Especially from the likes of that scab below — and the rest of our glorious MSM who are too busy trying to figure a way to get their noses out of President Barry's rapidly-heading-south ass.
This from The Counterterrorism Blog
MARCH 6, 2009
The Afghan Wilderness: A Tiny Victory
By Andrew Cochran
1LT Aaron Flint is serving on an Afghan Police Mentor Team in Paktya Province, Afghanistan. He's a former staffer in the U.S. Senate, a member of the Montana Army National Guard, and most recently worked as a reporter for KTVQ, the CBS affiliate in Billings, Montana. He sent the following account of our work with the Afghan people with permission to post it [on the CounterTerrorism Blog].
As Doc Sleaford lightly cuts the old bandages off her badly burned skin, Sergeant Dylan McGee holds up her tiny legs, blood dripping into his right hand. In a room next door, soldiers e-mailing their family and friends from the tiny makeshift computer lab are interrupted by the heart wrenching cries of a 9 month old baby girl. To the soldiers she is baby Farida.
Illinois National Guard Sergeant Ben Sleaford first met Farida’s family more than 3 weeks earlier. A group of soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division had gone to the remote, mountainous area to conduct a presence patrol and, if possible, search some caves oftentimes used as refuge by foreign fighters. Meanwhile, a group of Afghan National Police and I stopped by some homes in the area to talk with the locals. One villager offered us the customary chai. His house literally sat on top of hill, with views stretching hundreds of miles. As we drank chai on top of his home, in what literally felt like the roof of the world, a Chinook helicopter passed by closely over head. Meanwhile, “Doc” Sleaford was attracting a crowd back at the vehicles. That’s when Farida’s grandfather approached Doc Sleaford and informed him that his granddaughter had been very badly burned. Doc Sleaford told him to bring her to Combat Outpost (COP) Wilderness so he could work on her in a sterile environment as soon as possible.
Over three weeks later, Farida was finally brought back to see Doc Sleaford. Sleaford and Specialist Powell, the C Troop 1-61 CAV (101st Airborne Division) medic, began inspecting what appeared to be third degree burns covering over 30 percent of Farida’s body. As the medics tore off the old poorly treated bandages, Farida’s uncle shook a SpongeBob Squarepants doll to try and distract her from the pain. Army medics are trained to deal with tough situations, but you could tell by the look in Doc Sleaford’s eyes that this was different. While Doc continued his work, I took the pictures of Farida’s condition up to the tactical operations center to begin e-mailing and making phone calls to see if we could get Farida in to the World Health Organization hospital in Gardez. As Doc put it, it was a miracle she was still alive and didn’t die from infection.
As I showed the pictures and the video of Farida’s cries to Charlie Troop’s First Sergeant Marlin Heater, all options appeared to be off dwindling. That’s when 1SG Heater (featured in the 19OCT08 60 Minutes piece on COP Wilderness) said, “I don’t care who I have to call; we need to get that girl help. Even if it means e-mailing them that video clip.” Immediately, 1SG Heater picked up a military laundry bag and began loading it full of supplies: snacks, baby wipes, whatever the family may need for a trip. Soldiers from all over the outpost began donating cash for the family. Within an hour, Farida, her uncle, and a laundry bag full of supplies were loaded onto a Blackhawk helicopter piloted by members of the Wyoming National Guard and flown to the FOB Salerno hospital.
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