Damn the Valley by William Yeske

Author:William Yeske
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781636243665
Publisher: Casemate
Published: 2023-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

Patrols from Johnston

In assuming responsibility of COP Johnston from 2nd Platoon, we needed to learn new patrol areas within the section along with the inhabitants living in the villages. It was a smaller area of operations that overlapped with the patrols of the other platoons, but it had challenges and benefits of its own. For example, we were now nearby a bazaar and could sometimes stop by a local cigarette vendor within the village we were adjacent to.

The only cigarettes we had available locally were these godawful creations called Pines and a Japanese brand that was slightly less awful by the name of Seven Stars. We only convoyed to Kandahar on one occasion in the time that we were there, so my carton of Camel orange smokes were long gone. I don’t know why the packs were yellow or orange, but they came from a French store that was located on the boardwalk within KAF. It was the best you could find in the way of a decent cigarettes. The locals didn’t even like their locally sourced addiction and would “trade” me for cigarettes occasionally. While diminishing my personal supply, we would sit and talk for a brief time. I knew those guys were ripping me off, but it might come in handy down the road as it humanized you to the people that lived within the area.

During a presence patrol near the bazaar one day, one of the locals that had traded smokes with me back at COP Ware recognized me as we were moving through town. “WOOSH!” he yelled from a distance as he approached our patrol, coming from the opposite direction. He alerted us to some activity down the road from us, but as with most information we were handed, it just made us a little more aware as we moved through. Who knows the real intent or motive behind the warning, but if anything, it could be that he had been trying to look out for us. That was an occurrence that hadn’t happened before.

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