Not a good day for the bad guys

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Stephen Linch
  • 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  Ambushed

The scene: a road turned battlefield near Logistics Support Area Anaconda, Iraq, Nov. 18, 2005. The Whiteman Airmen involved: Staff Sgt. Andrew Finan, Airmen 1st Class Cody Newsom and Brittany Musleh, 732nd Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron deployed from Whiteman Air Force Base.

Sergeant Finan, Airmen Newsom and Musleh were at the end of the convoy as the crew of the last of five gun trucks that were watching over 20 tractor trailers on their way back to base.

It was 10 p.m. and the convoy was about 20 miles from LSA Anaconda when it started...

A flash and deafening sound of an improvised explosive device went off followed by three rocket propelled grenades in rapid succession that brought the convoy to a halt as more than 10 muzzle flashes lit up the night as insurgents opened fire on the convoy under siege.

The convoy shot illumination flares on the east side of the road lighting their battlefield and all the gun trucks - with the exception of the second, which was disabled at the insurgence initial attack - started defending the convoy.

"It happened so quick; it was like a car accident," said Sergeant Finan, 509th Logistics Readiness Squadron. "Bam! Training from the previous months kicked in and we started protecting our convoy by laying down defensive fire with the M-2 .50 caliber machine gun."

A force to be reckoned with

While the gun trucks moved into defensive positions and engaged the enemy, a silent force in a field west of the road that had been waiting to come to life, sprung into action.

The quick response force, a roving three-vehicle Army unit, had been waiting for a situation like this to happen.

"The QRF and our gun trucks were firing at the insurgents almost instantly," said now Senior Airmen Cody Newsom, 509th LRS. "Simply put: it was not a good day for the bad guys."

The smoke settles

When the smoke settled after about five minutes of intense fighting, the convoy team began to perform a vehicle recovery on the convoy commander's vehicle, which had been taken out immediately in the attack by an IED and small arms fire.

The crew of the last gun truck soon learned that there were no fatalities and no one had been injured.

After 30 minutes of performing vehicle recovery on the downed gun truck the convoy was on its way to base once again. Sergeant Finan had done his job.

"As we were attacked, I did what I was supposed to do - react before someone got hurt and defend my convoy," Sergeant Finan said. "They picked the wrong convoy to start messing with that day."