Chapter 12, The Amazing Adventures of Ralph Kroder

Picking up the pieces

       Staff Sergeant Ralph Kroder was a squad leader in Second Platoon, Bravo Company, 5th Battalion 20th Infantry, 3rd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, on the morning of Sunday, 5 September 2006, when Muslim jihadist terrorists blew up an Alpha Company Stryker in Baqubah, Iraq, and killed seven people – six American soldiers and a Russian journalist.

       Following the explosion, the remainder of Alpha Company secured the IED attack site and immediately initiated a search for survivors, of which there was one. The Stryker driver, Specialist Cody Tanner, positioned in front of the vehicle commander’s station, and several meters from the cargo/personnel area, suffered physical injuries from over-compression, but did not receive any fragmentation wounds.

       Of the other six American soldiers, Alpha Company searchers found nothing, except for pieces of skin, some bone fragments and red marks on interior pieces of the armored vehicle.

       An hour following the explosion, Ralph’s platoon was tasked with recovering pieces of the six (presumed) KIA Americans and the Russian journalist. While First Rifle Squad and Weapons Squad scoured the street from one hundred meters west of the IED site to one hundred meters east, Ralph’s Third Squad searched the rooftops of buildings the same distance as First Squad and Weapons Squad and one hundred feet north. Second Squad conducted a similar search on rooftops one hundred feet south of the IED site.

       Platoon Sergeant Rodney Fleming issued one body bag to each squad leader. Upon taking his issued body bag, Ralph said, “One body bag for six soldiers?” Fleming shrugged and said, “That’s what I was given.”

       Ralph led his soldiers into the building directly across from the destroyed Stryker. Sergeant Alvin Linh, his A Team Leader, said, “I didn’t know an armored vehicle could be blown up that much.”

       “Yeah,” Ralph replied. “Not much left.”

       Each soldier was issued two pairs of latex gloves. On the rooftop, Ralph made sure his soldiers were gloved, and then said, “Pick up anything that looks like it came from a human.” He didn’t know what else to say. He handed the body bag to driver Ben Sharpe. “There’s a table over there. That’s the collection point.” Sharpe only nodded.

       During the ensuing search, Ralph picked up three soft ball sized pieces of American soldiers. He would later learn that a Second Squad soldier discovered the torso of an American soldier. Other soldiers found smaller pieces.

       When the search was completed, Ralph gave his squad’s body bag to medics at a medical Stryker. What happened to the pieces of American soldiers, he was never told.

       After returning to FOB Warrior, First Sergeant William Wilkins told the soldiers of Third Platoon, “Do not blame the Iraqi people for this.”

       Ralph thought: They knew. At least a hundred people in that neighborhood knew where the IED was planted. Some of them watched. Some of them helped plant the explosives.

       Ralph vowed: Anybody who tries to hurt my people, dies.