On the 30th of March 2003, I touched down in the DoD contracted 747 in Kuwait City, Kuwait with my unit, part of the 4th Infantry Division. We were among the first ones in after the whole "coming in from the North through Turkey" thing fell through. I was the platoon leader of a Paladin Platoon, commanding 3 Howitzers, 3 ammo track vehicles, and 25 soldiers including my Platoon Sergeant, (Smoke as we call them in the Artillery). We crossed the line into Iraq on the 12th of April, 2003 as our unit and the rest of the Division fought our way past the 3rd Infantry that stopped their advancement in Baghdad.
We managed not to take any casualties up until that point as we finally set into our base camp later known as FOB Arrow, south of Tikrit in a little town called Ad Dawr. The very same Ad Dawr where Saddam was captured. Our missions changed from Artillery to Infantry almost overnight. My platoon began setting up check points, doing raids on suspected insurgents' locations, and pretty much every other infantry related mission that we hadn't trained for. I formed a raid team in my Platoon and used my former law enforcement experience show them how to take down a building. The first time my team raided an objective, we didn't raid the building, we served them a felony search warrant.
One day in July, after changing command to another job, I found myself on a Civil Affairs team, working to win the hearts and minds of the very same people whose doors I had kicked in the week before. None the less, I did the job I was called to do and took over the tasks of rebuilding the local Police, and Fire Departments. We were doing a pretty good job, rebuilding the town's schools, water and sewage plants, restocking hospitals with medication and turning the tape around. September 27th 2003 is the day that will ring out in my mind forever; that was four days after we were issued our new Up-Armored Hmmwv's; that was the day the IED hit my vehicle.
Our Civil Affairs team was attending a meeting North of Tikrit at the major regional refinery to try and sort out the gas shortage to our town. On the way back to camp my vehicle was hit, the blast shattered both side windows, and blew out both tires. I was sitting in the gunners hatch and the metal fragmentation became shrapnel that caught me in the legs and the face and blew out both my eardrums. It blew out both the tires on the blast side and destroyed the Hmmwv's armor. I was promptly MEDIVAC'ed through Germany to the US, for rehab. I spent about 3 months in Physical Therapy trying to get my hearing back, and the strength back into my leg.
Last December (2004) I medically separated from the Army, I never fully recovered from my Combat wounds and decided that if I didn't have the strength to be a soldier any more, it was wrong to fake it. Everything eventually worked out for me, god definitely had a bigger plan in mind. I am now engaged and getting married in August, bought my first home on some acreage, and work as a defense contractor on high tech Army equipment, (I finally get to use that Management Information Systems degree I never got to use as an Artilleryman in the Army). I look back at the course my life took over the last few years and I have no regrets. I now live my life like a man who has been close to death, something that I hope you never have to experience. I wake up and remind myself that today is the first day of the rest of my life, and life is definitely too short for dumb stuff. Remember that and the rest of the world's problems become insignificant. Take it from someone who knows.
"Don't tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results."
-GEN. George S. Patton
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