Outlaw Platoon: Heroes, Renegades, Infidels, and the Brotherhood of War in Afghanistan

by Sean Parnell

ROCKET’S

RED

G...

had lined the rigs up on the gravel next to the operations center in preparation for the morning’s mission.

We’d be in Abdul’s old neighborhood for the first time since he’d been killed.

A second later, a 107mm rocket hummed

overhead.

the guard towers, blowing sandbags and bits of wood...

Not even close. The range was too great. A third rocket streaked

over

us to impact only a few dozen ...

I

moved to my truck and called Captain Dye to request indirect. “Negative, three-six,” came his answer. “That’s Pakistani territory.”

We can’t shoot back?

Soon all that remained inside us was a sense of helplessness and cold fury. As the barrage continued, even the fury gave way to naked terror.

We could smell our own fear—a sourness laced with panicky sweat and body odor.

it

would

have been far too dangerous to move around. All we could do was ...

Our inability to act now exposed us to terror’s fullest effects.

The Apaches arrived overhead. Their crews detected the launch sites, could see the teams reloading for the next volley. But they could not shoot. The

The brief lull gave us a narrow window of opportunity to escape. We seized the moment, climbed into our rigs, and sped through the smoke for the front gate.

The different chow we’d so looked forward to had

no taste. We ate without relish, then headed on our way.

We’d never felt so utterly helpless. Being unable to fight back had stripped us of our aggressive spirit. It had left us

feeling

impo...

It tipped us into a downward slide, one in which our emotional state began to lose its elasticity. We were not going to rebound from this as we had from all the other blows we’d absorbed.

They were poorly groomed. They looked like a unit that just didn’t give a shit.

TWENTY

LAST

FAIR DEAL GONE DOWN

he’d also ensured that he led the way on every patrol. For Cowan, being on point was a deep source of pride, and the men respected him for his willingness to always take the most dangerous position in our formations.

TWENTY-ONE

ONE

VILLAGE

OF

THE D...

Late July 2006 Afghan-Pakistani border

We were deep in bad-guy territory, behind Rakhah Ridge again and only a few clicks from the Pakistani border.

an enemy that had no tactical prowess or creativity.

Instead, they had schooled us on the fine art of light infantry warfare for the

past five ...

“Somethin’ ain’t right, sir,”

Campbell was kneeling in front of the boy now,

Who the hell would give dope to a little kid? Would the ANA do something like this?

we saw a disfigured face about six years old. His eyes had been gouged out, the sockets

burned

b...