laserspeeddemon
20+ Year Contributor
- 6,717
- 61
- Jul 26, 2002
-
Fredericksburg,
Virginia
Usually I would post something like this in the blog. I have been behind on keeping my blog up to date. Truth be told, I have just been lazy. I have some that I started to type on MS Word, but never really had the motivation to finish. But this story... this is one that I feel like getting off my chest. And my wife reads my blogs, but very rare does she go into the forums. So today I'm putting it in the Hangout.
I got word from the First Sergeant that they needed another body for a mission. We were going up to the Sub-governors office (if you can call it that) to aid the Afghan National Police (ANP). I was already told that some of the ANP is Taliban, even some of the higher officials are thought to be Taliban. Nonetheless we still have to help them, unless someone finds hardcore evidence linking them to terrorist activity. It gets worse. The Sub governors office for this district is in the middle of some mountains. There is only one road to this place.
I get my gear ready and pack up the night before as usual. I wake the next morning and when I suit up and meet at our staging point. When I arrive 5 HMMWV are already idling. We get out briefing, its the same one we always get save a few details. I start getting an uneasy feeling. For the first time ever, I felt a little anxious. I couldn't explain it, it was just like I didn't want to go on this mission, I didn't know why. I ignore my gut feeling, saying that would have only resulted in humiliation as the guys poke fun at me. I mount up. I am the rear drive side passenger in the 4th vehicle. We roll out through ECP3. As we hit the open country I keep my eyes wide open for anything and everything that moves or doesn't move. We come to the foothills right before the mountains. We pass through the village. There are adults running away from us and kids standing by the road begging for food. We just roll on by, as stopping makes us an easy target. It is also a known tactic for the Taliban to use the kids to stop us and then detonate an IED.
We are about 30-40 minutes into the road. We see the second village coming near. Someone said something about it over the radio, I didn't catch what they said. I peer out the passenger side window and see the village. Mud walls, mud structure and whole lot of rocks. As we get close to the center of the village, the mud structures get closer to the road, but are still a few hundred meters away. I hear vehicle one come over the radio, saying they spotted something on the road, but it keeps going. I turn my head forward, then suddenly. THOOOOOM!!!! A huge concussion wave rocks my body. It steals the very air from my lungs. It felt like it was us that got hit. The inside of the HMMWV was thick with dusty air. I could barely see anything. I was slightly disoriented. My intentional reflex was to get out of the vehicle. I reached for the door handle, but stopped and thought about the consequences of that. As I regain my composure, I hear yelling coming over the COMMS. "VEHICLE TWO IS HIT!!! VEHICLE TWO IS HIT!!!!" The convoy commander (in vehicle 3) directs 1 to draw back and check for survivors. Vehicle 3 pulls forward to provide cover and we pull close to the group to provide additional security. The vehicle commander (TC) instructs us to check for a secondary device I look 5 meters out, next we are supposed to do a 25 meter check outside the vehicle and under the vehicle. But before we open the door the TC screams "WATCH FOR AN AMBUSH!!!!" I gazed outside. I could feel them. I couldn't see them, but I knew they were there. I could feel it in my heart. I step out and immediately check under the vehicle. I walk about 5 meters out and do a sweep for any secondary devices. I couldn't had been outside the track fore a full minute when suddenly I hear a terrifying sound. It was a distant "TT-TT-TT-TT-TT" I fall back to the truck and charge the weapon putting a round into the chamber. The fire was not coming from my side, the nearest structure on my side was over 500m away, maybe about 700m at most. I looked through the window. There was some mud structures less then 200m away on the passenger side. I didn't have my headset on (as it plugs into the vehicle). So I didn't hear what was going on. But I hear the screaming. CONTACT 3'O CLOCK. I hear our gunners open up. 2 .50 Cals and 1 M240B starting sending a sh*t ton of rounds away. The SGT who got outside the passenger side comes running around the back of the HMMWV. "AH SHIT! F*CK!! SHIT F*CK." The bullets were dancing all around him apparently. I screamed "ARE YOU HIT?!?" "No" "THEN SHOOT BACK" But it was utter chaos. I wanted to get back into the 4" think steel plated vehicle. I assessed the situation. Vehicle 2 seemed to be disabled. I didn't know if anyone was injured. 1 is pressed up against 2. 3 directly to the left of them providing cover (but on the wrong side). 5 was pulling rear security and we were kinda just providing extra fire power. I looked through our HMMWV. I could see fire coming from the windows of the mud structures. Then suddenly I saw a muzzle flash closer maybe 90-100m out from the road. The little f*cker was hiding behind a little hill of dirt that looked like he dug up over night. I watched another time so I could pin point where he was. It was pretty easy. My 240 gunner in the truck was shooting all around him. Once I did that I waited a second after he ducked. Then I swung around the front of the truck, I rest the Bi-pod of my weapon on the hood of the truck. My face was close to the glass. I aimed my CCO right above the hill he was hiding behind. I saw him pop up again. The red dot was already on him when he rose up again. I think he saw me, because he didn't even fire a round. The dot was centered on his chest. I squeezed the trigger. He just popped up and popped back down. The round clipped him right in the face as he was starting to duck.The whole right side of his face exploded away. It wasn't like I thought it would be. I thought the first time I killed someone. Everything would be in slow motion and I would stare at the body. I didn't have time for that. I swung back around to the side of the truck switching my weapon back to safe. I watched again. I didn't see any near fire. The rest was coming from the structures. I was sure I saw more fire closer. Either they were afraid of the man with the skull mask that just blew away someones face or my gunners took them out. Either way, I still needed to provide fire. I looked through the windows again. I could hear the rounds whizzing over the truck (these guys are horrible shots). I saw a window from a structure with muzzle flash coming from it. I swung back around the front of the truck and fired at the window. I'm not sure I hit this guy, but as I watched the window, no more fire was coming from it. I selected the next target. Another window. I saw it fire twice, but I still couldn't get a fix which side of the window it was coming from. Before I could get another round off. The gunner yelled "GET IN THE TRUCK!!!" I opened the door and grabbed the SGT that was cowering on my side (he never even loaded his weapon) by the shoulder strap off his body armor and shoved him in the HMMWV, I started to get in and pushed the coward over the middle divider as he wanted to take his time. I hopped in and slammed the door shut. I look forward and see 1 pulling away followed by 2. 3 falls in line and we follow. I couldn't help looking at the crater. It was a good 50m away from where truck was disabled. We get to the Sub-governors office and we hop out. Some of us are shaken up. I actually didn't feel anything. I didn't seem to care. That actually disturbed me more then anything else; the fact that I didn't care that I took a life. I walk over to vehicle 2. They were all laughing and joking. The windshield had damage and the passenger side tire was blown out. They were already changing it out. The TC for my vehicle walks over to me and put his hand on my shoulder. "You did good, Champ!" And then walks away. After it was all said and done, I found out what happened. Vehicle one spotted a circular object on the side of the ride. It detonated WAY in front of vehicle two, but it caused it to stall. The driver was disoriented and couldn't get it to start because it was still in drive. The man I shot was probably the one who detonated the IED. None of the gunners spotted anyone else that was close. I was probably still disoriented from the blast and couldn't tell that the fire was coming from the structures not the actually the mounds closer. The gunners destroyed the structures with an ungodly amount of rounds, but everyone was talking about the head shot. Some of the other guys tried to claim it. I didn't say anything at all. The driver of my vehicle told the group he watched my shoot him in front of him. He said he watched the guy pop up, heard me fire and then watched the guys head "pop like a pimple." After we finished out mission. We returned back to base. Thankfully it was an uneventful trip. When we got back, word got around quick that I took someones head off. The Company Commander made me go talk to the Chaplin. I didn't care to much to talk. I just did what I was trained to do. I didn't think about it nor did I see it as taking a life, it was much like killing a gnat. Also the unit took my camera and videos and screened them. That pretty much told me that I can't keep any of it, because it displayed battle damage assessment.
I hope I can sleep. It's 1AM and I still have a lot of adrenaline pumping right now.
that is scary as shit.. 
