PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Pittsburgh Man in War on Terror in Afghanistan
by Caleb "Shooter" Schaber Sunday, Jan. 15, 2006 at 5:22 AM
editor@nvnewswire.com (email address validated) 775-557-2200 PO Box 111, Gerlach, nv 89412

Spc. Eric Abes is a US Army soldier fighting the war on terror in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

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DASHT-I-MARGO, Afghanistan


The Red Desert in Southern Afghanistan borders Pakistan. The locals call it Dasht-i-Margo—Desert of Death.


“If you are driving that thing at night, you have a pretty good reason for doing it,” said Capt. Jeremy Turner, 30, Company Commander of the Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division attached in Afghanistan to Task Force 3rd of the 319th Airborne field Artillery Regiment (the Gun Devils). Turner's Company was commonly called Team Delta.


During a five day mission, Turner lead four platoons in and out of the Red Desert and surrounding villages.


Team Delta searched for Taliban returning from Pakistan after the Moslem Holiday of Eid. The Night ambushes were set at several routes the Taliban use as crossings from Pakistan to Afghanistan. Temperatures often hovered just above freezing.


Team Delta are based at Kandahar Airfield (KAF.) Each platoon left in a separate convoy from KAF, winding through Kandahar. Dirt rests in the spaces between roads and buildings where sidewalks should be. Trash and urban debris blow everywhere. Evidence of war was visible on every block, no matter how busy or prosperous.


The convoy passed through a seemingly endless bazaar filled with venders of commerce and desire. Colorful fruit markets and stalls with hanging sides of unrefrigerated meat crowded the shops on the dirt sidewalk.


“None of this was here when we got here,” Turner said. “No one was out here.”


The city of Kandahar has nearly doubled in size since April, when Team Delta arrived, he said.


The inside of Turner's armored Humvee contained a jumble of weapons, communication and computerized navigational equipment. Riding behind the thick, bullet proof windows gave it a feeling of a submarine's interior.


“We don't have to worry about being popped in the city,” explained Turner. “The further out we get, the worse it gets.”


On top of Turner's armored Humvee rests a machine gun. Spc. Eric Abes, 28, from Pittsburgh, Pa. worked as the gunner on this mission, as he usually does, standing with half his body out of the truck in the M-240 gun turret.


Abes was deployed to Iraq previously, and has been to Afghanistan once before as a soldier.


“I've done something that matters,” he said. “Stamping out the forces of evil.”


He joked that his deployments should be getting safer and easier. This time, he has been in more combat than his two previous deployments, he said.


After making a short stop at an Afghan National Army (ANA) compound called the 530th to pick additional ANA troops for the mission, Team Delta left the pavement and headed into the desert. They past a number of cemeteries as they left the 530th. The Afghani's pile rocks over the dead and do not bury them. The graves are oriented so that the dead are facing mecca.


By dusk, all four platoons were in their designated locations. The smell of marijuana plants filled the air. Opium and marijuana are still grown by many farmers in Afghanistan. When Team Delta intercept a drug trafficker, they are turned over to the ANP for arrest. But the main objective was neutralizing insurgents, not drug enforcement.


Turner's first catch that evening was a family riding back on a tractor with a large load of brush in a trailer. The farmer driving the tractor explained, through the interpretor that traveled with Turner, that he was tired, and was returning to his nearby village from the desert after gathering wood.


“No more American's will bother you tonight,” Turner told the farmer, after a short inspection. Unfortunately, this farmer's tractor did not start. Team Delta helped him get it started and farmer and his family rode off into the darkness. Before he left, the farmer disclosed that he saw two Toyota land cruisers transporting opium while he was in the desert.


Later, Turner and the platoon he was traveling with moved to another location for the night. The soldiers took turns on guard duty through night, watching for anyone crossing the desert.


At dawn, looking into the mirrors of their Humvees, the men shaved in the cold morning air. After a quick breakfast of Meals Ready to Eat (MRE), Team Delta packed up and rolled to another ANA compound called Papa Zulu where Turner needed to meet with some local officials. Team Delta rested.


While at Papa Zulu, Abes revealed that he liked to read on his down time, but confessed that it is usually “mind numbing” stuff like Tom Clancy.


“I'm not your typical military guy,” he said.


Abes said he came from a very liberal, upper middle class Jewish family in Pittsburgh, who have strong convictions against the military and war.


“Three months before I joined the army, if you told me that I was joining, I'd tell you that you were smoking crack,” he said.


For the next few days, Team Delta crisscrossed the desert in a similar pattern. One night, a complete white out of dust was followed by a rain storm.


“In three deployments, this is my first dust storm,” Abes said.


The platoons traversed a labyrinth of mud walls, fields and ditches along the treacherous country side as they changed locations daily.


Abes was required to look for roads that would lead the convoy to its destination when the trail the convoy was traveling on appeared to end. The elevation gave him a better vantage point in the turret, but he also had to endure the sun, rain and clouds of dust.


Navigating the nameless dirt roads with a caravan of armored and fully packed Humvees, through villages that have not changed their ways of living since the time of the Bible was no easy feat. With throats choked on dust even on the inside of the Humvees, Team Delta ran these bumpy one lane roads with a purpose and destination. Miles of mud brick walls lined these roads, and towered over even the gunners. Often turning a blind corner revealed the road was filled with sheep, goats or camels. On at least two occasions, a truck was stuck crossing step, muddy drainage ditches blocking the roads.


The older men in these small villages stood stoically outside their compounds, watching the convoy pass. Other times, Team Delta became family entertainment. Children surrounded the troops, especially when they got stuck. Mostly the Afghani children liked Team Delta, waved at them or gave the thumbs up. But at least two threw fruit, or rocks.


Although no Taliban were captured, Turner still considered the mission a success.


“Every time we go out even if we don't get the “master guy,” we learn more about the people, the enemy and the area of operations,” said Turner. “It makes us more effective.”


During the mission, one Humvee was destroyed by an IED attack. Insurgents mounted four separate attacks with small arms from concealed positions. The attacks were brief and the insurgents fled quickly. Other than partial hearing loss from the IED attack, no one in Team Delta was injured.


“They wanted to 'get their jihad on us,'” said Turner, “but they were scared and shot from where no one could see them.”


This war has a personal meaning for Abes.


“I was in basic training on Sept. 11th,” he said. “I came into a peace time army and all the sudden we are at war.”


Abes said he had friends in New York City and Washington D.C., and feels that fighting this war is a way he personally keeps his friends safe. Abes agreed with the invasion of Iraq.


“We should go every where there is a son of bitch abusing people,” he said. However, he added: “You do one thing very well, then you move on.”


A few months after Team Delta return from this deployment, Abes's time in the military is up. He is not reenlisting and plans on finishing his bachelors degree in political science with his GI Bill.


“I did my time for king and country,” he said.

Abes is grew up in Squirrel Hill, PA.

nvnewswire.com

Crossing a mud pit in Southern Afghanistan
by Caleb "Shooter" Schaber Sunday, Jan. 15, 2006 at 5:22 AM
editor@nvnewswire.com 775-557-2200 PO Box 111, Gerlach, nv 89412

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This was part of Spc. Abes convoy.

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Graves
by Caleb "Shooter" Schaber Sunday, Jan. 15, 2006 at 5:22 AM
editor@nvnewswire.com 775-557-2200 PO Box 111, Gerlach, nv 89412

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This is an Afghan grave yard. The dead must be buried within 3 days of their death, and they lay facing Mecca.

nvnewswire.com

Kuchi
by Caleb "Shooter" Schaber Sunday, Jan. 15, 2006 at 5:22 AM
editor@nvnewswire.com 775-557-2200 PO Box 111, Gerlach, nv 89412

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Spc. Abes observes a tribe of Kuchi, nomadic people of Afghanistan.

nvnewswire.com

Afghan Children
by Caleb "Shooter" Schaber Sunday, Jan. 15, 2006 at 5:22 AM
editor@nvnewswire.com 775-557-2200 PO Box 111, Gerlach, nv 89412

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Some children observing the US Troops

nvnewswire.com