Spc. Drew Wilkerson, top, and Sgt. Matthew Fillinger, both of the 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment’s mortar section, scan the countryside after someone suspicious was seen on a hillside. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment have been in southeastern Afghanistan for the past month. From Forward Operating Base Orgun-E and two smaller installations, they’ve been patrolling a large, mountainous rural area connected by the most basic of roads.
Last Wednesday and Thursday, 1st Platoon from Company A, with the help of a mortar section from the battalion, visited a pair of remote settlements reachable only by air or off-road vehicle. In this case, that meant a nine-Humvee convoy.
The Vicenza, Italy-based soldiers spent about 4 1/2 hours driving through rough terrain to reach the village of Naka, where they checked out the local clinic and met with the mayor and police chief.
Humvees from the 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry Division use a riverbed as a road as they travel through eastern Afghanistan on a two-day mission to the villages of Zarwuk and Naka. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Capt. Jack Kilbride, left, of the 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment, uses a translator to talk to Naka police chief Jon Baz, center. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Spc. Jesse Davis, of the 1st Platoon, Company A, 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment, shows boys in Naka, Afghanistan, their pictures after taking them with a digital camera during a patrol through the town. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Soldiers from 1st Platoon, Company A, 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment patrol along a road in eastern Afghanistan. They were on a two-day mission to the villages of Zarwuk and Naka. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
In getting to the village, they passed through a narrow gap in the mountains where two U.S. soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division died in separate incidents while on patrol in the past year. Air support was provided by a pair of A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, Marine Huey helicopters and Army Black Hawk helicopters at intervals during the two-day mission.
After spending a cold night at the government compound in the town of Zarwuk, soldiers looked for potential sites for police checkpoints with the local mayor before returning to their home base.
