Afghanistan ER

“Good morning, Jaded Julie. You may be interested in the news bulletin (below) that I saw on the Web yesterday:

‘Six American soldiers were killed and more than a dozen American and Afghan troops were wounded on Sunday morning when a van packed with explosives was detonated at a new jointly operated outpost in southern Afghanistan. The soldiers were inside a small mud-walled building near the village of Sangsar, north of the Arghandab River, when the bomber drove up to one of the walls and exploded his charge around 9 a.m. The explosion blasted a hole in the thick wall, causing the roof to collapse on the soldiers inside. Others quickly arrived and clawed and pulled at the waist-deep rubble to free the buried troops. The building had been occupied by the Americans and Afghans for only a few days, an American official said, and was beside a narrow road. It was not immediately clear how the van managed to get so close without being challenged or stopped.’”

“Doesn’t sound good, Curmudge. We’ve heard about mud-walled buildings before. Did you send a note to Mack asking about it?”

“I did, and here is his reply:

‘Yes, that suicide bomber was for us. It occurred on Sunday morning at a small outpost, happened to one of our platoons, one that I have been out with a number of times and been at the exact same type of outpost with. Good I wasn't killed in a blast, but frustrating that I wasn't close enough to do anything to help. I was sent out there quite quickly by the command, but when I got there, all the dead and worst injured had been already evacuated. They were just digging through the rubble; I took care of a couple of Afghan Army folks. I've been busy checking out the remaining folks here, also there is a huge emotional toll since 6 guys were killed like that. Been busy, up until 0200 last night just talking to distraught guys.
Jim Slone, my PA, has gone on leave, so I can't really leave the Aid Station on base to go on missions, since we have to have at least one care provider on hand.’”

“My feelings are a mixture of thankfulness and rage, Curmudge.”

“Mine also, Julie. Mack said that with winter coming on, the Taliban chiefs will sit at home by the fire in the security of Pakistan and send out the young jihadis to become martyrs. I guess he’s right.”