Heroes, or is it all in a days work? Part 4

So we headed down the mountain to head back to base. We were so tired, sun burnt, hungry, and thirsty, I thought to myself, "If Hell is any worse than this then I'm glad i wont be going there." We got into the humvees and started the journey back. About half way back, we were going through a town called Black Miryani.

I personally never liked going through the villages in that area due to the soul fact that the roads were so narrow that the mirrors of the humvees would scrape the walls, and turning was the worst since it took 15-20 min. for each humvee to get around a corner. Attacks would most likely be deadly one way or another, since bullet proof glass can only stop so many rounds and we would be so close to the enemy that we could shake his hand. Fortunately we were never attacked in those villages.

Just after entering Black Miryani, the platoon leader decided that he wanted to talk to the village elders, and maybe some of the villagers. So we stopped, dismounted, and walked over to the town center, where the village elders were already gathered by the small creek in the middle of town. After a few minutes of talking back and forth, one of the villagers came running to the meeting, we all started yelling for him to stop so we didn't shoot him, after a few words were exchanged between the ANA and the villager and town elders, the villager came closer to the meeting. The interpreter was ordered to ask the villager why he was in such a hurry to interupt the meeting. The villager then told the interpreter that the night before, Taliban came to the village and told all the men in the village that if they helped the Americans at all, the Taliban would return and torture their families in front of them.

The man was then asked why he came forward with this. The man responded, "If i didn't help you Americans, the Taliban will come down and not believe that we didn't help you anyways, and torture us no matter what. I hate the Taliban, I will help how I can to kill them all. I know also where Khalib Habil is hiding and where his work place is."

We were puzzled by the man's remarks. After more talking we found out that Khalib Habil was the man who was creating all IEDs in that area. So after we finished interrogating the man, we went back to the base, we then decided to send a recon team back to this village during that night, to monitor possible Taliban presence, and attempt to detain some Taliban for additional information on Habil's whereabouts.

We left the wire (FOB) at 22:00 hours that night and drove about a click short of the village. Because it was so dark we remained undetected as we got closer and closer to the village. Upon arrival, we set up security around the south side of the village since most of the north side was orchards, and it was there we waited for anything to happen.

It was 01:38 Hours, we were tired, and the temperature was dropping so rapidly. We were freezing cold and still waiting for anything to even move. Just when we started thinking that nothing would happen, we spotted four men walking slowly and quietly along the orchard wall on the north side of town right in front of our position. Everyone got prepped and ready for anything to happen. Some got down in the prone and crawled closer to the wall to get a better look, the rest of the group stayed behind and pulled security. I was one of the men crawling to the wall. We reached the wall and peaked over it just enough to see.

As the men got closer and closer to town, it became more and more evident that they were in fact Taliban. Three of the men had AK-47's slinged on there backs, The fourth man carried an RPG and what looked like three extra rounds. They entered the town and went into the first hut, we could see light from inside which could only mean that they had flashlights. Screams were heard throughout the village as the men were gathered from their huts and congregated together seperated from their families. The men shouted words back and forth with the Taliban as they gathered all the families together across the other side of the town. We asked the interpreter what was being said, and he told us that the Taliban were asking the men why the Americans had stopped by the day before. And the men repeatedly told them "they only stopped briefly to talk and they left". But the Taliban didn't believe them anyways. The first man was brought forward, then his family was brought over in front of him. The Taliban then tied the hands and feet of each person together, as the man watched. The man's family were then forced to lay down on their backs and bring their knees up toward their chests so that their feet were in the air.

The Team leader in charge signaled for everyone to come to him. He then took a few seconds to gather his thoughts, then continued, " We are going to crash this little party and what better of an opportunity to capture our Taliban than this." So we talked briefly, and were all given certain things to do. We watched a few seconds before we moved as the Taliban were whipping the lower parts of the legs and bottoms of the feet of the family members. Finally the signal was given and we moved in. We came from behind the men, and motioned for them to stay quiet, then we started in, as soon as we reached the Taliban men, they started to reach for their weapons, but we were too quick for them. We successfully detained three of them when the fourth man broke free and started to run. But it wasnt a problem when a single round whizzed past his head. He froze in place we then bound his hands and radioed to base what had gone down. They came, got us and took all of us back to the FOB.