Army WTF moments!

Some days in the army are what we call "WTF moments". These are those times when something completely out of the ordinary happen and make you just have to say, "What the fuck?".




As I have had the opportunity to spend not only 20 years in the military, but 2 years in Iraq, I have seen my share. Since yesterday was a reminder of those 20 years I have decided to share one of those "WTF moments".



February 2004, my first convoy on my second tour in the worlds largest ashtray. We rolled out of Balad. Its one of the largest airbases in Iraq. Roughly a couple hours north of Baghdad. So, as we roll out, I'm the guy with the most combat or at least the most current combat time. All seems to be good until we run up on traffic being stopped on the highway. Ok, so we cross the median and pull up right behind an EOD vehicle and they tell us there is an ied on the south bound lane. To most of the members of our convoy this is an exciting thing. To me, been there, done that plenty of times. I had just left this shit-hole a couple months before. So, EOD needs to do their thing.



As I watch this highly trained explosive specialist prepare 2 separate poles with a block of C4 attached to the end of each, I then realize there are two separate ied's here. Dressed in his bear suit, he moves slowly toward the devices. He places one pole so that the C4 is next to the item. After attempting to place the second one for about 30 minutes, he begins to move back towards his truck. Now mind you, his truck is maybe 20 ft in front of us. He removes the blasting cap from the pole he could not put into position and tells our vehicle that he will attempt to detonate the first ied, then go back for the second if it is not destroyed in the blast. Ok, sounds like a plan, right?



"Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!". Pop! Yes, pop! The guy detonates the one in front of his truck. Now, picture this, the radio blasting cap, laying on top of a block of C4 explodes.