Not a Good Day to Die by Sean Naylor

Author:Sean Naylor [Naylor, Sean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, Inc.
Published: 2005-09-11T23:00:00+00:00

BACK at the site of the attack on Harriman’s convoy, the scene was one of devastation. One of Ziabdullah’s fighters lay dead and another dozen had been wounded, one mortally. Nelson, one of the AFO operators, had suffered super-ficial cuts to his face and head and a scratched cornea. All three Special Forces soldiers were hurt, but Harriman’s wounds were easily the most severe. He now had a fist-sized hole in his back through which his life was quickly ebbing away. Ignoring his own wounds, Casenhiser worked feverishly to try to save his friend’s life.

About twenty minutes after the main column ground to a halt, a four-vehicle quick reaction force took off for Harriman’s position. In the two lead vehicles—an armored Mercedes SUV and a pickup—were Texas 14’s second-in-command, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Sean Ballard, McArthur, Schwartz, and a couple of Special Forces NCOs, including ODA 372’s other medic, Sergeant First Class Brian Allen. The third vehicle was a truck containing Engineer’s thirty-strong platoon—among the best of the Afghan fighters—and the fourth vehicle was an AFO pickup containing John B. and Isaac H. It took the rescue party about ten minutes to drive north to Harriman’s stricken little convoy. A little more than halfway there, roughly 800 meters from Harriman’s position, they thought they heard the crackle of small arms fire. Ballard charged ahead in his armored SUV. The other vehicles stopped and established a hasty perimeter, with Engineer’s fighters orienting their weapons to the north and northeast. After a short pause Schwartz determined that they weren’t receiving effective fire and couldn’t see any enemy fighters, so he had everyone get back in the vehicles and continued north. While still en route, Ballard heard over the radio that one of the U.S. casualties was going into cardiac arrest.

It wasn’t yet 6:30 a.m. The Rakkasan air assault had yet to land, but Task Force Hammer was already in the grip of Clausewitzean friction and had ground almost to a halt well short of its objective. The first mutterings of dissension were being heard from the Afghans, and the NCOs in the quick reaction force found themselves already arranging a medevac for their stricken colleagues. Operation Anaconda had not begun auspiciously.

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