The U.S. cavalry stuck defending a fort in the middle of nowhere—cue music (please!)

ARTICLE: “G.I.’s in Remote Afghan Post Have Weary Job, Drawing Fire,” by C.J. Chivers, New York Times, 10 November 2008.

Seriously, cue something, because these guys are subsisting on little down time and no amenities typically afforded our troops in battlezones.

The storyline comes right out of some Alamo-like remembrance of fights past:

The small stone castle, sandbagged and bristling with weapons and American soldiers, rises from a rock spur beside the Landai River. Mountains lean overhead.

Once a hunting lodge for Mohammad Zahir Shah, Afghanistan’s last king, the castle is home for a year for an American cavalry troop, an Afghan infantry company, a Navy corpsman and two American marines.

Naturally, they are nearly surrounded by insurgents hiding in caves and local villages. One soldier says their mission is to serve as “bullet sponge.”

Injun country indeed.

Comments

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Takes me back to the "Fire bases" in 'Nam . . They too, were no more than "Bullet Sponges" . .

Do you think we'll ever learn?

[Robert Langland]

In speaking to a family friend (SGT on the PAK border) we adopted thru Soldiers Angels a few years ago, one thing they really need is a mess kit. By this I really do mean the old US Army ones like we all saw in the Boy Scouts. But, if at all possible they would prefer the German/E German one from WWII that had a very deep double bowl, that is listed on all the Surplus web sites btu no one seems to have. The other thing is a chem stove. But, we cant send it to them due to the fuel.... The Brits trade them once in a while. Simple requests?

[Seth]

As a cavalryman myself this story gives me a ting of nostalgia and jealousy. I don’t know if I would tell my soldiers they were bullet sponges, like the 1st LT that made that statement? Hey guys guess what... we’re bullet sponges! The Gunny that related this experience to Vietnam cracks me up, he’s probably 35 how would know what Vietnam was like?If there is this much activity they do need to dedicate more resources to that area. It is obviously important to the enemy so it should become important to us.

[Ted O'Connor]

Supersonic jet fighters, aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, ICBMs, tactical nukes, satellites, armor, computers and even Blackberries. All this and we find our troops in the same kind of fights that Kipling wrote about 130 years ago. They don't carry Hawkins Henry's and their canteens are no longer made of wood but there they are, hiding behind the same rocks, trading rifle fire with the great grandsons of the goat herders who stood off the British regiments in Victoria's day. I will think about those boys tonight when I crawl into my warm, safe bed. I sure as hell hope the people who sent them there know what they are doing.

[Louis Heberlein]

Agree on Vietnam Fire Base analogy. They were sponge or bait traps then also. The artillery fleschette shotgun shell was their last survival tool then, and in great demand during TET game. Perhaps the drones with Hellfires, and orbiting B-1 bombers, are the equivalent tool today.

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A comment to Seth. I enlisted in the US Army in 1960, and left the same service after watching carefully, while supporting A CDEC Corp for more than a couple of years, and going to several Army Technical Schools with ARVNs, that Vietnam was going to be a long and deadly investment. With no end game posited, I wanted no part of it . .

And I agree with Mr. O'Connor, Ignorance of History has led to more, if not most, Military defeats in history. Yet we tend to ignore it, only because we have the excuse of "Better Technology" . .