Idahoans do a year of roadside bomb patrol

Idahoans do a year of roadside bomb patrol

By Heath Druzin - Idaho Statesman
Posted : Saturday Jan 19, 2008 14:41:02 EST

BOISE, Idaho — When Staff Sgt. Ian Freeman pulled up to a lonely, sand-blown roadway in one of the most volatile regions of Iraq, he knew it might be his last mission.

A 6-foot-deep blast hole on the side of the road told him bombs were likely ahead. But ribbons of sand covering the highway made it nearly impossible to spot the telltale signs of planted explosives. Like most days in Iraq, it was a prayer day.

“I remember, just clear as day, just sitting there and thinking, ‘God, take care of my family — I mean, I know I’m dead — and just take care of my family, let them know I love ‘em,’” he said. “And (my fellow soldier) gave his little prayer, too, and we just said, ‘Let’s go.”’

Freeman motored ahead in a Cougar — a 13-ton truck that sits 4 feet off the ground on a V-shaped hull built to deflect blasts — and made it through that day unscathed.

He wasn’t as lucky on several other missions. He’s still recovering from a series of bomb blasts that sent shock waves through his brain and ended his tour six months early.

Freeman’s experience illustrates the deadly work that more than 100 Idaho citizen-soldiers of the 321st Engineer Battalion, an all-Army Reserve battalion in Boise, did for a year while hunting roadside bombs, the biggest killer of U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

When the Army reservists arrived at the insurgent stronghold of Anbar Province in October 2006, they had one of the most dangerous jobs in one of the most dangerous spots in Iraq.
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http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/01/ap_idahoroadsidebomb_080119/