Surviving Iraq: A US Army grunt鈥檚 tale
Spc. Brian Hunsuck is the boy next door on the front lines: He lost a friend, nearly lost a leg, and still acts like Beaver Cleaver.
On patrol: Army Spc. Brian Hunsuck is a veteran of two tours in Iraq. He lost a friend to a roadside bomb and nearly lost a leg in another bomb blast.
Tom A. Peter
Tom A. Peter spent a cumulative eight months during three embeds with the US Army鈥檚 1-68 Combined Arms Battalion in Iraq between 2006 and 2008. He drew from his notebooks to profile a soldier he won鈥檛 forget.
Baghdad
Driving through Baghdad on a patrol, US Army Spc. Brian Hunsuck and his crew scan side streets for insurgents and any unusual activities. As the driver peers across Specialist Hunsuck in the truck commander鈥檚 seat, he gets a whiff of something strange punctuating the stale Humvee air: cherries.
鈥淲hat the ... ?鈥 sniffs the befuddled driver, Pfc. David Wulff, who鈥檚 more used to the scent of diesel exhaust, burning trash, or sewage on his neighborhood prowls.
Private Wulff looks over at Hunsuck just in time to see him finish dabbing on a cherry lip-gloss that Wulff initially thinks may have sparkles.
Unashamed, Hunsuck explains: 鈥淪omeone sent me this chap stick [in a care package], so I may as well use it.鈥
With his goofy Beaver Cleaver idiosyncrasies and his Boy Scout-like goodness, Hunsuck is all at once the most typical and atypical soldier one can expect to find on the American front lines. He joined the military straight out of high school not out of patriotism or even to 鈥渂e all that he could be.鈥 Largely he did it to get out of the house 鈥 knowing full well he鈥檇 probably be shipped to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Hunsuck is one of the tens of thousands of stereotypical kids next door who spent their first years outside the house on the front lines instead of a college campus. Now with all manner of harrowing and humorous war stories under his belt at the end of his second tour, his time in the Army is almost up. He鈥檚 preparing to start a normal life.
鈥 鈥 鈥
Hunsuck, a sci-fi fanatic and antique gun collector, arrived in Iraq still a teenager in early 2006 as violence was rising. His first post was in the rural Diyala Province north of Baghdad, which, as Al Qaeda in Iraq gained control, was becoming the main battlefield in the civil war.
Within a month, his Humvee struck a roadside bomb, injuring both him and the vehicle commander. Hunsuck remembers little from the event. But a fellow soldier coming to his aid was surprised that Hunsuck had the presence of mind to calmly help him cut off his seatbelt. Hunsuck鈥檚 wounds looked so bad, a medic later said, that he thought Hunsuck would lose his leg below the knee. But the shrapnel damage looked worse than it was 鈥 and Hunsuck made a full recovery without even leaving Iraq.
Hunsuck bounced back to the front where 鈥 in more macabre good fortune 鈥 he would become something of an accidental hero.
While on patrol through the countryside, Hunsuck鈥檚 Humvee came upon a van that sped away when its driver spotted the Humvee coming. Suspicious, Hunsuck鈥檚 commander ordered him to fire a warning shot in front of the vehicle. As Hunsuck鈥檚 staccato burst pierced the air, the van came to an awkward halt.
The soldiers approached the van at the ready and saw the driver slumped over, dead. Hunsuck鈥檚 warning shot had ricocheted off the road and hit the driver. But in another unpredictable trajectory of Hunsuck鈥檚 tale, it turned out that the driver had kidnapped several men who were bound and gagged in the back of the van.
The unintentional master stroke landed Hunsuck in hot water: A lethal warning shot is, on its face, inappropriate escalation of force. He and his unit faced a comprehensive investigation, which ultimately cleared Hunsuck of wrongdoing. 鈥淒eath by warning shot鈥 became a running joke in his platoon.
At that time, Hunsuck was among only 15 percent of US soldiers in Iraq who knew for certain they鈥檇 killed someone. But his feelings weren鈥檛 transparent: He didn鈥檛 regret it, nor was he cold about it. It was just something that happened.
During that first tour, Hunsuck shared a Humvee with Spc. Luis 鈥淭oast鈥 Santos, who quickly became best 鈥渇renimes鈥 with Hunsuck. Specialist Santos might tell Hunsuck, for example, that their sergeant wanted him to clean out the Humvee. Hunsuck worked for hours until he discovered that the order was only a practical joke. In something like a sibling rivalry, Hunsuck would usually strike back at Santos in like fashion. Still, the two spent hours together every day, on guard duty or eating a quick lunch between missions.
One night that summer of 2006, Hunsuck was left at base to stand guard while Santos and others from the platoon went to monitor a dangerous area. Back at base, Hunsuck was sitting on a roof with another private when the radio crackled the news of a KIA 鈥 killed in action.
They waited in the plasma-like darkness of the rural Iraq night for 15 minutes. The next awful crackle: Toast was dead.
Silence descended 鈥 filled with muffled anger, melancholy, and the unfairness of it all.
鈥 鈥 鈥
In a military seldom like the rigid, no-nonsense forces seen in film and TV, Hunsuck, a 鈥淏attle Star Gallactica鈥 fan, is the type of smart aleck that appears in many units. He does his job, but not without giving feedback. Simply put: Hunsuck doesn鈥檛 like taking orders.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 like to be told to do something if it鈥檚 retarded. So I鈥檒l tell [superiors] 鈥榥o,鈥 and Army guys don鈥檛 like that. That鈥檚 ... why I鈥檓 not set for the military,鈥 says Hunsuck, whose father was a career Air Force officer.
His negative feelings are magnified by 鈥渟top loss鈥 鈥 the policy of forcing extended active duty on soldiers to fill personnel shortages. Under his recruitment agreement, Hunsuck would have never come to Iraq a second time.
Preparing to go on a mission last summer, Hunsuck, commanding a Humvee, was annoyed at the unexpected weight that comes with leadership 鈥 the extra 5 or 10 pounds of radio gear.
Riding shotgun, Hunsuck and Wulff chatted. Wulff said a younger friend was considering joining the Army and he hoped to set him straight about the realities of being a grunt. Hunsuck agreed, sarcastically recalling the Army鈥檚 seduction: 鈥淵ou get to fire guns and stay in shape.鈥
鈥淚f that鈥檚 what you want: Buy a gun and go to the gym,鈥 said Wulff.
Assigned to base security, the crew spent hours circling their urban outpost in Baghdad, monitoring an area the size of four city blocks, often searching for cryptic targets 鈥 a white car passing out poisoned food or a woman with a large dress concealing an explosives belt.
Like so many military chores, one of the hardest is passing the time. Hunsuck developed an elaborate code to classify donkey carts. Based on the popular flatbed Bongo truck brand, a donkey cart is a 鈥淏ongo 1,鈥 a donkey cart pulled by a horse is a 鈥淏ongo 1 upgrade.鈥
Aside from scanning for threats, they scouted 鈥 like teens cruising Main 鈥 for attractive 鈥渨esternized chicks.鈥 In a city where many women aren鈥檛 veiled, there鈥檚 actually hope of glimpsing a girl in form-fitting clothing. Before missions, Hunsuck鈥檚 crew set a 鈥渢ruck number鈥 for how many attractive girls they thought they鈥檇 encounter.
鈥淚f you go over the truck number you get bonus points, but it鈥檚 not like we hand out cookies or anything,鈥 said Hunsuck.
鈥淎ctually, I鈥檝e got cookies [back at base],鈥 noted Wulff.
鈥淪o do I,鈥 said Hunsuck.
鈥淪hould we start bringing out cookies?鈥 asked Wulff. It would go on for hours.
One girl, who was about Hunsuck鈥檚 age, managed to occupy his heart. When he led the convoy, he made certain to patrol her street, but because they spent most of the patrol driving, stopping only to pass out fliers or investigate something suspicious, Hunsuck鈥檚 鈥渞elationship鈥 with his 鈥済irlfriend,鈥 as he called her, was the equivalent of a junior-high crush; smiling, waving, never speaking. Hunsuck admitted that she waved at every passing US patrol, but said 鈥渟he won鈥檛 be all happy until she sees me.鈥
When he returned to the US last month, he had 90 days to process out of the Army. He planned to return to civilian life. Though he鈥檚 not sure what he wants to do, he has a friend who is a prison guard who might be able to help with a job. He鈥檚 also considering police work.
鈥淭he military is a lot of what I am now. It鈥檚 a good start for life, because they give so much. And then,鈥 says Hunsuck, his left bicep tattooed with a piece of angel-winged toast in honor of Toast, 鈥渢hey also take so much.鈥