Surviving the unthinkable

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Joe Lacdan
  • 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. (AFPN) --  Airmen sang Christmas carols as they cruised their armored truck through the thick gray fog of Iraq’s northern desert on that late November morning.

It was the 2004 holiday season and the Airmen were in good spirits as they neared the end of their 30-day mission.

They had helped guard Army convoys on fuel runs from Mozul to Tikrit, the birthplace of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Dashing through the snow, in a one-horse open sleigh ...

As they entered the marketplace in the small town of Bayji, the Arabian sun had already cleared the fog.

O’er the fields we go, laughing all the way ...

There was a strong Army presence in the town, which had also been declared a no-fire zone. That meant U.S. troops could not fire on insurgents without probable cause.

Senior Airmen Mario Salaiz and Brian Leverton and Staff Sgt. David Dunne were in the truck that led the 30-vehicle convoy.

As they moved south through a crowded intersection, Airman Leverton -- the truck commander sitting in the passenger seat -- noticed a white vehicle coming in from the west toward the convoy. He saw the driver of the unidentified vehicle duck, as the car careened toward the Airmen’s truck.

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells ...

Airman Leverton told the driver, Airman Salaiz, to hit the gas.

But it was too late.

“All I remember was a flash,” Airman Salaiz said. “It happened so quickly. I was thinking -- man we hit a landmine or something.”

Their world was swallowed by orange flame, and then darkness.

Jingle all the way ...

Airmen Salaiz and Leverton left Texas hoping to find a new life in the Air Force. Airman Salaiz is from Edinburg and Airman Leverton from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. They arrived at Whiteman in February 2002 to join the 509th Logistics Readiness Squadron as vehicle operators and dispatchers.

“I thought I was going to be operating a crane. I thought it would be a good skill to use on the outside when I get out, you know?” Airman Salaiz said.

Airman Leverton said he grew up with an abusive father and never knew his mother. He joined the Air Force to leave behind his troubled past.

Airman Salaiz was a theater student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Then the collapsing World Trade Center towers made him a patriot. He joined the Air Force in October 2001.

It didn’t take long for the pair to grow close. Both Airmen enjoy playing pool, watching movies and joking at work.

Three years later, they both deploy to Balad Air Base, Iraq, and endured the greatest test of their short careers.

‘Wasting Away in ‘Mortaritaville’

The sounds of mortar rounds, and improvised explosive devices greeted them when they arrived at Asad Air Base in August 2004.

The Airmen, and Sergeant Dunne, deployed with nine other squadron Airmen to support an Army truck company and to help provide perimeter security for Army tankers and civilian contractors.

“(Our jobs) were completely different from what we normally do in the Air Force,” Sergeant Dunne said.

With Soldiers deployed worldwide, the Army’s stretched thin. Vehicle operations Air Force augmentees started to support Army units in the Sunni Triangle -- a region of political turmoil and unrest in northern Iraq. It’s a hostile place, inhabited by Hussein supporters.

But since January 2003, more than 30 squadron troops had deployed to the region to support their Army brethren. The Airmen trained like Soldiers, learning basic convoy security, close quarters combat and land navigation.

“We learned to live, breathe and act like the Army,” said the squadron’s Senior Airman George Keen.

After nearly a month of training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, Kuwait and Logistics Support Area Anaconda, the Airmen began the first of their series of fuel and supply deliveries to U.S. bases in northern Iraq.

“As soon as you go outside the wires, it’s an adrenaline rush,” Airman Keen said.

The Airmen grew accustomed to the sounds of IEDs exploding and small rounds fire. But throughout the deployment, it seemed like divine intervention or fate was on their side, Airman Salaiz said.

During one morning run, an IED struck a convoy of Turkish tank drivers just before the Airmen’s scheduled errand. The blast destroyed two trucks -- burning the drivers alive as they tried to crawl away from the wreckage.

Some missions lasted as long as 15 hours and went over 50-mile stretches as they delivered and towed fuel trucks, high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles and armored vehicles.

And every minute the Airmen were on high alert.

“There was always the possibility that the worst could happen,” Sergeant Dunne said. “I was pretty aware that we were in harm’s way at all times. I felt pretty vulnerable out there at times.”

Then came the foggy Nov. 30 morning. The Airmen escorted Turkish tankers in a 30-vehicle convoy from Balad to Tikrit.

The explosion was devastating.

Airman Leverton awoke to the sounds of ... silence. It took all the Airmen a few seconds to regain their hearing.

“The wave of the bomb knocked us out,” he said. “I woke up and there was this red warm water pouring down my face.”

A suicide bomber struck the Airmen’s truck, detonating an explosive device packed with more than 1,500 pounds of explosives about 20 feet from their truck, Army intelligence analysts would later report.

It was one of series of bombings that took place throughout the Sunni Triangle that day. In the midst of the Islamic holy holiday of Ramadan, U.S. forces were told to remain on high alert.

The force of the blast ruptured the vehicle’s fuel tank and killed seven Iraqi civilians and injured 20 more. The blast forced the passenger side window onto Airman Leverton. He suffered lacerations on his forehead and arms and a concussion. And he noticed the flames were growing.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” he said.

Sergeant Dunne, the gunner at the time, got his legs caught on the leg braces, leaving him with two badly bruised calves. And he also took shrapnel in his neck and arm.

“What’s happened? What’s going on?” Sergeant Dunne said, as he jumped out of the truck.

Airman Salaiz awoke with his face pressed against the steering wheel. He suffered a concussion and contusions to his right knee and right arm.

Slowly, the Airmen climbed out of the burning vehicle. As they waited for medical attention -- from Airman Keen and Army medics -- Airman Leverton turned to Airman Salaiz.

“How do I look man?” Airman Leverton asked as blood oozed down his forehead.

“You look beautiful, man,” Airman Salaiz responded.

The two were obviously in shock.

After the dust had settled, there was no trace of the attacker’s vehicle. The explosion left a 7-foot-wide crater, 3-feet deep in the ground.

When the Airmen finally saw their truck two days later, they were stunned.

“If you looked at the vehicle, most people would say no one walked out of that alive,” Sergeant Dunne said. “I’m amazed we lived through that. I’m still trying to make sense of it.”

Airman Keen said, “It was just gruesome -- like a movie and a bad dream in one.”

The Airmen said the incident and the deployment brought them closer together.

“I know a lot of people had to overcome a lot of fears,” Airman Salaiz said. “They had to become more courageous and look after their fellow man.”

He said the deployment made them stronger people.

“You could look to your brother or your sister -- whoever was out there on the battlefield -- and you know that they would stick their neck out for you,” he said.

The Airmen have moved on with their lives.

After returning to Whiteman last March, Airman Salaiz proposed to his girlfriend of five years, Ashley. They wed in October.

Sergeant Dunne, his wife and three daughters moved to Tyndall AFB, Fla. He is now a military training leader for technical school students.

Airman Leverton went to Airman Leadership School Nov. 7.

But the three will always remember their six long months in Iraq, when they became friends and brothers for life.

“The experiences and things I did -- and the things I learned -- I’ll remember forever,” Airman Leverton said.

Airman Salaiz looked on the deployment as being put in a bad situation and having to make the best of it.

“I’d say it was the best and worst experience ever,” he said. “We made lifelong friendships. There were great times and bad times.

“I see my life on a different wavelength now.”