It was early December of 2005 and we, Task Force Konohiki, were in the process of being relieved by elements of the United States Marine Corps. Part of the relief process is to familiarize our relief with the local area and explain the pros and cons of each. Today was the first day for the Marines and we would be doing a route patrol of Konohiki Five-zeroes area of expertise. The main town would be a small town nestled on the banks of the Tigris river just south of LSA Anaconda, Abyiachi. I was not real familiar with this town or area because my assinged element, Konohiki Five-five, was assinged the area west of MSR Tampa, away from the Tigris.

Our convoy of four vehicles raced along the narrow canal roads and over the narrow bridges to avoid exposure to IED's, the roads in the area were heavy in explsion sites and it was pretty creepy seeing all the obvious ambush attempts. I was driving and we had a full complement of men today, meaning five men. We were assinged the six posistion, that's the trail vehicle and the responsibility of rear (six) security. I could very easily see why one out of four deaths in Iraq is by vehicle accident, we were racing at a high rate of speed and going over very narrow passages, having an immature officer that liked to scream and curse constantly didn't help matters.

As we pulled into the village of Abyiachi on this Friday morning tension seemed very high, much higher than usual. Abyiachi is not what any of us would call user friendly. It may have been because it is the holy day for Muslims or perhaps because everytime I can remember we were ambushed coming out of this town, in any case tension seemed high.

As the lead vehicle pulled into town the rest of us fell in behind him and took up strategic positions, all drivers and Gunners stayed with their respective vehicles while everyone else dismounted and started moving into town, with extreme caution.

We had been in town maybe five minutes with the engines running and my wearing the radio headphones I couldn't hear anything going on outside my protective cocoon, our gunner was watching the six so he had his back to the rest of the element. I noticed that all at once everyone that had dismounted began to dive for cover and had raised their weapons to engage and kill. Obviously shots had been fired and we were under attack, our so it seemed. As usual there was a flurry of activity on the radio as the commander, Konohiki six, tried to ascess the situation. At some point in there I heard the call to have the medic come foward, our medic SSG B would probably have to expose himself to harm in order to save another life, he had already done so (saved a life) twice in the last ten days. SSG B was one of the best medics and soldiers I've ever met and I got sick to my stomach thinking he might soon be exposed to hostile fire and death. But he is a medic and that's what they do. My mind raced with different possible scenarios just ahead of me, just a hundred meters in front of me a lot of rounds had been fired and some humen being was down bleeding. "What just happened?.

We all checked our sectors for possible snipers and bomb throwers, if it was one of our men down up ahead we would find the person responsible. I thought of the tactical situation and immediate threat. We were four lightly armed vehicles and about twenty men on a narrow street with high walls and building all around us, we could be easily trapped and caught in a gauntlet of fire had there been any enemy intentions on an ambush this would be a good time for it. We had reinforcments just ten minutes away and could defend ourselves untill then, it was just a thought going through my mind, I'm sure I wasn't alone in the rapid scenario mode.

We were soon told to mount back up in our vehicle and secure the twelve o' clock posistion so the medic could bound foward and treat the wounded. I kept hoping and praying that as I moved foward I wouldn't pass a set of blood drenched DCU's or worse, American body parts. As we slowly crept foward I saw what was obviously an Iraqi man on the ground covered in blood I could also see the vehicle he had been driving and saw the windows had been shot out, I felt relieved none of "our guys" were down. We moved foward to secure the foward posistion and kept the citizens of Abyiachi at a safe distance from us. I dismounted and readied my grenade launcher scanning the walls and building for any retaliatory fire.

In a matter of perhaps ten minutes the local Iraqi Army had been summoned and brought an ambulance to take the wounded man to the hospital in Balad, even though it was we Americans that had shot this man he would not recieve any further treatment from Americans for his wounds. This is all part of the downsizing of American presence, we no longer shoot and treat we just shoot and partial treat.

We had the local authorities clear the route out of town for us and then when all seemed clear turned around and, as fast as possible, raced out the way we had come in. We were almost certain to get attacked if we took the "cleared" way out. As we raced away I couldn't help but think what the average Abyiachi citizen must be thinking, it definetly didn't improve our image and may have created more "Takfiri". From the Iraqi point of view it must have been very simple. It was the holy day, Americans came into town shot somebody that was found to be unarmed and just an average man going to market on Friday morning, and just has quickly fled. That's just the way it seemed to me at the time.

So, exactly what happened ? I will first say from what I saw and was told by the shooters it was completly justified and unfortunate. As the lead element arrived in Abyiachi the Five- Zero actual attempted to clear and secure room for the rest of us to enter town safely. To do this he had to gain control of all foot and vehicle traffic to his front. Suicide bombers can not be allowed to approach coaltion forces, and all Iraqis know that if they do not respect the space between us and them they can be percieved as a deadly threat and will be shot. ( this is life is Iraq) A vehicle with a single male occupent, and looking like the typical Vehicle Bourne Improvised Explosive Device, approached and when told to stop refused too comply, Konohiki Five-zero actual then raised his weapon and screamed for the man to stop, he instead accelerated and headed directly at our officer and his security element. The Officer had to take immediate action to protect the rest us and fired, as did his security element. There was no other option available.

This was an unfortunate encounter with the people of Iraq but it must be understood that to do anything other then exactly what was done would result in many more American deaths. The quicker we can get our men off the streets of Iraq the better off the average Iraqi will be. But we can not leave compleltly any time soon. Soon I will be adding pictures and video to past entires so please be patient, as I've said it is much easier now to be open with these entires.

Salaam Alekum