Dandruff the Goat
My #3 son just finished two weeks
leave from his assignment in Afghanistan.
He is an Army Combat Medic serving
about 5 miles from the Korengal Valley.
If you have seen the movie Restrepo,
you will know what kind of area he is
in.
The week before he came home his
company completed a week long
mission called Hammer Down II
high in the Watapur Valley mountains
(10K feet). Below is one story he told
me from that operation:
-------------begin here---------------
Operation Hammer Down II was winding down
and it was time for Delta Company to get
extracted back to COP Honaker-Miracle.
Chinooks had been detailed to fly into the
LZ and bring the soldiers out. At night, our
guys worked their ways down the side of the
steep mountain to a level, treeless area
designated as the LZ to meet the helicopters.
Unfortunately, clouds rolled in and the extraction
had to be postponed. Orders came to climb back
up the mountain to await clearer weather. As they
waited to get started, the guys saw a small, orphaned
goat. It was so tame (and stupid) that they thought
it might be blind. The clouds were so thick that the
path up was un-locatable. However, the little goat
began to climb and the company obediently followed
behind it. At last, they all safely reached their
mountaintop defensible position.
The guys named the little goat Dandruff and
wanted to bring it back to the COP as a mascot.
In the night, the Afghan National Army soldiers
ate it.
----------------------end here--------------------
ofs
leave from his assignment in Afghanistan.
He is an Army Combat Medic serving
about 5 miles from the Korengal Valley.
If you have seen the movie Restrepo,
you will know what kind of area he is
in.
The week before he came home his
company completed a week long
mission called Hammer Down II
high in the Watapur Valley mountains
(10K feet). Below is one story he told
me from that operation:
-------------begin here---------------
Operation Hammer Down II was winding down
and it was time for Delta Company to get
extracted back to COP Honaker-Miracle.
Chinooks had been detailed to fly into the
LZ and bring the soldiers out. At night, our
guys worked their ways down the side of the
steep mountain to a level, treeless area
designated as the LZ to meet the helicopters.
Unfortunately, clouds rolled in and the extraction
had to be postponed. Orders came to climb back
up the mountain to await clearer weather. As they
waited to get started, the guys saw a small, orphaned
goat. It was so tame (and stupid) that they thought
it might be blind. The clouds were so thick that the
path up was un-locatable. However, the little goat
began to climb and the company obediently followed
behind it. At last, they all safely reached their
mountaintop defensible position.
The guys named the little goat Dandruff and
wanted to bring it back to the COP as a mascot.
In the night, the Afghan National Army soldiers
ate it.
----------------------end here--------------------
ofs
posted by oldfatslow | 8:03 PM
4 Comments:
My son and his buddies
have ended their year
long deployment. They
are back at their home
base at Schofield Barracks
on Oahu. SheWhoMustBeObeyed
and I went there to
greet my boy and were
privledged enough to have
dinner with him and seven
of his comrades.
For varying circumstances
(wounds, reassignments,
and staggered return dates),
they had not all been
together in months. When
the discussion turned to
Hammer Down and little
Dandruff, the sergeant
who led the platoon said
that he had the men Ranger
File behind him as they
followed the goat. Since
goats don't walk in straight
lines - expecially blind
goats, they zigzagged their
way up the mountain if fits
and starts. One soldier who
had been at the end of the
file had never known the
whole story. He said, "We
were following A GOAT! I
know that goat. It peed
on a sergeant and crapped
on me." We laughed so hard
at his indignation that I
was crying. So glad they
are home.
ofs
I was in this operation. Email me. I'd like to talk.
Probably easiest to communicate in the comments.
Fun times lol i shit off the side of a mountain during this
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