Chaplain Lewis has written a first person account of the aftermath of yesterday’s attack on a mess tent at FOB Marez.

After a few tense moments people began to move around again and the business of patching bodies and healing minds continued in earnest. As I stood talking with some other chaplain, an officer approached and not seeing us, yelled, “Is there a chaplain around here?” I turned and asked what I could do. He spoke to us and said that another patient had just been moved to the “expectant” list and would one of us come pray for him. I walked in and found him lying on the bed with a tube in his throat, and no signs of consciousness. There were two nurses tending to him in his final moments. One had a clipboard so I assumed she’d have the information I wanted. I turned to her and asked if she knew his name. Without hesitation the other nurse, with no papers, blurted out his first, middle, and last name. She had obviously taken this one personally. I’ll call him “Wayne”. I placed my hand on his head and lightly stroked his dark hair. Immediately my mind went to my Grandpa’s funeral when I touched his soft grey hair for the last time. And for the second time in as many hours I prayed wondering if it would do any good, but knowing that God is faithful and can do more than I even imagine. When I finished I looked up at the nurse who had known his name. She looked composed but struggling to stay so. I asked, “Are you OK?” and she broke down. I put my arm around her to comfort and encourage her. She said, “I was fine until you asked!” Then she explained that this was the third patient to die on her that day.

(From LGF)

Also, Jeremy Redmon, a reporter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch attached to the 276th Engineer Battalion in Iraq, was an eyewitness to the carnage, and has written a story for his paper about the tragedy.

UPDATE: Other stories about the aftermath: FOX News, AP and Reuters.

UPDATE II: While no words can ease the sorrow caused by the loss of life yesterday, Power Line reminds us about the big picture. Also included in the post is a link to an article about the attack, which indicates that it may have been perpetrated by a suicide bomber, and not by a rocket or mortar.