For Army Platoon In Afghanistan, A Familiar Enemy

[progressiveGI]

Source: NPR

One of the most lethal areas in Afghanistan for U.S. troops is the Arghandab Valley, a Taliban stronghold just outside the southern city of Kandahar. The Army's 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Lewis, Wash., patrols the area, facing the risk of huge roadside bombs. One platoon already has lost 11 soldiers, and several more were seriously wounded — about one-third of the force. One day last week, more bad news crackled over the radio: a Taliban attack and casualties in 2nd Platoon.

..........

Lt. Brian Giroux was riding in the back of the Stryker when it flipped over, leaving him partially trapped in a crater 7 feet deep and some 28 feet across. Giroux has two broken bones in his leg. Burrow still doesn't know how many people were in the Stryker that was hit. So he asks the other wounded soldier, Sgt. Marquel Mendiola, who is face down on a stretcher, a trace of blood crusted on his lips. "How many total were in the truck?" Burrow asks.

"There were four of us," the wounded sergeant responds, identifying the two others: Spc. Gary Gooch and Spc. Aaron Aamot. Gooch, 22 of Ocala, Fla., and Aamot, 22, of Custer, Wash., were in the front of the Stryker when the bomb exploded. The body of one is trapped under the burning vehicle. The other body is nowhere to be seen.




Read more: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120314837&ft=1&f=1001

[bertman]

1. OUT NOW!!

We don't need more Americans or Afghanis dying for the profits of the War Industry.

[David Zephyr]

2. Out now.

.