{"id":36885,"date":"2020-01-09T15:44:32","date_gmt":"2020-01-09T15:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/01\/09\/this-is-what-its-like-to-survive-a-deadly-rocket-attack-in-iraq\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:17:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:17:50","slug":"this-is-what-its-like-to-survive-a-deadly-rocket-attack-in-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/flashpoints\/2020\/01\/09\/this-is-what-its-like-to-survive-a-deadly-rocket-attack-in-iraq\/","title":{"rendered":"What it\u2019s like to survive a deadly rocket attack and the Iranian missile barrage in Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"
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See the moments after rockets fell on a U.S. base in northern Iraq in the attack that killed one American contractor and wounded four troops.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

The lights went out and darkness set in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSecond rocket, third rocket came I thought ‘This is it, we are getting rocketed.\u201d a U.S. source told Military Times, describing the deadly Dec. 27 rocket attack against an Iraqi military base in Kirkuk <\/a>that killed an American contractor and wounded four U.S. troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly 30 rockets would rain down on the Kirkuk base that houses Iraqi troops, American commandos and U.S. contractors. Army Gen. Mark Milley, the Joint Chiefs chairman, would later go on to describe the Iran-sponsored attack as an intent to \u201ckill American soldiers sailors, airmen and Marines\u2026. 31 rockets aren\u2019t designed as a warning shot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen there was that silence after the rockets, the personnel around me got together to run towards the bunkers. That\u2019s when we saw the armory was on fire,\u201d the U.S. source told Military Times, recounting the Kirkuk attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The armory was set ablaze after a 107 mm rocket hit a T-Wall causing the concrete to break off that then sparked an electrical fire. A video of the incident, provided to Military Times, shows the armory on fire \u2014 secondary explosions can be heard in the background as rockets and ammunition cook off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The source told Military Times that some people manned various positions while others sheltered in bunkers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to send rounds down range, but to be on the receiving end is something you cant imagine unless you have been there. Especially when you build a coffin for your fallen comrade out of plywood and 2x4s,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The source told Military Times that the base is bracing for more attacks, but the source would not elaborate any further due to operational security concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s our job out here. We drink our Ripits and muscle milk, go to the gym, shit, shower, shave, and hope they attack again so we can smoke their ass,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. officials fingered an Iran-backed group known as Kata-ib Hezbollah for the deadly strike that killed a U.S. contractor, identified by the Sacramento Bee<\/a> as Nawres Waleed Hamid<\/a>, a resident of California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kirkuk attack set of a series of escalatory events leading to a U.S. airstrike against the Iran-backed militia, the near storming of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, a decapitation strike that killed Iran\u2019s most capable field commander, Qassem Soleimani, and a retaliatory ballistic missile launch by Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\t