Exhausted troops are given malfunctioning substandard equipment as was the case with Lynch's unit:
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army unit that included Pfc. Jessica D. Lynch was ambushed by Iraqi soldiers last March after the Americans, exhausted and isolated, became lost in the city of Nasiriyah with guns that jammed, radios that malfunctioned and heavy trucks that sank into soft sand and marshland, the Army has concluded.
A 15-page report from Headquarters, Department of the Army also clears up what happened to Lynch, a 19-year-old soldier from rural West Virginia who became the face of American heroism and grit in the war against the regime of Saddam Hussein.
Although news accounts at first suggested that Lynch was wounded as she bravely tried to shoot her way out of the ambush, the Army now believes that she was "severely injured" only after the Humvee in which she was riding was hit by gunfire and then slammed into a stalled tractor-trailer.
The Los Angeles Times obtained a copy of the report Wednesday. The report is to be formally released Thursday.
Both inside and outside the government, the Iraq war has been described as a textbook example of superior planning and precise execution. But the incident on the morning of March 23 involving the 507th Maintenance Company continues to haunt the U.S. military, particularly as families of the 11 soldiers killed and nine wounded demand answers and accountability for what the report called the "tragic results" of error.
The Army hopes that the report will help sort out fact from fiction concerning those fateful 60 to 90 minutes of combat. And the report stresses that the 33 soldiers, despite their commander's navigational mistake and the breakdown of weapons and equipment, conducted themselves admirably.
"Soldiers fight as they are trained to fight," the report said. "Once engaged in battle, the soldiers of the 507th Maintenance Company fought hard.
"They fought the best they could until there was no longer a means to resist. They defeated ambushes, overcame hastily prepared enemy obstacles, defended one another, provided life-saving aid and inflicted casualties on the enemy."
The 507th, based at Fort Bliss, Texas, was not a combat unit; its members included cooks, mechanics, technicians and clerks. On March 21, the company crossed into Iraq from Kuwait as part of a convoy supporting a Patriot missile battalion. But early into the deployment, the company's commander, Capt. Troy King, misread his assigned route, the report said.
According to the Army findings, King relied primarily on his Global Positioning System device and an annotated map on which he had highlighted "Route Blue." King "believed in error that Blue was his assigned route," the report said.
King could not be reached for comment Wednesday. A spokeswoman at Fort Bliss said he was on routine leave.
As the convoy sped north, the 507th, with 18 vehicles, "bogged down in the soft sand," the report said. "Drivers from many units became confused due to the darkness, causing some vehicles to separate from their march columns."
And the route King chose, the report said, "proved to be extremely difficult, over rough terrain."
The company lagged behind the rest of the convoy. Time was lost repairing vehicles. Soldiers who had not slept for at least two days were tired and hot as they approached the marshy outskirts of Nasiriyah on March 23.
Seeing what they thought was an industrial complex or an oil refinery, they became further disoriented and missed another series of turns. The batteries in their hand-held radios died, leaving them even more isolated.
King and other soldiers noticed armed Iraqi soldiers at two checkpoints. Some Iraqis waved to the Americans. The report said the Iraqis, including civilians who drove by in trucks with mounted machine guns, at first showed "no hostile intent."
Members of the 507th were trained to hold fire unless they felt threatened, and they had been advised to expect "happy fire" — shots fired in celebration of freedom.
Finally King, crossing the Euphrates River on his way out of Nasiriyah, realized he was off Route Blue. He set up a security perimeter, and soldiers were ordered to "be vigilant" and to "lock and load" their weapons.
King hoped that a series of turns retracing the 507th's path through the city would get the company back on track. But a 10-ton truck ran out of fuel. Then the company was hit by sporadic small-arms fire.
King ordered the company to hurry along, but in the "speed and confusion" they missed yet another turn. A 5-ton tractor-trailer broke down. Its driver was picked up while a passenger, Sgt. Donald Walters, apparently "fought his way" toward a canal and "was killed in action."
"The circumstances of his death cannot be conclusively determined by available information," the report said.
King then split the company into three groups, according to the Army investigation.
He took Group One, and they fought their way south through the city. Iraqis tried to block their exit with vehicles and debris. "Most of the soldiers in this group report that they experienced weapons malfunctions," the Army said. "These malfunctions may have resulted from inadequate individual maintenance in a desert environment."
But they made it out, and soon joined a Marine Corps tank battalion.
In Group Two, Cpl. Damien Luten "attempted to return fire with the 507th's only .50-caliber machine gun but the weapon failed," the report said. "Luten was wounded in the leg while reaching for his M-16."
Small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades burst around them. Their escape route also was partially blocked. Five soldiers were wounded, including Spc. James Grubb, who "returned fire with his M-16 until wounded in both arms, despite reported jamming of his weapon."
Marines also rescued Group Two.
In Group Three, a Humvee carrying five soldiers, including Lynch, sitting in the back, was "hit by direct or indirect fire and crashed at a high rate of speed into the rear of the stopped tractor-trailer."
The driver of the Humvee, 1st Sgt. Robert Dowdy, "was killed on impact." Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa "survived the crash but was seriously injured and died in captivity." The deaths of two other passengers, Sgt. George Buggs and Pfc. Edward Anguiano, "remain under investigation."
Lynch was "seriously injured and captured." Now being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, she has no recollection of the incident, her doctors have said.
This group took additional casualties, among them Pvt. Brandon Sloan, who "was killed by enemy fire before his vehicle came to a stop." Chief Warrant Officer Johnny Mata "was killed, having sustained multiple wounds."
Two more vehicles were destroyed and four more soldiers lost, including Pfc. Howard Johnson Jr.
His father, the Rev. Howard Johnson Sr., pastor of the Truevine Missionary Baptist Church of Mobile, Ala., said Wednesday that the Army had briefed him on the findings.
"They offered all kinds of sympathies," he said. "They were polite, they were very thorough in their presentation, and I think they did a good job.
"I'm pleased to know my son died a hero, and I'm proud of him for that. Still, that doesn't bring Howard back, though he will linger long in my memory, as long as I'm alive."
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