BY ASHOKA MUKPO<\/p>\n
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.
\nSelected in what some have called the \u201cback-door draft\u201d 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.
\n\u201cI never felt like I was going to lose my life over there,\u201d 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.
\nAll 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.
\nDuring Muir\u2019s tour, he routinely commanded patrols around an area 80 miles south of Baghdad. Although the area was less violent than the \u201cSunni Triangle\u201d 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.
\nMSR-Tampa, or \u201cMain Supply Route\u201d Tampa, is the US military\u2019s 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.
\nDescribed by Sergeant Jarrod Watson as \u201ca good friend who was always there when you needed him,\u201d 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, \u201cso that if they don\u2019t hear from you they know where to look,\u201d as he puts it.
\nThat 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\u2019s vehicle became uneasy. Muir recalls that, \u201c[he] saw this little pile of trash that he thought looked suspicious, so he kind of turned away from it a little bit,\u201d when suddenly he heard a \u201cdeafening noise.\u201d
\nInsurgents had remotely detonated an IED located just beyond the pile of trash. The explosive force of the explosion knocked the Humvee \u201ctwenty feet to the side like a rag doll,\u201d 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.
\nAfter 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 \u201cup-armored\u201d Humvees; had the incident happened a week earlier, he speculates that the results could have been \u201ca lot worse,\u201d but says, \u201cI can\u2019t really dwell on the \u2018what-if\u2019s\u2019 so much, it was more like \u2018sweet, I\u2019m still in one piece.\u2019\u201d
\nAccording to Marc Garlasco, a former Pentagon military analyst, \u201cIEDs 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.\u201d 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.
\nWhen asked about the incident, Muir said, \u201cI felt like afterwards\u2026it\u2019s almost like it\u2019s already said and done, you can\u2019t do anything about it so let\u2019s move on. I wonder if in 20 or 30 years I\u2019m just going to lose it completely, but at the time I felt like I\u2019ll be goddamned if I get killed in this shithole.\u201d
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