Ambush of the Common Sort

08 November 2009

Got a ping today about an attack on the road between Jalalabad and Kabul.  It’s a dangerous road and I don’t like to drive it.  The source has always been reliable, so I pinged Tim Lynch (who often is on that road), and Tim just sent these pics and a quick narrative.  (Unedited, and my post also coming via Blackberry.)  Tim writes:

The ambush happened around 0845 or so on the west side of the Duranta Tunnel.  Steve and I rolled out to look – the fuel convoy had security escorts from Compass security and they plus some ANP are who you see up in the ridges.  Three tankers were burning and three more were shot up and leaking fuel all over the place.  There was a section of OH-58’s up and after about 20 minutes of figuring out who was who on the ground they started in on the bad guys with rockets and mini gun.

There was still some fighting going on when we arrived and few rounds came our way but were very high and not to close.  The bad guys had one belt fed which opened up briefly – the Blue Compass/ANP guys clearly had the momentum and used damn good fire discipline – we only heard volleys when the Taliban exposed themselves and those volleys were not that long.The Army claims four KIA from the OH’s which is not doubt true given how low they were scouting about for targets – there is no cover out there just fingers and draws and the security guys were putting pressure on the Ambush team to keep moving which exposed them to the birds.

(more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Jalalabad, Kabul, Michael Yon, Military
Posted Nov 9th 2009 at 5:21 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 2602789 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/11/09/ambush-of-the-common-sort/Ambush+of+the+Common+Sort2009-11-10+01%3A21%3A11Michael+Yon

Smithsonian Air&Space on Kopp-Etchells Effect

November 04, 2009

Helo Halo

Luminous halos twirled above a Boeing CH-47 Chinook on a recent night around 11:30 p.m. local time at Forward Operating Base Jackson in Sangin, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, as helicopters ferried casualties and supplies in and out of the base. The photographer was independent journalist Michael Yon, a former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier who has covered Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Philippines with a camera. Helicopter pilots don’t have a name for the effect, but one explained to Yon, “Basically it is a result of static electricity created by friction as…dissimilar material strike against each other. In this case, titanium/nickel blades moving through the air and dust.” Yon says, however, that a researcher studying helicopter brownout emailed him to say that scientists are not 100 percent sure what causes the effect. Depending on the viewing angle, it creates dazzling little galaxies. An even longer exposure reveals stars and another aircraft marked by a string of lights at upper left of center; Yon suspects this aircraft was a Predator or Reaper UAV, which, unlike manned military aircraft, fly with their lights on in the Afghan night to avoid collisions. Yon, who made these shots with a Canon 5D Mark II with a 50 mm lens at an ISO of 800, claims that the night was far darker than his sensitive camera conveys, as evidenced by the green chemlights on the ground to guide the pilots. He was moved to create a name, the Kopp-Etchells Effect, for the rotor phenomenon to honor a pair of fallen soldiers, U.S. Army Corporal Benjamin Kopp and British Army Corporal Joseph Etchells, who died one day apart in July after fierce fighting in Helmand (Kopp had been evacuated to the U.S. before he died). “The tent in the foreground is a medical tent,” says Yon, “so that casualties can be kept in a tent until the last minute. A substantial number of British casualties in Helmand have been lifted off of this exact spot…because this is probably either the most dangerous place in Afghanistan, or nearly the most dangerous.” (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Benjamin Kopp, Boeing, Corporal Joseph Etchells, Helmand Province
Posted Nov 5th 2009 at 11:12 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 25909410 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/11/05/smithsonian-airspace-on-kopp-etchells-effect/Smithsonian+Air%26Space+on+Kopp-Etchells+Effect2009-11-06+07%3A12%3A52Michael+Yon

Great Britain Loses One of its Finest

Olaf in Combat.

03 November 2009

British soldiers at war are an incredible group.  Courageous, competent, and committed in very difficult conditions.  An email came today from London, from a BBC correspondent who has been to Afghanistan saying that Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid had been killed. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, Middle East, Military, Olaf Schmid
Posted Nov 3rd 2009 at 5:05 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 25739028 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/11/03/great-britain-loses-one-of-its-finest/Great+Britain+Loses+One+of+its+Finest+2009-11-04+01%3A05%3A45Michael+Yon

Afghanistan: Electrification Effort Loses Spark

Anybody seen a better future around here?

21 October 2009

In 2008, I was trekking in the Himalayas in Nepal preparing for a return to Afghanistan. A message came from a British officer suggesting to end the trip and get to Afghanistan. Something was up, and I didn’t bother to ask what. Days of walking were needed to reach the nearest road. After several flights, I landed in Kandahar and eventually Helmand Province at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. The top-secret mission was Oqab Tsuka, involving thousands of ISAF troops who were to deliver turbines to the Kajaki Dam to spearhead a major electrification project. The difficult mission was a great success. That was 2008.  During my 2009 embed with British forces, just downstream from Kajaki Dam, it became clear that the initial success had eroded into abject failure. And then the British kicked me out of the embed, for reasons still unclear, giving me time to look further into the Kajaki electrification failure. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Camp Bastion, Helmand Province, IEDs, ISAF
Posted Oct 23rd 2009 at 11:22 am in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 2509786 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/10/23/afghanistan-electrification-effort-loses-spark/Afghanistan%3A+Electrification+Effort+Loses+Spark+2009-10-23+18%3A22%3A17Michael+Yon

Afghan Lunacy

[This dispatch was written by me in December 2008 in southern Afghanistan. It was never published though I recently found it in the unpublished archives. The photos came from the same period.]

Published: from Nepal on 14 October 2009

On May 25, 1961, the President of the United States of America said:

“Finally, if we are to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny, the dramatic achievements in space which occurred in recent weeks should have made clear to us all, as did the Sputnik in 1957, the impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere, who are attempting to make a determination of which road they should take. Since early in my term, our efforts in space have been under review. With the advice of the Vice President, who is Chairman of the National Space Council, we have examined where we are strong and where we are not, where we may succeed and where we may not. Now it is time to take longer strides—time for a great new American enterprise—time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on earth.”

(more…)

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Tags: Af-Pak war, Afgh, Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, bush
Posted Oct 14th 2009 at 6:13 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 24651812 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/10/14/afghan-lunacy/Afghan+Lunacy+2009-10-15+01%3A13%3A40Michael+Yon

Market Garden: A Remembrance During Time of War

Kandahar City, Afghanistan

Slowly, surely, the city is being strangled.  Signaling the depth of our commitment, security forces are thinner in Kandahar than the Himalayan air.  During the days and evenings, there were the sounds of occasional bombs—some caused by suicide attackers, and others by firefights.  The windows in my room had been blown out recently and now were replaced.  We came here to kill our enemies, but today we want to make a country from scratch.

A world away from Afghanistan, over in Holland, was approaching the 65th anniversary of the allied liberation from Nazi occupation, and I had been invited to attend by James “Maggie” Megellas.  Maggie, who had fought his way through Holland and is today remembered there as a hero, is said to be the most decorated officer in the history of the 82nd Airborne Division.  Now 92, Maggie has recently spent about two months tooling around the battlefields of Afghanistan, and though it would be an honor to finally meet him, there was the matter of extracting myself from Kandahar City and getting through about forty minutes of dangerous territory to the military base at Kandahar Airfield. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, General Petraeus, Kandahar City, Maggie Megellas
Posted Oct 12th 2009 at 5:38 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 24515813 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/10/12/market-garden-a-remembrance-during-time-of-war/Market+Garden%3A++A+Remembrance+During+Time+of+War2009-10-13+00%3A38%3A38Michael+Yon

A Story From War

Published: 08 October 2009

“In April this year it became 2 Rifles’ dubious fortune to be sent to Sangin on a six-month tour. By mid-August their battle group, a composite force from various units built around a core of several hundred riflemen and fusiliers, had the worst casualties of any British brigade sent to Helmand, with just over 100 soldiers killed or wounded: a fifth of their total patrol troops. The trend suggested that by the time the battle group’s tour ends this month as many as one in four of these infantrymen will have been slain or injured, a figure that compares with British infantry casualty ratios in Europe during the later stages of the Second World War.” -Anthony Lloyd

(more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Anthony Lloyd, Apaches, British 2 Rifles, Helmand
Posted Oct 8th 2009 at 4:13 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 24373813 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/10/08/a-story-from-war/A+Story+From+War+2009-10-08+23%3A13%3A56Michael+Yon

Two Firefights: One Video

July 2009, Sangin, Afghanistan.

05 October 2009

In July, British soldiers and I boarded a CH-47 helicopter at Camp Bastion for the flight to FOB Jackson at Sangin where fighting is brutal.  The helicopter was so stuffed with men, gear and supplies that the cargo was not even strapped down.  We steadied the long stack with our hands and prayed that the pilots not begin flying violent evasive maneuvers.  The tail gunner partially lifted the ramp to prevent bundles from tumbling into the skies, and that was it for securing the bundles.  Just a week before, a giant MI-26 helicopter was shot down on final approach to this same landing zone.  All aboard died in flames, as did two children on the ground. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, firefighters, Sangin
Posted Oct 5th 2009 at 6:29 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 24101062 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/10/05/two-firefights-one-video/Two+Firefights%3A+One+Video+2009-10-06+01%3A29%3A53Michael+Yon

Pedro Inspired the Vikings

Note: I asked Danish journalist Camilla Fuhr Nilsson to write a couple of stories about the Air Force Pedros.  After publication of her first installment, she emailed from Afghanistan, surprised to have gotten “thank you” notes from readers.  As a journalist, Camilla had never gotten “thank yous” before.  In the about five years I have covered the wars, it is safe to say that British and American service members, their families and others, have thanked me 100% of the time, for each of hundreds of dispatches.  That would be tens of thousands of thank yous…maybe more.  If not for those thank yous, I would have quit after just a few months in combat.  The power of a sincere “thank you” can never be measured.  And now Camilla’s second story:

By Camilla Fuhr Nilsson
Published: 30 September 2009

“These things we do that others may live” is the current motto of the US Air Force combat search and rescue team, or Pedro as they are called when deployed to Afghanistan. They fly into the battlefield with their smooth Pave Hawk helicopters and evacuate the wounded infantry soldiers and Marines. On a recent evacuation of two Danish soldiers in the middle of a battle with the Taliban, the Viking ancestors made a memorable difference to the 129th American Air Force Pedros crew. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, Air Force Pedros, Camilla Fuhr Nilsson, Military
Posted Sep 30th 2009 at 7:25 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 23858215 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/09/30/pedro-inspired-the-vikings/Pedro+Inspired+the+Vikings+2009-10-01+02%3A25%3A34Michael+Yon

Michael Yon Dispatch: The American Pedros – No Nonsense Combat Rescuers

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Tags: Afghanistan, Beowolf, Black Hawk Down, Camilla Fuhr Nilsson, Super troopers
Posted Sep 27th 2009 at 8:25 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 2364586 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/09/27/michael-yon-dispatch-the-american-pedros-no-nonsense-combat-rescuers/Michael+Yon+Dispatch%3A+The+American+Pedros+-+No+Nonsense+Combat+Rescuers+2009-09-28+03%3A25%3A45Michael+Yon

Bullshit Bob

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Tags: Afghanistan, Afghanistan war, British 2 Rifles, British Minister of Defence, Censoring Helmand
Posted Sep 26th 2009 at 5:12 am in Featured Story, Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 23611840 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/09/26/bullshit-bob/Bullshit+Bob+2009-09-26+12%3A12%3A20Michael+Yon

America in Danger: Important Courtroom Battles

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Tags: David Rivkin, Maqaleh v. Gates, Michael Yon
Posted Sep 24th 2009 at 4:18 pm in Law, Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 23524617 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/09/24/america-in-danger-important-courtroom-battles/America+in+Danger%3A+Important+Courtroom+Battles2009-09-24+23%3A18%3A27Michael+Yon

Pedros

14 September 2009
Helmand Province, Afghanistan

With the war increasing, Air Force Pararescue has been crisscrossing the skies picking up casualties. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Air Force Pararescue, Bagram, Helmand Province, Kandahar Airfield
Posted Sep 14th 2009 at 9:51 am in Media Criticism, Michael Yon Dispatches | 224690No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/09/14/pedros/Pedros+2009-09-14+16%3A51%3A53Michael+Yon

Eight Years After 9/11

Memorial for Fallen at FOB Inkerman

08 September 2009
Helmand Province, Afghanistan

Just before the mission, soldiers form up near the memorial for our fallen. (more…)

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Tags: 9/11, Afghanistan, British Ministry of Defence, Helmand Province, Ross Kemp
Posted Sep 9th 2009 at 3:38 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 22093812 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/09/09/eight-years-after-911/Eight+Years+After+9%2F112009-09-09+22%3A38%3A44Michael+Yon

Why You Should Read and Support Michael Yon

When I saw that Michael Yon had joined us here at Big Hollywood, I was overjoyed. This is a great opportunity to expand his audience and, frankly, everyone should read his stuff. Yon has been embedding with military units in combat for the better part of the last four years and has been bringing the ground-level truth to those that care to read it.

I can’t remember exactly when I first discovered his writings but it was at a point where he was disagreeing with the spin coming from the Bush White House regarding progress in Iraq. I was disturbed to have confirmation that things were not quite as we were being told but Yon’s critiques, while serious and undiluted, were constructive in nature. I could tell that he was supportive of the effort even though he sometimes railed against the execution of it. Michael Yon pulls no punches and I checked back often to see what else he had to say. Eventually, the network news would catch up and start reporting things that Yon had written about weeks, often months, earlier. This is a pattern that continues today. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Iraq, J.R. Head, Marines, Michael Yon
Posted Sep 9th 2009 at 5:03 am in Featured Story, Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 21700627 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jrhead/2009/09/09/michael-yon/Why+You+Should+Read+and+Support+Michael+Yon+2009-09-09+12%3A03%3A55J.R.+Head

New Afghan War: Frontline Correspondent Says Fight Has Morphed – But We Still Can’t Afford to Lose

6 September 2009

This story was published in the New York Daily News on 6 September 2009.

Photo: Jacobson/AP

Helmand, Afghanistan – The West is losing this war. This has been obvious for more than three years. Less obvious is that in 2009, we are down to the wire. Gen. Stanley McChrystal and others will soon recommend to President Obama the latest treatment for a dying patient.

Meanwhile, allies and Americans are asking themselves why we are here. Some are saying that Al Qaeda is still here or is waiting in the wings to return to its home. Yet Afghanistan was never Al Qaeda’s permanent home to begin with. Al Qaeda was just renting a little space here, just as it was renting space in places like Germany and Florida. (more…)

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Tags: Afghan war, Afghanistan, al qaeda, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Ghor Province
Posted Sep 6th 2009 at 2:56 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 21884651 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/09/06/new-afghan-war-frontline-correspondent-says-fight-has-morphed-%e2%80%93-but-we-still-cant-afford-to-lose/New+Afghan+War%3A+Frontline+Correspondent+Says+Fight+Has+Morphed+%E2%80%93+But+We+Still+Can%27t+Afford+to+Lose2009-09-06+21%3A56%3A55Michael+Yon

Precision Voting

31 August 2009
Helmand Province, Afghanistan

The historical Afghan elections scheduled for 20 August were days away. While the west mostly continued to vote for Afghanistan, the big question was, “Will Afghanistan vote for itself?”

The latest media wave splashed into the main voting centers in places like Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Herat and Lashkar Gah. The larger cities only account for perhaps 20% of the Afghan population. Whereas the easy and obvious stories are in the cities, a crucial and larger dimension—the other 80%—would unfold in the boonies. Most Afghans would have no chance to vote. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, FLETs, healthcare, Helmand Province, Kajaki Dam
Posted Aug 31st 2009 at 2:26 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 21528618 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/08/31/precision-voting/Precision+Voting+2009-08-31+21%3A26%3A29Michael+Yon

The Kopp-Etchells Effect, Part II

27 August 2009

My embed with British forces has ended.  Will be out with U.S. forces for the foreseeable future.  After that, will strike out alone into the wilds of Afghanistan.  There are two more stories in the pipeline about the British soldiers I was with, who were in a couple of firefights.  The bullets got pretty close.  The events are worth recounting.  Unsure if I will be able to complete those dispatches due to the time wasted with the sudden ending of my embed.  Am attempting to publish at least one.  The soldiers deserve both, but time is cruel when its wasted.

A researcher who studies helicopter “brown outs” contacted me regarding the Kopp-Etchells Effect.  Apparently the effect is unrelated to St. Elmo’s Fire.  In fact, it sounds as though scientists remain unsure of exactly what causes the Kopp-Etchells Effect.  The phenomenon remains a mystery. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Kopp-Etchells Effect, St. Elmo's Fire
Posted Aug 28th 2009 at 5:15 am in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 2128349 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/08/28/the-kopp-etchells-effect-part-ii/The+Kopp-Etchells+Effect%2C+Part+II+2009-08-28+12%3A15%3A57Michael+Yon

Bad Medicine

On Pharmacy Road

Captain Henry Coltart on Pharmacy Road

24 August 2009
Helmand Province, Afghanistan

The British soldiers of 2 Rifles had a mission: clear and hold Pharmacy Road.

FOB Jackson is currently home to Battlegroup headquarters for 2 Rifles. The area around the river is called the “Green Zone,” but just as appropriately could be called the Opium Zone. During season, the area is covered with colorful poppies, whose 2009 products are probably showing up by now on the streets in Europe. European money flows back here and buys fertilizer in the Sangin Market, which can be used to make bombs, produce more opium, get more money and make more bombs and grow more opium and make more money and bombs and grow more opium. Sangin is at once an ATM and weapons bazaar for the enemy. Nearly all fatalities in this unit have been caused by fertilizer bombs. The decision to mostly ignore the drug dealers has been a strategic blunder. (more…)

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Tags: "Green Zone", Afghan National Army (ANA), Afghanistan, EOD, guerrillas
Posted Aug 24th 2009 at 3:48 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 21047018 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/08/24/bad-medicine/Bad+Medicine+2009-08-24+22%3A48%3A19Michael+Yon

Do Americans Care About British Soldiers?

Helmand Province, Afghanistan

A gunshot ripped through the darkness and a young British soldier fell dying on FOB Jackson. I was just nearby talking on the satellite phone and saw the commotion. The soldier was taken to the medical tent and a helicopter lifted him to the excellent trauma center at Camp Bastion. That he made it to Camp Bastion alive dramatically improved his chances. But his life teetered and was in danger of slipping away. Making matters worse, the British medical system back in the United Kingdom did not possess the specialized gear needed to save his life. Americans had the right gear in Germany, and so the British soldier was put into the American system.

British officers in his unit, 2 Rifles, wanted to track their man every step of the way, and to ensure that his family was informed and supported in this time of high stress. Yet having their soldier suddenly in the American system caused a temporary glitch in communications with folks in Germany. The British leadership in Sangin could have worked through the glitch within some hours, but that would have been hours wasted, and they wanted to know the status of their soldier now. So a British officer in Sangin – thinking creatively –asked if I knew any shortcuts to open communications. The right people were only an email away: Soldiers Angels. And so within about two minutes, these fingers typed an email with this subject heading: CALLING ALL ANGELS. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, British medical system, British Soldiers, Combined Air and Space Operations Center, Helmand Province
Posted Aug 20th 2009 at 4:24 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 20869453 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/08/20/do-americans-care-about-british-soldiers/Do+Americans+Care+About+British+Soldiers%3F+2009-08-20+23%3A24%3A21Michael+Yon

Michael Yon Dispatch: The Kopp-Etchells Effect

17 August 2009
Sangin, Afghanistan

The roads are so littered with enemy bombs that nearly all transport and resupply to this base occurs by helicopter. The pilots roar through the darkness, swoop into small bases nestled in the saddle of enemy territory, and quickly rumble off into the night.

A witness must spend only a short time in the darkness to know we are at war. Flares arc into the night, or mortar illumination rounds drift and swing under parachutes, orange and eerily in the distance, casting long, flickering but sharply defined shadows. The worst that can happen is that you will be caught in an open field, covered by nothing and concealed only by darkness, when the illumination suddenly bathes you in light. Best is to stay low and freeze and prepare to fire, or in the case of a writer, to stay low and freeze and prepare to watch the firing. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Robert Gates, Sangin
Posted Aug 17th 2009 at 4:53 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 20693423 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/08/17/michael-yon-dispatch-the-kopp-etchells-effect/Michael+Yon+Dispatch%3A+The+Kopp-Etchells+Effect2009-08-17+23%3A53%3A01Michael+Yon

No Young Soldiers

10 August 2009
Sangin, Afghanistan

Daily dramas unfolded, including the bangs, booms and small-arms fire that punctuated the times. At 1800, I was preparing to go to orders with 1 Platoon, A Company of 2 Rifles, when shots from a large-caliber rifle began cracking low over base. I passed by sniper, Kris Griffith, and said, “Hey Kris, why don’t you grab your rifle and go shoot that guy?” Kris replied that two other sniper teams were on it. “He’s close,” I said, and Kris answered, “About 600 meters.” Then we went our separate ways.

Orders were given and then the soldiers performed final checks on their gear and tried to fall to sleep in the sweltering evening heat. Some nights I would go to sleep using the sleeping bag as a pillow, only to wake up with it drenched in sweat.

The alarm was set for 0213 hours, but at 0211 I sat up and turned it off before it could wake the soldiers who were not going on the mission. I had nineteen minutes to pull on my boots, body armor, and small rucksack, before I had to get to breakfast, engage in final conversations, and then show up for the mission at 0310. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, al qaeda, bombs, GMLRS (Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System), IEDs
Posted Aug 10th 2009 at 4:04 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 20345034 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/08/10/no-young-soldiers/No+Young+Soldiers+2009-08-10+23%3A04%3A21Michael+Yon

Pixie Dust

Thursday night, 06 August 2009
Afghanistan

I made this photo last night in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. This Landing Zone is very dangerous. A few weeks ago, another helicopter was coming into this LZ and was shot down at the last minute, killing all passengers and crew. Two children on the ground also were killed. The sparks coming off the rotors occur when the helicopters land in hot, dusty conditions. The landing itself occurs in a dangerous “brownout.” Brownout danger is compounded by the sparks which light up the dust and can confuse pilots who are wearing extremely sensitive nightvision goggles. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, brownout, Helmand Province, Landing Zone
Posted Aug 7th 2009 at 12:16 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 20227010 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/08/07/pixie-dust/Pixie+Dust2009-08-07+19%3A16%3A04Michael+Yon

Common Scenes & Common Thoughts

A helicopter roars into FOB Jackson in Sangin, Afghanistan. Medical tents are just next to the Helicopter Landing Site (HLS) so casualties can be quickly loaded.

05 August 2009

The helicopter pilot wearing night vision goggles roared in so fast it looked as though he were crashing. The four green Cylums (Americans call them Chemlights) mark the HLS. While the helicopter is above the dust cloud, it melts into the dark, but as it approaches the HLS, dust swirls high, setting the stage for an amazing light show. The Chinook descends through the dry dust and the rotors glitter brightly, creating an eerie glow as if sparklers are attached to the rotors, which in reality appeared brighter to the eye than in the photo below. If the helicopter were not so loud, the millions of static discharges might be heard crackling and popping. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Gurkhas, Homemade Explosives (HME), Karzai, Nepal
Posted Aug 5th 2009 at 3:17 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches | 20071810 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/08/05/common-scenes-common-thoughts/Common+Scenes+%26+Common+Thoughts2009-08-05+22%3A17%3A40Michael+Yon

Michael Yon Dispatch: Resurrection

Spraying for bugs on FOB Jackson, Sangin.

03 August 2009
Sangin, Afghanistan

The bugs are not bad in this part of Afghanistan. The scorched terrain is biologically boring. Mice and ferret-like creatures dash around in the evenings when sparrows and doves and a few other sorts of birds flutter through the cool air. But even at sunrise, I cannot make out the songs or see in flight more than ten types of birds, one of which is the rooster. There are no wading birds, not here anyway: no kingfishers, no cormorants or ducks. The dominant hue of land and bird is desert brown. Maybe a bird or two with black feathers, but never one with sharp, primary colors: not even a red wing tip or a white tuft. There are no ornamental birds with glorious plumage or fancy dance, only drab designs, though the lucky ones have short golden legs. There is not a single inspiring song among them. (more…)

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Tags: 9/11, Afghan Security Forces, Afghanistan, bush, Coalition nations
Posted Aug 3rd 2009 at 3:15 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 1980749 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/08/03/michael-yon-dispatch-resurrection/Michael+Yon+Dispatch%3A+Resurrection+2009-08-03+22%3A15%3A35Michael+Yon

Michael Yon Dispatch: Night Into Day

Sangin, Helmand Province
Afghanistan

29 July 2009

Orders are given before every operation. The orders filter down through various unit levels involved, until each platoon finally receives its specific mission. The concept for this mission came down from the 2 Rifles Battlegroup (battalion) to the companies, including elements of the Afghan National Army and their British counterparts from the Welsh Guard, and down to each 2 Rifles platoon involved. So for any mission there might be literally dozens (or more) orders and rehearsals until each man and woman knows the perceived enemy situation, their specific tasks, and much more. While soldiers here at FOB Jackson received orders, undoubtedly pilots and others, stationed far away, perhaps on an aircraft carrier or even farther afield, were finalizing related plans.

Finding the Enemy

On 23 July, the afternoon before the mission, a call came into headquarters that two British soldiers had been wounded by two IEDs, and that the American helicopter medevacs known as “Pedro” had been called to extract the casualties. Pedro is a potent morale booster; British soldiers know that their American brethren in the medevac helicopters will come for them anytime anywhere, guns blazing if needed. Medevac is dangerous work; earlier this month, a bomb detonated, killing and wounding soldiers from 2 Rifles, and when they moved to prepare for medevac, another bomb exploded. In all, five soldiers were killed and many wounded. Yet the soldiers know that if they can get their buddies while still alive onto Pedro, chances for survival are dramatically increased. In addition to carrying outstanding medical crew, Pedro would roar back to Camp Bastion’s first-rate trauma center in about fifteen minutes. Night or day, gunfight or not, Pedro will be there.

(more…)

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Tags: Afghan National Army, Afghanistan, Camp Bastion, Fob Jackson, Helmand Province
Posted Jul 29th 2009 at 3:01 pm in Featured Story, Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 19429416 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/07/29/michael-yon-dispatch-night-into-day/Michael+Yon+Dispatch%3A+Night+Into+Day2009-07-29+22%3A01%3A57Michael+Yon

An Artery of Opium, A Vein of Taliban

27 July 2009
Sangin, Afghanistan

Afghanistan as seen from Washington and London.

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Tags: Afghanistan, Apocalypse Now, Blackhawk Down, Helmand River, IEDs
Posted Jul 27th 2009 at 1:38 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 19257013 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/07/27/an-artery-of-opium-a-vein-of-taliban/An+Artery+of+Opium%2C+A+Vein+of+Taliban+2009-07-27+20%3A38%3A37Michael+Yon

SatComms for Soldiers

25 July 2009
Sangin, Afghanistan

Have been out with British forces in the area of Sangin in northern Helmand Province.  This area appears to be turning into the main effort of the current fight in Afghanistan, but this is unclear to me at the moment.  I do know that air assets are heavy.  During our mission yesterday, a B-1 could be seen overhead, though it was miles high.  On the ground, this place is loaded with IEDs and there were many firefights during yesterday’s mission.   My section of eight soldiers did not fire a single round; we did not come into direct contact, though bullets sometimes zipped overhead.  Nearly all missions are conducted on foot and the soldiers like it that way.  I am with the British battalion called 2 Rifles.  The last mission I did with 2 Rifles was in Iraq, and they killed maybe 26-27 JAM members during that fight.  Yesterday they only killed two Taliban (Predator actually made the shot), but the mission was well run, and morale here is very high.  Everybody is ready to roll again and missions are near continuous.  I’ll ask British commanders to let me stay, though that might not be necessary because there are so few helicopters.  More likely I am stuck here.  FOB Jackson is probably going to be my Hotel California, but that’s all good because these are great soldiers, in the thick of it, and I want to stay.

More broadly speaking, our forces are spread to the high winds across desolate stretches of Afghanistan, sometimes in tiny “bases” with as few as a half-dozen soldiers.  Last December, I spent some time with a group of such soldiers in Zabul Province, but hardly wrote a word about them, yet. They were deep in wild country and it took two days for us to drive out to a paved road.  Those soldiers had no access to Internet, and said that on one occasion they didn’t even get mail for three months. (more…)

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Tags: (R-BGAN) HNS-9101, 9201, Afghanistan, airmen, Helmand Province
Posted Jul 25th 2009 at 10:43 am in Featured Story, Michael Yon Dispatches | 1916907 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/07/25/satcomms-for-soldiers/SatComms+for+Soldiers2009-07-25+17%3A43%3A12Michael+Yon

Michael Yon Dispatch: ‘Photos and Captions’

22 July 2009
Filed from Sangin, Afghanistan

(This dispatch is from Ghor Province, though I am now with British forces down south.)

Lithuanian soldier on Swedish C-130 from Kabul to Kandahar and finally to Chaghcharan. On his left are Filipino workers. Filipinos are like birds; the only place that an American has stepped that a Filipino hasn’t is the moon. Yesterday was a special anniversary for space travel: man first landed on the moon. I watched the launch from our family boat when I was five years-old. Apollo 11 was bright, and loud. Many people think that the Russians also walked on the moon, but this is untrue.

The Swedish C-130 landed at Chaghcharan “airport.” Landmines still wait in ambush in the fields around the airstrip, and in fact a legacy mine (previous war) was found just about three feet off the road—just a minute from the base—while I was there. The mine has been next to the base for about five years and apparently nobody stepped on it. When soldiers say to you, “Sir, please don’t step off the road,” they mean “DON’T STEP OFF THE ROAD!” The director of the local hospital told me that mines strike about one person per month in this area. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, Apollo 11, Chaghcharan, Filipinos, Ghor Province
Posted Jul 22nd 2009 at 12:11 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 18961425 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/07/22/michael-yon-dispatch-photos-and-captions/Michael+Yon+Dispatch%3A+%27Photos+and+Captions%272009-07-22+19%3A11%3A11Michael+Yon