Staff Report
05-15-2009
This is Major Todd Griffin reporting from Shajoy, Afghanistan.
It has been an interesting month. The Afghan corps headquarters decided to move the Afghan army battalion we have been working with since November and replace them with another battalion from farther south. The reasons for this move are varied and sensitive. We now have to get to know a new battalion and leadership, how they work, what they are capable of and do all this while conducting missions and reacting to enemy contact.
The enemy naturally knew that during the battalion’s movements there would be opportunities to attack, and they took advantage of these opportunities. One of our combat outposts that overlooks a bridge was attacked multiple times. The last time it was attacked we were able to get there, but like always they run when the Americans approach. We followed the wadi (a dry, deep creek bed) they used to sneak up to the outpost and entered a village that must have known about the enemy’s presence. They told us the Taliban arrived right before the first prayer time — it was still dark outside — and told them to stay in their homes. Since the battalion is new, it took two attempts to find a good route into the village. We pulled security, and a few of us dismounted our up-armored Hummers to enter the village and talk to the elders.
Near the village is what we call a choke point — this was where the main road crossed the wadi, a perfect place to plant an IED. We told the Afghan company not to drive through it; they said they would not. Just as we were getting the village elders to come out, we see two Afghan army trucks driving through the choke point. The first one makes it out; the second one hits an IED — boom! I call my team to prepare a nine line medical evacuation report and establish a helicopter landing zone, but there were no injuries. The IED was made with RPG-7 rounds and one of them did not detonate. The explosive ordinance disposal team had five other calls in front of us that day, so I decided to take our Mark 19 automatic grenade launcher and shoot at the RPG round until it exploded.
Some of the other challenges my team faces is the natural rotation of members that have longer time in country, the rest and relaxation leave schedule and just taking care of maintenance and paper work. The Afghan countryside is very hard on a heavy vehicle such as our Hummers. The shocks, bushings and even the springs wear out. We just replace the entire front or rear suspension at the same time and then at the 10,000 mile mark, we replace the entire Hummer. We had both of our .50 caliber machines start acting up, many experts checked them out but no one could figure out the problem.
My sapper engineer sergeant did some online research and found a 10-year-old safety recall message that described what our guns were doing. Sure enough, our breach locks had the bad part number. We are happy to report that our beloved M2 .50 caliber machine guns, the Ma Duce, are up and running fine now.
Once again, I want to thank my friends and family who are sending us care packages and offering support and well wishes to my family. I would like to share some pictures with you, so please free to visit my photobucket account at: http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e130/toddgriffin00/.
Major Todd Griffin is a Ruston native, a Louisiana Tech alumnus and a 12-year U.S. Army infantry officer.
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