A short story
Steve B
between rocks and shrubs at the base of the Hindu Kush Mountains , along
the
Dar 'yoi Pomir River , watching a hole that leads to a tunnel that leads to
a cave. Stake out, my friend, and no pizza delivery for thousands of
miles.
I also glance at the area around my ass every ten to fifteen seconds to
avoid another scorpion sting. I've actually given up battling the
chiggers and sand fleas, but the scorpions give a jolt like a cattle
prod. Hurts like a bastard.. The antidote tastes like transmission fluid,
but God bless the Marine Corps for the five vials of it in my pack.
The one truth the Taliban cannot escape is that, believe it or not,
they are human beings, which means they have to eat food and drink water.
That requires couriers and that's where an old bounty hunter like me comes
in handy. I track the couriers, locate the tunnel entrances and storage
facilities, type the info into the handheld, shoot the coordinates up to
the satellite link that tells the air commanders where to drop the
hardware.
We bash some heads for a while, then I track and record the new movement.
It's all about intelligence. We haven't even brought in the snipers
yet. These scurrying rats have no idea what they're in for. We are but
days away from cutting off supply lines and allowing the eradication to
begin.
I dream of bin Laden waking up to find me standing over him with my
boot on his throat as I spit into his face and plunge my nickel-plated
Bowie
knife through his frontal lobe. But you know me, I'm a romantic. I've said
it before and I'll say it again: This country blows, man. It's not even a
country. There are no roads, there's no infrastructure, there's no
government. This is an inhospitable, rock pit shit hole ruled by eleventh
century warring tribes. There are no jobs here like we know jobs.
Afghanistan offers two ways for a man to support his family: join the
opium trade or join the army. That's it. Those are your options. Oh, I
forgot, you can also live in a refugee camp and eat plum-sweetened, crushed
beetle paste and squirt mud like a goose with stomach flu, if that's your
idea of a party. But the smell alone of those 'tent cities of the walking
dead' is enough to hurl you into the poppy fields to cheerfully scrape
bulbs for eighteen hours a day.
I've been living with these Tajiks and Uzbeks, and Turkmen and even a
couple of Pushtuns, for over a month-and-a-half now, and this much I can
say for sure: These guys, all of 'em, are Huns... actual, living Huns..
They LIVE to fight. It's what they do. It's ALL they do. They have no
respect
for anything, not for their families, nor for each other, nor for
themselves. They claw at one another as a way of life. They play polo with
dead calves and force their five-year-old sons into human cockfights to
defend the family honor. Huns, roaming packs of savage, heartless beasts
who feed
on each other's barbarism. Cavemen with AK-47's. Then again, maybe I'm
just cranky.
I'm freezing my ass off on this stupid hill because my lap warmer is
running out of juice, and I can't recharge it until the sun comes up in a
few
hours. Oh yeah! You like to write letters, right? Do me a favor,
Bizarre. Write a letter to CNN and tell Wolf and Anderson and that
awful, sneering, pompous Aaron Brown to stop calling the Taliban 'smart.'
They are not smart. I suggest CNN invest in a dictionary because the word
they are looking for is 'cunning.' The Taliban are cunning, like jackals
and hyenas and wolverines. They are sneaky and ruthless, and when
confronted, cowardly.
They are hateful, malevolent parasites who create nothing and destroy
everything else. Smart. Pfft. Yeah, they're real smart.
They've spent their entire lives reading only one book (and not a very
good one, as books go) and consider hygiene and indoor plumbing to be
products of the devil. They're still figuring out how to work a Bic
lighter.
Talking to a Taliban warrior about improving his quality of life is like
trying to teach an ape how to hold a pen; eventually he just gets
frustrated
and sticks you in the eye with it.
OK, enough. Snuffie will be up soon, so I have to get back to my hole.
Covering my tracks in the snow takes a lot of practice, but I'm good at
it.
Please, I tell you and my fellow Americans to turn off the TV sets and
move on with your lives. The story line you are getting from CNN and other
news agencies is utter bullshit and designed not to deliver truth but
rather to keep you glued to the screen through the commercials. We've
got this one under control The worst thing you guys can do right now is sit
around analyzing what we're doing over here, because you have no idea what
we're doing, and really, you don't want to know. We are your military, and
we are
doing what you sent us here to do.
Saucy Jack
Recon Marine in Afghanistan
Semper Fi
"Freedom is not free...but the U.S. Marine Corps will pay most of your
share".
(The above may or may not be authentic... sounds plausible)
Dave__67
First appeared late 2001.
Dave
Ignoramus11847
> I also glance at the area around my ass every ten to fifteen seconds to
> avoid another scorpion sting.
...
> I'm freezing my ass off on this stupid hill because my lap warmer is
> running out of juice, and I can't recharge it until the sun comes up in a
> few
...
> OK, enough. Snuffie will be up soon, so I have to get back to my hole.
> Covering my tracks in the snow takes a lot of practice, but I'm good at
> it.
I have never heard of scorpions living in the snow.
Otherwise, the story is very touching.
i
John R. Carroll
>
> (The above may or may not be authentic... sounds plausible)
Biggest bunch of bullshit I've seen in a while Steve but it's perfect for
jerk off's like yourself.
I spent an hour on the phone last week with two actual Marines in
Afghanistan with the 4th LAR.
--
John R. Carroll
wmbjk...@citlink.net
Normally they hibernate in cold weather, but sometimes the 2'
centipedes wake them up.
Wayne
Buerste
"John R. Carroll" <nu...@bidness.dev.nul> wrote in message
news:etWdnUl1V_JvC1nW...@giganews.com...
Did you tell them how much you hate America and want it changed into a
bankrupt Socialist welfare state? Would these two Marines shoot you on
sight? Or, would they not waste ordinance and just K-Bar you in the neck?
Or, would they just snap you in half? Real Marines don't like
Neo-Socialists.
Ignoramus11847
> "John R. Carroll" <nu...@bidness.dev.nul> wrote:
>
>>I spent an hour on the phone last week with two actual Marines in
>>Afghanistan with the 4th LAR.
>
> it didn't strike bell in my head?
>
I second that.
wmbjk...@citlink.net
wrote:
>
>"John R. Carroll" <nu...@bidness.dev.nul> wrote in message
>news:etWdnUl1V_JvC1nW...@giganews.com...
>> I spent an hour on the phone last week with two actual Marines in
>> Afghanistan with the 4th LAR.
>>
>>
>> --
>> John R. Carroll
>>
>>
>
>Did you tell them how much you hate America and want it changed into a
>bankrupt Socialist welfare state? Would these two Marines shoot you on
>sight? Or, would they not waste ordinance and just K-Bar you in the neck?
>Or, would they just snap you in half? Real Marines don't like
>Neo-Socialists.
Hey Tom, have you thought about contacting godaddy to see if they want
to bid on hosting your blog?
Wayne
Wes
>I spent an hour on the phone last week with two actual Marines in
>Afghanistan with the 4th LAR.
Care to share a synopsis? I'd really like to know how it is going. 4th LAR, what is that,
it didn't strike bell in my head?
Wes
Ed Huntress
"Buerste" <bue...@buerste.com> wrote in message
news:hq2p6d$j25$1...@speranza.aioe.org...
They'd probably be smart enough to shoot you first, Tawwwwwwwm. You'd look
like a puckered 10-ring.
--
Ed Huntress
Buerste
<wmbjk...@citlink.net> wrote in message
news:0vr9s590j819h4637...@4ax.com...
No, It's difficult to maintain a head of steam. I'm a very jovial guy most
of the time and only poke those I know will have a melt-down in the little
boxes they live in. I'll just stick to a couple of NGs where I have the
worst idiots plonked.
John R. Carroll
http://www.marforres.usmc.mil/4thMarDiv/4thLAR/
They haven't updated the page yet.
SgtMaj Cottle and his driver, Lance Cpl. Rick Centanni, were KIA a month
plus ago.
They were both fine men, good Marines and a credit to both their country and
the uniform.
The IED's in Iraq were generally 20 pounders, #40 tops. They are about #100
in Afghanistan.
--
John R. Carroll
John R. Carroll
> "John R. Carroll" <nu...@bidness.dev.nul> wrote in message
> news:etWdnUl1V_JvC1nW...@giganews.com...
>> Steve B wrote:
>>>
>>> (The above may or may not be authentic... sounds plausible)
>>
>> Biggest bunch of bullshit I've seen in a while Steve but it's
>> perfect for jerk off's like yourself.
>>
>> I spent an hour on the phone last week with two actual Marines in
>> Afghanistan with the 4th LAR.
>>
>>
>
> bankrupt Socialist welfare state? Would these two Marines shoot you
> on sight? Or, would they not waste ordinance and just K-Bar you in
> the neck? Or, would they just snap you in half? Real Marines don't
> like Neo-Socialists.
"Only talk when it improves the silence" - Edmund Muskie
I commend that thought to you Tom.
--
John R. Carroll
wmbjk...@citlink.net
wrote:
>
><wmbjk...@citlink.net> wrote in message
>news:0vr9s590j819h4637...@4ax.com...
>> On Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:54:23 -0400, "Buerste" <bue...@buerste.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>"John R. Carroll" <nu...@bidness.dev.nul> wrote in message
>>>news:etWdnUl1V_JvC1nW...@giganews.com...
>>
>>>> I spent an hour on the phone last week with two actual Marines in
>>>> Afghanistan with the 4th LAR.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> John R. Carroll
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>Did you tell them how much you hate America and want it changed into a
>>>bankrupt Socialist welfare state? Would these two Marines shoot you on
>>>sight? Or, would they not waste ordinance and just K-Bar you in the neck?
>>>Or, would they just snap you in half? Real Marines don't like
>>>Neo-Socialists.
>>
>> Hey Tom, have you thought about contacting godaddy to see if they want
>> to bid on hosting your blog?
>>
>> Wayne
>
>No, It's difficult to maintain a head of steam. I'm a very jovial guy most
>of the time
That's hard to believe. Is it as true as what you wrote above?
>and only poke those I know will have a melt-down in the little
>boxes they live in.
You're the one melting down. How long before you start telling stories
about fending off 2' centipedes and bench pressing 800 pounds?
> I'll just stick to a couple of NGs where I have the
>worst idiots plonked.
Post it anywhere you like, but it will be still be total crap.
Wayne
John R. Carroll
H&S Co. is doing interdiction missions, they are hard against the Pakistan
border, from Khan Neshin and they will be rotating back to the States
shortly.
It's hot - 120 F - during the day and there is a lot of dust.
LOL
They have two seasons, hot blowing dust followed by rain and mud. That
varies depending on where, exactly, you are.
The mountains are another matter and don't count. It's no man's land.
The regular Afghan Army is an excellent, well equipped and disciplined
fighting force. As good as there is.
The general population are just like people everywhere. They are poor but
care about the same things anyone does.
Food on the table and the well being of their children and so forth. They
are friendly, approachable and generous.
Like all people anywhere caught in a gang war, they normally keep their
heads down and go about their daily business as best they can.
They would like for things be calm and absent that they try and stay out of
the way, unnoticed.
The district/regional/national police, the politician's, and many of the
local militia's are as corrupt as can be, gangsters really. Afghanistan is
little more than an organized criminal enterprise. Nothing has changed in
this regard since the last super power visited Afghanistan. This guy Karzai
is just our "Don" and there is little reason to think that change is in the
air.
Beyond that there isn't much I could, or would, have to say.
Well, maybe just one thing.
I'll be glad to see our guys home, and that's what they are. Our guys, not
mine.
--
John R. Carroll
John R. Carroll
> On Tue, 13 Apr 2010 17:54:23 -0400, "Buerste" <bue...@buerste.com>
> wrote:
>
>>
>> "John R. Carroll" <nu...@bidness.dev.nul> wrote in message
>> news:etWdnUl1V_JvC1nW...@giganews.com...
>
>>> I spent an hour on the phone last week with two actual Marines in
>>> Afghanistan with the 4th LAR.
>>>
>>
>> a bankrupt Socialist welfare state? Would these two Marines shoot
>> you on sight? Or, would they not waste ordinance and just K-Bar you
>> in the neck? Or, would they just snap you in half? Real Marines
>> don't like Neo-Socialists.
>
> Hey Tom, have you thought about contacting godaddy to see if they want
> to bid on hosting your blog?
>
I don't think a lot civilians understand how deployed military personnel see
their world.
Especially not civilians of the arm chair warrior variety. I don't know a
single serving individual that would put together the garbage in Steve B's
post that was attributed. "Saucy" Marine ought to have been placed under
arrest and stood a court.
That's sort of what ticks me off, that someone might actually believe this
junk. It's the ravings of an insane person and I take offense to things that
portray any group as insane or otherwise defective, mentally or otherwise.
It's particularly offensive when done in the "Spirit" of "Patriotism".
Feh
I've always believed the world would be a better place if every American did
a tour in the armed forces that included a period of deployment on foriegn
soil, not country club service. I still believe this is true.
I single out American's because no other country on the planet can deploy
nearly as large or potent a force as America can without considering the
immediate consequences all around. OUr President can just pull the trigger
and figure it all out later. We are truly unique and so have a genuine
responsibility - to ourselves - to act in a reasoned and considered manner.
We also have the luxury of pausing to think before we act and we ought to
start excercising that luxury. Experience in uniform would insure that our
actions were guided by a little wisdom. I can't imagine Dwight Eisenhower or
Harry Truman ordering the attack on Iraq in 2003. I also can't imagine
either of those two letting up at Torah Bora.
--
John R. Carroll
Ignoramus11847
Thanks
Isn't Agfhan national army essentially a locally recruited force? Why
isn't it corrupt like everyone else?
i
John R. Carroll
Several reasons but one is a hangover, if you will, from the Russian
campaign.
The conscripts are young and in a country as poor as Afghanistan, are
"lifers".
They end up with a strong national identity and see the drug trade as a
threat rather than an opportunity.
They also have the example of Pakistan right next door. The Pakistani army
is nearly a entity in its own right whose primary purpose, or one of them,
is to protect the national identity when necessary from internal political
upheaval.
--
John R. Carroll
Don Foreman
Someone recently said,
"Regarding the behaviors I'm objecting to, I find nothing to tolerate
in open calls for threatening or killing people whose politics you
don't like."
Easy, now, I couldn't resist teasing you a little here. :<)
Don Foreman
<ignoram...@NOSPAM.11847.invalid> wrote:
They do live in snowy areas including Afghanistan. They go dormant
and don't hunt during cold conditions, but they can come out of
dormancy quite quickly. (see cite) If this guy sometimes has a
working lap warmer and the scorpions can sense that, he may well
attract them and get nailed periodically as looking like a food
opportunity.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0624_030624_scorpions.html
Ed Huntress
"Don Foreman" <dfor...@NOSPAMgoldengate.net> wrote in message
news:e1cas5thqgge27950...@4ax.com...
Hey, don't look at me. I'll be sitting on my porch and playing my banjo.
d8-)
--
Ed Huntress
John R. Carroll
The only way a scorpion will attack a human is if you step on it, or
otherwise muck it around.
Sort of like what a person might do to one closing in an anything warm and
in your lap.
I handled them when I was living in NM and didn't suffer from the
experience.
Not from a sting anyway.
--
John R. Carroll
John R. Carroll
LOL
Between you and Gunner the entire country will be surrounded!
--
John R. Carroll
Don Foreman
Don Foreman
Well said!
Don Foreman
They'll crawl into boots, attracted by residual warmth, so if one
takes off boots on bivouac where scorpions be it's a good idea to
shake boots good before putting them back on.
Scorpions are predators, so their degree of aggressiveness will depend
on ambient temperature and level of hunger. I recall one in a
C-ration can, hot weather, hitting that sucker like a stacatto cymbal.
Larry Jaques
<dfor...@NOSPAMgoldengate.net> scrawled the following:
Wow, the little bastids are truly Al Qaeda material. These insect
terrorists hunker down and have a bunker mentality when conditions
warrant, then pop out and wreak havoc when they want, during more
favorable conditions. ;)
--
STOP THE SLAUGHTER! Boycott Baby Oil!
Steve B
>
>>On Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:05:24 -0500, Ignoramus11847
>><ignoram...@NOSPAM.11847.invalid> wrote:
>>>I have never heard of scorpions living in the snow.
>>>
>>>Otherwise, the story is very touching.
>>>
>>>i
I live in snowy country, and they are all over the place, just more active
in different times of the year.
Steve
RBnDFW
> The regular Afghan Army is an excellent, well equipped and disciplined
> fighting force. As good as there is.
No kidding? First of heard that.
In fact I've seen reports and videos indicating they are worthless
dopeheads.
RBnDFW
I battle those little bastards every year here in DFW. Our house is
built on a sandstone rocky hill, which apparently is heaven for
scorpions. When it gets hot and dry they start coming into the house.
Fortunately, I have 3 cats that live to hunt, and scorpions are their
2nd favorite toys (May flies are #1). We would prefer that they kill
them more quickly than they do.
But even better is finding them before they get in.
I do that with a UV flashlight. Those little suckers light up like the
sun when you hit them with a blacklight. Remeber those psychedelic
blacklight posters from when you were a kid, and some had scorpions on
them? Same thing, same color - yellow-green. It has to be seen to be
appreciated.
It's pretty amazing, and a bit fun now. One lap around the house
before bed with a UV flashlight and a can of Raid.
Gunner Asch
Indeed. The several buddies I currently have working in Afghanistan
pretty much agree with your statement.
Gunner
"First Law of Leftist Debate
The more you present a leftist with factual evidence
that is counter to his preconceived world view and the
more difficult it becomes for him to refute it without
losing face the chance of him calling you a racist, bigot,
homophobe approaches infinity.
This is despite the thread you are in having not mentioned
race or sexual preference in any way that is relevant to
the subject." Grey Ghost
John R. Carroll
> On Wed, 14 Apr 2010 11:15:25 -0500, RBnDFW <burkh...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> John R. Carroll wrote:
>>
>>> The regular Afghan Army is an excellent, well equipped and
>>> disciplined fighting force. As good as there is.
>>
>>
>> No kidding? First of heard that.
>> In fact I've seen reports and videos indicating they are worthless
>> dopeheads.
>
> Indeed. The several buddies I currently have working in Afghanistan
> pretty much agree with your statement.
Says the man and his 8' centipede and BS insurance stories.
LOL
Credible you are not.
--
John R. Carroll
John R. Carroll
Yeah, I've heard some of that. It usually starts out from Army units trying
to explain their lack of success on the field.
This is particularly true in areas that resemble the Korangal Valley. 42
KIA, 10X wounded and for nothing. Rambo Bush charged over the hill without a
plan, without intelligence and in the complete absence of a clear goal. A
brief study of history would have revealed the stupidity behind the original
mission.
The US Army didn't care for the Afghan regulars because they would refuse
stupid mission assignments and were eventually ordered out by their command
and sent where they could do some actual good.
The truth is that it's an American civilian command and not a support
failure.
Spc. Robert Soto of Company B, First Battalion, 26th Infantry
"It confuses me, why it took so long for them to realize that we weren't
making progress up there,"
In June, 2005 a four-man team of SEALs was ambushed on a ridge above the
valley.
Three were killed and the helicopter sent to rescue them was shot down,
killing eight more Navy SEALS and eight other servicemen.
I wonder what Pentagon jackass ordered that up.
I don't know why Spc. Soto was confused.
It's pretty clear his mission was shit for brains from the start.
Our armed forces operate on the principal that everyone going all the way up
the chain of command has been thoughtful, deliberate and careful.
At the highest civilian level, where ultimate goals are set, that means a
carefully considered and well defined outcome.
Soto just couldn't believe that the chain of command had failed right at
the very top. He wouldn't even have considered it.
Had we actually accomplished out original mission, we wouldn't be in
Afghanistan today.
As it is, we are going to be propping up Karzai and his successors with
money, men and material for a long time.
The only result is that we'll end up with less and less men, money and
material and the gangsters in Afghanistan will prosper.
They aren't going anywhere. Afghanistan is their home.
--
John R. Carroll