SPC Brandon Sims recalls the events of April 9th, 2004 when his platoon was ambushed while on patrol in Iraq. 3 soldiers were killed and others wounded when explosive devices detonated and they came under heavy gunfire. SPC Sims helped evacuate the wounded while under attack. That night, all able personnel went back out and engaged in a firefight that lasted until the next morning. The experience took an immense emotional and physical toll on SPC Sims and his fellow soldiers.

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2. A specialist (SPC) in the United States Army as a
13B (Filed Artillery Soldier). It was not until
April 9th, 2004 when reality set in deep for
Brandon Sims, a native Texan.
He recalled it was a normal hot Iraqi day of
deployment at their
Forward Operating Base
(FOB) Lancer, Iraqi.

3. That morning SPC Sims‟ Commander received a
call from the Head of Iraqi Local police station.
The man stated that some Al-Qaeda men were
in town, and that there was going to be a protest
at the mayor‟s office. Supposedly this protest
was going to take place in the afternoon.
He recalled that his Commander and First
Sergeant decided to take out one platoon of
men, which was 20-25 people. As well as 6
HMMWVS (High Mobile Multipurpose
Wheeled Vehicle) with riot equipment.

4. SPC Sims says, “they were the first ones into town
and at the time they did not notice that the
streets were bare.” The mayor‟s office was
desolate so they continued down to the police
station to set up a perimeter. The local police
claimed that they did not know were the Al-
Qaeda men
were located.

5. They decided to leave the vehicles at the police
station and half of the soldiers were going to go
on a dismounted patrol down town. The other
half were going to stay in the perimeter.
So the dismounted patrol left the station on foot.
Sims said, “I remember talking to our gunner
and we both just had a really bad feeling, so I
gave him an extra can of ammo and told him to
keep it up there with him.”

6. SPC Sims recalled that about 20 minutes had gone
by, the next thing they heard was 3 really loud
BOOMS!! Followed by lots and lots of gun fire.
After that, yellow smoke appeared in the
sky, that was their signal that some type of
emergency happened.

7. SPC Sims was the Commanders driver for their
unit at the time and would have to go out with
every mission.
In this instant the Commander was on top of the
police station and saw the yellow smoke pop.
By the time he made it down from the roof SPC
Sims was waiting for him at the gate with the
vehicle running. Sims says, “they jetted off in
the direction of the smoke as fast as the truck
would carry them.”

9. SPC Sims recalls sitting there and using all the
weapons they had, to do what they could to
hold the attackers off. Two of the men were
dead on site and the other soldier made it until
the aid stationed but died there. One of their
guys from our dismounted patrol was trying to
load SFC Jones, their platoon Sergeant in the
back of our truck. SFC Jones was a 6 „ 4,‟‟ 230
pounds of dead weight and their guys was
screaming for help. Sims‟ remembers the soldier
saying, “HELP ,HELP, HELP, me get him in!!”

10. He remembers their Commander on the radio calling for
back up! Realizing they can‟t be heard because of all
the gun fire the Commander just held the microphone
in the air for the other end to hear. SPC Sims said, “at
that time our gunner had already gone through 200
rounds of ammo and he was about to run out.” So
before Sims ran around to the other side to help get
SFC Jones in the HMMV he threw their gunner
another can of ammo for the 50 caliber rifle. SFC Jones
was placed in the backseat of Sims‟
truck and the rest if the casualties
were spread out through the
five trucks.

14. SPC Sims then took his truck to the maintance bay.
He said the maintance guys meet him at the
doors. The HMMV was covered in blood and
brain matter and they told him not to worry
they got it , that they were going to take care of
it.
He remembers walking to his room and laying
face down on his cot, head buried in his
pillow, blankets pulled up and eyes closed as
tight as they would. Feeling numb. He recalls
only there being a brief 10 minutes to himself
before the Commander bursts into his room and
saying, “I know that you pry don‟t want to hear
this but we gotta go back out…”

16. Sims‟ recalls that all personnel
that were able, went out with
them minus the platoon that
was just there. He said they
set up on the edge of town.
Just as they were setting up
he remembers rockets, RPG
and anything the Al-Qaede
men had was being shot at
them. At this point he said
that his Commander had
enough and called an air
strike to their location. The
Air Force dropped 2 bombs
around the area that they had
been fired on.

17. Sims‟ said, “they were ordered to raid all the
buildings and everything that was moving needed
to be checked. It took all night.” He recalls raiding
homes, cars, everything. The entire fight lasted
until 10 am the next
morning. They did
not take anymore
casualties on
their side, the same
could not be said
for Al-Qaede.

18. Sims recalls that at about 9 that morning, he realized
that he‟d gone 24 hours without eating or drinking
anything and that it didn‟t even matter. He
remembers after they got back, it was just so sad.
Everyone was walking around like zombies, not
knowing what to say to the other since they had all
endured the same loss. SPC Sims said that they
were all grieving. He remembers thinking, “what
did I get myself into?”
At that point Sims exclaimed, “that we all had to
realize we had a job to do and what we signed up
to do. There wasn‟t a whole lot of time to feel sorry
for yourself or mope. If you lost your
concentration, that‟s when the person to your left
or right gets hurt because your feeling sorry for
yourself.”

22. SFC Brandon Sims
1st Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Charlie Battery
All of our brave Military Men and Women
All our Military Families