Taliban disrupt aid mission with gunfire

[unhappycamper]

Taliban disrupt aid mission with gunfire
By Drew Brown, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, December 11, 2009

ASHOQUE, Afghanistan

As one group of U.S. soldiers from Company B, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry tried to grab a few hours of sleep, another prepared to conduct medical screenings in the village of Ashoque, just west of Kandahar city.

But shooting broke out just after 8 a.m., as Taliban fighters attacked the base. Many of the sleeping soldiers had come off a patrol hours earlier. They scrambled out of their sleeping bags and into their battle gear, wearing just shorts and T-shirts.

Soldiers from the 1-12 are in a tough situation, trying to help locals and fight the Taliban in the same place.

Company B moved into Ashoque in the Zhari district of Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan two weeks ago. A day before the firefight occurred, one old man told the troops that he was afraid to leave his compound at night. He had heard that coalition forces would shoot him.

“That’s not true at all,” said 1st Lt. Thomas Cayia, 24, of Niles, Mich., speaking through a translator. “He can go out at night. He just needs a lantern or a flashlight.”


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=66597




unhappycamper comment: "They scrambled out of their sleeping bags and into their battle gear, wearing just shorts and T-shirts."

Been there, done that. Shortly after midnite (Tet of 68), Charlie started lobbing rockets into the airbase at Chu Lai. I remember grabbing my flack jacket, M-16, pot (helmet) and a bandoleer of M-16 clips & headed towards the wire in my flip flops and underwear.