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| Iraq | |
| ICDC Hero | |
| 2003-12-09 | |
| Employing recent training from Task Force Ironhorse soldiers and a lot of luck, Amged Gawhar Suliman has a story to tell for years. When a train carrying supplies for Task Force Ironhorse was derailed by an improvised explosive device, the first on the scene were Coalition-taught members of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps. During the first chaotic minutes, a group of suspected saboteurs drove by and fired shots at the Iraqi force. As the ICDC soldiers engaged those shooters, they were attacked from behind by armed thieves that had boarded the train to loot the supplies. One of the ICDC soldiers returned in a taxi to FOB Omaha, where they live, to bring reinforcements. That is how Suliman, an ICDC soldier from Tikrit, arrived on the scene. âWhen we arrived at the train, the looters were hiding in a farm in ambush and began shooting at us,â said Suliman through a translator. His first reaction was to take cover and return fire with his AK-47 assault rifle, he said. When Suliman emptied one magazine at the looters and tried replacing it, his weapon jammed. He selected a third magazine and continued to fight. When the smoke had cleared, the ICDC forces had detained five looters and prepared another local suspect, injured in the conflict, to be transported to FOB Omaha. During the mop-up stage, a final single shot rang out. âAfter the shot came on me, I opened the car door and went down on the ground,â Suliman said. Checking inside his shirt and finding blood, Suliman got back into a car and returned to FOB Omaha where a medic removed a small fragment from the Iraqiâs chest from that last round. It was only then that Suliman discovered the earlier magazine that had malfunctioned wasnât faulty, but had blocked a shot aimed for his chest. Wearing the magazines across his torso had proved to be a life-saving choice. âI donât know where it came from, but I felt it,â said Suliman, who was fasting for Ramadan. Suliman, who joined the newly formed ICDC to be a part of building a new Iraq, said that God only knows if his fasting protected him. âI am very happy,â said Suliman. âIf not for this magazine, the bullet would have gone into my heart.â
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| Posted by:Chuck Simmins |