Tampa Tanker survives rocket attack in Fallujah
Submitted by: 2nd Marine Division
Story Identification #: 200522483646
Story by Cpl. Shawn C. Rhodes
Corporal Richard C. Slew stands in a lot full of tanks with his Purple Heart award. The Tampa, Fla. native's tank was hit by a rocket while patrolling the streets of Fallujah Nov. 10, 2004. Slew survived the encounter with shrapnel wounds to his right foot. Photo by: Cpl. Shawn C. Rhodes
MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Feb. 24, 2005) -- Corporal Richard C. Slew is lucky by anyone’s standards. He survived two trips to Iraq which took him on a winding line to Baghdad and then to Fallujah. What makes him doubly lucky is that he was hit by one of the most powerful shoulder-fired rockets used today and lived to tell the tale.
“I thought it was just going to be another day of blowing up vehicles to clear the roads in Fallujah,” Slew, a crewman for 2nd tank Battalion, said. The 22-year-old Tampa, Fla. native was manning a gun on an M1-A1 Abrams tank Nov. 10, 2004, supporting Lejeune units inside the city. The sun had just crossed its peak in the sky when the unthinkable happened.
“They called in air support so we had less than a minute to get out of the area before the bombs started dropping. My tank was rounding a corner when we saw weapons stacked against the side of a building,” the dark-skinned Marine said.
His tank had discovered a supply point for the insurgents they had been fighting, one that the rebels weren’t prepared to give over to the Marines.
“The (insurgents) opened up on us with small arms fire so we gave it right back to them,” Slew said with a gleam in his brown eyes. “I was firing my M-240G medium machine gun and the turret of the tank was spinning around. I never saw what hit me.”
As the M256 main gun on Slew’s tank was aiming in, a rocket-propelled grenade slammed into its side. Normally a tank could withstand punishment from RPGs all day but this particular kind, the RPG-7, was made for piercing thick armor plating.
“The smoke from the explosion was making me choke when I noticed my foot felt numb and cold,” he said. He looked down and didn’t like what he saw. “Blood was gushing out of my right boot and soaking the leg of my trousers.”
Slew’s tank commander dragged his six-foot, 167-pound frame from the tank as his comrades provided security in case another rocket was headed their way.
“When my tank commander was checking me, we were all exposed. I was freaking out because of all the blood and I knew we had to get out of there,” Slew said.
A corpsman from a nearby rifle company inspected Slew and advised they get him to the hospital. His tank commander put the Marine on the front of the tank as they returned to their base camp outside the city. Slew armed himself with a M-9 pistol and rode on the tank until they were in a safe area.
“They took me to the surgical unit on Camp Fallujah. The doctors said because of the shock my calve didn’t expand when the shrapnel hit it. They cut the sides so the muscles could expand and adjust to the shrapnel wounds,” Slew said.
From Camp Fallujah Slew was sent to Baghdad where he caught a plane to Germany and then to Maryland. After his stay at Walter Reed Medical Center he was moved to the Camp Lejeune Naval Hospital. Twenty-eight days after he was hit he was released from the hospital to begin his recovery.
“There was a lot of crying going on when I visited my family. They just wanted to know I wouldn’t be going back and that I would be alright,” Slew said. He added, “The doctors said it’s going to be a long-term recovery.”
Slew was awarded his Purple Heart Feb. 16. Second Marine Division’s assistant commander, Brig. Gen. Joseph J. McMenamin, presented Slew with the award.
“I don’t have any regrets about what happened. The Marine Corps allowed me to see a lot and do a lot. They taught me to look for the good but prepare for the worst,” Slew said.
After his time in the Corps comes to an end this coming January Slew plans on attending college near Tampa.