Working and fighting side by side
This is a picture of me talking to the interpreter while trying to communicate to the officer on the left how he can improve on his rifle marksmanship.
The officer is looking down at the target he had just shot. Out here in Wardak, we can't teach the cops basic police stuff, we have to train them to be warriors, to close with and destroy the enemy, not to arrest them.
I have been in fire fights where the police are right next to us fighting the enemy and standing their ground. These Afghan police you train become like your own men, because you train them, you eat lunch with them etc.. And when one of them falls next to you in combat, the sting of a fallen friend is still there.
And it's funny how when you are out with your friends, you still run into ignorant people who say stuff like "You just shoot at targets, you don't shoot people."
It's just funny how sadly mistaken they are, the war here in Afghanistan is very real and we feel the bite of it almost every day. I have been blown up, shot at with AK-47's, RPG's and PKM's. I have had 8 rockets land within 50 meters of myself and my troops. And we have had to defend ourselves and kill the enemy.
Many of us can't wait to get home so we can sleep normally again, and not have to lay awake at night just waiting for a 107 Katusha rocket to come burning into our compound. Last night I >stared at the ceiling of my very small room, which is basically a bunker inside a building, and I waited till about 3 a.m. before I went to sleep.
My parents always ask me what I need, and I say, "Red Bull, Amp, Rockstar, Monster, and 5 hour energy," just so I can get through each day on only a few hours of sleep.
— SSG Frederick K Goldacker III
Aco. 2/108th Infantry BN Air Assault
Sec-For Squad Leader, Wardak Afghanistan
