Korengal Page #2

you know, get behind something.

That's exactly what you do,

you know, you get cover.

Then you find out,

by sound and distance,

you know,

where is this coming from?

- Someone give me a direction!

- That way.

Seventeen-o-five,

seventeen-o-five.

One of the things

we're all would learn about

is that you may not see it,

but you can hear it.

And that's

our tactical awareness.

We're able to pick up

the different sounds.

We got a general vicinity

of where he's at.

You had to name

your terrain features

you have around you.

You just can't say,

"that green hill over there."

Is it coming from Honcho Hill?

Is it coming from 1705?

Is it coming off

the Spartan Spur?

On Nipple Rock!

Hey, I got eyes on him!

Everybody'd just started

shooting at that direction.

As a team leader,

my second instinct

is to find out

where everyone else is.

I return fire

and then immediately

start checking my guys.

- Hey, is everyone alright?

- Yeah, yeah.

Do they have enough water?

Are they running low on bullets?

Are they shooting

in the right direction?

Everybody good?

I probably scan

my guys 100 times

during a 3-minute firefight,

that's what I do.

We're taking contact from

the east side of the valley...

I was the RTO,

so as soon as I heard a crack,

I'd just hop on the radio

and be calling, like,

"Troops in Contact,

we're taking fire from the east.

There's probably about

five of them out there."

Then you got the squad leaders

bouncing around

from each position where

their soldiers are firing from

trying to give me

a situation report,

give me a status.

Is the guy still there?

Has he picked up and moved?

I'm trying to paint a picture

through the company commander,

'cause he's talking to highers

trying to gather

all these other assets.

Yeah, yeah, you get scared.

I'm not going to lie.

There was times, like,

I was pinned down,

and I was like... you know,

rounds, cracking overhead.

You know, I'd hunker down,

you know, catch my breath,

you know, pick up and move.

'Cause you can't...

you can't really...

You can't take that long

of a pause in the firefight.

Sometimes you get

pinned down real bad,

and they just come

way too close for comfort,

and you have no cover.

That's when you get

a little bit scared.

Yeah, it's frightening.

I think if anybody told you

they weren't scared,

they're kind of

bullshitting you,

but it's scared... you know

that that fear is there,

but you just put it away.

First time I got shot at,

I was pretty calm.

It was kind of surprising

for me 'cause I actually thought

I was going to panic,

or just freeze up.

But I actually didn't.

Unfortunately, there are

some people that,

they let it get

the best of them,

and I think that's kind

of the big distinguishing thing

with fear is how you tolerate

or deal with it.

Um, majority of people are able

to kind of push it aside

and they understand

what needs to be done.

They can, you know,

deal with it later.

Unfortunately, there are some

that it takes effect of them

immediately, and they basically

become useless for you.

Funny part was my mom always

wanted me to join the Army.

Since I was a little kid,

she wanted me to join, you know?

She always thought

I'd be good at it.

She was like,

"You're a natural leader.

You'll be great at it."

Nah, I ain't joining the Army,

no way, no way.

Sure as sh*t, here I am.

Here I am, unfortunately.

Unfortunately and fortunately,

all at the same time.

I don't know,

as black men, I mean,

I am the only one

in the platoon.

I'm one of...

one, two, three, four,

if you count the cook,

five, if you count

the two cooks...

black people in the company.

Oh no, Choikey.

There's me Choikey, Miller,

who are infantry guys,

and First Sergeant, that's it.

Like, black people

don't jump out of planes.

Black people don't want

to come out here

and get shot at.

Most infantry dudes

are going to be

your average "hooah"

Ranger white dude.

I mean, they're not...

you're not going to see

too many black dudes,

and, I mean...

And you see it, I get plenty

of sh*t around here,

being the only black dude,

but it's...

98% of the time,

it's all in good fun,

and you're going to run

across some guys out here,

they may not admit it

to my face,

they might not say it if

they think anybody's listening,

but they'll tell you

they don't like me.

I guaran-goddamn-tee it,

but, at the same time,

I bet there's not

a one of them would say

I wouldn't take them

in a firefight.

Get out there, I'm just like,

"Man, I did not picture it

like this."

I have never fought in that that

rough terrain before in my life,

walking up a mountain

with a combat load,

with the loose shale?

I think we broke something

like 15 ankles

while we were over there.

It's insane, you know,

you think you're getting

to the top of a ridge

or to the top of a mountain,

and you get to that point

that you've been looking at

for the past 500 meters,

and you get there,

and you think you're at the top

and you look up,

and it just doesn't seem to end.

Those mountains sucked,

you know?

And you're just like, wow,

like sucking.

We were in good shape, like,

we could run all day.

We could, you know,

pushups, sit-ups,

all that stuff,

but walking in that environment,

straight up mountains,

there was no preparing for that.

Korengal Valley

is right in the middle

of these two

major supply routes.

Very easy for the Taliban

to traffic weapons.

And that terrain...

it almost affords these guys

a ghost-like ability to move.

They know it.

We're playing in their backyard.

We wear our helmets.

We wear IBAs.

You know, we wear all our kit

normally averaging

probably 60 to 75 pounds.

They, on the other hand,

are out there

in basically a sheet.

That's what they're moving

around the mountains in.

But then they'll have

a Russian-made

heavy machine gun,

called a Dishka.

It's very similar

to our 50-Cal.

This weapon system,

with its tripod,

is roughly a 120 pounds.

They'll pick this up

and move it around quite easily.

Thorough the mountains,

through draws,

over these monster rocks,

and, like, we move, you know,

one of our 50-Cals

and the tripod,

you know, we move it 50 feet,

and we're like, "Oh, man,

that's a smoker."

Those Chechnyan

rebel guys, those hired guys,

they're ruthless, awesome.

Awesome fighters, trained.

They came equipped, like,

they went through

a basic training,

and knew how to fight.

You have to respect the enemy.

If you don't, you're sucking.

For the enemy assessment,

there are several reports

of higher-level leaders

leaving the valley

for a few days.

We are unsure where they are

going or why they are leaving...

We always listened

to what was called the Bub,

and it'd come over

the company radio.

Well, they would tell you

what ICOM traffic was,

and ICOM traffic

is HAJ talking to each other

back forth on these

little handheld radios.

Your spot reports.

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