Day 5: Courage on Election Day

Courage on Election Day

Afghanistan held their first legislative elections in over 30 years on September 18, 2005.  I felt honored to be part of this historic occasion.  Although we were located at a small Forward Operating Base far from Kabul and any other semblance of a town, our platoon helped provide security for the locals by eliminating some Taliban who were trying to disrupt the democratic process. 

We knew ahead of time that this date would bring an increased amount of enemy activity and we were well prepared for it.  On this particular day, I was serving as the chief of our howitzer section because our normal chief was on his 2 week leave back home.  I previously served in every other position on the howitzer and was certified to serve as the chief of section.  I was confident in the my ability and that of section to perform our duties.  We were fortunate enough to have some of the best leaders in the Army who trained us and held us to the highest standard.

I was sitting in our B-Hut, which is a building made of wood that we lived in, finishing up a paper for one of the online classes as I was taking when I heard the familiar whistle of an incoming rocket.  I like to compare our job to that of firemen, as we were always on call and knew exactly how to react; except our reaction was not triggered by an alarm or a ringing bell but by the sound of the enemy attempting to take our lives. 

We hurried out of the B-Hut and immediately established communication with our fire direction center.  At the same time, we were also donning our body armor, accounting for all of our personnel and getting our howitzer ready to return fire.  Just like us, our Fire Direction Center is trained by some of the best leaders in the Army and they were very quick in processing the data that tells us exactly where to point our howitzer.

I knew from previous briefings with my leaders that we had a good number of troops that would be outside the wire and I was hoping that they would be able to see where these rockets were being fired from.  As it turned out, a group of guys we had just met (not Americans) were in the area and had eyes on the rocket teams that were firing on us. 

As we received the data for the targets and fired the first round, the familiar whistle of another incoming rocket screamed towards us.  The previous rockets had hit just to our front and I knew that the enemy was possibly adjusting their firing to hit us.  We were just about to fire our 2^nd round when we heard that rocket.  All of us quickly dove in to our personnel bunker to be sheltered by the explosion of hot shrapnel.  The rocket hit a safe distance away and did not cause any damage or casualties.  As I poked my head out of the bunker, I saw that my gunner, Johnny, was bravely still sitting on the gunner’s seat adjusting the howitzer on to target despite the incoming rockets.  I was amazed that Johnny was still out there as he disregarded his own personal safety to get the howitzer ready to fire. 

We all exited the bunker and joined Johnny as we served up volley after volley of high explosive rounds on to the enemy.  We took a few more rockets but continued to fire as we were inspired by the act of courage demonstrated by Johnny.  As soon as the attack was over, the men that were out there that had eyes on the target notified us that our shooting resulted in 5 Taliban KIA and an unknown number of wounded.  This was my first real test as chief and a day that I will never forget.  Once I had my own section, I continued to tell this story to demonstrate the self-less service and courage in the face of danger that was demonstrated that day.

I am so excited about todays post. It is such a real story. I found this at a website that is completely devoted to letting soldiers share their own stories of the war. http://www.realcombatlife.com/

It just shows that war is dangerous and that our men and women are brave and many understand exactly what they are fighting for! Can you imagine living in a country where there hadn't been an election in 30 years??? I can't. Thank you soldiers for making our world a better place.