One of the first things Hickman planned to do upon returning was to have a blowout party. They would get limos, book a VIP table on the roof at Greene Street Club, drink gallons of beer.
“He said we were going to have a music video night,” Trainum said. “David really wanted to live it up.”
A soldier’s end
On Nov. 14, Hickman spent the afternoon at Camp Taji, a major base north of Baghdad, Zornes said. He ate chicken fingers dipped in barbecue sauce for lunch, bought parmesan Cheez-Its at the post exchange and suffered through “Confessions of a Shopaholic” with most of the rest of the platoon.
“It was a lame chick flick,” Zornes said. “But we all sat there and watched it.”
Just after 6 p.m., the convoy left for JSS Muthana, with Hickman in the lead truck, a heavily armored International MaxxPro. Zornes was right behind him, he said.
About 25 minutes later, Zornes said, a bomb exploded on the side of the road, near Hickman’s truck.
Helicopters swooped in to take the casualties away.
After the smoke and chaos cleared, the convoy returned to Camp Taji. At a briefing, Zornes said, the soldiers learned from an Army officer that Spec. David E. Hickman had suffered broken ribs, a shattered wrist and lacerations on his leg and face.
“And then he said he had internal brain bleeding,” Zornes said, “and that they were able to stabilize him before he left, but that when he landed at Victory Base Camp, they weren’t able to stabilize him.”
And then, for the 4,474th time in America’s Iraq war, a U.S. service member was pronounced dead.
Staff researcher Jennifer Jenkins contributed to this report.
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