News 3 Special Assignment: Baghdad
Jan. 18, 2004
Posted: 9:11 am CST January 18,2004Updated: 4:40 pm CST January 20,2004
News 3 Returns From Special Assignment: Iraq
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Soldier Describes Scene Where Rachel Bosveld DiedFrom Baghdad GET THE REPORTERS: I was on my way to the 32nd's command post for the morning coffee. I make the trip every day usually between 6 and 8am. The day started out with the warm sun sparkling through palm trees and beginning to burn off the slight fog. I thought to myself today's the day for great stories. I can't wait to tell them.
It was the day I was supposed to go to the scene where members of the 32nd were nearly killed. I wanted to see the room in the Police Station in Baghdad where Tasha Voigt usually sat as a combat medic. On a day late last year...she didn't visit that room. She's alive to talk about it. Had she gone a terrorist car bomb would have torn her apart. The 32nd calls it Black Monday.Today was the day I was to go to the room where Lt Charles Crowley of the 32nd took shrapnel to the head. It was the day I was supposed to go to the crowded street where SSG Paul Morrison desperately tried to save a man's life. Where Morrison was impressed by an Iraqi banker who tore down drapes so the SSG could fashion a tourniquet. It was the day I was supposed to speak with Spc Herb Raasch of Milwaukee about his firefight. His SAW machine gun grew blazing hot as he pumped out 800 rounds of cover fire protecting the 32nd. Weisner was there. So was Wenzel, Morrison, Toole and Heller. Citizens in a War zone.My plans were changed by terrorists. At 8:03am it went off. I staggered. I froze. I stood there thinking nothing. I've heard mortars before. I heard no launch...just the blast. I thought it's an IED. Maybe it's a car bomb?I heard screams from the 32nd. Photographer John Wacker was inside the Command Post. He thought the noise was me pushing the ill-fitting door. You have to push it hard to open.I heard Capt. Scott Southworth yell: "Get the Reporters" as he ran by my position without even seeing me. Troops scrambled to my barracks. He turned back briefly as he ran toward the blast and spotted me. "Get in the basement .....run". Wacker took off. I did too.... but stopped.I needed to watch the 32nd in action.Troops yelled..."There could be a secondary." Hallett was busy with his two-way. Lt Sheree Gunderson was outside by the Humvee. Raasch had his SAW. Everything and everyone was moving quickly. M-16s and sidearms were locked and loaded.I heard return fire outside the compound. I thought there was a shootout. I wondered who's firing. It's coming from the direction where Southworth headed with Snyder. I wondered if it was over. I stood there."All attacks happen around 8 a.m.," Sfc Chris Reynolds told me. Gunderson of Ellsworth said, "It's not the Iraqi people. With Saddam gone, it's a free ticket for terrorists to come in from other countries."I thought about the hardworking Iraqis who, by the hundreds, sit outside the checkpoint where the blast occurred this morning. They wait for what seems like hours daily go get "checked" so they can come to work on base for the Coalition Forces. I thought about the faces I saw there this week...did any of them die?Morrison came by and said, "It's a bad morning to wake up to." And, "After all this, we're going to be the best prepared Military Police Unit in the Country." "Oh man."In the ten minutes it took me to collect a few quotes and snap a few digitals I thought my day has changed. I won't get to see the police station and Voigt's post. Raasch won't be on the Humvee talking about "getting some" in Karrada. I won't see the spot where Morrison crouched down behind a Humvee to administer first aid and return fire with his M-16.No. Today I was in it. In Karrada...Al Sha'ab...Al Adhamiya.....I heard it...I felt it.... right here on Mustang Base....I thought the Green Zone was safe.-John Karcher, News 3 Date: Jan. 18, 2004
From Baghdad 32nd Responds to Deadly Blast In Baghdad: Members of the 32nd Military Unit were closely involved in this morning's deadly terrorist attack.
The explosion occurred just after 8 this morning local time when a pickup truck loaded with a 1,000 pound bomb blew up just blocks away from the 32nd's compound.MP's ran for their Humvees and headed to the scene to secure the area and spent seven hours protecting the scene while the F.B.I. collected evidence. Seven hours after the blast charred vehicles and bodies were still being removed from the area which is just outside the entrance to the main compound.At least 20 civilians were killed and two US soldiers slightly injured.
News 3 flew over the scene today in a Blackhawk helicopter. The street was a collection of charred, destroyed cars. A huge gaping hole was seen from the air as well has Humvees from the 32nd.-John Karcher, News 3 
Explosion AftermathDate: Jan. 18, 2004
From Baghdad Breaking News: A huge explosion OUTSIDE the Mustang base sends MP's sucurrying. It happened about 8am as troops were getting ready to leave for the daily grind.
Capt. Scott Southworth screamed orders....troops picked up their M-16s.... gunners jumped on their humvees inside the compound.Was it a mortar? Was it a car bomb? Sgt Ken Prieur told me, "That was big, that was very very big."
Walkie Talkie's blarred as troops took cover and waited for news...waited for orders. Southwood and others ran toward the side of the base where it happened...near the barracks in which we are staying.Troops told me first thing...they'll secure the area and do a head count.-John Karcher, News 3 
