- Jun 26, 2001
- 1,824
- 0
ok, here's a cut and pasted letter to the wife. feel free to butch it up in your minds with profanity and the likes. My RECON will gradute and i'll be out in the field with them in about 1 month. Now i'm running security patrlos up and down highway 1 and providing security for range operations.
So we were outside the wire, back at the foot hills of the mountains. That is where all the ANA ranges are, The place is pretty secure but still has civilian traffic. there is also a few small villages, 100+/- residence. We were coming back from the RECON exercise and we saw the shiiping containers that the Taliban would blow the non believers up in. They would herd the people in at gun point, lock the doors and push a grenade through a little hole in the door. The containers tell the tale vividly, the sides are all burst out, still with strucural integrirty ( the other knew what they were in for when the next group got herded up ) and shrapnell hole make the side sieve like. so we stop for photos. A couple of the lil boys from the village came up because they saw us get out the camera. One looked about 3-4 the other about 7. i put my arm on their shoulders, pulled them in and took the photo. After the photo i squat down to talk to the lil 3 yr old. He might be a stray and in need of American parents or such, so i figured i'd begin the interview process. the first thing he said to me was "bomb'..."yes" i said "the taliban blow people up with bombs" then asked him about his parrents, mom's a school teacher, dad works at the base, "ok'. we walk back to the up-armored get in and get ready to roll. now there's about 10 kids gathered around, i'm being carefull, watching so that when i start to roll i don't run over a kid. the kids are excited, chatting, wanting stuf, all around my driver side window. i start the hummer and get ready to roll, i hear "chatter chatter " (in dari ) then "bomb"...hmmm.......things begin to slow down now . i looked at these kids, one right there in my open window...."bomb" again, i say , slowly "bomb?"..."he said again "bomb' then the other lil kids start making explosive noises, i turn to SSG Moralles and say "did he say BOMB". Moralles looks at me, i turn off the engine and ask again "bomb?" now a couple are saying "bomb bomb" and pointing up the road. Now things speed up a bit, i turned to the terp and said "Is HE SAYING BOMB IN THE ROAD?!". the terp jumps out as do i , we start talking to the kids. The terp says "he say truck just come through and dropped bomb in the road there" hell, i remember that truck. it came by while we were taking the pics. I say "have them show us' and we start towards the bomb. Now here's the thing, the village is about 100 yards away, the villagers don't let the insurgents blow up IEDs when there are local kids around, it's bad PR, plus, the locals don't let the insurgents come in and plant bombs hwere the kids play. This kid just said the "truck drop the bomb" so i figured we could get a look from a distance, figurew if it's a remote detonated IED or what, regardless, we gotta get eyes on. we start walking about 25-30 yards arond a curve and there it is. The local kids had already marked it off with rock piles. I think these kids come out of the womb knowing how to mark off bombs with rock piles. i can see it's a fuse, a 155MM artillery fuse ( if you took the fuse off an arty round the round would have a big flat nose, the fuse for a 155 is about the diameter of a coke can, with a pointed nose ,about 10" long and screws in on top of the arty round. it'll take a leg off by itself). we walk up, look at it and head back to our hummer. i realize the first lil kid said bomb first so i give him a 1$ BILL. MAN O MAN, 1$ IS ALOT, WORTH 50$ Afghany. then we block off traffic. By the time we get back to our hummer our major pulls upwith his ANA counterpart Major. We tell them what the deal is, actually; as the Major is getting out of his vehicle i say "here's my first Bronze star, get ready to write up the award". the ANA Major listens to our story, stands there a minute and starts heading towards the , properly called UXO. I go back and tell the vehicles line up behind our impromtu road block what is going on. When i catch sight of the ANA Major, he is off the road now, heading over to where this goat is. I'm thinking, "is he going to tie this to the goat to get it off the road or something". Then i notice his hand swining back and forth, he's got the ####### fuse in his hand! He walks over bu the goat and tosses the fuse of into a rubble pile. ...uh...ok. he came back, still a stoic expression on his face, says something to the terp and gets back in the vehicle. The Major, American, and i look at each other in disbelief, the terp says "he say it's old". DUH! i knew that, that's why i thought it to be way to unstable to pick up, swing back and forth, then toss in a rock pile. the Major and i just shook our heads, got back in the vehicles and headed back into base. HA! that is some funny #### there. we do not, EVER, disturb UXO's IED's or anything that remotely looks like one. The Afghans operate under different principals, that's why , periodically, one blows himself up.
So we were outside the wire, back at the foot hills of the mountains. That is where all the ANA ranges are, The place is pretty secure but still has civilian traffic. there is also a few small villages, 100+/- residence. We were coming back from the RECON exercise and we saw the shiiping containers that the Taliban would blow the non believers up in. They would herd the people in at gun point, lock the doors and push a grenade through a little hole in the door. The containers tell the tale vividly, the sides are all burst out, still with strucural integrirty ( the other knew what they were in for when the next group got herded up ) and shrapnell hole make the side sieve like. so we stop for photos. A couple of the lil boys from the village came up because they saw us get out the camera. One looked about 3-4 the other about 7. i put my arm on their shoulders, pulled them in and took the photo. After the photo i squat down to talk to the lil 3 yr old. He might be a stray and in need of American parents or such, so i figured i'd begin the interview process. the first thing he said to me was "bomb'..."yes" i said "the taliban blow people up with bombs" then asked him about his parrents, mom's a school teacher, dad works at the base, "ok'. we walk back to the up-armored get in and get ready to roll. now there's about 10 kids gathered around, i'm being carefull, watching so that when i start to roll i don't run over a kid. the kids are excited, chatting, wanting stuf, all around my driver side window. i start the hummer and get ready to roll, i hear "chatter chatter " (in dari ) then "bomb"...hmmm.......things begin to slow down now . i looked at these kids, one right there in my open window...."bomb" again, i say , slowly "bomb?"..."he said again "bomb' then the other lil kids start making explosive noises, i turn to SSG Moralles and say "did he say BOMB". Moralles looks at me, i turn off the engine and ask again "bomb?" now a couple are saying "bomb bomb" and pointing up the road. Now things speed up a bit, i turned to the terp and said "Is HE SAYING BOMB IN THE ROAD?!". the terp jumps out as do i , we start talking to the kids. The terp says "he say truck just come through and dropped bomb in the road there" hell, i remember that truck. it came by while we were taking the pics. I say "have them show us' and we start towards the bomb. Now here's the thing, the village is about 100 yards away, the villagers don't let the insurgents blow up IEDs when there are local kids around, it's bad PR, plus, the locals don't let the insurgents come in and plant bombs hwere the kids play. This kid just said the "truck drop the bomb" so i figured we could get a look from a distance, figurew if it's a remote detonated IED or what, regardless, we gotta get eyes on. we start walking about 25-30 yards arond a curve and there it is. The local kids had already marked it off with rock piles. I think these kids come out of the womb knowing how to mark off bombs with rock piles. i can see it's a fuse, a 155MM artillery fuse ( if you took the fuse off an arty round the round would have a big flat nose, the fuse for a 155 is about the diameter of a coke can, with a pointed nose ,about 10" long and screws in on top of the arty round. it'll take a leg off by itself). we walk up, look at it and head back to our hummer. i realize the first lil kid said bomb first so i give him a 1$ BILL. MAN O MAN, 1$ IS ALOT, WORTH 50$ Afghany. then we block off traffic. By the time we get back to our hummer our major pulls upwith his ANA counterpart Major. We tell them what the deal is, actually; as the Major is getting out of his vehicle i say "here's my first Bronze star, get ready to write up the award". the ANA Major listens to our story, stands there a minute and starts heading towards the , properly called UXO. I go back and tell the vehicles line up behind our impromtu road block what is going on. When i catch sight of the ANA Major, he is off the road now, heading over to where this goat is. I'm thinking, "is he going to tie this to the goat to get it off the road or something". Then i notice his hand swining back and forth, he's got the ####### fuse in his hand! He walks over bu the goat and tosses the fuse of into a rubble pile. ...uh...ok. he came back, still a stoic expression on his face, says something to the terp and gets back in the vehicle. The Major, American, and i look at each other in disbelief, the terp says "he say it's old". DUH! i knew that, that's why i thought it to be way to unstable to pick up, swing back and forth, then toss in a rock pile. the Major and i just shook our heads, got back in the vehicles and headed back into base. HA! that is some funny #### there. we do not, EVER, disturb UXO's IED's or anything that remotely looks like one. The Afghans operate under different principals, that's why , periodically, one blows himself up.
