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A gutsy G.I. rescues sitting-duck platoon
The New York Daily News ^ | 5/16/04 | Michael Daly

Posted on 05/18/2004 6:02:24 AM PDT by Gothmog

From the same New York Army National Guard unit that picked up escaped hostage Thomas Hamill comes word of a young soldier who killed 20 or more Iraqi insurgents when his patrol was ambushed on Easter Sunday. Spec. Timmy Haag of South Glens Falls, N.Y., made his remarkable display of courage and cool under fire as C Company, 2nd Battalion of the 108th Light Infantry was conducting a sweep of southern Samarra in open 5-ton trucks. The vehicles are so slow and high-riding that it borders on the criminal to transport soldiers on them into a known hot spot bristling with rocket-propelled grenades.

Troops nicknamed the trucks "RPG magnets," Staff Sgt. Troy Mechanick said on Friday.

The nickname proved tragically apt when the truck carrying Haag and 13 other members of his platoon was roughly 100 yards past a mosque flying the fedayeen flag. An RPG slammed into the left side, killing 21-year-old Pfc. Nathan Brown of South Glens Falls.

Many more might have died had Brown not taken the brunt of the blast. Two others were seriously wounded, including Mechanick, who was lifted to his feet by the concussion.

"It turned everything yellow and green, then everything goes slow," Mechanick recalled.

The grenade was followed by automatic weapons fire, and Mechanick tried to reach for his M-4 rifle. His left hand did not go where he commanded it and he realized his arm was hanging limp at his side, broken in four places. He reached with his right hand and saw the middle finger was dangling, all but severed.

"I said to myself, 'I don't need that to shoot,'" Mechanick recalled.

He managed to undo the safety and raise his rifle, but the weapon failed to fire.

"It was full of shrapnel," Mechanick said.

Mechanick turned to a wounded soldier and asked to use his weapon.

"His response was I'm crazy," Mechanick recalled. "My response was, 'No, I want to live.' ... Somebody called out, 'Nate's dead.' I called out, 'We've got to keep security up, or we'll all be dead.'"

Haag had begun returning fire with his SAW machine gun from the first moments after the blast.

"First thing he did was stand up on the driver's side," Mechanick recalled. "He saw a couple of enemy soldiers. He suppressed them, killing two or three immediately."

Haag turned to the passenger side and suppressed the fire coming from that direction. He and fellow soldier James MacDonald then clambered down and fought their way down the line of vehicles to notify their commander their truck had been hit.

"Small arms fire, AK-47 and RPG," Mechanick recalled "Haag's just running though it and as he's running he's shooting, killing people."

Haag and MacDonald passed four alleys, each of which had between six and 15 enemies armed with automatic weapons and RPGs. Haag is said to have shot them all.

"Timmy Haag was phenomenal," Mechanick said. "When the firefight happened, Timmy Haag was the man."

Haag and MacDonald dashed back to their truck. Haag emptied the last 200-round drum of his squad automatic weapon and clambered into a truck so high-riding the unit had welded on a ladder in the back. An RPG skipped off the road where he had been standing.

Haag grabbed another weapon as the line of a half-dozen vehicles began lumbering toward the nearest American outpost. Haag called out that he would cover the right side while another soldier covered the left.

Mechanick had numerous other wounds and he was pale and short of breath from the loss of blood. Haag kept calling to him and nudging him with his boot as he fired.

"He knew I was going to sleep, and if you go to sleep you don't ever wake up," Mechanick said. "He's shooting at the enemy, kicking me, shooting at the enemy, kicking me: 'Sgt. Mechanick, don't you go to sleep.' Shoot a couple of rounds. Kick me. 'Sgt. Mechanick, don't you go to sleep.'"

Two roadside bombs went off close enough to lift the truck off the ground. Haag spotted an Iraqi fleeing a courtyard, detonator still in hand. Haag cut the bomber in half and kept firing, by one estimate 1,500 rounds in all.

Mechanick clung to consciousness as the patrol reached the outpost, and he was flown out by helicopter. He was later told that Haag stayed on the truck with Brown, covering the body with a poncho and keeping a kind of honor guard.

Haag saw that Brown's American flag shoulder patch had been blown off. Haag retrieved it, cleaned it as best he could and handed it to Staff Sgt. Patrick Abrams.

Finally, Haag and Abrams gently lowered the fallen soldier from a vehicle that never should have been used to send them into harm's way. Mechanick later described Brown as "the perfect kid" and recalled that the Army promised when they headed for Iraq in February that they would be given armored vehicles.

"They lied to us," Mechanick said.

No armor guarantees protection, but even unarmored Humvees would have at least been low to the ground and fast. One detail did not escape Mechanick's attention as he lay at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, watching news reports of his company's May 2 encounter with Thomas Hamill.

"What was in the background? Five-tons," Mechanick said.

Mechanick is now back home, trying to adjust to a country that imagines itself not at war and hoping we will learn something from Brown's death. Haag is still in that place called The Sandbox, riding RPG magnets, known to be extraordinarily bright and a talented artist as well as a soldier whose courage would be called uncommon had he not so many brave comrades.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: ambush; americanhero; army; banglist; centcom; easter; enemy; guntrucks; gutsandglory; heroes; insurgents; iraq; killed; nationalguard; soldiers; thomashamill; wheeledarmor
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To: Cannoneer No. 4
Cannoneer - what do you know about these things? ASVs from Textron? I had an article from Nov. 2003 and finally found it ! The second link looks like we're ordering now what we decline in 11/2003! Well what a surprise I now see who posted the second one picked up in google search! Off to read it - thanks! ;-)

M1117 Guardian Armored Security Vehicle (ASV) ASV-150
81 posted on 05/18/2004 5:34:51 PM PDT by Tunehead54 (Have a nice day or else!)
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To: Cannoneer No. 4

Sounds like my kind of soldier!
I'd have given my right hadn to have a couple guys like him in my old unit whiel I was in.
Now I'm wishing we had several thousand like him, everywhere.
Cool!
Thanks!


82 posted on 05/18/2004 5:37:40 PM PDT by Darksheare (Decorate rooms and furniture with your sleeping friend's carcasses. -Gothic car sticker)
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To: Tunehead54
Got's to remember to close the link title otherwise its invisible! Rats!
Cannoneer's referenced post:

Textron gets order for armored vehicles

83 posted on 05/18/2004 5:38:14 PM PDT by Tunehead54 (Have a nice day or else!)
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To: Rebelbase
Why do our guys not have the proper vehicles?

'Cause John Kerry said "no." That was his final answer.

84 posted on 05/18/2004 5:38:45 PM PDT by madison10
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To: Cannoneer No. 4

By the way,in an earlier post,I misspelled populace, I stood corrected. .Other than that, I stand by my post. Good article, though the snarky anti-Bush,anti-Army swipe was easily noted,too. Well, this young warrior did a great job.


85 posted on 05/18/2004 7:21:44 PM PDT by gatorbait (Yesterday, today and tomorrow......The United States Army)
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To: Rebelbase

They are a light infantry unit. They only have a few light vehicles per company. The vehicles they are using in Iraq are probably surplus vehicles drawn from a maintenace depot.


86 posted on 05/18/2004 8:39:04 PM PDT by Poodlebrain
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To: Rebelbase

87 posted on 05/18/2004 10:53:07 PM PDT by Cannoneer No. 4 (I've lost turret power; I have my nods and my .50. Hooah. I will stay until relieved. White 2 out.)
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To: Gothmog

Any "mosque flying the fedayeen flag" should be a bomb magnet.


88 posted on 05/19/2004 10:34:46 AM PDT by watchin
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To: Cannoneer No. 4

You have to ask yourself...

Does the nation still deserve men such as these?


Semper Fi


89 posted on 05/19/2004 3:26:13 PM PDT by river rat (You may turn the other cheek...But I prefer to look into my enemy's vacant dead eyes.)
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To: river rat

When we no longer do, we won't have a country for much longer.


90 posted on 05/19/2004 3:38:03 PM PDT by Cannoneer No. 4 (I've lost turret power; I have my nods and my .50. Hooah. I will stay until relieved. White 2 out.)
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To: M1Tanker; Thunder 6

ping


91 posted on 05/19/2004 3:39:02 PM PDT by Cannoneer No. 4 (I've lost turret power; I have my nods and my .50. Hooah. I will stay until relieved. White 2 out.)
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To: Rebelbase; Eagle9; freedox; chesty_puller; GRRRRR; MouthOfTheSouth; Memother; joan_30; ...
Why do our guys not have the proper vehicles?

8years of a Clown for A President and John Kerry voting for the 87 million before he voted against it and you gotta ask that question ?

92 posted on 05/19/2004 3:45:29 PM PDT by ATOMIC_PUNK (If the price of Freedom be blood "So be it " I shall give all i have that our Children be FREE !!!)
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To: Gothmog
"He knew I was going to sleep, and if you go to sleep you don't ever wake up," Mechanick said. "He's shooting at the enemy, kicking me, shooting at the enemy, kicking me: 'Sgt. Mechanick, don't you go to sleep.' Shoot a couple of rounds. Kick me. 'Sgt. Mechanick, don't you go to sleep.'"

As a former Marine, I'd be proud to go into battle with these "dog-faced soldiers" - anytime, anywhere.
Semper Fi ...
93 posted on 05/19/2004 3:48:09 PM PDT by oh8eleven
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To: oh8eleven
Armor conference shows off state-of-the-art battlefield technologies
94 posted on 05/19/2004 4:41:36 PM PDT by Cannoneer No. 4 (I've lost turret power; I have my nods and my .50. Hooah. I will stay until relieved. White 2 out.)
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To: ATOMIC_PUNK

Thanks for the ping!


95 posted on 05/19/2004 7:20:52 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: dead
Allow a bit of license : "Mechanick is now back home, trying to adjust to a country that imagines itself not at war with the corrupting destructive influence of liberalism and the socialist societal engineering democrat criminal enterprise party. We're at war all right, right here at home, with sh!tbags like Michael Moore and liars like the dnc and their totally anti-American leadership in the House and Senate. To win in Iraq and the Middle East, we here at home will have to stomp the living crap out of the democrat party come November. Personally, I will turn to anarchy, if our subpreme court gets two more like Ruth Ginsberg ... and that's what the democrat party is planning, if they can seize back power over US.
96 posted on 05/19/2004 7:34:42 PM PDT by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: river rat

One thing is damn clear, HE deserves a better country.


97 posted on 05/19/2004 7:40:02 PM PDT by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: Gothmog
Mechanick is now back home, trying to adjust to a country that imagines itself not at war and hoping we will learn something from Brown's death.

What an asinine comment! WE know we're at war, and we know what's at stake!

98 posted on 05/19/2004 7:44:14 PM PDT by SuziQ
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To: antiRepublicrat; sultan88

That's my point, The logistics should have already been done.

Our senator (J RHINO Warner) is too focused on the MIL/INDUS
incest of Contractor$ on new hardware.

The PCs would in any case be better than riding around in the back of a 5 Ton or a Humvee RPG target.


99 posted on 05/23/2004 3:04:42 PM PDT by Phosgood
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To: Phosgood; iceskater; xyz123; Mudboy Slim; Corin Stormhands; jla; Flora McDonald; GeorgeW23225; ...
"Our senator (J RHINO Warner) is too focused on the MIL/INDUS incest of Contractor$ on new hardware. The PCs would in any case be better than riding around in the back of a 5 Ton or a Humvee RPG target."

I am sure you are correct about that.

Anti-RINO Richmond ping!

100 posted on 05/23/2004 5:41:38 PM PDT by sultan88 ("I went down Virginia, seeking shelter from the storm...")
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