Word: platooner
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Supplies are a major problem. Sitting in a shell-pocked command post with a panoramic view of the Kapisa front lines, Mahmad Zahir, a platoon commander with 21 years of combat experience, pulls out three Kalashnikov rifle magazines from the webbing under his jacket and lays them on the floor for inspection. Two of the three are empty. "We're short of ammunition--for tanks, artillery, machine guns, rifles. It's already cold, but we don't have enough blankets, and we have no winter uniforms," says the bearded, sunken-cheeked veteran. "If the Americans hit the Taliban...
...question to the nation's air transport industry and to the Federal Aviation Administration is, Where were you? Explain to us, please, how a platoon of terrorists could hijack four jetliners? The American people demand not only a tightening of airport security nationwide, but we also demand the resignation, even prosecution for criminal negligence, of everyone responsible for allowing this outrage to come to pass. RICHARD A. RIVERA Plantation...
...militias' reach extends beyond the camps. In Dili's giddy bustle, ragged storekeepers in plywood shanties offer cheap Indonesian cigarettes smuggled in from West Timor, often with militia help. Lieut. Peter Ireland, who commands a U.N. reconnaissance platoon, says his teams spy on border markets. In West Timor, pro-integrationists have interests in shops, gambling, construction, and mechanical repairs. Behind the imposing Atambua compound of former militia commander-in-chief Jo?o Tavares, cheering punters bet avidly on cockfights...
...often, it's not easy. Trekking facilities are rare to nonexistent. And the Himalayas are so vast you need a platoon of porters, a cook and a couple of guides to see you through. (Two reputable firms are Himalayan River Runners in New Delhi, tel: (91-11) 685-2602, and Zingaro Travels in Manali, Himachal Pradesh, tel: (91-1902) 52-736. Our 10-day hike cost $950 per person, including transport, accommodation at the end and a sleeping bag.) Try to do it on your own, as you can in Nepal, and you'll most likely disappear...
...Pointing to a diorama he and other Sierra Leonean soldiers have just built, Lt. John Kailie says, "This is a model." Villages are marked with scraps of paper, tracks are marked in chalk, twigs mark a river crossing. Like most of the troops in 5 Platoon, Kailie has only recently returned from three years of fighting rebels in the country's rugged north. Many of the men training today have not seen their families since 1998. They are battle-hardened, although often weakened by poor diet, and are keen to be based closer to home. They are also eager...