FORT BELVOIR, Va. -- U.S. forces were rapidly approaching Baghdad in late March 2003. Inside the lead vehicle, an M-3 Bradley, was cavalry scout team leader Sgt. Tim Tutini.
When they reached Samawah, a town about halfway from Kuwait to Baghdad, the Iraqis opened up with mortar fire, Tutini said. Rounds from small-arms fire were pinging the sides of the Bradley. The firing continued all the way into the Iraqi capital, with the Bradley crew returning fire all the while.
The memories of that longest cavalry charge in history will live on in the minds of the Soldiers who experienced it 15 years ago. But the Bradley that led the charge will live on in the new National Museum of the U.S. Army being built at Fort Belvoir, Virginia -- about 15 miles south of the Pentagon.
The Bradley was lowered into place Monday atop a concrete slab at the site of the still-unfinished museum. That Bradley and three other extremely large artifacts are being put in place now so the museum can be built around them.
"The M-3 Bradley Cavalry Fighting Vehicle was the pivotal fighting vehicle of its time," said Peter Jennings, Ph.D., program and education specialist with the National Museum of the U.S. Army. "The Bradley represents the transition from the 1980s to the vehicles that the Army is fielding today. This Bradley, being lifted into the museum today, led the charge out of Kuwait up to the edge of Baghdad in March and April of 2003."
The Bradleys, part of Alpha Troop, 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, weren't alone in the fight, of course. Going into Baghdad, they were accompanied by M-1 Abrams tanks.
During the push toward Baghdad, Bradley turret gunner Sgt. Ramel Colclough remained busy pumping rounds from his 25mm cannon into the enemy, said Tutini, now a sergeant first class.
Meanwhile, Tutini himself was tucked inside the Bradley with the vehicle's commander, Staff Sgt. Lonnie Parson, fellow Soldier Pfc. David Watkins, and driver, Spc. Joseph Vales.
"We had these periscopes so we could see outside the vehicle from below," he said. "Plumes of black smoke were everywhere and you could see tracer rounds coming at us."
Tutini and Watkins weren't just sightseers inside their Bradley. When they rolled up to choke points, blind spots or bridges, for instance, the two troopers would dismount and walk up ahead to ensure there were no ambushes and that the bridges weren't wired with explosives, he said.
The improvised explosive device, often called the "signature" weapon of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, was something that Tutini said he didn't see during the early part of that first deployment. It wasn't until August of that year, he said, that he saw one for the first time -- on a road north of Balad. At the time, he said, "it looked pretty novel because we'd never seen one before."
Tutini admitted that while in Iraq he felt nervous about his mission, but at the same time, "My commander, Parson, was so good at what he did I knew we'd be alright."
The crew would remain alright and unscathed throughout the invasion.
According to a historical pamphlet produced by the museum, about 1,000 Soldiers in Tutini's convoy had been tasked to participate in the taking of Baghdad, a city of about 5 million people. By the end of that effort, those Soldiers had destroyed 20 T-72 tanks and deflected all enemy counterattacks. Their efforts allowed the U.S. to secure the airport there on April 3, and help take Baghdad on April 9.
For the next six weeks, Tutini said, Soldiers in his unit camped out in one of the palaces of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. By then, he said, all of the Iraqi soldiers had fled the palace grounds, so there was no fighting required to take the area.
By then, American Soldiers were being tasked to pull security in locations throughout the city, Tutini said. One of the things he said he remembers most of that time is the great amount of looting that was taking place throughout the city. Some of it was to get valuables, he said, but a lot of it was people out looking to find basic necessities like fuel, water and food.
"The looting was pretty crazy," he said, but the Soldiers were told not to interfere because "we weren't in a law enforcement role. Our hands were tied."
BRADLEY ON DISPLAY
Allen Pinckney, the museum's deputy director, said he expects the museum to open sometime in 2019. It was Pickney who initially contacted Tutini to inform him that the museum would house his Bradley.
Tutini said he was elated to hear the news. But at the same time, he said, he was sad that the vehicle's commander, Parson, would never be able to see the vehicle he once commanded enshrined at the museum. During a second tour in Iraq, Tutini said, Parson had been killed.
All of the other Soldiers who had been in his Bradley separated from the Army right after that first tour.
Tutini still serves today in the Army -- now as part of an Army cyber unit in Tampa, Florida. He said he plans to retire in November 2018.
"It was a great honor to serve with very brave men who view me as a peer and allow me to be around them," Tutini said of his Army career. "They're all very brave, dedicated and disciplined."
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