Posted on 10/05/2009 6:20:36 PM PDT by Saije
Flying into the besieged Afghan base during a nighttime firefight this weekend was a harrowing mix of overwhelming noise, stomach dropping maneuvers and shadows hurrying through the gloom.
When the chopper lifted off moments later with three wounded soldiers, it left behind others who were wounded but refused to be MEDEVACED out of the combat zone so they could return to fight with their buddies.
Fighting raged at two remote U.S. outpostsnear the Pakistan border this weekend, that left eight U.S. soldiers dead and 24 wounded. The battle was fought from Friday night through Sunday as hundreds of Taliban insurgents and their allies tried to overrun the Americans.
During the fighting, the insurgents succeeded in breaching the outer defense of the base at times before being repelled with the help of attack helicopters, fighter jets and drones. It was the bloodiest battle in a year for U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
During the fight, the MEDEVAC team at a nearby base waited - with both patience and frustration.
MEDEVAC teams are known for flying into some of the most deadly areas in the world to rescue injured soldiers. MEDEVAC helicopters are unarmed so they often need supporting aircraft to protect them, and sometimes the cover of darkness is their only defense...
As we were flying into the attack space, the MEDEVAC team with one medic and a doctor were preparing for the oncoming patients, setting up IV's, pulling out medical equipment...
One of the pilots said that even though he had night vision goggles and ordinarily he can see in that sort of situation, because the fighting was intense there was so much smoke it was actually fogged over and it was difficult for him to see. Fortunately he could make out the landing zone, but it was touch and go.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
It's easy to make fun of reporters and question their bias but I give credit to this reporter for being there. Had to be scary as h*ll. And no surprise that wounded soldiers wouldn't leave. Committed is more than a word.
Pray for the return of Christ to protect these brave men. No one else will help them.
These brave soldiers do not deserve the way our government treats them. It is absolutely disgraceful!
Maybe an ABC reporter can undergo a conversion to what’s right and the truth. Of course our troops never let us down ~ but our nation lets them down quite regularly, and woe betide the third-worlders who make common cause with us because when the Democrats come in there’s going to be genocide!
I am so sad for our fighting military and embarrassed that their CIC thinks they can just wait a few more weeks until he gets around to making a decision whether or not to send them help.
Those wounded heroes and the ones who fought so bravely to keep from being overrun by the enemy.....of whom the world is not worthy ....
Obama is not fit to untie the shoelaces of such men!
GOD bless them... and those on this board that think that we should leave the battle fields in surrender and defeat do not even measure up to licking the blood and sh!t from these HEROE’S boots!
LLS
You are so right. It absolutely enrages me that these boys and girls are twisting in the wind while that @#$%$# sits up in the White House playing cards and sipping tea. I swear....something’s got to give soon. We are losing heroes every day over there,and it has got to stop.
Good Lord, please protect them. Please.
God bless these brave troops for standing by and defending their comrades while their Commander in Chief is abandoning them.
It takes a lot of courage to be a medivac pilot in a situation like that. I wonder, did they also send in any air support, or would that have broken the current rules of engagement?
I wonder if the Taliban is developing any respect for our troops yet? Any idea of the number of enemy dead?
parsy, who wishes Obama would make up his friggin mind
Are we as a nation worthy of them?
Of course Michelle Obama’s sacrifice is more that this solder .... /sarc off ....
Maybe she learned something about true Americans.
And if you knew a female news reporter were on the scene, NO WAY would you want to leave if you could still stand and pull a trigger.
“Are we as a nation worthy of them?”
No, any nation that refuses to give it’s warriors the support they need while they bleed for us is not worthy.
Until we get more troops in there, and change the bullshit ROE we will continue to send our best and brightest to their deaths in vain.
Wow.....she’s huge....
My initial reaction to this is where was the Ready Reaction Force if the attack lasted from Friday until Sunday. The outpost, to my understanding is only 150 miles from Kabul. No Air Cav anymore?
Amen.
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