(1/3) “We got called out one day to assist a fuel convoy that was being pinned down by gunfire. They had stopped along an open field, and were taking fire from a tree line about 200 meters away. When we arrived, I noticed a small truck about 50 meters out. It had stopped on a farm road running along the field. There were legs hanging out of it. I was acting medic for the platoon so I went to investigate. And they’re obviously not combatants. It’s this family of six. I guess they’d been driving toward the convoy and somebody got scared and shot them up. It’s just a mom and a dad and four kids. And there’s this unique, awful smell when your guts open up. And everyone’s dead except the father and this eight-year-old girl who’d been shot twice in the chest. And she’s crying. And this wasn’t what I came for. I thought we were here to kill bad guys.”
