The Long War Journal's Bill Ardolino is on a patrol in Karamanda. His latest dispatch is posted at the Weekly Standard - here's a taste:...The meeting’s topic was grim. The previous Saturday, on June 26, the Taliban detonated a buried roadside bomb amidst an American convoy traveling through a section of the village lining the opposite riverbank. No one was injured in the initial blast, but the insurgents set off a second bomb as Americans and villagers gathered to assess the damage. One Afghan boy was killed instantly, at least dozen villagers were wounded, some seriously, and two Marines were riddled with shrapnel, but will survive. Despite immediate aid rendered by a Navy corpsman and the quick arrival of a medevac helicopter on the dry riverbed, two more small children died on the operating table at Camp Bastion. Navy surgeons were able to save three others. The aftermath of the explosion has presented a stiff challenge to Marine counterinsurgency efforts focused on protecting the population in Karamanda: villagers living closest to the blast have become wary of the Marines and Afghan government forces. Some protective parents on the western side of the wadi have now instructed their children to avoid the patrols.. Go check out the whole piece.
Read the complete post at http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Blackfive/~3/Q3QJ4HDTEV8/bill-ardolino-on-patrol-in-afghanistan.html
Posted
Jul 12 2010, 01:04 AM
by
BLACKFIVE