MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- In the early morning hours of April 10, on the outskirts of Baghdad, Sgt. Bill Klitzke, 81 mm section leader for C Company, 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, 1st Marine Division, and his crew of four amphibious assault vehicles were given orders to clear Saddam's Palace inside the vast and densely populated Iraqi capital ? marking the climax of an advance through enemy territory unprecedented in the annals of warfare history.
The AAVs ? always the first ones to go in after the tanks and a regular target for Iraqi rocket-propelled grenades ? pushed forward beneath the moonlight while Klitzke and his convoy prepared for another battle.
It was about 2 a.m., and Klitzke knew they were bearing down on the city, "because I could see the buildings bunching closer together," he said.
The convoy rolled deeper into Baghdad, crushing rubble and debris in its path. They drove down narrow and packed streets.
The night's stillness was then interrupted by RPGs and small-arms fire as the AAVs were attacked from both sides of the road.
The amtrack in front of Klitzke was hit from behind with an RPG, spinning it around. Another RPG smashed into its front, spinning it again. The amtrack came to a dead stop.
"When I saw the track in front of me come to a standstill, that's when the situation got hairy, and I thought I was done," Klitzke said.
The amtracks were sitting in a gap between buildings, taking a barrage of fire. The Marines unleashed the powerful might of their AAVs, blowing chunks of buildings and Iraqis high into the night sky.
As Klitzke braced himself amid a maelstrom of flying bullets, he thought strictly about his men ? and getting them out of the ambush alive.
"The realism of battle hit me real fast," Klitzke said plainly, recalling the fantastic sights of combat. "If I didn't do something or get out of this mess, I would have died."
Sitting inside the track's turret and wearing his night-vision goggles, Klitzke popped up and returned fire with his M2 .50 caliber machine gun. Iraqi forces scattered about the street, ducking behind rubble and destroyed buildings.
Klitzke knew it was kill or be killed. He coldly shot down enemy soldiers and watched them fall to the ground. "I had no feeling," he said.
Although bullets were riddling the amtrack's body and flying over his head, Klitzke mostly feared a direct hit from an RPG.
"RPGs are our enemy ? instant death to an amtracker," he said.
Klitzke's convoy had to veer around the downed amtrack blocking the road. An endless barrage of RPGs screamed toward the convoy and exploded all around them.
As they left the kill zone, Klitzke knew they couldn't leave the Marines inside the apparently disabled amtrack smack in the middle of the hurricane of death.
"I didn't know if the Marines in the track were dead or alive. I couldn't raise them on the net," Klitzke said.
But the amtrack flashed signs of life. It suddenly started up and weaved its way through Baghdad's labyrinth of city streets to avoid further damage and join the rest of the convoy.
"The driver was hit by shrapnel and blinded by the light of the RPGs with his thermals. The crew was able to get the driver back on track and get out of there," Klitzke said.
Baghdad was just another daily pummeling amtrackers and their AAVs endured throughout Operation Iraqi Freedom, he said. Fortunately, RPG rounds rarely struck the vehicles ? and 3rd AABn. lost only one Marine in the war. Thirteen were wounded.
During the buildup in Kuwait prior to the war, amtrackers were mindful that hundreds of their vehicles had been idle for nearly a year while in civilian care aboard ships. That inactivity, coupled with age, exacerbated problems for drivers, who also faced the challenges of navigating unfamiliar roads.
"There were times we had to get rolling, but due to the vehicles' bad parts, we couldn't. Sometimes that made tension high between the amtrackers and grunts. However, we all came together when we really needed to, fixed the problem as best we could, and rolled on," Klitzke said.
After hours of driving on the road or pushing through wartorn cities, when the time came to stop and rest, amtrackers were up late into the night fixing their vehicles' steering panels or tightening loose screws.
"We did a lot of maintenance in the middle of the night," Klitzke recalled. "We did an under-appreciated job."
Amtracks literally carried the weight of 1st Marine Division upon their backs. Each amtrack carries 21 combat-equipped Marines in addition to its crew of three.
AAVs were spread out among the division, responsible for transporting Marines hundreds of miles, supporting the infantry with fire and delivering grunts to their objectives.
"A vehicle meant to travel 30-40 miles ashore carried the division 180 miles inland," said Staff Sgt. Brian Koenig, a maintenance chief with 3rd AABn. "It's quite impressive."
But the AAVs' ability to continue functioning through the rigors of war pales in comparison to the achievement of those who operate them. First Marine Division's race to Baghdad covered the most ground the quickest of any attacking force in the history of the world.
"In 10 years, people are going to realize what a great job the division did ? and that it was done on the back of tracks," said Lt. Col. Robert S. Abbott, the battalion's commanding officer during Operation Iraqi Freedom.