H/T In From the Cold. Stories of female pilots. This one, I liked!
Angel of Death
Her gunship cruised low and loud over northeastern Afghanistan, a mix of milkshake-brown flatlands, grassy valleys and boulder-strewn mountain slopes. On Capt. Allison Blacks monitor aboard an AC-130H Spectre, the region below was a flickering sea of night-vision green.
It was mid-November 2001. As an evaluator-navigator with the Air Forces 1st Special Operations Group, Black was plotting routes, communicating with ground forces and identifying targets in the darkness below. Just days before, the Afghan capital of Kabul had fallen to light-and-lean Special Forces teams relying on Air Force fighter jet and gunship strikes. They were aided with intelligence from the Northern Alliance Afghans with their own vendetta against the Taliban.
Now the target was a smallish province along the northern border. Bearded American soldiers, relying on the Northern Alliances knowledge of local terrain and Taliban habits, were moving covertly through the surrounding hills on horseback.
For weeks, the Army detachment had lived with Northern Alliance Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, a hulking and prickly haired war veteran thrilled to watch American air power cripple his Taliban foes.
Just 16 hours after Black landed at Karshi-Kanabad Air Base in neighboring Uzbekistan, she had been shuttled to her first-ever combat mission. It was off to a choppy start. Although the crew had successfully destroyed a bank of rocket launchers and several Taliban trucks, they were forced to evade anti-aircraft fire that pelted the Spectres steel belly.
All they needed was a high-caliber [anti-aircraft] system to present a problem, Black said. We were definitely on edge.
Dented but intact, the gunship flew on. Operational Detachment Alpha 595, from the Armys 5th Special Forces Group, lit up Blacks radio as her plane neared its encampment. With Dostums help, the troops had learned of a nearby safe house packed with more than 200 Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.
Black began to chart the course. When her voice crackled over the soldiers field radios, Dostum was delightedly incredulous. A woman? Sent to kill the Taliban? He couldnt believe it, Black said. He thought it was the funniest thing.
The Spectre neared and its cannons erupted. Unaccustomed to the Gatling guns mechanized snarl, the fighters confused the airstrike with a ground assault. Militants scattered into the fields, seeking cover in ditches and vehicles, although Black could see their heat-signature silhouettes from her console by the cockpit.
Dostum, hidden with the Army detachment several miles away, said the Taliban also believed a high-powered laser pointer used by Spectre operators to identify ground targets a sparkle, in Air Force spec ops speak was a death ray that turned everything it touched to flames.
As the hailstorm of munitions continued, Dostum grabbed his walkie-talkie, switched to the Talibans unsecured frequency and relayed to them the sound of Blacks chatter coming through Army radio.
He used the female pilots voice to taunt them as they bled.
He said, America is so determined, they bring their women to kill the Taliban. Youre so pathetic, Black said. Its the angel of death raining fire upon you. After circling the safe house environs many times striking militants after theyd regroup in threes and fours the Spectre had just enough fuel to return to Uzbekistan. The crew had expended all of its ammunition: 400 rounds of 40mm cannon shot and 100 rounds of 105mm Howitzer rounds. Black contacted an incoming gunship sent to finish off the remaining militants with a fresh load of ammo.
In those few hours, Black had become the first female AC-130H navigator to shoot in combat. Six years later, shes a combat-medal-wearing mother to two sons, ages 6 months and 2 years, and she expects to return to Afghanistan in early 2008. She estimates the total number of human targets eliminated on that first tour at more than 250 enemies.
Im so proud to represent women, and proud to represent the gunship community, but its very humbling, she said. Here I am, Captain Black, getting all this attention for something myself and 12 other folks did.
Although her gender was used to rile the Taliban, Black said its never proven a liability with her crew. I never have to worry about it, she said. Everybody I care about knows who I am. They know what Allison Black is about.
#4
They existed, Mike. They just weren't allowed to be Air Force pilots. I've a dear friend who now flies chartered jets, chauffeuring businessmen. She used to instruct Air Force pilots, but she wasn't allowed to do that in an Air Force uniform.
Commentator responding to criticism of Bhutto as a feudal lord and her alleged collaboration with Islamists:
It is simply poor understanding to imply that anyone who the "feudal lords" put up is going to win. Many landowners flocked to Bhutto's party precisely because Bhutto was popular with the rural masses. Her many opponents were also large landowners, often more powerful than the landlords who supported her.
This claim of "feudal lord" is simply a canard continually repeated by the urban elite. More critically, often represents a racist attitude of the Muhajirs and Punjabis towards Sindhis. It is similar to the Chinese condemned Tibetan leadership as feudal. The reality is that, like in the rest of the third world, the urban population claims the lion's share of the resources while the majority lives in rural areas. Moreover, the cities in Pakistan have higher percentage of militants because of the ethnic divisions -- most Sindhis are predominantly sufi in outlook.
It should not be surprising that many rural politicians are landowners, after all the peasants are often illiterate and have few resources to run for office. However, the landowners belong to many different parties, and the peasants are not dumb -- they do know who to support from among the landlords. Ms. Bhutto's support had nothing to do with the fact that she belonged to a landowning family, so did many of her relatives who were not as popular.
The idea that Ms. Bhutto had anything to do with the murder of her brother is plain libel. The forces which conspired to kill his brother also wished to discredit Ms. Bhutto in the process. The reality is that the Pakistani intelligence agencies, such as the ISI, are not controlled by the office of the Prime Minister (Ms. Bhutto could not even exercise any control over the military budget). Her niece, watching her aunt killed as her father was, seems to be finally realizing as much -- as her most recent statement shows. Sindhis generally believe that Pakistani military agencies were responsible for the death of Ms. Bhutto and her siblings.
Its tempting to rerun my column on Pakistan from a month ago. Not because I predicted the assassination of Benazir Bhutto or offered any other great insight, but rather for the opposite reason: Everyones an expert on Pakistan, a faraway country of which we know everything: General Musharraf should do this, he shouldnt have done that, the State Department should lean on him to do the other Well, I dunno. It seems to me a certain humility is appropriate when offering advice to Islamabad.
Oh, well. In the stampede of instant experts unveiling their Pakistani solutions-in-a-box, some contributions are worthy of special attention. Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who is apparently running for the Democratic presidential nomination, was in no doubt about what needs to happen in the next, oh, 48 hours:
President Bush should press Musharraf to step aside, and a broad-based coalition government, consisting of all the democratic parties, should be formed immediately... It is in the interests of the U.S. that there be a democratic Pakistan that relentlessly hunts down terrorists.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/31/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
The big problem is, the unified view on the left is that Pak is just a bigger, dirtier version of New Jersey...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/31/2007 7:28 Comments ||
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#2
Given that Richardson is opposed to a broad-based coalition of democratic parties in the United States united to oppose terrorism in, for example, Iraq and Iran, it is hilarious he should imagine Pakistan could pull it off in 48 hours. Though given the obstructionism and stupidity of the Democratic party I have more hope Pakistan will unite against terrorism before blue state Americans do.
#3
Bill's at his Peter Principle position, as the good governor of a state rated 47th in per capita income and home to NIMBY projects unloved elsewhere. Outside of being an effective Senator like John 'Genghis Khan' Kerry or VP like Dan Quayle, any other higher office would be beyond his capacity.
#4
The hell with the Waziris. Seal them off and let them rot in the 7th century if they can't act civilized. We'll try again in a couple of generations.
#5
No patchwork schemeand all our present recent schemes are mere patchworkwill settle the Waziristan problem. Not until the military steam-roller has passed over the country from end to end, will there be peace. But I do not want to be the person to start that machine.
- Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, 1900
Posted by: john frum ||
12/31/2007 14:11 Comments ||
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#6
Procopius, when you referred to John Kerry as an "effective Senatr," I think you forgot the HTML irony tags.
Posted by: Mike ||
12/31/2007 14:14 Comments ||
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#1
Since tha article mentions the Almohads and how they forced Jews to choose between conversion or exile (notice that unlike the order of expulsion by the Catholic Kings in 1492 this got no publicity by our intelligentsia) let me recall the events preceding the battle of Navas de Tolosa between Spanish Christains and Muslim forces (both Almohades and Muslims of Spain).
This was a battle the Chritins could not afford to lose after the disaster of Alarcos, thse was a battle where the Christians expected to be heavily outnumbered and this was a battle where due to the losses at Alarcos they had a crirtical shortage of trained men and had been forced to swell their ranks with communal militias of dubious value. And still they dismissed a large contingent (it is believed they could have been 30,000) of Northern Europpean crusaders (mostly French), because of their nasty behaviour agsint Jews. More importanly these were not militia quality but trained men, an are where the Christains were critically short. While the motivation of the Christian kings was probably more related to feudal honor and duties (ie protecting vassals and subjects) that by love of the Jews it is in contrast with treatment of Jews by the almohads, almoravids (preceding wave of jihadis) and the supposedly tolerant and enlightened first invaders (eg the pogrom at Granada in 1055)
Aftermath: Christians were outnumbered 70,000 to 125,000 ie five to nine. Notice that the the presence of the Crusaders would have brought the Christians to near parity. Like at Alarcos, Muslims set a screen of light infantry who dispersed in front of initial Chrisian attak only to close at the their backs, once these had engaged the main body maa but this time Christains had a reserve. The first reserve was repulsed but then the second reserve with the Kings and the best troops pierced through the light infantry and joined with the main body just in time as the communal militias were starting to disintegrate. At this point the battle turned into a slaughter of Muslim troops (90,000 dead ie 75% losses). So even if the outcome was a decisive victory for the Christians (the Muslims would never be able to mount another credible threat of invasion against the Christian kingdoms) it was won by a hairbreadth and this highlights still more the courage and sense of honor of the Castillan King deciding to protect his Jewish subjects against the troublesome Crusaders.
#1
Petraeus and Pretorius.... Both Dutch and quite similar in spelling. Believe it or not, there's actually a physical likeness as well. Makes one wonder.
On 16 December 1838, Commandant-general Andries Wilhelmus Jacovus Pretorius' force of some 500 men was attacked by over 10,000 Zulus, who were beaten off with an estimated loss of 3,000 men in what became known as the Battle of Blood River. The day was remembered as Dingane's Day by Afrikaners until 1910, when it was renamed Day of the Vow and recognised as a public holiday by the first South African government.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
