It was supposed to be a routine resupply
mission: a short drive across the Al Asad Air Base, 90 kilometers north
of sweltering Baghdad, to fetch, among other things, a newly-arrived TV
to entertain the troops. Jimmy Castellanos, a 20-year-old Marine just
five months into his first tour in Iraq, was supposed to be riding on
the convoy. But on the afternoon of March 18, 2004 Castellanos, who
worked maintaining the weapon systems of the U.S. Army's Cobra attack
helicopters, was told that he was needed for guard duty. His friend and
bunkmate took his place.
Around 10 p.m. that night, chased by dust, as if
tracing the weakening horizon line between desert and sky, Castellanos
watched as the trucks carrying his platoon wended their way home. They
were about a kilometer off, but cleanly visible in the desert. When the
mortar explosion came, Castellanos wasn't quite sure what had been hit. A
few hours later, news arrived during a casualty briefing: Castellanos's
bunkmate was paralyzed, two other members of the squad had been
severely injured, and Cpl. Brownfield, who had sat in Castellanos's
seat, was killed instantly.
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