The Long Road Home

I finished reading The Long Road Home last night at about 3:00 am. It is the story of April 4, 2004 in Sadr City, Iraq when the war changed and the insurgency began. Trevor had been in Sadr City a total of four days at this time and was assigned to a Quick Reaction Force (QRF) at the time that the communication came in that a platoon was pinned down. Third Platoon (Trevor's platoon) was the first group of guys to go out on the rescue mission. One of Trevor's good buddy's was the gunner in the pinned down platoon and was killed. Trevor now wears a memory bracelet in his honor.

By the end of April 4th seven soldier in 2-5 Cav had been killed and over 60 were wounded, several critically. It was a horrible day. The ambush was well planned by the local militia and their goal was to kill Americans and take over Sadr City. They were so intent on taking over the city that they put women and children at the head of several of their marches toward the pinned down platoon so that the soldiers had to kill the women and children first. The following excerpt from the book talks about the effect this had on the soldiers.

"Demomy caught a glimpse of something outside his window that left him momentarily frozen. A boy of about twelve, in blue pants and a multicolored T-shirt, lay dead in the street next to an AK-47. He'd fallen on his knees, his body twisted backward, his eyes closed. Denomy was a new father. The sight horrified him, a sickening image that would later remind him of all that was wrong in Iraq."

Here is another excerpt that is actually from the journal of one of the guys that was in the tank company that ended up rescuing the pinned down platoon.

"Crowds of kids grew to crowds of teens and chanting gave way to rock throwing. One tank had every light, glass sight and external piece of equipment hit by rocks. Rocks, trash, dead animals and human feces were thrown on the vehicles and at the crews..."

Trevor's platoon ended up seizing a police station on the south side of Sadr City and were defending it against any attempt by the militia to retake it.

I honestly can't imagine the pressure of having to deal with such a traumatic combat experience. I don't know how I would live with the emotional shock or process the grief of the experience. My heart aches when I think of Trevor having to experience such horror. I admire his bravery not only for what he does daily in Iraq but for how he carries himself and deals with the shadow and demons of war on a daily basis.

Here are some actual video clips of stories from the book:
Realities of war
Soldiers exhibit bravery at a critical hour
Revisiting the battle location
Living in anxiety on the homefront
American youth injured in war
The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family

I think the book is a fairly unbiased (unpolitical) story of what happened that day and has made me ask a lot of questions. Such as, Why were our leaders so naive about the state of affairs in Iraq? Why weren't the soldiers prepared with the proper equipment that could have saved lives and avoided countless injuries? How did the local militia know that leadership was changing that day and that we would be so vulnerable? I don't know that we will ever have the facts required to answer these questions without all the political rhetoric muddying the waters but it leads me to wonder why we really went to Iraq and how many more lives will be lost or destroyed before we leave.