Otherworldly Light or Portal Above Battlefield, Iraq, 2 April 03

*Any Prior Service will note that I did not mention Branch, and purposely changed or left out minor details of the story to afford anonymity.

Kuwait, 2003: the early days of the invasion.

We spent about 2 weeks in Kuwait, prior to the invasion, training, planning, acclimating. Kuwait was miserable; hot, sandy, and windy AF. We were training for the initial push on Baghdad. Our Company, 4 Platoons strong, was tasked with reducing obstacles and destroying enemy forces from the Kuwaiti border, all the way to Baghdad.

2 April 03.

After Midnight, the attack began. Our vehicle column moved through the Karbala Gap and raced North to attack a key bridge across the Euphrates River. This bridge would later serve as the U.S. Military's primary avenue of approach into Baghdad. My platoon was the first unit to assault across the bridge. The bridge was wrecked. The Republican Guard had severely damaged it in their attempt to blow it up and halt our advance. We were successful in routing the enemy, and securing a position on the far side of the bridge.

Our Captain then took the bulk of our vehicle column, 3 of the 4 platoons, and continued the advance towards Saddam Hussein International Airport, leaving my platoon to guard the bridge from Fedayeen Saddam forces that a recon unit had spotted in the area. That left us 1 platoon to guard the bridge- 3 rifle squads and 1 weapons squad. It did not stay quiet for long. Most troops were dismounted, setting up a perimeter and ranging in weapons. Staff Sergeant and I were in a M1114 up armored Humvee, when we started taking fire from the ridge to the East, along a treeline.

Our platoon unleashed the 25mm on the encroaching fighters, they were paramilitary- I won't call them soldiers. Their ranks were obviously being decimated, but we did not relent. The dust and sand blanketing our vehicles flew off in thick sheets around us, due to the concussion of the 25mm. The impacting HE shells lit up the ridgeline, and set the trees on fire, so the area was fairly well lit. That's when things got weird.

Like I said, SS and I are still in the Humvee at this point. He is directing fire, and I am on the radio requesting gunship support. The ridge was blazing now, and the thump thump of the cannons mixed with rifle fire was deafening. I thought I had burst my eardrums, because suddenly I couldn't hear the radio anymore, but it wasn't my ears. The radio had just suddenly died. Next the GPS went out, then just as quickly we lost lights and battery power in the Humvees. Total cascade. I was about to check the battery on my NVGs, when I realized that the 25mm and rifle noise had stopped too. No enemy fire, no friendly fire. I remember feeling very disoriented at this time. Like Brain Fog.

SS ordered me to dismount and get a spare radio and battery from the back of the vehicle. My body moved sluggishly, even as I willed it to perform. Outside it was cold, too cold. I was sweaty and it gave me an immediate chill. It was silent, and completely dark except for the fire on the far ridge. I remember thinking that it was strange that I couldn't hear the rest of the platoon. I could see them, just not hear them. They were all, each and every, staring up at the sky. I remember thinking wtf; I was about to start screaming and barking, when I saw what they were all frozen in place by.

At first I thought I was seeing a glare from my goggles ( I wasn't wearing any ). My brain straight up could not identify what I was seeing- I had no reference to compare it to. It was like when you see a strange shape in the shadows at night, and your brain struggles to identify the foreign shape based on past experience, and can't. But this was no shadow- it was bright like electricity. I stared harder, having totally lost my battle posture. There was an impossibly bright baby blue light in the sky, directly between the enemy position and the bridge, about 100 meters off the ground. It was perfectly square, about 1 meter on each side. You remember how I said the sand was being thrown about due to concussions? It had frozen in place, midair, and all the grains were reflecting the blue light- it was otherworldly, like time had stood still and lit up in a cloud around us. I can't accurately tell you how long I stood there staring. I have no idea. Thank god the enemy were either dead, in retreat, or staring at the square themselves, because I was standing in the open like a damn fool.

Then, just as suddenly as it had started, it ended. The Blue square closed in on itself, from the top down, shutting like a window. It was still dead quiet, and I specifically remember hearing the weight of what had been a stationary sand cloud fall and land on the hood of the humvee, like sugar falling on sheet metal. All of a sudden the vehicles roared to life, the lights came back on, and the radio started squawking loudly. It startled the living sh*t out of me, and brought me out of my "fog" and back into the moment. I could hear the platoon come back to life: they were snapping out of their trances one by one, and starting to shout at one another, and me. We got our bearings back, and were expecting the firefight to resume. It didn't.

I jumped back on comms and saddled up next to Staff Sergeant, who wouldn't look at me. Air support was 2 minutes out. We closed ranks around the bridge, and awaited orders, Air support could not find a target; apparently we had destroyed the small band of paramilitary. We sat there in silence until relief arrived. Our orders came in to rejoin the Company, who were 20 Kilometers away, waiting for us before moving on to the Airport. The bridge, and Twilight Zone sh*t, was somebody else's problem now.

Our After Action Report did not include the incident with the blue square, or any details concerning the pause in battle. You don't report that kind of thing.

There was hushed talk days later amongst the men, about what happened. Those dismounted had seen the square open up initially, from bottom to top, again like a window. I had not witnessed that myself. Some were complaining of lingering migraines and eye ache. Some spoke of feeling like time had stopped still. Some said they felt like someone or something had been watching us from the square. A few claimed to not remember the incident at all. Afterwards, we agreed as a unit to never discuss the matter again. This is my first time telling this story publicly.

I later learned that we had been off comms for 20 minutes.

Unfortunately, the phenomenon seems to have followed me home, to a degree. I will detail this out in another story, another time.

a reply to: DreadKnock

Nicely told recollection of your experience!

What was the general concensus among your unit as to what it was or meant ?

S&F

a reply to: DreadKnock
Giving you an S&F for this thread.
Interesting i am surprised you are allowed to talk about this story by the way

Can I ask you a question if i can or could? if this was a portal by any chance how did the Portal look like? was it blue? light/blue?

oh it looked like a window square?

Then, just as suddenly as it had started, it ended. The Blue square closed in on itself, from the top down, shutting like a window. It

a reply to: Timely

No consensus was ever reached. 3 theories surfaced at the time.

1. Chemical Weapons Deployed by the Enemy
2. Satellite Weapon
3. Geometric shaped ufo

"portals" were were not part of our lexicon back then, and were not suggested as an explanation at the time. Only now, decades later, have I considered them.

originally posted by: HawkEyi
a reply to: DreadKnock

"Giving you an S&F for this thread.
Interesting i am surprised you are allowed to talk about this story by the way

Can I ask you a question if i can or could? if this was a portal by any chance how did the Portal look like? was it blue? light/blue?"



1. Permission was not necessary for dissemination, as the incident was never officially reported in full. I am only telling this story now because I saw a report by Linda Moulton Howe on Portals, and it brought back memories, and has me looking at said memories with a fresh perspective. Also, it ties in to a more recent personal story that I would like to share as a follow up to this one, about orbs.

2. Of course you may ask all the questions you like.

I will attempt to answer them as best I can. I just made a Very Crude mockup of what I saw, using my phone..

It had perfect edges, like a hovering mirror with no frame reflecting a bright light source, and was much brighter than my mock up ( above ). It was uniform in color, but was bright like electricity is bright.

edit on 14-9-2021 by DreadKnock because: Correction

a reply to: DreadKnock

I had a event similar to yours a few years back, never told anyone as they wouldn't believe me but i dont recall or remember "Portal" appearing in the sky like that.

It appeared on the ground while i was walking. Your story brought my remember of it again. To think that such a door way or portal would appear in a such fine blue clear skies with no clouds.
I was walking on a railroad that hasn't being used in a while.

I knew my way back. It appeared and surprised me. I thought it was a strong wind?

I saw how it looked. Its nothing that i had ever imagined.It looked similar to your event but it wasn't an square.

originally posted by: HawkEyi
a reply to: DreadKnock

I had a event similar to yours a few years back, never told anyone as they wouldn't believe me but i dont recall or remember "Portal" appearing in the sky like that.

It appeared on the ground while i was walking. Your story brought my remember of it again. To think that such a door way or portal would appear in a such fine blue clear skies with no clouds.
I was walking on a railroad that hasn't being used in a while.

I knew my way back. It appeared and surprised me. I thought it was a strong wind?

I saw how it looked. Its nothing that i had ever imagined.It looked similar to your event but it wasn't an square.

I think that it is important for us to tell these stories and not hold them in. Thank you for sharing that.

I have heard of portals more similar to the one you just described, in stories from Skinwalker Ranch, as well as other places. There are locations where this phenomenon seems to be more likely to occur, than others. Often, quartz, flowing water, and magnetism seem to be precursors to the event. David Paulides also speaks of the portal phenomenon in his books about sasquatch, as well as in his documentary Missing 411: The Hunted.

You might find these links interesting:

www.youtube.com...
dgomag.com...
www.youtube.com...

Cheers Dreafknock.

The world is a mystery and a wonder.

a reply to: DreadKnock

A friend of my were outside around 2a.m. back in about 2015. Above us we saw a bright flash and the formation of a ring. This happened between the double Star of Castor and double Star Pollux in the North East sky above Albuquerque, NM. Even more bazaar, we then saw a bright dot coming in from the direction of Los Alamos, zoom into the center of the ring, and then the ring collapsed. We were speechless for about 5 seconds and then began to question what the heck we just saw.

Fascinating story.

Thank you for sharing.

MR

a reply to: DreadKnock

Great thread! I don’t doubt you served in the military, but I’m confused… the actual invasion began in the early morning hours of March 20, 2003. Was your unit held in reserve until then?
Also: a 25mm cannon mounted on a HMMWV? I thought only LAVs and Bradley’s mounted 25mm?

OP thanks for sharing. That is very cool, interesting, & scary all at the same time.

It makes me wonder if this is perhaps some sort of near death experience? I wrote about that a while ago and perhaps there is a connection?

Near Death Experience - The Wheel
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I look forward to hearing more by the way!

a reply to: DreadKnock

Totally amazing CE thanks so much for placing it on ATS for us to enjoy and ponder on

originally posted by: Violater1
A friend of my were outside around 2a.m. back in about 2015. Above us we saw a bright flash and the formation of a ring. This happened between the double Star of Castor and double Star Pollux in the North East sky above Albuquerque, NM. Even more bazaar, we then saw a bright dot coming in from the direction of Los Alamos

Yes the bright flash

Had exactly the same in 2006 followed by "a bright dot" too

originally posted by: HawkeyeNation
I look forward to hearing more by the way!

This UFO CE is as good as it gets, what an experience.............. Totally looking forward to more

originally posted by: Thoughtcrime
a reply to: DreadKnock

Great thread! I don’t doubt you served in the military, but I’m confused… the actual invasion began in the early morning hours of March 20, 2003. Was your unit held in reserve until then?
Also: a 25mm cannon mounted on a HMMWV? I thought only LAVs and Bradley’s mounted 25mm?

You have a good eye for detail, and your confusion is well founded. No we were not held in reserve. I admittedly changed the date, hour, troop contingent, and ranks used in my telling of the story. Perhaps I have been on ATS just long enough to adopt the community paranoia concerning the site being "monitored'. I don't want anyone to be able to zero in on my unit or its operations. My hope was that changing such details would not take away from the part of the story I wanted to tell.

The Bushmaster was not mounted on my vehicle, and yes we did have an M3 that night. The FLIR capability, incorporated with other IBAS systems, was what allowed us to effectively eliminate the enemy on the ridge without having to advance from our position. The Bradley's subsystems were also used for direct communication with air support.

a reply to: DreadKnock

Ive been following Linda’s work for 40 years. She investigated the cattle mutilations in NM when I lived in Albq, where she now lives. I first encountered her work one Sunday morning reading her invetigative report in the Albq Journal. It was multiple pages, and of huge interest in that region at the time. The ranchers in the SW were spooked to say the least. Law enforcement and vets too. Its another mystery that happens at Skinwalker Ranch. And seems connected to portals, weird creatures, bigfoot. Ive been to a few live lectures of hers, and find her to be more credible than many. She has seen much High Strangeness in her life, and she is fascinating to listen too.

She would very much appreciate hearing your story. Have you thought to contact her? She is very approachable.

originally posted by: Violater1
A friend of my were outside around 2a.m. back in about 2015. Above us we saw a bright flash and the formation of a ring. This happened between the double Star of Castor and double Star Pollux in the North East sky above Albuquerque, NM. Even more bazaar, we then saw a bright dot coming in from the direction of Los Alamos, zoom into the center of the ring, and then the ring collapsed. We were speechless for about 5 seconds and then began to question what the heck we just saw.

Sandia Labs at Kirtland base in Albuquerque does much advance research. All kinds of trippy things can be seen in the sky, and on the ground, from places near there and particularly south of there at White Sands.

a reply to: DreadKnock

quartz? thank you i will look further and study into this heck i had being thinking about this since i was younger. It stroke me after that event. Good thing your whole platoon made it safely sir.