AL ASAD AIRBASE, Iraq - In two National Guard Soldiers' written accounts of an August 2006 attack on their convoy, they used the same words to describe the back of a Humvee that was struck by a 155 mm artillery shell: "completely disintegrated."
That day, members of the Mankato, Minn.-based 2nd Battalion, 135th Infantry Regiment's combat logistics team were on a patrol heading from Camp Korean Village near Ar Rutbah back to their home base in northwest Iraq. The Soldiers of Charlie Company were split into two elements, "Forward Sweep Team" and "Lunch Bunch," with the latter trailing about one kilometer behind the former.
Suddenly, a loud explosion rocked the convoy and a Humvee carrying Spc. John Dundee and Sgts. Shane O'Neill and Sean Rohret was incapacitated. The blast came from a pressure-plate improvised explosive device hidden in the road that left the rear half of the vehicle a charred, mangled mess. One of the first to respond to the scene was Sgt. Christopher "Doc" Logan, 47, a line medic with the 2/135th who was the acting truck commander of his Humvee.
"My vehicle was close to the explosion, by about an eighth of a mile," said Logan, a native of Fergus Falls, Minn. "I told the driver to speed up and get to the site, and I asked my gunner for my aid bag. He asked me if I thought I would need it. I said, 'Definitely.'"
Logan's intuition was correct; shrapnel from the explosion had entered the crew compartment of the damaged vehicle, injuring all three occupants. O'Neill, who was in the front passenger seat, said the entire cab immediately filled with smoke and powder, possibly from a destroyed fire extinguisher.
"I began yelling to see if the others were alright, as I felt myself to check for bleeding," O'Neill wrote in a statement detailing the event. "I heard Dundee respond and say that he didn't get a response from Rohret. As the smoke cleared we could start to see Rohret and he didn't look conscious, but he started coughing and finally responded to our yelling."
Dundee and O'Neill were able to exit the vehicle themselves, but Rohret was still stuck in the driver's seat, unable to move. Logan ran up and approached the driver's side of the vehicle, getting within 10 feet of a secondary explosive device that had been discovered next to where the first explosion had occurred.
"Oh, crap was the first thing I was thinking and, Oh, God, I hope I can help these guys, and hopefully they are not mortally wounded," said Logan. "The second thought after I saw the entire rear of their vehicle blown away was, I know some one is still in there, and I have to get him out and help him."
Logan first attempted to open Rohret's door, but it was jammed. He then moved around the rear of the vehicle and was finally able to extract Rohret from the vehicle through the rear right seat with the help of another Soldier. Logan assessed Rohret's injuries and determined they were severe enough that he could not be moved from the area until he was stabilized.
Rohret said he was having difficulty breathing as well as pain in his lower back and chest, which are symptoms of pneumothorax, a potential medical emergency caused by the accumulation of air or gas in the pleural cavity surrounding the lungs.
"We assessed the injured driver, and found that he had internal bleeding and a compromised lung and had to be stuck, getting a chest needle decompression," said Logan.
Meanwhile, Dundee and O'Neill were clear of the vehicle but still has serious shrapnel wounds that had to be treated. Spc. Freddie Hignite, truck commander of the lead vehicle in the Lunch Bunch element, was approximately 150 meters behind the Humvee when it struck the IED. Hignite, a native of Science Hill, Ky., directed his driver to immediately speed up and reach the site of the explosion. He dismounted and took his first aid bag with him as he ran toward the injured Soldiers. Dundee had shrapnel stuck in his left leg and buttocks and was also disoriented from the explosion. Hignite stabilized Dundee's injuries, then moved him further away from the secondary IED and continued treating his wounds under the cover of another vehicle, a report said.
When it was determined that both Rohret and Dundee were stable, they were moved to an evacuation pick-up zone where they were flown via helicopter to Al Asad Airbase Hospital, treated for their injuries and later released.
Capt. Darrin J. Janisch, 2/135th company commander, was part of the convoy and took charge of establishing an outer security perimeter, clearing a landing zone for the incoming medical evacuation team, and calling an explosive ordnance disposal team to safely detonate to second 155 mm round. He described the other Soldiers' actions immediately after the explosion as "exemplary."
"They reacted as they had been trained by their leaders, and immediately went right to work executing what needed to be done," said Janisch, a 37-year-old native of Mankato and father of two. "There was a quiet, calm, methodical focus to their actions that day and things happened as a result."
Hignite, an Inactive Ready Reserve Soldier, has since returned to the U.S. having fulfilled his deployment obligation. He was later awarded the Bronze Star with Valor for his actions, Janisch said. Logan received the same award, which was pinned on by Janisch during a March 3 ceremony at Al Asad. A third Soldier, Spc. Brian Johnson, was honored with an Army Commendation Medal with Valor.