Afghan Journal: The Worst Shot I Ever Made

By Jon Wayne Taylor

I recently found my old armor from my second tour in Afghanistan. Stuffed inside of it was a well-used Russian army bayonet. It brought back memories of how I came to own it . . .

It was the late summer of 2009. I was assigned as medic and combat advisor to the 3-2 205th Afghan Infantry Kandack, as well as the senior medic for Police Mentor Team Nomad (PMT) and the Afghan National Police (ANP).

By the end of that summer, Embedded Transition Team Venom had trained the ANA to maneuver and cordoning off villages and strategic locations effectively. Primarily through the tireless work of the team’s Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge, PMT Nomad made the ANP a capable force for house-to-house searches and detainment. Eventually, that led to successful combined missions.

The ANA would manuever to a site and cordon it off. The ANP would search it. We, as advisors, would accompany both forces on all missions. That started paying off. So of course somebody had to ruin it.

Occasionally, the Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afgan National Police force would work together for larger joint operations. We started having missions with bits and pieces of multiple forces: the ANA, ANP and …read more

Source:: Truth About Guns