Snaps of Afghanistan

By Scarlet Carson

Scarlet Carson is a war correspondent and has heard from the real voices of the soldiers involved in the different FOB (Forward Operating Bases) in Afghanistan.
These are snaps , scraps, fragments of moments lived in that country far away from us but that will remain in the heart and the memory of all involved.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Santi Editore
• Release date: Apr 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9791221321852

Book preview

Scarlet Carson

decoration

SNAPS OF AFGHANISTAN

UUID: ad678c0d-bc3f-462a-9e58-52cd323a842f

This ebook was created with StreetLib Write

https://writeapp.io

Table of contents

Author

FOREWORD

DEATH IN AFGHANISTAN

FIRST MISSION

AN APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH

RPG

WHEN A FRIEND DIES

RETRIVAL

​SANDSTORM

​WHAT YOU LEARN, REMAINS

NEVER GIVE UP

THE DUTY OF BEING HUMAN

​AN ILL WOMAN

​IMPROVISING TO SMASH A SNAKE’S HEAD

THERE ARE EVEN OTHER KINDS OF ANGELS

​HOW YOU DIE

​DISARMING MINES

​THE LAST DAY

​MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

​ONLY ANIMALS

​LITTLE GIRL IN TEARS

​HOW TO KILL

​THE COACHBUILDER

​BOMB-MAN

​LIFE GOES ON

​A CHILD’S SALUTE

​IS THERE ANYBODY WHO PLAYS WITH YOU?

​WHEN A FRIEND BETRAYS YOU

​THE CLUB

​A HEROIC SOLDIER IS A DEAD SOLDIER

​MEMORIES OF MY MOTHER

​SHARING A SECRET

​CHANGING A TYRE

​HENRY

A WEDDING RING

​A FLAG-LOWERING IN AFGHANISTAN

Author

Scarlet Carson is a war correspondent and has heard from the real voices of the soldiers involved in the different FOB (Forward Operating Bases) in Afghanistan.

These are snaps , scraps, fragments of moments lived in that country far away from us but that will remain in the heart and the memory of all involved.

FOREWORD

The exact word would be FOB (Forward Operating Base) but we called it outpost to give a better idea. An outpost is a camp of different sizes, based on what it’s needed for. It can be a perimeter area composed by some tents, sandbags or barbed wire, and serves as a home when you are in the desert. It could be as big as a village, with helicopter runways, a camp hospital, a canteen, logistics and perimeter guards, and even that becomes home.

Actually, when you return from an operation, a mission, and you can lay on a cot, take off your boots and eventually have a hot meal and a safe sleep, because somebody is watching over you, that’s home. Hopefully, sometimes you manage to intercept a satellite, so you can communicate with your family, perhaps from a refreshment tent where you can sit and talk, play cards, while waiting for the next mission. These are normal stories that happen and have happened in these FOB, operating bases, to normal men that accomplished extraordinary actions.

DEATH IN AFGHANISTAN

These aren’t all of them.. many are missing.. the total is 54, men who left alive and returned in a coffin, wrapped in the Italian flag. Men that were barely ever mentioned, ignored by most people, as if they weren’t important.

This is the reason why I reported below a short and uncomplete list of names.

There is Corporal Stefano La Mattina, gunner, who with a serious arm injury, was able to neutralize the threat of insurgents that attacked a Folgore convoy. He was rewarded with a gold medal.

«Risking his own life, under a heavy fire, using only one arm, he continued shooting and rejecting attacks», they said. The episode took place on the 23rd of July 2oo9 at Parmakan, in the north of Afghanistan. Total silence by part of the press. Corporal La Mattina’s name, like that of many Italian soldiers in Afghanistan was on the Gazzetta Ufficiale only because he received a gold medal. Only because of that. A journalist of the daily newspaper La Stampa discovered this.

There’s Lieutenent Alessandro Romani, raider of the 9th assault Regiment Parachuters Col Moschin, injured to death during an attack in Farah; there’s Lieutenent Lorenzo Ballin, that in Bala Mourghab, during a 48- hour battle, managed to ultimate a contrast action, although seriously injured and his outpost attacked.

There is Captain Gianluca Simoncelli, who in an outpost in Bala Baluk, during a 5-hour gun fight, helped his comrades and, although he was injured, was able to give orders to accomplish the neutralization of the enemy.

There’s Marshall Marco Sponziello, who leads an Afghan force team in the search of a Taliban leader and without weapons succeeds in his capture.

There’s Corporal Floro Guarna, wounded during a gun fight in Bala Baluk, who organises his men’s withdrawal and only after that, faints due to the pain from his serious injury.

There’s Corporal Andrea Mancino: he escorted a convoy that had been blocked by a truck lying sideways on the road when he was attacked, in Akazai, in 2009. Fraught of danger, he was able to save himself driving a civil vehicle.

There’s Colonel Marco Centritto rewarded with a gold medal, because while driving a vehicle he is hit by insurgents and, nevertheless, accomplishes his mission. He provides support to a team of Parà that in this way survived a 4-day battle.

There’s Lieutenent-colonel Andrea Ascani: the insurgents hit his helicopter but he accomplishes the mission anyway, and there’s Major Stefano Salvadori who, during a law quote flight to detect enemy menaces, is struck but fulfills the operation.

And there’s Colonel Marco Tuzzolino, leading the 183°Rgt parachuters of Folgore, who is able to reach a helipad during a 48-hour battle. No TV news or newspaper ever spoke of these men. These soldiers who fight every day and, in absolute silence, have accomplished some heroic acts.

"I’m the mother of a soldier who is now on a mission and I was very impressed by this novel. I thought, my family thought, that oversea service consisted in diplomatic escort or warehouse and storage patrolling. It’s the second time my son is doing this service and he never spoke about such episode. He laughs when we ask him something and says he gets bored... He says it’s hot during the day and cold at night, the food is awful, and he only thinks of coming home...but since I read your posts, I discovered a new world, and I realized that our soldiers aren’t out there having fun.. Thanks for giving me news, my heart trembles but on the other side, it makes me proud of our soldiers, that go there with a strong heart and willpower.

This should make us reflect on who we are dealing with. With cowards, killers, who use children for their purposes, while our soldiers are there to help.

You are made of heart and incredible strength".

Dear Madame, I read your words and I feel the necessity to answer you personally. Thank you for letting your son put his life in danger in every moment for his country and for a vow. And to you, I sincerely send my gratitude and my respect.

Your son, with all of us, is accomplishing a mission that is beyond granted standards. He is in a foreign and hostile country and he must behave like a Red Cross nurse, a friend, a brother, a parent, without ever forgetting that he has a gun and he must use it if it’s necessary. I know it’s difficult for soldiers here and the families at home. When my mum was still alive, she never knew where I really was, I would say I was in a far Italian city and couldn’t see her at the weekend, and she pretended to believe it. She died two years ago and I found out only after her funeral, I couldn’t even say goodbye to her. She never admitted my ranks, or my medals, I was only a soldier for her and that’s how she greeted me when I returned home.

«Hello soldier, how is it going?». I would answer: «Ok, mum», and she would laugh shaking her head.

When I told her that I wanted to