The Magic Bullet
While on Tampa the platoons make daily runs back to FOB St. Michael (Al Mahmudiyah) to pick up supplies, drop a few Marines off for showers and PX runs and the like. The patrols drive like mad. Once on Tampa, half of which is closed to civilian traffic, speeds reach 70 mph in hummers as long as they don�t shimmy too much. On the way back one day one of our patrols �Golf 3 Mobile� was driving south on Tampa and heard what they thought was gravel being kicked up by the tires as they approached an overpass.
When they arrived at the platoon position they noticed the hummer was beginning to overheat and run rough. Upon inspection of the hood before raising it they found no less than three bullet holes in the hood. One bullet had entered the passenger side front of the hood at a shallow angle, traveled through the coolant reservoir, into the passenger compartment where, due to passing through the metal heater duct, it angled upwards passing within inches of the passenger�s head, struck the metal support for the canvas top, took a 90-degree turn to the left and out the canvas top. The fact that the passenger was missed at all was amazing, but considering the size of Sergeant Gillitzer it was almost impossible. Sgt Gillitzer is big, heavily muscled; the only thing I can compare him to is Arnold Schwartzenegger in Conan The Barbarian.
The patrol continued to check the vehicle and found three more holes or new scratches in the body of the hummer or on the side armor. That seven Marines could come under fire like that and not know it was astounding, but the thing that will stay with me forever is the image of a huge Marine sitting there while a bullet kennedy�s it�s way around him.
