Suicide Rover

At least the weather was almost perfect. Today would’ve been a good day to die. At least it would’ve been on a day when the sun was shining brightly and the sky clear. Our headaches started this morning before we left the camp. Today, for some reason the captain, Roughneck Six, decided to join us. He had some business to attend to in Ramadi I guess. We linked up at the TOC as usual before we move out. What gets me is how time is wasted while we’re waiting before rolling out at the TOC. Instead of trying to work out commo issues while we’re all prepping, some of the guys would rather chat and give the morning greets. It’s crazy. It’s like some of these guys haven’t seen each other in months. Well, as we were getting ready to leave commo became an issue. Roughneck Six was unable to get anyone on his radio. So there we were, wasting another half hour while they tried to get their comms together. We were all set and ready to leave the camp. Our Humvees were running, everyone was wearing their seatbelts, and it looked like everyone was ready to roll out.

After the nightmare that was commo, we left the camp and headed to Ramadi. All was smooth sailing and it looked like it would be an uneventful trip until we passed Fallujah. We were driving down the road at a high rate of speed. I wasn’t even paying attention until T-Rex began to hit the brakes really hard. OH SHIT!!!! FUCK!!! “BACK!!! BACK!!! BACK!!!” I yelled! He already knew and I really didn’t have to yell. It was an IED right on the side of the road, a.k.a. roadside bomb. At the same time I got up in the turret. We were the lead Humvee. The next thing I was worried about was the Humvee behind us. I wanted them to know that we were backing up urgently and without much notice. I started waving my hand in a backward motion to get them to shift the transmission and go in reverse. We had stopped about 10 feet from the bomb and I was expecting it to go off. At least it wouldn’t be a surprise and I’d be ready for it. No shaking here. I was ready to see it explode and hear the loud sound of a boom.

Finally we started get far enough away that I was starting to feel comfortable. I wasn’t as worried and if we did get hit I knew it wouldn’t do anything significant. We sent the robot, The Roughneck Rover, to investigate the bomb and check it out. We kind of hoped that it would explode and take the bot with it. We wanted to watch the toy RC blow up. I guess it’s typical of boys. We like to blow stuff up. I wished to see the 4-wheeler burst into pieces and fly up into the air.

We called the bomb squad and awaited their arrival. They came, took care of the bomb, and we continued on our way.