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Celia Straus, Casemate Publishers Page 1 of 3
A GOOD WACKING
The Story of US Army Sergeant David Emme
“When we got to Talafar, I noticed that there were no children out and about, only teenage boys. I saw several of them give us the ‘cut your throat’ sign. At the time I thought they were doing this because they wanted to see harm come to us. But after thinking about it, I wonder if they knew something was planned and were trying to stop our convoy or warn us. The thing is, if they had tried we probably would have ran them over or even shot them.”
Dave Emme joined the Army in May 2001. “I was a retread. On June 14, 1990 I was standing on the yellow footprints of Parris Island, South Carolina at the tender age of 17. I spent five years in the Marine Corps, three of them in Okinawa. I kept extending because of the great church there, Maranatha Baptist Church. I found that I liked reading and studying the Bible as well as discussing and teaching it. For those reasons I thought it was only natural to go into a full-time ministry as a preacher.” After getting out of the Marine Corps, Dave enrolled at Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College in San Dimas, California, but the college was going through a period of transition. There were large debts to be paid off, the curriculum was disorganized and the faculty at odds with one another. After a couple of years, Dave became disillusioned and dropped out.
Over the next few years he drifted through a series of low paying jobs. “I was lost. In the end I went back to what was familiar. I grew up watching war movies, reading books on war, playing war as a kid. Plus I’d already served five years in the Marine Corps. I figured going back into the military was a no brainer. I figured I could do 15–25 years serving my country while getting a degree or two from Liberty University—say a double Bachelor's in Business Management and Religion. That way I would have my bases covered. I would end up with a ministry in a small church that would not be able to pay my salary. I would be a blessing to a church without wondering where my next paycheck would come from.”
Dave joined the Army. He was assigned to Supply and Logistics and stationed in Ft. Lewis, Washington with a unit that was transitioning from a heavy combat brigade to a sleeker, lighter Stryker Brigade (1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division). He had previously been in a tank unit (1/33 Armor Battalion). “I left Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Polk, Louisiana for Fort Lewis. We turned in the tanks and transitioned to a RSTA (Reconnaissance Surveillance Target Acquisition) Cavalry unit, known as 2/14th Cavalry.”
He became a supply sergeant for six months and then went to the arms room as the unit armorer along with conducting supply operations. “I picked up rank quickly because of my experiences as a Marine NCO, and in December 2003 I was promoted to sergeant. I was given the supply room of Charger Troop. In the nine months before deployment, I trained up with the ‘trigger pullers’ while working full time as a supply sergeant.”
On September 30, 2004 Dave deployed to Mosul, Iraq as part of an advance party to set up the billets and equipment for his troop. On October 19th, while preparing his unit for a move to Talafar, he was wounded in a mortar attack. ”I heard the first mortar drop about 25 meters from my position. Being mortared twice a day, we got used to hearing mortars coming in. This one was different, very close. I jumped into a mortar shelter with about 15–20 infantry dudes piling in behind me. I was the most protected but I got wounded the worst.”
A mortar hit one of the trailers where the soldiers lived, and shrapnel came into the entrance at an angle, bounced off the cement wall and missed every soldier except Dave and one other. “I ended up with shrapnel in my arm, hand and leg. My platoon sergeant, SSG Jason Forgey ran out and opened the door to the CP and shouted to the XO to give him a medical bag, yelling out that ‘Emmis’ (my nickname) was hit.” Another mortar hit at a tree nearby and wounded SSG Forgey in the back of the head. “We all survived and returned to duty the next day. We were the first soldiers wounded from our troop.”
The unit (2/14 CAV) went to Talafar. After four weeks Dave was put on a mission to truck Iraqis the US had recruited for the national police force to Mosul for training. Without enough personnel and equipment, so far they had not been able to train them.
“We loaded them up on FMTVs, big square supply trucks. Since I was the supply sergeant and commander for the supply vehicle, I was gunning on a .50 cal. When we got to Talafar, I noticed that there were no children out and about, only teenage boys. I saw several of them give us the ‘cut your throat’ sign. At the time, I thought they were doing this because they wanted to see harm come to us. But after thinking about it, I wonder if they knew something was planned and were trying to stop our convoy or warn us. The thing is, if they had tried we probably would have ran them over or even shot them since almost anyone who tries to stop a convoy in Iraq intends harm.
“I got on the radio and told people what I had seen and warned them to keep an eye open because I felt that something would happen to our convoy. We entered an Iraqi traffic circle. My vehicle had crept up on another FMTV. I told my driver to slow a little when going around the circle to keep our distance. That is the last thing I remember. An IED exploded on the left side of our truck. I happened to be scanning on my weapon system to the right and was totally exposed to the blast.”
When Dave regained consciousness, he was still in the vehicle. Shards of metal pierced his left eye and his left ear drum was blown out when shrapnel from the blast penetrated his head. He had no sense of where he was or what had happened. “My driver started yelling at me to get out of the vehicle. I cried, ‘No my head hurts too much!’ He dragged me down and I fell about six feet. I was wondering why in the h-e-double hockey sticks did this guy cause me to fall six feet. He picked me up by my equipment and put my hand on his shoulder and told me to run with him. Then I heard my .50 cal go off and that was that.”
From Hidden Battles on Unseen Fronts: Stories of American Soldiers with Traumatic Brain Injury and PTSD by Celia Straus for the Armed Forces Foundation, published by Casemate Publishers. Copyright © 2009. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved. www.armedforcesfoundation.org.
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