May 2004

May was comparatively quiet. There were minor actions and IEDs, and we were still conducting route sweeps. Route sweeps consisted of a platoon moving dismounted with HMMWVs up the MSR (Main Supply Route), usually with one squad on the main road and the other two squads on the flanking roads to provide rolling cover. The intent was to sweep the road of IED's and met with varying success. One one such sweep, I was driving the lead vehicle. The point man, one of our attached Engineers, spotted a block in the median that did not look right. The patrol was halted and the vehicles pulled off the road into blocking positions cutting traffic off. The EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) unit from Division was called in to deal with the threat. As they set up to destroy the IED, we heard a loud explosion. For a split second, I thought the IED had been set off, until I heard a second detonation. I realized that a rocket had been fired at us. I heard squealing tires on the other side of the wall I was near. I instructed one of the PFCs with me to provide security for the gunner in the back of my truck and dashed around the wall. I met up with one of our other drivers and a team from the security element and we proceeded into the warehouse district to attempt contact with the individual(s) who attacked our patrol. We swept through and found no vehicle and no one who would give us a description. We head back to the main body of the patrol and found an RPG-18 tube lying in the street with around $2000 in $100 bills and some broken glass scattered around it. We collected the money and the rocket tube for evidence and checked the damage on the vehicle that the rocket had been fired at. Fortunately, they couldn't aim and the rocket landed a few feet in front of the truck, but a few chunks of shrapnel penetrated the armor, one of which went through a satchel charge and the opposite door. The gunner in the back of the truck took a chunk in his leg but was back on duty by the afternoon. The way we saw it, a few young guys with no jobs were probably paid to fire the rocket at the patrol. They must have fired it from inside the car, blowing out a window, and a large portion of their payment, explaining the glass and cash around the tube.

Finally, EOD was able to get to the business of blowing the IED and I had moved back to my HMMWV. They moved their robot in to place C4 against the block and detonate the explosives. The blast knocked the 155mm artillery round out of its concrete case and pushed it against the curb. The robot was sent back in to place another charge against it. The second blast sent the round flying 100' through the air to land in a pile of rubbish 15' from my truck. I sent one of my security team to let EOD know where it was and pulled my truck away from it to prevent carnage if it was still live. Luckily the blast had knocked the fuse out of the nose of the round, rendering it inert. After it had been said and done, the patrol set out to finish the sweep and took up position at the Government Center, the seat of the provincial government. Another normal day in Ramadi.