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November 12, 2007
Marine Staff Sgt. Matt Bateman Who Beat 70 Iraqi Roadside Bombs
The Marine who beat 70 Iraqi roadside bombs DISARMING DUTY: Marine Staff. Sgt. Matthew Bateman just returned from third tour in Iraq as an EOD, Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician who job is to detonate or disarm IEDs, Improvised Explosive Devices.
Veterans Day means more after you've stared down death for a living.
Orange County Register
Over here, death waits in discarded rice bags. In motor-oil cans. Even in the carcasses of dead dogs on Iraqi roadsides.
That's where the bombs lie hidden. Waiting.
Most U.S. troops hope they never see an "improvised explosive device," or IED – the No. 1 killer of Americans in Iraq. But Marine Staff Sgt. Matt Bateman goes out looking for them every day.
That's his job.
On this day, he's been called to a small pile of rocks in the median strip of an intersection northwest of Baghdad. He's arrived with his two-man demolition team and a camera-laden robot. The robot has identified the IED and now is delivering a charge of TNT to destroy it.
Suddenly the robot hits a snag. It's stuck. Someone must leave the Marine cordon and retrieve it. By hand. It's Bateman who makes the 100-yard walk alone.
He's seen buddies die. Seen firefights. Seen what IEDs can do to trucks and tanks and men.
"Some days, you get nervous or butterflies," he says. "But you have to stay focused so the feeling doesn't turn into fear or panic or overtake you."
For 100 yards he keeps his focus. Then something catches his eye: blinking lights in the pile of rocks. The IED has been triggered.
He thinks: I hope this doesn't hurt.
WORST DAY
They're the go-to guys, the celebrities, the rock stars of Iraq – members of the Explosive Ordinance Disposal team, or EOD.
Someone in a convoy or patrol sees a possible roadside bomb, they call EOD.
"It's rewarding to see we make a difference," says Bateman, 36, a husband and father of two from Camp Pendleton. "We help guys out. They're really thankful and that's one of the rewarding parts of the job."
The downside?
He lifts his right arm to show a wristband: "Michael 'Mikey' Tayaotao, USMC Nov. 9, 1979 – Aug. 9, 2007. Fallen But Never Forgotten."
"I'll tell you my worst day there," he says.
They were responding to an IED that halted a 35-vehicle convoy on a major supply route in western Iraq.
"I hate to say it was routine," Bateman says. "But we handled it without major incident."
Then a second IED was found near the back of the convoy. The team moved in:
Sgt. Mark Zambon controlled their Talon robot, with its four cameras and robotic arm. Sgt. Tayaotao drove their 20-ton, armored truck – in military-speak a "Mine Resistant Ambush Protected" Cougar that could withstand most IED blasts – and set up the explosive charges used to detonate IEDs. Bateman was team leader.
They'd responded to as many as five IEDs in a day, so two at one scene wasn't unusual. But the second IED wasn't an IED. It was bait. The real bomb lay nearby, waiting to be triggered – by a footstep.
JUST WENT NUMB
As Tayaotao began to investigate, he triggered a booby trap that killed him.
"My brain didn't want to accept it," Bateman says. "But I realized we had to do something."
As leader of his EOD team and a security force of some 20 other Marines, Bateman had to give orders: Call a corpsman, reset security, call in a helicopter, clear a path to his fallen comrade, conduct a post-blast assessment, collect evidence.
Everyone turned to him: "What do we do next?"
In this strange place, people like to put bombs in the road,Bateman writes in an e-mail home. It's my job with my team to go and make it safe. On top of that, people like to shoot at us sometimes while we are working. What a strange place.
One thing the bombs and shooting taught him: No one ever died from not having a cool car. From not having the latest cell phone. From going without MySpace and YouTube.
I don't miss football or baseball,he writes. I don't need to seal myself off from my family while I sit in my room playing X-Box. I know I am a family man and I am very happy and proud of that fact.
His wife, Anita, would write him two or three e-mails a day and check her inbox every few hours.
"He was constantly on my mind," she says. "I couldn't watch the news. Knowing he's a target, it's very stressful."
At first, Bateman couldn't even grieve his buddy's death.
"It was too big to process at once," he says, "so everyone just went numb for a while.It wasn't until 48 hours later, when Bateman finally could call Anita on the phone, that his emotions bubbled up.
"I just kept everything bottled up," he says. "And when I finally got on the phone with her, I got to let go of it."
OUTSIDE THE WIRE
Over here, they call it "outside the wire." As in, "Every time we went outside the wire, I'd say a little prayer."
As in, "Every time we went outside the wire, we had a security team."
As in "Every time we went outside the wire, we had on our uniform, boots, body armor, helmet, extra gear hanging on our body armor, pistol on our hips and a rifle. Even if it was 125 degrees."
Outside the wire – the fenced security of their base – is where most Marines spend most of their time in Iraq. That's what Bateman hopes people remember this Veterans Day.
"People forget the sacrifices made, not just in this war but in all wars," he says. "That there are men willing to say, 'I'll do this,' so we can have our barbecues or our day on the beach."
"Hopefully people won't take for granted those things they have that are comfortable to them," he says.
He can't anymore, because he knows life outside the wire. That's where more than 3,850 Americans have died in this Iraq war. Where more than 28,000 have been wounded. Where he watched his buddy Mikey die.
And where he faced his own death in a pile of rocks with blinking lights inside.
THE THINGS YOU HAVE
A chess match – that's how Bateman sees his job on the bomb squad.
"We constantly change our procedure because we know they're watching us every step," he says.
One time their armored truck ran over an IED while driving to investigate an IED. Another time they found an IED that was fake, not with a booby trap but with a note naming insurgents in town. He never found out if it was real or a trap. Another time, they took small-arms fire as soon as they stepped out of their truck to investigate an IED.
On successful days, it's exhilarating.
"Afterwards, we do a mental touchdown dance," he says. "We crossed the goal line. Everyone comes back with all their fingers and toes."
On this day, however, he is not so sure: The robot is stranded with TNT in its claw. Next to an IED ready to explode. He sneaks in. That's when he sees lights blinking in the rock pile.
The IED is trying to explode. But on this day, Bateman's crew is able to jam the signal – a procedure that doesn't always work. He is able to walk away. To live another day.
"It was a rush, coming out of the other side of it, wow," he says. "Not a rush like, 'Wow, skydiving – I can't wait to do again.' But, 'That was exciting – I hope that never happens again!'"
After facing and defeating more than 70 IEDS in Iraq, Bateman finally returned to his wife and children at Camp Pendleton last month. His routine? Mow the lawn, clean the kitchen, play with the kids and occasionally grab a good, old-fashioned In-N-Out burger.
I know now,he wrote in an e-mail last summer, that it is so important to want the things you already have.
And to appreciatethem, he might add today.
"You don't have to do anything amazing," he says of Veterans Day. "You don't have to buy a vet dinner or donate to a cause. Just please remember them for a moment. That's all a lot of us ask, just that acknowledgment."
Wild Thing's comment........
Thank you Staff Sgt. Matt Bateman! You are in our prayers and we are so grateful for all you do.
Posted by Wild Thing at November 12, 2007 12:45 AM
Comments
Are the IED's really made in Iran and Syria and Saudi Arabia? Is there a PATTERN here? After all, curious infidels want to know!
Posted by: darthcrUSAderworldtour07 at November 12, 2007 02:50 AM
Thanks WT.
IED's, Mines and Booby Traps, some things never change and they are always lethal.
I suppose not Darth, neither were those used in Vietnam from Russia or China, they all got there by osmosis, we infidels don't want to offend the 'allies' of the faithful Pelosi and Reid.
A big thank you to Staff Sgt. Matt Bateman.
Posted by: Jack at November 12, 2007 03:55 AM
Staff Sgt Bateman is a very brave man. I like his attitude. He is very professional and realistic. I will say prayers for his safety if he has to be deployed again.
Posted by: TomR at November 12, 2007 08:20 AM
Darth, there is a pattern alright. And I beleive Russia is involved too. Heck throw in China as well for helping the enemy. I don't trust any of them.
Posted by: Wild Thing at November 13, 2007 12:10 AM
Jack your right, things really don't change much.
Posted by: Wild Thing at November 13, 2007 12:13 AM
Tom,I was impressed with those things about him too.
Posted by: Wild Thing at November 13, 2007 12:16 AM
