|
|
Post by Admin on Aug 26, 2013 15:38:04 GMT -5
During my tour in Afghanistan, I spend 3 months at a Forward Operating Base in Spin Boldak near the Pakistan boarder. I had been sent down there to act as the sergeant-major for the small Canadian group that was there. We shared the FOB with a U.S. Army Police Mentoring Team and an Afghan security force. We got a call in the early afternoon on February 15th of 2009, that the Afghan National Police had brought an eight year old boy to the front gate who had been shot by suspected Taliban in the town. The shooters were one of the motorcycle teams that would drive around looking for targets. Today they decided that shooting through a doorway and hitting a little boy in the back was the thing to do. He’s one lucky kid. The bullet must have slowed down going through the door. It hit him just to the left side of the spine and travelled around a rib and we could see the bullet resting on his lower left rib. It looked like an AK47 round. Things were touch and go for the little guy. He was so dehydrated that when we tried to get an I.V. into him, his veins would start to collapse. The U.S. Air force medic that we had with us used a devise that inserted an I.V. tube directly into the sternum. We were able to get a couple of liters of I.V. solution into him and we got him stabilized. We had to send down to KAF via land ambulance. It was raining so the MEDEVAC helicopters weren’t flying. Surprising how fast the training kicks in. The IV training I had before Bosnia (14 years ago) came right back to me. My friend Mike Akpata had got me onto the pre-hospital trauma life support course back in Windsor through the police department where we both work and that certainly helped. One thing I learned quickly is that as long as I was there, treating local causalities is part of our job.
WO (Ret'd) John Nayduk CD
|
|
Alpha
New Member
Posts: 3 
|
Post by Alpha on Aug 27, 2013 14:11:14 GMT -5
Keeping with a similar theme to John's post above, here is an entry from my journal I kept overseas (83C - Diary of an Amb Driver)
"18 Sept 2010
Days Left: 77
Well I am back from what was to be a two-day operation but ended up being just one night. And thank God for that! OP Khyber is not a pleasant place.
Yesterday at 8pm (17 Sept) we departed for OP Khyber. See, today was Election Day here in Afghanistan, and of course the Taliban do not want the people to vote as they want to be in power. We even got word that insurgents in the area who caught locals going to vote would have their ears and noses cut. The polling station in this are was OP Mosque, about 1 km away from both PBSG and OP Khyber, with OP Brown and a checkpoint in between all of that. The ANA wanted us to stay away from the polling station today, fair enough. But, we did stage our IRF at Khyber to be closer to the action, and action there was. It was a good thing we were there. This time around we added the Bison MRT to the IRF as well as the usual LAVs for support, EODs Cougar and us, the Ambulance crew.
So, we left last evening and drove almost uneventfully to Khyber under the cover of darkness. It was a half moon, which lights up the sky like it was early morning. I was the sixth vehicle in the convoy. We passed through the checkpoint by OP Brown and west on Route Hyena to OP Khyber. When we arrived, it was discovered the stupid ANA forgot to move the dragon’s teeth from the road in the middle of the checkpoint, and the first LAV and the Cougar rolled over them. The Cougar actually picked up the teeth and dragged them with them. I think 3 tires in all were punctured from both vehicles. So, after arriving in OP Khyber, the next few hours was taken up with trying to patch the Cougar’s front left tire and pumping it up. This was a long ordeal and we didn’t get to sleep until very late. The Cougar was not equipped with the right fittings for their air hose, so I parked next to them and used mine. The patches were not holding very well and there was no spare Cougar tire in PBSG. That was a priority item we had sent out shortly afterwards. Finally, I opened up a stretcher and slept by my tire.
We had no timings in the morning, but I did wake up early, and it’s a good thing too. We were anticipating some activity due to it being Election Day. Sure enough, early in the morning a firefight broke out by the polling station and the Taliban starting launching either mortars or RPG’s into the area. The next thing we see is an ANA HUM-V ambulance tearing down the road towards where we were, OP Khyber. Sure enough, a casualty. Luckily we had three medics on the scene including mine. I ran over to the compound in the middle of the old jail as well and assisted as best I could and assisted with the stretcher straps. This ANA soldier, whom probably did not survive, stepped on an IED on Route Hyena while on a patrol. At least one of his eyes was no more, possibly the second, and had some internal damage behind his eye. I ran back to bring over my ambulance, loaded up the casualty and we tore off (with escorts) to PBSG. I remember Barnes in the back telling me over the intercom that the casualties vital signs were dropping, I tried to get Kim to tell the lead LAV to move out of the way so I could floor it passed them, but she always had an issue using the radio! The LAV finally moved aside once inside the gate to PBSG and I roared up the hill, passed the ANA lines and floored it across the HLS and dropped the ramp by the UAS. He was unloaded, attended to in the UAS, and loaded onto the Blackhawk soon after and flown to KAF.
After the MEDEVAC helicopter departed, we drove right back to OP Khyber and I parked in the same spot as previous, on the West Hesco wall looking towards the polling station. Almost immediately we were told we had more casualties in the compound of the jail. Out of breath, dehydrated, and still exhausted, I moved the Bison back where we immediately loaded up the two children (about 3-5 years of age) and their father. We then tore back to PBSG. They were hit by shrapnel in the same incident or from an RPG. I will talk more about this evac (evacuation) as it is a little more touching than that of the soldier’s, no offence to him. I didn’t see the children until I dropped my ramp outside the UAS in PBSG. My medic, Barnes, found out that those cheap toys (balls, puppets etc…) that I bought at the Dollar Store back home came in use. The little girl clutched her puppet so tight. I bet it’s the first toys these kids have ever seen. Anyway, as the little girl was being assessed I watched the little boy on the stretcher, insuring he would not fall off. The father was asked how old the kids were and he said he had forgotten. Now if a father in North America said that, we would never hear the end of it! We guessed they were 3 or 4. Cute kids, both shirt and shoeless by this point, wearing grubby MC Hammer-type pants.
The boy had a small piece of shrapnel to his right arm. He was ok. The girl was peppered with shrapnel. Face, neck, chest, arms, feet, everywhere. Not one of them screamed or cried. They sat there calmly on the stretchers in the UAS. I did what I could to assist. I watched the TACNET computer waiting for the helicopter, and wrapped the girl up in a blanket. The chopper came in quickly, and the kids were carried out to the helicopter, and flown to hospital in KAF with their Father as children cannot travel unattended on a MEDEVAC flight. They were sent back home after being released from the hospital in a Taxi.
We drove back to OP Khyber a third time and sat. It was now only about 9:30am, and the fun was just beginning. I was sitting with my crew and the EOD guys between our vehicles when we hear a loud whistle right above our heads and then a loud BANG! The telltale sound of an inbound RPG. The ANA and our guns opened up, as there were insurgents directly to our south in the village. A short but fierce firefight broke out and the insurgents took off. A short time later we were stood down, and I took my spot back up beside my vehicle, talking to Terry, the Platoon Medic. Then an even louder whistle and BANG! This one whizzed by meters away and impacted just outside the Hesco barrier wall. More small arms fire and another viscous fight. All went silent and we stood down. It remained quiet for the rest of the day.
We arrived back in PBSG at 5:30pm. An hour later, insurgents were out and about doing sneaky activity near one of our checkpoints just to the south of PBSG. Our mortars opened up and a US Predator came in with a Hellfire missile. There was a MASSIVE thunderous bang and two insurgents were left dead.
Now, I am resting and not enjoying the smell of my feet at the moment. It was a busy, long 24 hours. Glad it’s over. Let me tell you, being caught in crossfire between insurgents and Canadians/ANA sure gets your heart pumping… but it’s strangely exciting.
Added 30 Dec 2010
One thing I must say is this incident still is very fresh in my memory. It was probably the most memorable day of my entire 217 days of tour. The kids ended up being fine, as they came back to PBSG for checkups and probably dressing changes. One thing that is still very fresh in my mind though is the sound of an incoming RPG. You see the impact, then hear it, then feel the concussion, and then you swear, giggle and finally push your body up close as possible to a Bison tire in case there is more. Then you yell “Holy *$@& that was close!” Then carry on about your business. You get used to it over there and forget about it, but once you’re home, it’s still there..."
|
|
