Sad day

The man in the passenger seat lay slumped against the dashboard, a massive wound to his head. John pulled the body upright and cut his pockets open looking for ID. When he was done and let the body fall back against the dashboard, he said what was left of the man's brain fell out of the opening in the back of his head and onto the ground. He could handle the guy with the brain and both the dead women, but it was the three-year-old-girl, he said, that got to him.

Little while before that took place there was a small convoy made up of a security team that came to a halt as someone spotted an IED (improvised explosive device). They called in the EOD (explosive ordnance disposal team, guys who blow up bombs on purpose left by bad guys) As they were pulling up to the site of the spotted IED they were taking fire from multiple directions. With the enemy fire there was a rain of multiple mortars. Fortunately they suck at aiming for mortars are the primary means of attack, but can’t hit the side of a barn if they tried. They laid down suppressive fire as much as they could which seemed to be a little difficult, even though it was daytime, it was still hard to pinpoint where it was coming from.

Within the area they spotted a vehicle on the move that they identified as one of the attackers. From what I was hearing on the radio the gunships attacked this vehicle with a shitload of machine gunfire. The truck contained 6 people, 2 men, 2 women and 2 children. The two men were sitting in the front as it is accustomed in Iraq, were dead, 2 women were dead and 1 three year old girl. The only one left was an 8 year old girl lying in the back.

I try to fathom what it must feel like to be an 8 year old girl of Arabic decent to watch your family die so suddenly and violently in front of you. Thank god none of this carnage has been carried out by anyone in my platoon or even my battalion for that matter.

Sad day