Survivor of deadly Stryker plunge 'got air in his lungs, started praying'

By Hal Bernton and Ray Rivera
Seattle Times staff reporters

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Army Pvt. Bryan Hall knew one thing: His life was not supposed to end this way.

Not by drowning. Not trapped inside an Army Stryker truck, which had flipped — upside down — into a rain-swollen irrigation ditch in Iraq.

Water began to pour into the vehicle, one of two Strykers that tumbled into the canal Monday night, Hall told his mother in a solemn phone call the next day.

Scared, crawling through the submerged, darkened vehicle, Hall said, he found a small pocket of air. Struggling and gasping, he yanked off his Kevlar helmet so he could cock his head and keep gulping air.

Killed Strykers soldiers identified Name: Staff Sgt. Steven H. Bridges Age: 33 From: Tracy, Calif. Name: Spc. Joseph M. Blickenstaff Age: 23 From: Corvallis, Ore. Name: Spc. Christopher J. Rivera Wesley Age: 26 From: Portland, Ore. Soucre: Department of Defense

"He told me that he got air in his lungs and started praying," said Winnie O'Connor. "He said, 'This is not why I was sent here.' "

Two soldiers in one vehicle and one soldier in the other Stryker did not make it out alive, according to Master Sgt. Robert Cargie, an Army spokesman in Tikrit. It was not immediately clear how many of the Fort Lewis-based soldiers were in the two overturned Strykers.

The Army's Safety Center at Fort Rucker, Ala., has sent a three-man team to investigate the accident. They will join a similar incident team at the scene. These are the first fatalities involving the Strykers, which the Army contracted for production in 2000.

The names of the dead have not been released by the Army, in what has been a difficult first week in Iraq for the 3rd Brigade 2nd Infantry Division. The unit is built around 300 of the eight-wheeled armored Strykers, the first new Army fighting vehicle in more than 20 years. The brigade's deployment in Iraq is its first foray into combat duty.

The accident occurred north of Baghdad near the town of Ad Duluiyah. As the combat patrol of 12 Strykers drove alongside the canal, its bank collapsed, pitching two of the vehicles into the shallow water, their wheels sticking above the surface, according to Army officials.

The phone call from O'Connor's son came at 5 a.m. Tuesday, waking her up at her home in Vine Grove, Ky. "Just know that I'm OK. I'm alive and OK. We had a terrible accident," his mother recounted him saying.

About the Stryker Each Stryker vehicle can carry up to 11 soldiers and is designed to operate at a top speed of more than 60 mph. The Fort Lewis brigade is built around 309 Strykers, which cost about $2 million each and are outfitted with computers to help scout the enemy and communicate among units. They are intended to offer more protection than Humvees and trucks, yet be quicker — and easier to ship to battle — than tanks. Army officials are planning to spend at least $9 billion to outfit six brigades with Strykers, and see them as a possible steppingstone to the force of the future. The Fort Lewis 3rd Brigade 2nd Infantry Division is the first Stryker brigade to be certified for combat.

Hall was saved by other soldiers on the patrol. He could hear them outside the vehicle, trying desperately to use bolt cutters to free a rear hatch door. It was unclear how the door was secured or locked.

The door is one of about a half-dozen ways to exit a Stryker. But most of the hatches are on the top, so they likely were blocked when the vehicle flipped.

The first pair of bolt cutters broke, Hall told his mother, sending rescuers scrambling for a second pair. They then were able to open the rear hatch.

O'Connor said that even after the five-minute phone call, she was unclear about her son's condition. Nor did she know exactly where he called from.

Hall is the youngest of three children, and his family is steeped in the military. His grandfather was a Vietnam veteran, his stepfather, Michael, retired from the Army, and his mother works at the Fort Knox Army base.

Last year, Hall worked for United Parcel Service and was planning to go to college. But instead, in February, weeks before the war started, he enlisted, O'Connor said.

O'Connor said she was surprised to hear that her son was on a combat patrol. Last month, he called from Kuwait to say he had injured himself in a fall off a Stryker and didn't expect to be able to go on any missions for about six months.

But O'Connor said her son, a crack shot, said he was needed for this week's combat patrol. It occurred in the region north of Baghdad that in recent months has been the scene of numerous insurgent attacks.

"He said, 'I'm a sharpshooter ... They had to send me.' "

Hal Bernton: 206-464-2581 or hbernton@seattletimes.com

Ray Rivera: 206-423-4700 or rrivera@seattletimes.com

The Army Times contributed to this story.

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