Publication:Chattanooga Times Free Press
Date:Sunday, January 23, 2005
Section:Front Page; Page:1

DISPATCH IRAQ

Soldiers recall close encounters with bomb blasts

By Edward Lee Pitts Military Affairs

JALULA, Iraq — Spc. John Belcher with the 278 th Regimental Combat Team heard but never saw the roadside bomb blast that knocked him unconscious.

The early January explosion by an improvised explosive device left a crater 2 1 /2 feet deep but caused only minor paint damage to the fully armored Humvee in which Spc. Belcher rode as a turret gunner. Spc. Belcher fell down the gunner’s hatch in the Humvee’s roof and landed in the arms of the interpreter riding inside the vehicle.

An estimated 10 such explosive devices have detonated on 278 th convoys during the Tennessee-based regiment’s first month inside Iraq. The unit conducted its 1,000 th mission last week.

All soldiers involved in the roadside explosions have escaped injury, but they said the experiences served as loud reminders that they are in a war zone where people’s lives are at stake. The bombs are the Iraqi insurgents’ main weapon against U.S. forces.

"This stuff is for real," said Spc. Belcher, 20, of Athens, Tenn. "It isn’t training any more."

BLAST AFTERMATH

Spc. Belcher, who returned from basic training just two months before the regiment began its deployment at Camp Shelby, Miss., in late June, suffered a concussion and hearing loss. But he said the incident left him with a week’s worth of nightmares.

"I kept waking up to (bombs) going off," he said. "I kept hearing that same noise, and it would wake me up."

One of the most difficult moments of the experience was telephoning his mother, he said. "It took me awhile to get her to stop crying and tell her I was OK," Spc. Belcher said. "She kept saying, ‘I want you to come home.’ She was acting like any mom would."

Capt. Matthew Smith, commander of Third Squadron’s L Troop, said the explosion beside Spc. Belcher’s Humvee is the only roadside bomb to hit L Troop. The incident motivated his soldiers to corral Jalula’s insurgency.

"We did some serious knocking on doors the next day," said Capt. Smith, 35, of Nashville.

"I want to see justice served," he said. "I am looking at trying to get the big fish."

He said L Troop already has captured some area bomb makers and is using these detainees to track down others in an ongoing investigation with both day and night raids.

BOMBINGS ON THE RISE

The entire regiment has seen an increase in improvised explosive device activity as the scheduled Jan. 30 election draws near, officials said. However, not all bombs hit their intended targets. Recently elements of the regiment’s Third Squadron found two insurgents who had blown themselves up while trying to set up a bomb on the road near Jalula.

Spc. Belcher said riding safely in Humvees exposed above the waist as a gunner for two weeks before the Jan. 3 explosion made him confident and relaxed just as if he was working a normal job back home.

"It is just beyond belief when it happens to you," he said.

Sgt. Chris O’Barr, 41, survived a bomb attack on his Humvee from the same gunner’s spot. While on a supply convoy with elements of First Squadron’s Service Battery, Sgt. O’Barr’s vehicle came under attack this month outside a small town north of Camp Caldwell.

Sgt. O’Barr said the bomb went off and sent him flying through the air soon after the Humvee slowed to make a sharp turn. The Humvee’s right side came completely off the ground before crashing back down, he said.

"It picked me up off my feet and slapped me around," he said. "I was bouncing around the turret like a pinball."

Sgt. O’Barr landed on his right arm and shoulder nearly upside down inside the Humvee. He said he checked to make sure he still had all his limbs and began to feel better when he didn’t see any blood.

"The first thing I am thinking is ambush," he said. "I needed to get the gun back in the game."

But the Humvee’s driver, Spc. Blaze Crook, already had hit the gas pedal.

"I didn’t freak out," said Spc. Crook, of Cleveland, Tenn. "I was calm the whole time. ‘Is everyone all right?’ and ‘Let’s get out of here’ were the only two things on my mind."

With ears ringing, the three soldiers in the vehicle had to give each other the thumbs-up sign to signal they had no injuries. Nearly a week after the explosion, Sgt. O’Barr said he still felt as though he was listening to people while underwater.

The Humvee that Sgt. O’Barr and Spc. Crook rode in had been upgraded with steel doors and ballistic windows. Parked in the motor pool a week later, it had no visible signs of the attack.

"The armor did its job and deflected everything," Sgt. O’Barr said. "We were lucky."

The vehicle’s gun turret took minor shrapnel damage, and the explosion nearly blew off the Humvee’s canvas top and allowed smoke to pour inside.

"It was like being in a big dust cloud," Sgt. O’Barr said.

TRAINING AND WARNINGS

During the regiment’s nearly five months of training, instructors used simulated explosions to familiarize the soldiers with the sights and sounds of improvised bombs. The unit also watched videos about the various types of bombs. All that training has not stopped other members of the regiment from asking the bombing survivors to recount their experiences.

"Everybody is asking me what it’s like," said Spc. Crook, who kept a piece of shrapnel as a souvenir. "I tell them it is just like the videos they showed us, but it’s surround sound."

Several survivors of roadside bombings declined to be interviewed for this story. Some have yet to tell loved ones back home about their experiences. But they said they are more than willing to talk to fellow 278 th soldiers about what happened in the hope their observations will help others who must venture outside the bases to conduct missions.

Sgt. O’Barr, a Cobb County, Ga., police officer, said he remembers thinking something was not right when the crowd of people gathered on the roadside began to thin out as if they knew something was about to happen. It was a warning sign he will act on in the future, he said.

Still, those who have lived through such an attack said bombs go off every day in Iraq, and with so many convoys driving around the country the odds of getting hit are too low to worry about.

"It is like a lightning strike," Sgt. O’Barr said. "Sometimes I think I have been shot up more at home than I’ve been here."

Spc. Belcher said he still pictures what happened during his close call, but it will not keep him from doing his job.

"Every time we go by that spot, I duck down until we pass," he said. "The driver usually speeds up for me."

E-mail Lee Pitts at lpitts@timesfreepress.com

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