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Operation Iraqi Freedom

A Personal Account of the Battle of An Nasiriyah

   Mister Toad’s Wild Ride

The TAC CP started out first. We drove down the shoulder of the highway to avoid getting stuck in the bumper-to-bumper Army traffic. I was traveling in vehicle eight of the ten-vehicle convoy. We decided to avoid the MP’s at the cloverleaf by heading cross-country around it. We were proceeding across the desert in the dark at a high rate of speed. The dust kicked up by the truck in front of us made it impossible to maintain visual contact with it. I kept insisting that my driver slow down until I could catch a glimpse of it. I didn’t want rear end collision should it stop suddenly. After a few tense minutes, the dust finally cleared. I felt a brief moment of relief until I realized there was nobody in front of us. Panic! Where did they go? I sure didn’t want to get lost around here. I looked to the right and saw that we were close to Route 1. I called the lead vehicle on my radio and asked him if they had gotten back on the road. They rogered affirmative and we raced over there.

Route 1 was a new six-lane divided highway that the Iraqi’s were building. We got on the highway heading north in the southbound lanes. The three northbound lanes were completely crushed with Army logistics convoys that weren’t going anywhere. Somewhere up ahead, a column of trucks had stopped for the night -- in the travel lanes. Much to my amazement, I found myself speeding the wrong way (at night with our headlights covered with green canvas) down the center lane of the highway at 60 miles per hour.

Trucks stopped on the road

Trucks stopped in the road near An Nasiriyah, Iraq

To our right were huge semi-trucks going in our direction but much faster, and to our left were trucks heading toward us. Every mile or two we had to swerve to avoid a vehicle that had broken down and abandoned in the middle of the highway. They used no flashers and we swerved around them as we approached them suddenly in the dark.

Now, all of this high speed driving down the wrong side of a crowded freeway can be rather entertaining in a Mel Gibson movie, but the reality of experience left something to be desired. After an hour or so of this, I was ready to stop. My driver had obviously run out of adrenalin and seemed intent on catching up on his sleep at the wheel. I had a hard time splitting my attention between the road and his eyes. Every time I saw them start to get heavy and droop, I hollered at him.

We eventually stopped to let the LAR company catch up. I took advantage of the break to make sure all the drivers got outside to walk around a bit to wake up. It was in the low 40’s that night and the cold helped. It was tempting to get back in the trucks to warm up, but we needed to shake off the drowsiness.

We were all sufficiently alert 45 minutes later when the Operations Chief came down the row of vehicles to inform us the unit we were waiting on were coming. We were told to get in, start our vehicles and stand by to roll.

Glad to get out of the cold and eager to finish the mission, we dutifully jumped in and did what we were told. The heater kicked on and soon a nice flow of warm air was rushing over my body. It seemed like these guys were taking forever. As the minutes ticked by, I focused on the dim red blackout lights of the vehicle in front of me. I watched the hypnotic traffic flow past as I waited for the light armored vehicles to roll up next to us. I couldn’t help appreciate how cold it was outside and how warm and cozy it was in the HMMWV. I concentrated on staying alert. I wasn’t going to allow myself to succumb to the sudden heaviness of my eyelids. That’s what undisciplined Marines did...

The roar of a speeding truck stirred my slumber. After hearing several of them rudely whiz by my bedroom, the genesis of a cloudy thought stirred in the back of my mind. Something was wrong. My subconscious was telling me that sound must be the guys we were waiting for. I should get us ready to go -- after just a few more moments of well-deserved rest.

Not trusting my subconscious, I cracked an eye open to see what was going on. A cold wave of terror cascaded abruptly over me. A convoy of large Army trucks was speeding past me. The seven vehicles that had been parked in front of me were now gone! There was nothing but open road in front of me. They had left us! All four of us had fallen asleep. I shouted, "WAKE UP... GET MOVING... THEY’RE GONE!"

My Staff Sergeant, from his position behind the driver, began to motivate him to get moving in the special way only former Marine drill instructors can. After what seemed like an eternity, my driver woke up and realized what was going on. He eventually became coherent enough to shift the truck into drive and disengage the parking brake. A moment later, we were hurtling down the road at 80 miles an hour going the wrong way. I looked back, and to my relief, the two vehicles behind us were awake and following us. We darted in and out of the blur of traffic trying to catch up. My eyes strained to make our convoy ahead -- as if they looked any different than the other vehicles on that dark road.

We drove fast for an eternity, hoping against all hope that the rest of the convoy had not turned off of the road yet. I was so mad, frightened, and embarrassed. The experience was too surreal to be concerned about the very real prospect of crashing that night. I’ve had dreams like this -- dreams brought on by anxiety. This certainly had to be a dream. I wondered if I was still asleep by the side of the road back there. Nope. I was definitely awake and definitely in real trouble.

The MEB was right in a way, there was plenty adrenaline flowing in that vehicle now. We were alert for the rest of the night.

Just when I was about to get on the radio to announce my blunder and ask for help, I spotted our convoy. We slowed down and found our spot towards the rear of the convoy. We were all giddy with relief. Laughing nervously, we all vowed never to tell anyone what happened to us.

Around midnight, we reached the turnoff to the Army’s headquarters. We were directed down a dirt road. We switched off our headlights and put our night vision goggles on. There were vehicles everywhere. Marine light armored vehicles, Army tanks and armored personnel carriers, and Marine Force Reconnaissance IFAV’s (Interim Fast Attack Vehicles). Wait a minute, why were these guys here? Force Recon worked for the MEB.

We asked them what they were doing. They responded that they had escorted their commander to conduct the relief in place. We all asked each other, why did MEB send us out here if they were going send their own guy to do it? We asked the Force Recon Marines for directions to the command post. They were obviously anxious to get back to sleep and replied that they didn’t know.

Just about then we received a call on the radio from 3/2. They had left about an hour behind us and made the same trip. One of their HMMWV’s had crashed into a stalled Army truck. They reported the driver was dead and the three passengers were critically wounded and being evacuated by helicopter. We solemnly acknowledged our first casualties of the war.

It turned out that nobody knew where the Army’s command post was. We walked around for an hour in the dark, avoiding tanks, without any success. The dawn was just beginning to streak across the sky when Force Recon CO appeared from the shadows. It stated that the relief in place was complete and the Army was moving out. Frustrated, we climbed back in vehicles. We had an attack that was going to kick off in an hour or so and we needed to get back to the other side of the city to control it.

Next...

Attack!
Attack to seize key bridges in An Nasiryah.


  

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