One Second
Your time on this earth is irreplaceable, and a horrible thing to waste. As a young man I knew
this but never really understood what it meant to treasure each day and live it like its your last. It wasn't
until a day in September of 2008 that I realized how important the time you have in life is - a day that
has forever changed me, that has made me treasure every day and live my life to the fullest. Hopefully
me sharing this experience with you will help you do the same.
It was September of 2008, I was six months into my year long deployment to Logar,
Afghanistan. My platoon was convoying back to our combat outpost, outside the small village of
Altimur. Our convoy was comprised of four coyote tan High Mobility Multi Wheeled Vehicles
(HMMWV), caked in layers of dust from driving through the rough desert terrain. Each HMMWV
contained a four man crew, a driver, a truck commander, a dismount and a gunner; who was standing
on a platform in the middle of the HMMWV. Each gunner scanned the surrounding area for any
possible threats as we drove through the open desert.
The lead HMMWV in the convoy consisted of team mates Robert, the truck commander,
Simon, the dismount, Nick, the gunner and myself driving. We were excited to get back to our outpost
and get in some relaxation after conducting missions all day in a nearby village . As I drove down the
dirt road I continuously scanned ahead watching out for any indicators of an Improved Explosive
Device(IED) buried underneath or beside the route. Anything from freshly dug up earth to something as
small as a painted rock twenty feet off the side of the route, could be a sign that there was an IED up
ahead. All looked clear on the route as I continued to drive down it.
As we continued down the road we passed a herd of camels about three hundred meters off to
the right of our truck.“Hey what is it in a camel's hump, isn't...