It started off as a typical mission with the exception that I was sicker than a dog! We left our compound at zero dark-(that is early in the morning for us civilians!). And heading out to Jalalabad, except for the traffic was uneventful and got to FOB Fenty in Jalalabad about 5:30 am. What hit me was a new wreck on in Tangi Valley, which is centered with the town of Sorobi. This area is a hotbed for bad guys and Jalalabad road gets hit all the time and thus pretty dangerous. Well, this truck was overturned and located just east of Sorobi town. This same area is where the French military was ambushed and lost 10 guys.
On the return trip my driver and Ghurka commented that it looked like the truck was hit by and RPG. And go figure two minutes later there was gunfire as the ANA, (Afghan National Army), ANP, (Afghan National Police) were engaging some bad guys up on the mountain side to the south. We rolled up and they asked us for help? So we got out our PKMs and shot up the mountain side. One of my LN guards has a couple of RPG rockets and let loose on the area some of the ANA saw the bad guys head. About this time the US Marines rolled up and joined the fun. But seriously! I am 53-almost- and all of them-ANA, ANP, and the Marines looking to ME to figure out what to do! Well we laid waste to the area the fire was coming from and the fire from the mountain side subsided significantly… We decided to push out.
The interesting thing with our LN-(Local Nationals) is that they give big respect for fighting… Prior to any firefight my guy that heads up the LN guards, Saifudin, hardly talked to me until out first firefight last spring. Now he has MUCHO respect for me as I have for him. These guys will stay with you fight with you till the cows come home.
This will be an interesting and dangerous summer!
