It was a crazy Friday this past one, we traveled to the American base and we encountered some unexpected events while there. First things first…
We were tasked with picking up some interpreters soon after arriving at the FOB, after dropping off the extra people in our vehicle we headed to the place where we—Bo and I—were instructed to go. On our way there Bo started screaming to stop the vehicle while simultaneously a large amount of smoke was taken over the inside of the vehicle. I tried to stay calm while I pulled over and jumped out of the vehicle. It is funny the things that you forget when you are stressed out…I had to go back in to turn the damn thing off and then we had to pull all the ammunition out of it since the smoke was coming out the same vicinity.
We were throwing things all over the road…I couldn't pick up the cans of belts for our machine guns—I later remembered that they were tied down—so I was literally pulling the belts out and swinging them out on the road; Bo had enough visibility and sense to untie them. I inhaled a large amount of smoke and developed an instant headache accompanied with an annoying cough but the fire stopped when we turn the vehicle off. It was an electrical fire that cooked off in the back side of our HMMV and ran to the battery—located under one of the seats inside of the vehicle—through a wire that had its insulation burnt off.
I cannot even begin to tell you all the things that ran through my head at the time. From the "what if" to "how could I not noticed something was wrong?" Needless to say, it was a long day in the FOB waiting to have our vehicle repaired along with all our communication systems. I truly believe that God was watching over us. The fact that the fire ran by the seat without setting it on fire, and the fact that it was very close to the gas tank made me truly appreciate being able to walk out of there with only a headache and a little cough.
