Citizen Soldier Page #6

( Firing continues )

Officer:

Present arms!

Leehan's father:

One of the things that Damon did

was he went out with

the interpreter by himself

without his guys.

Finally got to the point

where the interpreter

was very nervous.

He didn't even like it.

And so his wife called

and said, "Hey,

"I think you need

to talk to your son.

He's kind of putting himself

in harm's way."

And so the next time

he called,

I talked to him

and I said, "Hey,

"I know you're trying

to bridge the gap

"and you're trying

to be a good soldier,

"but, you know,

we just want you home.

We don't want you

getting hurt."

And he said,

"Yeah, I know, Dad.

"But, you know,

this is something

I have to do

to show trust."

So he did

what he believed in.

As a result,

we found out at the funeral

that 350 Afghan leaders

and village people came

to his sending-off.

Because he did touch them.

Wolff:
A couple weeks

after Damon died,

I was told that

Lieutenant Leehan

was not going

to be replaced.

We were completely

satisfied with this.

We had created that family

and didn't want

anybody else in it.

We were gonna fight

with what we had

and we were going to continue

on and get the mission done.

Brown:
When Leehan got killed,

it was the first time

we'd lost somebody.

A lot of us,

including me,

wanted that...

that revenge

to go out and kick some ass

and get 'em back.

But at the same time,

you know,

being in a leadership role,

I had to make sure

that everybody stayed calm,

cool and collected

as a team.

The second platoon

was going to conduct a KLE

somewhere towards

Alishing DC.

I'm on the COB

for QRF

and we get a call saying

second's hit an IED.

Brown over radio:

3-2, this is 3-6.

Soldier:

3-6, 3-2, go ahead.

Brown:
Get your guys

out and let's push through

on the east side

of this little brush

right here through the corn.

See if we

can spot this guy.

Camera rolling?

Alex:
Yeah, I just

started it up again.

Let's give 'em a brief.

Just wanna

welcome everybody

to Damn-sure-bad,

Afghanistan.

We've got Daniel Marquez

on station with me.

Just had an IED blast.

We're going to try and find

this little corn ninja

down here in the corn.

I'm gonna shoot

his f***in' ass off.

- I'm gonna shoot him.

- Sh*t's gonna be crazy.

- Alex:
Hey, Sergeant Prince?

- Yeah?

You got that incendiary?

Prince:

Yeah.

Alex:

You should let me have it.

Prince:
You can't throw it.

It'll burn down everything.

Alex:

We're gonna go in there!

Prince:
I know.

You can't throw it

when you're in there.

Alex:

Not if we're exfilling.

Brown:

All right, let's move.

Look at the size

of that hole.

Gosh damn,

that's a big one.

There's no wonder

we couldn't find it.

It was damn near

dug underneath the asphalt.

Hey, see if we can

spot the wire.

Brown:
You know,

the money comes from America

to pay these Afghan contractors

to build these roads.

But at the same time,

the Taliban uses their funds

and power to come in

and have

these construction workers

put these lEDs in the road

as they're paving over it.

You know,

there's little to no chance

to even be able to know

that they're under there.

All right, hey, hey,

push out, see if you can find

the end of the wire.

Rog, you gotta

spread out a little bit.

You guys let me know

if you can see

anything on the ground.

Harrill:
3-6, be advised,

we have eyes on your element

as you move through

the cornfields.

Brown:

Roger, I copy all. 3-6 out.

Alex:
Hey, you guys

stay spread out.

Sir, this looks

like the end of it.

Floyd:
If that's the end of it,

he can't be too far off.

He could be right out there

in that corn.

Brown:
Hey, when we push

through this corn,

y'all try to be quiet

so we can hear this guy moving.

Make sure you guys

stay spread out.

All right, hey,

just push up to the edge.

We'll stop right here.

Brown:

You guys stay spread out.

Hey, look.

We've got movement in the corn

right there at 1:00.

Harrill:

That's ANA.

That's not ANA.

What the f*** is that?

Alex:

I wish we could make it

down to that creek

down there.

Brown:
They're gonna

f***ing draw us down there

and then they're gonna

f***ing hit us.

Alex:
Exactly what

I was thinking too.

Harrill:
3-6, be advised

that there is smoke

coming from the village.

Not sure if it's an indicator

of negative activity.

Just want you

to be cautious

that we have eyes on it

as well.

How copy?

Brown:
It's probably

a f***ing signal.

Go in a little bit more?

Hey, get with the plan.

Brown:
The ANA just keep

walking out into the open.

You'd like to think

that the people

are leading

your counterpart ANA forces

are on your side,

but who's to say?

Who's to say who

they're taking money from?

Who's to say

who their allegiances are to?

Alex:
Hey, sir,

should we follow?

Sir, are we going?

Brown:
No. Hey,

we're not pushing any farther.

This is bait for an ambush.

Brown:
To advance

any further through the corn

was just not tactically

a good idea, in my opinion.

So we pulled back

and didn't go any further.

We want to fight on our terms.

We don't want to fight

below our strength.

Harrill:

After being in Afghanistan

for nearly six months,

you could really start

to feel the bond

that had been created.

Brown:

You've already weeded out

all the guys that

are too scared,

that have made it known

that they don't want

any part of the fighting.

What's left is brothers,

and that's it.

Harrill:
We would have

these late-night family talks

on the HESCOs

making fire pits

and kind of reflecting.

Sergeant Colson

found his appetite.

On every mission

we went in,

he was always managing

to find food somehow.

Sergeant Prince,

a K-9 officer

back in the States,

he would adopt

this puppy.

Well, there's Prince

with his new puppy.

Prince:
Come here.

Come here. Come here.

Come here, come here.

There you go.

You big dummy.

Brown:

Prince found his K-9 unit.

Prince:

Screw that.

Harrill:
But you could never

shake the feeling

that that one big mission

was right around the corner.

( Call to prayer playing )

Raymond Viel:

Operation Brass Monkey

was going to be

one of the largest missions

that we were going to do.

Brown:
When me

and my platoon sergeants

seen the plan

that they had just come up with

and where

we were going to be,

we immediately felt like

we were in an extreme

disadvantage.

Just in case

y'all don't see this,

it was good knowing

all of you.

Megan, I love you.

Jesse, I hope

you don't die too.

Cameraman:

We'll be all right.

Brown:
The first night

that we were planning

to get picked up

and brought out there,

we were told

the mission was cancelled.

So I passed it out

to all the guys...

"Hey, stand down.

We're cancelled."

Then the next day we hear,

"Hey, it's back on.

You guys are going tonight."

Spin everybody back up.

"Hey, we're going tonight.

Get ready."

And sure enough,

it got cancelled again.

The battalion

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes