No Young Soldiers
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10 August 2009
Sangin, Afghanistan
Daily dramas unfolded, including the bangs, booms and small-arms fire that punctuated the times. At 1800, I was preparing to go to orders with 1 Platoon, A Company of 2 Rifles, when shots from a large-caliber rifle began cracking low over base. I passed by sniper, Kris Griffith, and said, “Hey Kris, why don’t you grab your rifle and go shoot that guy?” Kris replied that two other sniper teams were on it. “He’s close,” I said, and Kris answered, “About 600 meters.” Then we went our separate ways.
Orders were given and then the soldiers performed final checks on their gear and tried to fall to sleep in the sweltering evening heat. Some nights I would go to sleep using the sleeping bag as a pillow, only to wake up with it drenched in sweat.
The alarm was set for 0213 hours, but at 0211 I sat up and turned it off before it could wake the soldiers who were not going on the mission. I had nineteen minutes to pull on my boots, body armor, and small rucksack, before I had to get to breakfast, engage in final conversations, and then show up for the mission at 0310.
The following series of photos were taken during the early morning hours of August 2nd . The conditions were “red illume,” meaning there was less than 10 millilux of ambient light and it was too dark for most helicopters to fly, even while using night vision gear. It was plenty dark.
Soldiers and section leaders did “final check” after “final check” of their gear, and talked quietly among themselves while last-minute updates came over the radio.
In red illume, the soldiers used dim red lights that were harder for the enemy to see. Red light also preserved our night vision. By showing up a half-hour before departure and sitting quietly, our eyes and senses had time to adjust and tune in to the battlefield. The battlefield was a thirty-second walk away.
Some soldiers smoked cigarettes before stepping out into the wild zone. Most were quiet. There was little talking during the last ten minutes.
My section assembled…
…While another section waited.
The first section moved out nine minutes before the mission for my section began.
Six minutes to departure.
Final red lights were out. Our mission started three minutes early.
Comments
1 Why, O LORD, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,
who are caught in the schemes he devises.
3 He boasts of the cravings of his heart;
he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.
4 In his pride the wicked does not seek him;
in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
5 His ways are always prosperous;
he is haughty and your laws are far from him;
he sneers at all his enemies.
6 He says to himself, "Nothing will shake me;
I'll always be happy and never have trouble."
7 His mouth is full of curses and lies and threats;
trouble and evil are under his tongue.
8 He lies in wait near the villages;
from ambush he murders the innocent,
watching in secret for his victims.
9 He lies in wait like a lion in cover;
he lies in wait to catch the helpless;
he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.
10 His victims are crushed, they collapse;
they fall under his strength.
11 He says to himself, "God has forgotten;
he covers his face and never sees."
12 Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God.
Do not forget the helpless.
13 Why does the wicked man revile God?
Why does he say to himself,
"He won't call me to account"?
14 But you, O God, do see trouble and grief;
you consider it to take it in hand.
The victim commits himself to you;
you are the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil man;
call him to account for his wickedness
that would not be found out.
16 The LORD is King for ever and ever;
the nations will perish from his land.
17 You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted;
you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,
18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.
This is the enemy we are fighting. God Bless you Michael and all the troops you walk into to battle with. May god watch over all of you as the fight continues and may he bring you all home safely after the battle is won.
RP
Austin, TX
~Lest I keep my complacent way I must remember somewhere out there a person died for me today. As long as there must be war,
I ask and I must answer was I worth dying for? ~
Eleanor Roosevelt
Godspeed Mr Yon and all of you over there.
God bless!
Thank you for all you do!
Keep up the good work.
Highest Regards...
Amen. As my Marine Officer Instructor told us, "There is no 'fair' in warfare. The whole idea is to make it as totally f*cking unfair as possible."
Keep up the great work, Michael. You're the best war correspondent in the business.
Outstanding work Michael.
Please continue to take care, please tell our brothers in arms that we care very much about them, as we do you, and we pray for all of you daily.
"I don't train you to die for your country... I train you so the other guy can die for his country." Semper Fi
Following you on Twitter.
those deployed, hope you get to share some of it. any more books on the way? God Bless!
They should post all your stuff regularly. Maybe it will start getting Barry's attention and maybe the rest of the country will get behind the Afghan effort in a more meaning way!
You bring it home, brother! Keep the shiney side up and your azzzz down!!! We'll keep the gas flowing to those A-10's so they can "Not fight fair".
My 4 yr old son's father (and my former husband), Army Spc. Gregory Missman, was just killed on July 8th in Afg. He was just 36 years old. Our family is still in a deep state of grief and sorrow following his death. I came across your pictures and blog and it brought me to my knee's in tears. We miss Greg everyday. Thank you for your pictures and your stories. The American people need to know more about what is going on in Afg. and what our brave soliders are doing over there. God bless, Brooke
http://www.thunderrun.us/2009/08/from-front-08102009.html
Please pass this on to the warriors you talk to: Thank You. From the guys in the rear with the gear to the guys on the point, you're all heroes in my eyes.
I dearly hope that none of the warriors ever feel forgotten; long tedious wars with no end in sight against a dug in enemy don't make many highlight shows.
I'm not a politician, but if I was, I'd be advocating the evacuation of all troops and dropping nuclear fire on every Muslim strong hold. I'd use the ground troops to blow up every mosque in Europe and North America. I would do this with no remorse; after all, these bastards have sworn to die in the act of killing us. I'm willing to meet them halfway: they can die in hellfire and we can stick around for awhile.
Everybody gets their wish.
I know that's not how things work, but I can dream.
I dream of the day when all of you are reunited with the people who love you so you can return to a normal, peaceful life.
God bless all of you.
God be with you
Joe
Austin Tx
Thanks again Michael for a great dispatch.
Regarding Johns comment. Well Donald Rumsfeld did refer to the War on Terror as a "Hundred year war", so I would think its highly likely that Nuclear Weapons will be used at some point.
Michael leaves a record of what is happening today in Afghanistan that should be preserved and circulated, his photos and despatches will stand the test of time. In the end the issues in Afghanistan will only be solved by the people themselves all we can do is create the right context for the better guys to come to the fore.
"According to a report of that briefing, the US commander said British forces are too cautious about contact with the Taliban, have poor intelligence-ga thering skills and have not done enough to build relations with local Afghans.
He is also said to have argued that British troops patrol in groups that are too large and spend too long resting between patrols.
The American also said British commanders do not spend enough time in the country to learn about the people or the place.
The US commander is also said to have concluded: “Your standards of personal hygiene and field discipline aren’t good enough and you have too many non-battle injuries.” "
There's more but you get the picture. Thank you Mr Yon.
Keep safe Micheal.
Perhaps Raymond could provide the link to his claim.
It appears the British are suffering losses similar to our levels and maybe higher by proportion of troops on the field, not indicative of excessive caution. Hygiene comment silly. (Our marines have not showered in months???)
Could the alleged comments have been made by McChristol's predecessor, resulting in his relief?
The "alleged" comments would not have been made by an intelliigent commander in a general briefing. If made, should have been one-on-one with the British counterpart.
Again, I doubt the alleged incident occurred based on available evidence.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/6017619/Bob-Ainsworth-Defeatists-at-home-are-letting-down-British-troops.html
although i urge ignoring Bob's comments in the article, he is trying to shift blame for his inability to lead.
Interesting that you want "us" to hang in there and win. Win what? And what constitutes winning? If you knew it would take 50-100 years to win in the context that we know it, would you still be game?
And thanks to toxicseagull for posting an actual link.
The Marine's learned some hard lessons since 2003 - they have much to teach and we should learn.
I have the sense that there is little difference between the British public and ours...to wit...support for the troops but not the war. I have repeatedly stated here that we have achieved all reachable goals. Al Qaeda is gone and would likely receive little support should they try to return. The Taliban are fighting us only because we are there as they have banded together to fight all who come to their country over the ages. Absent foreigners, they will revert to fighting amongst themselves for local power. The central government is corrupt and ineffectual outside major cities. We will not defeat Islam..it is embedded in their constitution. We cannot shove democracy down their throats We cannot bring them into the 18th century much less the 21st. No roads, no major rivers, nothing but mountains, rocks, and deserts. Once this fighting season is over, we should withdraw, declaring that we have achieved our objectives and it is up to the Afghan people to sort out their own future. The cost in blood and treasure is simply too high.
not a problem for posting the link. my main comments stem from general cynicism if im honest. i dont think he was a marine (as Yon has pointed out, the marines arnt exactly showering every day either ;-)) especially with the comment on "short tours", as the US Marines do 6 month tours as well and the US Army has been under pressure to adopt it as well from their current 12/15 months.
so i would imagine its either been horrendously reported or released to give the government/publ ic a kick up the bum. I dont agree with Bob's points at all in that article either. looks to me like cheap political saving of his own ass. blaming his own dept's failures on not enough public support. Nevermind that if the "sense of purpose and momentum" has not being translated from the front line that is due to the MOD and government failing to do so, not the public or the troops. if some people in the UK believe its not worth it. give them legitimate reasoning to prove it is worth it. his
"“This defeatism has been exacerbated by political arguments about British troop levels, vehicles and helicopters that often misunderstand the nature of coalition warfare.”" quote is frankly ridiculous. attempting to paint people that question his department as defeatists or not supporting the troops.
but if you believe anything mr yon has to say on the matter he has nothing but praise for british troops.i have read many reports of michaels in iraq and afghanistan and none of them have even hinted at any reluctance to fight the tali-tubbies or iraq's
I was in Sangin between April and July '07 and in that time i can assure you we were run into the ground by constant patrolling and deliberate ops - the only 'downtime' was to sleep eat and prepare for the next patrol, i fail to see how our tempo could be any higher! We are also not timid, everytime we are out we are looking for troubla and almost always find it.
It is true we suffer a large number of heat casualties, however few of these are evacuated, in most cases the guys are back on the next patrol (rightly or wrongly). I think one reason for these heat injuries is the weight we are carrying...ever y man is carrying well over lbs100 on average in over 50C heat, this takes its toll on anybody. Because of lack of assets to resupply us in the field we have to carry all of our water and equipment for an op. In prolonged engaments we were envariably running out of water, that is when blokes tended to go down with heat stroke.
Finally, it is rubbish to say that we moved out in overly large groups, most of the time we moved out in eight man sections (all though we were supported by other sections close by). We never moved out in larger than platoon formations and even then the platoon would be widley dispersed. Is a bit of a joke really as even these 'sections' and 'platoons' were not worthy of the name as they were so under-strength/ manned (even at the start of the tour) that a section was lucky to constitute 6 blokes, let alone 8! Even my platoon was little more than a multiple (12 men) by the tail end of the tour.
I have a lot of respect for the American soldiers and i felt when working alongside them (82nd airbourne and US spec ops) that the feeling was mutual, that is why i am surprised by this officers comments.
As for short tours, as pointed out, the USMC do 6 monthers. the reason the USArmy (mostly NG) do 12 months as I understand, is that on return to the USA they leave the army 'en masse', this leaves very little in the way of combat experience to draw from. Also at the moment most british infantry units are on their SEVENTH tour of duty.
We have nothing to prove. Perhaps that's what annoys so many US officers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8202864.stm
Not many care but, much do. Those who support you and our troops care bro. Keep your head down no matter where your at and always remember to adapt and overcome. The press may move along with fake half ass stories. But, you bro, speak the truth. Your there. They aren't.
iCasualties.org: Operation Enduring Freedom
http://www.lastingtribute.co.uk/featuredtributes/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/afghanistan
Second, beyond some British politics (MOD), even though the google earth images were older, it's still something that could be used to plot taliban fire missions, etc, so I can understand the Brits getting mad about that.
But... the rest of the article does nothing but showcase the BRAVERY, DEDICATION, and HONOR of the Brits. Those guys are my heroes 'til the day I die. I hope the MOD reconsiders their decision, even if they have to lay down some ground rules about operational details.
It seems to me that the Brits don't have a huge army, so they are doing their part, even with being hamstrung by politicians (they have blood on their hands!).
God bless the Brits!
I have been an ardent admirer and advid reader of your posts and site since you satrted. Even though my previous and sometimes current, personal finances are um, thin, I try to donate to your continuing good works often. Regardless, I sincerely thank you for your dedication, often poorly supported, in providing us here @ home, some "ground truth".
I'm first-generatio n Anglo-American, and an admirer of the UK 's forces. I've had the "honour" of working w/ elements of HM Royal Navy and Royal Marines ... well-discplined troops that are thoroughly professional ... so much so, that me and a friend donated a small amount to a UK-based organization similar to our "Wounded Warrior Project" and/or "Semper Fi Injured Marines Fund" ...
I would like to appeal to my "fellow" readers - especially those connected in any way w/ the armed forces: If you support our own troops and our Allies, please forgo this month's beer re-supply and consider donating those funds to the many useful organizations here and in UK and Canada, that support our wounded, returning troops.
I make it a personal point of honor and respect to say this in person to all of you on active service - US and our ABC Allies [Aussie, British and Canadian] - reading this rambling post: "Thank you sincerely for your service to our country(ies)!" Believe it or not, I'm envious: I'd rather be back on duty as an FMF Corpsman, but I'm disabled [only slightly!], too old and a "little" unfit (or so I''ve been told about 4X by NAVPERS and BuMED after beggin' to help 'my' Marines as they run toward the sound o' the guns) ...anyway, I'm a soon-to-be Instructor for the Army's 68 W course @ Ft Sam, so I reckon that kinda counts for service in time of war, huh?!
From what I know the Brits have decent gear and most importantly the will to win. One observation I have made is that it seems that everyone has comms, this is something I have not seen on a widespread basis in the US military. They are a brave bunch and are every bit as worthy of our support as our own guys. Thanks go to them!
Another great read pulled from the archives, keep it up Michael, can't wait for the new book.
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