Application of Impossible Things: A Near Death Experience in Iraq (16 page)

Natalie in Iraq on “hit” day.

On January 7, 2008 Natalie Sudman and Jarrod Bonnick received the Defense of Freedom Medal at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters in Washington, DC. Both were injured in Iraq on November 24, 2007 when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device. They were traveling in a convoy to visit water treatment plants in the USACE Gulf Region South District.

The DOD created the Defense of Freedom Medal after September 11, 2001, to honor civilians injured during the attack on the Pentagon. The medal is equivalent to the military Purple Heart and is now awarded to any DOD civilian injured by enemy action in the global war on terrorism.

Sudman, an archeologist with the Bureau of Land Management, had been in Iraq with the USACE since August 7, 2006. She had volunteered to work for the USACE on the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, and later her USACE friends invited her to work in Iraq. She worked as a project engineer in the Basrah South Regional Office managing a number of projects including a primary health care center at Khor Az Aubair.

Bonnick was a regulatory project manager with the Louisville District and worked with Sudman as a project manager on electricity and water projects in Tallil. He arrived in Iraq on October 20. The day of the attack was his first trip to project sites and only his second time off the base in Tallil. Both sustained serious injuries in the explosion.

** Taken from Army AL&T Online Web-exclusive Articles, by Bernard Tate. June 2008

**USACE photo by F.T. Eyre

Glossary

BDU:
Army battle dress uniform, the brown camouflage pattern also called cammies. We civilians were required to wear our Army uniforms whenever we traveled off base. Most of us felt that wearing these uniforms was like painting a big fat target on our chests—and on the chests of the Iraqis that we met with out in the field. Of course the Army didn’t care what we thought.

Cammies:
camouflage Army uniform, also known as BDU’s.

Comms:
communications

Digital Cammies:
Battle uniforms with digital fabric pattern

Helo:
helicopter

IED:
improvised explosive device. Also commonly called a roadside bomb. Technically we were hit with an EFP, an explosive force penetrator, which is an armor-piercing version of an IED.

IP:
Iraqi Police. Because governance of the province that I worked in had been formally handed over to the Iraqis, we were required to have an Iraqi Police escort whenever we traveled off base. The skill and professionalism of these police units was uneven and unreliable, and the IP were generally known to be heavily infiltrated with insurgents.

Long gun:
rifle

Med kit:
medical kit. Each PSD team convoy had a designated medic on the team, and carried at least one trauma medical kit.

PSD:
personal security detail. These were contracted security teams who guarded us whenever we traveled off base. Normally we traveled in three vehicle convoys: a lead truck, the “principal” vehicle (those of us being guarded were referred to as “principals”), and the gun truck. Four vehicle convoys like the one we used on the day we were hit with the IED weren’t the norm, but weren’t uncommon either.

Running on closed mic:
When running on “closed mic”—closed microphone—all communications between the personal security men in the various trucks took place through headphones or earbuds. The “principals,” we the people that they were protecting, were unable to listen in on their observations and conversations. Some of my teams would run on “open mic,” which made for a much more informed, interesting, and often amusing ride.

Natalie Sudman
worked as an archeologist in the Great Basin states for sixteen years before accepting a position managing construction contracts in Iraq. After being injured by a roadside bomb, Natalie retired from government service. She is now enjoying art, writing, and continuing explorations into the non-physical.

Natalie reads and heals psychically, communicates with those who have passed over, and channels non-physical beings. She offers information regarding personal questions as well as addressing broader subjects such as the nature of space, time or reality.

Natalie has a particular interest in the intersections of science and the non-physical. She has been a subject of studies performed by the University of Virginia’s Division of Perceptual Studies, and welcomes invitations to act as a lab rat for any scientific investigation. Describing herself as an open-minded skeptic, Natalie finds that the rigorous methodology of science appeals to her critical mind, while her artistic nature enjoys the expansive freedom of leaving behind the critical mind in frequent forays into the non-physical. She maintains that an irreverent sense of humor and a willingness to look foolish are the cornerstones of constructive exploration.

Raised in Minnesota, Natalie has lived most of her adult life in eastern Oregon, Montana and South Dakota. She recently moved to southern Arizona. Her artwork is available through Davis & Cline Galleries in Ashland Oregon, and her urns will be available online in early 2012 at www.inyantraceartstudio.com

She occasionally blogs at www.traceofelements.wordpress.com

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