COMBAT STORIES FROM Afghanistan

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Showing : Afghanistan Videos

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  James Ferguson - Marines +10 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 12th Marines

  India 3-12 was an artillery platoon but, when they got to Afghanistan, James Ferguson's Marines were designated a provisional infantry unit. Assigned to a remote area to protect a dam, they took over the site from the British Royal Marines, who had very restrictive Rules of Engagement. (Caution: rough language)

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  Blair Dell - Navy +16 Total Videos

  Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC)

  Blair Dell felt like he was really doing some good. He was a Navy Corpsman but he was attached to a Marine Special Operations Team in the Helmand Valley where he helped build a dozen medical clinics. The team was training and organizing the locals to resist the Taliban insurgents. He recalls a conversation with a village elder which opened his eyes and gave him some doubts about the war.

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  Shawn Patrick - Marines +11 Total Videos

  Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC)

  Everyone in service has others who helped him along the way. Shawn Patrick shares his experiences of two other Marines who were pivotal in his growth as a leader. He also shares why the music heard in Iraq was a little less than manly.

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  Blair Dell - Navy +16 Total Videos

  Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC)

  Navy Corpsman Blair Dell remembers the fallen from Afghanistan, several members of his team who fell victim to an insider attack. A lone Taliban, disguised as an Afghani policeman, managed to kill several Marines and then got away.

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  Shawn Patrick - Marines +11 Total Videos

  1st Reconnaissance Battalion

  They called him Pappy. Shawn Patrick was a few years older than most of the Marines at 1st Recon Battalion but he also seemed wiser so it was fitting. His group was training in Australia when 9/11 occurred and they became some of the first ground troops in the Global War On Terror, going first to Pakistan and then Afghanistan.

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  James Ferguson - Marines +10 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 12th Marines

  There was a change in strategy in Afghanistan when Gen. Petraeus took over. He was more open to aggressive operations. James Ferguson recalls how he submitted a plan for coordinated strikes which was approved at the top.

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  Blair Dell - Navy +16 Total Videos

  Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC)

  Matt Lampert was the team leader. As the Marine special ops team closed in on a Taliban compound, an IED severely wounded him. Corpsman Blair Dell, who had to thread his way though a mine field to get to him, knew that he was going to lose his legs but they got him evacuated and hoped for the best.

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  Scott Wealing +7 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  As a veteran of elite military units, as well as the CIA and Blackwater, Scott Wealing has a unique perspective on the global war on terror and some definite opinions on what went wrong.

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  James Ferguson - Marines +10 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 12th Marines

  James Ferguson was already feeling the call to serve while in high school, then the attacks on 9/11 happened. His mother had an appointment at the World Trade Center that day but it was cancelled, thankfully. In his Long Island town, though, there were other parents who never came home.

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  Jon Eckert - Marines +1 Video

  India Battery, 3rd Battalion, 12th Marines

  Jon Eckert describes a tragic day in Afghanistan when he and his dog were leading a patrol to prevent anyone from hitting an IED when the unthinkable happened and they lost fellow Marine CPL Jorge Villarreal. (Caution: strong language)

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  James Ferguson - Marines +10 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 12th Marines

  After a few years back at home, away from the chaos of the war in Afghanistan, James Ferguson began to realize that he would only find closure over what he experienced there by getting back together with the men in his unit. This was the Genesis of the Warrior Reunion Foundation.

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  Michael Trost - Army +7 Total Videos

  489th Civil Affairs Battalion

  Mobilization is a lot of work for a sergeant like Michael Trost. Paperwork and medical stuff. He nearly didn't make the tour because of high cholesterol. He persevered and he was glad because it had been a long wait for action and he had assembled a great team

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  Joshua Rodriguez - Army +19 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  Josh Rodriguez knew he had to get a Ranger tab to continue on the path he wanted. He got in as a walk on and made it through Ranger School, but he didn't get the assignment he wanted. Then, he heard about a position as an aide de camp to a general officer.

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  James Ferguson - Marines +10 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 12th Marines

  The Marines were developing tactics to deal with the Taliban. James Ferguson describes how they would deliberately expose themselves to draw fire and set off charges to simulate the explosion of an IED, which always brought the enemy running. They also had a new rocket system called HIMARS which you could not hear coming. (Caution:strong language)

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  Robert Rose - Army +4 Total Videos

  489th Civil Affairs Battalion

  Due to his peculiar enlistment contract, Robert Rose didn't have to go to Afghanistan, but when his Reserve unit deployed, he felt he had to go. It was a civil affairs unit and, once he was there, the missions were varied and, inevitably, involved something that he had to study to understand, like prison assessments.

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  Zack Knight - Army +8 Total Videos

  Georgia National Guard

  He flirted with the idea of joining the Air Force at eighteen, but flirting with girls distracted him. At twenty one, Zack Knight became a police officer, a job that might have been a little too much for his young head to handle. Then, at the ripe old age of twenty eight, he decided to take his skills to the Army.

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  James Ferguson - Marines +10 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 12th Marines

  Despite the seriousness of their situation in a remote part of Afghanistan, James Ferguson recalls that there were some more lighthearted times. Like the time his wife sent him some chocolate treats that didn't quite make it intact or the time that the cook served the same meal five days in a row. (Caution: strong language)

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  Joshua Rodriguez - Army +19 Total Videos

  4th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade combat Team, 1st Infantry Division

  The pilot said he could take out the attackers but the blast would be in the danger close zone, almost right on top of the position where Josh Rodriguez and a handful of men were nearly overrun by the Taliban. Drop it, he said. Everyone hit the deck. Part 8 of 9.

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  Joe Diomede - Marines +8 Total Videos

  Combat Logistics Regiment 15

  It was a big convoy with over a hundred local Afghan national fuel trucks along with Marine tactical vehicles. As soon as they set out, torrential rains began and everything slowed to a crawl. Joe Diomede remembers the boredom of being stuck in one place for days at a time. This was interrupted more than once by attacks, including one that crippled his vehicle.

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  James Ferguson - Marines +10 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 12th Marines

  The way our years long struggle in Afghanistan turned out is very frustrating to James Ferguson, who served there as a Marine platoon leader. He has some observations about that war and some serious advice about any future ones. (Caution: strong language)

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  Andrew Witzel - Marines +8 Total Videos

  4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion

  There was a bazaar in a village that was a Taiban stronghold and the Marines were ordered to shut it down. Andrew Witzel remembers that the operation was going well until a suicide bomber detonated his device. The casualties included Afghan children and a very close friend of his. (Caution: strong language.)

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  Joshua Rodriguez - Army +19 Total Videos

  4th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade combat Team, 1st Infantry Division

  Josh Rodriguez had just rushed his men to the base of a mountain where OP Bari Alai was under furious attack at the top. Helicopter pilots reported that at least one of the defenders looked to be alive, so there was hope. He and his platoon were under fire as they climbed the steep path to the top where they found total devastation. Part 4 of 9.

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  James Ferguson - Marines +10 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 12th Marines

  After the attacks on 9/11, James Ferguson was determined to get in the fight. He decided on the Marines because he knew they would be leading the way in whatever followed. His dad convinced him to go to college first, which he did, and so he became a Marine officer, still determined to get some revenge.

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  Joshua Rodriguez - Army +19 Total Videos

  4th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade combat Team, 1st Infantry Division

  There was no surge yet in the area where platoon leader Josh Rodriguez was operating. You had all the personnel you were going to get. In an attempt to clear and secure a road connecting bases, he and his men were posted on a high point where they could overwatch the road below. The only problem was that now the Taliban had something to distract them from the road. Part 1 of 9.

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  Colin Walsh - Army +6 Total Videos

  489th Civil Affairs Battalion

  When he got to Afghanistan, he knew the mission was going to be frustrating. Colin Walsh was in a Civil Affairs unit with erratic project funding and unreliable Afghan partners. It was a good team, though, and they decided to make the best of it.

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  James Ferguson - Marines +10 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 12th Marines

  Apathetic and undeserving. That's the impression of the Afghan people that James Ferguson got while serving there. It gets worse when you look at how the women and children are treated. (Caution: strong language)

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  Joe Diomede - Marines +8 Total Videos

  Combat Logistics Regiment 15

  Joe Diomede was one of five boys growing up in New Jersey in what was a pretty rowdy home. One of his brothers was serious about becoming a special forces member but it wasn't on Joe's radar. After 9/11 he was angry, like everyone else, but the memory had faded somewhat by the time he graduated high school.

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  James Ferguson - Marines +10 Total Videos

  3rd Battalion, 12th Marines

  It was what Marines call a kinetic environment. They were shot at a lot but the main hazard was IED's. James Ferguson and his men were based in the remote town of Kajaki in Afghanistan and the first couple of months went well. They were hitting the Taliban hard.

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  Michael Trost - Army +7 Total Videos

  Multiple Units

  His dad was a Marine so Michael Trost was pulling his own weight as a child. As an adult, he joined the Army. That'll show him! As a reservist, he got into a civil affairs battalion and finally had a deployment in Iraq. He was ready.

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  Joe Diomede - Marines +8 Total Videos

  Combat Logistics Regiment 15

  It was their worst day in Afghanistan. Joe Diomede's Motor T unit was in a convoy when a truck up front hit a mine. Another truck moved up to help and it hit a mine. Then his truck got hit. Before it was over, at least nine trucks were disabled.