Memoirs of an Outlaw: Life in the Sandbox

Chapter 31: Boiling Point

Up until I served in the Marine Corps, I had never experienced the desert heat. I had lived up and down the East Coast when I was a child, but nothing had prepared me for Iraq. When we arrived in February, it was a tolerable eighty degrees. But as the months wore on, the temperature began to increase, hitting highs of 120 degrees. At times, it was so hot that when we did vehicle checkpoints on some of the main service roads, my boots would actually begin to melt into the road. In fact, the insurgents were apparently using this to their advantage when placing IEDs. Word had it that during the heat of the day, they would insert metal underneath the asphalt when it had softened up enough due to the heat. Once it cooled down at night, they would peel it back and place an IED underneath it.

Some days were hotter than others, but there was one day in particular that had to have been the hottest of them all. On June 24, Blue Platoon had gone out for another daily route patrol. They were conducting typical counter IED and mortar patrols that day and were coming to the end of their shift. Our platoon was up next, and we were going to continue where they left off. As luck would have it, and with a little less than an hour before changeover, shit hit the fan. Blue Platoon got word over the company net that an Army convoy was taking fire from a truck stop. They made their way to the location but found nothing there. Suspicious, Rowell decided to double back and have the platoon scout the other side of the highway. Out of nowhere, an RPG was fired at Sergeant Hendrickson’s vehicle but, luckily, fell about a hundred meters short and exploded in the sand. Small-arms fire then erupted from the station, but the enemy was hard to see since they were hiding in and around the building. Rowell had the platoon maneuver into a better position to engage the enemy. As they began to counterattack, the enemy, realizing they were outmatched, took off running toward Fallujah.

Realizing what they were trying to do, Hendrickson positioned his vehicle in such a way as to flank them. As he was engaging them, he noticed another insurgent firing at them as he was fleeing between two trucks. As his pintle-mount M247 machine gun was broken, Hendrickson pulled out his M16 and began taking shots at the fleeing insurgent. However, as he was engaging him, the insurgent, who was firing wildly into the air, had a lucky shot that hit Hendrickson. Not realizing he was hit, Hendrickson continued to fire until the insurgent fell to the ground. In the process of reloading, Hendrickson finally realized he was hit. His sleeve was soaked in blood, and he was losing feeling in his arm. Yet, it didn’t stop him from continuing on with the mission. For another half hour, they continued to engage the enemy and avoid the mortars that began to pepper their position.

While this was all going down, our platoon began to prep the vehicles for our daily shift. Once we heard the familiar sound of the 25 mm cannon going off in the distance, we knew something was going down. Since the city of Fallujah was only about a kilometer away from our base, it wasn't too hard to hear the battle going on. Once we got word from the command center that Blue Platoon had been engaged, a few of us decided to climb up and sit on the base perimeter wall to see if we could watch the action taking place. A few minutes later, Sergeant Learn came running over and told us to get our shit together. We were going out as soon as possible to relieve Blue Platoon. Blood pumping and adrenaline flowing, we all grabbed our stuff, threw on our gear, and headed over to First Lieutenant Snipes's position. He gave us a quick situation report, informed us as to what Blue Platoon was encountering, and had us mount up so we could join the firefight and give Blue Platoon some relief.

The drive over to Blue Platoon's position was only about ten minutes, but by the time we reached them, they had pushed the insurgents out of the truck stop and back into the sand dunes that lay just behind the buildings. The sand dunes were the only thing left between the truck stop and Fallujah. The insurgents were trying to goad Blue Platoon into the city, where they would have the upper hand. Wisely, Rowell had his platoon set up a position within the truck stop while they continued to engage the enemy from afar.