Warriors' Voices: CPL David Kelley---Part II
The incident, however, did not end with the bombing of Kelley’s truck. “We were [then] engaged by small-arms fire,” recalls Kelley. “Our gunners were shooting back.”
“The thing is, we’d been out on patrol, and we were actually going back to refit,” says Kelley, regarding his platoon leader’s fateful decision to order “one last sweep” of the major supply route they’d been inspecting that day. “We were going back to get more fuel, more water…We were actually going to make it back in time for a hot meal—something that was only possible maybe three times a month!”
On that final sweep, recalls Kelley, “We were doing about 55 right up the middle of the access road, parallel to the main supply route we were patrolling. We always drive up the middle, because that’s the safest way to go…”
“We were four vehicles, and I was in the third—the one that took the hit. When the thing
blew up on us, it pushed me down in to the floorboard. I didn’t think I had any legs anymore, from the pain I was feeling….I remember telling our driver to stop, but he wasn’t even there anymore.” The driver—who, miraculously, was discovered to have sustained only minor injuries—had been thrown some distance from the vehicle by the explosion.
The incident, however, did not end with the bombing of Kelley’s truck. “We were [then] engaged by small-arms fire,” recalls Kelley. “Our gunners were shooting back.”
Kelley himself was still in the gnarled vehicle, in excruciating pain. Sensing the possible threat to Kelley’s life if he slipped into shock, his platoon leader ordered the injured corporal to “pull security” during the firefight. Kelley remembers having attempted through the skirmish to get off shots with his weapon while lying flat on his back, writhing in misery, and flirting with unconsciousness—apparently without much success.
But Kelley’s squad finally prevailed; they determined, in the end, that there had been a 
total of 7 explosive devices set to explode at that location.
As for Kelley, after the smoke had cleared: “I remember stepping one foot onto the ground, then waking up at the troop medical clinic.
“I had no pulse, and I wasn’t breathing. They revived me…”
Please watch for Part III, the final installment of CPL David Kelley’s story, coming Friday here at semo.net.
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