Skylar McAnelly

Mrs. Rodgers

English 1A

09 Sept. 2012

A DAY ON THE HILL

            It was just a routine Afghanistan day, one hundred and twenty degrees, clear skies, sun beating down and tons of gear on us, patrolling back to our patrol base after being out on the OP (observation post) for a week straight. I was a team leader for my squad of thirteen young infantry marines most of whom were just on their first combat deployment with the average age of twenty years old. This just happened to be my second tour and as a twenty-two year old corporal I had a lot of responsibility on my shoulders from making sure my men were ready for anything, taking care of them in any way possible, planning routes and making split seconds decisions that could end in death or life depending on which way I went. I wasn't alone in this responsibility, I had one of  my best friends, Cpl Ryan Deacy, also on his second tour with me helping out in any way he could and I knew I could trust him with my life and the lives of my team if I went down  and that was a big relief off my mind.

         Our OP over looked a big valley of opium fields and small villages were the local Afghan populace lived and farmed. Our view also over watched a large thick tree line that was so dense  it reminded us of all the movies we've seen on jungle fighting in Vietnam, you could barely see ten feet in front of you underneath its dark canopy. Every time we patrolled in or around the tree line we always came under heavy enemy fire and IED's (improvised explosive devices) to the point where you couldn't move and had to sit tight and fire back till close air support could arrive and blow the enemy back with 500lb bombs that would make your body feel it just got hit by a car when they went off. The sole purpose of this OP was to observe and report in on enemy movements in the tree line so the command would have a better understanding of the enemy making it easier for us to close with and destroy the enemy which, as a marine infantryman, is what we train and live for from the day we graduate boot camp to our last training operation back stateside and we learned that if we better understand the enemy the more effective we become as war fighters.

          Because of the rotation plan of one week on and two weeks off the OP, my team, 81's-3, was being relieved by one of our sister squads, 81's-1,  which was a blessing towards the end of our stay on the OP. The daily grind of sleep when you can and standing watch for hours on end makes life somewhat miserable. Our basic rotation on watch was six hours on twelve hours off for seven days straight and when you were not on watch there was plenty of things to do from improvement of the defenses, weapons maintenance, switching our warm water bottles from the heat to wet socks which cooled down the water to make it bearable to drink and any kind of rest and food that one could get in before the next watch. Between the regular day to day activities and the periodic harassment fire from enemy snipers there was not too much down time.

          When it came time to pack up and head down from the OP everything you brought up had to come down with us which leads to extra weight and if one has spent any time in the field they know that ounces equal pounds and pounds equal pain which always sucks. 81's-1 walked into the OP and we began our turnover of the watch posts and all the details that we observed during our week long stay. Before we left to head down to our patrol base my inspection of my team and their gear had to be done. Sgt Kelley, my squad leader, and myself began checking the marines body armor, weapons, and packs for our mile and a half walk back in ankle deep sand back to base. After saying a quick goodbye to our brothers who relieved us we began our trip down. My team was first out the gate putting my mine sweeper, Lcpl Draper first to check for IED's as we walked followed by Cpl Deacy, myself, my SAW (squad automatic weapon, aka a man portable machine gun) gunner Lcpl Nasa and the rest of the squad followed in single file keeping a equal distance of fifty meters between us to mitigate casualties if a IED was struck. As we walked everyone was in high spirits going back to base was amazing since we had cots, cold water and warm food waiting for us. It was hard not to become complacent as we walked towards base. Just as soon as I turned to tell my marines," Keep a sharp eye out we all know compliancy kills", the first crack of a round going right by my head was heard. the entire squad dropped yelling, "CONTACT LEFT!" then all of a sudden as I looked up towards Sgt Kelley the entire tree line erupted with very accurate and very intense machine gun and sniper fire that pinned my entire team down on a bare sand hill that offered no cover except for the sand that you could push up in front of you. As I looked down towards my front two marines CPL Deacy and Lcpl Draper I could see rounds impacting all around the two marines as they tried to low crawl to better positions that would offer some even if very minimal protection from the incoming enemy fire. When I looked back towards my SAW gunner Lcpl Nasa a round hit right next to my face blinding me with sand and dust momentarily. I gave the order to fire back at the tree line about Eight hundred meters where the fire was coming from. Lcpl Nasa began by opening up with a long accurate burst from his SAW as I yelled down to Cpl Deacy to get himself and Lcpl Draper back up to the OP which was a good two hundred meter run uphill in deep sand. I knew we had suppressing fire for the squad because the OP had opened fire with the heavy fifty caliber machine guns and the lull in the enemy fire would give us time to run up to the cover of the OP. As Deacy and Draper ran passed me Nasa and myself peeled off right behind them. As we ran uphill I heard the fifty cal. machine guns go down with malfunctions, the oh shit factor kicked right back in as the enemy fire picked up once again and we saw rounds impacting all around us as we sprinted up. With bullets zipping and popping all around us we finally made it to the OP and as quick as the shooting began it stopped as soon as the last marine was inside the OP.

          After we made it in the OP I began checking my guys making sure no one had been left down the hill and no one was hit. After the thumbs up that everyone was good we began to make a plan to go back down the hill. We worked together to fix the fifty cals. and tried to get  air support on station to cover us in case we came under fire again. Sgt Kelley informed me that the OP's guns were back in action but air support had been denied for our movement back to base.
I began to argue that without air support it was stupid to move back down the same route that we just took. After arguing for five minutes and a few choice words I was told to, "shut up and get moving", I went to my guys and told them what we were about to do they all looked at me with disbelief I told them, "Even though this is Sgt. Kelley's first tour he is the boss and we have to listen", everyone was pissed about the decision but eventually followed the orders and we began to move out down the hill yet again expecting another firefight as we moved down.

          As we moved out everything was calm we slowly moved past our spent casings that we had just fired and nothing happened. About fifty meters past the casings the whole tree line erupted again, marines hit the ground scrambling for cover all I could hear was rounds going over head and hitting around my prone body. The squad fired back with everything we had trying to suppress the enemy in the tree line. Finally the heavy machine guns opened up from the OP and this time they worked perfectly. We once again began to peel off to make a run for the OP only this time every marine in my team was running at a walking pace, everyone's legs were burning still from the last run up the hill. As we slowly made our way back up it was a miracle that no one got hit. The rounds were hitting our packs, at our feet and flying by so close it seemed that you could feel the air move by as they passed. At the top we made sure everyone had made it and checked everyone's  gear. Once up I made a bee line towards Sgt Kelley fuming from what just happened and told him that I would not let my team go back down again on foot without support. Sgt. Kelley agreed thankfully and we made a call down to base for support, the answer we got back put all the marines at ease, trucks were coming for us and we would not have to make our way back down again by foot. When the trucks finally arrived after three hours of waiting to our surprise news reporters jumped off to film the site of the firefight. All my marines and myself were thinking "you got to be kidding me right now". After a quick ten minute drive we made it back without further incident.

          Now when I think back on the events of that day it seems almost humorous to me. It is one of those days I will never forget and one that I can still replay in my memories. It is almost like we came so close to being killed that day and didn't even get touched which in one sense is almost a miracle but in another makes one fell like a total badass to have that experience. The only down side to that day is we still had three more months  in that god forsaken shitty place and a whole lot more to experience before we left.