'I need to be where the most danger is'

The convoy had been taking fire for a while by the time it came across the first roadside bomb.

Maj. Jim Gant knew he could not wait for the Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians to show up.

So he decided that his up-armored vehicle would have to eat the roadside bomb. He also made sure that it would explode on his side.

Gant, 41 explained that was his job as a leader.

“I need to be where the most danger is,” said Gant, team leader for the Iraqi National Police Quick Reaction Force Transition Team.

On Dec. 11, 2006, Gant was leading a convoy of Iraqi police commandos from Balad to Taji.

Iraqi police had been making regular trips to Balad, and there had been heavy fighting along the route for the past six weeks, said Gant, of Fort Bragg, N.C.

This day would be worse.

And the two F-16s that were supposed to support the convoy had been diverted, Gant said.

About 15 miles from Balad, the convoy started taking heavy enemy fire.

Two Iraqi police commandos were wounded — one, shot in the face. Gant said he treated the Iraqi who was hit in the face and got them evacuated.

By the time the convoy got to the first roadside bomb, about 30 minutes later, it was taking fire from both sides of the road, Gant said. He knew they had to push on.

“If we would have stopped, they would have tore us up,” he said.

He also knew that if one of the police commandos’ vehicles ran over the roadside bomb, the results would be catastrophic and would tie down the rest of the convoy.

“If that IED is going to hit one of my vehicles, I want it to be mine,” Gant decided.

Gant said he had his gunner drop into the Humvee and he positioned the rest of the convoy away from the roadside bomb.

Then they drove forward until the bomb went off. The blast “absolutely rocked” the Humvee, Gant said, but everyone was OK, so they kept driving.

About two minutes later, the convoy found a second roadside bomb.

Again, Gant positioned the rest of the convoy away from the bomb as his Humvee drove toward it.

They got closer and closer to the roadside bomb, but nothing happened.

When they got between 15 and 20 feet away, the bomb finally went off.

Once again, the blast rocked everyone in the vehicle, but otherwise, the occupants were unhurt.

As soon as the bomb went off, a machine gun opened up on Gant’s vehicle with bullets hitting the windshield.

The fight was not over.

Minutes later, the convoy came across third roadside bomb, but this time it did not go off when Gant’s Humvee drove by.

By this time, Gant had learned that an Iraqi vehicle had joined the convoy and a woman inside had been hurt by one of the roadside bombs that went off.

After pushing through the most violent part of the ambush, Gant got out of his Humvee and tried to treat the injured Iraqi woman, whose legs had been hit by shrapnel.

Gant said that the woman initially did not want Gant to touch her, but an Iraqi colonel persuaded her, saying: “This American is my brother. He’s going to take care of you.”

After putting tourniquets to the woman’s legs, Gant decided to put a young Iraqi girl who was also in the car into his Humvee to protect her from small-arms fire.

The convoy then pushed on until it finally reached Taji.

They had taken fire for more than an hour over 10 kilometers and made it through three kill zones, each with between 25 and 35 determined enemy fighters, Gant said.

“They fought very bravely that day; we just fought better,” Gant said.

He said the Iraqi police commandos and U.S. troops succeeded not because they had better weapons or technology but because they had the will to fight.

“It was courage and bravery to take this fight that won the day,” Gant said. “The soldiers on the ground won this battle.”