THE FLAMES

The blast broke Caldwell's neck and he died instantly.

The force of the explosion shoved the Humvee. Shrapnel sheared the gas tank and splashed fire over the passenger's side.

For a split second, Harrington thought a tire had blown. Then dirt and debris rained over the windshield. Smoke poured into the truck.

View a graphic of the attack

Harrington had been trained to get his team out of the "kill zone." If the explosion was the first wave of an ambush, the team needed to get out of there.

He steered the burning Humvee down the road for another 10 seconds.

Medic Kyla Cannon reached forward and grabbed Harrington's shoulder.

The ring in her ears from the boom rendered the scene oddly silent.

"We have to get out!" she screamed.

The fire, that diesel fuel, all that ammo lashed down in the back -- they were inside a rolling bomb.

"You have to stop!"

Cannon could not hear her own voice; she only felt the words in her throat.

Harrington stopped the truck and popped open the driver's door. His head pounded. His right ear wasn't working.

Cannon looked over to Sgt. Camara. She screamed to him to climb across the truck, away from the fire that was spreading over the passenger's side.

"Get out! Get out! My side! My side!"

Camara opened his own door, and collapsed into the flames.

Cannon and Harrington ran from the fire. She carried her medic bag.

Looking back, they had the same thought:

Where was Aponte?