Wednesday, Sep. 30, 2009

Report from Afghanistan: Marine says Taliban are real fighters

Rock Hill native recovering from injuries received in blast

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — After serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, Marine Lance Cpl. James Yon says there’s no comparison in the willingness of America’s two enemies to fight.

“I have respect for them,” the 28-year-old Rock Hill native said of Afghanistan’s Taliban. “They actually do stand toe-to-toe with you.”

By contrast, insurgent forces in Iraq prefer impersonal roadside bombs, said Yon, who was deployed to that country less than two years ago.

Yon’s Marine unit is part of an overall surge in U.S. forces here. The United States and its NATO allies are trying to reverse three years of gains by Taliban fighters. The allied troops are trying to secure a country as big as Texas that has been at war for three decades.

About 38,000 NATO troops are in Afghanistan. An additional 47,000 U.S. troops are in the country, a number expected to reach 68,000 by year-end. And the U.S. commander is expected to request even more troops. That request, however, is in limbo as the Obama administration reviews U.S. strategy in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is key to U.S. security because al-Qaida terrorists used bases in the then-Taliban-controlled country to plan the 9/11 attacks that killed about 3,000 Americans.

The United States invaded in late 2001, sending many of al-Qaida’s terrorists into nearby Pakistan and ousting the Taliban from power. More recently, however, the Taliban have tried to win control over more of Afghanistan.

A BLAST AND THEN ...

The Taliban will fight.

Yon knows that firsthand.

A member of the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment from Kaneohe, Hawaii, Yon was at the Craig Joint Theater Hospital here last week after suffering injuries in a blast.

The lanky 6-footer with short-cropped brown hair and an easy smile said he was the gunner in a turret of a military vehicle patrolling southern Helmand province when the blast went off.

Although he lost hearing in both ears, Yon wasn’t knocked out. Yon said he remained in the turret, communicating with the crew by hand signals.

Since then, Yon has regained hearing in his left ear but is deaf in his right ear.

“The surgeon ... said there are some holes in the eardrum,” Yon said. “I have headaches, and there’s still ringing in my ears.”

Doctors have decided to fly Yon to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany for further treatment.

Yon, who is married and needs just one class to wrap up a college degree in Bible and religion studies, joined the Marines about 2½ years ago.

“It’s always been a childhood dream of mine. I’ve always wanted to do it.”

FIGHTING IN HELMAND

Fighting has been fierce from the moment his unit arrived in May, Yon said.

His most intense mission was in late June. Yon’s unit became involved in a 14-hour shoot-out with Taliban fighters on the outskirts of Now Zad, in the southern Helmand province.

Part of the 7,000-member II Marine Expeditionary Brigade commanded by 1979 Citadel alum Brig. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson, Yon’s unit was trying to push out Taliban fighters and secure the area.

Now Zad, where the mountains meet the desert in southern Afghanistan, once had about 35,000 residents. Most fled in 2006 when the Taliban gained control of the surrounding area.

Yon’s unit was sent out to gather intelligence and see whether it could find Taliban forces.

It didn’t take long for Taliban fighters to make their presence known, firing machine guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades at the Marine convoy from orchards and walled compounds.

“The adrenaline rush was amazing,” Yon said. “It drained everything out of you.”

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