived to Baghdad. On 28/30 0530 MAR 03, the battalion began its march into Iraq. The instruction to us was that we support Division Rear, 3rd Infantry Division. We would travel approximately 120 miles the first day. Along the way, the sight of war was definitely devastating. The Republican Guard units and the foreign fighters put up a lot of resistance along Highway 8 toward Baghdad. Charred remains of enemy T-55 and T-72 tanks were still smoking as the battles were just concluded momentarily before we arrived. Sometimes, enemy dead lay scattered right next to their vehicles. That night we arrived at Objective Adder. The next morning, prior to moving out, our movement was delayed because the Iraqis tried to overrun Objective Adder. Cobra and Apache gun-ships coordinated with ground units to counter attack. We received orders to move out while the battle raged on. The Battalion moved slowly into Talil Airbase as it had just been taken by Coalition Forces. Charred remains of enemy soldiers and equipment again littered the battlefield, along the road and around the airfield. V Corps TOC moved into Talil and set encampment there. During the course of this action, enemy forces tried to retake Talil with disastrous results. More wreckages and fresh burning vehicles lit up the night sky. From our position, we could see illuminated rounds from the M2 Bradley engaging enemy targets. It was a one way fight; the Iraqi finally gave up and abandoned their dead during the night. The next morning, we received orders to continue our march again. As the Battalion moved closer to Karbala, we had to stop due to the city had not been secured. Enemy prisoners of war were rushing to the rear area as U.S. armor unit engaged the remnant of the Iraqi Medina Division. The next day, to take Karbala, units from 3rd ID and 101st Div began their assault. It was a real firework alright! The 101st did a massive air assault ahead of the tanks and infantry of 3rd ID. It took an entire day and night of grueling combat but Karbala was finally secured. By 7Apr03, the Battalion finally stopped approximately eighteen miles from Baghdad. Two days later, 9Apr03, we received the news that Baghdad had fallen to Coalition Forces and by 1May03, combat operations was declared over. The signs of war: Nothing can sink a person’s heart more than seeing civilian’s suffering during human conflict. While I was visiting a Combat Surgery Hospital unit or stopped at the town of Al Hilla, I can never forget a little girl’s face as she was transported in by a Medivac badly burned or a glimpse of the bodies buried in one of Saddam’s mass graves. For people who asked if they trained terrorists? They did, our sister units found terrorist training sites with weapon cache ready to use against Coalition Forces scattered throughout their Area of Operation. You can receive anything from training, how to shoot a rifle to patch up a chest wound. For me, nothing prepared me to look into the eyes of the innocents, killed by their own government in order to stay in power. All the civilians admitted at the CSH were shot by the Iraqi as they tried to escape toward Coalition lines. News and Media: There is nothing more hateful to me than watching the news and their bulletin all the time on the TV. They did not show any progress of our troops’ contribution to the reconstruction of the country of Iraq. All the time, they were “sharp shooting” our effort by just plain displaying all the negative aspect of the war. Of course, they were very quick to arrive to film an explosion or demonstration but never once, arrived to film a soldier carrying mattresses to a school dormitory and they were never there to see one of my fellow officer giving clothes and toys out of her own pocket to a poor family in Baghdad. Insurgent Attack: Although as a Signaleer, I was also subjected to many of the dangers in and around Baghdad. Sometimes, we had to travel some considerable distance on escort missions, re-supply and occasionally even cleared our own areas of hostile forces. At first, the Feedayens were pretty poorly trained with their weapons. They often attacked us with RPGs and small arms fire. The RPGs often missed our HMMWVs. At one time, they attempted to throw an IED into our convoy but the IED rolled off one of our HMMWV’s hood and very luckily no one was hurt. We did return fire when fired upon but the majority of the time the targets were obscured by housing structures or civilians which made the processes of target identification and engaging almost impossible. KIA: No one in the platoon would ever forget 5Dec03. As I got off nightshift and ready to go back to my tent, SPC Cl. my former driver from B Co came into the Battalion TOC. We exchanged a brief conversation and he went on a convoy to downtown Baghdad. That night, when I came on shift, there was a report posted on the secure net stating that our unit sustained one KIA… It was Cl. The vehicle he was in got struck by an IED on the driver side and hit him with shrapnel. He was twenty years old. There is nothing harder than to have to write a letter to the next of kin of a KIA Soldier. I didn’t have to but Cl was with me, side by side and shared a fox hole from the beginning of the war. I wrote to his mother and it was the most difficult thing that I ever had to do. The Final Note: For all I know, our Battalion made the drive over 500 miles into Iraq during Combat Operation with no serious incident. We successfully contributed to one of the most complicated Tactical Networks assembled in the Gulf and supported the War-fighters. Because of this action, our Coalition Soldiers achieved the ultimate goal: to remove Saddam Hussein and his regime and free Iraq and we did just that. I returned to the world as we passed the 1st CAV DIV guys at Kuwait International Airport. Like us, they will experience the horror of war and a year long away from loved ones. As we return home, each one of us who experiences war completely change… We became mature beyond our years. That one country with the side of Texas in the Middle-east will forever be a part of us. Of course, back home, the civilian population will never know what we had been through, because they don’t want to know and they don’t care. As for the guys, even though we haven’t seen each other since we last met, we still share that common bond. We took care of each other in the most adverse conditions, and danger in war; I could trust and count on each and every one of them with my life.