When Zad…ohh Now Zad.

Well what has been going on here… other than the death count rising not a whole lot. I was out traveling earlier about two weeks ago. I went to visit Now Zad. Now Zad is an interesting town. A little history lesson… around 2006 the British held a small base on the west side (west side!) of the town and the Taliban held positions on the east side. The british had a pretty successful attack on the Taliban one day and the Taliban responded with 18 attacks on the Brit base in 23 days. Well the local populace of Now Zad said, “I’m outta here” (but they said it is Pashto) and they abandoned the city. Since then there have virtually been no civilians left in the city.

Today the Marines hold the small base on the west and the Taliban live in the woods that line the river on the east side. The rule of thumb (when looking at Now Zad) is that the Talibans hold everything that is green (living trees), the Marines hold all the built up areas (the abandoned town) and everything that is brown (dead or dying vegetation) is no man’s land. The Taliban have reinforced fighting positions, rank structure, a chain of command, guard post and training areas. They are a “legitimate” and “organized” enemy force. I am pretty sure that what is going on in Now Zad has not been seen by any military in a very long time; we have our side, you have yours and we meet in the middle to fight. The Taliban have so many mines buried in and around their area that when a new Taliban fighter shows up to the area they physically tie a rope around the new guy and connect it to an older, more experienced fighter. The new guy has to follow the experienced guy around so he won’t blow himself up, although this does happen often.

The Marine unit there has had 5 or 6 double amputees (legs) resulting from land mines. Every Marine that goes out brings two tourniquets with him. Some even put the tourniquets on their legs, just not very tight in anticipation of needing them soon. Some of the amputees didn’t live long with both legs blown off but some make it back to the US where they now have prosthetic legs and are undergoing rehab to learn to walk. There is a board up on the Marine base showing the amputee Marines back stateside using their new legs and smiling for the camera at their buddies back in Now Zad. The Marines that are still in Now Zad find comfort knowing that their buddies are being taken care of back home.

The Marines in Now Zad sleep 1000 meter (or yards if it is easier) from known Taliban fighting positions with around 100 Taliban fighters. And you think you didn’t sleep well last night? So why would I go somewhere so dangerous? Let me explain something I didn’t emphasize enough…there are like 200 Marine Corp Infantrymen at the Marine Base. So, yes I was 1000 meters away from 100 Taliban fighters while I slept, but I was surrounded by 200 other Marine Grunts… I could not have been any safer. Trust me. Sitting here at Camp Bastion is just as safe as Now Zad, unless you go for an afternoon walk through the countryside… then you may need to wear a tourniquet (or two) around your legs.

I must also admit that my trip to Now Zad made me a cheater… I am sorry Cali but I couldn’t resist another cute, blonde that liked to kiss (maybe I should apologize to the wifey). They have bomb sniffing dogs out with the infantry units and the one I met there was named Corporal Clay. Now Corporal Clay is a highly trained bomb smelling dog, but due to factors I won’t go into, these bomb sniffing dogs are worthless. They are not even used on patrols, they are essentially morale boosters and platoon mascots. So for the third deployment out of four, I have come across another Canine Mascot. Libo was our Haji dog mascot in Iraq, Genius and DBIED (doggie born IED) were our Hadji dog mascots in Kuwait and now we have Cpl Clay, an honest to goodness American Lab. I guess I saved the best for last. Nothing compares to an American dog… third world Hadji dogs are just not the same. Not nearly as awesome as a USA dog. Not nearly as awesome as my American dog, Cali; AKA Super Dog!

We had continued to have a rough time with casualties the past few weeks. Please keep the men fighting on the front line in your thoughts and prayers. They don’t do this for the money or the recognition, and I can’t explain why they do it, but they are doing the tough job each and everyday.

And don’t ask me why we don’t just bomb the Taliban side to hell… don’t even get me started people.

Random Fact of the Day…
Holland is the only country with a national dog… so I guess dogs in Holland might be cool too. But I doubt they are as cool as Super Dog and Cpl Clay.

Now Zad and Cpl Clay (dog) pictures