Citizen Soldier Page #2

the camaraderie we would have

and the brotherhood

that would be necessary

to get to the deployment.

Cameraman:

Smile for the camera!

Welcome

to First Platoon, sir.

All:
Oooh!

- All right.

- ( All applauding )

Yeah, I'd say Leehan

helped me the most

because I felt kind of lost

first coming in.

My first drill with you guys

was in January

right before we left.

The next thing I remember

is us being told,

"Hey, we're only taking

two platoons to Najil."

And we ended up going in

way under-manned.

Harrill:
This being

my first deployment,

I definitely looked up

to several individuals

for leadership

and guidance.

LT Leehan was one of them.

Sergeant Erik Wolff

and Sergeant Colson.

Sergeant Colson

wasn't your typical leader.

Tons of experience

and the most absurd appetite.

He'd always have food.

Jared Colson:
15 years

I've been doing this.

I've been through a lot

of f***ing life experiences

that shape the way

I look at things,

that change my outlook,

my views, my perspectives,

the way I problem solve.

That's one thing

that the Guard is able

to do very effectively.

We're able to look

at things practically

and not just according

to a manual.

Does that make sense?

We'd heard

that we were going

to be walking

into a firestorm in Najil.

We'd heard stories

about Najil.

We'd heard it was

a hot area.

So we were prepared.

We were prepared

to walk into a shitstorm.

( Rock music playing )

Harrill:
COB Najil,

our new home

for the next

10, 11 months.

( Man chanting prayer

over loudspeaker )

Harrill:
So I'll never forget,

4:
00 in the morning hits

and they start

their call to prayer.

It's all you could hear.

It was just silent

other than that.

And that was kind of...

that was kind of freaky.

( Prayer song continues )

The first full day,

we had our first mission

to go to the cell tower.

We quickly learned

that the cell towers

would be a huge focus point

for the Taliban.

Tyler Brown:

I had a sit-down

with the outgoing

platoon leader.

He told me time and time

again... he's like,

"They're out there.

You get to this point,

you're gonna get hit.

You get to that point,

you're gonna get hit."

You just kind of have

this eerie feeling

like you're being watched.

Floyd:
Then enemy

maneuver pretty quick

on those mountains.

They've been running

those mountains

for years and years.

They can have high ground

on you in a pretty quick time.

That's pretty scary.

Harrill:

How much further do we got?

Colson:

See, right up there.

Come on, you got

about 200 meters.

Harrill:

I can do this.

( Breathing heavily )

Harrill:

Nobody shot at us.

We was just hot as sh*t

and that was it.

Hold on, hold on, hold on.

I feel like

I'm about to puke.

Colson:
Yeah, well,

welcome to Afghanistan.

You good to make it

over to that cell tower?

Harrill:
Yeah, I'll make it.

I'll make it.

Colson:
All right.

Sip water. Sip some water.

Harrill:

All right, all right.

It's just so mountainous.

It's so mountainous.

Everywhere is up.

( Chuckles )

Everywhere you walk is up.

Harrill:

We went back to the COB

and had tacos or whatever

we had that day

and wrapped it up

and called it a night.

Brown:
It was a good

amount of time

where it was just

dead nothing.

We'd go out on patrols

and no traffic

for almost a good month.

Jordan Alex:

Come on. Get closer to him.

Get set, go!

Get closer to him.

Come on, Floyd!

Come on, Floyd!

Aw, Floyd's down!

Floyd's down.

Whoa!

Mycal Prince:
Alex and his

new pet monkey.

He's cleaning my head.

Is he getting bugs

out of my hair?

Yeah.

They were watching us.

They made us feel comfortable.

And maybe we got

too comfortable.

Prince:
Hey, that monkey

really likes you.

How long do you think

it will take...

He's got his nuts

on my neck.

Floyd:

I may or may not

have been

commentating a little bit.

Okay, so we're back here

live on location.

- Lieutenant Leehan.

- This is good...

Floyd:

We've got Prince on station.

Prince:

Ready?

Let's blow

this fighting position.

Go.

- Whoo-hoo!

- ( Guns firing)

I love Afghanistan!

One more! One more!

Who didn't pull their pin?

Soldier:

Who didn't pull their pin?

It's still there.

Let's do it again.

Yep, I got one more.

I've got three more.

Floyd:
What's your

assessment of this, Prince?

I like it. I'm having fun.

Floyd:

Like it?

Here. You gotta grab...

( Grunts )

Come on!

( All laughing )

Really?

Oh, sh*t!

Harrill:

For that first month,

everything was silent.

We didn't see the enemy,

we didn't hear

the enemy.

It felt like it was

just my brothers and me

alone in the mountains.

You know, war...

war is boring

until it's punctured

by these moments

or heart-stopping terror.

July 11... that's a date

that I'll never forget.

The Main Element was going

to do a Key Leader Engagement

just south of Tili.

We were selected

to the overwatch position

for that mission.

Tyler Brown;

Punisher Base, 3-6.

Be advised, SP time now.

Got 1-3 US PAX.

Hey, Alpha, spread out.

Harrill:
Hey, don't bunch

it up back there.

Keep your distance.

In Afghanistan, the one thing

that was very important

to to always

maintain the high ground.

Colson:
It's hard to get

high ground in Afghanistan

because in that country,

there's always higher ground.

Keep your distance.

Typically, that higher ground

is occupied by the enemy.

Harrill:

Head on a swivel, guys.

Colson:
We moved

into our OP position.

There wasn't sh*t for cover

and concealment.

2-1 Alpha, for 2-1.

Be advised,

our element is in position.

How copy, over.

We would do Key Leader

Engagements

with the village leaders

or the elders.

Lieutenant Leehan

would have us all stay back.

I would even stay back

and I'm always

by his side.

Wagoner:

There's Leehan crossing.

Harrill:
All right,

let's stay alert.

Wagoner:

Keep your eyes peeled.

He'd be the one walking

up to that key leader

and introducing himself

to let them know

that we're here,

we're friends.

We want to get

the Taliban out of the area.

Looks like we need

to wrap it up.

Leehan:

Basically, our mission

was to come meet

with the village mayor.

Link up with him,

see what kind of actions

had been going on

as far as Taliban

or any insurgency.

So we came out,

I talked to him,

asked him for things

that they...

he may need for the village.

He told us

he needed security.

It developed from there

that they had some

suspicious-looking people

that he did

not know well

that were living

within the village.

Cameraman:

Okay, is there anything else

you'd like to add, sir?

All right,

appreciate you doing this.

Soldier over radio:

2-2 Bravo 7, please.

201 to get all

these people...

Soldier #2:

Main Element returned.

Excellent, excellent.

Once we get those heights,

we'll turn around and go in.

Harrill:

Yo, you hear that?

Brown:

Hear what?

Where the f***

did that come from?

( Distant gunfire )

Colson:

Contact, contact, contact!

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