US Sentry Saves Troops By Killing Suicide Bomber

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 12-10-2003 | Jack Fairweather

[blam]

US sentry saves troops by killing suicide bomber

By Jack Fairweather
(Filed: 10/12/2003)

Sixty soldiers were hurt in Iraq attacks yesterday. One man halted a bloodbath, reports Jack Fairweather in Talaafar

Hundreds of American soldiers owe their lives to the prompt action of a 23-year-old sentry.

In the faint pre-dawn light Specialist James Ross saw a car, its headlights on, accelerate towards his guard tower at the entrance of the Talaafar military base, near Mosul.

The vehicle had already cleared the first line of defence, barrelling over a coil of barbed wire 80 yards away and was heading straight down a corridor of crash barriers.

"I knew it wasn't one of our guys - it was either me or him," said Spc Ross, who began firing his machine-gun in a last-ditch attempt to stop the car entering the compound, where 300 soldiers were just waking.

Spc Ross, from Kentucky, fired almost 100 rounds before the car, pitted with bullet-holes, came to a stop. A second later, the vehicle blew up.

"I saw a blinding white light before I was thrown back inside the guard tower," he said. "After that everything was obscured by dust."

The force of the 1,000lb bomb threw a 10-ton concrete block against a school opposite the base and flattened 40 yards of protective wall.

Parts of the ceiling in the military base caved in and windows were blown out in a mile radius from the blast side. A nine-ft crater left by the suicide bomber was only 15 yards away from Spc Ross's guard tower and the base entrance.

The attack should have been devastating. But thanks to Spc Ross's timely shooting, and the compound's recently strengthened defensive wall, only five of the 54 soldiers wounded had serious injuries.

"I've had a lot of people come up to me today to thank me for saving their lives," said Spc Ross. "But I tell them I was doing my job. It's a miracle no one was killed."

Work had already begun yesterday evening on rebuilding damaged sections of the defensive wall and the crater had been filled in preparation for another possible attack.

Lt-Col Christopher Pease, battalion commander, said: "We've taken the worst the terrorists can throw at us but we don't know what they could do next."

Commanders at the base believe they were carefully selected for the suicide attack - the first of its kind on a US base - while defences at the base were being rebuilt over the past week.

"Thank God we finished in time," said Lt-Col Pease.

The attack ended an apparent trend in recent weeks by terrorists to attack "soft targets".

A tightening of security at US army and government facilities in Iraq was thought to have left insurgents searching more widely afield in their efforts to disrupt the reconstruction process.

Ten days ago, 12 foreign contractors and diplomats were ambushed in separate roadside incidents. Last month 27 Italian military police were killed when a suicide bomber struck their poorly defended headquarters in the southern city of Nasiriyah.

But yesterday's full-frontal assault on an American base will leave commanders in little doubt that the US military presence remains the insurgents' top target.

The attack will also raise questions as to why the security situation in northern Iraq has deteriorated so dramatically in recent months. The area was once seen as a model of reconstruction compared with Baghdad and the troubled Sunni triangle.

Gen David Patreas, commander of the 101st Airborne Division, famously posted a list in the centre of the district capital, Mosul, of the things the US military had done to help the Iraqis.

In the Talaafar district alone, more than $3 million (£1.7 million) has been spent in the past eight months, on schools, clinics and police stations. But since October, attacks on coalition troops in the area have increased from a few a month to almost daily.

"We've done a whole lot of projects to help the people but we haven't eliminated the Ba'ath Party," said Lt-Col Pease. "They're the guys who are attacking us now."

As one officer said yesterday outside a shrapnel-scarred office: "We just painted the building four days ago. Now we're going to have to start all over again."

Leaders of Saddam's regime are to be prosecuted for crimes against humanity after Iraq's interim government voted last night to establish a tribunal. It will be established today when Paul Bremer, the US administrator, will temporarily cede legislative authority to the Iraqi governing council. Former leaders from among the "deck of cards" who are in US custody may be the first to face trial. - AP

[El Gato]

I haven't heard that there are ANY '60s that are still issued.

What about the M-240B?

Manufacturer: Fabrique Nationale Manufacturing, Inc.
Length: 47.5 inches (120.65 centimeters)
Weight: 24.2 pounds (10.99 kilograms)
Bore diameter: 7.62mm (.308 inches)
Maximum effective range: 1.1 miles (1.8 kilometers) on tripod mount
Maximum range: 2.31 miles (3.725 kilometers)
Rates of fire:
Cyclic: 650-950 rounds per minute
Rapid: 200 rounds per minute
Sustained: 100 rounds per minute

[El Gato]

Sad but true. Sgt. York killed seven with seven shots

But York wasn't shooting at relatively fast moving, and possibly lightly armored, vehicle either. He got the job done that needed doing with whatever tool he had at hand.

[faithincowboys]

God Bless him, it is a wonderful thing to be able to say you saved hundreds of brave men. I am amazed and awed by the danger our soldiers face and their courgae under fire.

[Carolina]

"I've had a lot of people come up to me today to thank me for saving their lives," said Spc Ross. "But I tell them I was doing my job. It's a miracle no one was killed."

Well done.

[blackie]

Thank you, Spc. James Ross ! Hero ~ Bump!

[TEXOKIE]

"I've had a lot of people come up to me today to thank me for saving their lives," said Spc Ross. "But I tell them I was doing my job. IT'S A MIRACLE NO ONE WAS KILLED."

FAther, we praise you for taking care of these fine troops. Thank you, God for overshadowing James Ross and clearing the way for him to perform his duties so honorably and meticulously. Thank you for hearing our prayers and sparing the lives of our troops in situations like this! Amen

[bruin66]

Give that man another stripe.

and a change of underwear...

[LadyPilgrim]

I love our Military!
I love the young soldiers that lay life on the line each and every time they turn around.
They are a wonderful group of kids that are learning why it's great to be an American!
I say, Let them fight to their hearts content. Wipe out the enemy!
Then give them the honors they deserve!
God Bless our Military!
And, God Bless America!

[Travis McGee]

I'm with you! The guy's shooting was fabulous, I don't care if he put out 200 rounds. The main thing was /1/ He hit and stopped his target under extreme pressure, and /2/ His MG did not have a stoppage or malfunction at the critical second! It was ready to go!

Anybody with experience at guard duty with a MG will know that this is no small thing, this is a HUGE thing! There are so many ways a MG can fail to fire in the first second when it's needed, or jam or malfunction or be set up wrong etc. Getting 100 rounds off RIGHT NOW under extreme pressure is FANTASTIC!!!!

[Travis McGee]

I wish we'd had you in 83 Spc. Ross. Semper Fi.... L

AMEN Lurker! Actually, he was there, but he had those suck ass rules of engagement to contend with!!!!! What a PAINFUL LESSON!!!!

[Squantos]

Oh early thirty, sleepy, and working with tools built by the lowest bidder and still gets it done. Ditto on the MG comments. I'm gonna guess he had a 200 round box on a M249 and just kept on that driver till he ran dry.......nothing like a beaucoup pucker factor belt to sound the alarm, bring help and stop the bad guys all at once.

Stay Safe Travis.....

[Travis McGee]

Can you imagine the reactions of the sleepy troops just getting up and scratching their nads and yawning, wandering out to the latrines, and hearing 100 rounds on full auto at the gate? Think anybody was standing up after the first burst?

[Squantos]

Defense in depth worked well. Agree on the shit and go blind wake up call. Been there !......didn't get a T-Shirt though........:o(

Stay Safe !

[Travis McGee]

We learn from all of these cases. We need to watch for the two-car attack next, where #2 rushes into the "vacuum" of the immediate aftermath to get the first responders. The guns really need to be up after an attack which may only be number one of two.

[river rat]

I have no personal experience or knowledge of the M240, so I won't comment on that score...

But, I personally know of dozens of men that are alive today --- specifically because of the superior deadly effect of a PROPERLY POSITIONED, MAINTAINED AND UTILIZED M60.

NOTHING will cause the hair on the back of your neck stand to up like the sight of several M60s with with their tracer rounds crisscrossing over the entire field of fire at night..... I love em, love em, love em.....


Semper Fi

[Squantos]

Hopefully the single vehicle approach to the base has a slowing vehicle maze of barriers. Engineers should have been employed by now to create such to funnel aggressors to easy kill zones to preclude a speeding 5 ton vehicle from crashing through.

I know in an urban environment it is hard to have a clear zone that is effective but housing that many in anything but a hardened, hulled down , defended in depth camp ......is asking for infection of the Beirut virus.

Just my opinion ....Stay Safe !

[LibWhacker]

LOL! . . . Thanks, that made me laugh. :-)

[LibWhacker]

We need to watch for the two-car attack next . . .

I nominate you for Secretary of the Army, Travis! It's lessons like that that the bureaucracy always seems to miss.

[joesnuffy]

Give that man another stripe...indeed...
Of course if he would have fired his pistol off near the guy who either planned or knew of the plan to use this car bomb against US troops...he could have gotten court martialed...or punished like Col West
Im happy he decided to act rather than wait and see.....that he wasnt as timid as the PC generals of the command

[harpseal]

What no one seems to have mentioned is teh driver might have been dead and teh vehicle still moving as Spc ross kept firing and the additional rounds could have caused teh explosives to detonate by hitting a cap or shorting out the firing mechanism etc. He did well and I don't think any critique of his marksmanship is in order.