Driver tells of rolling on scary roads of Iraq

Air Force Master Sgt. Mike Huenecke shown in combat gear as seen through a night sight. He'll return to Iraq in May.

This was Baghdad, where anything can happen, and Air Force Reserve Master Sgt. Mike Huenecke was concerned about the pickup coming up from the rear.

It was eight months ago. Huenecke, whose home unit is the 944th Fighter Wing, a Reserve unit at Luke Air Force Base, was on a protection detail for Maj. Gen. Eldon Bargewell, who was riding in the second vehicle of a three-vehicle convoy.

One Humvee with heavily armed soldiers was taking the lead. Another, with Huenecke driving, was bringing up the rear. advertisement

Huenecke's fellow soldiers were trying to warn off the driver of the pickup, a 1989 four-door white Toyota featuring a decorative red stripe and a roll bar. Nothing was working. The pickup kept coming, pulling even with the convoy and to its right on the three-lane blacktop.

The soldiers had to do something, so Huenecke pulled a maneuver he'd learned in security-driving training. He slapped the right front of his Humvee against the left rear of the pickup and pushed. The pickup pivoted sharply off the road, running off into an open field, where it got stuck in the sand.

"If you don't have to shoot, don't shoot," said Huenecke, recalling his training in dealing with suspect vehicles in Iraq.

It turned out the driver was an innocent civilian, not a terrorist.

Huenecke, of Mesa, recently returned from his second tour of duty in Iraq. He'll start another tour May 1.

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