Saber’s Edge: A Combat Medic in Ramadi, Iraq

9: Midnight Raid on Al Qaeda

9 MidnightRaidonAlQaeda Two days after Christmas was my thirty-eighth birthday. What better way to celebrate than to ride along with SSG Murtha on a raid? We had intelligence reports that the occupants of a particular house were heavily involved in the insurgency. We kicked their door in and caught them completely off guard. The man in the house published propaganda and handled money for the insurgents. He had detailed notes about terrorist cells and boxes of pamphlets in his house. Evidently he was no stranger to our game of cat and mouse. He and his wife were asleep in the middle of the day. Apparently they moved around in the middle of the night to avoid detection. In the closet near the bed we found two suitcases, packed and ready to go. This couple was prepared to bug out at the first sign of trouble. We were fortunate to catch them asleep. As was my custom, I stood guard over the prisoners while the other guys searched the house. The man mistook my professionalism for a sign of weakness. When we confronted him with the evidence we found, he did not deny being an insurgent. Instead the man became indignant and raised his voice to me, trying to establish his dominance and order us around like children. Having seen the evidence of his involvement with the terrorists who killed so many of my brothers and spread terror among their own countrymen, I was not inclined to take any crap from him. SSG Murtha started toward him, but I was all over the guy. I spun him around and threw him up against the wall, kicking his feet wide apart to keep him off balance while I commanded him and his wife in Arabic to “shut the fuck up!” I frisked him with one hand and jammed my pistol into the small of his back with the other. He was handcuffed, 108 saber’s edge blindfolded, and cooperative in no time. SSG Murtha just looked at me and smiled, “Well, all right then, Doc!” Later that night, we conducted a targeted raid on a known IED-making team. The judge that one Irhabee faced that moment needs no jury, offers no appeals, and the jail . . . no parole. In the middle of the night we slipped silently through the darkened streets of Ramadi toward our objective. The streets were dirt in this neighborhood—an area we seldom drove through, as the enemy buried IEDs everywhere. Arriving at our first objective, we kicked in the door and rushed into the darkened home yelling commands in Arabic. I found the sleeping teenage triggerman in bed with his younger brothers. He was all of thirteen and already a terrorist. I paused for a moment before I yanked him out of bed . . . thinking how it could very well have been this kid who had killed so many of our men. I did not hold back while I slapped him awake and threw him up against the wall. We knew this kid was the triggerman , but we needed to find the adults he worked with who made the This insurgent was found sleeping during a random house search in the middle of the afternoon. He had lots of cash, maps and insurgent propaganda and his and his wife’s bags were packed. (Photo by SGT Brandon Allmond) midnight raid on al qaeda 109 bombs. The boy’s uncle was the IED maker and had recruited him to the cause. It sickened me to see our enemy send children forward to do their killing, while they lurked in the safety of shadows—shattering youthful innocence much as their bomb blasts squandered so many lives. Instantly, the whole area lit up. It was as if every light in the town came on at once. I scanned for targets and found him. Two hundred meters away, standing on a rooftop silhouetted against the moonlit sky was the figure of a man overwatching our position. “Man on a roof, two hundred meters!” I called to our squad leader. “Take him out!” came the terse reply. It was easy, really. With the monocular night-vision device on my left eye, the red dot scope in my right eye lined up on the target’s chest. One round and he was gone. crazy man and the tank Around midnight that adventure-filled night, we were returning to the base when...