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Brigade meets first roadside bomb
AT THE STRYKER BRIGADE BASE CAMP, Iraq - A group of Fort Lewis soldiers survived a roadside bombing Sunday a little shaken but otherwise unharmed. The explosion sent debris flying into the windshield of Spc. Jordan Salazarâs Humvee, peppering the glass with dozens of little dings. "All of a sudden it seemed like we were just covered in dirt," said Salazar, with the 864th Engineer Battalion from Fort Lewis. The battalion has been in Iraq since April with the 555th Engineer Group, operating mostly throughout northern Iraq. Salazarâs convoy was on its way to ranges at the Stryker brigadeâs sprawling base camp. He was driving the last vehicle in a convoy of about a dozen trucks and Humvees, with another soldier in the passenger seat and a half dozen more in the back.A heavy tow truck driving in front of Salazar had just passed over the spot that blew up about 20 meters in front of him, Salazar said. Salazar said he didnât see anything unusual about the road in front of him. The explosion occurred about 8:45 a.m. just outside of Duluiyah, a town near the Tigris River between Baghdad and Tikrit. Such roadside bombs - in Army parlance, they call them improvised explosive devices, or IEDs - are a constant threat for U.S. troops traveling the roads in Iraq. The remainder of the article has descriptions of several accidents that have occured. Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2003-12-08 |
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