More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Sean Parnell
OUTLAW
PLATOON
Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan SEAN
PARNELL
WITH JOHN R. BRUNING DEDICATION To the men of Third Platoon, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, “The Outlaws,” whose extraordinary courage in the face of great adversity inspired me to write this book
Finally, this book is a work of nonfiction. Every event in this book took place.
PROLOGUE
February 5, 2006 Eastern Afghanistan
THE SNOWCAPPED RIDGES STRETCHED FROM HORIZON TO horizon,
It
was perhaps the last place on the planet that had
defied the effort...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
learn the area, and prepare the way for our platoon’s arrival.
“Sean, are you gonna die over there?” Leave it to a kid to voice what everyone was thinking.
all I really wanted was
to be a straight-legged infantry officer.
The weeks we spent practicing for war sifted my platoon. Those who appeared to measure up earned respect. Those who didn’t were regarded with distrust and became outsiders.
when a platoon coalesces around alpha males who lack character, bad things happen.
“Make no mistake, the enemy is very capable. They are cunning, well led, and well equipped. Do not underestimate them. You won’t be fighting goat herders. You’re going to be up against their first team.”
He fought the Soviets for years. He knows what he’s doing.”
interpreters.
Every company received at least a couple of “ ’terps”
so the platoons could patrol with somebody who sp...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
These people . . . their goats mean more to them than their kids—especially their
girls.”
I sat as long as I could, then fled back to the silence of my hooch.
now they wore their calluses like armor.
Tomorrow my men would arrive, and I would be ready for them. PART
I
OUTLAW COUNTRY
ONE
GAME FACES
Out
here, the terrain rarely allowed us to go more than fifteen or twenty miles per hour.
we had tried to use it to traverse the valley in the hope of avoiding roadside bombs.
they hid out in well-stocked caves that had been in use since the Soviet war of the 1980s.
One farmer spoke of watching his son be thrown to the ground and stomped to death by laughing Red Army troops.
This was our area of operations, a harsh and barren land whose people had known nothing but violence for decades.
Outlaw Platoon possessed muscle, mobility, and numbers to handle almost any challenge.
Recently, the insurgents in Pakistan had grown more ambitious. Instead of being content with attacking local forces here along the frontier, they were now trying to infiltrate deeper into central Afghanistan.
Our job was to stanch the flow of enemy troops and supplies into Afghanistan,
and Bandar was one of the key bases to support that intent.
By getting out there and actively patrolling, we could disrupt the ratlines and force them to react to us.
he
thought, a U.S. platoon could instill a fighting spirit in the ABP.
Outlaw Platoon was part of 2-87’s Blackhawk Company, an easily identifiable nickname
The squad is the heart of a U.S. infantry platoon. Divided into two fire teams
When moving in combat, for example, a squad’s fire teams can bound forward one at a time while the other one provides
covering fire f...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
Sabatke was a human tempest who blew through life fueled by a raging inner passion.
