True Tales of Military, Law Enforcement, and Firefighters

[m88dad]

Ha ha ha! "This is no $hit!"

Coast Guard, Navy, Law Enforcement... I'm glad you guys are enjoying this thread, but let's hear some of those "No $hit, there I was" stories!

I'll be posting another one tonight just to get the ball rolling, but sooner or later I'm gonna' run out of stuff to talk about.

 

[Shovelhead]

OK let me clean this one up a bit....
You have to understand I was in the nuclear fbm sub service so no combat stories or we wouldn't be here.

We were on liberty in the Loch late 60`s and had this very strange Torpedoman striker he talked to himself a lot and rumer washe was tripping on LSD most of the time. We were in port the last night before patrol and I was standing launcher watch. No brainer in port pretty boring. This TM striker came down the hatch very drunk or stoned and I get a call from the topside watch to keep an eye on him. We slept in the missle compartment this guy walks to the head and locks the door.... I hear "dive dive" wooosh ball valve flush on the $hitter... then again "dive dive " woosh" quack..quack..peep..peep..dive dive... I`m like WTF??? I open the head door and there he is with 2 ducks and about 3 or 4 ducklings left.. tossing them in the $hitter and screaming dive dive as he flushed them... Bubbleheads can be some sick SOB`s....

 

[m88dad]

"dive dive " woosh" quack..quack..peep..peep..dive dive...

That's sick... but funny as hell!!!

Alright let me set this one up a little. I was in Zabul Province, Afghanistan in '09. I was one of two Mechanics at a small fire base on the side of a mountain with 40 Infantrymen and 10 Special Forces Soldiers and nothing but Hesco baskets and concertina wire separating us from the multitudes of Taliban fighters. I'll tell you this. I saw more action in my first six months in A-stan than I did in two years in Iraq. That's including OIF I. Afghanistan is the wild west!

Anyway, the area in Afghanistan we were in was very mountainous with a few fertile valleys scattered around. One of these valleys, the Chalikor valley, has long been a Taliban stronghold.

The only way into this valley is down a winding switchback road that snakes down a 2,000 foot steep embankment to the valley floor. Honestly we didn't think we'd make it that far. We had heard that years ago an entire Battalion of Marines got their asses handed to them in this valley and no Americans had set foot in there since. (Don't know how much of that was true) The only thing we did know was that we were going to be the first Americans in that valley since 2006 and it was going to be Armageddon! Or so they told us. The plan was for two Seal Teams and 3 SF Teams to Air Assault into the north end of the valley. Our part? We were going to drive our 4 M1151 HMMWV's and 2 MRAPs into the southern end of the valley and pick a fight! We were the bait! Our whole reason for being there was to draw the Taliban down to us so that the Seals and SF could move around freely on the north end.

(I'm driving the second truck from the front)
We were pumped! SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!!! 40 Infantrymen and 2 Mechanics vs untold 100's of Taliban!!! You'll pay for the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge!!!

As we rolled down the switchbacks we could see the Taliban fleeing out of the village and into the mountainsides where they had their weapons caches. We could hear them on our radios telling each other to let us into the valley and then they'd hit us from all sides. At first we were only going to roll up to the beginning of the village, and we did. But nothing. No contact and the village was a ghost town. So we rolled on. In the first picture you'll notice a small pointy hill in the middle of the picture. I was driving my Platoon Leader's truck and to my left was our 3rd Squad Leader's truck. We parked our two HMMWV's on top of that little hill and scanned the area. Nothing. Our MRAPs couldn't make it down the switchbacks so they stayed up on top of the ridge to provide mortar support. We had them lob a couple of 120mm's onto the surrounding mountainsides to stir up some action. Still nothing. We could hear the Taliban on the radio planning their attack, but they were amazingly reserved. So we rolled north. Just on the other side of the little hill we were perched on we discovered a very large IED poorly buried in the intersection of the only road leading north through the valley. We called in an airstrike to detonate the IED and to coordinate this airstrike my LT had me park our truck just over 300 meters from the IED site on top of a small hill. That's where we got this awesome video! (skip to the good stuff 1:20 into the video)

That would be a 2,000 lb JDAM in all it's glory!
At this point the Taliban are scared $hitless. They talk a big game and they'll put up a good fight, until the Air Force shows up! At that point the Taliban's radio's fell silent. It was then that we got the call to withdraw from the valley. Apparently we were successful in drawing the Taliban from the north end of the valley to our southern end, even though we never exchanged fire. While all eyes were on us the Seals and SF confiscated over 11,000 pounds of heroin, and a huge weapons cache!

In short, Armageddon was anti-climactic, but thankfully so. If the mission had gone as originally planned most of us, me included, probably wouldn't be here to tell about it.

 

[gafirefighter]

"1. People unaffiliated with the military, law enforcement, firefighting, or similar occupations, are enamored by these stories because they have little to no understanding of how we do it or why.
2. People who are affiliated with said occupations enjoy the fellowship and comfort that comes with sharing experiences with your fellow service men/women."

I could not agree with you more on both of those statements. I did a some time in the Army and have now been working as a career firefighter in Metro Atlanta for quite a few years. People who do not work in these fields really do not understand it most of the time. This is by no fault of their own, it is just the way it is. They also tend to look at firefighters as some sort of a superhero and do not understand how we view it as just another day of work. I truly love what I do. In our field there are two types of people; you have employees, and then you have career firefighter (brothers). Everyone has their reasons for choosing a profession such as this, but for most it is just a lifelong dream that came true.

I have more stories that I can remember. Unfortunately, in this field, many of these are filled with sadness and pain. I am a driver in my department and that also means that I fill in as the officer when he is off. I was told a while back that, that is a front row seat to the best and the worst that the world has to offer. That could not be more true. We see some truly amazing things that make being in this job worth it. In any of these fields you almost have to learn not to feel. If you let you emotions drive you, many times you would lock up and be unable to perform the task at hand.

I have so much respect for anyone who lives there life to serve others. I only hope when it is all said and done for me that I feel like I have also accomplished that task to the best of my ability. Also, thank you all in the military so much for what you do. The sacrifices you make are great and are not recognized often enough.

Adam

 

[chiefsquirrel83]

Nothing too exciting. Love the stories. OC'd someones pitbull and bout hit a bear eating a dead possum in the middle of the rd. last night in the Charger. Lol. To all the veterans and current military, thank you.

 

[m88dad]

Ok, one more to stoke the fire. C'mon, somebody else out there has to have some stories? Especially the LEOs! You guys deal with some of the wildest and weirdest situations ever!

No real story to this one. Just thought I'd share these pictures.

I was in Afghanistan in 2009 and we had the best Combat Photographer ever with us! You've probably seen some of his other work, especially if you read the Army Times. His name was SSG Mancini and these are just the tip of the iceberg.

This was a lapsed-time photo of our 11C's launching 60mm mortars at the taliban one night.

This one was taken during a rare thunderstorm.

This one is one of my favorites! We got into a two day firefight near the village of Tanur. The Taliban were taking shelter in a cave on the side of a mountain, so we thought we'd help them out by shooting AT4 antitank rockets at the cave until it caved in on them. Thus covering them in large boulders which in turn sheltered their corpses from our bullets. You're welcome taliban!

Ok, so there was a short story.

*DISCLAIMER* These pictures are not mine. Credit was given to the photographer in the beginning of this post.

Alright, That's contribution #3 from me. Anybody else feel free to jump right on in! If nobody does I'm just going to keep throwing pics, videos, and stories up there until the Admins delete the thread!!

You've been warned!

 

[chiefsquirrel83]

Nothing major tonight...we had a search night tonight on the sex offenders and found 4 in violation of their probation and got them off the street.