For two Airmen, being good Soldiers kept them alive

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Orville F. Desjarlais Jr.
  • Airman magazine
SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) --  More and more Airmen are finding themselves training for convoy duty, deploying to Iraq and making mad dashes from Point A to Point B while under the watchful eye of the enemy. It is dangerous duty.

During a convoy, Staff Sgt. Amelia Grahn, a transportation dispatcher from Royal Air Force Mildenhall, England, was thrown headfirst through the windshield of her 5-ton cargo truck after it smashed into the vehicle in front following an explosion on the streets of Iraq.

Capt. John Blocher, an A-10 Thunderbolt II pilot from Pope Air Force Base, N.C., found himself face to face with the enemy, staying alive only by pulling the trigger of an M-4 carbine quicker than the enemy.

Sergeant Grahn and Captain Blocher gained a different perspective of the war in Iraq. It was not from an airplane, or hundreds of miles away on an Air Force base; it was from the front lines, and it is a view they said they will never forget.

After Sergeant Grahn received convoy training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., she followed up with training in Kuwait. She learned to fire an M-4 and received combat simulator training. She drilled in weapons tactics and maneuvers, Global Positioning System-aided navigation and troop-leading procedures.

Armed with knowledge, she deployed to provide security for Army convoys in Iraq -- once a job reserved only for security forces. One day, she was forced to use all she had learned.

“We were told we couldn’t drive on our regular route, so we had to take an alternate road,” she said.

While the convoy weaved its way through the narrow streets of a small town, an improvised devise exploded. Her truck rear-ended the vehicle in front of hers, and she flew through the windshield, smashing her knees against the dashboard.

“While the guy manning the M-60 checked on our injured driver, I was asked to man the M-60, which I did until the situation stabilized,” she said.

She dislocated both knee caps, and her legs swelled so much she was evacuated to Germany until the swelling subsided. The Air Force took her off convoy duty and tasked her to become an Army dispatcher, which she did until she returned home in August, after having spent 188 days in Iraq.

Captain Blocher was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division as a battalion air liaison officer, a job that demonstrates joint-service cooperation.

“I try to figure out how the Air Force and Army can integrate on the battlefield, so the Air Force can blow stuff up, and the Army won’t blow up the Air Force, and vice versa,” the captain said.

Captain Blocher was in charge of two enlisted terminal attack controllers and an inexperienced reconnaissance, observation, mark and destroy Soldier. This theater air control party called in close-air support for the 300 to 1,000 Soldiers who compose a battalion. Captain Blocher was the air liaison to the senior Army staff and assisted in coordinating close-air support. The captain fought alongside the Army for 27 days; days which he said changed his life forever.

“During the first few days with the battalion, we had a difficult time explaining what we brought to the war. That is, until the first battle when we blew up a bunch of stuff,” he said.

Although each day was memorable, Captain Blocher said the one that sticks out in his mind the most was when the battalion’s mission was to secure a bridge close to Baghdad.

“About (25 miles) from our objective, we started taking on a lot of fire,” he said. “We were taking so much fire I couldn’t stick my head out of the turret to see the aircraft I was calling in. An F-14 pilot who was also trained as a forward air controller had to take care of the air traffic from the air while I controlled artillery.”

Once they got to the bridge, they dug in, and the captain started controlling more aircraft as they showed up to help. Then, his company commander asked the Air Force for help.

“They were low on gas and ammo, and they were taking on tank fire and couldn’t see where it was coming from,” Captain Blocher said. “That’s when two A-10s showed up. One was my squadron operations commander, and the other was my flight commander.”

After 35 minutes, the A-10s had destroyed the tanks. The company commander was properly impressed, but not as impressed as the captain.

“I’m different now,” he said. “I have a new respect for (Soldiers) and their complete-the-mission attitude. About 90 percent of the Air Force doesn’t see combat. The closest they’ll get is a neighboring country. Every dude in the Army gets his fingers in it.

“Everything -- from seeing how you reacted under fire and how it felt to have an Iraqi point his AK at you and you pointed your M-4 at him and you lived because you were quicker -- affects you,” he said. “I will have those memories for the rest of my life. Some good, some bad.”

It will also be difficult for Sergeant Grahn to forget her experience -- her wounds will not allow it. Pain still throbs in her knees, but she said she would not trade her experience with the Army for anything.

“At first, I didn’t like working with them. We butted heads with the Army a lot,” she said. “But after time, we got along well. They earned a new appreciation for the Air Force, and we had a great relationship. Convoy duty brought our services closer together.”

For the protector of convoys and the Army liaison officer, Iraq was more than just another war fought from the sidelines. They were in the war, and they will never forget it.