The other day I wrote this blog about the first Ghurka being killed in a horrific battle in Afghanistan. Well it appears that the British Ministry of Defence has authorized a release of a video from the battle. You can see it here, news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7744727.stm
Monthly Archives: November 2008
Why I keep blogging
After I got back from Afghanistan in May of 2007, I wondered if I would keep this blog up or not. Part of me wanted to quit blogging so I could focus on other things and put Afghanistan behind me, but part of me wanted to keep the word out there, and not let the country and the great things our soldiers are doing there fall off the radar.
My first decision was to at least blog for a few months to talk about the reunification process. As I gathered stats on the traffic coming to my site, I realized that the interest never waned and many people kept coming to this site in order to hear about Afghanistan and what was happening there.
So why am I still blogging now that I have been back for 18 months? Because of emails like the one below, which I got yesterday.
“My husband is deployed in Afghanistan right now and I just wanted to say thank you for being one of the folks who gets me through each day.
I was a company commander during the first Gulf War and that seems like a boy scout outing compared to what is going on out there now.
Thanks for your compassion for soldiers…”
Yep, to know that there are Americans out there who are being helped by this blog is a big reason of why I spend so many hours out of my life keeping this blog up.
Bouhammer Out…
2/7 Marines got more than they bargained for
I have posted many stories about the accomplishments of 2/7 Marines, and have interviewed their Battalion Commander several times and even emailed with him personally. This story in the LA Times does a good job summarizing some of the obstacles and combat hardships they faced.
The Marines of the Two-Seven were not even supposed to deploy to Afghanistan. Their original destination was Iraq, and when they were sent here in April as a stopgap measure to help an overwhelmed NATO force, the plan had been to spend the time mentoring Afghan national police.
It didn’t turn out that way. Instead of training policemen, the lightly equipped 2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment of the 1st Marine Division found itself engaged in firefights with insurgent units of 100 or more fighters. They faced Taliban snipers and roadside bombs.
Twenty members of the 1,000-member battalion died in combat.
Read the whole story at: www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/middleeast/la-fg-marines22-2008nov22,0,3086027.story
Details are out on death of first Gurkha in Afghanistan
They are known as the martial race, for their aggression, bravery and fierce fighting instincts and past history. This story on the death of the first Gurkha in Afghanistan shows you that they still live up to that reputation.
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/23/afghanistan-taliban-british-army-gurkhas
2/7 Marines battle for Shewan
Marines’ heroic actions at Shewan leave more than 50 insurgents dead, several wounded
FARAH PROVINCE, Afghanistan – In the city of Shewan, approximately 250 insurgents ambushed 30 Marines and paid a heavy price for it. Shewan has historically been a safe haven for insurgents, who used to plan and stage attacks against Coalition Forces in the Bala Baluk district.
The city is home to several major insurgent leaders. Reports indicate that more than 250 full time fighters reside in the city and in the surrounding villages.
Shewan had been a thorn in the side of Task Force 2d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force Afghanistan throughout the Marines’ deployment here in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, because it controls an important supply route into the Bala Baluk district. Opening the route was key to continuing combat operations in the area.
“The day started out with a 10-kilometer patrol with elements mounted and dismounted, so by the time we got to Shewan, we were pretty beat,†said a designated marksman who requested to remain unidentified. “Our vehicles came under a barrage of enemy RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) and machine gun fire. One of our ‘humvees’ was disabled from RPG fire, and the Marines inside dismounted and laid down suppression fire so they could evacuate a Marine who was knocked unconscious from the blast.â€
The vicious attack that left the humvee destroyed and several of the Marines pinned down in the kill zone sparked an intense eight-hour battle as the platoon desperately fought to recover their comrades. After recovering the Marines trapped in the kill zone, another platoon sergeant personally led numerous attacks on enemy fortified positions while the platoon fought house to house and trench to trench in order to clear through the enemy ambush site.
“The biggest thing to take from that day is what Marines can accomplish when they’re given the opportunity to fight,†the sniper said. “A small group of Marines met a numerically superior force and embarrassed them in their own backyard. The insurgents told the townspeople that they were stronger than the Americans, and that day we showed them they were wrong.â€
During the battle, the designated marksman single handedly thwarted a company-sized enemy RPG and machinegun ambush by reportedly killing 20 enemy fighters with his devastatingly accurate precision fire. He selflessly exposed himself time and again to intense enemy fire during a critical point in the eight-hour battle for Shewan in order to kill any enemy combatants who attempted to engage or maneuver on the Marines in the kill zone. What made his actions even more impressive was the fact that he didn’t miss any shots, despite the enemies’ rounds impacting within a foot of his fighting position.
“I was in my own little world,†the young corporal said. “I wasn’t even aware of a lot of the rounds impacting near my position, because I was concentrating so hard on making sure my rounds were on target.â€
After calling for close-air support, the small group of Marines pushed forward and broke the enemies’ spirit as many of them dropped their weapons and fled the battlefield. At the end of the battle, the Marines had reduced an enemy stronghold, killed more than 50 insurgents and wounded several more.
“I didn’t realize how many bad guys there were until we had broken through the enemies’ lines and forced them to retreat. It was roughly 250 insurgents against 30 of us,†the corporal said. “It was a good day for the Marine Corps. We killed a lot of bad guys, and none of our guys were seriously injured.â€
Smoke billows from a 500-pound bomb dropped during the intense battle for the city of Shewan. During the battle, Marine snipers attached to Task Force 2d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force Afghanistan, killed more than 50 insurgents and wounded several more.
A Marine sniper attached to Task Force 2d Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force Afghanistan, fires at targets on a range on Camp Barber, Afghanistan. The marksmanship skills of the Marines proved far superior during the Battle of Shewan, enabling the Marines to reduce the enemy force that was more than eight times the size of their own. (Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Steve Cushman)
Video: Outside the Wire documentary
This is one you will want to check out. After checking out the trailer below, head over to www.outsidethewire.com/
4 years later, it never gets easier
It was four years ago today, that I got the call. A call that changed my life significantly in the Army. I had lost friends outside the military and I had even lost friends in the military and in war. But this was the first time I had lost one of my soldiers. Not just any soldier, but one of those soldiers that stands out amongst all of them. Because of Iraq being several timezones ahead, he was killed in a terrible ambush on the 20th and it was on the morning of the 20th EST that I got the call.
My Commander and good friend called me around 7:30 in the morning with the words “we lost one”. I remember walking in my living room and then quickly moving to the steps to sit down. I asked him who, and the reply was simply “Roustum”. I was in a hazy daze. I remember that too. The world had stopped, all of my senses seemed to be shut down….just paused.
My mind was racing trying to make sense of it, thinking of just 5 days earlier when I, along with most of our Family Readiness Group, were at the VFW putting together Christmas boxes to ship to my soldiers. I remembered standing side by side with a mom who always impressed me and was so nice and my mind though of her when those officers in uniform along with a deputy would be walking to her door to tell her the news.
My schedule was shot that day. Everything I had on my plate, that I thought mattered was quickly forgotten. I didn’t care about anything or anyone except to find out what happened. The rest of the day was a day full of phone calls, between the Commander and I, the Battalion and Brigade HQs, and eventually family members. Many were wounded that day, and as those wounded soldiers were being treated in hospitals between Iraq and Germany, they were calling home. Two humvee loads of soldiers were wounded that day, and of course one of those soldiers, SGT David Roustum was lost forever.
It killed me and my wife to stay silent as families kept calling through the day as they either suspected something or were told something by their soldier who was forward deployed. Until Dave’s family was notified I could not be the comforter, instead I had to be the soldier. This meant that I had to deny knowing anything and could only advise the families to please not spread rumors until we knew something official. That was a quandary that I hated being in. These families were hurting for their own soldiers and they were hurting for a family they did not know of yet, but they were sure they knew personally.
During the day there were problems trying to find a Notification officer and someone from State called me to ask me if I could serve in that role. Typically the Army likes to use someone from outside the unit and not someone the family may ever see again to be the notification officer delivering the terrible news. For them to ask me was against the norm, but I knew they would only do it if they had to. My heart sank when they asked as I could not think of worse task, but at the same time I would step up and do it if asked. After that call, I quickly started checking my Class-A uniform and making sure everything was there and ready to go. For a while after that I just wondered how I would do it, what I would say, if I could maintain my composure.
Several hours later I got a call telling me they found someone outside the unit that could do the notification and I was greatly relieved. I could not imagine delivering that news and then having to face the family later.
It was four years ago today, that started a path in my career and life that I would say would be the lowest point in my military career and the highest point in my career. Let me explain what I mean by that. The lowest becuase I had to bury one of my soldiers. A soldier, that I along with the Commander, had to pick to send to combat without us becuase the National Guard did not want the whole company, they just wanted our soldiers. The highest point in my career because we pulled out all the stops and did everything we could to render the highest honors we could for one of our fallen brothers. The Commander and I worked every deal we could with anyone we could to get anything the family wanted for the funeral service with full honors. Even though I was not serving side by side with my men in combat, I could at least serve one of them by providing him the honors he deserved.
It has been four years today since that call came, and let me tell you time may heal becuase over time we eventually turn back to life and focus on things but it really never gets easier. I have talked with Dave many times since that day and I still do today. I miss him greatly as does many other people who ever had the pleasure of knowing him personally.
SGT Dave Roustum OIF KIA 20 NOV 2004