bobdina
06-28-2010, 11:35 AM
'The rounds are flying past me'
Sgt. Zachary Swelfer and Cpl. Aaron Barrett | Kandahar Province, Afghanistan | April 2009
By Franklin Fisher
Stars and Stripes
e
Much later, after he’d received the Silver Star, Sgt. Zachary Swelfer would remember the bark flying from trees and dirt kicking up from Taliban bullets hitting near him as he dashed forward to help a soldier pinned down under withering fire.
It happened last April on a hot, sunny morning in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province while Swelfer was part a 14-man patrol of the 1st Infantry Division looking for signs of Taliban. The soldiers knew Taliban fighters were in the area. They’d been locked in daylong, rolling firefights with them the previous two days.
In the blue skies overhead, two armed Kiowa helicopters scouted for enemy lurking among the green fields and mud huts in and near the village of Zangabad.
The patrol’s point man was Cpl. Aaron Barrett of South Bend, Ind., leader of fire team Alpha. Swelfer, of Hebron, Ind., led Bravo team.
About an hour into the patrol, at around 10:30 a.m., one of the Kiowas spotted two suspected Taliban sitting in what looked to be an otherwise deserted village. The patrol headed their way.
Stretching ahead into the village was a narrow dirt path. The patrol formed into single file and started south toward the village. Running the length of the path on their right was a mud wall, with large gaps here and there. On the left was an irrigation canal.
At the entrance to the village, the path curved to the left, and about 30 yards past that was another mud wall. Barrett was about eight feet from that wall when two men armed with AK-47 rifles popped up and began firing at him. Barrett fired back, while diving to his right for cover behind a mud stump.
Over his radio, Barrett heard the platoon leader ordering the soldiers to fall back. When they did, Barrett was left alone and pinned down at close range.
In the next moments, RPK light machine guns opened up in front of him and from both sides.
“They were so close that I could feel the heat from the muzzle blast,” he recalled. “Then I could feel the pressure from the bullet as it went by my face. It like pushed the skin of my cheek in.”
Swelfer figured it was a matter of seconds before Barrett would be shot.
“I knew something had to be done immediately,” Swelfer said. “So I just took initiative and ran up there.“
Swelfer raced up the dirt path more than 50 yards to Barrett while firing occasional bursts from his M-4 carbine.
“The rounds are flying past me,” Swelfer said. “I can see ’em bounce off the wall, they’re flying everywhere. I didn’t think I was going to make it to him. But I made it.”
Meanwhile, three other soldiers had ventured forth to suppress the Taliban fire so Barrett could fall back to a safer position.
Spc. Chad Brown, a machine-gunner, stood on a 5-foot dirt mound pouring rounds at the Taliban. To his left, on the far side of the canal, was Spc. Shane Dunbaugh and Spc. Ray Ramos, both trying to quell fire coming from Barrett’s left.
Within moments Swelfer finished his sprint, leaped over Barrett and came down beside him.
“We gotta get the [expletive] outta here!” Barrett said.
He clasped a hand grenade and held it up for Swelfer to see. Swelfer, who already had an M-203 rifle-grenade round in the launcher attached to his carbine, got the silent message.
“Frag out!” Barrett shouted and tossed his grenade over the wall ahead. Swelfer popped up and fired his rifle grenade toward a two-story mud hut 50 meters off.
The shooting in both places stopped.
This was their chance.
With Brown laying down covering fire, Swelfer fell back to Brown, followed by Barrett, and then the three raced to rejoin the rest of the patrol.
The fighting continued for about 3½ hours. When it was over, the patrol had suffered no casualties and later estimated that they and the Kiowas had killed more than 30 Taliban.
Swelfer was awarded the Silver Star at a ceremony in December at Fort Knox, Ky. Barrett, who has since been promoted to sergeant, was awarded an Army Commendation Medal with “V” device for valor.
“We gave each other a hug when we got back to the patrol base, acknowledging [the fact that because] we had just walked out of [it] was pretty miraculous,” Barrett said.
Sgt. Zachary Swelfer and Cpl. Aaron Barrett | Kandahar Province, Afghanistan | April 2009
By Franklin Fisher
Stars and Stripes
e
Much later, after he’d received the Silver Star, Sgt. Zachary Swelfer would remember the bark flying from trees and dirt kicking up from Taliban bullets hitting near him as he dashed forward to help a soldier pinned down under withering fire.
It happened last April on a hot, sunny morning in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province while Swelfer was part a 14-man patrol of the 1st Infantry Division looking for signs of Taliban. The soldiers knew Taliban fighters were in the area. They’d been locked in daylong, rolling firefights with them the previous two days.
In the blue skies overhead, two armed Kiowa helicopters scouted for enemy lurking among the green fields and mud huts in and near the village of Zangabad.
The patrol’s point man was Cpl. Aaron Barrett of South Bend, Ind., leader of fire team Alpha. Swelfer, of Hebron, Ind., led Bravo team.
About an hour into the patrol, at around 10:30 a.m., one of the Kiowas spotted two suspected Taliban sitting in what looked to be an otherwise deserted village. The patrol headed their way.
Stretching ahead into the village was a narrow dirt path. The patrol formed into single file and started south toward the village. Running the length of the path on their right was a mud wall, with large gaps here and there. On the left was an irrigation canal.
At the entrance to the village, the path curved to the left, and about 30 yards past that was another mud wall. Barrett was about eight feet from that wall when two men armed with AK-47 rifles popped up and began firing at him. Barrett fired back, while diving to his right for cover behind a mud stump.
Over his radio, Barrett heard the platoon leader ordering the soldiers to fall back. When they did, Barrett was left alone and pinned down at close range.
In the next moments, RPK light machine guns opened up in front of him and from both sides.
“They were so close that I could feel the heat from the muzzle blast,” he recalled. “Then I could feel the pressure from the bullet as it went by my face. It like pushed the skin of my cheek in.”
Swelfer figured it was a matter of seconds before Barrett would be shot.
“I knew something had to be done immediately,” Swelfer said. “So I just took initiative and ran up there.“
Swelfer raced up the dirt path more than 50 yards to Barrett while firing occasional bursts from his M-4 carbine.
“The rounds are flying past me,” Swelfer said. “I can see ’em bounce off the wall, they’re flying everywhere. I didn’t think I was going to make it to him. But I made it.”
Meanwhile, three other soldiers had ventured forth to suppress the Taliban fire so Barrett could fall back to a safer position.
Spc. Chad Brown, a machine-gunner, stood on a 5-foot dirt mound pouring rounds at the Taliban. To his left, on the far side of the canal, was Spc. Shane Dunbaugh and Spc. Ray Ramos, both trying to quell fire coming from Barrett’s left.
Within moments Swelfer finished his sprint, leaped over Barrett and came down beside him.
“We gotta get the [expletive] outta here!” Barrett said.
He clasped a hand grenade and held it up for Swelfer to see. Swelfer, who already had an M-203 rifle-grenade round in the launcher attached to his carbine, got the silent message.
“Frag out!” Barrett shouted and tossed his grenade over the wall ahead. Swelfer popped up and fired his rifle grenade toward a two-story mud hut 50 meters off.
The shooting in both places stopped.
This was their chance.
With Brown laying down covering fire, Swelfer fell back to Brown, followed by Barrett, and then the three raced to rejoin the rest of the patrol.
The fighting continued for about 3½ hours. When it was over, the patrol had suffered no casualties and later estimated that they and the Kiowas had killed more than 30 Taliban.
Swelfer was awarded the Silver Star at a ceremony in December at Fort Knox, Ky. Barrett, who has since been promoted to sergeant, was awarded an Army Commendation Medal with “V” device for valor.
“We gave each other a hug when we got back to the patrol base, acknowledging [the fact that because] we had just walked out of [it] was pretty miraculous,” Barrett said.