BY ASHOKA MUKPO
In the summer of 2006, Army Sergeant Devin F. Muir departed from his base near Al-Hillah for a patrol in the sweltering heat of central Iraq. A year earlier, being involved in the war had not been a part of his plans. After receiving an honorable discharge from the US Army in 2004, Muir was working construction in Virginia when he received a letter informing him that he had unexpectedly been called back into service.
Selected in what some have called the “back-door draft” policy of recalling discharged soldiers to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan, less than six months later he was attached to a National Guard unit from Minnesota and sent to fight in Iraq.
“I never felt like I was going to lose my life over there,” Muir said, despite serving during a particularly violent period in the conflict. He has been home for over four years now, and is one of many US veterans who served overseas, experienced modern war, and then returned stateside uninjured.
All told, over two million US troops have served in either Iraq or Afghanistan. Close to six thousand have been killed, and many who return home have struggled to cope with the trauma of their experiences, suffering from mental health problems and profound difficulty adjusting to life back home. For the majority, however, life simply goes on. The war recedes into memory and even brushes with death become no more than stories rarely told.
During Muir’s tour, he routinely commanded patrols around an area 80 miles south of Baghdad. Although the area was less violent than the “Sunni Triangle” to the north, insurgent activity had been on the rise that summer and patrols could be tense. Temperatures had risen to well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. That particular day Muir remembers that they were close to a searing 120.
MSR-Tampa, or “Main Supply Route” Tampa, is the US military’s name for a six-lane highway that arcs its way out of Kuwait through southern Iraq and then runs through Baghdad on its way to Syria. It has been the site of countless US patrols since the 2003 invasion, and portions in and around Baghdad were at one point among the most dangerous routes in the country. The use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) on some stretches was predictable and constant. Near Al-Hillah, however, it had typically been quiet.
Described by Sergeant Jarrod Watson as “a good friend who was always there when you needed him,” Muir had been leading patrols on the highway since they arrived in the area. Three Humvees would travel past a series of checkpoints where their presence would be noted, “so that if they don’t hear from you they know where to look,” as he puts it.
That day they had just crossed the third checkpoint when they came across a drainage ditch off to the side of the highway. After following the ditch for a short period, the driver of Muir’s vehicle became uneasy. Muir recalls that, “[he] saw this little pile of trash that he thought looked suspicious, so he kind of turned away from it a little bit,” when suddenly he heard a “deafening noise.”
Insurgents had remotely detonated an IED located just beyond the pile of trash. The explosive force of the explosion knocked the Humvee “twenty feet to the side like a rag doll,” Muir remembers. The impact shattered the bulletproof glass of the vehicle, which had been improperly installed backwards, and tiny fragments flew into the truck. Smoke and dust flooded the interior of the cab, adding to the chaos and preventing him from seeing or hearing for a few moments. He immediately recognized what had happened and checked himself and the others for injuries. Miraculously, there were none. Even the exposed gunner had only mildly twisted his knee.
After they stopped traffic and moved to positions where they could defend themselves from an ambush, Muir radioed for reinforcements to tow the destroyed Humvee away and take the squad back to base. He believes that he and the others who were riding in the vehicle were uninjured thanks to the extra armor that had recently been attached to its sides. In fact, that patrol was the first time they had been provided with “up-armored” Humvees; had the incident happened a week earlier, he speculates that the results could have been “a lot worse,” but says, “I can’t really dwell on the ‘what-if’s’ so much, it was more like ‘sweet, I’m still in one piece.’”
According to Marc Garlasco, a former Pentagon military analyst, “IEDs touch every member of the military in a combat zone; they kill and maim those hit, but they affect all psychologically. Every mound, every pile of dirt becomes a possible source of danger.” For some, a brush with an IED can be a traumatic event. Even if they are physically uninjured, the experience is often a severe emotional strain. Like many other veterans, however, Muir has moved on.
When asked about the incident, Muir said, “I felt like afterwards…it’s almost like it’s already said and done, you can’t do anything about it so let’s move on. I wonder if in 20 or 30 years I’m just going to lose it completely, but at the time I felt like I’ll be goddamned if I get killed in this shithole.”