“Well, you tell the general this:
I understand, but it is my duty to remind him that my men are surrounded by thousands of armed Somali militia. It is imperative that we move them out of the hostile area and into the safe zone. I need his help now.” – General William Garrison.
Lt. Col. Danny McKnight (leader of the ground convoy, in the first vehicle) and his driver were both wounded. The driver was blinded by shrapnel and McKnight had been wounded both in his arm and neck. Sgt. First Class Matt Rierson, angry at not knowing the situation, ran from his Humvee to McKnights to find out what they were doing. When he found out that they were trying to get to the crash site, he ran down to every vehicle and made sure every person knew where they were going.
Back in the convoy, Staff Sgt. John Burns and PFC. Adalberto Rodriguezwere hit. Pvt. Clay Othic, to make room for Burns, moved out of his Humvee toward one of the trucks, but with his broken arm, was unable to climb aboard. So he went to the cabin where Spec. Aaron Hand got out to let him in between Hand and the driver, PFC. Richard Kowalewski (a name no-one wanted to pronounce, so they nicknamed him “Alphabet”).
Near the back, Pvt. Ed Kallman was the driver of another Humvee. In it, were PFC. Tory Carlson, Sgt. Jim Telscher, Delta Master Sgt. Tim “Grizz” Martin, Sgt. Jeff McLaughlin and the injured PFC. Rodriguez. They were positioned so that Telscher, Martin and Rodriguez were crammed into the back. An RPG (widely-known as a Rocket Propelled Grenade) slammed into the Humvee, throwing all three out onto the ground. The blast blew the handguards off McLaughlin’s M16, pierced Carlson’s arm with Shrapnel and setting his boots on fire, hit an ammo drum (which was kicked out), tore a chunk out of Rodriguez’s thigh, and pretty much blew Martin in half.
Rodriguez, blown out of the moving Humvee, landed right in front of a Five-Ton Truck driven by Pvt. 2 John Maddox (who was disoriented by the blast), which drove right over him. Medics did what they could and put them in some Humvees with enough words.
Pvt. Ed Kallman’s vehicle had no wounded, surprisingly (though he was in the rear of the convoy). He had the windows rolled down to shoot out of, then he looked to his left and saw a trail of smoke. With an ear-shattering blast, the RPG hit the side of the jeep. Luckily, no-one was wounded by the combination of steel and bullet-proof glass.
Back on Hawlwadig Road (the very first road they started from) McKnight informed that they had taken way to many casualties. Eventually, he decided to head back to base. Even though, they were a long way from safety.
The vehicles had expended thousands and thousands of rounds of ammunition. They were full of bullet holes. One even had a busted axle and was being pushed by the Five-Ton Truck behind it.
In the same vehicle that Specialist Eric Spalding was in, Spec. James Cavaco was on the Mark-19 Automatic Grenade launcher, putting rounds through the windows of buildings. When he turned to shoot some Somali Gunmen in an alley, he slumped forward, dead, shot in the back of the head. Sgt. Paul Leonard got up on the gun and began firing. Not a minute after he began shooting, Sgt. Leonard was hit in the back of his leg (behind the kneecap). He was bandaged and they kept fighting.
In another vehicle, Pfc. Tory Carlson was firing his .50Cal machinegun when he was hit in the leg. Back in Spalding’s vehicle, he was next to the passenger side door firing out the window, when he looked down and saw what looked like a laser shoot through the door. Pvt. 2 John Maddox asked if he was hit, which the reply was yes. Another “laser” came in and hit Spalding’s other leg, but he kept firing. Maddox was hit in the back of the head, his helmet saved him, but the impact turned his helmet around and temporarily blinded him. Spalding, with his injured legs, couldn’t move to grab the steering wheel, so he just shouted orders at Maddox.
Maddox stopped the truck and Sgt. Mike Forman ran up and opened the drivers door. Maddox moved over and the Sgt. took the wheel.
In another Humvee, Pfc. Clay Othic was wedged in between the passenger Spec. Aaron Hand and Pfc. Richard Kowalewski, who was driving. Alphabet (Kowalewski’s nickname) was hit in the shoulder but kept steering. Then, there was an explosion. A rocket had impacted the drivers side door and slammed into Alphabet, lodging itself within his chest, but didn’t explode. The rocket must have hit something, probably a Flashbang Grenade, because the vehicle was full of smoke. The impact had killed Kowalewski instantly. Luckily, Othic and Hand only had their helmets blown off. The driverless humvee had slammed into the back of the vehicle in front (the one with prisoners and Spalding). As they climbed back into the humvee, Othic began searching the floor for rounds that were ejected when some of the guys’ weapons jammed, and started giving them back to the guys still shooting. They were almost out of ammo.
The convoy found a four-lane road that would lead them back to the K-4 Traffic Circle, which would then lead them home. Homer Nearpass, a SEAL, was the driver of the Humvee now in the lead. They saw a roadblock that was formed by two underground gasoline tanks and set on fire. Afraid of the Humvee giving out if they stopped, they just rammed the roadblock. The Humvee almost tipped over, but it kept going. The rest of the convoy followed.
Staff Sgt. Matt Eversmann was curled up in the back passenger seat of a Humvee, shooting out the window. He saw that every time they crossed an intersection, Somali’s on both sides would fire, and any stray rounds would certainly hit another Somali. Othic was still frantically trying to find spare ammo. The convoy approached the K-4 Traffic Circle and braced for another major ambush.
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Meanwhile, Staff Sgt. Jeff Struecker, lead of the three-vehicle convoy that took Blackburn back to base, was heading back out in another convoy composed of four Humvee and three Five-Ton Trucks. They were to head to Durants crash site. After trying to find ways of getting to Durant’s crash site, they ended up at the K-4 Traffic Circle.
The two convoy’s met up, and the guys in Struecker’s convoy were amazed at the damage that the convoy had taken. The almost-broken vehicles, all the wounded. The fresh vehicles made a perimeter around the first convoy and took the worst-off people and put them in the fresh vehicles.
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The men of the Lost Convoy thought there would be another ambush, but instead got the beautiful sight of Struecker’s convoy heading toward them. The lead Humvee of the Lost Convoy gave out. Sgt. “Grizz” Martin had been blown in half by a rocket, but was still alive. Sgt. Lorenzo Ruiz had a breathing tube in his chest.
They were safer, but still not out of the woods yet.
A Somali with an RPG shot. The rocket went under the Humvee which Sgt. Cash was in. The blast lifted the vehicle into the air, and it felt like they went off a ramp. The Humvee hit the ground, and the guys inside were unharmed. Specialist Dale Sizemore, also in the Humvee, had spotted a row of Somali’s. After the vehicle landed, Sizemore and the .50cal opened up. They shot there way back to base. Fired at everyone and everything that was in the streets. There were no Rules of Engagement anymore. Then, all of a sudden, blocks from the gate to the compound, all shooting stopped. The Somali’s there were carrying on business as usual. They parted ways for the convoy to get through.
The Somali’s turned to them, smiled, and applauded. They were finally safe.
However, there were still men out there, fighting for their lives against an entire city. Two downed Blackhawks, a force of men at the first crash site. They would be rescued. They had to be rescued. Durant had to be rescued. And it would happen in force.
Because No One Gets Left Behind.
