LOGISTICS SUPPORT AREA ANACONDA, BALAD, Iraq -- A deadly convoy ambush and mixed messages about encounters with the enemy left two soldiers at the mercy of Iraqi insurgents, May 1 of this year, but miraculously, the pair escaped on foot, and fought their way back to freedom.
After the attacks on America on September 11, 2001, many Americans felt a rising tide of patriotism swelling from within, but of those many, only a few actually did something about it. Sgt. Stewart Redus, from San Antonio, Texas, had already served his nation from 1981--1985 as a soldier assigned to the U.S. Army in Europe and at stateside locations.
In late 2001, he volunteered again, telling the recruiter he wanted an assignment in a combat arms unit. The recruiter told him his age was against him for such an assignment, and after all, he had been a mechanic on his first stint. "Go to the Army Reserve" the recruiter said. So, Redus did. Redus was assigned to the Army Reserve's 277th Engineer Company in San Antonio. OK, so it wasn't combat arms, it was an engineer unit where he"d be a heavy equipment operator, but that was alright with him. He"d made his commitment again voluntarily, and was again, a soldier, his intention met.
Last year the 277th was mobilized for Operation Iraqi Freedom and Redus, along with the other 140 soldiers in the unit, was deployed here. The unit's mission is preparing, providing and paving asphalt road surfaces and airfield runways, along with several lesser tasks related to paving hard surfaces.
Like any unit, the soldiers of the 277th had a big job before them here, and in order to better meet their mission requirements, they were directed to convoy to distant locations to either distribute or acquire equipment and material.
They had a long convoy ahead of them, May 1 -- moving from here to points south and terminating at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait before returning.The convoy was moving south in the early evening when Redus" vehicle (a tractor trailer with coupled load) was among those hit with small arms fire and struck by an RPG (Rocket-Propelled Grenade) in an ambush in the city of Ala Marah.
The route bisected a portion of town with buildings on both sides of the road. It was a well-organized and executed ambush -- with buildings on both sides of the road in a relatively urban section of the city. "The RPG hit us in the side, taking out the air systems [these pneumatic systems control steering and braking in the rig] and unfortunately, we came to a stop in the middle of the kill zone." Redus said. "We had to defend ourselves, so Sgt. Torres [Staff Sgt. Fernando Torres] and I put down some fire -- we laid down suppressive fire."
In the heat of the ambush, the convoy drivers whose vehicles weren't hit followed the established SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) they had been provided -- basically, to "Drive through the ambush. Do not stop in the kill zone. Move quickly through the danger area to the next reconsolidation point."So incredibly, as the pair realized their vehicle was down and they had to respond to the attack by returning fire, the vehicles behind the halted truck cab containing Redus and Torres sped past them.
"We were in vehicle number 28 out of 33 vehicles," said Redus, 'so there were vehicles that passed us right up." Even given the SOP guidelines, a soldier down is always a priority, and both soldiers were astounded as the remaining trail vehicles in the convoy gassed past them, and they were left alone."When you look right in the eyes of someone passing you up, you don't feel too good about it," said Redus. "That didn't go over very well. I was pretty [angry]."
After the convoy passed and there was nobody left but bad guys who continued firing at them, Redus felt they had to abandon the vehicle. They fled to a building complex."We took refuge in a prison that was under construction there," Redus said. "We were waiting for them to come back and get us."
The enemy, however, knew where the U.S. soldiers had gone, and followed. After the insurgents fired on them in the prison, they returned fire."The place was well fortified so the RPGs and the small arms fire were catching the walls," Redus said. "There was only one way in and one way out, and after about two hours they started to move in on us. We were low on ammo and water so we moved to the back area of the prison."
Knowing they were trapped in an enclosed area with the enemy still outside the gate wasn't the best of circumstances, and nobody from the convoy had returned to find them.
"Believe me," Redus said. "Trying to think in that situation was extremely hard. With all the [stuff] going on, it was very difficult." But years of experience as a soldier, and past training kicked in -- cooler heads usually prevail, especially in extraordinary circumstances."Well, after a while we gave up on hope that somebody was coming back for us, so there was a tower on each corner of this prison." Knowing they must move or end up in the hands of those who were killing captured coalition soldiers, contract workers and even Iraqi citizens who favored a free country to the dictatorship of Saddam, they did what they had to do. The sun had set and night was approaching.
"We jumped from the tower," Redus said. Torres was injured on the way down. He told me he had broken his ribs but I persuaded him that we had to move on. He gathered himself and tightened his body armor. He was having difficulty moving around so I had to help him." But â?¦ they were now outside the walls of the prison and on the ground.
As they prepared for yet another escape from the enemy, Redus noticed the Iraqis were still engaging the tower -- unaware the two soldiers had made the plunge. Still, danger surrounded them in many forms, but they now had another ally."Darkness became our friend, and we moved out," said Redus. "I smiled at them still engaging the tower -- knowing we"d escaped."But traveling overland in enemy territory at night isn't easy, especially with injuries, but nevertheless, the two continued on together.
"I didn't know how much longer Torres could go on. He was having shortness of breath and difficulty breathing. He was out of wind," Redus said. The pair returned to the highway near where the convoy had been hit and hunkered down, awaiting traffic."I told myself I was going to flag down the first vehicle that came by, as long it wasn't [the enemy] who were looking for us," Redus said.
After assessing an approaching vehicle to be either friendly or neutral, Redus forcibly stopped it and without harming the three passengers, commandeered it, then continued on the road until they saw an Iraqi police checkpoint.
"We had a communications problem, but they spoke more English than I spoke Iraqi. We got it across that we needed help," Redus said. The Iraqis called the nearest coalition forces element and relayed the situation. The British were nearby, and dispatched tanks to retrieve Redus and Torres. Enroute to their camp,the British told the soldiers that the U.S. troops from the ill-fated convoy were there "licking their wounds."
"We had two killed, 11 wounded and lost 13 vehicles," Redus said. After the pair rejoined their unit, a celebration ensued. Before that, however, on the other end of the convoy, other events had been unfolding.
After the intact or limping convoy vehicles passed through the ambush site and made it to the reconsolidation point, the 277th soldiers first discovered Redus and Torres were missing.
"I went to the convoy commander and said "Hey, I gotta" go back -- two of my guys are missing" but it wasn't allowed. He told me to wait -- that vehicles were still straggling in and they had called the QRF (Quick Reaction Force) to come in. There was a lot of confusion with the wounded and treating injuries. We had two dead and a lot of wounded -- it was a bad situation," said Sgt. 1st Class David Cantyne.
Given the other operations already in motion with the QRF, the KIA and WIA, and the loss of one third of the convoy's vehicles, the decision was made -- the 277th troops were not to return to the ambush site.
Someone also reported that the vehicle was empty when they passed it. A direct hit from an RPG packs a wallop. Notwithstanding the additional armor that has been attached to most of the Army's vehicles making convoy runs, Redus and Torres could have been killed -- their bodies blown from the vehicle.Regardless, that decision didn't sit well with Cantyne or with his soldiers."It was pretty difficult for me to tell them that -- that we couldn't go back for them," Cantyne said.
"I turned around and looked at the HUMVEE guntruck -- and I know Sgt. Steele [a sergeant in the 277th] was thinking the same thing I was -- I was at the point where I just wanted to take it and go after them.""We felt helpless because as a soldier, we're to follow orders," Staff Sgt. Billy K. Steele said. "When we got the order to mount up (and continue beyond the reconsolidation point) I asked "What about our two soldiers? Are we going back?" and it was "No -- the QRF, so I thought they had made contact with them. I found out later they had not. I was angry because in my 20 years as a soldier, I've believed in the Soldier's Creed -- that you don't leave anyone behind. It's the first time I wanted to disobey a lawful order."
After the reunion with their unit, both Redus and Torres were grateful to be alive and safe, but their harrowing experience was not going to pass without hard questions being addressed."I think the rage I felt at the time -- from being left behind -- and then nobody coming back -- that's what kept me going," said Redus.
"I thought they would go up the road, reconsolidate and come back -- we had 50 cals [50 caliber machine guns] and Mark 19s -- to be honest, we could have taken the damned town. I felt like the whole town was in on it -- I mean everybody," Redus said."I had a bad feeling about the place," Steele said. "When you're outside the wire you have to watch everything and you can see the way they people are -- I told my gunner to get ready."
Only moments later, the enemy sprang the ambush."I've had people shoot at me and I've had things blow up around me, but never all at the same time," said Steele. "They were dug in at street level and in trenches -- they were in the windows and on the rooftops. They were everywhere. We had bullet holes near the bottom, on the top and through both sides of our vehicles," Steele said.
According to on-site eyewitness reports, the RPG team that fired on Redus" vehicle quickly escaped in a white van disguised as an ambulance.
Reports also exist that anti-Coalition forces or those Iraqi civilians assisting them are paid bounties for hits on American targets. Another report contains testimony that an insurgent was firing at the convoy from behind a child he was holding.
"It was an unfortunate situation," Redus said.
"There were a lot of young soldiers and leaders -- I was told later that six of our experienced drivers wanted to come back for us, but they were overruled," said Redus. "I found out later that there had been a lot of casualties and soldiers had died so they didn't want to run the risk of going back, but that's not the Army I know.
"The only thing I regret is that by "brothers" from this unit have to live with the fact of us being left and their not being able to come back. The soldiers of the 277th are fantastic!" Redus said.
"It's the way they had been trained," said Steele, 'there's no training that can actually prepare you for that situation, but when the situation occurs, it's the training that gets you through it. They got out of that town with the militia and everybody in town against them, just two people, two American soldiers who didn't give up."
The official After-Action Review for the incident took two days, and as a result of what actions occurred, and did not occur -- on that day, SOPs have been altered to address similar situations. Redus harbors no animosity for the Army or anyone in particular from what happened on May 1, nor does he feel the need to get away from the commitment he renewed after 9-11.
"It's my turn now," he said.
"That's why I joined. I still look forward to going home, but I'll do my time -- this is my rotation. It was just a bad day. Hopefully, we will learn something from it for the next soldiers who come along."
| Date Taken: | 08.10.2004 |
| Date Posted: | 08.10.2004 16:20 |
| Story ID: | 224 |
| Location: | BALAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 702 |
| Downloads: | 56 |
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