Give me that Boom! Boom! Boom!

Isn’t that the way the lyrics go?  Before I left California my sons thought that was a great song, and as I make connections (Boom!? Boom?!) that is what I started thinking about shortly after the fact.  A tune gets into your head and you just can’t let it go.  Boom!  Boom! Boom!

Early in the morning (“Oh my Gawd! Are you so kidding me!” early) getting ready to go to a 0500 brief I was just about out the door at 0445 and I heard it.  Boom!  Boom!  Boom!  The sound kept going on and on.  Normally if you hear a sound like that you think “Mortars!” and there might be a warning buzzer, a Big Voice saying “Incoming!  Incoming!” and so forth.   My room is pretty much mostly solid walls (unlike the CHUs which are like cheap mobile home paper thin walls) and I have some windows facing the gravel parking lot with a few sand bags piled in front of it. Boom!  Boom!  I start thinking, “Man!  What is that sound?!”

Mortars only come in onesys and twosys; they don’t keep coming (Boom!) and (Boom!) coming. So my mind went to the next irrational thought.  Someone was driving pilings very close to my (Boom!) room for some reason.  I had driven on enough freeways and heard large pile drivers (kind of a BANG…..BANG…BANG! not Boom! Boom!  Boom!) and so I stood there and thought about that Boom! As the sound continued Boom!  Boom!  Boom! 

Then I thought some more (at age 50 you are normally loaded with an 8088 which was considered cutting edge back in the day) and slowly I realized it was the trash truck outside clanking the dumpster.  Sure it was…Boom!  Boom!  Boom! Boom! And in my relative genius I opened the door to get a more clear audio signal and I clearly heard BOOOM! …BOOM!....BOOOM! BOOM! BOOM! and closed the door.  Talk about slow on the uptake!  Those WERE mortars!  BoomBoomBoom! Jesus!  What am I supposed to do?  Me and Winnie the Pooh have so much in common; Think!  Think!  Think!  “Okay.  I have brick walls around me but a window right there.  Hmmm.  If a mortar lands on me I would have a serious problem.  What if it landed real close?  What about just outside my window what about-…” BOOOM! Right next to me (or so it appeared) and I dropped to the ground and thought “Oh yeah!  I guess I should do what I am supposed to do!” Boom!  Boom! Boom!

How about a little prayer for safety?  Boom!...Boom!... Boom!...Boom!  Okay…prayer complete; Boom!  Boom! Boom!  Is it over?  Boom!  Boom! Nope.  Not yet!  Boom!  Then silence.

I didn’t wait for the siren of “All clear”. Something had happened (You think!  What a bright one!) and I had a briefing to get to and of course we need to check on things.  I opened the door and saw the S2 running up with all his flight gear in hand wearing his ballistic vest looking like he had just seen a ghost.  I asked him what was going on “Heeeey Man!  What is going on?” or maybe it was just a squeal “Heywhatisgoinon!!”  I really can’t remember exactly, but he dropped his stuff and quickly ran down to the CHU area of our Soldiers.  

The S3 came out of his room and said “It was pretty close.  Didn’t you hear the dirt hitting the roof?” I hopped in the car and drove down to the unit’s CHU area.  We arrived about the same time and Soldiers were milling about checking on each other’s safety and getting accountability.  No hits in the CHU area so I drove down towards the briefing area.  I could tell that was where many mortars had hit and a later briefing indicated that there was a large number close to where I was to get my flight briefing.

If you count the “Booms!” above you are close to how many real booms there were.  Obviously the attackers were well trained in the use of a mortar.  There were two different locations (almost like an L shaped ambush) walking the mortars in on their respective paths for 25 minutes.  Okay, it seemed like 25 minutes….but it was all over in 2 minutes and 45 seconds.  Done, finished complete.  The unit would never be quite the same.  

It was clear that many of the Soldiers appeared to be in shock (and many still are.)  Some were just smoking outside the living areas and waiting.  Since there were Soldiers on the night shift, the swing shift and some were awakened just an hour or so before their normal time I saw more than I would normally ever see at once.  How do you get back to sleep after that?  For some it was very hard and still is; for others you make sure you are accounted for (the HQ knows you are alive and well) and go back in and close your eyes.  No big deal.  Everybody is different.

There was some heroism by some aviators of course.  Landing as the rounds came in they were just shutting down, stepping out and getting more fuel.  “Screw that!  Let’s go!  Get that fuel hose off the aircraft!...let’s go!” I can imagine the pilots saying as they took off again heading towards the sound of the guns.  Scouts out!  

The smart thing to do of course is to take off because the rounds explode on the ground so staying away from the ground is smart.  But I expect that actually it is a little more youthful bravery unhindered by commonsense or personal concern for safety. Couple that selfless bravery with a desire of trained Soldiers wanting to do what they are trained to do (Find, identify and kill the enemy) and get the dirty bastards.  Their fast action is considered by some to be the thing that stopped the mortars from firing and caused the enemy to leave rounds unfired on the ground in two places.  That is purely speculation, but the enemy tends toward cowardly attacks causing random terror and indiscriminate death.  They run at the first sign of danger unless they are blowing themselves to bits.  Some religious beliefs are so extreme you can’t fathom it.   

There are some humorous stories that came out of the incident.  Since nobody was killed (Thank God!) and only a few injured (I think 4 Purple Hearts awarded later) Soldiers immediately go to the humor of the incident.  Like Soldiers standing in the protective shelters wearing all manner of little pink slippers and similar clothing.  What was Sexy Jake wearing?  Or the resident nudist (towel body; is that legal?)?  Did Hot Cakes get a shirt on or was his masculine chest exposed? I don’t know.  But several Soldiers pulled their weapons and are rumored to have locked and loaded.  Now THAT is scary; it is just mortars!  No enemy crossed the wire or came towards us…but some will say that we need to be ready.  What if an enemy came in quietly bypassing our defenses etc…but the SOC guards are a pretty focused group: Ugandans.  Uganda is one tough place and they aren’t going to let somebody infiltrate.  Nope.

This action happened early in the month of May.  I let these things sit and simmer awhile waiting for the time and the full story before I write.  And of course there are some operational security issues that will have to wait until after the war.  It all seemed so scary and dangerous and so forth.

Then you hear about this other attack later and see it in print about somebody else and realize we were lucky. Five dead and many wounded at Camp Honor with numerous CHUs damaged or destroyed.  Sure they used a different type of attack with a different system, but it still went up in the air and landed causing terrible damage.

I am not afraid.  I don’t know why.  Probably a mental problem, but some are terribly frightened and can’t sleep and I roll over and go to bed without an issue.  When another attack came in a week later the Big Voice called out “Incoming!” and every chair in the DFAC scraped loudly and everybody was on the floor. It was almost like we were in the Air Force we were so fast to the ground!  Of course the DFAC is one of the safest places to be because of the reinforced roof.  Stay inside and don’t run out to the concrete shelters because the roof is such great protection.

So “Give me that Boom Boom Boom” but please protect us from that Boom!  Boom! Boom!

God’s will and in His mercy and Grace.  Amen!