U.S. Army Capt. Edmond Hardy of 1st Armored Division, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, 4th Squadron, Outlaw Troop commander holds a local child and her new toy monkey while giving orders during an aide mission in the Al Doreen neighborhood of Iraq, Oct. 14. Outlaw Troop handed out blankets, toys and kerosene heaters in preparation for the winter months. Photo Spc. Larayne Hurd.
Somewhat surprising: the number of commenters who are surprised by the number of commenters who share their opinions. I think what we have here may be a glimpse of the actual majority of Americans - who read in the news almost every day that they are a minority (and Nazis, to boot).
An Army medic, Staff Sergeant Max Warshaw, was awarded 11 medals and a Combat Medic Badge in World War II.
He received his first Bronze Star medal in 1942, in the North African Campaign. His regiment was fighting the Germans in Algeria. He risked his life by exposing himself to the enemy to help his regiment's wounded lying in open areas.
Two days later, Warshaw was wounded by shrapnel. "An artillery shell blew up right near me," he recalled, "it didn't knock me out and I didn't require hospitalization. However, for many years I would still need to have artillery shrapnel removed."
In 1943, Warshaw received his first Silver Star medal for gallantry in action in Tunisia.
On D-Day, he landed with his outfit in Normandy, where he was one of the first to hit Omaha Beach. It was for his heroism on June 14 and 15, 1944, that he received his second Bronze Star medal.
His division kept pushing the German Army back to its own country. It was in Aachen, Germany, on October 13, 1944, that Warshaw received his third Bronze Star medal. He constantly exposed himself to the enemy to administer first aid to the wounded.
Three days later, he was again awarded the Silver Star medal for heroism and gallantry beyond the call of duty.
On November 25, 1944, Staff Sergeant Max Warshaw was captured by the Germans. They gave him a medical kit to care for the other prisoners of war. He was liberated five months later and sent to England for medical care.
As the notorious Afghan winter weather draws near, snow already blanketing some areas in the eastern highlands, heavy fighting has exploded throughout most of the south and east. Taliban fighters staged a recent series of assaults on remote districts while International Security Assistance Force has aggressively responded, launching a series of offensives in northern Badghis province, Ghazni in the east, and in the rugged mountains of central Uruzgan. Season long fighting in Helmand province has also helped flush Taliban fighters westward, leaving a trail of destruction along the way and grabbing international media attention.
Six ISAF and three Afghan soldiers were killed in a Taliban ambush in eastern Afghanistan; eight ISAF troops and 11 Afghan soldiers were wounded during the fighting. "Several" Taliban were killed during fighting near the Nahr Surkh District of Helmand province. The ISAF and the Afghan military denied the Taliban controlled the Tarin Kowt-Kandahar road.
U.S. Army spokesman Lt. Col. David Accetta said the soldiers were not on a combat patrol when they were attacked.
“They were actually on their way back from a meeting in a nearby village with elders,” Accetta said via telephone from Bagram air base, just north of the capital, Kabul.
He said that insurgents used rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire when they attacked the patrol. Officials said it was too early to determine whether the attack was carried out by Taliban or al-Qaida forces. Criminal gangs also operate in the area.
The U.S. has responsibility for a large swath of territory in Afghanistan’s volatile east along the Pakistani border. The area has been a hotbed for skirmishes in recent weeks, resulting in several deaths of U.S. and Afghan forces. Dozens of Taliban and al-Qaida militants have also been killed in those battles. (...)
[ISAF spokesman U.S. Air Force Maj. Charles Anthony] said the loss was being felt around the world. Most of the troops operating in the area of the attack are with the U.S. Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade, which is based out of Germany and Italy.
"If you look back, last year we didn't have a significant presence in Nuristan and now we do," he said. "That all contributes to the fact there have been more casualties this year than there have been in previous years."
"With Sunday being Veterans Day, this is a reminder of the sacrifices that our troops and our Afghan partners make for the peace and stability of the Afghan people," Accetta said.
25 Years of Vietnam Offerings
WASHINGTON — They are lined up like footnotes to the names etched on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial's polished black granite, leaning against its base, some a collective tribute to the fallen, others bearing a message for just one of the dead.
An American Legion uniform cap from Kansas, a police patch from a town in Georgia, a note to "GRAMDADAD" that appears to have been written by the unpracticed hand of a young child. A homemade plaque with plastic red poppies pasted to it, dedicated to a "Band of Brothers." Poems from middle school students.
"We met once when you played golf with my dad," reads one note, written hastily on a piece of yellow notebook paper, addressed to a Major Shaw. "You served together in Vietnam. He made it back to us. I'm saying goodbye."
Since the memorial was completed in 1982, it has become a de facto shrine with more than 100,000 offerings for the dead and messages from survivors left by the millions who visit it each year. (...)
The practice wasn't foreseen by the memorial's planners, but the first offering came even before the monument was completed, a Purple Heart laid in the foundation by the brother of a dead soldier.
At the beginning, a memorial staffer collected the items on the belief that people would want them back.
When they continued to pile up, with little sign of abating, the Park Service decided in 1986 to treat the items as museum pieces.
"It was unheard of for people to come to a site over a protracted period of time and leave objects," said Duery Felton, the collection curator and a Vietnam veteran. "These objects became a collection. Before that, they were just things left at the memorial." (...)
Park Service workers collect the mementoes every few days and ship them to a temperature-controlled warehouse in an office park in suburban Landover, Md., about 20 miles away.
Each piece is catalogued. Some are kept in locked cabinets, others alongside long shelves of antique furniture from other historic sites. (...)
"It is a beautiful thing," [Jan Scruggs, a veteran who came up with the idea for the memorial and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund] said. "It shows that those who we know and who were a part of our lives and who aren't with us any more still have an impact on us."
First Lt. Walter Bryan Jackson is the seventh Soldier to receive the Distinguished Service Cross since 1975. He is flanked by Secretary of the Army Pete Geren and his former commander, Lt. Col. Thomas C. Graves. Photo by J.D. Leipold (ARNEWS)
KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan — Under the cover of darkness, Soldiers from Able Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry (Airborne) air-assaulted approximately three miles south of their forward operating bases located in the Pech River Valley Oct. 22 as one part of Operation Rock Avalanche.
Operation Rock Avalanche was a multiple-company mission running from Oct. 19-25 in the Chapa Dara, Korengal, Shuryak and Pech Valleys. Participating were Able, Battle and Chosen Companies from the 2-503rd, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry (Airborne) and multiple companies from the Afghan National Army's 201st Corps. The companies were positioned into different areas of Kunar Province at different times hoping to flush insurgents out of one area into another where U.S. and Afghan forces would be waiting for them.
With a vantage point from 7,500 feet up and overlooking the Shuryak and Pech Valleys, Able Company's four-day mission was to locate and destroy insurgent command-and-control and logistical elements operating in that area, according to Capt. Louis Frketic, Able Company Commander.
After setting up a perimeter and establishing a command post on the top of Phase Line Ridgeway, 2nd Platoon was dispatched to the nearby village of Aybot. Previous intelligence had suggested that Taliban leaders might be holed-up in that area.
"We were looking for two named [High-Value Targets]. One of them is the commander of the entire Shuryak forces and the other guy is an IED specialist," said Frketic, "We searched their compounds and they were not in there or in the area."
Frketic and his paratroopers were not dissuaded. A Low-Level Voice Intercept Team from Bravo Company, 173rd Special Troops Battalion (Airborne) was tasked to Able Company for the mission. The team had begun listening to Taliban radio traffic as soon as they hit the ground and were already getting a bead on the insurgents operating in the surrounding valleys.
The team was an invaluable asset; one that Frketic uses every chance he gets to collect intelligence on the enemy.
"A lot of times we will start getting locations and then we will pick up names," said Frketic, "It is usually specific to that cell what kind of things they are talking about. Sometimes they will start talking about people, fighters, locations, ammo, or weapons systems that they have."
Even the smallest details, including the specific words used, can yield valuable information, said Frketic.
"A couple days ago, right before the mission started, we heard a cell talking about their fighters and their leaders in the terms of soldiers and officers. Other times, we'll hear them talk about fighters and commanders. The one talking about officers and soldiers: that is a professional organization. Little details like that are very critical in my mind," explained Frketic.
With so much Afghan National Army and U.S. military activity on the surrounding mountains and in the surrounding valleys, the Taliban were never sure of Able Company's position and never mounted an attack on Able's position. The LLVI team used the time to continue to collect intelligence on enemy in the area. The formerly suspected enemy locations were now known.
Around noon Oct. 24, Frketic put that information to use and launched Soldiers from 1st Platoon, Destined Company into action. The platoon is a heavy-weapons platoon attached to Able Company for the deployment and commonly referred to as the Dragon Platoon. They had air-assaulted onto the ridgeline with their MK19 grenade launchers and M2 machine guns. A mortar team with an 81MM tube from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2-503rd was also put in action.
Their fire destroyed one command-and-control node operating in the Shuryak Valley. But destroying the enemy position was probably the easiest part of the mission for the MK19 gun team, said Spc. David Hooker, from Palestine, Ark., and a Dragon Platoon member.
"I've never air-assaulted in with a MK19 before," said Hooker, "But since we just set in and manned a blocking position it was okay."
"The weight is the biggest challenge, getting it in and out," he said.
The MK19, without the tripod, weighs 75 pounds and the ammo cans weigh between 40 and 60 pounds each depending on the number of rounds in them. Many cans were brought for this mission.
The mortar team, one of the busiest in the battalion, also spent most of the day putting rounds on target. The team averages firing more than 1,000 rounds per month.
"As far as firing goes, this is hands-down the most intense deployment that I have been on," said Staff Sgt. Brandon Thomas, of Nashville, Tenn.
While there are Howitzers available for fire missions throughout the Kunar Province, the mortar teams are able to react the quickest when indirect fire is needed, said Thomas.
"We have eyes on a lot of the targets and our response is a little bit quicker," said Thomas, "The channels to clear the 155 go all the way through battalion and then back through their fires. Ours are cleared right here. If we are in direct contact, I can engage freely."
The number of rounds fired combined with the danger of their job has earned the team the respect of Thomas and the Rock leadership.
"These guys are awesome," said Thomas, "Everybody has been put in for valor awards."
The mortar team and the pit in which they work are a favorite target of the Taliban, making it a dangerous job.
"There is no overhead cover and they stand out there and fire throughout the entire engagement and also in support after by hitting exfil routes," said Thomas, "It's pretty remarkable what they do."
During the night of the 24th, Dragon Platoon was flown back to Able Main, but early the morning of Oct. 25, the remainder of Able Company began what would end up a 10-hour trek down treacherous, slippery and steep terrain back to their base. No small feat for even the most fit paratrooper, yet a regular occurrence for Soldiers in Kunar Province.
"We go on ruck marches into the mountains every other day or every third day," said Staff Sgt. Brian Mading, from Bonita Springs, Fla. and a member of Headquarters Platoon.
"The first couple are tough. Then, of course, the more you are doing it, the more you get built up," said Mading.
"The guys that come here right out of basic or other units usually get broke down pretty quick or get into it pretty quick depending on what their physical fitness level was before," said Mading.
All of the gear these paratroopers carry is heavy: helmet, protective vests, rucksacks, weapons, ammunition, and water. It makes packing before the mission extremely important, leaving little room for extra cold-weather gear or even extra food.
During the trip down the mountain, the Able Company Soldiers had hoped to 'drop in' on some insurgents the LLVI team had confirmed were hiding out in villages in that area. But none were spotted and no contact was made.
That's okay, according to Frketic.
"Those villages are only a three-to-four hour walk from our base. They'll be getting visits from us again soon."
