McCoy's Marines by John Koopman

Author:John Koopman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MBI
Published: 2010-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

THE AMBUSH

As we move farther along, the sergeant major stops the Humvee and tells me to get in the front, in the passenger seat, so he can get in the back with his rifle. I do as I’m told, but it makes me nervous. That stupid canvas door won’t stop a bullet. If we take fire from the right side, I’m in trouble.

We come to a stretch of road with a wide-open, sandy patch to the left and a palm grove to the right. The roadway is elevated, and there’s a 10- to 15-foot embankment facing the grove.

It’s an ambush.

The Iraqis are dug in. They let most of the tanks pass. Then open up with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

I see bullets hit the last tank in the column and the Amtracks. We’re directly behind the last Amtrack in the column. The fire is coming from my right side, and I know I have to get out and get cover. Evnin stops the Humvee and I run around to the back. Taking cover. It’s what I do best.

Someone fires an RPG at the Amtrack closest to us. The shot comes from close range. It hits the armor, then bounces off, and explodes in mid-air. Apparently, it hit the vehicle before the warhead was armed. Otherwise, it would have opened up that AAV like a soup can.

The Amtrack pulls to the side of the road and parks at a 45-degree angle. The turret gunner starts pouring .50-caliber fire into the woods.

Evnin pulls the Humvee behind the Amtrack as I walk along behind it.

The Amtrack driver drops the rear ramp of the vehicle and 3rd Platoon of Kilo Company pours out. The Marines hit the pavement and go down that embankment, into the teeth of the Iraqi machine guns. And start to return fire.

The grove is filled with gun smoke. You can hardly see. The last two tanks in the column are still close enough to fire. They shoot their high-explosive rounds directly into the groves. The deafening blasts cut palm trees in half. All I can think is: God help anyone underneath those blasts.

I squint and peer into the grove, trying to spot Iraqi soldiers. There, behind a stump, I see movement. A head pops up. I see a teal blue shirt.

A tank gunner sees it, too. He opens up with his .50-caliber machine gun. The tree stump, a tree next to it, the dirt all around—they come alive with a flurry of bullets.

The Iraqi bounces up, then slumps over the stump. Dead. Half his face is gone.

Behind me, the sergeant major is telling Evnin to get his M203. The 203 is a hybrid weapon, an M-16 assault weapon with a 40 mm single-shot grenade launcher attached to the underside. Kind of like an over-under shotgun.

Moreno is on the roof of the Humvee with his sniper rifle, looking for targets in the smoky grove. The action is so close, he doesn’t need a spotter.

Evnin gets his weapon, and the sergeant major leads him to the rear of the Amtrack in front of us.

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