Scary moment. Jack and I got the call to go help a grunt platoons sweep a compound. We drove over, and they only wanted one interrogator, so I asked Jack if I could do it. He said "OK", so I and the Kuwaiti interpreter with us joined the grunts. At first, we were all pretty close together. The compound was mostly corrals and pens for animals, but there were some open areas, as well. I tried to stay with the Platoon Commander and his radio man, but we got more and more spread out as we progressed through the compound. Finally, the Kuwaiti and I were by ourselves, and we came up on a bunker that hadn't been searched yet. A narrow trench was dug down to the opening, where it made a right turn into the bunker. There was a curtain across the front. I had the interpreter yell into the bunker that if there was anyone in there, they should come out. Nothing happened, so I moved into the trench. Like I said, it was narrow, and with the flack jacket, canteens, gas mask and all the other crap I had strapped on, it was a tight fit. I got wedged in right at the turn, and could just reach around the corner to open the curtain for a peek inside. When I did, I saw a red dot, like a cigarette, glow bright, like someone taking a last puff before he charged out to go take on the infidel. I tried to back up and couldn't, I was wedged in too tightly. I really thought my goose was cooked. I thrashed around and got loose and backed out of the trench. I yelled at the interpreter to tell whoever was in there to come out. No response. "You tell him to come out, NOW, or I'm throwing a grenade in!" Still no response. Just then, one of the grunt squad leaders came running up and asked what was going on. I told him there was someone in the bunker smoking a cigarette and wouldn't come out. He stripped off his webgear and crawled up to the bunker's opening with just a pistol, and peeked in a corner, then slid down into the trench and went inside. He immediately came back out fast and said, "It's a bomb." We marked the bunker and got the heck away from it. Some combat engineers went in a few minutes later and found that it was a wine bottle filled with oil, with a rope wick sticking out. The Iraqis left tin such a hurry they didn't put it out on their way out, and it must have used up most of the oxygen in the bunker. When I opened the curtain, fresh air went in and the wick burned brighter, which was my cigarette.
It ain't much, but it's the only "This is no shit. There I was.." story I have to tell.
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