An Expensive Alarm

FYI...This is simply cut and paste from the document.

23 May 05:

Two VBIEDs and one suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest hit the patrol base in a coordinated attack.  I was woken up by a loud explosion around 0600.  I jumped out of bed and was instantly gagging on dust that had been kicked up by the explosion.  About twenty seconds later, another larger explosion rocked the patrol base and blew almost every door in the building off its hinges, including ours.  Maybe fifteen seconds later, another explosion went off, but this one wasn’t as large as the others.  It rattled the walls a little, but that was it.  I was sleeping in my DCU pants, so I quickly threw on my boots and ran to the CP.  The hallway in between our room and the CP was filled with dust and smoke, but I could still see okay.  The CP was a complete mess.  The sandbags on the window had been blown down and there were glass shards all over the floor.  Power was out in the patrol base since the blasts had taken place about thirty yards from the two massive generators behind the compound.  The two radio monitors on duty were still dazed from the explosion.  Chairs were knocked over, papers that were previously organized on desks were strewn all over the floor, and the dust was so thick that it was difficult to breathe.  I ran to the room next to the CP, which is where all my Soldiers slept, and found them getting all their gear on to go man previously planned battle positions on the perimeter of the patrol base.  I ran back to my room, threw on my flak vest and ACH, and then headed for the roof for a better view of the damage.  The roof was crowded with Soldiers taking up battle positions dressed in flak vest, ACH, and whatever clothing they were sleeping in when the attack occurred.  I made my way to the southeast corner of the roof and looked down at the carnage that lay below.  The first bongo truck loaded with explosives had used the neighborhood south of the patrol base as cover to get as close to the T-wall barriers as possible.  It detonated about ten feet from the wall and knocked down twelve of the T-walls.  The second explosive laden dump truck was close behind the first, but the roof guard quickly recovered from the first blast and opened fire on the second truck.  The driver detonated the VBIED about twenty yards from the perimeter once he started taking fire.  This was the blast that provided the most force because the truck was loaded with over 800 lbs of explosives (according to EOD).  The black smoke and dust was so thick that the roof guard, SPC Burgos, could not see anything, so he simply fired into the security breach created by the first VBIED.  The suicide bomber was supposed to run through the breach into the barracks and detonate his explosive vest, killing as many Soldiers as possible.  However, the roof guard’s suppressive fire struck him as he ran through and he detonated his vest when he had made it about five feet inside the perimeter.  Body parts and internal organs from the suicide bomber and the VBIED drivers were strewn around the area.  LT Pelletier had a large pile of intestines fly through his window and land at the foot of his bed.  There was no doubt that the actions of the SPC Burgos saved the lives of multiple Soldiers.  The first blast blew him back inside the bunker and he wasn’t able to see anything when he recovered.  His quick decision to fire blindly into the security breach resulted in the second VBIED detonating outside of the patrol base.  He was also knocked to the ground by the blast from the second VBIED, but he recovered once again and continued firing in time to hit the suicide bomber.  M88’s were quickly employed to lift the T-wall barriers back into place and more fortifications were added to the outer wall to withstand future attacks.  Several walls in the patrol base were cracked from the force of the explosions and the sandbags on every window were knocked down.  The cracked walls were unfixable, but all the sandbags were immediately replaced.  Engineers visited the patrol base and said the structure was still strong enough to withstand multiple explosions, so we acted like we had a choice and continued using the complex.  This proved to be true when three mortars scored a direct hit on the roof of the patrol base about two months later with no major damage or casualties.