Word: trooper
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...following night, RK3 hiked deeper into the mountains. On the bare hillsides, the troopers saw "countless tracks, fortifications and bunkers along the ridge lines," the patrol leader later wrote in his report. When they reached their objective, a ridge overlooking the valley and the village of Bhalkhel, they discovered a gun emplacement and a Russian-built heavy machine gun with a range of more than 3,500m. The patrol leader - according to his own report - ordered his men to set up an observation post about 40 m from the gun. Because there were no rocks or shrubs big enough...
...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...
...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...
...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...
...item forbidden on patrols - in the pack he'd shed near the bush hides. In a move that was extremely complex in the circumstances, the leader decided to split the patrol and send three of the men to retrieve the pack. On the way down the hill, the trooper who'd left the camera souvenired a turban, a rifle and a magazine of bullets from a dead villager, against the express instructions of his patrol leader. When the patrol leader learned about this, "I told him, 'We'll talk later,'" he says. Section J of the rules of engagement issued...