A member of 2nd Squad, 4th Platoon, 617th Military Police Company - a Kentucky National Guard unit - Sergeant Jesse Ordunez, in this interview, shares his experiences regarding a complex 20 March 2005 enemy ambush southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, that resulted in his squad - led by Silver Star recipient, Staff Sergeant Timothy F. Nein - killing or capturing 34 insurgents and losing not a single US soldier. A gunner in the second of three 617th trucks that were shadowing a southbound convoy, Ordunez , upon coming under attack, engaged insurgents with his vehicle's Mk-19 grenade launcher, an M249 squad automatic weapon and - when his SAW was hit by an enemy round and disabled - with an M240B machine gun. As he explained, "When my SAW actually took a round and I fell into the truck, I could look up and see the insurgent on the berm behind me, and he had a fully automatic weapon. At that point I thought, 'This is the end; there's no way out.' It scared me. I wasn't sure we were going to live through it.” Asked what he thought enabled him and his squad to survive and ultimately (and decisively) defeat the forces arrayed against them, Ordunez credited the training they’d received as well as his Guard unit’s intense camaraderie: “We’re all like family here,” he said. “We’re not going to let each other down, we’re going to fight to the end, and we’re not going to give up. That’s just how we were.”

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