Original subtitles

It's a war.

I'm totally alone in enemy territory.

What are they going to do to me?

Are they going to torture me now?

I had to figure out ways to escape.

It was all up to me.

I had to be strong.

But I was telling myself, there's no way I'm going to survive because these guys

are going to kill me.

I've been a truck driver for 33 years.

I don't like just getting up and driving to the factory downtown, working eight

or ten hours, driving back home every day. That's not for me.

I would have been a good explorer years ago. I want to see something new.

And one day when I found out that they needed truck drivers in Iraq, it's

just like the light bulb went off.

I told my wife, this is what I want to do.

She didn't really understand.

Why you?

You're 43 years old. There's somebody else that can go.

It might not have been the best thing for my family, but it's something that I

needed to do for me at that time in my life.

I needed to give something back to my country. I was 43 years old, and this

an opportunity that I was not going to miss.

We were based out of the camp Anaconda, just north of Baghdad.

As a convoy commander, I was in charge of the civilian truck driver.

Come on now.

It's a place of business, isn't it? These truck drivers come from all over

country. Most of them were from down in the south.

They were truck drivers in the states, but none of us have driven a truck in a

war zone.

Hey, did you get any sleep last night?

That ain't your business, is it?

During the night, insurgents, they would mortar the camp.

I had called my wife and told her to send me as many cassette tapes as she

could.

I would put a cassette tape in the truck player, try to muffle some of this

sound, and by morning, this tape is so hot, it's just about burnt up.

I was just thankful that none of those mortars landed on my truck.

But you can't be guaranteed 100 % safe in a war zone.

April 9th was the one -year anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.

The insurgents, they want to take these anniversaries and make something of it.

It was going to be a bad day.

I just had that feeling.

I need you guys to focus and do what you do best, which is drive and drive

safely. During our safety briefing with our military escorts, I said we've got

some extra shooters we can put in your trucks.

And we're going to do what we do best, which is protect you.

That had never happened before.

But if the U .S. military needed me that day, I was going to be Johnny on the

spot.

We had 19 trucks, civilian trucks.

I think there were five gun trucks plus our shooters that were riding with our

guys.

They needed more fuel down in the Baghdad area.

Forty -five minutes and maybe an hour, hour and a half ride, depending on the

traffic. And we're going to get unloaded, and we're going to be able to

back, and we'll be in Anaconda tonight.

I didn't ever let my guard down when I was outside the base driving because I

didn't know who was good and who was bad.

I didn't want to find out the hard way who was bad.

We turned off the main road that went to Camp Anaconda, headed south.

I mean, I was apprehensive. I'm not sure about the guys that were with me, but

I'm thinking back in my mind in months before where, you know, a convoy came

through here, and we had a lot of trucks that were hit with IEDs there. And as

I'm going into this area, I knew that this is where these things could happen.

These little kids were throwing rocks, and they were pretty good.

But I didn't let that stuff bother me. I didn't worry about things like that. We

just kept moving through. It was all we had to do was keep moving through.

We're approaching Widowmaker here.

We turned right and veered on to Widowmaker.

That was an area of road that if you were going to die, that was where it was

going to die.

Any time, any place, an Iraqi could just jump up on the side of the road and

start firing at you and drop back down.

We would be choked up with traffic there.

An ideal spot for a sniper just to take a pot shot at you.

If anything is going to happen.

If anything is going to happen.

It's going to happen on this stretch of highway right here.

Almost immediately.

It just opens up everything.

How's them kills?

All right, come on now. Let's go, go, go.

Bullets were hitting this truck all over.

Front side.

You're hearing a lot of pins.

It's bouncing off, hitting pins.

But, you know, right now they're not hitting where I'm at. And that's a good

thing.

Grabbed the computer.

I was going to type a short, quick message.

Convoy under attack.

Almost immediately.

Slam.

The rod's up to the one side and kind of slams back down.

And I reach down, and all I'm feeling is just warm blood.

And I'm thinking, if it's severed the main vein in my arm, I'm going to bleed

out before I get anywhere.

I knew I had to try to apply some kind of turnabout.

Luckily, I've only been shot one.

That's what's going through my mind.

As long as I don't get hit in the torso, hopefully I can survive.

But the truck was actually slowing down not much more than a crawl.

It's not looking good.

Because I don't know how much farther we're going to have to go in this.

We didn't roll just a few more feet and it came to a stop.

And I'm sitting here thinking, this is just a matter of seconds.

You know, are we the last vehicle in this convoy?

Is there anybody else left to come pick us up?

And you're sitting there thinking, is that guy pointing at me yet?

Because he got that pointed right at me. He's pinpointing me with that thing.

And the next round is coming right at me.

I mean, odds are against you.

Out of nowhere, it comes to Humvee.

My driver is out.

And I'm thinking, oh, God, we're out of here.

Just as I'm there, the Humvee starts away.

I hollered real loud, you know, whoa.

But I knew they couldn't hear me.

And at this point, I'm thinking I'm not going to survive this.

No way, no possible way I'm going to survive this.

And it's a pretty sinking feeling.

A couple of Iraqis came out. They're hollering. I can't hear what they're

saying. I just hear them hollering.

As I turned back, there's one Iraqi insurgent.

As AK pointed at me, and I'm thinking, what's he thinking? What's going through

his mind?

Is he thinking I'm armed?

And I'm thinking, man, if he opens up now that close, it's just going to be

over. But it's going to be quick, and that's the way I want it.

These two young boys, they all started toward me.

They're going through my pants. They're pulling my flak vest off. They've got my

helmet. I didn't say a word. I didn't say nothing. I'm just going with the

They got me up, started across the road, and I looked down this alley, and it's

just a whole stream of insurgents there.

I'm thinking, this is not good.

I'm not trained for this. I'm wounded.

I could tell the shouting and the hollering at the head, they had a big

And I'm thinking, this is chaos.

And if one of them walks up to me and sticks me with a knife, that might not

what their commander or leader wants them to do, but it's already too late.

And this one insurgent, he got his rifle. And as I got to him, he started

and swung it.

And he caught me on the right side of my head.

And the guys that were holding me, the insurgents that were holding me, kept me

from going to the ground.

And I'm thinking, this is a done deal. I'm a dead man.

But all of a sudden, these guys just walked up to me.

It kind of felt like they stole me away from the guys that just had me.

This car just pulls them out.

But I really wasn't sure if the guys in the car were better for me or if I'd

have been better to stay with the guys in the alley. See, I didn't know.

I get people trying to show me off, you know. I've got an American hostage in

the back seat. I want everybody to know who I am. I'm somebody special, you

know.

I'm thinking luck got me to this point.

It got me alive to this point, but there's no way I'm going to survive what

fixing to face right now because these guys are going to kill me.

You try to think about your family, but they don't know anything that's going on

with me right now.

I know they're at home, and I know they're safe where they're at, and

that matters to me right now is they're safe.

We pulled in this little compound, went back to this building.

I'm thinking, you know, I don't know what's going on. I don't know why

got me here.

And they had placed an Iraqi flag behind me.

It hit me then, we're going to do a video.

I knew they had ways of killing people. That was the only concern I had. If they

did, how were they going to do it? How would I be executed?

Go. You talk.

My name is Thomas Hamill. I am 43 years old.

I live in Macon, Mississippi.

I work for a civilian contractor in Iraq.

God bless.

At this point, I'm not sure what they're going to use this for.

You know, I'm just thankful I'm alive.

I don't know what he was saying. It was in Iraqi.

Whatever it was, probably wasn't going to be good for me.

And I'm sitting there thinking, this has got to be a dream.

But as much as I wanted to make it a dream, I couldn't make it a dream.

This was really happening, and this was my first day in captivity.

That morning, everything was quiet.

I didn't hear dogs barking. I didn't hear birds chirping. It was just

silence.

And I'm wondering, if these guys just left me here, they're not coming back.

But I was desperately in need of water.

And it had been nearly two days and I'd had no water.

I'm not sure how long it takes for a man to die from dehydration.

But I'm going to tell you right now, If it's very long, it's going to be a

horrible death.

And I said a little prayer.

I said, Lord, I don't want to die like this.

I heard a noise in the little alley, and I looked and I saw a head go by.

I was standing at the window, and I was above him a little bit.

And as he got right where I was at, I hit him.

I said, I need water.

Give me some water.

He looked up at me, and it scared the daylights out of him.

And I'm thinking, okay, I may have done the wrong thing.

Who is he going to bring back now?

Just before sundown, I heard a car coming.

I needed water bad, but I was not going to beg those guys. I wasn't going to ask

them for any water.

They were going to have to offer it. If they

offered me water, I would take water.

That water was, I would have drank.

water out of a muddy ditch.

That's how bad it was. I needed water real bad.

And I'm actually telling myself, well, I've got one over on my captors.

I

knew

as the days progressed, my arm would progress even worse. I would have a

It would start rotting.

And I'm wondering, you know, when are they going to do something? Is there

to be a point they're going to realize we've got to do something, or is this

just going to kill him no matter how much food we feed him or how much water

give him? He's going to die just from this.

My captors came in and told me to get up. Get up.

Said, surgeon, go to surgeon, operate on your arm.

And I'm thinking, they're going to cut my arm off.

They walked me inside, and I'm thinking, this is not a very sanitary surgery

room here.

Do I know anything about this doctor? Do I know if he can perform this kind of

surgery?

But all that stayed inside of me. They're not seeing that I look like I'm

to death, but inside I'm really worried about this.

He said, I'm going to give you a local anesthetic. And it didn't take very

just a matter of seconds, and the local anesthetic went to work. I didn't feel

anything.

He takes the scalpel and he cuts through it.

I've got a lot of bone fragments.

I think he grabs a couple of them and pulls them to the side.

And he wraps it back up.

And I'm thinking, well...

He didn't cut my arm off today.

I can still live with this.

I can still live with this.

That's when it hit me, okay.

Are they negotiating to sell me?

That's why they're taking such good care of me.

Because I'm not going to do any good if I'm dead.

They're not going to make any money off me if I'm dead.

In the back of my mind for the first week, There's going to be a Delta Force

raid.

And these guys are fixing to get a tail whooping like they ain't never seen.

It wasn't until after about the first six or seven or eight days that I

Chuck Norris wasn't coming.

So I had to figure out ways to escape and evade this enemy, and it was all up

me.

I was watching their routines every day, the changing of the guards, how they

did everything.

Things had gotten pretty routine, monotonous, same thing every day.

But then just after my afternoon meal, one of my captors was sitting there

talking to me. He gets up, and I noticed that he had

left his AK by.

I sat there and looked at that AK. I could have made three steps and had it.

I could have swung that door open, and I could have unloaded.

But is this a trick? Are they trying to see how I will react if they leave a

weapon behind? Are they trying to figure out if I'm a soldier or not?

What if there's not any ammunition in it?

What if I swing that door open and they've got a couple of loaded guns

back at me?

My mind cannot be focused on my wife, what she's doing right now, what's my

daughter doing, what's my son doing, because if I have to think through all

first, I'm going to make a wrong decision because I'm going to make it

And he gave me probably 30 seconds to figure out what I was going to do.

And all I saw was the door come open, and his fingers got a hold of that gun

pulled him through the door. And I'm thinking, well, I probably did the right

thing this time.

Later that night, we went for a pretty long ride.

I'm looking as much as I could in all directions, and it appeared to me we

way out in there.

It's going through my mind, okay, now, why are they moving?

I hear them leave, and they drive off, and I realize I'm in the middle of

nowhere.

I don't know what's going on. I don't know what's going on.

I knew my cappers would be back in just a little while.

But I've got some options now. I've got to figure out what I need to do right

now.

I'm frantically working, trying to get this door open.

But there was no way I was going to open that door.

No way.

I hear the sound of helicopters outside.

I'm thinking, man, I've got to figure out some way to try to flag these

helicopters.

Well, if I can shine this little stainless steel plate, all I need is

glare, one glare up in that pilot's eyes.

Hey!

Hey!

I'm not able to pull myself up where I can even see it if I'm even catching any

sign.

I can't even see the helicopter at this point. All I'm is just guesswork.

And it flies by.

And I'm thinking, well, you know, at least I attempted, I tried.

You have to be ready for the next opportunity.

The next day, I woke up, and I'm hearing helicopters off in the distance again.

And I looked up and saw a piece of wood hanging down from the rafter. And I

reached up and got a hold of it with my left arm, and I pulled down as hard as I

could.

I grabbed that timber and I shoved it through that hole.

And I'm trying to rock this timber back and forth.

I'm doing this double time, everything.

I'm giving everything I've got.

I'm trying to get out because these helicopters I'm hearing, they're moving.

I've got to get out of here.

And I gave it a big shove, pushed it inside, and the door pushed open.

And I ran out.

Two big Chinooks were headed in my direction.

A big smile came on my face.

I'm going home today.

I knew I needed to get up on top of this pile of dirt.

It's flat on top.

It's tall enough up. There's helicopters.

They're going to see me above this building. I'm above the building. I just

out over this pile of dirt.

I'm waving frantically, and I'm thinking, I'm going to hear that engine

down, and he's going to drop down here on the ground.

And I'm going to run over there, and they're going to load me up, and I'm

to be home with my family before the end of the week.

I watched the first helicopter go by.

I watched the second helicopter go by.

And I'm thinking, just a small...

A country boy from Mississippi in the middle of Iraq.

What do I do now?

I sit down for a second and I think about it.

There was no way that I could walk out across this desert as vast an expanse as

it was. There was no way that was going to happen.

And I looked at the big pile of dirt I was on, and I'm thinking, the

have been coming from the west to the east.

So I'm going to be looking right at this pile of dirt.

This pile of dirt is probably tall enough and it's steep enough that I can

something in it.

After I'd made the H and the E and the L, I was getting tired. I was exhausted.

And as I backed away, I'm looking at the H and the E and the L, and I can't even

tell it's there.

This is not going to work.

What else can I do?

What else can I do?

I'm thinking, okay, I've got to ask somebody what I need to do.

And I said, okay, Lord, I'm meeting you halfway here, buddy.

I'm doing everything I can do. I mean, I know you can't do it all.

I broke out of this building, and I'm trying to flag helicopters down.

You're going to have to tell me what you want me to do.

I was up on top of this pile of dirt looking down at this building I just

out of.

And I just felt the tug to go back down there.

Step back inside and lock myself back in.

I thought I was going home today. I thought a helicopter was going to stop

pick me up. But for some reason, today is not today.

That's the way I looked at it. Today was not today.

Maybe tomorrow.

Maybe next week.

Today's not today.

About an hour or two later, I heard the car coming.

And they say, we move.

We pulled in this little compound, and when we started through the gate, the

guard looked at me and said, do not look at these people. Do not speak.

Danger. Danger.

They had a Muslim coming.

I'm sitting there.

looking at him and all of a sudden the door opened up and it's the rack he

in

guys

somebody somebody important what's what's going on

All of a sudden, my guards that had came with me, they all walked out the door.

And I'm thinking there for a second, okay, if they had sold or traded me up

tougher group, this guy, if he just looked over at me and stared at me and

over and say anything, and he walked back in another room.

What's fixing to unfold right now?

Stand up.

The guys that had me before, they didn't have that look about them.

They didn't have that stare that stared right through you.

And he starts towards me, and he brings the pistol down.

to my forehead, and I'm thinking, it's fixing to be over.

I lowered my head, closed my eyes, said a little silent prayer, and I'm just

waiting. Just seconds from now, it's going to pull that trigger, and it's all

going to be over.

And I'm trying to think about everything in the future at that point. You know,

my daughter's going to get married one day. I'm not going to be there to walk

her down the aisle. All these things.

Seconds have gone by.

More seconds have gone by.

He hasn't pulled the trigger yet.

What just happened?

What just happened?

You know, I'm not stupid.

I'm not ignorant. I knew what they were trying to do.

They weren't in there to execute me.

They were in there to try to scare the daylights out of me, try to terrorize

And I'm thinking that all the indicators that I'm looking at right now, things

aren't looking too good.

It's really looking bad.

As the days went along, they moved me around from place to place.

Finally, we went for a pretty long ride.

And when we get inside, they undo the blindfold, and I'm looking around, and

this is a new set of guards.

And I'm thinking, okay, what's going to happen next?

You want some?

It was just good to be able to get clean for a change.

I could feel that dirt and all that stuff just being washed away and just

washed down that drain. I could feel that.

How are you this morning?

You hungry?

He said, I can bring you some eggs.

He had no gun. He was real soft -spoken, and I just kind of dubbed him the nice

guy.

I've just got a feeling that I'm safer here with him, and I'm thinking, man,

this is where I hope they leave me.

He says, do you want to write a letter to your family?

I wrote a couple of little paragraphs.

Kelly, I'm okay.

I hope you're not worried about me too much. I hope your kids and their family

is okay.

I hope to be home one day.

Don't worry.

Islam say you will not be killed.

If I can stay with this guy long enough, we can kind of do this rapport thing,

and I think I can get this guy to load me up and carry me and drop me off

outside of an American base. This is what I'm thinking with this guy here.

Later that night, the nice guy walks back in.

And something was not good.

I could see it in his eyes.

He looks at me. He said, I didn't know they were going to do this.

And I'm thinking, what, what? They're not going to do what? You know, you just

told me that according to Islam, they're not going to kill me.

What changed that in the last few hours?

What's going on now?

Something bad was fixing to happen.

One of the guards looked at me and said, We hear, we see our people being

abused, have a great prison.

What do you have to say?

And I'm telling them that's not happening. We've had our own soldiers

tortured beyond belief in POW camps. That can't be happening.

It's happening.

We see it. It happens.

And I'm thinking.

Well, what are they going to do? Are they going to take this out on me?

I'm their prisoner.

I'm on the other side.

What are they going to do to me?

Are they going to torture me now?

Are they going to beat me every day? What's going to happen?

What am I going to have to do?

I was going to have to learn to live the way they wanted me to live.

if I was going to live at all.

But I'm not begging anybody for nothing.

I'm going to die, and when I do die,

and if they do decide to kill me, if it's right now or later, these guys will

have respected Tommy Hamill when they do.

They've come in.

They fed me and they put these shackles back on.

I'm having to endure this during the night.

Maybe eight, nine, ten hours every night.

I can't do anything. I can't take these things off. They're not taking them off.

I was really frustrated.

And I was about to lose control.

About to lose control.

But one day my captors came in and told me to get up.

We move again.

All right, now, what's going on now?

What's going on?

They walk me up to this old building.

I'm looking at that and I'm thinking, okay, now where are they going with

They're passing this AK back and forth and they're talking over there. You

you take it. I don't want it. You take it. I don't want it.

And I'm thinking, man, that don't look good. What's going on there?

Is this some kind of initiation they put their young?

Insurgents through.

Well, the little short guy winds up with the AK.

He said, get up. We walked.

Something has happened.

The guard behind me, he's got the AK pointed at my back.

I'm thinking, they fed you your last meal. They walked you out. They're going

shoot you. They're going to leave you here. They're going to get in their car

and they're going to leave.

The only chance I've got is to take off running.

If I just take off running, moving target, he can't hit a moving target. So

thinking I've got to do something now. I have got to just take off running.

If he shoots me, he's going to shoot me running.

And I'm thinking at the same time, back up, calm down.

Let's wait and see what else is fixing to happen.

He told me to stop.

Sit down. Sit down.

It appears that I'm fixing to be executed.

I had been trying to prepare myself for this very moment.

What will I do if it ever comes down to execution?

Will I beg?

Will I plead?

Or will I do the honorable thing?

So I didn't beg the guy. I didn't say, hey, don't kill me. I didn't say a word.

But I'm okay if I die here because if I die here, that's what's supposed to

happen.

I'm supposed to die here.

It's my time to die.

All of a sudden, he comes over.

Let's get up, mister.

Let's go back to the house.

I don't know what just happened.

Is this some more mental torture?

You know, I didn't know what they were trying to do. Maybe they just lose their

nerve. I don't know.

And then I'm thinking, no, can I take any more of this? How much more of this

wondering, are they going to execute me or are they not? Are they or are they

not? I can't take any more of this. I've got to know what's going on.

They pushed me inside this little hut.

There's no door.

They can't lock me in there and get in their little car and drive off and come

back later.

They've got to have somebody stand guard right here at this door because I can

just walk out of it.

And I get over in a corner and I sit down. It's pitch black.

And all of a sudden I hear them dragging a piece of metal train.

And I hear them leaning up against the outside of this wall.

I'm thinking, okay, they're just going to barricade me in here.

And dealing with the chains on my legs for the past five or six days, I hadn't

been getting very much sleep at night.

So I laid down just for a little while. Me and I fell asleep.

I just woke up like somebody reached down and shook me.

I had that feeling. I mean, somebody just shook me and said, hey, you've got

get up now.

And I'm starting to hear.

Something in the background.

Some noise.

That's a convoy.

That's a military convoy going by this building.

I get up, and I walk over to the door, and I push on it.

It moves a couple of inches, and my eye catches a column of U .S. trucks

moving.

I'm thinking, there is no way.

No way that they can drive off and leave me today.

But there's a guard out here.

He's going to shoot me when I slide this door open.

He's going to shoot me, I know that.

But today, I'm taking that leap of faith.

All I've got to do is get to those soldiers.

And I'm going home to Cali today.

I just pushed on it, and it just threw to one side.

And as it did, I'm out the door, and I never turned around, never looked back

to see if that guard was anywhere around.

I'm running. I'm running as hard as I can.

And I'm stumbling, and these sandals aren't helping.

I'm thinking, okay, what are the rules of engagement today?

I've got to let these guys out here know that I'm not a suicide bomber running

across this field, running up this convo, and going to detonate a suicide

bomber.

My greatest danger may be in front of me.

I start calling, I'm an American, and I'm still thinking those

engines are running.

What they're going to be seeing is my lips moving. They're not going to hear

anything I'm saying.

I've got to let them know as fast as I can that I'm not a suicide bomber.

I'm an American.

I'm an American, PNW.

I'm an American.

I'm pulling my shirt off, and I'm saying, my name's Tommy Hamill.

I'm the contractor that was captured.

Man, I was about as high as I could get. Don't worry about this wound. I'm going

home. They take care of it when I get home. Just get me out of here.

Get me somewhere where I can call my wife and let her know that I'm safe and

coming home.

I had escaped.

And I had survived 24 days in captivity in the desert in Iraq.

I'm going home to my family today.

Forty -three years old, I was looking for some excitement in my life.

I'm not telling everybody, watch what you wish for. You might get more than

plan.