Two Firefights: One Video
by Michael Yon
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.
This is, interestingly, the same landing zone where I would make the photos for “The Kopp-Etchells Effect” dispatch, which was published in many languages around the world. Many readers have weighed in with ideas about the causes of the glow. Some say the cause is St Elmo’s fire or the triboelectric effect, or perhaps the piezoelectric effect. The actual cause does not seem to be surely known, according to J. Gordon Leishman, D.Sc.(Eng.), Ph.D., F.R.Ae.S., Minta Martin Professor of Engineering, Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Maryland. I don’t know. Maybe it’s caused by angels. It definitely is beautiful.
We landed and British Soldiers from “2 Rifles” swarmed in to help unload cargo. Since I made this photo, at least two British CH-47s have been lost in combat operations, one of which was just north of here.
We need more gear and more forces now. We can outfight these enemies and we can win the war, but at this rate a favorable outcome is difficult to imagine. This war shows signs that it will become more intense than Iraq at its peak. As with my twelve dispatches from 2006 warning that we were losing this war, the warnings over the past couple of years seem to be falling on incredulous ears. We will lose the war unless we get more troops and more gear soon.
This weekend we lost eight more soldiers in a firefight. I learned about it while they were still fighting, but did not report it until just before the media broke the story the next day. Still unreported, to my knowledge, sources tell me that FOB Keating was destroyed and that troops were under siege for up to 24 hours before Air Force Para-rescue got them out. (Subject to confirmation.) The fighting will only intensify. We can beat these guys, but not under current conditions.
The last two missions I did with British 2 Rifles ended in firefights. Due to bandwidth difficulties, only a small part of the video was uploaded. Those two firefights were melded into one short video. These are just typical hum-drum day-in day-out missions, nothing like what happened this weekend in Nuristan.
Please click Firefights.
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62 Comments
You say "we can outfight these enemies," but whose enemies are they? They're not my enemies. No Afghani has ever come to my home town here in the U.S. and started dropping bombs on my house. Why worry about winning when there's no point in being there in the first place?
I will pray for you and for the young men and women fighting in Afghanistan. Thank you for risking your life to give people like me a glimpse of what is being faced there. I will watch for more updates. God Bless!
More of these videos need to be posted. Support the soldiers…they're keeping the world safe. Military command needs to get Mr. Obama to fully support the effort. This will not be another Viet Nam if we keep the pressure on Iran and Pakistan as well as continuing support of the citizens. Mr. Obama is the weak link. He has already caved in on Honduras, the Soviet Union, and now China.
I grew up during the Vietnam war. Have we not learned anything during the past 30 years. You don't get involved in other countries civil wars. Afganistan is a no win situation. How many young men and women have to die for nothing. How many Afgani's have to be slaughtered. Let's bring our troops home now, and take care of our own country. Lord knows we have enough problems here to worry about.
I would not even pretend to disagree with you John. My only reply is that the US continues to be safe since 9/11 as a result of our military's presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have actually been very effective since Mr. Bush went through the UN and a year after 9/11 finally decided to attack Saddam Hussein and his country. He went through all of the normal international channels in order to have this issue taken care of before the military got involved. Mr. Obama needs to put a full court press on Afghanistan, not by blowing it up like the Soviets tried in the '80's, but by a full assault from making friends with the non-combatants, building up their police and military and supporting the governments from the top down. Or else the country will have defeated the Soviets and the US in a 30 year period…and we helped them with the Soviets (thanks Charlie Wilson!)…who knows if the Soviets are doing the same in return…
Hi John. I grew up during the Vietnam war also. I also have a son that is old enough to fight.
I don't want to see these boys and girls fight for naught, but I'm not so sure that it's useless. How else can we hold back the terrorists? Do you know of another way? Won't they see it as a victory when we withdraw?
I wish I knew for sure.
It's good to know, Tom M., your defense of your country only applies to Red Dawn scenarios as NYC is a bridge too far. You must laugh your gas mask off at all those old men who volunteered and fought in WWI or snort like those pigs looking for truffles in France at the men who served in WWII. The wolf who raised you must be proud.
Unfortunately, you're right mom. What is left if we retreat? How did we get into this fight to begin with? Were we not attacked by terrorists who were backed by a rogue leader/despot? Let's figure out a way to deal with this issue. It does not have to be a "win" per se. It has to be a change of international thinking towards nations who perceive the US as a threat, not an ally. They all hate us when the news cameras are focused on them, but they get the luxury of being safer because the US is doing something about the terrorists around the world. It's no wonder that New York City is the safest big city in the world…and the FBI needs their assistance in international investigations.
Tom M. · 1 hour ago
. No Afghani has ever come to my home town here in the U.S. and started dropping bombs on my house. ___________________________________________________________
Tom…you are a f**kin idiot! Sorry, i couldnt help myself…
I'll speak slowly..
The Taliban are joined with Al Queda…
The 2 groups share operational and tactical support from each other.
Both are at war with the West…THEIR DECLARATION!
Al Queda attacked and destroyed the WTC on 9-11-01
THE WORLD TRADE CENTER WAS MY HOUSE, TOM!
THEY DROPPED BOMBS ON MY HOUSE AND KILLED FAMILY AND FRIENDS,TOM.
Sheesh….
docgary
Don't you just hate that we are also hearing of multiple Islam immigrant cell arrests last month in Dallas, Denver, and NYC that were planning to slaughter more US citizens too? Not to mention the 20 Somali kids from Minnesota who left the US and joined al Qaeda. I mean, if only Obama would get serious about "taking care of our own country" as you say and secure our border and stop whole muslim community immigration. But what am I saying? Obama's agenda is amnesty, increased visas, and non-deportation. Gee, John K, if we can't fight the jihadis here, why not fight them there? Lord knows 300 people jumped from the two towers rather than burn to death.
http://refugeeresettlementwatch.wordpress.com/
Squidbrain.
"President Barack Hussein Obama II, you are the weakest link! Goodbye."
*open trap door and Barry falls away*
– Enter stage right: … Jason Statham… on the back of Todd Palin's snowmachine with a bust of Churchill as the hood ornament… and Sarahcuda with a sniper rifle overhead in a blackhawk…
~ Oderint dum Metuant ~ "Let them hate as long as they fear." Vampire 06
http://afghanistanshrugged.com/
Wars are lost when stoneless wonders like you parrot the BS drummed into your unquestioning noggin by those who abetted our enemies. Have you never thought to question the authority of those who told you to "question authority?"
Nice try. I'm an Army veteran, so your silly ad hominem attack fails.
Al Qaeda was created by the American CIA. Please study your history. Osama Bin Laden was a working CIA asset right up to 9-11-01, which you would also know if you knew your history.
If you want to bomb those responsible for 9/11, you'll need to start with the Pentagon, move on to CIA headquarters, and perform some selected terror throughout Washington, D.C. But you don't have the brains, or the stomach, to root out the terrorists where they really lie.
Stop being weak, people. Stop killing poor brown people and start doing your research.
"Maybe it’s caused by angels." What a lovely thought. Thank you for your reporting, for your service.
If only I could buy "a bust of Churchill . . . hood ornament"- that's great!
Who dropped bombs on your house? An Afghani woman dropped a bomb on your house? An Afghani child dropped a bomb on your house? Wow.
Al Qaeda was created by the American CIA. Please employ some reading and research skills before you run off to satisfy your blood lust by killing poor brown people.
America has no natural enemies. The American government has enthusiastically run around the world creating enemies where none existed, but those are the government's enemies, not mine.
Please tell me you don't believe 9/11 wasn't an inside job. These two towers fall at freefall speed, and hours later WTC #7 just implodes at freefall after having not been touched by an airplane and suffering only minor fires. Sure. Right.
My instructions to you: read first, kill later. Much later. Or not at all.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Big Hollywood and John Robert Scott. John Robert Scott said: RT @bighollywood: Two Firefights: One Video http://bit.ly/YmL1n [...]
Your no better than Van Jones……………………………another "truther"
The truth hurts. But at least its the truth. Try it sometime.
Here's one to try on for size: There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Yet the United States started an unprovoked war against that country that continues to this day.
That's a start. Keep on going on your own. Really, it's not that hard. The truth is pretty easy to find, although not so much here in America. The truth will set you free, but killing innocent, poor, brown-skinned people will absolutely not set you free. No way.
You poor little Troofer mushroom. You live in the dark of your own deluded fantasies and feed only on the BS which circulates through the hermetically-sealed channels of your Troofer websites. You don't come into contact with reality anywhere.
That's not an argument, it's a personal attack. Please try again.
Very interesting and it's quite disturbing that the Taliban appear to have gained the upper hand in some areas of Afghanistan. The prize, of course, is destabilization of Pakistan and Taliban ownership of Pakistan's nuclear weapons. Mr. Yon, your reporting is always top notch– the best there is on this subject, in fact.
Tom – That you claim to be (and indeed may be) an army veteran does not mean you are correct, educated, or honorable. (I was robbed by an army veteran once, so pardon my reticence to shower you with praise so many of your comrades earned without fanfare. Your words betray their sacrifice.) Further, your insular perspective implicates your inability to incorporate current events, and exposes your closed liberal mindset. As you have already concluded, my "attacks" are far more acerbic, and you remain of dubious integrity insofar as you wear your patches as a defense of your character, ad hominem attacks or no. Those whose zeal for martyrdom beguiles them to kill civilian noncombatants simply because of differences in religious beliefs cannot be reasoned out of their ideology. Al Qaeda et al wants to impose a worldwide caliphate, "jihad" has become their recruitment tool, and Jews, capitalists, and stylized 'democracies' are anathema to them. In short, they would kill you if they could. We chose to fight them there, else we will fight them here (though I posit that the latter has already begun). You reference the 1980's; I reference LAST MONTH. From Reuters:
"Najibullah Zazi, 24, an Afghan immigrant …received al Qaeda training in Pakistan…bought "unusually large quantities" of … the explosive used [in] the 2005 London transit bombings that killed 56 and wounded 700". I rest my case, and you are an embarrassment.
"…Poor /brown/ people"?!? Your arguments are also criminally inane.
So you please just stay hiding there behind your latte' while my athiest yet conservative gun-toting ass protects your First Amendment right to drivel. At least then you'll be out of my line of sight. Semper Fi.
Tom M. was never anywhere near the military. If he was, he was in a vacuum. The CIA line is tired.
The guys we worked with in Afghanistan split between Northern Alliance and crazy ass bin Laden wannabes.
Hell they helped us in 2003, so I don't know who taught you bin Laden was an asset until 2001, but they so clearly f***ed up that I don't think they served either. If they did, we need a purge, not a surge.
[...] Michael Yon wrote a piece and it is good. [...]
Tom,
Spoken like a true beta obamanite. Not my war. "I won't fight a white man's war." Don't know how many times I heard that BS in 'Nam.
Stop arguing with Tom M. You will never convince him of anything, but what he already believes. Besides, he lost all credibility after a couple of postings.
Tom, you tell us to read first. What exactly is it we should read? I read alot and I have never come across the information that you are spouting.
Do tell.
As if to say, "Why are the police searching for that murderer? He didn't kill anybody that I know!"
I didn't see any hood ornaments available but check out this bust:
http://cgi.ebay.com/VERLINDEN-1%3a4-Busts-Winston...
Hussein might not have had the weapons of mass destruction, but he was actively committing genocide against the Kurds.
We couldn't find the weapons of mass destruction, but he still needed killin'.
Your side claims to care about those who are uncared for, but when it comes down to it, you don't want to dirty your hands. You've emasculated yourself.
Who's looking out for the Kurds? Who was looking out for women and children who are being told to strap bombs to themselves and blow up non-combatants?
Why do the Democrats refuse to pull troops out of Germany and Japan but demand that we pull troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan?
Which Army are you a Veteran of Tom M. Can you sight any publications of your twisted facts that collaborate your distorted claims. You might remember how Clinton lobed a few cruise missiles OBL's way. Was that just to see if OBL was still on his toes and to get him to pickup the CIA bat phone? You funny man Tom M hope to see you on SNL someday, or not.
It looks like the progressives sent a Troll and a couple wing men for supporting roll to this blog. Looks like BHO and followers don't like Michael Yon articles. Thats ok BHO and trolls don't like Petraeus and McChrystal anymore. I guess we need Gen Biden to show them how to divide Afghans into 3 countries.
Tom I used to hear people parrot what you say about not worrying since the "terrorist" were no where near America. The Twin Towers being downed shut a lot of them up, but I guess the nut never falls far from the tree.
Oh look….another armchair building engineer! Come now, won't you continue on with your story and tell me about how jet fuel doesn't burn hot enough to melt steel framing? Cause you know, a 747 loaded with all manner of combustible materials (including humans) flying a 600 mph into the side of a skyscraper is just inevitably going to produce the same results as tests done in a controlled lab environment using only one type of fuel. There's is absolutely no room for the unexpected or unexplained, just like all engineering failures, no?
You're no more qualified speak with any sort of authority regarding building collapses than you are to claim you are or ever were a soldier. Even a mere hot rodding backyard mechanic knows that not every engine failure is predictable or occurs within expected tolerances. And compare the scale of a few pistons rotating around a crankshaft propelled by controlled burn with a fully loaded 747 flying into a skyscraper. Your arguments that it is known that these things could absolutely not have happened in the way that they did is ignorant and absurd. Please show me where anyone has tested flying 747s into skyscrapers in anything other than a computer simulation, please.
It's never happened other than 9/11, yet you idiots run around acting like you definitively know so much about it that you can discredit what the rest of us saw with our own eyes.
You're not a soldier (now or ever, please provide some credentials if you'd like to prove me wrong), you're not an engineer, and you aren't a historian either. Continue your ignorant Alex Jones jabberwonky all you want, just know that it falls on deaf (and more educated) ears. But don't let us keep you here, reading our "propogandist" responses. I hear there's a new documentary out for you to consume and share with all of your really smart friends. You guys REALLY know what's going on in the world, eh? Damn them Illuminati!
Our Men and women are in harms way.
Total war…..or no war.
We have an obligation to the Troops to give them all the tools they need to kill the enemy.
{ Airpower , Napalm , Cluster bombs , Massive reinforcement , Crusher ,Firescout }
Stop Pussyfooting around, and send everything we have.
Lets get the mountain passes under observation
{predator , global hawk , unmanned sensor packages}
and bomb the hell out of everything crossing the pakistani border that isn't moving through the border control points.
The commanders on the ground say they need more resources to avoid failure.
Mr.President, please, send every troop and asset they want, plus 10%.
Or Give up on this "war of nessesity" and bail.
My 2%
TheFixerMan
I wonder if "veteran" for Tom means skipping out to Canada?
2005 Umer Hayat and Hamid Hayat (Pakistan terror camp attendees); 2005 Levar Haley Washington, Gregory Vernon Patterson, Hammad Riaz Samana, and Kevin James (L.A. National Guard facilities, synagogues, etc. bomb plot); 2005 Michael C. Reynolds (Wyoming natural gas refinery, transcontinental pipeline, NJ oil refinery bomb plot); 2006 Mohammad Zaki Amawi, Marwan Othman El-Hindi, Zand Wassim Mazloum (made bombs in Ohio for use in Iraq vs. U.S. troops); 2006 Syed Haris Ahmed and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee (made surveillance tapes of U.S. Capitol building, World Bank HQ, etc. & sent to extremist group in London); 2006 Narseal Batiste, Patrick Abraham, Stanley Grant Phanor, Naudimar Herrera, Burson Augustin, Lyglenson Lemorin, and Rotschild Augstine (Sears Tower bomb plot); 2006 Assem Hammoud (NYC/NJ subways, transit system, etc. bomb plot); 2006 Liquid Explosives Plot (24 London-based terrorists attempting to blow up 10 commercial airliners); 2007 Fort Dix Plot (to attack/bomb Soldiers on base); 2007 JFK Airport Plot (jet fuel pipeline bomb plot); (CONT)
2007 Germany-based terror cell plots to bomb US facilities in Germany; 2009 NYC synagogues and Jewish community center bomb plots; 2009 Dallas skyscraper bomb plot; 2009 Chicago federal courthouse bomb plot; 2009 Najibullah Zazi (NYC bomb plot – biggest attack planned on US since 9/11).
But I know…I know. I'm wrong, you're right. The "innocent, poor, brown-skinned people" (your words, not mine) we are targeting are peace lovers who have not declared jihad on the west and the need for a worldwide caliphate. Those videos, audio tapes, websites, suicide bombings, attacks on their own people, etc. declaring such are all make-believe.
GET A CLUE TOM. Go sing cumbaya in Afghanistan while we wait here at home for the video of your capture, torture, and beheading to be posted on one of those peaceful, "innocent" jihadi websites…please.
This is a reply for TrekFan1982 (I cannot get your reply to me to appear on this site for some reason, but anyway . . .)
The bust is unassembled and unpainted? I'll keep shopping around, I guess. Ha!
You provide nothing to argue about. You make didactic statements based upon the incestuous BS which circulates throughout Trooferdom, which has no bearing anywhere on anything that has actually happened in the real world.
comment testing – please ignore
"I grew up during the Vietnam war."
Congratulations.
"Have we not learned anything during the past 30 years."
Yes. That losing has consequences, and how to use question marks.
"You don't get involved in other countries civil wars."
The Soviets did is in Vietnam. Quite successfully. How did you miss that?
"Afganistan is a no win situation."
Ignoring Afghanistan didn´t result in a win either, if you remember.
"Let's bring our troops home now, and take care of our own country."
Is there nothing the civilians can do by themselves?
"Lord knows we have enough problems here to worry about."
You mean we need to add some foreign problems as well, like an Afghanistan dominated by Taliban, torn by civil war, with other powers getting drawn in, which can destabilize Pakistan (a nuclear power) and be host to a resurgent Al Qaeda, so that history can repeat itself and some smartass can whine "Have we learned nothing from history" a few years from now?
Cuckoo!
I say the Twin Towers were brought down by aliens. Can you prove if didn´t happen?
Yes, Tom, but don´t you know the CIA is run by JEWS? And by JEWS I mean of course ALIENS.
As a Marine with combat tours in Iraq & Afghanistan ('03 & '04), let me heed your advice and "try it sometime" right here with the REAL TRUTH:
1993 World Trade Center bombing; 1996 Khobar Towers bombing; 1998 bombings of US embassies in both Kenya and Tanzania; 2000 USS Cole bombing; 2001 World Trade Center (9/11); 2001 Richard Reid (airplane shoe bomber); 2002 bombing of US Consulate in Karachi; 2002 Jose Padilla ("dirty" bomber); 2002 Lackawana Six (a.k.a. the Buffalo Six); 2002 Strait of Hormuz ship attacks plot; 2003 bombing of "western" housing compound in Riyadh; 2003 Iyman Farris (Brooklyn Bridge bomb plot); 2003 Virginia Jihad Network (direct ties to al qaeda, taliban, & lashkar-i-taiba); 2004 various kidnappings and killings of American workers; 2004 Dhiren Barot terror cell (NYSE, Wall Street, Newark, London, etc. bomb plot); 2004 James Elshafay and Shahawar Matin Siraj (NYC subways, Madison Square Garden bomb plot); 2004 Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain (assassination attempt); 2004 attack on US Consulate in Saudi Arabia; (CONT)
As a former squid, I resent that.
You aren't, by any chance, a jarhead?
Hey, Tom M, they are our enemies. If they aren't your enemies, must be you aren't one of us.
Since WWII, the US has not embarked on winning wars as we should. We've fought wars based on how the world perceives it should be done, and that is not how to win.
In WWII, and ALL previous wars, if we took fire we returned it regardless of who/what was there. It didn't matter if it was from a factory, a house, a church. We took it out. This responsed is based on OUR souldiers returning home AFTER winning. But now, wars are fought on the basis of 'collateral damage', on PR, on minimizing tarnishing our WORLD image……
…. cont
..cont
…. but the cost of doing that is UNACCEPTABLE. What it does is make us look weak in the eyes of those whom we are fighting, and those that are waiting in line to attack us. But the biggest cost is in the lives of those that are wasted fighting this way – our brave soldiers.
We should fight to win – they kill one of ours, we kill 100 of them. Fear of us is the only way we will keep the 'dogs of war' away from our doorstep. We have to unlease our bigger and badder dog and let them do the job they are trained for, not keeping them on a lease with one arm tied behind the back, the other holding nothing more than a feather bowa to tickle our enemies to death because anything else would be 'inhumane'.
War is UGLY, that is a fact. Sometimes the cure is just as ugly, but necessary.
I know why we are in Afghanistan. Remember the oil pipeline that some said was the real reason? Well, they are building it. Except it´s NOT a pipeline, it´s a giant transdimensional oscillation overthruster that will transport the earth to another solar system where we will be forced to serve a race of 6 foot blonde amazons.
AND I´M ALL FOR IT, TOM! I SAY BRING. IT. ON.
I know why we are in Afghanistan. Remember the oil pipeline that some said was the real reason? Well, they are building it. Except it´s NOT a pipeline, it´s a giant transdimensional oscillation overthruster that will transport the earth to another solar system where we will be forced to serve a race of 6 foot blonde amazons. AND I´M ALL FOR IT, TOM! I SAY BRING. IT. ON.
I know why we are in Afghanistan. Remember the oil pipeline that some said was the real reason? Well, they are building it. Except it´s NOT a pipeline, it´s a giant transdimensional oscillation overthruster that will transport the earth to another solar system where we will be forced to serve a race of 6 foot blonde amazons. AND I´M ALL FOR IT! I SAY BRING. IT. ON.
Hey John, check your history. Many of our conflicts have been interference with other countries civil wars. As a matter of fact the beloved Democrat President Woodrow Wilson interfered all over the world in civil conflicts and no one ever bothers to point that out. He instead gets credit for planting the seed for that bastion of corruption and impotence called the UN. I say smoke 'em if you got to! If not we will be at this for ever. Besides our "problems" are made up any way. I don't have problems cause I work my ass off so I don't. I am however concerned about issues, so if you have shelter, clothing, food and water, and you aren't in imminent fear of your life, you don't have any problems.
OK fair enough, if they are not your enemies then they are your friends. Go join them, I am sure there is a plane leaving in a short while. You should go over there and help those people instead of sitting in your bathrobe in your mothers basement with that porn site minimized in the left hand corner of your screen:)
I have news for you! They were there (as was I). If you knew the slightest thing about WMD and had read the Iraqi Survey Group report you would know. Setting aside the strategic advantage of drawing the extremists into the relative flat desert to annihilate them as opposed to fighting in the awful terrain of Afghanistan (like we are now)……ooops too much of a stretch for the week minded? OK neener neener neeeeeeeeener.
Churchill and FDR allied with Stalin during WWII. Does that mean they "created" Stalinism? The ideological roots of al-Qaeda go back decades before the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan. Read The Looming Tower (which I review here) if you want genuine understanding.
Tom is not a vet, and not involved but just some "enlightened" guy who demands proof where he is unwilling to provide on his part. I will be in Afghanistan in July Tom, I'm sure that if I'm killed or injured Tom will be quite happy, were it that opposite happened I would not be happy. What happened to the good war/bad war narrative you non-serving trolls pushed during the last election.
[...] on incredulous ears. We will lose the war unless we get more troops and more gear soon. — Michael Yon on [...]
Alex Jones much?
[...] 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 pRead more at http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/10/05/two-firefights-one-video/ [...]
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