A soldier’s return from “IED Lane”

On a Marine base in Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, you never know what story will walk through the door.

In this case, Cpl. Michael Bird, 25, a mechanic with the 3/6 Marines from Annandale, New Jersey, walked into the battalion’s chapel, where I was working on a story. Cpl. Bird was blown up today.

He casually announced this while rummaging through some boxes of shampoo and deodorant.

In fact, he wasn’t just blown up. An Improvised Explosive Device, or IED, blew him out of the gunner’s turret on a seven-ton armored truck during a re-supply mission. The road they were on is called “IED Lane.”

But Bird just didn’t fly through the air. He bounced off some cardboard boxes in the truck’s bed before hitting the ground. The fine powdery dust cushioned his landing. He somehow ended up in the irrigation canal next to the road.

“The first thing I heard was my driver asking, “’Bird, where are you?” he said.

“I said, “Over here.’”

“He said, “Where?’”

“I’m in the canal!”

Then Bird climbed out. He was soaking wet. Bird ended up with 15 stitches in his right shoulder (he’s not sure from what), a hyper extended left knee and a grade two concussion, which is a “medium” concussion.

“It was like a really bad diving board,” he said.

He’s mad the cut on his shoulder messed up his Marine tattoo.

This is his first IED Bird’s truck has hit. But when I ask him how many convoys he’s been in that were struck by IEDs he starts counting names on his fingers.

“Nine or ten,” he said. “It’s not one of those questions I know off the top of my head.”

Bird eventually found the stuff he was looking for in the chapel: shaving cream, toothbrush, razors, toothpaste, socks, and a SUDOKU book.

While I took a few photos, he apologized for “still smelling like canal.”

He said he may get a purple heart, which means his kids’ college tuition would be paid for by the U.S. government. It’s well deserved. He just reenlisted in the Marine Corps for another four years.