Jason Hurd, with a thick brown Tennessee beard and floppy hair, who served ten years in the active-duty Army and the Tennessee National Guard, asked the audience’s indulgence for what he called a “personal story” about Baghdad. This is what he said.

Hurd is a medic who, one day, was out on a foot patrol and needed to “keep all cars and individuals away from our formation.” Being a medic, he was at the rear of the formation, because, should you get attacked, you do not want your medic taken out of the game early. His patrol was along al-Kindi street in western Baghdad, or Rusafa. On this day last year I was in that very area and can vouch for Hurd when he says it’s upscale. A lot of prosperous Baathists used to live there.

“I was hanging out at the back with my platoon sergeant and we waved this car off to a side street,” he said. “As I walked up, the car turned around, turned back because [the sidestreet] was roadblocked with a concrete t-barrier.” The rules of engagement in that situation call for “levels of aggression” — that is, to quickly distinguish between car bombs and civilian drivers, soldiers must make split-second decisions to get the car to stop before opening fire. “I did my levels of aggression,” Hurd said,  “but the car sped up. I thought, ‘Oh, my God, this is it!” Instead of doing what he should have done — “raised my weapon” — he took his hand off his gun and “started jumping up, waving my hands.” But the car kept coming. “I raised my weapon and the car kept coming. I pulled my selector safety off and the car kept coming.” He was ready to apply deadly force, and –

Out of nowhere, a man came out and got the car to pull over to the curb. The driver emerged. She was an 80-year-old woman. “I learned she was a highly respected figure in the community,” Hurd said. “I do not know what would have happened if I had opened fire on her. Probably there would have been a riot.” He paused. “That was the worst thing I have ever done,” Hurd continued. “I am a peaceful man, and yet I drew down on an 80-year-old woman who could not see me because I was in front of a desert-colored vehicle in front of a desert-colored building wearing desert-colored camouflage.”