Face of Defense: Army Brothers Recall Afghanistan Duty

By Army Sgt. Terrance Payton

82nd Airborne Division Public Affairs

FORT BRAGG, N.C., March 16, 2012 – A nine-month deployment to Afghanistan came easier to two Army brothers with the 82nd Airborne Division, who recently returned here.

Sgt. Bryan Vinson and Spc. Duane Vinson, both infantrymen with the division’s 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, Company C, were among 700 paratroopers who returned home here last month.

The brothers were both in northern Afghanistan and saw each other five or six times during their deployment.

“We really didn’t have the capability to contact each other,” said Duane, a squad automatic weapon gunner. “It was more knowing when our teams were going to certain areas that we would cross paths.”

Even with infrequent encounters, Duane said, it helped having his brother nearby. “It was like a piece of back home over there. I could tell him stories like old times,” he said.

Bryan, the older brother and a team leader with the 3rd Platoon, agreed. “It was almost exciting because sometimes we would go out and not know that the other would be somewhere and run into each other. It was a real uplifting thing to see him.”

“We were extremely close growing up,” he added. “We grew up playing sports and always looking out for each other. Honestly, we’ve almost been inseparable.”

The two soldiers, who are from Hendersonville, Tenn., said they share a special relationship with their father who served as an Army cavalry scout and also is named Duane.

“He made sure that we stayed close to each other,” the younger Duane said. “He taught us a lot about being men and a lot about being soldiers.”

“He understands the kind of bond that you share with fellow soldiers,” Bryan said. “To see him and be able to share our experiences with him; he has an understanding of what we’re talking about, that’s what so great about him being prior service.”

Bryan, who has been at Fort Bragg for about a year longer than his brother, said he worried about his younger brother. “As an older brother, I naturally feel protective of him,” he said. “I never really understood how my parents felt about me being here or deploying until he came here and we were deploying together.”

The brothers said their father dealt with the deployment well, and helped their mother deal with the absence of her sons.

“My mother was nervous, but she was almost happy that we would be deploying together,” Duane said. “She felt that if we deploy together that there would be chances that we would see each other and be able to watch out for each other.”

The brothers’ deployment together made their already close relationship even closer, they said.

“We grew up in a good family and have been extremely close our entire lives,” Bryan said. “We already had a strong bond, but being here together and deploying together, that bond has increased tenfold.”

He added that he also is grateful to the Army buddies he deployed with.

“Yeah, I have my biological brother here with me, but none of this deployment would have been possible without the guys in our company, leaders and the guys who followed us,” Bryan said. “We were out there together, but those guys looked after us. We couldn’t have done any of this deployment or this job without the support of any of those people.”

Paratroopers Take Fight to Taliban During Operation Destined Strike

By Sgt. Brandon Aird, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service

Sept. 1, 2007 - The tense paratroopers and Afghan National Army soldiers sat in silence surrounded by darkness. The previous hours were spent huddled together rehearsing the mission, "Destined Strike", which was to be an air-assault into the Taliban's backyard.

The whoop, whoop, whoop sound of the CH-47 "Chinook" helicopter's rotary wings reverberated in the soldiers' ears drowning out all chance of another sound. Some of the soldiers said last minute prayers while others day dreamed of loved ones back home. Squad leaders made last minute checks in the dark.

When the Chinook landed all thoughts came to the task at hand. The soldiers jumped off the noisy helicopter onto a quiet, moon-lit mountain above the Chowkay Valley in Kunar province. The mountain is over 7,000 feet above sea level.

The Taliban's biggest advantage in past fire fights has been their ability to dominate the high ground, but not this time.

Soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team's 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment and elements of the Afghan National Army's 2nd Kandak, 201st Corps, conducted Operation Destined Strike August 21-25. The U.S. soldiers were members of the 2nd platoons of the 2nd Battalion's A, C and D companies.

"We came here to show the local populace that coalition forces aren't afraid to come into the Chowkay Valley," said Army 1st Lt. Kareem F. Hernandez, Company A 2nd Platoon leader.

After the initial insertion, the soldiers pulled security and waited for daybreak. During the night, they searched with night vision devices for 15 individuals spotted earlier near their position by an unmanned aerial vehicle.

Once dawn broke, the U.S. and Afghan soldiers put their gear-laden rucksacks on, and broke trail down the mountain to the first farming village. The village and fields were hand cut out of the mountain side.

Hernandez said he was surprised at the reaction he received from the first villager he encountered.

"It was the first time in this country I had someone admit he knew who the Taliban were. He showed me where they had been coming through to attack us," Hernandez said. "I've never had that happen before. They always act like they have no clue what I'm talking about."

Hernandez learned the Taliban in the area were from the Korengal Valley. The trip from the Korengal Valley to the Chowkay Valley takes the insurgents two to three hours, according the local villager.

As Company A's 2nd Platoon continued to the next village, rain started falling, along with bolts of lightning. During the ensuing storm, Taliban fighters attacked Company A's landing zone, which was now occupied by the company commander and an overwatch element.

"They took small arms-fire and two RPG's from the northwest," Hernandez said.

In response, soldiers fired small-arms, 120mm mortars and 155mm artillery at the Taliban positions. The soldiers called in for air support, and fighter jets dropped four 500-pound bombs on enemy positions, ending any plans the Taliban had to move the soldiers from their position.

After the short fire fight, Hernandez's platoon and C Company's 2nd Platoon spent the next few days moving to their extraction point for pick up by a helicopter.

On their way, Hernandez's platoon suffered three heat causalities. The difficult terrain, extreme weather conditions, and carrying extra ammunition, food and water was having its toll on the soldiers. When one soldier fell out, another picked up his gear while the stricken soldier recovered and was examined by a medic.

After five days on the mountain, however, every soldier who jumped out of the helicopter as a part of Operation Destined Strike jumped back on the helicopter without help when the mission was complete.

(Sgt. Brandon Aird is a journalist assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.)

Paratroopers, Iraqi Police Provide Medical Aid in Sadr City

By Sgt. Mike Pryor, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service

March 19, 2007 – March 17 was a hectic day inside a makeshift clinic in the desperately poor Sadr City neighborhood here. In classrooms converted into treatment rooms, Iraqi and U.S. medics attended to a constant stream of patients, from white-bearded old men to babies only a few months old. They spent much of the day dispensing pain medication and antibiotics for colds, fevers, viruses, infections, and other simple ailments. Other cases were more severe. In a few heart-breaking instances, parents entered the rooms cradling crippled or blind children, their eyes pleading for a magic cure.

Despite Sadr City's reputation as a bastion of anti-American sentiment, once people entered the treatment rooms there were no politics - just mothers and fathers seeking help for their sick children.

The day-long medical operation was the first large-scale humanitarian aid project conducted in Sadr City since coalition and Iraqi security forces entered the area weeks ago as part of the overall effort to improve security in Iraq's capital.

The medical operation came at a time when coalition and Iraqi forces in Sadr City are beginning to transition from purely security-focused operations to projects providing the people with essential services, said Lt. Col. Richard Kim, commander of a battalion from the 82nd Airborne Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team based in the area.

"This shows that the government can not only protect the people, but also provide the services they need," Kim said. The unit treated 453 people, including 153 women and 122 children, during the operation. Residents turned out in droves for the event, forming a line stretching around the block outside the schoolhouse-turned-clinic.

There is a huge need for medical services in Sadr City, which has virtually no public health infrastructure. The goal of the operation was to provide basic, short-term medical attention to residents who have few health care options.

"We were just trying to take care of the immediate issues," said Capt. Rose Smyth, of San Pedro, Calif., commander of Company C, 407th Brigade Support Battalion - known as "Charlie Med" - the 2nd BCT's medical company.

Besides offering something for the pain, there was little the medics could do for patients with chronic, severe illnesses. As trained healers, it was something they all found frustrating.

"You want to offer more but you just can't," Smyth said. Even so, the patients seemed to appreciate the medics' efforts, said Sgt. Sunde Douglas, an X-ray technician with Co. C, 407th BSB.

"They all seemed really happy we were here, and most of them would say 'thank you' and shake your hand," Douglas said.

Iraqi police from the 8th Brigade, 2nd Iraqi National Police Division, provided the bulk of the security for the operation. The police officers moved through the crowd outside, causing mini-riots as they distributed bags full of toys and soccer balls to the neighborhood children. They also provided medical personnel to help with treatment inside.

"Of all the medical operations I've been on, this one has had the most Iraqi involvement," said Maj. John Bride, battalion surgeon for the 407th BSB.

In one room, medical officer Maj. Charles Nealand Khuder Abbas, the Iraqi brigade surgeon, spent the day treating patients together. They managed to find a rhythm, despite not being able to speak the same language.

As Abbas examined one boy, he communicated symptoms to Neal by hand signals. When he was finished, Abbas turned to Neal. They had both reached the same conclusion about the treatment the boy would need.

"Doxycycline," Abbas and Neal said simultaneously. Neal and Abbas, like the other medics, continued to treat patients until late in the afternoon, when the supplies had run out and the schoolhouse was piled high with empty packages of medicine and drugs. Then they began packing up to leave.

As the schoolhouse started to clear out, an officer from the Iraqi police stared out the window at the crowd that was still gathered three and four people deep outside. The operation had gone well, he said, but there was still much more work to do in Sadr City.

"The people have been with us since we started the new security plan," he said, "now the government has to show results."

(Army Sgt. Mike Pryor is assigned to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Public Affairs.)

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