'I could hear the bullets whizzing by'

Staff Sgt. Alan Martinez said his experience in Operation Desert Storm in 1991 did almost nothing to prepare him for what he would face in Iraq in 2003.

“Desert Storm was completely one-sided,” he said. “It was a live-fire exercise, if you ask me.”

In Operation Iraqi Freedom, he said, “we had to adapt to unconventional ways of doing things. It was my first time getting shot at, my first time dealing with [homemade bombs] and my first time being mortared.”

A squad leader and master gunner with the Kansas-based Company A, 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, Martinez described his experiences during the invasion of Iraq as 36 hours of continuous road marching followed by 72 hours of fighting.

It was his actions during those 72 hours that earned him the Bronze Star with “V.”

Shortly after entering the fighting in Samawah, Martinez’s unit was ordered to conduct a feint, a maneuver intended to draw enemy fire, in order to give forces from the 82nd Airborne Division room to retreat.

“They were getting chewed up and had no armor assets,” Martinez said.

Martinez, whose job was to operate his M-113 armored personnel carrier’s .50-caliber machine gun, rode near his unit’s medics, who also were in an M-113.

As his unit neared the enemy stronghold, they began taking fire from small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.

Martinez said the medics’ M-113 was in a dangerously exposed position, so he told them to move their vehicle behind his in order to provide them some protection.

As he tried to provide cover for the medics, a three-man enemy team attempted to engage Martinez’s vehicle.

“I could hear the bullets whizzing by,” he said. “I laid the .50 cal down on them. I’m assuming they’re dead. I didn’t stop to look.”

In another operation, Martinez’s unit was assaulting an Iraqi stronghold while under heavy mortar and RPG fire.

One Iraqi soldier with an RPG had set his sights on an 82nd Airborne Division Bradley fighting vehicle.

Martinez radioed the Bradley’s crew and told them about the threat, but the Iraqi was too well concealed. The only one who could see the Iraqi, Martinez opened fire and neutralized the threat.

According to the award citation, he “courageously engaged and destroyed numerous enemy targets, securing strategic strong points allowing for a highly successful mission completion without casualties.”

He said his experience has changed the way he looks at life.

“It makes you rethink everything,” he said. “You thank God every day that you’re still alive. You learn to appreciate the little pleasures in life.”