Yeah, dude. Those humvees were death traps. I saw that exact thing that you described happen while I was on rooftop security south of Abu Ghraib prison in Zaidon. In that instance (not my best friend’s incident), only one guy out of the five survived—the turret gunner. He got blown sky motherfucking high like a champagne cork. Humvee got blown onto its roof, and all the spare JP8 fuel made for a firey fucking mess.HEDPs are fucking most things up but a guy's chest? Sweet...It's fucking messy isn't it? Yet, I would be more horrified if I found some bastard had run over my cat.
As for your best friend....that is tragic, I feel your loss on that one. I am fortunate to have never lost a member of my squadron...all made it safely home (some minus limbs I grant you, but home alive). I was working with 22 regiment of SAS back in Iraq and two of the SAS died in a shitty Puma that day, got trapped when the Puma rolled on them and it caught fire....one of them was strapped to fuck with explosives. I was back at base but when the guys came back, they were fucking distraught. So glad I wasn't out there with them that day...but then, I equally wish I was because I felt completely helpless back at base.
I was an operator with 2nd Recon Battalion (USMC)... never got to work with SAS, personally, but heard you guys were legit... oh, and you sounds funny when you talk with your British accent. LawL.