Terrible terrain.
A challenging patrol problem.
Mountains suck but at least its not winter...
The public knows who the skyjackers were but knows little about their support teams in country nor the nations which sponsored them. All of that needs to be exposed and the people involved hunted down and killed. And that trail will lead back to Saudi Arabia, the author of this religious war of terror.Am I saying that we should declare war on Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran? No. Am I saying that we can't have a proper remembrance event until we're honest with ourselves about who was behind these attacks? Yes! We need to have an adult conversation about this and we're not even close yet.
Click on the pic to expand it and I do believe you'll see the edges of the MAGPUL AFG on this weapon. |
Al-Qaeda's north African branch has acquired a stockpile of weapons in Libya, including surface-to-air missiles that are threatening air travel, the EU's counter-terrorism coordinator said Monday.Amazing.
Due to the turmoil in Libya, members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) have "gained access to weapons, either small arms or machine-guns, or certain surface-to-air missiles which are extremely dangerous because they pose a risk to flights over the territory," said Gilles de Kerchove.
Wow.Bleeding Out“We decided that we were combat air effective,” and the high-value target was dead, so “we were going to use one more pass as a cover for us to exit,” Gutierrez said. “I put my kit back on, put my helmet back on, ... [and] gave instructions to the A-10 pilot. He fully obliged [and] came back through. As [he] struck, we pushed out and left the compound.”Determined not to be a burden on his team, Gutierrez got to his feet, with the medic holding his bag and supporting his shoulder.“Since my ears were out, my balance was completely off. I couldn’t really stand up straight,” he said. “I kind of would veer off everywhere.” Gutierrez called in a medical evacuation for himself, the captain, and two other wounded troops, but he was initially denied. It was too dangerous; they had to leave the area, he was told.Sporadic gunfire followed them as they stumbled away from the village. After struggling for about two miles, Gutierrez’s lung collapsed for a second time. The medic did another needle decompression by the side of a four-way intersection as the A-10s continued to provide close air support and ISR assets fed them vital information from above. When he got his breath back, Gutierrez requested an immediate medevac.The troops found a muddy, square vegetation field, roughly 300 feet by 300 feet, which had just enough room for one helicopter to land. They secured the site and waited for the medevac, a joint Spanish and Italian team from Herat Airfield, to arrive.Wet and weak from the loss of blood, Gutierrez waited for an hour-and-a-half. His uniform became soaked and stuck to his arm. At first he thought it was sweat from the difficult trek to the landing zone, or maybe muddy water from the canal he stumbled in as they pushed out.He had no idea he had lost five-and-a-half pints of blood.