Active Duty
CC writes a blog for his hometown newspaper
SSgt. Luis Agostini of Haverstraw, a combat correspondent for the Marines, recently was deployed to Afghanistan and is writing about his experiences for The Journal News and LoHud.com.
by SSgt Luis Agostini, LoHud.com
I thought I’d be heading back to my home camp without really getting outside of the wire and into the Afghanistan that I pictured, that I had been preparing for so long. I wouldn’t be in danger, for that day at least, but I wanted to get out again.
In the meantime, the Marine I am supervising, combat correspondent Cpl. Zachary Nola, was getting ready to cover a memorial for a Marine who was killed a few days earlier.
The Marine was from the San Antonio area, where my wife is stationed. The thought of me getting hurt out here never really crossed her mind until then. She said it kind of shook her a little.
The Marines with India Company, 3/4, had told me to come back after a few days, since they had some work to do on their vehicles.
I returned to their command operations center Sunday evening, Nov. 1, and the platoon sergeant, SSgt. Paul Cooke, said they had a mission lined up the following morning in which, because of the route’s propensity to get hit by roadside bombs and indirect fire (mortar/rocket attacks), they were going to engage the Taliban.
And he wanted me there to cover it. I was more than happy to do it.
