by Lundy, W. J.
An Afghan soldier moved to the barrier and started yelling through a bullhorn, commanding the mob to stop approaching the base and to keep their distance. Several more Afghan soldiers dragged a heavy roll of coiled wire across the road blocking the entrance to the barriers. But they kept coming. They passed a sign far out on the road that warned that violators would be shot if they approached the base. The mob continued to run.
The lieutenant ordered warning shots, and the machine gunner fired quickly over the crowd, but they didn’t slow, didn’t even flinch. “Gas!” the lieutenant shouted. The soldiers on the barrier fired tear gas canisters into the charging mob, but the mob didn’t respond. The CS Grenades bounced off some of the protestors knocking them to the ground, but they got back up and continued running. “Shotguns up!” the lieutenant yelled; panic growing in his voice. The Afghan soldiers raised shot guns and readied themselves for the mob.
The first wave hit the wire with a screeching roar, but that was quickly outdone by the sounds of the screaming crowd. Protestors were tangled and pushed deeper and deeper into the wire by those behind them. Eventually they collapsed and were pressed to the ground covering the jagged strands of barbed wire. Screaming protestors from the back began to climb up and over the fallen, and resumed their charge at the base.
“Open fire!” the lieutenant screamed frantically as he stepped backwards. The first volley of shotgun rounds dropped a few of the charging protestors, but most of them made it to the barricades. The Afghan soldiers were firing as quickly as they could with little effect. They racked and fired into the crowd, quickly reloading as they expended every round. The rioters continued screaming and breaching the barriers, the shotguns having no effect.
Robert quickly noticed why. They were firing crowd dispersal rounds and rubber bullets that bounced off the crowd or only temporarily slowed them. The lieutenant was expecting protestors not a feral crowd of rioters. The mob started to push over the barriers. As the barricades tumbled, the mass of people flooded towards the gates. “Weapons free! Fire!” the now fully panicked lieutenant screamed.
Robert saw several of the Afghan soldiers drop their guns and turn to run; others just stood paralyzed by fear as the protestors breeched the barriers and swarmed them. The M2 machine gun on the tower opened up into the crowd, knocking them down, but his angle was wrong. They were too close to the gates now, too close for him to stop them all. The rounds carved a path through the mob, but others continued to pour in and quickly filled the void as the gunner reloaded.
Tales of the Forgotten
Is now available.
