Re: the fraud… jesus…
There has to be something you can do there, or someone you can talk to, right? That’s fucked.
In the middle of this story, one thing that I feel obligated to portray is the fact that the pictures here often represent extremely long hot missions that we repeated on a regular basis dozens of times without any sort of conflict or result. To have a group of 30 guys who signed up for the Army in NY in the years following 9/11 this was painful for many of them. Keeping weapons in check and frustration under control was a huge challenge. Most of my soldiers spent more time unloading pallets of water than they did “hunting” terrorists.
So to cool off they could go to the airbase to catch some NHL games, buy some junk food, and make fun of the pogues.
NHL:
A visit to the italian FOB to talk F1 and get some pizza (made by indians)
Food at the airbase:
pogues
Some other interesting events that broke up the mind numbing boredom:
I came across something I helped develop while working for a small company in Rochester. I didn’t even know it had been sold to the Gov’t yet:
and after telling a story about how my family thought AFG would be rehab for my mountain dew addiction the police rolled this out for lunch:
Re: The Fraud
I’m sure each of the local news stations where the dealership is located has their version of this: http://wivb.com/news/call-4-action-contact/
Submit your story to each of them. “Soldier just home gets screwed for $9k by scumbag car dealer” is the kind of story that makes news producers fight each other for the story.
That will be happening very soon if I don’t see another way out.
Here are a couple more videos before I continue on with the story. Again, go 720 and full screen to see the detail
One shows us passing a fuel convoy in a dust storm.
the next is just a typical town that is along highway 1
At first, because we were not allowed to secure them by rolling with them we would typically shadow them off road or run their route before then went through and because the convoys were so long (see the video above and the pictures in my first post) we would typically be 2-3 minutes away when they got hit.
Here are some interesting videos from the gunner from one of my MATVs. In these videos we spotted 3 insurgents on a hill top minutes before a convoy was scheduled to roll through. What you can’t see in the video is the insurgents running down the hill on foot, getting on motorbikes, and making their escape.
Here we rush down HW1 as they move on foot
When they make it to their bikes we cut off road to chase them. My policy was that I would always be in the lead when we moved off road and at 2:20 you can see the 2nd truck’s hesitation and reaction to my MATV going up in white smoke as we pass a section of scorched earth. It was actually my fire suppression system going off but I can see why the truck following me had to take a second look
After we lost sight of the bikes we circled back to some of the buildings that they passed and spotted a suspicious motorcycle at this dwelling. At the end you can see us dismounting and moving to the building to search it:
And here is my point of view (chest rigged gopro) of dismounting the vehicles and moving to the dwelling to talk to the afghans and conduct the search. Excuse the pixilated faces, youtube has this option and I wanted to obscure the faces of my terps even though it doesnt work very well
Did those videos work?
I can see them, haven’t had a chance to watch them yet.
Same here will watch at home
Ok, three views so apparently they worked and I won’t be spending time to upload any more.
To continue on with my narrative…
After making our presence known and disrupting some attacks things got worse before they got better.
First was a rollover while driving blackout at night. 50 cal ammo strapped to a gunners platform caused it to fail dumping all the weight onto the soldier in the seat next to (under) it. Another soldier from the following truck dismounted and rushed over to help the soldier who was trapped and screaming and in his attempt to help stood on the drivers side of the truck to try to pull a door open before being overcome by its weight, dropping it on his foot sheering off the toe of his boot.
And then came the IEDs. Like mousetraps they were “victim operated” and would detonate buried explosives if stepped on or rolled over by anyone or anything
^^ this truck on the far left of this photo:
and this truck captured here from a gopro video
and finally and worst of all the police Ford Ranger
Luckily our armored MATVs took the brunt of the damage and only a few soldiers had to be sent out for treatment. I keep this pressure plate on the desk in my office as a reminder of what a bad day is
Keep it coming! Videos too. I don’t have a lot of time to watch them during the day, but I make sure to go back and review them when I get a chance at home.
Also, as JayS stated, I haven’t commented because I have nothing of relevance to say, except what I’ve already typed. I am watching though. This is very eye opening and interesting.
Thank you for your service.
I appreciate the comments. The pictures each have a LOT going on in them. I’m sure the most closely you look at them the more questions will pop up. If you’re not enlarging the photos to full screen you are missing out.
Brave man rolling with only a 240 as the crew serve. I flat out refused to roll with anything less than a 50, 2 spare barrels, and 1K rounds for it.
Good point, I forgot about that. We were supposed to be rolling with 50s and MK19s but, the only way I can say it without getting into detail, is that politics got in the way and we were refused issue of the MK19s.
I initially started with 5 trucks but one got pulled to the company level. I was uncomfortable with running only 4 MATVs (2 RWS and 2 manned 50s) for many reasons including the lack of dismounts offered in that configuration, so I started wheeling and dealing and “borrowing” MATVs from wherever they were not being used. I ended up with 7.
Just found this now
Thanks for your service!
Whats with all the busted/burned cars and trucks up and down the roads?
The Pakistan/Afghanistan border crossing and main supply route for NATO was closed after a number of incidents:
it should be noted that these supply convoys passed through “tribal” areas of Pakistan where the Taliban rule and the Gov’t has no control
Due to the huge number of attacks on these supply convoys…
the closure actually turned out to be a good thing for NATO and when the border crossing was reopened (with a higher tax) NATO determined it was in their best interest not to use it
So that meant that the fuel all had to come from Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan (I think I incorrectly said Tajikistan before)
So now all that fuel had to go down the road that I would end up “owning”. While we were far enough from the Taliban leadership, weapons, and funding in the Pakistan Tribal areas that the attacks were a fraction of what they were with the old route - some money/weapons got through and they resulted in the burned out tankers you see in my pictures.
Interestingly enough, we noticed a cadence caused by drone strikes in Pakistan tribal areas. A drone would hit and we would have 2 normal weeks followed by 1 quiet week. Proof enough to me that the cause and effect were directly related.
Iv been keeping up on this thread. Wanted to say thank you Mafdark for your service. Iv seen similar vids from family, but everyones stories are so unique. Thank you.
Interesting map, looks like nothing goes through Iran
Ok, finally clicked on the thread, and realized pretty quickly that I need to be home to 1) spend time digesting and 2) view it on a 28" monitor.
Couple of quick thoughts come to mind
- most importantly, thank you for putting yourself in a situation that I would have a very difficult time putting myself into.
- Recounts like this are so much better than anything that I will ever see on the news.
- the gopro videos of you guys going past the burnt up fuel trucks remind me of Mad Max/Road Warrior, but obviously much more real/serious
- please continue, even with the video, if you don’t mind.
Again, thanks.
We have ongoing sanctions against Iran and a very tense political relationship. I’m sure we will not be transporting anything through there for the foreseeable future. Pakistan is nearly in the same situation now (informally). Given that 30% of the containers going through Pakistan were cut open, emptied of weapons and uniforms or whatever they contained, and welded back shut I think we have strong data to support not sending anything through any country that is or made up of a population that may be a significant threat to our security.
Definitely take a look at it on a large monitor, full screen, high def. If enough people watch the videos and want to see more, speak up, and I will edit and upload them.