wrong place to break down...

Ok - I forgot to tell you about the second wrong place, wrong time event.

We were driving a 3 vehicle convoy through mosul, i was commander of the lead vehicle when i determined that it was in our best interest to cut through the city and change up our route. This is tactic used commonly as a way to throw off insurgents from patterns, limiting their ability to predict your movement and denying them the ability to fix you in time and space. anyway. We were in an area where an over-pass had been bombed and the only way was to go up the embankment on the right. however, when we got to the road, i saw a huge hole in the pavement and called it out. right after that, i got a call saying that the rear truck slid off the muddy bank and was at a 45 degree tilt. The M-RAP (the vehicles we drive) are top heavy due to armor and a 45 tilt was close to a roll over. we haulted and pulled front security, while the middle truck attempted to pull out the stuck veh. next thing i knew we got a call that the middle truck fell in the big hole that i called out. so 2 trucks down.

I dismounted along with a will yun in order to assess the damage. the middle veh snapped the air brake valve and couldn't move and the rear truck was stuck. luckily an MP unit came up helped assess the damage and assist in security.

Let me tell you a little about the location we were stuck in. the intersection gets a carbomb about every day. there are hide out all along the towering building for snipers. that area is a HIGH threat location. So as we were dismounted we were on the look out for charge veh with a deadly payload. as we were hooking up the middle truck to one of the MP's trucks we started taking AK-47 fire from some building that where across a field. we all took cover, but since no one saw exactly where it was coming from. The rules are that you need PID (positive ID) of a target before firing. well after a while it stopped and we continued to pull out the middle veh. we got it out and just then a ford truck of iraqi police came flying throw our area shooting rounds in the air. not knowing if they were shooting at anything- we took cover and and ready to shot. well, come to find out they just picked up a guy with a suicide vest on, threw him on the back of the truck (vest still on) and drove him throw our area. that was sooooooo stupid bc usually even if the guy's self detonator is take off or secured, there is all most likely a guys watching with a cell phone det, if the guys chickens out or something.

With all this going on we all got back into the trucks and waited for recovery help from the closest FOB. about an hour later they showed up and we got the rear veh out and towed the middle veh on base.

I dont know how more to tell you that we were sitting ducks and i know that God looks out for those in need.