I remember the 3rd of October as follows – we were briefed on the mission and mounted our vehicles. The helicopters lifted off and our convoy left the airfield. We arrived at the objective without receiving fire. We then established a blocking position down the street from the Olympic Hotel. Shortly after, we received rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) and automatic weapons fire from every direction. Three other Rangers dismounted to pull security down alleys. I saw gunships strafing down an adjacent street with mini-guns. Down an alley to my left, I saw a man engaging the birds with a crew served automatic weapon. I destroyed his weapon with 2 bursts from my 50 caliber. I heard an RPG whiz by my head and explode near a jeep behind me, so I turned my gun on a building where I saw a cloud of smoke from the source of the fired RPG round and covered it with fire. We pulled the jeep up to a cargo HMVV that was loading wounded personnel and then led the convoy of wounded back to the airfield. We received fire from every corner we passed, but the vehicles were moving to fast for me to engage down the streets to my flanks. We drove between parked and oncoming vehicles, scrapping off the mirrors of and bumping vehicles that did not move out of the way. I looked back to see if my buddies were okay and saw one slumped over with his brains dumped out in his ammunition can – I knew he was dead. We returned to the medical facility next to our hangar and unloaded him. I later found out that he killed the man who shot him at the same instant he was shot. The Somali came out from behind a car and raised his weapon towards me, but then aimed in on my buddy when he spotted him. More of our jeeps returned and we all left to secure the crashed birds. At our first left turn from the Port Road, the third and fourth vehicles received fire from AKs and RPGs. The turret gunners hosed the shacks where the fire came from. We caught fire from almost every road and intersection we passed. We hit a roadblock as high as the hood of the vehicle. While we were turning around, an RPG whizzed by my head and exploded 15 feet away. A 50 caliber and Mark 19 opened up on the shack where it came from and I engaged 2 men with RPGs down the alley. We took directions from the birds, but hit roadblocks and ambushes on almost every turn. We met up with the remaining vehicles from the objective. Their lead HMVV was shot at and it died. WE drove to the rear of the convoy and pulled security while they destroyed the disabled vehicle. A gunner was changing his ammo on his Mark 19 when a man peeked around a building to see if he could get a good shot at us. I couldn't engage him with the 50 caliber because the gunner was too close to my line of fire. I yelled to the gunner to engage and he drew his 9mm pistol and shot the man. We returned to the airfield again, taking fire from everywhere. We got an ammo resupply and began coordinating with the Malaysians to clear the road with their tanks. The 10th Mountain Division joined the convoy in support. We drove up to National Street and hammered everything that dared to shoot at us. We sat there until dawn, when they were done exfiltrating our men on BTRs. We received only sporadic fire from the enemy, but the 10th Mountain seemed intent on lobbying LAWs, AT-4s, and countless rounds into enemy buildings. I caught a ricochet above my left eye and shrapnel in my right hand. We exfiltrated to the stadium that housed the Pakistanis about an hour after first light.

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