Roll Over...

Another call , at 5 AM to say she is okay, that she had been involved in a roll over accident. No one was hurt, and everything ended well enough but she would call me back later with the details, she only had a moment.

The second call came later that night and this time she told me what had transpired and told me I could post it in the blog.

They were doing a patrol. Some on foot ahead, Belinda and her gunner contained in the RG31... also jokingly referred to as the 'tonka truck' , or more formally, the "Nyala". It is one of the newest versions of armoured vehicles.

Roads in Afghanistan are not like the roads here, usually pitted and potholed, craters from previous IED's, washed out or resembling more of a goat trail then a roadway. This was a piece of road that they had travelled before, they knew where to expect some IED holes other terrain issues but were unaware that more of the road had washed out/ caved in as they approached the bridge over a small river.

Knowing there was an old IED pothole ahead at the mouth of the bridge, she steered slightly clear of that to avoid it. But the bridge being narrow , and unaware that more of the road had recently caved in, as she drove onto the bridge there was the a strange 'bump' where it was not to be expected - followed by the sickening sensation of realizing that you were going to go off the bridge.

One of her peers on foot looked back and realizing what was transpiring, was frantically yelling and pointing, wordless to her encased in the heavy metal vehicle. She felt the sensation of tipping....ever -so -slowly ...and froze, realizing there was no way to steer out of this, but that you had to ride it out. All her peers on foot were now turned around, looks of horror, everyone realizing in that moment that they were helpless to do anything but watch. Everyone outside and inside the vehicle so frozen still... it was as if everyone stopped breathing, that the slightest twitch or softest exhale might be the catalyst to topple the precarious and painfully slow-tipping vehicle off the bridge.

And it tipped so s-l-o-w-l-y ... she saw the horrified faces of her peers disappear and the water come into view... each second felt like a minute, she said everything was in slow motion. She clung to the steering wheel and braced herself...

Moments later, she hung from the steering wheel, still clinging , white knuckled, as the vehicle landed half on its roof, half on its side in the river.
Landing on her feet, she realized the water was already to her ankles. The large gunner was still wedged into his spot,now half upside down, startled yet still gripping his weoponry controls.

Voices outside and from above, frantic and yelling. Belinda saw the water level rush to her knees in seconds and shouted out for rescue.

How would they get the only accessible door open??? The door alone was 500 LBS, after all, it is an armoured vehicle!! And to do that defying gravity due to the position that the vehicle had landed, the door had become more of an obstacle then escape hatch, a horrifyingly heavy one. She felt the sensation of the vehicle sinking more and frantically shouted again to one of her peers, her close friend Doonsford, came into view.

Adrenalin can do amazing things, he suddenly stopped struggling with the door and with a surge of superhuman strength, hauled that door open and hoisted Belinda out, carried her to safety,and rescued the gunner.

She felt like her legs could not even hold her, the realization of how quickly that vehicle might have become a tomb. But there was no time to ponder this, now herself and the others quickly emptied the vehicle of weaponry and ammunition and waited for the recovery vehicle to arrive... which it did some hours later.

That in itself posed an additional issue, no one wants to be stranded in this territory...

They realized much of the roadway had washed out or caved in and that the mighty Nyala was so oversized and heavy that there could not have been any recourse.

Finally recovery arrived. As they hoisted the vehicle out, the immense 50 cal gun came into view- bent in half. As recovery attempted to right the vehicle, it only made it several feet before hitting another pothole and the vehicle slowly started to topple over again, this time onto it's other side. Belinda and a few of the others broke out into laughter to watch the exact scenario play itself out for a second time...

Finally they arrived back to camp. Hours later , the adrenalin worn off, she realized every part of her body seemed to ache ... but was ecstatic to see that mail had arrived in their absence!! She was almost giddy with anticipation of the numerous letters and parcels that she knew myself, family and friends had sent on some time before...

No parcels, no letters, not even a card - It was a Telus bill!!

Trust Telus to get through when no one else can... even in Afghanistan! ;-)