This is a first hand report of the attack that killed 9 US Soldiers last month in Afghanistan. Read it here.
In case you didn’t hear, 10 French Soldiers were killed at Tegab yesterday; a location about 15 miles east of where I spent the majority of my tour.
Please keep our Soldiers down range in your prayers!
The military has launched an investigation to determine if the Soldiers on the ground Sunday were not given intelligence about the imminent attack although the intelligence existed. Read this story. They keep mentioning that it was in an area that borders Pakistan which is true…the Kunar province does border Pakistan; however, this and much of the action in the east is taking place about 20 to 30 kilometers from Pakistan.
I am glad to finally see Afghanistan getting the attention…long overdue!
Amy found this story for me. I was even further saddened when I heard a couple of days ago the Soldiers were from the 173d Brigade. While I haven’t checked official numbers, I am nearly certain their Brigade has taken more losses than any other that has deployed to Afghanistan.
I emailed my good friend, Chaplain Don Williamson, who is still in Afghanistan for a few more days to get his permission to use his first hand account of the November 10th ambush on the “Boys of Bella.” Assured enough time has passed that no OPSEC issues would be raised, here is his account of that horrible day. Caution, this is long but well worth the read!
A knot in my stomach and a feeling of sadness overcame me this afternoon when I heard on the radio that 9 US Soldiers were killed in the Pesh valley in eastern Afghanistan. While the news report doesn’t say exactly what FOB, it occurred near the same location as the November 10th attack that killed 6 US Soldiers.
The Pesh valley is also the location of Seal Team 10’s incident in 2005. I encourage you to read Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell.
Back on November 10th, my good friend Chaplain Don Williamson was at Bella during the attack. He currently has about 10 days left in theater, and some of his men may still be up in the Pesh valley. Please pray for him and his men as they finish their 15 month mission in Afghanistan!
Chaplain Don in the Pesh Valley in Afghanistan.
