a mobilized year

I wrote the entry below a couple of days ago. We were under a communications lockdown/blackout because two soldiers in our battalion were killed. The communications lockdown allows the military chain of command to communicate formally the news to the aggrieved families before they hear through the rumor mill or the media. Here's what I wrote that day:

This 26th day of September is a sad day. I mean a really, really sad day. We lost two soldiers in our battalion.

The day started out like most days, soldiers were in the motorpool doing their pre-combat checks and inspections (PCCs/PCIs) before heading out on missions. The gun trucks (HMMWV's with crew serve weapons on them) for the early missions had already left the motorpool. As we were finishing up our PCCs/PCIs, we heard on the radio that one of the early mission gun trucks had been hit by an IED and they were requesting a Medevac. While we've had gun trucks in the past hit by IEDs, this was the first in which a Medevac was called in.

At the time we heard the radio report, I was getting ready for a mission with my guys into the British sector. Since we were basically ready to go, we requested to change our mission to support the gun truck that had been hit by the IED and to escort a physician's assistant to the IED site. We had heard at the time that there was a small arms fire fight still underway and we were eager to assist in any way we could. The small arms fire fight information later proved to be either incorrect or overstated.

We were told to proceed with our original mission (which was expected to last 3-4 hours). We did. Since we were moving somewhat near the IED site, our weapons status was moved to red (rounds in chamber). We moved through the area without incident.

Before returning from our mission, we were told that one of the soldiers that was in the gun truck that was hit had died. Another injured soldier was being evacuated via helicopter. We were also told that there were unconfirmed reports of many AIF with various forms of weapons in a village that was en route to our return destination. Although we had heard some similar information a week or two earlier concerning both numbers of AIF and types of weapons, these reports were somewhat surprising because the village was fairly peaceful.

We then developed our plan to move through the village. We had M2's (.50 cals) mounted on each of the three gun trucks we had with us. We felt comfortable with the firepower that we had. We got confirmation from higher to proceed through that area and to confirm or deny the reports of the AIF.

We proceeded toward the village in question cautiously, but aggressively (if that's possible)--on alert for possible AIF, RPGs and IEDs. As we made it through the streets, we noticed that the streets were virtually empty. This was a clear sign to us that something was up. We checked each street we passed. There was no sign of AIF. We made it through the entire area without making contact.

After we crossed the border to get back into Kuwait and cleared our weapons, we heard more bad news. A second soldier in the gun truck that was hit by the IED had died. A third soldier in the vehicle was heading into surgery to remove some shrapnel. A fourth soldier that was at the scene was evacuated by ground military ambulance for shock. I knew one of the soldiers that had been killed. He was a school teacher, a very friendly and well-liked guy. Hearing the news brought a sense of haze and melancholy that was only amplified by my subsiding adrenalin level. That feeling is still heavy and has yet to lift.

Yes, it was a sad day today. But, tomorrow will be better.