'Shooting just started ... everywhere'

The last time Staff Sgt. David Barberet left Afghanistan, he was on crutches, with an embarrassing story to tell. Of course, the fact that he had a pair of medals earned for his valor in the country kept the ribbing to a minimum.

Or at least as light as such things get in an airborne unit.

“I fell in a hole,” Barberet said of the torn ligaments he suffered in his leg, which would eventually require surgery at Aviano Air Base when he returned to Italy. “I could have flown out earlier, but we only had a few days left, so I decided to stay with my unit. After all we had been through …”

Barberet, 25, from New Hartford, Conn., earned a Bronze Star with “V,” Army Commendation Medal with “V” and a Bronze Star during his last stint in Afghanistan with the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment. Now he’s back in country again as operations sergeant for the battalion command group.

He led 1st Squad, 1st Platoon from Company B over hundreds of miles in patrols during his tour in 2005-2006. Much of the time, he and his men were based in Baylough, a forward operating base plopped down in the mountainous north of Zabul province.

Because of the terrain, patrols by vehicle weren’t practical. That meant a lot of walking.

That included the early morning incident when he didn’t see a man-sized hole in front of him. He needed help to get out, and spent his last week in country hobbling around.

Just a few weeks earlier, Barberet managed to emerge from an intense firefight without any injuries. He was credited with saving the life of Spc. Kris Miller, a member of his squad.

Operation Walkabout, which kicked off Feb. 16, was supposed to be a 65-kilometer patrol in the south part of the district of Day Chopan. After conducting a search of the village of Dawzi, the soldiers began walking toward the village of Andar. But only about 800 yards outside of Dawzi, Barberet’s squad found itself in an ambush, with very little cover. Barberet crawled into a small depression in the ground and directed his men in returning fire.

Miller was hit in the hand and continued to battle. Then he was hit again. The bullet passed from one side of his chest to the other. Barberet, braving bullets that were striking the ground around him, raced to Miller’s aid. He stopped the blood flow and called in assistance.

“I had never applied first aid to anyone under direct fire before,” Barberet said. “Or tried to treat a sucking chest wound.”

His treatment kept Miller alive until a medic — and later a Chinook helicopter — could arrive and take him away for treatment. Soldiers firing mortars and Apache helicopters forced the enemy to disengage.

Air assets had also played a role in another of the squad’s battles earlier. They were called to reinforce other elements of the company on July 11. Entering a village surrounded by mountains, “shooting just started erupting everywhere,” he said. Some U.S. elements held the high ground, exchanging fire with enemy elements on other mountains. Barberet’s squad made its way up one mountain, then was directed to head down and take another mountain.

While his squad was moving as quickly as it could over the valley separating the two mountains, navigating through waist-high grass, they came under fire from both the front and rear. Everyone made it to the second mountain and began to climb up.

“Rounds are ricocheting right by your head, off rocks,” Barberet said. One of his two SAW gunners ran out of ammunition. Then the other one. Everyone else was getting low as well. But they continued the climb.

A-10 Warthogs had joined the fight, suppressing much of the fire coming from behind by hitting the first mountain. A B-52 flew over, dropping flares. Barberet’s squad gained the heights to find the enemy had fled.

Eight and half hours after the fight began, it was over.

But Barberet and his squad had hundreds of miles — and several more firefights — left to go.