TREK NAWA, Afghanistan – In the chilly dark night, a telltale sound made it clear the scout sniper team was inside the mud compound. CLINK. CLINK. CLINK. The Marines swung axes, hammers and other tools at the mud walls, preparing for a morning attack on Taliban fighters in the surrounding countryside. U.S. snipers use the tools to knock “murder holes” into a compound’s walls, creating “hides” from which they observe and engage targets. It has been widely reported that insurgents use the holes against coalition forces, but they’re not the only ones. It’s a smart tactic: The snipers can observe…
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TREK NAWA, Afghanistan – In the chilly dark night, a telltale sound made it clear the scout sniper team was inside the mud compound. CLINK. CLINK. CLINK. The Marines swung axes, hammers and other tools at the mud walls, preparing for a morning attack on Taliban fighters in the surrounding countryside. U.S. snipers use the tools to knock “murder holes” into a compound’s walls, creating “hides” from which they observe and engage targets. It has been widely reported that insurgents use the holes against coalition forces, but they’re not the only ones. It’s a smart tactic: The snipers can observe…
PATROL BASE DETROIT, Afghanistan – There’s limited electricity and no plumbing here, but you won’t hear much complaining from the Marines who call this tiny outpost home. Patrol Base Detroit sits on the western side of volatile Trek Nawa, a relatively lawless region just east of Helmand province’s Marjah district. Marines here engaged in frequent firefights here until mid-October, when it appears the frigid temperatures at night led to the annual end of Afghanistan’s unofficial fighting season. They’re certainly still on the lookout for insurgent activity, but it appears the peak point has passed. Photographer Colin Kelly and I arrived…
COMBAT OUTPOST PASERLAY, Afghanistan – It’s a relatively quiet day here on this outpost in Trek Nawa, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a serious conversation to which we can all relate. Deployed U.S. service members in Afghanistan put up with a lot. Not only is there the threat of improvised explosive devices, small-arms ambushes and indirect fire attacks, there’s the lousy food, hostile weather and lack of plumbing. That, of course, leads to a subject we’ve probably written about too frequently on this blog: poop humor. Yes, you may remember previous blog entries about farting in Afghanistan and…
COMBAT OUTPOST PASERLAY, Afghanistan – It’s a relatively quiet day here on this outpost in Trek Nawa, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a serious conversation to which we can all relate. Deployed U.S. service members in Afghanistan put up with a lot. Not only is there the threat of improvised explosive devices, small-arms ambushes and indirect fire attacks, there’s the lousy food, hostile weather and lack of plumbing. That, of course, leads to a subject we’ve probably written about too frequently on this blog: poop humor. Yes, you may remember previous blog entries about farting in Afghanistan and…
COMBAT OUTPOST PASERLAY, Afghanistan — Once again, it’s time to get dirty. Marine Corps Times arrived at this dusty outpost today, moving in on a convoy from nearby Forward Operating Base Geronimo. That capped a 12-hour period that also saw photographer Colin Kelly and I hop a helicopter to Geronimo from Camp Leatherneck, the Corps’ largest base here in Helmand province. We’ve definitely moved to a place where things should be interesting. Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., is based here in Trek Nawa, a volatile rural section of Helmand nestled between Marjah and Nawa…
CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan – From the moment I got here, it’s clear it was on people’s minds daily. The Sept. 14 attack on neighboring Camp Bastion rattled many Marines and other coalition forces on this base. While technically a separate base, the two camps share a bus route and relatively easy access. European troops frequently visit the American PX store on Leatherneck, and Americans hop the bus to visit the pizza shop, coffee shop and other amenities on Bastion. Like many other military journalists, I wrote about the attack on Bastion from my desk in D.C., relying equally on interviews,…
CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan – From the moment I got here, it’s clear it was on people’s minds daily. The Sept. 14 attack on neighboring Camp Bastion rattled many Marines and other coalition forces on this base. While technically a separate base, the two camps share a bus route and relatively easy access. European troops frequently visit the American PX store on Leatherneck, and Americans hop the bus to visit the pizza shop, coffee shop and other amenities on Bastion. Like many other military journalists, I wrote about the attack on Bastion from my desk in D.C., relying equally on interviews,…
CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan – Chief Warrant Officer 2 Milledge Wilson’s list of past injuries reads like a one-way trip to medical retirement. Gunshot wound to the left arm. Shrapnel wounds to the face. Grenade blast wounds to the stomach, face and left leg. He sustained all of those during a bold attack on Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, while deployed with Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 2, out of Cherry Point, N.C. As this story shows, the May 19, 2010, ambush made international headlines after more than a dozen insurgents breached the base’s wire and engaged in a five-hour firefight with…
MUSA QALA, Afghanistan – The Marines had been on the road for less than an hour from Combat Outpost Shukvani when their resupply convoy hit its first hint of trouble. The logistics train, overseen by Combat Logistics Battalion 2, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., was pushing through Helmand province when it came upon a likely improvised explosive device that troops from the nation of Georgia already had marked and cordoned. The Marines rolled around it but took harassing gunfire a few minutes later. “Drader, be advised: They said they’ve been taking pop shots from the right side of the road!”…
