Worth A Thousand Words: Pictures

Prologue: Tankin’ at Fort Carson

“Execute SBF One.”
Out of the impact area and advancing towards the enemy left flank.
Running flat out through sparse trees.
A tank without camo netting stands out, especially when painted for desert and hiding in trees.
A M2 Bradley cuts through the company’s sector of the battalion assembly area. Note the thick dust.
An infantry squad’s biggest gun is the M240.

Baqubah, 2006

Twice a day, we rolled a section along the Iron Triangle in search of IEDs.
Sergeant Daniels winning the hearts and minds of the next generation, Hibhib 2006
Keith Hanson’s dry humor never failed to make me smile.
Everyone walked away and even without extreme track damage, Sean Rinder and his crew fought the tank like a champion.
Dusk route clearance patrol Down Route Vanessa in Baqubah. We ran echelon left formation to give traffic a chance to get out of the way.
Cousin Andy visiting me at Landstuhl at a time I needed family like never before.
The pontoon bridge at As Sindi, 2006. I hate pontoon bridges.
Christopher Bryant manning the loader’s M240 machinegun. Khalis 2006. Chris would join Blue Platoon in the middle of the Sadr fight.
White Platoon patrolling along canals and date palm groves. Diyala, 2006
Dinner in Iraq with my brother Pat. Stuff legends are made of.
AAA of Southern California won’t send roadside assistance to Hibhib, Iraq.
Author in the tank commander’s hatch. Baqubah, 2006
White Platoon in Diyala. Welcome to the jungle.

Training Between Deployments (Fort Carson), 2007

Coffee is mandatory fuel for tankers.
Training on a cold day at Fort Carson.
Sergeant First Class Ron Winning being patient with medical training on a cold day.
Promotion to first lieutenant. Left to right: Author, Company XO First Lieutenant Zach Nesary, Battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Mike Pappal, Company Commander Captain Todd Looney.

Beida (Baghdad), 2008

Beida, 2008. My view through the windshield of the Humvee. David Rocha’s crew is ahead.
Beida, 2008. Even patrols in the market were always fun.
Beida, 2008. Edwin Edwin hunkers down near a gate.
Beida, 2008. Kyle “Tex” Kincaid takes a knee behind a dusty relic.
Beida, 2008. Derek Quinn points out a person of interest.
Beida, 2008. Nick Monks posts behind the engine block while Jake Jacobsen inspects the trunk area.
Beida 2008. Foot patrol in the north corner of our neighborhood. Patrols were usually more than four miles.
Beida, 2008. Taking a break from the march of a foot patrol. Left to right: Daniel Garcia, Jay Weatherly, Billy “Beetle” Bailey, Juan Perez, RJ “Will” Williams
Beida, 2008. Nick Monks and David Rocha coming out of the pool hall.
Beida, 2008. Doc Ryan Earnst packed plenty of weight we hoped to never need.
Beida, 2008. Danny Key chats with a youth while Billy “Beetle” Bailey watches his back.
Beida, 2008. Josh Butler listens to requests for candy while Adam Wallace watches down towards Sadr. The soldiers beyond are probably The C33 crew.
Beida 2008. Interpreter Tank, Danny Key, Daniel Garcia.
Beida 2008. A bird’s eye view of Blue Platoon.
Hawasem, 2008. Sadr is in the background. This is from the roof of Office Max.
The edge of Sadr, 2008. The “Apartments of Death” was a creepy place to patrol. Ghetto projects with a capital G.
Beida 2008. Loaded for bear. RJ “Will” Williams on my left and Cory Bushell on my right, I knew we could take on anyone.
February 13, 2008, Beida. A Stryker just got hit and we are on the hunt for the triggerman.

COP Ford, 2008

COP Ford, 2008. Josh Butler enjoys watermelon.
COP Ford, 2008. Jay Weatherly, David Rocha, and Jake Jacobsen during the renovation of the platoon room. The backside of that plywood would host our platoon maps for briefing mission orders.
Our Oasis at COP Ford, 2008. Bryant and Lewis from the infantry platoon grill.
COP Ford, 2008. Gold platoon’s infantrymen grill.
COP Ford, 2008. The bunks we inherited were too flimsy for adults. We needed to improve our home.
COP Ford, 2008. We replaced the flimsy bunkbeds with homemade ones that allowed us to organize the platoon room better.
COP Ford, 2008. When the power goes out mid haircut….
COP Ford, 2008. This worn out generator needed lots of love from Danny Bowden and Keith Hanson to squeeze out even a few hours of electricity for the living areas of COP Ford.
COP Ford, 2008. Edwin Edwin topping the front fuel tanks off after a patrol.
COP Ford, 2008. Cory Bushell climbing down after a patrol.
COP Ford 2008, Todd Allison briefs Red Platoon before they head out on patrol.
COP Ford, Baghdad 2008. Once a week, we took a morning off from patrols to conduct maintenance on the vehicles.
Team Steel’s leadership in Sadr. XO AJ Boyes, Commander Todd Looney, First Sergeant Conrad Gonzalez.
AJ Boyes and Clint Rush.
Captain Todd Looney pushed the company in hard, aggressive training. It would pay dividends in Sadr. Sergeant Rohan stepped up as Captain Looney’s gunner after Staff Sergeant Elledge was killed.
“Big Kruse” and Danny Bowden led the mechanics as they kept up with the pace of battle damage.
Danny Bowden and “Little Cruz” at COP Ford.
“I can fix it.” Even after I was hit and the Sadr fight ended, hard times still paid visit to COP Ford.
COP Ford’s command post crew kept the information flowing.
CSM John Kurak. Crusty Old School tanker and soldier to the core.
SFC Jay Weatherly bore sighting in Kuwait.

Jamila and Sadr, 2008

Main gun action at night.
The dragon fire at night.
Sadr, 2008. Jamila Street was pretty scarred by the time the fight was over.
Sadr, 2008. Contact, RPG! Danny Key’s crew returns fire up an alley.
Sadr, 2008. A view through the periscopes on Jamila Street, late in the battle.
Sadr, 2008. A view of the wall on Jamila Street towards the end of the fight.
Jamila, 2008. Kumeil Elashteri Road screaming IED.
Jamila, 2008. Contact, IED!
Jamila, 2008. Kumeil Elashteri Road devoid of life – a bad omen.
Jamila, 2008. Kumeil Elashteri Road.
Jamila, 2008. Kumeil Elashteri Road is crowded as Blue’s mini task force patrols. Crowds are a good sign.
Jamila, 2008. C32 on Kumeil Elashteri Road
C32 rumbling down Kumeil Elashteri Road, Route Florida.
Jamila, 2008. Where C31 met its fate.
Sadr, 2008. BOOM! A view through the gunner’s sight just a fraction of a second too late.
Sadr, 2008. Cory Bushell chilling in the loader’s seat.
Sadr, 2008. Sergeant Edwin Edwin at his gunner’s sights. Being a gunner is no easy thing. He has to know every switch and button from memory so his eye never comes off sight.
C32 was hit on Route Delta – Tharwa Street. The copper stains are where the explosively formed penetrators impacted and bore into the armor. The reactive armor tiles caught fire.
A glancing RPG detonation.
The fins of an RPG-29 plugged the penetration. The rest of the rocket entered C24’s turret and wounded Webb and Rinder.
When the RPG comes into the turret… I was torn on sharing this photo, but I think it is vital for you to know the tank and its crew are not invincible.
A penetration of the turret. The armor a Caliber .50 casing provides size context.
C13 took a massive hit.