Hair-trigger Justice

Part 5: Afghanistan

Staff Sergeant (E6) Becky Johnson had been promoted several months earlier and was on the fast-track up.  Her competence and ease with the troops was noticed and she had become the go-to NCO in the company.  Captain Danforth, a West Point grad, appreciated her discipline and her knowledge of people as well as tactics; she had a take-charge attitude and he knew she was imparting all this to the other soldiers in her squad.  He often combined her 10 soldiers with other squads to build a make-shift platoon for specific missions.  He never worried when her troops were in the field.

Today her squad was part of a larger operation to establish a fire base near Gereshk in Helmand Province.  It was a key point for interdicting travel, but was supposed to be an easy mission. The higher-ups, however, had missed the intelligence about Taliban fighters joining together in the area. They were assembling a sizeable force and when signs developed about a possible American deployment right in their backyard, they would be ready. Perhaps they could make an impressive showing.

Two days after the Americans arrived, work on the perimeter defenses was not fully complete when three older Afghan women stumbled up the hill, dragged by several Taliban fighters. Becky's squad was at the point they approached and, while concerned about the obvious imperiled condition of the women, the US troopers were also cautious about diversion tactics and the possibility of suicide bombs. Her troops alerted Becky and, while her second in command parlayed with the approaching Taliban, she strengthened the other outer defenses. The Americans were on high alert.

In the end the Taliban commander sprung a trap that had already been anticipated. When the first shots rang out, American mortars saturated the ground around the perimeter and rifle fire erupted into the wave of fighters that rose up. They did not get far. A second wave of Taliban fighters followed up behind the first arrivals, using the three older women as human shields. Becky' subordinate, Cpl. Dwyer, a tough kid from inner-city Detroit, was shot in the head and died instantly. This wave made it inside the outer perimeter briefly, and managed to wound Becky as well as Sergeant Odierno, who lead squad two and was assisting Becky during the attack.  They were grazed by bullets from an AK.

A Taliban RPG exploded near one of the mortar emplacements and wounded the three man team. Becky rushed to the spot which was located near their Stryker FSV.  The spot was still smoking when she saw that one soldier had been killed while the other two had sustained injuries.

"Medic," she yelled.  "Got two that need attention.  Shelley is gone."  Private Shellback was a good kid from Omaha and deserved better.  He had been too close to the impact of the RPG.  At least it was quick. Becky would see that his girl back home was notified gently.  He had worried out loud that she might fall apart if anything happened to him.

Under intense fire, Becky mounted the Stryker and turned its M134 minigun on the advancing Taliban.  She was hit in the thigh while on her way up to the gun but managed to turn it toward the advancing enemy.  She was hit a third time in the shoulder and knocked backwards but managed to survey the battle space from her perch and assessed that the others were holding their own.

"You shot me three times already, you bastards," she screamed to the attackers.  "Time for payback."

She called to Odierno, who was organizing a team to repel the attack and directed his effort to the right, preventing another breakthrough.  Becky saw that the medics were helping her soldiers on the side of the Stryker.  Another RPG hit the front of the vehicle, the thick armor spraying shrapnel in a wide arc.  Becky felt the impact of fragments on her helmet and was grateful for the body protection provided by the Stryker's TAGS (Transparent Armor Gun Shield).  She was briefly stunned but able to continue fighting.

The ambush was beginning to lose momentum but the Taliban commander ordered one more assault.  Becky's other troops rallied around her position and from there organized a counter-assault, backed up by her deft use of the Stryker's minigun.  Belching out over 4000 rounds per minute, the rotary gun was a formidable ally. Its buzzsaw sound was deafening and comforting to the U.S. soldiers. The Taliban ran out of gas and melted away as quickly as they had come, leaving a number of their killed and wounded for the Americans to care for.