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| Afghanistan |
| Inches divide life, death in the Afghan darkness |
| 2003-10-21 |
| EFL.We’ve got some amazing people over there. Go to the link and read the whole thing. For a few seconds on a frigid Afghan night, Army Master Sgt. Tony Pryor fought America’s war on terror with only his bare hands. One of 26 Special Forces soldiers raiding an al-Qaeda compound in mountains north of Kandahar last year, Pryor found himself alone in a room with three enemy fighters. He shot two of them dead in the first few seconds. The third he would have to fight and kill hand to hand, so close he could smell the man’s sour breath. War creates widows, orphans, disabled Purple Heart veterans and soldiers such as Pryor, proficient in the dark art of killing. All of the nation’s nearly 30,000 special operations soldiers, sailors and airmen are skilled at close combat. But Pryor was specially trained. He was one of more than 80 Army Special Forces troops who drilled relentlessly in close-quarter fighting a combination of martial arts and street fighting to prepare for a series of raids in Afghanistan. "Whatever digging, scratching, biting, hair-pulling, ear-ripping-off whatever you got to do to get the job done, that’s what you do," Pryor says, explaining actions that night that won him the Silver Star for heroism and saved the lives of other team members in the compound. "Because, bottom line, I got a life at home. They (his comrades) got a life at home. And we’re coming home." I’m glad this guy’s on our side. Read the whole article. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #6 Anon: Those articles were the basis of "Black Hawk Down." The book is truly excellent, and the movie doesn't do a bad job with it. As for Sgt Pryor: He is the quintessential American hero. I am awed and honored to be his countryman. |
| Posted by: R. McLeod 2003-10-22 3:12:39 AM |
| #5 Super hose : I think they were Delta commandos snipers Randy Shughart & Gary Gordon, at Mike Durant's crash. OT, the original Philadelphia inquirer Mark Bowden article, from where I drawn that info is online in 30 parts at http://inquirer.philly.com/packages/somalia/sitemap.asp Stumbled upon by accident, loved it; this convinced me to buy the french version of his book in a near future. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-10-21 5:45:36 PM |
| #4 What were the names of the two spooks, who vountarily repelled into the helo crash site at Mogadishu to protect the pilot, eventhough they knew that there was little chance that they would be recovered? |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-10-21 5:31:08 PM |
| #3 "Pryor, whose healthy-size cranium has earned him the nickname "Bucket," led the way. He stepped around a corner and shot a man coming at him with an AK-47 a few feet away" nice story, and good shooting, "Bucket"! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-10-21 5:23:05 PM |
| #2 Yes, Read the entire article. It goes on about how they are not the 'kill! kill! kill!' Rambo types the left says they are.... The other GIs tell of a firefight weeks earlier during which Pryor entered a room that was ablaze and spotted movement under a blanket. He didn't shoot. Pausing to search, he found a baby girl, pulled her free and passed her to a team member. Damn! This is what I call a hero.... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2003-10-21 4:07:58 PM |
| #1 Good find--hell of an article! I got a kick out the "defragging the hard drive" line--quite an interesting choice of metaphor! I hadn't heard the story of SFC Paul Ray Smith and his last stand at the airport. I googled his name and found a nicely done tribute site that goes into more detail about what happened and why he's being considered for the CMOH. |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-10-21 3:42:30 PM |