a little story

So let me tell you a little story,

It was 0200 and I was getting up after not really getting a good night sleep. I had about 5 hours to get some rest before we stepped off on our mission to do what we came to the Stan to do….fight the Taliban. I had a lot on my mind at the time…..would we find what we were looking for, would we find who we were looking for, and would we all make it back safe and sound. It was chilly that time of morning and the half moon had already set. Our NVGs were not going to work as best they could because of the low levels of ambient light. No moon light in an area of the world that has no city lights means we’ll be operating in the dark. It’s not uncommon for us to operate in the dark…in fact we are pretty good at it, respectively. But it’s always harder for an offensive unit to move under the cover of darkness trying to walk miles in fields, muddy terrain and in large groups. Confusion, time slowing down because you are following someone (almost blindly) and you know that the dogs will bark and give you away. I walked hoping that I wouldn’t trip and fall too often and when I did I hope I didn’t twist an ankle or break my wrist. But the ambient light from the stars was good enough to keep my NVGs working. We were heading East and the planet that was 15 degrees above the horizon helped light the way like God was helping us achieve success. Yeah I know: how could I tell it was a planet and not the stars? Well stars twinkle….and planets shine….with my NVGs on things illuminate like nothing you can imagine. You have to use them for yourself to believe.

So we stepped on time….well four minutes later than planned but that’s good enough for this mission. And we took the ANBP with us. I had to wake them up….it was part of my plan…..because I’m not going to fail just because they are not Marines and can’t be trusted to get their lazy butts up. So we pushed…..three separate squads each with an important part of the mission. Three separate initial objectives but all with the same goal: Catch the bad guys with weapons and drugs. If we weren’t successful I wouldn’t be writing this now…so there is your climax.

We were on the hunt. Looking for prey that hides behind innocent people, they hide behind their ignorance, and they think that the shadow government the Taliban has provided for them will keep them safe. The think that because we’ve been kind to them learning how they work, live and operate that we are all friends. But they forget about their own customs……and I haven’t been invited to have Three Cups of Tea with these jerk offs so we are not friends and we are not on the same side.

The Marine Corps didn’t come to Afghanistan because we wanted to concur these people and take their lands. We don’t care for their women or their poppy. Before 9/11 they didn’t have anything I wanted……but after 9/11 they forced us to realize that there is something here that we wanted……his name is Osama Bin Ladin. He isn’t here in the village of Taghaz. Actually I’ll be my ridiculous government pay check that he isn’t even in Afghanistan…..he is probably in Pakistan with the last remnants of the TB…..hiding in the shadows like a coward. But he is smart to do so…if I was wanted by half of the world I’d hide to….but I’m not a wanted man and I wasn’t involved with the planning of the events that killed 2751 people in Manhattan, NY on a day that no one expected.

Instead the Marine Corps was invited by the Government Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to rid their country of bad men…..men that don’t believe that women should be used for more than procreation. A place where men were once forced to grow their beards and grow poppy to fund terrorism. A place that God didn’t forget…..but since I’ve been here it feels that way.

As I walked through the fields I was cold because the river I just walked across chilled my bones. The sun wasn’t going to be up for 3 more hours but we had a mission to complete thus my comfort took a back seat….actually I put it in the trunk….I wasn’t going to be comfortable today. I knew it was going to be hot, I was already tired, and I couldn’t get down any chow but I did have a cup of Starbucks! LOL

We pushed too far and crossed a canal I should have realized was the point in which we were supposed to make the Left turn….but I put my trust in my Marines I knew they wouldn’t fail me. So with the canal on my left instead of on my right I knew we were going to have to cross back and the crossing was going to be challenging. The berm was short but the drop off was steep. About 15 feet the bank went almost straight down to the water that was knee deep. We crossed it anyways because our time was short…..the first call to prayer had already sound and the people were getting up. Or at least the good Muslims were. I just hoped the bad guys were still too sleepy to get up after enjoying a night smoking opium and having a good time. So I slid down the embankment and into the water. I watched as the two Marines in front of me struggled to get up the other side. But as good Marines do they helped each other out…..and they helped out their old man the platoon commander. As I stood on the top of the berm I saw my Marines surround the compounds like we had planned. Now I only need to have my ANBP counterpart get next to me so we could go knock on the door. As I looked back over my shoulder to see how his progress was coming I witnesses something that almost took my breath away. The Commander was being carried across the water by one of his men. I had to scratch my head a little bit because at first I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Was he hurt, was he sick, or was he just being a wimp because he didn’t want to get his only pair of boots wet? I looked at my Sergeant and asked him, ‘are you seeing what I’m seeing?’ He said, ‘yeah and his man carried him across the river we all walked through too!’ The river is as wide as half a football field……so I had to laugh but I wasn’t worried about giving my position away…we already had the advantage of surprise and we were already in position. So I had to think to myself……could I get my Marines to carry me across the water next time? :P Nope…I tried and with a respectful reply they laughed at me.

So we grabbed the elder of the area and told him what we were going to do and asked him if he would go with us. We moved on to the next objective and made our play. The Marines had already done their job waking everyone up and saking for the women and children to be separated. Then with the help of the ANBP, the Marines, with the Elder and Me watching we started our search. We knew we wouldn’t find anything in the house but we start there anyways……the ANBP commander, who has little patience for poppy farmers less with TB friendly bad guys, did his own questioning of our one bad guy in question. I didn’t see the slap or any physical abuse but I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened ;). I did have one of my Marines watching just to ensure that there was no excessive abuse going on. We were just about to wrap it up after finding nothing and the old man that lived there cracked! He told us that there were drugs there…..it was where the dog was tied up. The mean Afghan dog that was barking the whole time. So one of the kids dug it up and it was on like Donkey Kong after that. A bowling ball size bag of freshly harvested opium. And so we continued our search….only to find one more bag a little bigger than the first. So we bagged him and tagged him and pushed to the next compound.

Our second objective was much bigger than the first. It was a very large family with roughly 10 women and 10 men. All of the men we know are dirty. They have some of the best poppy fields in the area so we hoped to find a lot of what they have been collecting. We were there for hours searching the house. Finding little bits of drugs here and there….when I say a little I mean we only found on main bag that probably was the size of a honeydew melo. Then I had chai with the elder…..we talked and he pleaded to me saying that there were no weapons. Then we found them. 2 Ak-47 buried next to an animal pen. With lots of ammo. The Marines also found RPK rounds (medium machine gun) rounds in the goat pen in a different area. We found other bomb making materials as well…..and some items that the enemy uses to communicate with. It was a good find but not all that we were looking for. So I made a deal with the elder….if we found weapons that he didn’t know were there I had his permission to arrest everyone that was there to include himself. Well with that I took him to our findings…he told me that I had permission to kill his sons because they brought shame to his family. I told him that was not our way and we would turn them over to the proper authorities like we planned on doing. I left the old man with all the women. I’m not sure who had it worse!

We pushed to the next objective and repeated the process. Normally I don’t ever talk to Afghan women but the oldest was talking to me. All the men were in a different part of the compound and they couldn’t see the women. The eldest woman pleaded with me not to take the all the men to jail. She said that no one would take care of them and they would all starve. I told her if she showed me where the drugs were I’d leave her husband here to take care of them…..she jumped up and threw out a cantaloupe size bag of raw opium……yup….just like that! So we collected it and found little stashes here and there. But we had enough to put everyone away…..everyone was going to jail and we had accomplished our mission.

We detained 22 men yesterday…..we only wanted to get 10 of them specifically and we got everyone we expected to be there. We let one go this morning when a group of elders came to vouch for some of them. So I let him go as a sign of good faith. He was an old gentleman and we didn’t want him anyways….but you never know who will roll over and spill the beans. No one wants to go to jail….especially in Afghanistan.

The important thing is that all my Marines made it back to the base safe and sound. We have over 30 kilos of raw opium and a few weapons and assorted bomb making materials. Some of those we captured are part of the IED cell that took responsibility for killing Sgt. Major. It’s just a little payback the right way. I hope he is proud of us….I know he is watching.

So I won’t say that I did all this hard work. It all came down to two of my Sergeants that for weeks have been collecting information on these bad guys. They deserve all the credit not me. I just put the plan together that they made. I was just there to be the leader…they did all the hard work. When you think of who the heroes of the day were it was them…..not me.

Semper Fi,

ws