Life changes in a matter of seconds

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman James Croxon
  • 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) --  Less than five miles north of the largest air base in Iraq, a roadside bomb made from a 155 mm mortar shell exploded, engulfing a vehicle in flames and riddling it with shrapnel holes.

"Cowboy!" yelled Staff Sgt. Michael Stewart to his teammate.

A native of Cleveland, Texas, Airman 1st Class Joshua Collins was nicknamed "Cowboy" because of his slow Texas drawl and outgoing personality, making his teammates laugh as he drove the lead truck. He now found himself outside the truck he had been driving only moments before, hearing someone yelling his name but not knowing who it was.

"Cowboy, I can't get out of the truck," someone said.

Through the shock Airman Collins recognized the voice calling him. It was his truck commander, Sergeant Stewart. Airman Collins tried to climb back in the truck to rescue his supervisor, teammate and friend but realized for the first time he was injured.

Shrapnel from the improvised explosive devise had torn through the floor boards, severing the brake lines of the truck, the batteries and his ankle. As he looked down at his mangled and bloodied boot, he felt the pain for the first time.

"Cowboy, I can't get out," Sergeant Stewart yelled.

"I can't get in," Airman Collins called back.

At that moment, fellow Airmen assigned to the 70th Medium Truck Detachment ran to help the two stricken Airmen, extracting Sergeant Stewart from the truck and performing combat lifesaving measures on Airman Collins.

Based at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia, the Airmen were on their way to Mosul in northern Iraq when the explosion halted their trip just north of Balad Air Base.

"Rankins came to me first and cut my boot off, cut my pants leg open," Airman Collins said, less than a day after the attack as he waited at the Air Force Theater Hospital's Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility.

Standing near Airman Collins' bed, Airman 1st Class Clive Rankins listened to his friend retell the horrific event just after Airman Collins received the Purple Heart from Brig. Gen. Robin Rand, 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing commander.

"(Airman) Rankins held me like a child until help showed up," the husky Texan said. "He was crying, I was crying. He cradled my head in his lap and talked to me while the Army medics (called to the scene) worked to save my foot."

Within minutes Airman Collins was brought to the Air Force Theater Hospital via an Army HH-60 Blackhawk helicopter.

Airman Collins was injured only minutes away from the central military medical hub in Iraq. The hospital's staff of about 400 medics, doctors and nurses cares for an average of 750 patients a month. Once in their care, the medical staff removed the shrapnel from the wounded Airman, ultimately saving his foot.

"It was the scariest moment of my life," Airman Collins said. "The whole time the medics were working on me I kept praying that I'd get to see my wife Shawna again."

The entire detachment of about 20 Airmen visited Airman Collins as he waited for an aeromedical evacuation flight to Germany. After a while Sergeant Stewart came to the bedside, his ear stitched and swollen, his only wound from the attack. He leaned down, and whispered into the ear of his Airman, teammate and friend.

Tears were pouring down both of their faces. As one man waits for a flight home to heal, the other heads back on the road.