Dave's World: Dispatches from Iraq 7

First of a two-part post here. We've changed the names of others involved in the story. If you're new to the site, my friend Matt, a sergeant in the Stryker Brigade currently deployed in Northern Iraq, has been checking in since June and providing snapshots of various aspects of life in Iraq from a frontline perspective. Links to the rest of the series are attached below. If you find this a worthwhile read, Matt and I ask you pass the link along to a friend or two. --Dave

ON THE ROAD TO MOSUL -- "I only want to see you laughing in the purple rain. Purple rain… purple rain. Purple rain… puuuuuuuuurple rain."

I was singing the old Artist Formerly Known as Prince tune with my friend Dana as we drove down the road. Luke was hanging his upper body out of the sunroof and making fun of our choice in songs. "You guys are losers," he said. We really only knew the chorus, so we changed song choices quickly.

"Turn around, Every now and then I get a little bit terrified to see the look in your eye," sort of mimicking Bonnie Tyler, but really the wedding singer from the movie, Old School. "Still losers," chimed our macho friend.

This could be a scene from any standard cross-country road trip in a beat-up jalopy with a few college buddies. But in this case, that couldn't be further from the truth.

The sunroof was really a gun turret mounted with a .50-caliber machine gun. The jalopy was an up-armored Humvee, the college kids were fairly seasoned soldiers, and the road trip was a night combat raid.

I'm not sure how I had perceived a night raid going down before I was actually involved in one, but I know there were never any Prince songs involved.

On this particular night, the convoy across Mosul was slow. We had started out with our traditional hum-singing of the "The A-Team" theme song on our way out of Al Kindi. "Dun duh dundun… dun duh dunnnn… bada dadun dee dun… dun duh duh dun duh." We had taken our place as the first Humvee in the convoy, following two Strykers, with the Iraqi Nissans tailing us. I was happy to be in the wake of the dark, hulking Strykers. It was much more difficult to follow the Nissans with their bright brake lights blinding us under night vision goggles. It had been my turn to drive on the night's mission. My buddy Dana was vehicle commander, and Luke was gunning, as per his usual position. Luke is hell behind a machine gun.

Luke's mechanical voice came across through the vehicle's headsets, "Man, this is a roundabout way to get there." I assured him, "It's a direct route back, man," as we drove on. We were on our way to eastern Mosul again, to raid a house on the outskirts of some field. I thought about my assignment as a Humvee driver. It was a lowly spot for an infantry team leader, but there is something to be said for driving on a combat mission. It's something I can bring to the water cooler some day. I might never be able to talk about how well my new Porsche rides, but I've driven an armored vehicle down an IED-ridden street under night vision goggles and lived to tell about it.

We arrived at our destination and I parked the vehicle strategically just outside of an intersection. Dana, our platoon leader, and the interpreter dismounted, and I continued to talk with Luke over the intercom. "Dude, it's warm tonight," I started.

"Yeah, it is," he said. "How long do you think we're going to be here?"

"Did you see the graphics?," I replied. "We could be here for hours."

To be continued.

Dispatches from Iraq series links

Dave's World

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Dispatches from Iraq 7