a mobilized year

Over the years, Memorial Day has grown in importance for me. When I was growing up, I used to ask, “now which holiday is at the beginning of the summer and which one is at the end of summer?” I no longer have that problem remembering.

I spent a large part of this Memorial Day on a mission. We started at around 2230 on Sunday night. I decided to mix things up a bit for this mission. I wanted to sit in the 240B gunner seat—it had been a while since I had done that and I always want to have a good understanding of the good and bad that my soldiers are experiencing. I designated a good young Specialist (E4) who has shown tactical competence and leadership potential in the past as my truck commander. We were the lead vehicle that night/early morning.

I enjoy night time missions in the summer. Our temperatures lately in the day have been in the 115-120 range, which as you might guess is fairly unpleasant, especially when wearing gloves, goggles, helmet and the 45 lbs of body armor plus all the other equipment we have to wear. At night time, it’s been dipping down into the mid-80s, which is nice.

On this trip, I had an added bonus. This truck crew had been asked to field test a new cooling vest. The way it works is that while the crew is in the vehicle, they can wear a vest under their armor that plugs into the vehicle’s cooling system. A cool liquid substance is then circulated under the armor through the vest. I tell you what, it worked like a charm. I had a smile on my face for at least half of the mission just in wonderment on how well the system worked.

Any way, back to the mission. As we were heading north, we were contacted by a convoy passing us heading south. They said they had taken small arms fire from a couple of vehicles about a kilometer or two up the road. As we drove into the area, I oriented the 240B in the direction that we were given. We had our night optical devices on, but we didn’t see them. A vehicle behind us said they saw a few vehicles about 300 meters off the road, but they couldn’t confirm it was enemy so we just continued with our mission.

After we drove through that area, my attention shifted back to the wonderment of my cooling vest (smile and all) as I scanned my sectors. About an hour or so later, I saw tracer fire to our front. There was something odd about the tracer fire. It seemed to be originating from the road or within 100 meters or so from it pointing away from the road. What usually happens is that the tracer fire starts 100-300 meters from the road and crosses the road (as the fire typically is directed at vehicles on the road). We knew there were no friendlies in the area so we did not know what to make of it. We continued to move down the MSR cautiously. I oriented the machine gun in the general direction of where I saw the fire come from. I saw more fire in the general area. As we drove closer there was a disabled vehicle there with an Iraqi Police car next to it. We didn’t stop. We had heard that there was some in-fighting in the area among different Iraqi groups (not a Sunni vs. Shia fight).

I again shifted my attentions back to the wonders of my cooling vest and scanning my sectors. In the early morning hours of Memorial Day, we arrived at our destination. We dropped off our “cargo” and made the necessary coordination that we had to make. We sent some guys up to the KBR mess hall to pick up some food. At the location where we were at, they serve 24 hours a day (pre-cooked, short order type food during the off hours). We had some hamburgers, hotdogs, and some nasty fries. Once they brought the food back and we ate, we had to head back out on the road and escort some more trucks to their destination.

The sun was starting to come up and with it, the heat. Ahh, but I had my cooling vest that morning. Simple pleasures. After about three hours or so, we made it almost all the way to our destination and then had two trucks collide with one another as we were slowing down for a turn. The driver said that his brakes failed—I’m betting he probably fell asleep. Any way, we had to wait a while before the recovery vehicle arrived on the scene to tow the trucks away (as it would turn out, the following day this was virtually the same spot of an IED strike). During the wait, we had to block traffic and secure the area. Usually this is an awful job in the summer because of the heat. But, alas, I had a cooling vest that day. So I just smiled most of the time.

After we got back, I took a nap for a few hours before I got back to work in the afternoon. As the afternoon gave way to night, my mind began thinking more and more about Memorial Day and all those who have given so much for our country. I thought about the soldiers in our battalion who had given their lives. I thought about their families. I thought about those in our battalion who have given up eye sight, body parts, and/or their mental well-being. I thought about their families, their children . . . . By midnight, I was filled with several different emotions, many mixed, but all sincere. It had been a long day. A fitting Memorial Day.