34

MOFFETT from 29

gracious with his time. Like Ollie, he’s been to Afghanistan numerous times, and like North, he’s willing to get dirty and go in harm’s way.

THE SNAKE

The Taliban had a linear

approach to battle. They knew the 2/2 Marines would continue to press south from Garmsir, the Snake’s Head, so they established positions and planted Improvised Ex- plosive Devices (IEDs) ac- cordingly, throughout the body of the Snake. McDonough responded

by thinking “outside the box,” or, more accurately “outside the Snake.” He sent his Weapons Com- pany Marines east, out into the desert, where they faced south and

THE WEIRS TIMES, Thursday, April 29, 2010

did a long night march. Then, they turned west and headed back into the lush Helmand River Val ley, behind enemy positions. The Marines moved into the Taliban- dominated village of Laki before dawn. When the Taliban and

the townspeople awoke, the Marines were in their midst, along with in- digenous Afghan Army personnel, who always accompanied the Ameri- cans. Friendly Afghans later pointed out likely Taliban to 2/2 personnel. Then Marines would go up to Taliban suspects, put their arms around them, and ask their bud- dies to take photos. Nu- merous stunned Taliban ended up on company bulletin boards and even on Facebook. The mes-

LTCol. Micahel Moffett also had the opportunity to interview Geraldo Rivera of FOX News.

sage to the enemy was “We’re not afraid of you. But perhaps YOU should be afraid of us. Very afraid.”

Purple Hearts

Numerous conversa-

tions with 2/2 Marines made it clear that they held their battalion com- mander in the highest regard.

“LtCol McDonough epitomizes great leader- ship,” was an expression I heard over and over. I wanted to interview him, but could not, as he’d been evacuated after suf- fering a back injury dur- ing an IED attack. I also wanted to in- terview Weapons Com- pany Commander Cap- tain Matt Kutilek, who led the night movement into Laki. But Kutilek was also hospital ized state-side with a gun- shot wound to his leg. These two officers were

among the over SIXTY Marines of 2/2 who’ve had Purple Heart cita- tions submitted due to their combat wounds.

CONVOY

As I completed my inter-

view with Captain Carr, he told me I was in luck. “We happen to have a convoy heading south to- night that will be visiting our company positions. A great chance for you to meet our Marines out in the field.” I hadn’t necessarily

planned on that. There were plenty of people around to interview at 2/2’s headquarters. And I was acutely aware that IEDs were taking out friendly vehicles and per- sonnel almost every day. But in the midst of the Fighting Second, I could hardly say that I was too nervous to join the convoy. Carr said that there’d be a brief at 1900 hours before the convoy departed. “OK. I’ll be there.” As night fell, the con-

See MOFFETT on 35

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