25 November 2009 Bravo Companys Third Platoon of the Fourth Battalion, Twenty-Third Infantry Regiment, Fifth Brigade, Second Infantry Division was posted at a small school house in the Arghandab River Valley of Afghanistan. With us was a handful of fisters (mortar men), a sniper team, and a few soldiers of the AnA (Afghan Army). We had been in the area for several weeks conducting presence patrols and meeting with local elders. It was night-time and I was on rotation for guard. I scanned with the RWS (Remote Weapon Station) from inside of one of our Stryker M1126 ICVs (Infantry Carrier Vehicles). The thermal sight capabilities of the RWS allowed us to see through pitch black darkness and anything that gave off heat like, for example, a human body was projected onto a screen in a bright white or dark black contrast, depending on the settings. Our Platoon Sergeant, Dorian Ballard, and the vehicles commander, David Fisher, were relaxing inside of the Stryker with me. They utilized the vehicle to power a laptop computer that was playing the movie District 9. The vehiclea driver, David Nash, was secluded in his drivers hatch, probably asleep in his comfy reclining chair that was concealed in a Mossy Oak seat cover. I had just scanned over a man-made mud wall that shielded one of the many small orchards in that fertile valley. I was prompting the RWS to the left when an explosion rocked our Stryker. I quickly rotated my view back to the wall where I then observed hasty movement behind a cloud of smoke and dust as a man ducked behind the wall. SFC Ballard took the joystick and let loose a barrage of lead from the RWSs mounted M2 Browning .50 Caliber machine gun. Nash began cursing and flailing inside of of his hatch. Someone had just fired a RPG (rocket propelled grenade) at our vehicle and it impacted the ground several feet in front of us. Nash swore that the enemy had scored a direct hit on the front of the Stryker. Anticipating another direct hit, he crawled his way through a tiny hole into the main compartment of the Stryker where we were. Fisher was dawning his gear and I was about to exit through the rear hatch when we heard maniacal screaming outside. Moments before the attack, Alexander Rosario (popularly known as Rosi) stepped out of the vehicle to relieve himself. Days earlier, Fisher had constructed an elaborate Sh*tter with an ammo box just outside of his vehicle to better convenience himself. Rosi was literally caught with his pants down when the rocket exploded. From the sounds that Rosi was making as he cried and clawed at the hatch, I wrongly deduced that he had been injured by the blast. I dropped the ramp and Rosi hurried into the Stryker to grab his gear. After seeing that he still possessed all of his appendages, I rushed toward the school house to regroup with my squad. By that point, everyone was awake and taking up defensive positions. Our company snipers, Dustin Kaiser and Kyle Nespory, yelled down to me from the roof, asking what direction the RPG came from. In my excitement, all I could do was point and blurt some incoherent gibberish. That was apparently enough because because Kaiser responded with a solid Roger and he and Nespory got to work attempting to identify the enemys location. By the time I had made it to my squad mates who were positioned on the roof, the Afghab troops had begun doing what they do best. They were firing indiscriminately into the pitch black void of night. Lacking night vision, they launched RPGs at nothing and their grenades collided into trees and exploded as the school house went full death blossom. The next day was Thanksgiving. I spent my holiday putting my Urban Breacher training to use. I made charges that we used to blow up the mud wall that concealed the enemy on the previous night. We smashed apart whatever was left of the wall with sledge hammers. Later, we enjoyed a feast of lamb and rice, courtesy of the AnA. There were many enjoyable experiences during my deployment but it was from this one that I concluded that the Field Poop should be integrated into the Expert Infantryman tasks.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 18:59:24 +0000
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