Blind Eyes, Black Hearts - A GWOT Story (On Hold)

Chapter 7, Part 3 - First Contact

It was pretty fucked up then. A Chinook was shot down.

Chinooks and other helicopters tend to get shot down in these areas; the fighters at the border were better equipped and had more sophisticated and effective tactics than their deep in-country brothers, who mostly relied on IEDs. They had better-conditioned weapons than their counterparts – AKs, G3s, smuggled M16s, a significant number of rocket-propelled grenades (roughly RPG, a translation of its Russian name), and even stingers; that could take down most helicopters with one shot. First thing we got there, we lost a helicopter to a stinger. It was Goodwin’s. What a welcome.

When a helicopter got shot down, it felt like a race against the Taliban on who would get to the crash site first… They were accurate, quick, and moreover, a worthy enemy. A worthy, but twisted enemy. They put IEDs all around the five towns that surrounded Freedom – Russian-built Alexandropov,  Gandhiya, Kemujab, and ultra-‘hot’ Namrud and Al-Musafir.

Once we reached Freedom for the first time, two platoons – Dagger 2 and Dagger 3 - were told to put their shit in their barracks and get full combat gear on. We were part of the MEDEVAC’s escort. Captain Killbride explained in the short briefing with 3rd Platoon’s 2LT Beales, that there was a small unit currently fighting on the ground, delaying the fighters, and everybody knew that that unit was a 105 unit. We hadn’t seen any custom-dressed, bearded 105 guys in hats and civilian sunglasses for some time now, so seeing a 105 unit again was something the boys would really want to see. Everybody knew that they were the absolute cool guys in the armed forces, cause they kicked ass. And so did we. So Killbride said to Beales and me: “Time to play with the cool guys.”

Dagger 2 was to be the main escort and ‘rescue team’ while Dagger 3, led by Second Lieutenant Beales, acted as QRF unless something went wrong. So we set up and hauled some ass back to the Chinooks.

Goodwin was out there, and we were to save him. We had to. I loved that guy – he was all enthusiastic, a damn good leader, and an irreplaceable friend. Losing him would mean that the army had lost one of its best young officers, and me, an amazing brother in arms. – Rick Salvade in his memoir.

“Mount up! Mount up!” Staff Sergeant Damian Henderson waved his men to get inside the Chinook. The Rangers of 2nd Platoon had dropped their luggage and equipped themselves with full battle-rattle. Staff Sergeant Henderson felt proud to be the leader of 1st Squad, and ultimately a member of Dagger 02. Dagger 02 always got the most action, and that was the reason for Dammo to get into the army – action. War was hell, true, but when you get that feeling when you’ve achieved something others couldn’t, that’s why Henderson stayed. He enjoyed that feeling. He enjoyed the job.

2nd Platoon and Captain Killbride’s Recon Team, along with the captain himself, were mounted on two different Chinooks. There were two Chinooks: the first Chinook, Big Bird 23, was where Lieutenant Salvade, 1st Squad, and the captain and his recon team were put into. The second one, Big Bird 25, was where the other two squads were in. The plan was to land both helicopters at the flanks of the crash site and release the rangers, while another three MEDEVAC helicopters – A Chinook and two Black Hawks – would evacuate the critically wounded, and if able, all the wounded men. If the less critically wounded were too many, they would have to wait for the rescue convoy from FOB Briggs, several miles northwest of the crash site.

What a welcome.

Second Lieutenant Salvadesat near the chinook’s rear ramp. Captain Killbride and Sergeant Henderson sat in front of him, with the other rangers being silent. With a possible stinger already hitting one Chinook today, the men, and Rick, feared that another would get shot down… and he feared that it was his helicopter. But Dagger 02 was prepared. If they were to be shot down, they had expected it. Dagger 02, as the Dagger’s tip, had embraced death.