Reverend73
Founder's Club Member
imported post
Back when I was home on leave, at the VCDL picnic, some of my good friends gave me a few VCDL bumper stickers that read: "Guns Save Lives". They asked if I might put it on one of our humvees over here, and I agreed. Well, we don't really roll in humvees anymore, since the Navy and Army sent us two versions of the newest MRAP (mine resistant ambush protected) vehicles. I usually roll in the Navy's version, which is much more resilient than the Army's version, but rides incredibly rough. Anyway, we went on a "simple" engineering mission about 10 days ago, so I threw the sticker on my MRAP. All the men loved it. Little did we know about 36hrs later, that our guns really would save lives, ours. Very long story short (you want it all, pm me): Day 2 of mission, entering hill country, an area dubbed Hell's Kitchen by the local allied forces, choke point, two of the Army MRAPs hit pressure plate IEDs, first one has its front end nearly blown off, catches fire, crew evacuates. Second one is only a mobility kill. One WIA, later medevaced. Have to sit with vehicles to secure them for two days. First night, myself and two other army E-4s are manning an Observation Post on a nearby ridgeline. There are two other OPs in addition to our own. When it gets good and dark, before the moon comes up, our OP starts taking heavy fire (mortars, rockets, small arms) from 3 different directions. In the ensuing firefight, we run through two belts on the SAW and I go thru damn near 4 mags (most of our heavy guns, ie Mk 19 fully auto grenade launcher, and US version of the RPG burn up in the MRAP). About this time, our MRAP is screaming on the radio for us to come down so we can get out. We haul @$$ down to the truck and we get out of the valley, while the gunners return fire to those positions still firing on us. Shooting stops shortly thereafter. No other action the rest of the time we were there. On the way home, the recovery convoy discovers 6 additional IEDs(4 of which were found by them going off). 7 days later, we make it back to home base. In total, there were 3 WIA, with no KIA. The polish quick reaction force that came after the firefight the first night investigated the areas which were firing on our OP. They found no bodies, but did find a ton of blood on the ground. I like to think at least one of my rounds hit one of those Taliban douchebags square in the face.
Heres some pics:
About 4 hrs prior to the first IED going off, me in the turret with the sweet VCDL sticker
The two Navy MRAPs or Cougars as we call them
Standing watch after the two IED strikes (you can see the vehicles in the background)
The totally destroyed MRAP
The OP-1 Crew
Battle positions
My MRAP took quite a few rounds during the battle
Lessons learned:
-there is no such thing as too much ammo, there is such a thing as not enough
-when the poop hits the fan, you will do as you have trained (at least in my experience)
-Know your weapon. I did. I had no weapons failures but when it is pitch black, it is really helpful to know when your weapon runs dry just by "feel" or sound.
-as I have read before, but never experience until now, your ears do shut down in a do-or-die firefight. All I heard was muted "pops" from my rifle, with no ringing of the ears afterwards. Simply amazing how the human body protects itself.
-bring enough gun. The M4 and SAW were at the limits of their effective range during this firefight (~600yds), but it was all we had.
Back when I was home on leave, at the VCDL picnic, some of my good friends gave me a few VCDL bumper stickers that read: "Guns Save Lives". They asked if I might put it on one of our humvees over here, and I agreed. Well, we don't really roll in humvees anymore, since the Navy and Army sent us two versions of the newest MRAP (mine resistant ambush protected) vehicles. I usually roll in the Navy's version, which is much more resilient than the Army's version, but rides incredibly rough. Anyway, we went on a "simple" engineering mission about 10 days ago, so I threw the sticker on my MRAP. All the men loved it. Little did we know about 36hrs later, that our guns really would save lives, ours. Very long story short (you want it all, pm me): Day 2 of mission, entering hill country, an area dubbed Hell's Kitchen by the local allied forces, choke point, two of the Army MRAPs hit pressure plate IEDs, first one has its front end nearly blown off, catches fire, crew evacuates. Second one is only a mobility kill. One WIA, later medevaced. Have to sit with vehicles to secure them for two days. First night, myself and two other army E-4s are manning an Observation Post on a nearby ridgeline. There are two other OPs in addition to our own. When it gets good and dark, before the moon comes up, our OP starts taking heavy fire (mortars, rockets, small arms) from 3 different directions. In the ensuing firefight, we run through two belts on the SAW and I go thru damn near 4 mags (most of our heavy guns, ie Mk 19 fully auto grenade launcher, and US version of the RPG burn up in the MRAP). About this time, our MRAP is screaming on the radio for us to come down so we can get out. We haul @$$ down to the truck and we get out of the valley, while the gunners return fire to those positions still firing on us. Shooting stops shortly thereafter. No other action the rest of the time we were there. On the way home, the recovery convoy discovers 6 additional IEDs(4 of which were found by them going off). 7 days later, we make it back to home base. In total, there were 3 WIA, with no KIA. The polish quick reaction force that came after the firefight the first night investigated the areas which were firing on our OP. They found no bodies, but did find a ton of blood on the ground. I like to think at least one of my rounds hit one of those Taliban douchebags square in the face.
Heres some pics:
About 4 hrs prior to the first IED going off, me in the turret with the sweet VCDL sticker
The two Navy MRAPs or Cougars as we call them
Standing watch after the two IED strikes (you can see the vehicles in the background)
The totally destroyed MRAP
The OP-1 Crew
Battle positions
My MRAP took quite a few rounds during the battle
Lessons learned:
-there is no such thing as too much ammo, there is such a thing as not enough
-when the poop hits the fan, you will do as you have trained (at least in my experience)
-Know your weapon. I did. I had no weapons failures but when it is pitch black, it is really helpful to know when your weapon runs dry just by "feel" or sound.
-as I have read before, but never experience until now, your ears do shut down in a do-or-die firefight. All I heard was muted "pops" from my rifle, with no ringing of the ears afterwards. Simply amazing how the human body protects itself.
-bring enough gun. The M4 and SAW were at the limits of their effective range during this firefight (~600yds), but it was all we had.