The day chris died

Gentlemen,
It has been a busy time for us as of late. The "Winds of War" come in a gentle breeze, only to turn in an instant, into a maelstrom. March came to us like a lion with a ferocity that no one can ever be prepared for.
The day began with bright sunshine, our normal routine, the usual threats, I thought to my self that the day was turning into a long one and would be uneventful.
As my team conducted normal traffic searches, the West was rocked by an explosion of such ferocity that I remarked to the boys " That's not your Daddy's normal IED! ", as a large mushroom cloud rose into the sky.

The radio started its constant busy chatter, and we knew that something big was brewing. I told the Iraqis we were searching to drop their hands and beat it, feeling like a traffic cop who just let them out of a traffic violation because the Bank was being robbed down the street.
Our two humvees raced West, as we had received the call to respond to a car bomb detonation and soldiers under fire.
Racing to the scene as the lead vehicle, the LT called me and reported that the area was still under Heavy fire and to let the response team know that we were going into a "Hot Zone" under fire.
As we responded to the scene, the soldiers at the position were fighting for their lives. In a coordinated attack, the insurgents were attacking the position from multiple angles. Two Car bombs slammed into the nearby police headquarters and detonated.
Insurgents raked the soldiers Humvee with Automatic weapons fire(RP?RPK), launched RPGs, and lobbed grenades. An RPG slammed into the vehicle and grenades hit the Gunner in the face and bounced around.

Our Humvees raced to the scene, weaving around the strewn wreckage of the Police Station and vehicle parts. As we maneuvered up to the position, we came under immediate fire and a mortar round or RPG detonated so close to our vehicle that the over pressure displaced the air inside the Humvee. I shouted for the driver to get us over a berm on the North side of the position. As we set up there were two other Humvees on my left side blazing away with Crew Serve, and dismounts crouching behind cover and returned fire.

The other Humvee in my team broke left with our medic and drove up to aid the wounded Humvee crew. The situation was desperate with serious trauma injuries. The medics worked under fire and at one point had to lay down cover fire to move.

On our position we were taking fire from three directions, we responded with multiple 50 cals, 240s, m-4s. and 203mm rounds. Then the Mortar, rocket, or RPG rounds started crashing around us. We displaced and then displaced again. All the impacts were all within 50 meters, and the thought process at the time for me was " Shit, that was close, ok, we are still here". After three or four rounds, we positioned so we could dismount. My boys hopped out and I had just got one leg out when we received another very close round near our position. I shouted for my driver and dismount to get back in and they needed no other incentive. My Gunner continued to engage as Tanks rolled in behind us and began to move and engage targets to our West. As we dismounted a Tank fired his main gun and at first I thought we were taking more indirect fire. " No my dismount shouted, that's the tank."
The tank was maybe twenty or thirty meters away!

Part of my duty was to paint the picture of the situation and report to the LT. Frustrating because of the noise and the inclination to fight the fight. At one point the LT asked me for a sitrep, and amid the chaos and explosions, I said " Be advised, we are taking indirect fire right on our position, and small arms fire from the West, North West, North, and North East". As the situation developed the LT was receiving offers to respond from other elements. The LT asked me if we could use further assistance. I responded " Roger we could use the help, we are taking heavy fire still at this time". ( I think there were some expletive's thrown in there)

We dismounted, found cover behind the vehicle and individually engaged targets, the combined noise of the firefight was intense, deafening. My dismount and driver engaged to the west and North West. My gunner the West, and North. I dropped to a knee behind cover and returned fire to the North from a building and the sides of the route. At one point three insurgents ran across the road, one pausing to fire an AK in our direction. I put him in my sights and squeeze, double tap, he dropped. Another ran from right to left, and squeeze, he dropped forward into a canal on the left side of the road.
At one point I heard my other team say they were returning, and I realized that while we were engaged, they had already taken the wounded for treatment.

Shortly later, the LT was on scene and we were still continuing to take fire from several directions. The indirect had stopped as soon as several tanks responded and moved to the West and engaged targets. The LT took control of getting us to move and secure the area.
My team moved off North to mop up and search for insurgents wounded and hiding. While clearing reeds and some tents, we spotted a group of men with a white flag surrendering. We converged on the area and found a group of IPs (Iraq Police), with suspect insurgents mixed in. Something was wrong. We put them all on the ground and removed various weapons, and IP body armor. Stories did not match, changed, strange civilians mixed in. Wounded were all over the ground. We had to secure the area, as well as treat the wounded.

The more critical looking wounded were attended to, under the threat of small arms fire, although we had not been shot at for the past five minutes.
As my team worked to sort out the good from the bad, I began to move from wounded to wounded. The medic "Doc" showed up at this time and I began to work with him. I let him know who had what injury and where. Doc tasked me and bounced from one to the next. I would shout to him after I had cut off clothing, put on dressings, or cleaned a wound. Doc would double back, check my work and tell me to note the time and name of the wounded as we gave them morphine.
While we were working together, I asked him how our boys wounded in the attack were doing. Doc looked up and he told me that his good friend had died in his arms. Our eyes only met briefly, but I will never forget that look. Another is critical he said, one more a good chance for recovery.

The teams moved quickly to sort things out, and move the wounded and detained to safety. Our job was not finished as the area was still unsecured. My team then moved on to search nearby buildings and make sure they were clear. At one point we came to a walled house and we were too understaffed to attempt to scale the wall and ensure overwhelming force. Our big buddies, a tank gestured to me and indicated that he would help us out. I pulled my team back as it looked like he was going to blow the gate down. We ran around a corner shouting to others at the possibility. Quite comical as we tried to get clear, with everyone running with their fingers in the ears. Well, he was just traversing to ram the gate, which was quite a relief. We swept the house and yard as I herded the women and children to a side of the house saying " zein, manny muk mashkila", which means "its ok, theres no problem". The mother nodded and seemed relieved as she drew her children close to her.

What seemed to take forever, we finally withdrew, and regrouped and rolled past the scene of the attack and the damaged police station.
Was our day over?, Nope, an IED was found back in our area. The crews rolled back and helped set security for EOD as they blew up the bomb, so we could go home........

My prayers go out to the wounded and those who made the ultimate sacrifice.