June 2004

One of our platoons was set up at a school to distribute supplies and money. One of my good friends was talking to a small group of school children when an insurgent armed with an RPG popped around a wall and fired a rocket. The rocket impacted the wall next to Robb. The explosion killed 4 of the Iraqi children and severely wounded 3 others. Robb’s legs were blown off at the middle thigh. He was rushed to Junction City to be stabilized had then sent to Germany. Several days later, we were informed that he had died of his injuries in Germany. A memorial was held for him on the 12th. He was a very well liked man in the Company. He was the type of person who could always smile, no matter what was going on, and rarely had a negative word to say about someone else. He will be sorely missed.

Pictures


The 22nd marked the second time that I would have to go to Baghdad for an eye infection. We loaded a convoy and headed off to Junction City to drop me off at the Aid Station. Since I was the one being dropped off, I was not riding in one of the turrets. On the way out we overheard a radio call that the platoon on post at the Agricultural Center had taken and returned fire, killing the assailant. The XO decided that we would go pick up the body, for whatever reason. We couldn't find the body and ended up riding around for half and hour. Finally, the XO decided to stop and let the platoon on post talk us in. While we were on security, I was watching the street to the east and using a wall as cover when there was a blast from the south. I poked back around the wall in time to watch an RPG fly over the truck that I had just got out of. Looking down the street to the south, I saw a big cloud of smoke and dust, marking the launch site. I put a few rounds in to the cloud, but the gunner on the truck had already hit the guy who had launched the rocket. We started sweeping the street to the west, checking houses along the way. About a quarter mile down the street, some idiot popped around a corner and fired a mag of AK rounds at us. I was toward the back of the column and couldn't see anything but Marines, although I did see the sling get shot off of 1stSgt's shotgun. One of the Marines put the shooter down and we recovered the AK. The RPG launcher was recovered by the QRF and we continued on our way. We decided that it was best to head back to the Outpost instead of finishing the trip to Junction City. I ended up hopping on the logistics train for the trip to JC. I spent 5 days in Baghdad and returned to Ramadi with enough eye drops to get rid of another infection, without having to leave the Outpost, if it came on. Done for now.