Today we began a series of intensive interviews, gathering the experiences of soldiers who have fought and bled for our country on the mean streets of Iraqi cities and in the bleak countryside of Afghanistan. You will be able to read their full accounts in “Warrior Police” when it is published.
Meet Captain Laura Weimer, second-generation soldier, West Point graduate, and former operations officer at Forward Operating Base Rustimayah in Iraq. Weimer recounted one of the more serious episodes during her recent Iraq tour when the base came under intense mortar fire from Madhi insurgents in Sadr City. “One squad was inside a bunker and in a lull in the incoming fire, the sergeant pulled back the Kevlar curtain to see if any soldiers were outside. At that moment a round impacted just outside the bunker, mortally wounding the sergeant and injuring 13 others in the bunker.”
Meet Master Sergeant James Eakin, now designated to attend the Sergeant Major Academy, who sustained disfiguring wounds to his face and right leg from an IED attack outside of Baghdad. At the “schoolhouse,” Fort Leonard Wood’s MP school where junior NCOs and officers train, he has assembled a pool of up to 70 soldiers with two or three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan with the purpose of applying their experiences in combat as “lessons learned” to instruct the budding leaders on methods that will keep them and their soldiers alive in combat and allow them to accomplish their missions.
Meet Captain John Petkovich, who, with two tours in Iraq now trains recruits on basic soldering skills. Petkovich worries that our enemy knows our methods better than we know his. “They use our system to push back at us,” he said, referring to restrictive rules of engagement that insurgents take advantage of to our detriment. “They have no regard for civilian lives and intentionally hide behind them when engaging our soldiers, knowing that we will hold fire in order to protect the innocent.”
Meet a master sergeant who prefers to be known as “Big Bo,” – and doesn’t like photos – a man wounded in Fallujah who pulled another soldier back so that he could be the first one through the door in a house-clearing operation. “I won’t let a soldier go where I wouldn’t go first,” he said.
Seconds later an insurgent fired first at him in the dark room, tearing out part of his neck. Big Bo saw him out of the corner of his eye, yet hesitated for a split-second while silently reviewing the Rules Of Engagement in his head. He luckily turned his head just a bit and was instantly hit, “But I fired back, and ended it there.”
Big Bo is concerned that returning soldiers who have suffered serious mental strain will not receive proper care. “We need to remove the stigma of combat stress,” he said, “and take effective action to help these returning veterans.”
Watch for more interviews tomorrow.
