While You Enjoy Your Air Conditioned Home

I hadn't heard much about the big fight in Afghanistan that killed nine US Airborne warriors, but here's the Stars and Stripes story about it. Amazing story:

When the attack began, Stafford grabbed his M-240 machine gun off a north-facing sandbag wall and moved it to an east-facing sandbag wall. Moments later, RPGs struck the north-facing wall, knocking Stafford out of the fighting position and wounding another soldier.

Stafford thought he was on fire so he rolled around, regaining his senses. Nearby, Cpl. Gunnar Zwilling, who later died in the fight, had a stunned look on his face.

Immediately, a grenade exploded by Stafford, blowing him down to a lower terrace at the observation post and knocking his helmet off. Stafford put his helmet back on and noticed how badly he was bleeding.

Cpl. Matthew Phillips was close by, so Stafford called to him for help. Phillips was preparing to throw a grenade and shot a look at Stafford that said, "Give me a second. I gotta go kill these guys first."

Why do I have to go all the way to Stars and Stripes to get this stuff? The only thing I had heard before this was the US body count, and how it meant we were losing the war again. This next part will be laughed about by the participant one day:

The insurgents then started chucking rocks at Gobble and Stafford’s fighting position, hoping that the soldiers might think the rocks were grenades, causing them to jump from the safety of their fighting hole. One rock hit a tree behind Stafford and landed directly between his legs. He braced himself for an explosion. He then realized it was a rock.

I would feel no shame in peeing my pants during that experience. Must be invigorating to not be blown to smithereens when you fully expect to do so.

Link from Ace.