"Walking Away From The Ledge” The Cut List: Vol. 14. These are the stories that didn’t make the cut to the final edit in my book. Some of these stories will jump around, but I’ll do my best not to leave you, the reader, guessing when and where they happened.
The salt flat in northern Iraq was used by aircrews flying in and out of Tikrit as a test fire area. While in combat, it's part of the aircrew checklist to conduct a test fire to ensure the weapons on board are functioning correctly, which includes the Apaches. The salt flat was supposed to be under a Restricted Operating Zone (ROZ) while we were conducting our mission, but not everyone received the memo.
We had made our movement to our Hide Site (HS) and had pre-determined that the team would stay together since it was a wide-open desert with no real cover or concealment to speak of. We found the lowest ground with a lot of scrub brush and decided to make that our HS. It was about a click from the factory and the same distance from the salt flat.
As soon as we got to our HS and started setting up our security, we heard some Apaches flying near and decided to halt and lay low until they left. Apparently, they thought we were bad guys and didn’t want to miss an opportunity to remove us from the battlefield.
We were already setting up a radio, so I told the RTO to get the CP on the line ASAP. At that moment, it got really bright as one of the Apaches launched a flare round. We quickly realized it was an IR flare that could only be seen under NVGs, but what was more concerning was the fact that we could hear the casing for the flare land rather close to us! We had IR flags and glint tape that we tried to flash in their direction in a non-threatening manner, hoping to dissuade them from doing that again, or worse, but to no avail.
Another IR flare, another casing landing, this time sounding a bit closer. We had the CP on the radio and were informing them to call the aviation guys to let these assholes know they were targeting friendlies, and that’s when I had the thought that we were going to be the victims of fratricide! The one running joke is “don’t run from an Apache, you’ll only die tired!” That was supposed to be for the enemy, not us.
Our last-ditch effort was the “iron cross.” Stand up, arms out to the side, making a cross shape, and as far as I’ve ever been informed, it was a universal, understood thing to do for “friendly, don’t shoot.” As we were about to do this, they slowly began to fly away. I guess our radio calls got through. I still wanted to find them later and have some words, but it was forgotten, except in my memories.
On another mission in Iraq, as we survey a village, we notice a small mud-brick wall about four feet tall, located 200 meters in front of us. On the outside of it, closer to us, is a van that appears to be stuck, possibly inoperable. Either way, we note it and have it ranged in case it needs an M203 Grenade Launcher round through the windshield.
Beyond the wall lies a flat, field-like area that is 30 meters by 100 meters long, with a few mud huts, some palm trees that look out of place here, and that's about it. In the early morning, a family came out of one of the huts. The kids kicked a ratty-looking soccer ball around.
There was another truck inside the walled area, where a man got in and then left. Other than that, it seemed like Ma-and-Pa-Ahmed were a regular old, working-class, Iraqi family. Or maybe that was their cover, and we were going to blow it wide open!
There was a cave near us, too, that was allegedly a copper cave owned by the Chinese that was worth billions, yes with a “b”, that had international interest. I was a possible storage location for weapons and IED-making materials, so that was a secondary reconnaissance location of interest.
Luckily for us, we could see both from our location, but no one had made a move in that direction. The day is drawing to a close, and nothing exciting is happening; I can’t wait for the infantry guys to show up so we can leave. All this hype is turning out to be nothing, again. I’m ready to punch every S2 officer in the face and not trust a word they say ever again.
2100, no sound of Chinooks, no sound of glorious freedom. Monitoring the radios, we hear nothing. We’ve moved within 100 meters of the van on the near side of the wall and set up in the lowest ground we could find to give a last-minute update brief when they arrive. There is nothing to report. One or two families live there. Don’t go in guns hot.
Finally, we hear it, the faint sound of Chinooks over the dunes. We were watching, but we didn’t see anything, and then we realized why. They are barely 50 feet over the dunes! Flying low level to reduce their signature, and surprisingly, it works well! We didn’t hear them until we could see them through NVGs, and then they were on top of us and the village landing about 50 meters closer to the wall, halfway closer than we were. We were to hold position until our LNO (Liaison Officer) met up with us to take us to the infantry commander.
He found us quickly and took us to the commander. Here again, I’ll note a difference between regular line unit infantry and LRS. We had no armor, no helmets, no body armor. We had NVGs attached to skull-crushers and all our weapons and ammo. They were taking a knee and whispering, while I didn’t even bother to take a knee, instead speaking in a regular voice, as I knew there wasn’t an imminent threat.
They were launching mortar flare rounds and whatever other noise makers they could launch, so I wasn’t going to whisper over that. I informed them that they might not want to go in too aggressively due to the lack of threat, and they asked why they were only now hearing about it. I informed him that my final intel drop included that information hours prior, but I’m not sure why it never reached him. We finished our exchange and moved off to wait for our Blackhawk taxi back to Speicher, which was supposed to be there within the hour. But it didn’t show up.
A cliffhanger until the next volume!
Want to know more about some of these situations? You’ll have to get the book “Walking Away From The Ledge" for more details (links below)! If this story hit home—or reminded you of your own service—drop a comment below or share it with someone who might need it.
https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/
https://books.by/w-brand-publishing/walking-away-from-the-ledge
https://books2read.com/WalkingAwayFromtheLedge