“No matter how smart we think we are, no matter how much we think we know about a subject, we don’t know enough! We have family with a lifetime of knowledge and experience. The family is a resource that needs to be tapped. Firm up old relationships, make new relationships with family we don’t know that well, tap that pool of knowledge!
“Take into consideration the girls in your immediate families; most of them are educated and have degrees. For instance, my Annie has been studying veterinary medicine and animal husbandry. You can bet she is the first helper I am going to pick. Our girls are smart, capable and eager to participate, so use them. They are much more than pretty faces, they are part of our heritage. Without them there isn’t any point to what we are trying to do. I’ll go and talk to Dek, get us access to the funds we are going to need.”
Workout room at the family home place, near town
It was a good turnout today. Al saw a lot of his new friends there and after working out, trying to get this injured body back into shape, he stopped to chat with most everyone.
When he got to Madd they exchanged small talk for a while.
“I didn’t finish telling you about our last weeks in the Stan. Now seems as good a time as any. Let’s head to the house and get some coffee and I’ll regale you with the times and tragedies of the cousins five,” Madd told him.
“Guy, you don’t need to tell me anything if you don’t want to. I’m interested because you guys are friends but I don’t want to dredge up any bad memories.”
“I appreciate that Al, but it probably should be told. If some reference or problem comes up later in our futures someone besides the cousins and I should maybe know about what went on. And as I pointed out the last time, we decided not to tell our girls about it. So that leaves you to bear whatever burden might be associated with the knowledge.”
Back at Madd’s and with coffee in hand, Madd started talking. This was the story.
Afghanistan, 9 weeks ago
Only one month to go on their enlistment and they were in eastern Afghanistan’s Kunar province. The forward operating base they were at was about the size of a couple football fields. It was established just a few days prior because the area had seen a steep rise in enemy activity. Not a good place to be.
Ever since getting here the cousins had been playing tag with snipers in this ass end of the world. Afghanistan had the ability to be freezing cold at night, burning hot in the daytime, and miserable all the time. It was a common joke to paraphrase the line from Avatar where Col Quaritch is welcoming the new guys.
“If there is a hell, you might want to go there for some R&R after a tour in Afghanistan.”
It always got some smiles, but it was much too close to the truth for any real humor.
A fortified OP was established on a small hill about 60 to 80 meters from the FOB, to help control the high ground. Madd, Real and Hey along with nine other soldiers were manning it. They usually tried to keep OP's in less obvious positions but in this case there were too many hills overlooking the FOB. They needed to control some high ground. They had dug fighting positions and sandbagged as much as they could before dark clamped down on them. They really needed to get their position dug in better and add a lot more sandbags. They had several vehicles parked in the middle of their position to try and keep them out of harm’s way.
All around their position it was dark, the kind of dark you get when there are no city lights to mitigate nighttime. At least in the cold mountain air there was some ambient light that allowed you to see men as dark blobs. Night vision goggles were pretty handy to have a times like these. The soldiers around Madd and the others were using a second generation version, and they did a fair job of image-intensification and improved visibility with these low light levels. A lot of civilians didn’t understand that all they actually did was amplify available ambient light, such as moonlight and starlight. NVGs don’t magnify an image. An object viewed through the goggles looks the same size as if it were seen in the day, without the goggles. Objects that are hard to see during the day are also hard to see at night through the goggles.
Shadows and dark places were still hard to see into. NVG performance is directly related to the amount of ambient light. Visual acuity (the accuracy with which an object is seen) with NVGs will never be as good as it is with the naked eye during daylight conditions. They also gave everything a greenish glow and most everyone agreed they screwed with your depth perception. Still, they could be a life saver when the fat dropped into the fire.
Madd and the cousins didn’t use their NVGs. For whatever reason the cousins could see in the dark better without them, plus they didn’t get any loss of depth perception. Their ability to see in the dark tended to freak the others in their platoon out. Freaked out or not, when any of the cousins, especially Madd, said not to go a specific way or to get ready, trouble was coming, the others had learned to pay attention. They might not know before leaving base for a patrol bad things were going to happen. But the cousins had a knack for knowing just in time to get ready when something was about to go down.
Everyone was hunkered down in their positions, trying to keep warm and also stay alert. Those that had never been to Afghanistan would never believe how the temperatures could drop with the coming of night. Boiling hot by day, freezing cold by night.
Madd and Hey were keeping a close eye out, and from time to time passed some whispered comments or small jokes, just to pass the time. Hey made a play on words, trying to get Madd groaning about how corny it was. He was greeted by total silence. Glancing over he could tell Madd’s mind wasn’t in the fighting position, it was somewhere out past the perimeter in the total blacked out night that surrounded them. He knew that look. It was the look Madd got when he was about to tell you red-hot trouble was on its way. Hey could feel it too. Something in the night wasn’t right. He knew what Madd was about to say.
Madd looked at Hey and said, “Pass the word, something is about to happen.”
Back at the FOB Ivan and the other cousin felt Madd’s discovery. Something bad was about to happen at the OP. Ivan alerted his squad and got them ready, even before the call came in from Hey.
Hey contacted all the other positions and had the RTO call the operations base to let them know something was going down. Everyone was on high alert with nerves stretched taught and tingling. Less than 10 minutes later, the party started. Hey was good at knowing when things were going to go bad, but Madd was the best at it of all the cousins. All his life Madd always knew when they were walking into an ambush or when they were about to take fire. It had saved them any number of times, but others found it spooky.
The first RPG and machine gun fire came before dawn, strategically striking the forward operating base’s mortar pit. The insurgents next sighted their RPGs on a truck and Humvee-mounted TOW missile launcher inside the combat outpost, taking them out. That was around 4:00 a.m. This was not a haphazard attack. From the weapon flashes there had to be over 250 insurgents fighting from several well-placed positions. They aimed to overrun the fortified position. Every U.S. soldier there knew they needed to fight like hell. Their lives were on the line.
When the attack began Madd was in a fighting position with Hey and a specialist. Fire was coming from the east, but Madd had already set up facing that way. With Hey’s help and the 10 minute warning, men in all positions were facing the appropriate direction and on high alert. Madd knew which direction they would take fire from first. Moments later, RPGs struck the east-facing wall. The specialist had just raised up enough to look around with his NVGs, and the explosion knocked him out of the fighting position and wounded him. Madd crawled over the lip of sandbags and hoisted the man back into the position.
Another RPG round hit the sandbags a little further around and knocked Madd down.
Madd’s clothes were smoking from a small fire the RPG ignited on his clothes, so he rolled around, smothering the fire. He knew he had been hit but it didn’t feel all that bad. It felt a lit
tle like having ants crawling around on his skin. The specialist was coming around and able to help return fire. Hey and the specialist were trying to provide suppressive fire to keep enemy heads down, with little success.
Madd started to low crawl back to the fighting position from where he had rolled when Hey yelled, “Grenade!”
Madd could see it arcing toward him and rolled down the steep slope of the hill. The grenade exploded above him on the hillside but still knocked his helmet off and hit him with more shrapnel across his back and legs. He managed to grab his helmet and get it back on.
Hey jumped out of the position to grab Madd and get him under cover; as soon as he reached him an AK round hit his plate carrier. Both of them on the ground now, Madd turned his head and asked, “Did we screw their sisters or something?”
Crawling back to their position they could see the specialist hunkered down, his M-249 machine gun sitting on top of the sandbags. He was laying down fire as fast as possible. Just as he was changing belts, an AK round found the specialist, killing him instantly.
When they got back into the position he was dead, slumped over with his knees drawn up and his head against the sandbag wall, as if he was just asleep.
Back in the position the cousins could see the enemy wasn’t satisfied with staying static; they were advancing under the cover of night. Madd pulled the charging handle on his weapon and started sending rounds down range. Hey fed a new belt into the M-249 and started ripping off rounds toward the muzzle flashes and the men behind them.
They were taking massive fire, so much so it was nearly impossible to even put their heads above the sandbags to shoot back. They could actually see a lot of the enemy, even with the flashes being somewhat dazzling, but putting their heads up under the conditions was a little dicey.
There were several remote detonators for the M18A1 Claymores that were spread around the perimeter; as the enemy started getting into range, they started using them. Sending thousands of steel balls into the enemy at least made them slow down and take up new positons.
Real and the man with him were in the next firing position, and he was hollering at Madd. When he got Madd’s attention he managed to tell him that he was wounded. The other solider was alive and they were both still fighting. The position to his right had gone silent. The soldier with him was going to attempt to get there and see if he could help.
Blood was running down Real’s face and it was hard to see. He had several scalp wounds that were bleeding. He was able to keep on fighting and soon the third position started firing toward the enemy again. The sound of the M-249 from that position was unmistakable. Problem was, that there was only one person firing from there. Real’s rate of fire started slacking off because it was getting too hard to see. He needed to get a dressing on his wound soonest.
When the firing from Real’s position slacked off, Madd knew something was wrong and needed to be assessed. Pulling sandbags out of the wall away from where the enemy fire was coming from, Madd and Hey slithered out of the position and low-crawled to the other position. Hey managed to get a field dressing on Real’s wounded head. It wasn’t pretty and wouldn’t stay on for long, but it allowed Real to get back in the fight.
The insurgents had started trying to get closer again. They were just over the slope of the hill and might be within grenade range.
Madd threw a grenade but could see he wasn’t quite close enough to be effective. With Hey and Real supplying suppressive fire, he tried to sprint to the next fighting position, but was forced to crawl due to the heavy incoming fire. He made it to the next position where the specialist had his M-249 still chattering at the enemy. Madd rained grenades on the terrorists that had crawled too close in on their position. The enemy was getting closer, and they were taking so much fire Madd was afraid they might have to crawl back to the other positions.
Checking his watch, Madd could hardly believe his eyes. It was almost impossible to believe but all this had gone down in less than 6 minutes from the first shot.
Unbelievably, the firefight intensified. Bullets cut down tree limbs that fell on their position. RPGs constantly exploded. They began to wonder if the insurgents had a limitless supply of them.
So many rounds were coming in it was close to suicide to poke their heads over the sandbag wall. Hey had the M-249 he’d brought from the first position torn out of his hand by an AK round that struck the receiver. The bullet exploded when it hit the receiver and a piece of it was stuck in Hey’s hand. It wasn’t bleeding much, but it was becoming swollen and ugly looking. He could still make his hand work by sheer willpower. The M4 of the man that died in the position with Real was still serviceable, so he was able to stay in the fight. It wasn’t long before an AK round hit his helmet and it felt like his neck was broken. The round had entered the right side at an angle and made it inside. Most of its energy was expended by the time it made it inside and all it did was give Hey a nasty cut to the back of his head as it followed the contour of the helmet around. He managed to get a dressing on it and sit back up. Hey was back in the fight; cussing a blue streak, but fighting just the same. Real was laughing, pointing his own head then Hey’s dressing. Hey got the message; it looked like they both had diapers on their heads. Despite the nasty situation they were in, both of them started laughing and hooting as they kept rounds going down range.
They needed to try and suppress the incoming fire or they were toast. Madd shoved his weapon above the wall, sighting and squeezing off rounds to keep fire on the enemy. His head was way too exposed for safety. The insurgents were still moving up under covering fire from the massive AK fire and round after round of RPGs. He knew it was a bad idea to fire so continuously but it was either that or let themselves be overrun. In a matter of minutes, Madd fired over 1,000 rounds, causing the M4 to malfunction from heat. Madd slid over the sandbags and went hunting with his 9mm. It was still pitch black enough to slip up closer to the insurgents, since they had no night vision gear.
The other soldier in Madd’s last position was using an M-249. Despite drawing small-arms and RPG fire from the enemy, he kept up suppressing fire until he was shot and killed. They were taking too much fire. It was still dark as a divorce lawyer’s heart, which gave Madd an idea. In an attempt to convince the attacking force that it was a very bad idea to get too close, Madd slid from the firing position and into the night. By staying low and using a fold in the land, he managed to get behind several of the positions where the worst fire was coming from. Taking advantage of the unbelievable noise and confusion the colossal amount of fire was causing, Madd crawled into pistol range and methodically shot 5 of the enemy before things got so hot he had to slide back to the last position. He took over the M-249 and continued the fight. Soon the barrel of M-249 he was using also malfunctioned from overheating. There was an unused barrel ready for a quick change. Soon Madd was back in the fight. He wouldn’t be in the fight too much longer, even with the replacement barrel. He was getting low on ammo for the light machine gun.
Madd waved at Real, letting him know that the M-249 was about out of ammo. Real knew there was some ammo and a shoulder fired weapon in the position right behind the one he was in now. So he motioned to Madd and low-crawled there; Hey stayed behind, as crawling with his hand would have been difficult.
Madd and Real made it to the new position with rounds impacting all around them, until one finally hit Madd in his plate carrier. It didn’t penetrate and Madd just kept going.
At the new position Real fired several shoulder-fired missiles while Madd found grenades, then got the M-249 back into action.
One other firing position had been firing ever since the start of the action and was still in action. The amount of rounds going down range had slacked off a bit but they were still firing from there. Suddenly a soldier came over the top of his position, making for Hey’s position. He finally made it and started up firing again. He was almost out of ammo and had made the trip in hopes that Hey had some in his position. Not m
uch joy; they were down to a couple of magazines each. The man that was in the position with him originally was dead.
Finally all the ammo for the light machine gun was expended. Magazines for the M4 could be used with it, but the weapon sometimes jammed when the cycling rate of the M-249 was too fast for the magazine feed. With the grenades for the grenade launcher used up, Madd and Real were down to 2 M4s and 9 M67 grenades. They were desperately trying to keep the insurgents from getting any closer to their sector.
The enemy was so close to Hey’s position and ammo was so low, he had switched to his 9 mm.
Running low on ammo, there weren’t many options. Madd got Hey’s attention and signaled him that he and Real were going to low crawl to his original fighting position; there was ammo there if he could get to it.
As he crawled away the soldier with Hey kept a steady stream of 5.56 headed toward the insurgents, trying to take some of the pressure off.
What Do You Mean Its Still Tuesday Page 11
