Soldier's tattoo a memorial to fallen comrades

Sgt. Andrew Aldridge sat at the gunner's position, half-exposed atop the lead Humvee in a four-vehicle convoy. It was a routine patrol in Baghdad.

His truck had just passed the spot where insurgents had planted an improvised explosive device. Using a cell phone, they detonated the IED as the second Humvee passed.

"It wasn't very loud at all," Aldridge recalled. " ... but when I turned around, there was nothing left of the truck. I knew no one could have survived."

Three of his closest friends were among the five men killed in that vehicle.

The 22-year-old Davidson County native appeared remarkably composed as he recounted the incident during an interview this week. He was visiting relatives while on leave after returning to the United States July 24 from a yearlong deployment to Iraq.

The deaths left a lasting impression on Aldridge _ one that he is in the process of making indelible in a tattoo on his back.

"You know how in a movie everything slows down, and for a minute everything just kind of stops?" he mused, straining to describe the surreal experience. "Then it hits you."

Aldridge estimated the elapsed time was actually about five to 10 seconds. He didn't have time to reflect on their deaths.

"First, you have a job to do," he noted. "Then, you think about that later."

The driver of his Humvee veered off the roadway and took up a defensive position in a field, but no further attacks followed.

Losing those three friends May 18 came uncomfortably soon after a buddy from another platoon was shot dead at random by a sniper in February.

"Some dude just sprayed with an AK (-47 machine gun)," Aldridge explained.

People deal with combat stress in different ways, he observed. Army counselors encourage soldiers to talk about their wartime experiences and feelings, and he agrees.

"If you just keep it locked in, it can eat away at you," he said.

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