Lt. Col. Phil Appleton, the commander of the 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry Regiment, 77th Sustainment Brigade, 310th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, congratulates Spc. Christopher Soderholm, a mine resistant ambush protected vehicle driver for F Company, 3rd Battalion, and a native of Baker City, Ore., during a July 4 Bronze Star Medal ceremony at Joint Base Balad, Iraq. Photo by Staff Sgt. Patrick Caldwell

Indecision often haunts the heart of combat.

Inside the chaos of crisis, where the standard definitions of time distorts and overlaps, uncertainty rules and often a moment of hesitation translates into tragedy.

Yet for Spc. Christopher Soderholm, a mine resistant ambush protected vehicle driver for Foxtrot Company, 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry Regiment, 77th Sustainment Brigade, 310th Expeditionary Sustainment Command and a native of Baker City, Ore., his calm resolution proved to be the difference the night he saved his gunner in the wake of an improvised explosive device detonation.

What Soderholm did that night and how he did it was brought into sharp focus July 5 when he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal on Joint Base Balad, Iraq, for his actions when the MRAP he was driving hit an IED.

Even now, months later, Soderholm said he still struggles to accurately express what occurred during the incident.

“It is hard to describe,” he said.

The night of the IED strike, Soderholm said his crew was almost back to JBB on what he called a routine mission.

“It was just another mission,” he said. “I was thinking about getting back and getting maintenance done.”

In a burst of light Soderholm’s vehicle was hit by the blast of an IED.

As Soderholm brought the big MRAP to a stop he said muscle memory took over. Behind him, Spc. Maximillian Miller, an MRAP gunner for F Company and a native of Dundee, Ore., appeared to be injured. Soderholm acted quickly as he stopped the MRAP.

“I pulled Miller out before I opened the door,” Soderholm said.

Soderholm carried Miller out of the MRAP and away from the vehicle. He then turned around and ran back to the vehicle, grabbed a fire extinguisher and started to fight a fire that had broken out from the vehicle.

The action of carrying his gunner out of the MRAP after the IED explosion happened in a flash for Soderholm. He said there was little forethought involved in the action.

“When it is your buddy in there you don’t hesitate,” he said. “I pulled him out of that truck on instinct.”

Miller and Staff Sgt. Tony Cox, the MRAP truck commander and a native of Redmond, Ore., both returned to duty shortly after the incident.

Soderholm said the training he received before the battalion departed the United States was the primary factor in his actions.

“I used to get mad at Gowen Field, [Idaho] or Camp Shelby, [Mississippi] with some of the training. Then I got thrown into the real world, and all that training created muscle memory,” he said.

Soderholm also said he can now relate to the stories he’s read or heard regarding soldiers making the ultimate sacrifice to help a comrade.

“When something like that happens, you know, you jump on that grenade for your buddy. I understand [now] why people do that,” he said.

Maj. Jason Lambert, the executive officer for F Co. and a native of Hermiston, Ore., said Soderholm’s performance that night was outstanding.

“I think he captures the essence of what makes a great Cavalry trooper. A soldier who steps up like that has a huge impact on the entire unit through his example. It sets the tone,” said Lambert.

“I’m extremely proud of Chris Soderholm. He is a very brave kid,” said Capt. Max Arvidson, the commander of F Company and a native of Parma, Idaho.

A quiet, reserved soldier, Soderholm said he is pleased he was awarded the Bronze Star medal but added he was simply doing his duty.

“I was able to do what I was supposed to do when I needed to. I’m proud I was able to do my job,” he said.

DVIDS
Story by Staff Sgt. Patrick Caldwell

286th Combat Support Sustainment Battalion fuelers, Spc. Dana S. Osborne from Lake Butler, Fla., Pfc. Jeffrey Wiedel from Killeen, Texas and Pfc. Jose L. Garcia from Chicago, Ill., were each awarded the Purple Heart Medal , Aug. 3, for injuries sustained when their convoy was ambushed, July 29, in one of the largest complex attacks since 2003. Photo by Spc. Elisebet Freeburg

Instead of functioning as traditional fuelers, many Army petroleum supply specialists in Afghanistan operate as vehicle gunners and drivers for convoys. Insurgents ambushed a convoy of 286th Combat Support Sustainment Battalion fuelers, July 29, in one of the largest complex attacks since 2003.

The 286th CSSB, a non-combat arms element of the Joint Sustainment Command-Afghanistan, moves supplies and equipment by convoy to forward operating bases, fire bases and combat outposts throughout Southern Afghanistan.

The convoy was traveling through mountains, July 27, crossing between Oruzgan and Kandahar provinces, when Soldiers in the fifth mine resistant ambush protected vehicle, called Gun Truck Five, noticed an Afghan man at the side of the road, filming the convoy with a cell phone. They seized the cell phone which contained footage of insurgents planting roadside bombs.

Two days later, their convoy of 22 vehicles traveled back through the area, passing an Afghan national army checkpoint when an ANA soldier flagged down their lead MRAP, Gun Truck One.

“He was trying to stop us,” said Spc. Dana S. Osborne, the Gun Truck One driver from Lake Butler, Fla. “When he stopped us, he pointed to the front of him and made a hand motion of shooting, you know, in front of us.”

After the convoy halted, Gun Truck Three drove to the front, so their interpreter could speak with the ANA soldier. According to the soldier, ANA forces had been battling a battalion-sized element of Taliban fighters for hours by a nearby village. The convoy’s air support, Kiowa helicopters, scouted the hillside but could not locate the enemy. The ANA soldier indicated the attack was geared toward ANA not American forces.

“We all agreed to continue the mission, because that was our mission,” said Pfc. Jose L. Garcia, the Gun Truck Two gunner from Chicago, Ill.

Since the confiscated cell phone indicated roadside bombs in the area, the Kiowas flew over their proposed route and noticed possible improvised explosive devices. The convoy proceeded cautiously.

Pfc. Jeffrey Wiedel, the Gun Truck One gunner from Killeen, Texas, noticed several holes in the ground ahead, and the convoy moved forward, carefully avoiding the supposed IEDs. Soldiers noticed a green cell phone lying in one of the holes.

“We knew it was some kind of decoy or something like that,” said Garcia. “Because they know we got [electronic countermeasures].”

Most military vehicles carry ECM devices to jam radio signals that detonate explosives from a distance. Traditionally, cell phones are used to detonate remote controlled IEDs.

Soon after, a military cargo truck, called a palletized loading system, and two wreckers in the rear hit roadside bombs almost simultaneously.

The convoy began to receive small-arms and rocket propelled grenade fire. Since the damaged trucks could still drive, the convoy continued, pushing through the immediate area of attack, or kill zone. Gun Truck One rounded a bend and arrived at a choke point surrounded by mountains to their right and front. On the left, enemy fire hit them from woods in a dried-up creek bed.

“At that point, Wiedel, the gunner for Gun Truck One, pointed at something up in the mountains,” said Garcia. “I was looking at him, he turned his turret to face forward, and that’s when they blew up.”

The explosion threw Gun Truck One about 15 feet to the side of the trail, blew their weapons out of the gun turret and completely disabled the vehicle and all communication systems.

Gun Truck Two and Four surrounded the disabled vehicle and laid down suppressive fire, while Gun Truck Three rescued the Soldiers.

The injured Soldiers exited Gun Truck One through the driver’s door, the only operable door. A medical evacuation helicopter with Air Force pararescuemen arrived shortly after to evacuate Osborne, Wiedel and Sgt. Mario E. Saenz, the Gun Truck One truck commander. Although in pain, the Gun Truck One assistant gunner, Spc. Alfredo Rodriguez, remained with the convoy to fight the enemy.

“We had rounds flying right by our heads and by our feet—maybe six inches off, everywhere—when we were running to the medevac, and it’s a miracle that nobody got killed,” said Wiedel. “It’s a miracle.”

Osborne and Wiedel had both removed their body armor because of possible injuries. The convoy commander and Gun Truck Three’s truck commander from Vallejo, Calif., 1st Lt. Tamara A. Da Silva, along with Gun Truck Three’s driver, Pfc. Devin Chapman, shielded Osborne and Wiedel with their bodies as they ran to the helicopter. The Gun Truck Three assistant gunner from Osceola, Iowa, Cpl. Robert W. Lewis, carried Saenz.

As the helicopter took off, its occupants smelt fuel. The enemy’s small arms fire had caused a leak that forced the helicopter to land nearby, said Wiedel.

Still taking enemy contact, the PJs exited the medevac, created a perimeter around the helicopter and laid down suppressive fire. Although wounded, Wiedel asked the pilot for a pistol and joined the PJs while they waited for another medevac.

Available aircraft at Kandahar Airfield deployed to aid the immobile medevac. Aircraft such as Kiowa, Apache and Black Hawk helicopters constantly circled the area above the disabled medevac, targeting the enemy, said Da Silva.

“You could look up into the sky and see Kiowa pilots in their [physical training uniforms] and their helmet,” Wiedel said.

Meanwhile, at Da Silva’s order to not leave anyone behind, Gun Truck Two and Five escorted cargo trucks through the two-mile long kill zone, taking small-arms fire the entire time. One PLS first drove over an IED, and then was hit by a mortar round that ejected the truck commander into the air.

On their third escort trip, Gun Truck Two pulled to the right side of the road, so the PLS trucks could drive past them and up the hill.

“The enemy knew our [tactics, techniques and procedures],” Da Silva said. “They knew what we were going to do.”

When it pulled over, Gun Truck Two detonated an IED. Da Silva believes insurgents observed the convoy doing this procedure at the same location two days previously.

Around a bend in the road, Gun Truck Two was cut off from the rest of the convoy. A Kiowa helicopter periodically flew over the gun truck, dropping hellfire missiles on insurgents that approached the stranded vehicle.

Because of constant gunfire, the Soldiers of Gun Truck Two ran out of weapon lubricant and improvised by using shampoo and lotion out of a hygiene kit to lubricate their .50-caliber machine gun.

At one point, a PLS truck drove around the bend behind them just as a militant fired a rocket propelled grenade.

“They hit the trailer,” said Garcia, “But the RPG was aimed at us – the disabled vehicle.”

After about 90 minutes, Gun Truck Seven came around the turn to aid Gun Truck Two but stopped 100 meters away, since a secondary IED was spotted near the disabled gun truck. The Soldiers in Gun Truck Two collected sensitive items and ran to Gun Truck Seven.

Gun Truck Five continued to move PLS trucks out of the kill zone. Eventually, the cargo trucks with their long trailers could not fit through the narrow and curved road. Too many disabled vehicles blocked the way. One by one, Gun Truck Five pulled next to each PLS on the contact side, so each driver could dismount and unhitch their trailer.

“[Gun Truck Five] had bullet holes everywhere,” said Da Silva. “I don’t think I’ll ever see that truck again.”

At the end of the two-mile kill zone, the convoy had established a green zone, an area to regroup. When the enemy started to flank the green zone, an F-18 Hornet dropped two 500 pound bombs on the mountainside.

“People can say, ‘You should have done this. You should have done that’,” said Da Silva. “At the end of the day, when it’s all said and done, all our Soldiers are alive.”

During the nine-hour battle, insurgents fired approximately 14 RPGs along with detonating multiple roadside bombs and pummeling the convoy with small-arms fire. Some insurgents used armor-piercing rounds. Militants fired machine guns and assault rifles from nearby homes, the tree line or from dug-in positions on the mountain ridges. Although the militants were well-covered, many Soldiers recalled the enemy had been close enough to see faces.

After the battle, several Soldiers reported seeing doors in the hillside and speculated hollowed areas in the ground may have held weapon and ammunition caches.

Five Soldiers were evacuated that day, and one Soldier evacuated the following day to receive medical attention. So far, three of them have received the Purple Heart Medal.

Five MRAPs were disabled, and ten PLS trucks had been hit by mortar rounds. One RPG hit a PLS, and two RPGs hit at the rear of Gun Truck Four, taking out its rear tires with shrapnel. Fortunately for the convoy, several IEDs never detonated.

Although they are non-combat arms Soldiers, the fuelers of the 286th CSSB reacted quickly and successfully battled the militants.

“The way the war is going in Afghanistan,” said Lewis, “At any time, you have to be a 360 degree Soldier.”

Soldiers of the 286th CSSB may be more cautious now when they roll out on a convoy, but they continue to do their jobs and complete their vital mission of delivering troops throughout Afghanistan with equipment and supplies necessary to the fight.

DVIDS
Story by Spc. Elisebet Freeburg

May 11, 2005 in Iraq was just one of the many days in the past that proved why Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles are necessary for marine forces.

Aaron Mankin, who was a Marine combat correspondent at the time, would probably agree after his experience that day when an improvised explosive device destroyed the 26-ton amphibious assault vehicle he was in.

The blast inflicted second- and third-degree burns over 25 percent of then-Lance Cpl. Mankin’s body, also permanently damaging his lungs after he inhaled the heat, flames and debris. He has since undergone about 40 surgeries. Sadly, the six other Marines he was with died in the blast.

The Marine Corps Times reported in September 2008 that roadside bombs remained the No. 1 killer of U.S. troops in Iraq. Data from the Pentagon showed that 70 percent of the then-4,151 troop deaths were caused by roadside bombs.

IEDs still remain the weapon of choice in both Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JEIDDO), which was created by the Department of Defense in February 2006 to counter the threat of IEDs.

The MRAP is meant to protect service members from the violent, deadly blasts of IEDs like the one that changed Mankin’s life forever and killed six others. The armored vehicles feature V-shaped hulls to deflect any explosive forces originating from below the vehicle, protecting both the vehicle and the passengers.

“They’ve taken hits – many, many hits that would have killed soldiers and Marines in up-armored Humvees,” Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a June 2008 interview.

USA Today reported Feb. 4 that there are currently 9,746 MRAPs in Iraq and 1,608 in Afghanistan.

But having MRAPs in the two countries is only half the fight. Marines must first know how to operate the new-age vehicles correctly if they are to continue being effective.

“The probability of no fatalities is great, and the vehicles have been proven effective,” said Gunnery Sgt. William Cartwright, the director of the 2nd Marine Logistics Group’s Motor Vehicle Incidental Drivers School. “This is why it’s important that everyone know how to operate these vehicles. They are the standard for transporting troops now.”

Cartwright and his team of 11 motor transport Marines and one corpsman conduct the 2nd MLG MRAP Operator Course once every month to train Marines on the basic knowledge needed to drive and maintain the vehicles.

The native of Norfolk, Va., who deployed to Iraq in 2003, implemented the course for 2nd MLG in December 2007 after familiarizing himself with the vehicles at Force Protection Industries in Ladson, S.C. Since then his teams have instructed more than 500 Marines from a multitude of different military jobs on operating MRAPs.

Cartwright said the prerequisite for the course is that all students are certified to operate a Humvee. With that said, most individuals who come through the course aren’t familiar with operating a large vehicle like an MRAP.

Sgt. Danny Koleski, the school’s chief instructor, said the vehicles are also more high tech in comparison to the Humvees and 7-tons that most Marines are used to. He stated that the MRAP simply takes time and knowledge to make it effective to its full extent.

Koleski, a native of Louisville, Ky., said the five-day course gives the students the knowledge necessary to return to their units, operate the vehicles and find success. Cartwright said the course features classroom instruction, vehicle and safety familiarization, driving skills practice and on-road driving time.

“Our instructors are licensed to operate and teach how to use the MRAPs and every other vehicle the Marine Corps operates,” said Koleski, who deployed to Iraq in 2005 and 2006. “They receive more than 40 hours of training in driving and maintaining the MRAPs. We try to make sure the students get as much knowledge from us about these vehicles as possible.”

Students must show clear familiarization with the MRAPs before they are actually allowed to drive them. This begins following classroom time with what the instructors call a “show me test”. This test presents various questions involving the MRAP that students are required to answer correctly if they are to continue their training.

Koleski said if they accomplish this test, they must then complete what is known as Preventative Maintenance Checks and Services. This document addresses every part of the vehicle from the tires to the fluids and seatbelts to ensure everything is functioning properly.

“You have to take care of these vehicles,” Koleski said. “If you start it wrong, you can mess up the computer. If you don’t check the fluids, the vehicle can become inoperable. These vehicles are vital to operations, so they have to stay operational.”

Once they get past these various tests, they begin their driving skills training. They call this the “dog leg.” The course is made up of cones, simulating objects like a pole or a rock, spread out along a narrow gravel path. Koleski said the goal is to weave the MRAP through the cones without hitting one.

He said the dog leg gets the individuals familiar with how the vehicle turns and how the breaks feel. He added that it also helps them become use to the visibility limits that come with the MRAP. In the end, these various skill sets builds their confidence as drivers.

“The vehicle maneuvers and handles excellent,” said Pfc. Marion Frye, a 20-year-old motor transport operator with Combat Logistics Battalion 8, 2nd MLG. “You just have to learn to judge the obstacles properly in order to get around them safely.”

The students are permitted to begin their on-road driving time after they successfully negotiate the dog leg. Koleski said they complete 35 road miles at the school. They must then return to their units with learner’s permits until they gain the remaining 90 miles experience required to attain their license. Once they achieve the total 125 miles experience, they may return to the school to take the final driver’s test.

Lance Cpl. Miles Malinowski, a motor transport operator with CLB-8, had prior experience with MRAPs before coming to the course. The 22-year-old, who deployed to Iraq in both 2007 and 2008, said the Marine Corps has done an excellent job transitioning to what the fight dictates with the introduction and fielding of MRAPs.

But the Marine Corps has not finished adapting yet as Afghanistan terrain poses problems for the MRAP due to scarce paved roads and rutted mountain passes that are common in the region.

To combat this, the Pentagon plans to field an all-terrain vehicle later this year to provide off-road maneuverability and enough armor to deflect the growing threat of roadside bombs in Afghanistan, according to the Feb. 4 article by USA Today. This vehicle will combine the maneuverability of the Humvee with the protection of the MRAP.

According to JIEDDO, there were 3,276 recorded IED attacks in Afghanistan in 2008, which killed 161 coalition service members and wounded 722.

“It’s a desire to get off the roads and be able to maneuver cross-country,” Brig. Gen. Michael Brogan, the Pentagon’s MRAP program head, said in the article. “That does a couple of things. First of all it increases the areas that they can maneuver and occupy. But it also significantly increases the targeting problem for the bad guys. You’re much less predictable if you can go many more places.”

The Marines of the logistics group’s MVIDS are ready to adapt to any new equipment to help ensure Marines accomplish their missions in Afghanistan, much as in the past when the need for trained Marines to operate MRAPs in Iraq came up.

US Marine Corps
By Cpl. Aaron Rooks , 2nd Marine Logistics Group