Ten Years to the Day: The Night that Changed Me Forever

TRIGGER WARNING:  GRAPHIC CONTENT

I have to work tomorrow.  Tomorrow, of all days, is the last day I want to be around anyone.  It's the 'anniversary' of the incident that changed everything for me.  I don't normally write about the actual event that was a major contributing factor to my PTSD, but this anniversary is different.

It still feels like yesterday, but tomorrow makes ten years to the day that 1LT Leif Nott died in a friendly fire incident in Balad Ruz, Iraq.  I still struggle with what happened every day.  I remember the sounds, the smells, the feel, everything.

This is the first time that I have mentioned the incident specifically.  I don't know why I feel compelled to share it now.  I just couldn't let another year go by without honoring those that were injured and those that died that day.

I can't bring myself to recount all that happened, but you can read about that night and the cover up HERE.

I tried to 'suck it up' but I landed myself in the Combat Stress Control Clinic at Balad Air Field a week later.  Everyone back at the unit I had been attached to was acting like nothing had happened.  I felt compelled to make sure the truth was known - so I contact JAG and CID and reported the friendly fire incident and violations of the rules of engagement.  I also reported my suspicion of attempts to sweep the whole thing under the rug.

A week later, I was released back to duty by the clinic.  My reporting the incident should have remained confidential.  Somehow, it made its way back to the commanding officer of the unit I was supporting and I instantly became persona non grata.

Things went downhill fast from there.  I was denied R&R and mid-tour leave because I was a 'mission critical asset' - yet the rest of my team and all of the other attached special operations teams we worked with got to rotate home for two weeks.  I isolated and shunned by all but my colleagues.  The sectarian violence ratcheted up soon after and the trauma continued to build.

Six months later, I found myself being sent home, a danger to myself and others.

The greatest travesty:  The unsung heroes that never received the recognition they deserved for jumping into action.

When it became clear that we had shot up our own, the direct support Psy-Ops team, two young medics and myself ran out to conduct triage.  It became evident that we needed another vehicle so I ran back to the TOC and ordered some privates to clear out the Psy-ops turtleback so that we could use it as an ambulance.  The next few minutes were a blur.  I remember SGT Anderson being carried into the medic bay.  Same with SPC Devers.  I remember returning to the scene to continue to help and things become disturbingly clear in my mind.

I remember the old man, blood and bone chips flowing away from the mangled mess of his leg to pool in the dust on the side of the road.  Somehow we managed to stabilize him.  When the medevac birds arrived I positioned myself to lift the old man's upper half into the stretcher and discovered that he had a gaping wound on his back.  I had put my arm, almost up to the elbow into his chest cavity.  I cannot adequately describe the sensation of feeling someone's heart beating from inside their body.  Those sensations and smells will stay with me until the day I die.

To this day, I still don't know if those two young medics or the Psy-Ops team were ever recognized for their actions.  I know, like me, they ran out there in untied boots, brown t-shirts, no protective gear, and M-16's on their backs.  We didn't think, we reacted.  And it is with the utmost humility that I need to express my admiration for their actions that day.

I just wish, on tomorrow of all days, that I could remember the medics' names,  Or the Psy-Ops teams' names.  Maybe this blog will reach them somehow.

Most importantly, I need to express my most sincere condolences to the family of 1LT Leif Nott.  Until this year, I couldn't muster up the courage to even do that.  The memories were too much to handle.  Honestly, they still are, but it's been ten years.

I couldn't be silent, reticent anymore.

Requiescat in pace, Lief.  It is in honor of your service and sacrifice that I have finally mustered up the courage to share this.  May you and your family find the comfort and peace you deserve.