Mosquitoes

Afghan Soldier caught by infrared flash with specially modified camera.

31 August 2011
Afghanistan

A Soldier sleeps in a body bag to keep off the bugs.

American and Afghan Soldiers share an Afghan family compound overnight in the heart of Taliban country.

During the dark nights, the infrared flash with modified camera brings out detail.  The green light coming from the doorway is the improvised HQ for 4-4 Cav, from Task Force Spartan.  4-4 Cav was conducting combat operations in Zhari District of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.  The mission lasted about 48 hours during which there were about twenty firefights.  Some enemy seemed to be killed but we got lucky with only some close calls.

A 4-4 Cav Soldier is on guard using his night vision gear.  He has a machine gun to the front and keeps a rocket behind him.  Many casualties occur on rooftops due to gunshots.

Satcomms and sniper rifle on the roof.  In our new world, we often use satcomms to communicate just a few miles away.

Kiowa Warrior helicopter swoops low over the battlefield on this dark night.  The pilots are wearing extremely sensitive night vision goggles and will have no problems seeing us.  To avoid being shot down, they fly blacked out using only infrared lights to avoid collisions.   When there is little illumination they might be seen only in silhouette, or not at all.

My specially modified camera gear can capture their IR signatures, but the Kiowa Warriors fly fast and low, and are difficult to frame in the dark.

Persistence pays.

Iraqi insurgents often called these Kiowa Warrior helicopters “Mosquitoes.”  The Taliban curse them.

A fire burns in a next-door compound.  The source had been an enemy tracer bullet many hours earlier which ignited hay during a firefight.  The fire is described with more images in my dispatch Tracer Burnout.

The bright spot is invisible to the naked eye.  Still far away, a CH-47 helicopter is approaching during the night to deliver a resupply to our location.  Soldiers on this Afghan rooftop who are wearing PVS-14 night vision gear suddenly say that the helicopter is lasing us with the IR laser.  They joke that they have gone blind.

While the laser-wielding helicopter flies toward us, another aircraft leaves a trace.  Soon, the CH-47 is hovering just outside our compound, making a faint Kopp-Etchells glow as the rotors beat dust.  The satcomm antenna beside me is blown down while the helicopter drops the sling load and disappears into the night.

Read the complete post at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/michaelyon-online/~3/wT-Ti6fsTK0/mosquitoes.htm