5 The Humvee has been a versatile and useful vehicle for the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan On March 25 2003 a convoy of US military vehicles made its way toward Baghdad Iraq Marines in tanks Humvees Amphibious Assault Vehicles trucks and other vehicles moved through the flat desert But then the landscape began to change The marines noticed a large embankment along the road to the right The enemy sometimes created these embankments as a defense This time INTO ENEMY FIRE CHAPTER ONE
A Military Favorite The Humvee was designed to carry personnel and light cargo It has a crew of two to four soldiers and it can carry up to eight more troops Even with a full human load there’s still room for a machine gun Manufactured in the United States by AM General Humvees are used throughout the US military More than 60 other allied countries also have purchased Humvees from AM General 6 that was the case The enemy was hiding behind the embankment waiting to attack the marines First Lieutenant Brian Chontosh was riding in a Humvee with four other marines Lance Corporal Robert Kerman was also riding Corporal Armand McCormick was driving Corporal Thomas Franklin manned the gun and Lance Corporal Ken Korte operated the radio Chontosh suspected trouble He told Franklin to keep the gun pointed at the embankment The lieutenant was right Within moments the convoy was ambushed Enemy bombs grenades and automatic weapons fire rained down on them Four tanks were in front of
Marine Captain Brian Chontosh right stands with General Michael Hagee after Chontosh received the Navy Cross 7
