Word: patrolling
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...Around midday, a man armed with a rifle strolled up the track. The soldiers froze. Spotting the odd-looking bush from about 10 m away, the man "went for his weapon," according to the patrol report. "It was the last thing he did,'' says the trooper. The SAS men opened fire. Alerted by the gunshots, armed men fanned out from the village below, some climbing the path toward the gun emplacement. The troopers fired shots and threw a grenade in an effort to keep them back, but the Afghans split up and outflanked them. Within minutes, bullets were whizzing from...
...scout made it first to the shelter of a small depression behind a rock. The patrol leader followed, carrying the radio. On the way - according to some of the men - he dropped his M-4 automatic rifle, and when he reached the depression knocked the scout out of the way. "You don't do that,'' says the trooper. "It's not the Anzac way. And you don't leave your weapon.'' The trooper says the leader told the scout to fetch his rifle, which he did under heavy fire...
...patrol leader disputes this account. His first priority, he says, was to move the radio to safety. Its weight, and its antenna and trailing cables, made it impossible to pick up the rifle. As for claims that he pushed the scout, "That just didn't happen." Nor did he order the scout to brave a hail of bullets. Instead, the young trooper was told to "retrieve my rifle, which was approximately 5 m away, when he could," and "he carried out this task during a lull in fire...
...radio kept the patrol leader in touch with the coalition base at Bagram, and in theory gave him access to the might of the U.S. Air Force. Convinced he was under attack from al-Qaeda fighters, he called for air support. It was refused: the risk of anti-aircraft missiles meant the Americans were unwilling to fly at the low altitude necessary. Headquarters also ruled out flying in more troops because the landing zone was deemed too dangerous...
...Thirty-five kilometers to the south, the rest of Three Squadron were lying about on their vehicles, dozing in the sun after an exhausting night patrol, when a message came over the radio - Kilo 3 was in trouble. Forming a convoy, the squadron charged to the rescue, telling the patrol they were on the way. But it would take them more than two hours to reach the besieged men: RK3 would have to hang on until nightfall. As the shadows lengthened, and the assault grew less intense, the troopers saw the SAS vehicles' lights heading up the Taraka valley...