A soldier's story: SGT Brett Granrose, Squad Leader in TF 1-6 FA, 1st ID, in OIF II.

Sergeant (SGT) Brett S. Granrose, a 13B Cannoneer from Stillwater, Oklahoma, was a Rifleman and Team Leader, filling in as Squad Leader and, once, Acting Platoon Sergeant, in 3d Platoon, B Battery [The Three-Bravo Renegades], Task Force 1st Battalion, 6th Field Artillery (TF 1-6 FA), 1st Infantry Division (1st ID) from February 2004 until February 2005 in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) II. TF 1-6 FA served as a motorized infantry TF in Baqubah, one of the most hostile areas of operations in the 1st ID's sector. SGT Granrose had previous combat experience, having served in Iraq for seven months with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in 2003. Currently, he is the Chief of the 2d Section in 1-6 FA. For his actions under fire on 15 November 2004 in Baqubah, he received the Bronze Star with V Device; he received a second Bronze Star for service. This is his story.

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I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the times we've been hit with IEDs [improvised explosive devices], or nearly hit with IEDs, while patrolling in Baqubah, and I don't have enough fingers to count the times we've been ambushed or attacked by RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades]. We've been shot at by every weapon in the insurgents' inventory. Our FOB [Forward Operating Base] Gabe in southeastern Baqubah was constantly under attack.

On 15 November, we started the day with a tactical sweep of supply routes for IEDs and got into a firefight in an alleyway in Mufrik, a hostile suburb of Baqubah. After receiving RPG and small arms fire, we blew up the insurgents' weapons and ammunition cache in a car that also had four of the attacking insurgents inside.

At the end of the fight, we patched up a wounded insurgent left behind in the alleyway, and our QRF [quick-reaction force] evacuated him to the nearest medical facility at Camp Warhorse. We follow the Geneva Conventions.

Next we got a call from the Iraqi Army that a group of insurgents was massing in Old Baqubah on the other side of town. The order came down for Three-Bravo to move to contact with the insurgents. One of our vehicles had had RPG damage to a tire in the last firefight, so we dropped it off at a coalition police station on the way for the American forces there to fix. That left us with four vehicles.

We happened to have the battery commander with us who said to take a different route than the primary avenue we figured the insurgents were massing on. We did and came up right behind them. We rolled up at the back end of their ambush.

Then the firefight began. At the time, we thought there were about 20 insurgents; later we found out it was a company-sized element. We had 19 personnel.

RPGs started bouncing off the ground and exploding as we pushed forward. The insurgents were firing small arms at us from all directions. We got onto a road that runs parallel to the ambush road they were using. Basically, it was a bunch of alleyways.

The lead three vehicles pushed to the primary road the insurgents had set up for the ambush and started laying down fire. I was in the rear vehicle that pulled up to the last alleyway before the ambush road. That alleyway had the enemies' weapons and ammo cache vehicles parked in it about 50 meters away with numerous insurgents running around.

I laid down fire while the rest of my crew jumped out of the vehicle. Our 50 cal [machine gun] on top of the vehicle was malfunctioning, so my gunner used his M16 to help suppress the enemy running back and forth across the alleyway.

They knew they were in deep trouble because their cache of weapons and ammunition for the ambush was right in front of my vehicle.

All of a sudden my HMMWV [high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle] was hit by an RPG, and the gunner and I were knocked to the ground. My vehicle was a big cloud of smoke. We started taking more RPGs. I grabbed the AT4 and shot it down the alleyway, killing several insurgents. That pretty much put a spark in the insurgents to get out of there--to lay down fire to cover their buddies running away.

The whole thing took about 30 minutes, but it seemed like forever. At the end, Three-Bravo had killed 28 and wounded an estimated 80 insurgents.

I was proud of my guys--I only had three wounded and only one had to be evacuated. Honestly, our platoon was a bunch of good fighters.

Later on, through one of our interpreters, we heard the insurgents thought they had run into US special Forces in Old Baqubah. They put a $1,000 bounty on every Three-Bravo Soldier's head--we were high-value targets! They never got a one of us.

I know every branch is doing its part over in Iraq, but it seems like the artillery is called upon to be the "universal MOS" [military occupational specialty]. We're versatile and accomplish what We're sent out to do.