A soldier's story.

SSG Tim Haungs, Ammo Section Chief

2-5 FA (Paladin), 212th Field Artillery Brigade in OIF 

Staff Sergeant (SSG) Timothy E. Haungs, 36, from Jefferson City, Tennessee, is a Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) 13B Cannoneer Ammunition Section Chief in the 2d Battalion, 5th Field Artillery (2-5 FA), 212th Field Artillery Brigade, III Corps Artillery, Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He was deployed to Iraq from April 2003 to March 2004 for Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). While supervising the removal of captured enemy ammunition (CEA) from an enemy bunker, a round exploded, injuring several of his Iraqi workers and threatening to detonate the entire bunker. At the risk of his life, he and others raced into the burning ammo bunker and rescued the Iraqis. 2-5 FA considers him a Soldier Hero of OIF. This is his story.

I was supervising about 25 Iraqis working in the enemy ammo bunker that day. The bunker was large enough to park two tractor-trailers inside and loaded with, probably, eight-year-old 122-mm powder shells. The Iraqis were loading the rounds into a tractor-trailer backed up to the entrance of the bunker.

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I was outside the bunker when suddenly I saw a bright flash of light followed by a loud bang and smoke coming out of the bunker. Some Iraqis came running wildly out of the bunker screaming. They knew what could happen because we had exploded a 122-mm round during their safety training.

About that time, I heard screaming coming from inside. Immediately, I looked around to account for all my Soldiers. Then I grabbed the Medic, Private Akai Johnson, to help me, and we ran inside the bunker.

I didn't know until later that there was a fire inside the bunker. If that bunker had gone up, it would have left a pretty big hole in the ground.

There was chaos inside with screams and some black smoke swirling around. Iraqis were still inside, hunkered down in the corners of the bunker.

We got three Iraqis out--two were injured--and began administering first aid. We had a medical support team with ambulance at the site in case of accidents.

A third injured Iraqi was standing near the truck screaming. We grabbed him, calmed him down and walked him out of the bunker. Not until I got outside could I tell the extent of his injuries. His face looked like hamburger meat.

We laid him on a stretcher, cut his clothes off, finding powder burns all over his body, and started an IV to try to keep him from going into shock. I had to keep the other Iraqis back and calm while the Medic worked on him and got him loaded into the ambulance. Later, I found out he had been blinded. The injuries of the other two Iraqis were minor.

Then the Iraqi foreman started yelling that an Iraqi was still in the bunker. I ran back into the bunker with Corporal Ryan Waters, an Ammo Handler, and Captain Tim Godwin, Assistant S3, to find the Iraqi. That's when we found the pieces of a wooden ammo crate burning from the explosion. There was loose powder everywhere that could ignite and blow the bunker. I quickly grabbed the wood and took it outside to put out the fire. As it turned out, there weren't any more Iraqis in the bunker.

The Iraqis really appreciated our rescuing their co-workers. The translator told us the Iraqis said they then understood we knew what we were doing and that we would take action when we had to.

Why'd I run into ammo bunker that just had, had an explosion? You just do it. The Army trains you to take care of your Soldiers. I was responsible for those Iraqi workers; I was their supervisor.