Measures of success

[unhappycamper]

506th Infantry Regiment
Ties to locals help fight enemies in Afghanistan


Measures of success
By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Nov 1, 2008 7:06:20 EDT

GHAZNI, Afghanistan — As minutes moved into hours, anticipation permeated the air as soldiers waited for the CH-47 Chinooks to arrive to whisk them away on their first company-sized air assault in months.

Some smoked cigarettes or chewed tobacco. Others settled onto their assault packs, which were loaded down with everything they would need to sustain them for the next 24 hours. And still others moved between the columns of soldiers as they ran through last-minute radio and equipment checks.

Finally, after more than three hours, word came down that the Chinooks were on their way and two Apache attack helicopters were circling over their objective, a small village of mud homes and dry, dusty fields southeast of Ghazni named Shaturi.

When the Chinooks arrived, the soldiers of B Company, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, took to the sky for the 10-minute flight.

An air assault, the bread and butter of the Currahee, was underway.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/army_airassault_mainbar_110308w/%2e