The soldiers call it "the witching hour," the time when the fierce Afghan heat has mellowed enough for Taleban to sneak into a nearby graveyard and unleash a torrent of rocket grenades, mortar and rifle fire.Combat Outpost Nolen, a small mud-walled school in the middle of grape and pomegranate fields providing perfect insurgent cover, has experienced some of the fiercest fighting in Arghandab district, a key Taleban insurgency route on the way to Kandahar city.
Just three weeks after arriving, an American platoon belonging to the 101st Airborne Division -- shock troops of the US military -- is withdrawing from the valley, their numbers cut in half by horrific war injuries.
"Out there the enemy owns the terrain. It's hard to see him with the foliage.
Stay out of the Agent Orange. It'll fcuk you up.
"Many of our guys compare it to what they've seen in Vietnam, except for the jungle canopy," First Platoon commander Lt. Norman Black, 36, told Reuters.
I'm suspicious of that Reuters quote, which makes me suspicious of the entire article. Vietnam shut down in 1974, if I recall correctly. I was there '67-'69 and retired with 20 years in 1985, which by my count was 25 years ago. Had I stayed for 30 years I'd have retired in 1995. 30 is mandatory retirement without special permission. I don't think there are many people left in the Army who reminisce about their Vietnam experiences now.
A soldier from a separate unit was shot in the head here at long range a few weeks ago as he stood guard mid-morning in watchtowers since covered in camouflage netting.
Black's platoon started the mission with 17 men including the medic, and now they're down to 10. A small courtyard in the base is scarred with rocket grenade impact craters near the only well, while fly wire on school rooms is ripped by shrapnel. RPGs thump into the thick walls at night.
The area around COP Nolen has been heavily seeded with hidden bombs, forcing soldiers to use varying routes through fields and climbing over high walls in combat gear to avoid IEDs and ambushes. But they are near impossible to avoid.
Troops try to walk in each other's footsteps in narrow trenches of overgrown vine, weeds and mud that are swelteringly humid and make IEDs invisible, as well as concentrate their effect when they detonate.
In a July 4 Independence Day prelude, shrapnel tore into Sgt. Matthew Kendall's arm and face as he walked beside a soldier from another unit on a handover mission to learn about dangers in the area.
Eight days later, on July 12, Spc. Kevin Gatson lost a leg and three fingers on his left hand to a bomb, while Black blew out an eardrum.
Staff Sgt. Kyle Malin stepped on another IED and lost both legs while on his way to aid Gatson as part of a quick reaction force. Within 45 minutes, Pfc. Corey Kent stepped on a third bomb and lost both legs and part of his left hand.
Staff Sgt. Avionne Reese's incredible luck ran out on July 19 when he walked into the third IED of his short deployment. This one sent bomb fragments into the right side of his body, while Spc. Pedro Torres was badly wounded in the same blast.
In three weeks of fighting the platoon has been recommend for 10 purple hearts and a Bronze Star for valor for a soldier who helped a comrade to safety over a field of IEDs.
"It's very thick orchards, grape fields where you can only go down the edges of the fields because you can't really jump every different level of the vines. And then the open fields, they set up and wait for you as an ambush," said Black.
Outpost Nolen was set up near Charqulba village, now deserted and was supposed to be a base for patrolling in the area. The village now provides a killing field for insurgents.
A walled graveyard to the west provides Taleban with a safe firing haven against American automatic grenade guns pointed at them and US helicopter gunships that prowl the skies at night in protective overwatch missions.
"We call that "death valley" and there's not much we can do about it," said combat medic Pfc. Scott Donahue."
Black said his platoon was part of an artillery unit recast into infantry, but its manpower was only around two-thirds of a regular infantry unit.
"As we've been taking casualties, we've not been able to push out, and they've been coming in closer," he said. "It's been tough going for us."