Gerald L. Hunt
This book contains information about contract drivers in Iraq. Guys that drove from Kuwait to Turkey with over eleven hundred miles of danger and laying their lives on the line every single day. Doing a job that had to be done no matter what the cost. Knowing everyday when we went out the front gate at Anaconda that there was a good chance that we could be returning in a body bag. Roadside bombs known as IED’s (Improvised Explosive Devices) could kill us at any time and there was nothing we could do to stop this from happening.
This book is about a guy that went out the front gate over one hundred and twenty times transporting supplies and equipment to sights throughout Iraq and lived to tell about it. A guy that beat the odds. This book tells about convoys in Iraq and the dangers that a driver faces everyday. Risking their lives day by day. Only God knows why these men and women go out and do the things they do for their country. My hat is off to all of them.
Gerald L. Hunt was born in Tyler, Texas, where he spent most of his time hunting and fishing. When he wasn’t hunting or fishing, he worked in the rose fields budding roses, plowing and packing for shipment. When he was fourteen years old he made a trip through four states delivering roses to W. T. Grant department stores driving a 1951 Chevy two-ton single axle truck. He delivered packaged roses to Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. At this time he was too young to get a driver’s license, but was a very good driver and the company he worked for trusted him to make the trip. He was gone for eleven days and returned without any problems. When he was in his twenties, he went to school and learned air conditioning, refrigeration and heating. He went into business for himself and did this for fifteen years. Then he started driving a truck for a living. He worked for several large trucking companies and later bought his own truck to go into business for himself. When he turned sixty-three years old he had a brainstorm and decided to go to Iraq and drive a truck. He went to work for Halliburton, K. B. R. Kellogg Brown and Root. He left Houston, Texas on January 21, 2003 for Iraq. This is his story about day to day convoys in Iraq.
INTRODUCTION
This is a story about a truck driver. Not just any truck driver, a driver that drives through eleven hundred miles of hell from Kuwait to Turkey. This is one of the most dangerous jobs the military has to offer and consists of transporting supplies and equipment to sights throughout Iraq. It is a job that must be done, whatever the cost. In all reality, the military could not function without these drivers. These drivers are called “contract drivers.” They are hired on and supplied by K. B. R. - Kellogg Brown and Root, owned partly by Halliburton. My name is Gerald Hunt. My call name was “Buckshot“ while I was in Iraq, and this is my story.
