Al doura part 2

TIME TO FIGHT

 0300 hrs Oct. 5th 2007. It was dark, but the early morning darkness was lit like the 4th of July. IED’s ignited and exploded on the sidewalks and streets. I never thought I’d see it rain asphalt before. Rocket propelled grenades screamed down the road, and over head. Ak47 tracers zinging through the air slamming into our buildings. It made concrete walls look like paper mache’ . Mortar strikes dropped on top of us and in the streets.  We were fighting for our lives and for one another.
     1300 hrs, most have run out of water, exhausted, tired, and scared. It was about 120 degrees in the afternoon. We’ve cleared over 20 city blocks by now. Everyone was fine, some close calls but noone got hurt. We just finished clearing a big apartment building. 1st platoon was almost at their limit of advance to finish the day and set up security. A lot of the fire we were taking earlier had calm down now.

     We walked from that apartment building to the next. 3rd squad the squad I was in, headed to our last building on the street corner. My squad leader had told us be careful and watch your step. The building was 3 floors but there was no 1st floor. The ground floor was a garage facing the main road and the side of the building was the entrance that had stairs going up straight to the second floor. My squad was the 1st squad in, we approached and entered the building walking up the stairs slowly.
     Everyone was nervous. It was quiet. It felt wrong. We got to the second floor and cleared all the rooms. You could tell that most of the rooms had been occupied before. The insurgents had been fighting us from this location. The floors were laced with 7.62 casings and water bottles along with broken down cots that they used to sleep on. They were long gone by the time we got there. My squad leader called up to 1st squad and told them we got the building. I was by the stairs by the first room walking around. My buddy Sgt. Baum walked up the stairs to the third floor, before he could get to the top and before I could go up there to follow him our squad leader called us back. and said stay down here. We came down and pulled security through the windows.
     I was pulling security down the hall from the staircase and our Platoon leader and 1st squad came in the building. They started to relay information to our Commader and let them know we hit the limit of advance for the day and we were awaiting further guidance to either rest or push more into the town. 1st squad leader Sgt. brown told his guys to head up to the roof and set up security. To over look the roads. I was at my window pulling security and listening to the squad leaders and PL talk about the mission. I was thinking about home and how much I missed it, my friends, my family, and even times I had at saint louis school. I missed everything about Hawaii and the people in it. We are a unique community of people that you can’t find anywhere else. I told myself I’d never take for granted the place I was born and raised, and that I would appreciate all my friends and family.

I’ll SEE YOU IN MY NIGHTMARES

1400 HRS same day and place. All I see is black. I hear nothing, and see nothing. I woke with my face on the ground covered in dirt. I was thrown from the window to the opposite side of the room. Smoke and dust infested the room like a forest fire. It was so thick I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. My ear drums felt like they have been blown out, and a 300 pound man just punched me in the chest as hard as they could. I was shaking. I was nautious, dizzy, and confused. I waited in the longest scariest silence I’ve ever known. Half a minute must of felt like hours. I waited in dead silence for an eternity and wondered what just happened. I heard the PL finally, “ I think we just got hit by a mortar round”   I heard screaming coming from the stairwell. “ They’re fuckin dead !!!   All of 1st squad!! Their fuckin dead!! “ Then I knew, we just been hit with an IED. The ones you see on the news blow up tanks on the sides of roads. Only this time they decided to leave it in a building to get more of us. Immediately the leaders went through the hall to the stairs. I knew who was up there and I didn’t hear any of their voices, I became terrified when there was no response from any of my other friends. I loved all those guys.
     My heart rushed, I became more frantic and scared, then I have ever been. I was the only person in the building with an aid bag. I was the only one who was EMT certified in trauma care. The medic wasn’t with us so he couldn’t help us. One of the squad leaders called out to me. MARK!!!!! GET THE FUCK OVER HERE!!! WE NEED YOUR HELP!! I gathered myself and sprinted down the hall. Right when I got to the stairs a body was being carried down. It was my friend Hutchinson... they brought him down next to me, he lay there like a rag doll, lifeless.
     I checked his airway and noticed all the holes in his face he had gotten from the shrapnel. I was getting overwhelmed by sadness and tears. I told myself this isn’t the time or place to let your friends down. I checked his pulse, I grabbed his hand and some of his fingers had fallen off or hung by just skin alone. It felt like it was happening so fast. I said to myself man the fuck up and do your job. I took his gear off, body armor and ammo, put his rifle on the side. Lifted his shirt and there was holes punched in his stomach. I was frantically telling God in my head. Please help me, please help me fix this. While all this is going on the squad leaders and platoon leader had been calling for a medivac and for the other squads and platoons to come to our position to help. The medic finally got to our location along with second squad. They came into the building to set up security, and the medic came to me to help. He said work on his legs I will get his upperbody. I went to his legs and his right leg had been crushed completely and was hanging on by skin. There was no bone left. He was just peppered all over with shrapnel and was losing so much blood. I yelled at one of the squad leaders talk to him Sgt. so he knows where here. “ He got down and told hutch over and over, “Hold on Hutch, hold on, stay with us, come on man stay with us” I applied a tourniquet on his leg to stop the bleeding. Then doc said stay with him and talk to him.
     Then another body came down, my friend Milledge. When they brought his body down this image stays with me everyday since then, cause it was so horrific. I kept saying God please help us he can’t be dead he has to be alive. I looked over my shoulder. The staircase had been covered with blood and was pooring down the steps. The concussion of the blast was so great that it blown off all of Milledges body armor and clothes. The only way you could recognize him was from the special boots that he wore.
     Half of his face had been ripped off and his body was cut to shreds from shrapnel and burnt from the blast. I remember looking at his leg and all I could see was bone. I thought to myself “fuck man he has to make it, he has to still be alive.”  The medic then calls out and says there’s nothing we can do for him now. He’s gone. One of the last things Milledge said to me that day was hey Mark, How you doing man? you ok? keep your head high, where almost done. Let me fix your neck protector real quick you got to look good for the bad guys”. Then another body came down, it was my friend Marchand,   Jason was instantly killed from the blast because he was first to go up the stairs. There wasn’t much left of what they brought down. At this point I had never felt the way I felt when I saw a group of my friends this way. These where all tough hard guys and they were super soldiers.
    The medivac finally came to pick them up. Hutch survived but they had to amputate his leg to save him. I remember looking up at the Lt. and seeing him cry while trying to send up the report to the commader. It’s hard putting your friends bodies in body bags and carrying their bodies broken, shredded, and literally in pieces.
     I was so upset at this point that they put me in one of the vehicles with some of the other guys cause they were worried that we’d do something stupid. I went down and saw some of my other friends and I sat in the stryker and just exploded, “ They fuckin got us, they fuckin killed um I was punching and kicking the armor on the vehicle out of control and my friend manning the gun in the back hatch was just pale and speechless.

Some of the local nationals outside were laughing when they saw us bring the body bags down. I remember how bad I wanted to rip their faces off and kill them. It destroyed everybody to see our friends like this.  They all had wives and kids, they were young just like me. I was only 20. In October of 2007 five of my friends were killed in a week span. All cool, great guys. We trained together, lived together, we were like a family. When we didn’t have families with us during holidays on our small base in Germany we took care of one another and spent our holidays with each other. REST IN PEACE BROTHERS....