Afghanistan firefight: "They fought like warriors"
"It was some of the bravest stuff I've ever seen in my life, and I will never see it again because those guys," Stafford said, then paused. "Normal humans wouldn't do that. You're not supposed to do that -- getting up and firing back when everything around you is popping and whizzing and trees, branches coming down and sandbags exploding and RPGs coming in over your head ... It was a fistfight then, and those guys held ' em off."
Stafford offered a guess as to why his fellow soldiers fought so hard.
"Just hardcoreness I guess," he said. "Just guys kicking ass, basically. Just making sure that we look scary enough that you don’t want to come in and try to get us."
That's end of a story in Stars and Stripes this morning about the firefight in Afghanistan that killed Cpl. Pruitt Rainey of Alamance County and wounded Sgt. Matthew Gobble of Thomasville.
The piece by Steve Mraz is powerful. Read the whole thing and listen to the multimedia. It's a the latest exhibit of how compelling journalism can shine a light into places most readers fear to go.
You might think -- at least I do -- that the traditional wire services would send us more like this. I guess they are too busy running with the pack following Obama in Afghanistan. Fortunately, the good people at Stars and Stripes are going to allow us to reprint this story. (Robb Grindstaff, a former GM at the Asheboro Courier-Tribune and now executive editor of Stars and Stripes in Europe, made it happen. Thanks, Robb.)
Don't you love the description of the men from the Triad: "Just guys kicking ass, basically."
Related: We have memories of Rainey and a little bit of inside baseball on publishing a story about his death.
Update: I should have credited John Appel for tipping me to the S&S story. Thank you, sir.
Comments (5)
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Thanks for this. Someone dropped me a note that you were going to post it. These guys are real warriors. I am proud, as always to be an American, but especialy after reading about our heroic troops !
Yeah I agree with your observation regarding the media pack slobbering over Obama. They are sooooo in the tank for him. This 20 page article in Time mag is :
The definitive Obama puff piece
Posted on July 19, 2008 5:53 PM
Today's soldiers are tough, courageous, and proud to serve. This story is just one of many, many untold acts of bravado our troops perform every day. Much like police officers, we usually only hear of the bad ones.
I salute Cpl. Rainey and Sgt. Gobble and the rest of the heroes who fought that day.
RIP, warriors.
Posted on July 19, 2008 5:57 PM
Good work. There's been way too little reporting like this from the beginning in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Posted on July 19, 2008 7:45 PM
Interviewed the friends of Pruitt Rainey earlier this week and left wondering what his final hours were like. Thus, I found the article fairly gripping. Amazing what a llittle emotional context brings to a seemingly distant saga. Good work.
Posted on July 20, 2008 12:49 PM
Thank you to the editor of the Greensboro News and Record.
Who had the guts to print the real story of this tragedy.
Pruitt Rainey was a Hero and so were all these guys who gave their lives for us. We have gotten so PC in our country and the main stream news media have glossed everything over with rose colored glasses. Nine died and fifteen wounded, OK lets move on. Better news ahead!
I could care less about Obama and his worldwide tour for publicity. This is the real news about guys dying for their comrades, friends, family and fighting for God only knows why.
Thank you John Robinson for printing this and linking to it also.
Corporal Pruitt Rainey you are a REAL American Hero, I appreciate and Honor you.
Posted on July 23, 2008 9:24 AM