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WITNESS: Afghan night mission ends in bullets
Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:26pm EST
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Deborah Gembara recently returned to Washington from a six-week reporting stint in Afghanistan. In the following story she recounts a night mission last month with U.S. soldiers in eastern Afghanistan.
By Deborah Gembara
BABO KHEYL, Afghanistan (Reuters) - It's just after midnight and I am in the back of a helicopter, jammed in with two soldiers on either side. We are in darkness, save for slivers of moonlight illuminating the door gunners.
I'm tagging along with members of the U.S. Army's 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment from Alaska, as they conduct a raid on the town of Babo Kheyl in eastern Afghanistan.
It's my first night operation and I'm digesting what I've been told about Babo Kheyl. Taliban stronghold. Surrounded by muddy trenches. Armed to the teeth.
Another night in the war for these soldiers, who are among about 67,000 U.S. troops and 40,000 allied forces trying to beat back a Taliban insurgency and stabilize the country.
Our ride is a Chinook. Chinooks are the workhorse of the chopper fleet, transporting several dozen people at a time as well as major cargo. They're also excellent at high altitudes. If Blackhawks are racehorses, Chinooks are Clydesdales.
The helicopter begins dropping in altitude. The thigh muscles of the soldiers on both sides of me stiffen at the same moment. Weapons that had been resting on the floor are now pulled up to the soldiers' chests.
The chopper lands with a clumsy thud. We are on our feet and shuffling single file toward the rear of the helicopter. Ahead of me, two soldiers bound off the end of the ramp, sprinting into the darkness.
By the time I reach the ramp, the momentum behind me is so great it feels like a stampede. As a general rule, soldiers run off of helicopters as if they were on fire. The more time a chopper spends on the ground, the greater the chances a sniper will shoot out one of the rotors.
I'd been sold on the idea of covering an air mission after being told: "You're in and then you're out." That turned out to be only partially true.
The chopper leaves without incident and we walk briskly across a field. Our ride has spared us a six-hour trudge through minefields and muddy riverbeds also known as wadis.
WORLD TINGED GREEN
My world is the green images I see through the night vision eye piece. It isn't long before the soldiers are going into the first home.
Fueled by adrenaline and energy drinks with names like "Monster" and "Rip It," they spill into the house and round up the men, separating them from the women and children.
Tonight, the soldiers are looking for weapons, bomb-making materials and answers about recent mortar attacks on their base. Continued...
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