Calvin Carr shares experiences
By MYRNA WOOD
Contributing writer
Calvin Carr was born and raised in Peabody, graduating from high school in 1998. In 2000, he married Amanda Wedel and in January 2004, he joined the U.S. Army to provide a better life for his family.
He went to basic and AIT (advanced individual training) at Fort Jackson, S.C., and was stationed at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, in July 2004.
Carr is an E5/sergeant serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom, having been deployed from August 2005 to August 2006 to Mosul, Iraq, and from August to December 2006 to Baghdad, Iraq.
When asked to share his experiences, Carr recalled three days after arriving in Iraq at FOB (forward operating base) Marez, they needed a team to go to FOB Courage, which is in the middle of Mosul.
They were told they would convoy in armored vehicles and that the vehicles got mortared a lot. Around midnight, they loaded their bags and headed for FOB Courage.
During the convoy, Carr looked around the city of Mosul and wondered how people could live like that. The city had trash everywhere and smelled terrible.
They got to the FOB, unloaded, and went to sleep on cots in the motor pool. The next morning, they grabbed their bags from the vehicles and discovered the vehicles they had ridden on were not armored.
As time dictated, they were ordered on convoys through the city of Mosul one or two times a week.
The first time Carr drove, he drove a 10-83 (five-ton truck). He said he and another sergeant saw a red streak about 20 yards in front of the truck and heard a boom. When they returned to FOB Courage they found out the red streak was a RPG (rocket-propelled grenade). The boom they heard was an IED (improvised explosive device) that had gone off on two five-ton vehicles behind them. Fortunately, everyone was safe and uninjured.
Carr is looking forward to seeing family and friends when he is home on leave later this month.
He plans to remain at Fort Wainright until 2009, and will remain in the Army until 2011.
