Zabul Redux
October 12th, 2009 | Photography | Posted by Chris Maddaloni
Sean Naylor and I will will be reporting again from Afghanistan in about a week, so I’ll be posting some pictures this week from our last trip that didn’t get posted last time. We’ll be retracing our steps in Zabul province, and perhaps some other districts – we’ll see as our embed develops….
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June 6th, 2009: Spc. Derek Houser, 26, from Church Hill, Tn., a machine gunner with Bravo Company, 1-4 Infantry, runs to his bunker guard position during a rocket attack at FOB Baylough in the mountains near Qalat, Zabul Province, Afghanistan. “I heard the first one come in, and grabbed my kit and started running,” Houser said. “Your training just kicks in.” It was the first time the base had been attacked in almost six months.
Houser – whose estimates that he’s been mortared about 40-50 times -paused briefly for cover behind a Hesco bastion. “I heard the whistle of the second one, and started to watch them walk the rounds in, to see what pattern they were going in. It was about average – four rounds – but they were a pretty good team to get one inside the wire.”
Incoming Mortars
May 21st, 2009 | Photography | Posted by Chris Maddaloni
Pfc. Paul Liberatore, and Spc. Nick Giovanelli, from Bravo Company, 1-4 Infantry, were in the MWR and gym, respectively, when the first mortars rounds started landing near the base – and are starting to stand down after an hour wait on the sandbagged roof. It’s been almost six months since the FOB was shelled. Only one of the four Russian 105mm rockets landed on the base. Summertime’s here.
The story behind our logo
April 17th, 2009 | Photography | Posted by M. Scott Mahaskey
Designed by artist Chris Broz, the “Line of Sight” logo shows a photo made by former staff photographer M. Scott Mahaskey of Staff Sgt. Shannon Kay engaged in a firefight with enemy forces in Mosul, Iraq. Some skeptics have suggested that the photo was doctored. With this blog, now many years later, the record can finally be set straight: Having lived that moment, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Staff Sgt Kay, during a hail of bullets and mortars…I can assure you that the moment was VERY real. For this day that I proudly witnessed, Staff Sgt. Kay was awarded the Silver Star.
Although wounded, Staff Sgt. Shannon Kay, of 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, fires on an enemy position after being attacked with a car bomb, Saturday, Dec. 11, 2004, in Mosul, Iraq. (AP Photo/Army Times, M. Scott Mahaskey, via USA Today)