Thursday, April 29, 2004
A Concerted Attack?
A guy was killed today when he attempted to run the check point. The tales begins when the LT and I responded to a car accident just North of the over pass. After we got the medic up there, a car ran the East checkpoint going West. It got radioed to us and we told the guys on the West to stop the car. All doubt about how to do that was removed when the guy accelerated and fired on the Soldiers tasked with stopping it. About a dozen guys fired back, killing the guy and setting the car on fire. A few seconds later, we took fire on the overpass from about 150 meters inside the city. We returned fire, but it was just another hit and run. Now, ever since people have known that I was coming over here, I’ve been given some advice again and again, “Keep your head down.” If I knew that this was more than just a hackneyed expression, perhaps I would have given it a little more thought: after a dozen rounds went off, LT yelled, “Judge, get your head down.” Now, I wasn’t like Navin R. Johnson staring at what he thought were defective oils cans. But even in the confusion of who was shooting and from where, I could have down it from a more protected place. I’ll try to follow such advice in the future.
The real hero was the medic, who, when the firing began, risked his life to move his Iraqi patient out of danger. The up armored humvees performed well: bullets scratched the paint but didn’t dent the armor – everybody’s got to remember to close the door, though. We don’t know if the check point runner and the shooters from the city were connected, and we don’t think the car accident was part of the attack, since some people were pretty screwed up and both of the cars there remained after the accident (plus they didn’t try to put a bullet in us when the shooting started). It was strange that soon after the incident the checkpoint called us to let us know there was an ambulance on the way to pick up the remains. I’ve heard that care for the remains of deceased Muslims is important, but I was surprised that it was such a priority - you can’t get an ambulance for living people around here. As they pulled up, I held my SAW at the high ready position just in case they were in on it too, but they were legit.
A guy was killed today when he attempted to run the check point. The tales begins when the LT and I responded to a car accident just North of the over pass. After we got the medic up there, a car ran the East checkpoint going West. It got radioed to us and we told the guys on the West to stop the car. All doubt about how to do that was removed when the guy accelerated and fired on the Soldiers tasked with stopping it. About a dozen guys fired back, killing the guy and setting the car on fire. A few seconds later, we took fire on the overpass from about 150 meters inside the city. We returned fire, but it was just another hit and run. Now, ever since people have known that I was coming over here, I’ve been given some advice again and again, “Keep your head down.” If I knew that this was more than just a hackneyed expression, perhaps I would have given it a little more thought: after a dozen rounds went off, LT yelled, “Judge, get your head down.” Now, I wasn’t like Navin R. Johnson staring at what he thought were defective oils cans. But even in the confusion of who was shooting and from where, I could have down it from a more protected place. I’ll try to follow such advice in the future.
The real hero was the medic, who, when the firing began, risked his life to move his Iraqi patient out of danger. The up armored humvees performed well: bullets scratched the paint but didn’t dent the armor – everybody’s got to remember to close the door, though. We don’t know if the check point runner and the shooters from the city were connected, and we don’t think the car accident was part of the attack, since some people were pretty screwed up and both of the cars there remained after the accident (plus they didn’t try to put a bullet in us when the shooting started). It was strange that soon after the incident the checkpoint called us to let us know there was an ambulance on the way to pick up the remains. I’ve heard that care for the remains of deceased Muslims is important, but I was surprised that it was such a priority - you can’t get an ambulance for living people around here. As they pulled up, I held my SAW at the high ready position just in case they were in on it too, but they were legit.
