ONE-FINGER SALUTE
Here he is with his pants blown off after a fire-fight in Iraq, Gunnery Sergeant Michael Burghardt, 35-years old, known as "Iron Mike" or "Gunny."
It’s a picture you cannot believe –- and he’s giving the enemy the one-finger salute. The picture makes one’s heart soar. What it says is, “You have not defeated me. I am still here. Watch out. You’re the dead ones, you bastards. I’m coming after you.”
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Burghardt, on his third tour in Iraq, became a legend in bomb disposal after winning the Bronze Star for disabling 64 road bombs and destroying 1,548 ordinance pieces during his second tour.
On September 19, 2007, he got blown up. He arrived after a bomb killed four U.S. soldiers choosing not to wear a bulky bomb protection suit, saying, "You can't react to any sniper fire and you get tunnel-vision." So protected just by a helmet and standard-issue flak jacket, he began what bomb disposal officers term "the longest walk.”
He stepped into a 5-foot deep, 8-foot-wide crater. The earth shifted and he saw a Senao base station with a wire leading from it. He cut the wire and used his 7-inch knife to probe the ground. "I found a piece of red detonating cord between my legs," he says. "That's when I knew I was screwed."
Realizing he was sucked into a trap, Burghardt yelled for everyone to stay back. The road bomb went off under his feet.
"A chill went up the back of my neck and then the bomb exploded. As I was in the air I remember thinking, 'I don't believe they got me.' I was just ticked off they were able to do it. Then I was lying on the road, not able to feel anything from the waist down."
Army mates cut off his trousers to see how badly he was hurt. None could believe his legs were still there.
"My dad's a Vietnam vet who's paralyzed from the waist down," Burghardt says. "I was lying there thinking I didn't want to be in a wheelchair next to my dad and for him to see me like that. They started to cut away my pants and I felt a real sharp pain and blood trickling down. Then I wiggled my toes and I thought, good, I'm in business. As a stretcher was brought over, adrenaline and anger kicked in. I decided to walk to the helicopter. I wasn't going to let my team-mates see me being carried away on a stretcher."
Burghardt stood and gave those who blew him up a one-fingered salute. "I flipped them one. It was like, okay, I lost that round, but I'll be back next week."
Copies of a photograph of Burghardt’s defiance, taken by Jeff Bundy of the Omaha World-Herald, spread quickly. Colonel John Gronski, brigade commander in Ramadi, hailed Burghardt’s warrior spirit.
Burghardt's burns and wounds to his legs and buttocks kept him off duty for nearly a month and could have earned him a ticket home, but like his father who was awarded a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts for valiantry in action in Vietnam, he stayed in Ramadi to battle again insurgents intent on killing Americans who freed the country from the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein.
The finger gesture tells it all, the one-finger salute to the bad guys: “You have not defeated me. I’m coming back after you. Watch out. You’re dead meat because you are evil, and it is my assigned job to rid the world of you.”
One-finger salute, and Sayonara baby. Way to go Burghardt. You carry on a great tradition going back many generations and make us proud. We thank you and all your buddies with tears in our eyes. You all are the salt of the earth.
