With Korengal abandoned, COP Michigan bears brunt of Kunar fight

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http://www.stripes.com/polopoly_fs/1.113907.1281345320!/image/858242228.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_240/858242228.jpg

U.S. soldiers are dwarfed by the mountain walls along the Pech River as they walk back to base on July 21.


With Korengal abandoned, COP Michigan bears brunt of Kunar fight
By Dianna Cahn
Stars and Stripes
Published: August 9, 2010

COMBAT OUTPOST MICHIGAN, Afghanistan — The crash of the first incoming rounds sent soldiers scurrying for cover.

Six weeks into their deployment at this besieged outpost, soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment were used to the barrage of fire from high ridges surrounding their fishbowl outpost, here at the mouth of the Korengal Valley.

Most ran through the protective maze of narrow tunnels formed by Hesco security barriers and concrete T-walls and into their bunkered buildings.

But Sgt. Terry Puffenbarger ran the other way, into the exposed area of the motor pool, where his mechanics were working under a tent. And there, in that one vulnerable position on July 10, he found his worst nightmare.

Spc. Carlos Negron, who always had laughter and candy to help lift the spirits of those around him, was lying in wreckage and smoke. He died a short time later.