U.S. Paras turn back Taliban ambush
American Paratroopers pull through an intense firefight in the Afghan mountains:
As B Company was climbing mountains chasing insurgents and C Co. was securing a victory against anti-Coalition militia, a convoy carrying the battalion commander and command sergeant major was ambushed. A fierce firefight ensued that left one American injured and an unknown number of injured insurgents in Zabul Province.
“It was the worst I’ve seen in 22 years of service,” said Command Sgt. Major Jeffrey Hartless, the battalion command sergeant major from Amherst, Va. “From the first Gulf War to my last deployment in Iraq, I’ve never been in a firefight like that.”
The convoy was moving between units, and as the roads got rough, the vehicles became separated by more than 100 meters. At that point, the two parts of the convoy were attacked simultaneously by several rocket propelled grenades.
“I yelled, ‘IED! IED!’ but it was actually an RPG,” Hartless said.
“Right after the command sergeant major said ‘IED,’ a hail of bullets came down,” said Spc. Edwin Laboy-Cortes, from Fayetteville, N.C.
The paratroopers dismounted and were immediately fired upon by small arms and machine guns. Bullets ripped through the Humvee’s roof, blowing out gauges and riddling the truck’s interior frame with bullet holes.
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The flume of the incoming RPGs gave away the enemy’s position. Staff Sgt. William Terry, from Montclair, N.J., put a barrage of fire from an MK19 automatic grenade launcher on the location, suppressing the enemy fire.
“I couldn’t believe how well the Soldiers reacted to the ambush,” Hartless said. “The ambush site was well planned and ranged, but the Soldiers were incredible.”
“‘Wojo’ was on it,” said Austin, referring to Spc. Thomas Wojtowicz. “Before I knew what was going, Wojo was firing the .50 cal and Walker was feeding him ammo. They went beyond my expectations.”
“I saw the two explosions from the RPGs and I started firing,” said Wojtowicz, from Chicago. “I knew what area the fire was coming from but I couldn’t see anybody, so I’d light up that area and the fire would stop but it would start coming from another area.”
No matter how much training the paratroopers have had, considering the circumstances of the ambush, the performance of the Soldiers was excellent.
