WEBVTT - You've never heard a story like this.. 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:39.400 Yeah, did, and my tired at school's long line of 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:51.560 my fool of husband down on the back crazy one evasion. Yeah, 0:00:52.040 --> 0:01:02.720 you're tation. My first entertainment tour in Iraq was in 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:07.520 two thousand and seven, oh kidding, and that it was 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:12.319 originally booked for April two thousand and seven, and the 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:17.759 week before we were going to leave, they the contractor 0:01:17.800 --> 0:01:21.440 called and said they're canceling because there's too many operations 0:01:21.480 --> 0:01:25.840 going on. Yeah, just too busy surge. Yeah, exactly, that 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:28.840 was the surge. And so they rescheduled us for August. 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:33.160 So my first tour we went in August, and I 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:36.440 wasn't I wasn't known, nobody knew who I was, so 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:38.880 I was We were doing like all these small fobs, 0:01:38.920 --> 0:01:43.000 and we were hitting two fobs a day for fourteen days. 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:44.440 We would just go around and go to all these 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:51.640 real places. But I remember very specifically in Warhorse and 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:56.720 we had met we'd been probably going for three or 0:01:56.720 --> 0:02:00.560 four days. You just meet all these people. Everybody's real cool, upbeat. 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:03.240 They're like, oh musicians, awesome. Yeah, you know, everyone has 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:06.480 different jobs on the fob. There's a million jobs on 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:12.320 the fire And I remember one day this about a 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:15.800 five truck convoy comes in and the sergeant major that 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:18.280 was taking us around, you know, they opened the gates. 0:02:18.360 --> 0:02:21.400 The guys come in, they park, you know, in the gravel, 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:23.960 and the sergeant majors like, I want you to meet 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:25.600 these guys because they're not gonna be able to make 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:27.359 it to your concert tonight because they're going back out. 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:30.640 Then these dudes come rolling out of the truck just 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:36.520 covered in dirt and sweat, boys, and nobody was smiling. 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:40.800 They're just like just stoic, and they come walking out 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:42.800 and the sergeant majors like, I want you to you know, 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:46.120 sergeant majors, are I want you to meet here's the 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:48.160 band that the bands of playing tonight, you know, come 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:52.399 meet these guys. And so it was the first time 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:55.440 that I met guys that weren't that weren't like oh 0:02:56.720 --> 0:03:01.840 yeah they were They were like, it's been been busy day. Yeah. 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:04.640 And then then I knew right then because I was 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:08.000 learning everything I knew then there's different kinds of deployments. 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:11.799 Oh dude, yeah, those are your grunts right there. Yeah, 0:03:11.800 --> 0:03:14.320 different kinds you know what I mean. And I don't 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:17.320 mean this in any disrespect to to anybody that is 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:21.760 served or that's currently serving. This is no disrespect at all. 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:25.840 But I learned right then that there's guys that that 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:29.359 men and women that will go overseas and they take 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:32.400 out the trash for a living. Yeah, nothing wrong, Like 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:36.080 I said, no disrespect, but there are there are others. 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:41.200 You're one of the others. Uh, you know, man, before 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:45.640 I joined, you know, obviously in high school, I uh, 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:48.000 I have buddies that I already gone. Right, So in 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:49.960 two thousand and one, I was a sophomore when when 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:53.040 all that when nine to eleven went down, and I 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:55.640 have buddies that I played football with that were seniors, 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:58.080 and a bunch of them were like we're going and 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:00.480 I'm like, all right, cool. So they they had already 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:03.280 done a couple of deployments when they came back, and 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:04.920 I talked to him, was like, dude, I want to go, 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:07.360 Like I want to join, I want to go. What 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:09.800 do you think I should do? And without keeping a 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:11.360 heartbeat off four of them we're like, you got to 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:13.120 be lev and bravo, you got to be an infantry guy. 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:15.960 And I go, okay, he goes, You'll think us later. 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:21.560 And I was like cool because I still hell yeah, sure, yeah, yeah, 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:26.960 I mean listen man again, without no disrespect, right. I 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:29.800 wanted to go and fight, you know. And I had 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:32.839 an understanding that you can join the army and be 0:04:32.880 --> 0:04:35.320 in the band, now that there's something nothing wrong with 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:37.880 being in the band. But I wasn't going to join 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:40.160 to be the band and play music and not go fight, 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:41.840 you know what I mean. Or I wasn't going to 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:45.559 join and be a cook and feed guys like which 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:48.440 we need those guys. I was going to say, we 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:50.640 need to say in this conversation so that no one 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:53.120 starts getting their feelings right. Yeah, for sure, dude, we 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:55.440 need the cook, so we do. We need mechanics, fix 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:58.120 them to generate all it makes the wheel go around, right, 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:01.400 everybody does. Everybody can tribute and that's what makes the 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:05.240 machine go and everybody's job is important. I just wanted 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:07.200 to be in their front lines, and I wanted to 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:10.240 look him in the eyes, and I wanted them to 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:12.839 be me was the last thing they ever saw before 0:05:13.400 --> 0:05:15.119 it was all said and done. So like, I wanted 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:21.359 to go fight. So that's why I chose that job. Yeah, dude, respect, 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:24.599 I looked it up. I looked up the day of 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:28.040 the week, and it was a Monday, May the fourteenth, 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:31.400 twenty seventeen. It was a Monday. Yeah. And anytime I 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:35.320 hear a story like yours, I always my brain always 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:39.680 goes to twenty twenty or two thousand and seven and 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:42.160 one three years ago or wait two, I don't even 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:45.599 they can't even do methad, So sure my mind always 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:48.359 goes to you know, what was I doing? Yeah, And 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:50.200 so I know that I know that my little, my 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:53.280 little entertainment deployment was canceled. So I was probably out 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:57.640 playing a nobody in a bar type type of concert, 0:05:57.680 --> 0:06:01.160 you know. But yeah, and you we're having the day 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:04.520 of your life. And I don't think I don't think. 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:06.640 I know you've told it a thousand times. Yeah, but 0:06:06.720 --> 0:06:08.760 I don't think we can go really much farther in 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:11.520 this in this story without you telling what happened on 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:14.040 May the fourteenth, if you don't, Yeah, no, no, not 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:16.000 at all, not at all. Yeah. So May fourteen, two 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:20.080 thousand and seven, it was just like any other day, right, 0:06:20.120 --> 0:06:22.320 I mean, we went out, it was early in the morning, 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:24.799 we went on our patrol, and we had three other platoons, 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:28.520 so we all alternated times during the month, so some 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:31.400 guys would start at night, some guys would leave those guys, 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:33.400 and then in the morning we would go out. So 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:35.240 that was our turn. Our turn was to go out 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:38.400 early as possible in the morning. So, you know, I 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:41.159 woke up, inspected my truck, and I was a fifty 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:42.840 cow gunner, so I went out and make sure that 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:45.200 the head space and timing was done on my fifty, 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:48.080 make sure that we had enough water, you know, all 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:49.480 the little things. You know, It's kind of like when 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:50.960 you wake up, you make your coffee, you got your 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:53.200 keys and your phone, and you're like, I'm rolling out 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:58.360 same thing. And man, it was crazy, right because I 0:06:58.560 --> 0:07:00.280 can look back at it now, and it was one 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:03.160 of those things where I had a routine. So I 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:06.599 would check everything, make sure we had gas, everything guns 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:09.040 was good to go. And then before we rolled out, 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:11.760 I used to say a quick prayer and then you know, 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:13.120 we go out the window and I'm like, all right 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:15.560 about the doors, and I'm like I'm good. But for 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:18.560 some reason that day we were running behind little there 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:21.120 was a lot of chaos going on, and I forgot 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:23.120 to do a couple of things and and Santa Prayer 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:26.400 was one of them, and uh, so we rolled out. 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:29.000 We were a five vehicle convoy and that was a 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:33.640 third vehicle in the uh in the row and uh 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:35.400 we start rolling out. Can you tell me what what 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:38.240 fob were you leaving? We were in a fall call Apache, 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:42.040 which yeah, we were in out of me Iraq, which 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:45.200 was the last place. Yeah, I went through Apache. Did 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:48.160 you really have another ship? Yeah, it's it's such a 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:50.120 small little fob. I mean, there was about one hundred 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:51.720 and night and one was to live there. That was it. 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:54.400 But that was the last place, I said, almost sane, 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:57.520 having seen before, he went into hiding. So we took 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:01.000 over the whole palace and we lived the little small house, 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:03.440 which is crazy. It was like a three story home 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:06.680 where all of us lived in. And there was body here, 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:09.400 body there, caught here. I mean, it was crazy, you know, 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:12.200 that's what we call it home. So yeah, we roll 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:15.240 out of Fabapatche and you know, it's like seven in 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:17.680 the morning and the last vehicle gets hit with an 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:19.720 ID but it was a small one. It was you know, 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:24.560 meant to catch our attention and goes off and nothing 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:26.560 happened on the vehicle. The only thing that happened was 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:29.440 the spare tire got blown out, so we pull over 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:31.680 assess the situation. You know, we're already on the alert, 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:34.880 and my TC, which is my truck commander, which is 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:38.000 my squal eater staff starting compost, hits me on the 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:39.960 leg because I'm the gunner, and he goes, there's your 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:43.400 wake up call or your alarm wake up and I'm like, god, 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:45.320 here we go. So he reached over and I used 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:47.800 to have my cigarettes in my pocket, and he reached 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:49.880 over and he grabs one, and he goes, you're getting 0:08:49.920 --> 0:08:51.880 text today, so he steals a cigarette. I was like, dude, 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:53.959 what the hell, man, I'm running low. You know, we're 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:55.920 in the middle of nowhere. We already get any and 0:08:55.960 --> 0:08:59.040 you're taking one of mine. So he does, and you know, 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:00.720 we wake up. I put one him them off to you, 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:02.880 and then you know, it comes over with the radio. 0:09:02.880 --> 0:09:04.559 We're gonna go. We're gonna go. Just push is to 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:06.520 sparaits higher. We're like, all right, cool, So we roll 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:10.680 out and as we're driving, the first two vehicles start 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:12.760 getting engaged from the left hand side, so they start 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:16.480 getting shot at, and at that point the first vehicle 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:19.440 had already gone, so he can't turn to where the 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:22.480 fire is coming from. So the second truck follows it 0:09:23.000 --> 0:09:25.559 so that we don't have a truck by itself going 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:27.600 so anyway. So they go to the next street they pushed, 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:30.560 and they turn, and my vehicle turns straight to where 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:33.360 the incoming fire is coming from. So as soon as 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:35.760 that happens, and I can just hear things zipping through 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:38.120 and hitting the truck. And at that point, you know, 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:40.160 all your training kicks in and you're like, oh baby, 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:42.440 here we go. And do you get excited? Oh yeah, okay, 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:44.880 oh yeah. It's like it's an adrelline that you would 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:47.800 never ever experience evering your life again. And I've done 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:51.199 almost anything. I mean, I've done skydiving, I've gone and 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:55.120 a trophy truck with BJ Baldwin and We've jumped and 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:58.120 gone as fast as you can go. I mean, I've 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:01.120 done all these things and I can never ever recreate 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:06.600 that high ever again. And so we turn and you know, 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:08.079 I start saying it. I was like, all right, here 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:09.600 we go. So I get on my fifteen. I started 0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:13.160 unloading and dropped the few and you know that adrenaline 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:15.520 kicks in and everything, all the training is in, so 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:17.760 you're you got the adrilline high, but you still got 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:19.280 a perform your job. And I'm like, here we go, 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:22.880 start going, and as we do that, everybody falls back 0:10:22.920 --> 0:10:25.880 in formation against you know, everybody scanning, and at that 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:28.000 moment we start getting engaged from the left hand side again. 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:31.200 So we all turn and I was the first vehicle 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:33.960 and we go over a bump, and in the back 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:36.000 of my head and I'm trying to process what's going on, 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:38.200 I'm like, holy crap, this bump shouldn't be here. We've 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:42.439 been in there about eleven months already, and I knew 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:44.320 those streets like the back of my hands, man, like 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:46.120 you could drop me off anywhere and I can get 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:48.960 back to the FOP like I knew where we were at. 0:10:49.200 --> 0:10:52.440 And I'm like, wait a minute, that that shouldn't be there. Well, 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:55.480 I'm trying to process this ID goes off. It was 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:58.120 a commanded and neate ID. So what they did is 0:10:58.160 --> 0:10:59.800 there was a house here left and there's a house 0:10:59.840 --> 0:11:02.640 to right. They dug a hole from the right hand 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:04.920 side into the middle of the street and started packing 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:08.280 it with explosives, and there was a guy inside with 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:10.440 a commanded nation that as soon as he saw as 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:12.880 he needed to hit it. Well, he messed up because 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:14.199 he needed to hit it as soon as we were 0:11:14.200 --> 0:11:17.040 in the middle, and that would have probably cracked the 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:18.880 truck in half and killed everybody in it. But he 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:21.960 panicked and hit. Yeah, he did, and he hit it 0:11:21.960 --> 0:11:24.640 in the back. So the truck hit on the backside 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:27.240 and we went up in the air and we came down. 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:30.800 And when the truck hit the ground, you know, I'm 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:33.040 still standing on the gun and it all happened so fast. 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:36.839 It hits and I come back down. My legs collapsed 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:39.480 and I fall to my right hand side, and in 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:43.520 the back passenger seat was especially this Harkey and Harky 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:47.560 was was killed on the spot with the ID just 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:51.640 killed him. And I remember looking at him and seeing 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:53.640 him and his eyes were just white, man like they 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:55.920 were just foggy. Now, I was like, damn, you know, 0:11:56.040 --> 0:12:00.200 Harkey's Harky's gone. And as they did that, there's if 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:03.000 there's a weird thing about the soul when it leaves 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:06.200 the eyes, yeah, I mean they say the winded to 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:10.160 the soul. That's that's a true statement. Yeah, cut it out. 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:12.320 I don't know how to explain it the other way. 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:15.920 I mean, not at all, man, Yeah, and you know, 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:18.800 I looked at him and I was like, damn. And 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:22.200 I remember looking over and I saw Catertin, which their driver, 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:24.959 and then Fleming was on the other side, and they 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:26.600 both jumped out of the truck and they were both 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:30.440 on fire. And it was crazy because it was like 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:32.720 the movies, man, like you know when things slows down 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:34.880 and then but everything's happening so fast. It was the 0:12:34.880 --> 0:12:39.000 exact same thing. I saw Catertin on fire, and then 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:41.120 I looked over and I see Fleming and he's on fire. 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:42.960 And then he ran behind the truck, so I lost 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:45.440 sight of him, so he was gone. And then I 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:48.800 lost Catertin. And then the midst of all things, like 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:52.520 I'm laying there and my truck commander, which is one 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:55.679 of my best friends, compos was as the TC. He 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:58.880 couldn't get out. His equipment was burned into the seat 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:02.240 and he was attached to it and he grabbed me 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:05.240 and he's like get out. And man, at that point, 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:08.400 you know, eleven months and we've lost a lot of guys. 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:10.439 I mean, we had lost a lot of guys. And 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:13.480 my faith was very low at that point, like I 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:15.960 had lost faith in God. I was mad. You know, 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:19.480 we really didn't talk that well anymore. And I remember 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:21.640 laying down there and I told the compost. I was like, nah, man, 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:26.640 I'm good. Like this is it. And I don't know 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:29.800 if it's brainwash or whatever you want to call it, 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:32.640 but in our profession, it's either you come home alive 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:36.360 or you don't. There was never a moment where I 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:38.080 was like, oh, maybe I'll get injured and come home 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:40.280 and live somewhat normal life. You know that that wasn't 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:41.480 in my plan. I was said, well, I was going 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:43.640 to dine combat. It was going to be the greatest 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:45.160 day of my life, and that was going to be 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:47.400 like all the glory that I could have asked for 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:50.040 us to dyne combat. So I'm laying there and you know, 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:52.800 he's trying to make me get out, and I remember, 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:56.319 you know, at that point, I kind of I started 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:59.120 talking to God and I was like, hey, listen, I'm sorry. 0:13:59.720 --> 0:14:02.960 You know I lost faith or questioned you just asked 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:04.920 for a favor. Take care of my mom, take care 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:07.800 of my dad, and take care of my siblings, like 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:10.000 you know, look out for them, and just look out 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:11.600 after my mom because I know she's gonna take it 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:14.679 the heart is, and you know, she's got to bear 0:14:14.679 --> 0:14:16.440 with us for the rest of her life. I knew 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:18.200 my dad was gonna be okay. My dad served, so 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:21.080 him and I had had these conversations before, and he 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:24.360 was like, I figured he was gonna be okay. So 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:27.160 as I'm having that conversation, your compost is trying to 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:29.960 get me to get out, and the door opens in 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:31.920 front of him, and it was one of our other 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:34.920 buddies that had run up to the front, Taylor, And 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:36.840 you know, he busted out his knife and started cutting 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:39.760 stuff off, and he pulled out Compost. And when he 0:14:39.800 --> 0:14:41.680 pulls him out, you know, I just started hearing rounds 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:44.400 going off. We had enemies coming towards us, like about 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:48.200 thirty to forty of them coming towards us, and it 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:50.880 caught my attention. But at the same time, and it 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:54.240 was one of those things where like, as I was 0:14:54.320 --> 0:14:57.440 laying there on fire, dying, I remember this little voice 0:14:57.480 --> 0:15:01.160 in my head that said, not today, get up, And 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:03.040 then I just felt this energy inside of me. Man 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:05.000 like till today, I still created God one hundre percent 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:08.120 because I felt it, like and I truly, like I 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:10.560 can honestly tell you that I heard that little voice 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:13.120 that said get up, not today, And I got up 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:16.400 and man my fifty cow and I started shooting. But 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:18.520 since there was so much fire coming out of the 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:21.360 hum vye and we had extra grenades, we had extra ammunition. 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:24.440 I mean, we carried extra stuff for everybody else in caged. 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:26.880 We ever got in a big firefight, we had AMMO 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:29.200 to give out and and all that good stuff. So 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:32.560 that started cooking off. And for those that are listening that, no, no, 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:34.480 what cooking off is is when when the fire is 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:38.800 so strong, you know, the actual gunpowder and then the 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:40.800 explosives and things that are just going to go off. 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:44.760 You know, the heat is what happens. And I remember 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:47.360 grenade went off and it just peppered my whole right slide, 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:50.320 and I was like, oh shit, here we go. And 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:53.640 there was enemies in the rooftops. I started shooting, and 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:55.880 then around cooked off in the barrel of the fifty 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:58.880 cow and exploded and just everywhere. So I just remember 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:01.200 covering my face and at that point I was like, 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:03.240 all right, I need to get out. You're the sitting duck. 0:16:03.280 --> 0:16:05.640 I mean, you're the gunner. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and you know, 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:07.360 just trying to give a little bit of support the fire. 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:11.000 Oh yeah, and you're firing on top of it, yeah 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:14.680 a little bit, but yeah, all right, just setting the 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:17.640 scene here. So at that point, you know, as a gunner, 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:21.520 you're always taught to get other gun attatched. And then 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:23.680 you know it's about six feet high, so you jump 0:16:23.760 --> 0:16:26.280 into the front of the hood and then down, or 0:16:26.920 --> 0:16:28.560 you know, you can jump in the trunk and then down, 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:31.760 which everyone works. Well, the fire was so heavy on 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:33.600 both sides. If I would have jumped in the front, 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:35.920 I would have gone straight down with the engine and 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:38.040 that would have been it. And the same thing in 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:40.400 the back. So I jumped to the side. And as 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:42.040 I jumped to the side and managed to grab my 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:46.040 ar But when I hit the ground, you know, it's 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:49.120 so badly burned and still on fire that when it 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:52.080 hit the brown of the ground, both of my fevers broke. 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:55.280 So I had both em. Was just break and uh, 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:57.920 I remember, and I looked them and it's just something 0:16:58.040 --> 0:16:59.520 hurt and I just start looking at me and I'm 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:01.920 on fire. So I do the whole stop, drop and 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:04.240 roll and let me just tell you it doesn't work 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:08.400 wherever event ait that lie to us because it doesn't work. 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:13.000 So I started doing it. It's not working. And then 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:15.639 out of nowhere, Kushno, which is one of our other buddies, 0:17:15.680 --> 0:17:17.760 comes over and he's like close your eyes. I'm like why, 0:17:18.359 --> 0:17:21.320 and he just poppers me with the fire extinguisher and everywhere, 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:23.159 and he turns me off and he's like, I'll be 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:24.639 right back. I'm gonna go get the medic and I'm like, 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:28.320 all right, cool. So I started pushing myself away from 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:30.240 the car, from the vehicle because I mean I jumped 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:32.480 down and it was right there and I can still 0:17:32.520 --> 0:17:35.119 feel the flames with a humvey coming towards me. So 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:37.920 I roll over and I start scanning and I look 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:39.520 at the rooftop and I can see people and I 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:41.639 start take a couple of shots, and I take a 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:43.840 couple other shots and then I run out of amma. 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:45.439 I mean, I only had thirty rounds in my mag 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:48.280 We're actually twenty nine. I never really loaded it all 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:53.000 the way up. And at that point, man, it was 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:55.080 like I seen him black hawk down because I remember 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:57.960 just looking up and I saw two helicopters and I'm like, 0:17:58.840 --> 0:18:01.719 holy crap, it's this. This is the fastest medical evacuation 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:04.840 in the history of Iraq, Like they're coming to get 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:07.440 us already. Well, what had happened was there was two 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:12.560 black Hawks and the AO and in the vicinity, and 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:15.720 and they happened to see the smoke, so they came 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:17.359 to check it out, like you know, what's that? And 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:21.320 then they saw and they were able to make contact 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:23.200 with the guys on the ground, so they establish communication 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:24.800 and they're like, yeah, we got here with an ID. 0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:26.960 This was going on, and the guy goes, oh, here 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:29.080 they come. This was about thirty to forty of them 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:32.760 coming down the streets. All I'll packed, man like with RPGs, 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:35.240 everything you can think of, and these guys just came 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:39.040 down and smoked them all. I mean just it was awesome. 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:41.280 But that's all I saw. I didn't know what was 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:44.040 going on at that time. It's brass falling everywhere, and 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:46.360 I'm like what I was like, here we go, I'm 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:48.399 getting out of here. And then I see them leave 0:18:48.440 --> 0:18:50.680 them like where you're not going? But they were running 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:52.760 out of fuel because they they you know, they were 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:54.480 doing those runs for us, and you know they weren't 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:56.960 even supposed to be there. So they went back and 0:18:57.000 --> 0:18:59.639 refueled and then they were coming back. But as all 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:03.919 that's going going on, I'm sitting there and the STAPs 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:06.040 are in Nunness, which is one of the other guys, 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:09.120 comes runs by me and he's running and he looks 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:11.320 down and he's like, you know, he caught the look 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:14.760 like oh, and I'm there, like just sitting there, and 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:18.359 he goes, are you alive? And I was like I 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:21.880 think so. And then he's like, oh my god. So 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:23.239 he grabs me and I was like, dude, I think 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:24.960 my leg's broken, and you know, he takes a quick 0:19:25.000 --> 0:19:26.639 glance and you know, all this stuff's going on, and 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:29.359 he goes, no, no, you're fine. I'm like okay. So 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:31.680 he picks me up and I'm putting all my weight 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:34.320 on him. So we start walking, you know, and we 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:36.920 get to the Humby and he's like, all right, I'm 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:38.160 gonna have to let you go a little bit because 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:40.159 I got to open the door. And you know, for 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:42.560 those that know an up arm or Humby, the doors 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:44.840 are by five hundred pounds. I mean they're heavy. It's 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:47.119 they're heavy. So he lets go of me and he 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:50.080 opens the door and when he does, my legs rebreak 0:19:50.080 --> 0:19:51.800