On March 31, 2004, the same day that the four Blackwater operators were murdered in Fallujah and their bodies were desecrated, I was activated to patrol with a Quick Response Force (QRF). We were summoned to the same ASP where we found the body of the shepherd except this time we had to go much farther in where the UXO was so thick it was like a carpet.
In past weeks in the same area we encountered handfuls of looters who either scrap for metal or ordinance, which they sell. When they sell intact ordinance it is used for only one purpose the base charge for the IEDs (improvised explosive devices), which blow someone up everyday from here to Israel. In each of the previous instances we searched and detained the individuals and turned them over to the US Army.
On this day there were fifteen looters found, and then there were twenty, and then twenty more, and soon there were more than one hundred. We started with only eight of us “contractor” operators and three regular Army Infantry soldiers. Two of the Army soldiers found themselves isolated with over fifty looters. They asked for our immediate assistance, so we split off two three-man teams and patrolled in on foot.
From a distance across all the UXO at least two of the looters shot at us with AK-47s, which were extinguished by immediate suppressive fire. Eventually, my team converged on the two soldiers in the middle of the ASP along with various other looters we apprehended on the way in. After adding our looters to the mix, we were then managing 148 looters.
Because we were carrying more than 250 rounds of ammunition each, we could have lined them up and shot every one of them. Or we could have forced them to walk back through a minefield or any number of unspeakably worse things that have been done in this country by their previous government. But that is not the American way, and that is not the model of behavior we wish to perpetuate here or take back home with us. So we kept firm order and discipline and carefully searched each of them. And then we placed them along a safe road out of the UXO.
When we were sure that everyone was safe, and we knew exactly where the arriving U.S. Army would meet us, we formed them in disciplined columns and carefully marched them out of the ASP.
We returned that night to our FOB, and we heard the news of the fate of our brothers in Fallujah and saw films of their charred remains hanging on a public bridge and people screaming with jubilation.
Father, help me reflect your love in a place where evil rejoices over death and turmoil.
“But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!” (Matthew 5:44)