Letter From The Lyon 8-10By Andy Maurer
Hey Phil,
Hey, how is everything in Wisconsin? Hows the state fair going? Wish i could be home for it. Enjoy all the great foods for me. Well, we are back from our little vacation from the Five Star Base. Missing the pool and theater already. Saw a couple movies; The Simpsons, Bugs, Condemned,and 28 weeks later, ohh and also half of Hairspray and don't ask why, I still have no idea. All in all it was a good time until we had to leave. We left on saturday night with a security team who does convoy security for civilian truckers. We hopped in there convy to hitch a ride down south. Whats the best way then to go with someone who knows the route, right? We were pretty much a stacked convoy of 42 trucks. 5 Armored Security Vehicles(mini tank) and 5 hmmvv's with 30 tanker trucks between us. The night started off fine and about an hour later in to the 5 hour convoy we ran into a complex attack. We were driving on to an overpass when we took In-direct fire along with small arms fire. When that went off it took our attention to the field beside the over pass to take out the enemy. we were the 40th truck so we saw everything go on. Saw the shooters, which my gunner didn't engage because there was a call over the radio, telling us there were friendly's in the area. We tried finding out where they were so we could take the enemy down. Before we knew it, our first truck from us was hit with an EFP. Most deadly road bomb out there today. Killed the gunner instantly and injured the driver and passenger. None of our guys knew it was one of our own, until we had to pull front security for the medivac. The vehicle was torn up inside. I had to go in to get it ready to be towed. Sight i never want to see or smell again. It hits you hard and you don't believe it but after all we have been through, no disrespect to the soldiers we lost, but it gets easier to accept that someone was taken from you. It's sad that it gets easier to accept the loss of another comrade, but it comes with the job. Our feelings after that was mostly anger. Anger towards the military, why we need to be following the rules we are when we know who is supplying them with the materials, anger towards the decisions the president makes,and why he is keeping us here when we can easily prevent attacks being in the US. The one thing that gets me is one day you will be joking and having a meal with someone and not knowing he/she is going to be taken from you within a couple of days. The soldier that was taken from us, wasn't suppose to even be in that convoy with us, but he volunteered to replace someone for other reasons not to be mentioned.He was basically getting closer to his end. Just the thought of that and how many more months we have here, we all wonder who is next and that's why we make everyday the best we can because we don't know if it's going to be our last. Thanks for your time again Phil and listeners. Dan Lyon Most Popular |
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