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Friday, December 9, 2005
Life inside the Bradley
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Curtis Compton
Spc. Robert Lloyd of Sandy Springs peers through a narrow sliver of bulletproof glass in his Bradley Fighting Vehicle on patrol in Baghdad.
Baghdad, Iraq — A narrow beam of light pierced the darkness, illuminating Spc. Robert Lloyd’s face.
Lloyd’s window on the war is a small sliver of bulletproof glass at the bottom of a periscope in the back of a 25-ton armored Bradley Fighting Vehicle. The window is designed to keep out deadly pieces of shrapnel and bullets while permitting Lloyd to see out the back.
“I’ll sacrifice the comfort for the safety,” said Lloyd, 31, of Sandy Springs. “This thing is like being in an easy bake oven in the summer and a Frigidaire freezer in the winter.”
During the summer, the heat often tops 150 degrees inside the Bradley’s cramped troop compartment. There is no air conditioning. In winter, the temperature outside plummets, sometimes into the 30s. It feels even colder inside. The only heat is from the engine, but it’s in the front of the vehicle, too far away to benefit Lloyd.
When the Bradley is moving, a horrific vibration originates from the pair of tracks rolling across the pavement beneath the steel-plated floor. It numbs Lloyd’s feet, makes its way up his legs, travels through his spine and the plates in his body armor and exits by rattling the fillings in his teeth and numbing his mind with a monotonous, clanking hum.
“You get used to it, or become numb,” he said during a recent patrol along Route Tampa, a main supply route into Baghdad. “I get tired of trying to keep up with ear plugs, and talking on the radio prevents me from using them.”
Lloyd compares the noise to being inside a giant steel blender grinding up concrete blocks.
“I always find I’m grinding my teeth,” the BellSouth phone technician said. “If I don’t have gum in my mouth, I end up chewing the side of my jaws. I’m scared I’ll bite my tongue off if I don’t.”
The Bradley is prone to sudden, violent motions when it hits bumps or holes in the road, or when the driver has to make a sudden stop. Lloyd, who is looking out the back, never sees any of those things coming.
As if the noise and vibration are not enough, Lloyd also has to deal with constant dust and the smell of diesel fumes and sulfuric acid from the Bradley’s batteries.
Despite the tough working conditions, Lloyd is as upbeat as any soldier you could find in Iraq. After spending four years in the Air Force (1994-98), he joined the Georgia National Guard following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He re-enlisted when he found out his unit, 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment out of Lawrenceville, was being mobilized for Iraq.
Lloyd wanted to serve in Iraq, but after seven months of patrols around Baghdad, he, like most of his fellow 48th Brigade Combat Team soldiers, longs for home.
“I think about Krystal chili cheese pups. Most of the time it’s home or food,” said Lloyd, who was married in October while on leave.
Staring through his tiny window, looking for possible trouble, Lloyd knows that a moment of inattention could be disastrous. But often the patrols are long and boring.
“Sometimes you just get off into the stare,” he said. “I’m always thinking about how I’m going to react to a situation. I’m hoping to make a difference.”
