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.
Aiding injured civilians
The Marines with India Co. were tasked with providing security for an Afghan National Army resupply convoy. However, the route they were planning to take was a known Taliban hot spot. The last time these Marines drove that route, they found several 100-pound roadside bombs and received indirect fire. The Marines were going to lure them into a fight, if possible.
Maybe I got the butterflies out of my stomach with the first convoy. But for my second trip out, I had no feelings of worry or fear at all. Maybe it was because of our offensive posture. If you want to compare it to a street fight, I guess I felt that I’d rather knowingly head into a fight, than get jumped.
An hour into the convoy, just like last time, we stop. It could’ve been anything, from someone in the road, to a possible IED.
It turned out a truck driver waved down the convoy and informed the Marines, through our interpreter, that a civilian vehicle had swerved off of the road and crashed.
The Marines weren’t going to take any chances. They approached the scene thinking it could’ve been a possible ambush. But the windshield, bumper, broken glass and shoe in the road indicated that it was indeed a wreck.
Our Navy corpsmen treated seven injured Afghans. Two, unfortunately, were pronounced dead on the scene. The platoon sergeant radioed in for a casualty evacuation, and within 30 minutes two Black Hawk helicopters arrived.
We still continued with our mission of providing security for the Afghan National Army. But before we could even get the convoy rolling again, a Marine spotted what could’ve been an IED. We called for our explosive ordnance team, and after several hours, they confirmed that it was not an IED.
Cooke, the platoon sergeant, put it best: “I’d rather spend six hours finding out it’s not an IED, than .3 seconds that it is.”
We completed the mission and headed back to our FOB. Our morning began at 5 a.m. with pre-inspections, and ended at 10 p.m. with an intelligence debrief
I took the following day to rest, write my story and edit my photos. I dropped a CD of photos off with the guys from India Co., and they loved it, and appreciated their story being told, especially the corpsmen. They invited me to come out with them again, but I told them that I had to return to my headquarters.
As I’m getting ready to head back to my home camp, I have to admit that I do feel bored now. I had the privilege of going out with our Marine infantrymen. Being here was familiar territory for me. Operating in an environment like this is when I perform my best as a combat correspondent, as a Marine.