Photo By Spc. Micah Clare | Spc. Dillon Bergstad, a .50 caliber gunner in Headquarters and Headquarters Company,...... read more read more
Subscribe
By Army Spc. Micah E. Clare
4th Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs Office
ZEROK COMBAT OUTPOST, Afghanistan- It is known to coalition forces as "Ambush Alley."
Despite the imminent threat of attack by insurgent fighters along the winding, narrow road surrounded by steep hills and large rocks on the way to Zerok Combat Outpost in northern Paktika province, nothing it throws at them can deter the courage of the Paratroopers of 1st Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team.
Army Staff Sgt. Timothy Hamilton, a mortar team squad leader in Headquarters and Headquarters Company, from St. Petersburg, Fla., remembers one such attack on Aug. 27, a day he will never forget.
The HHC convoy was moving from Forward Operating Base Orgun-E to Zerok COP on a mission to secure a nearby pass while the battalion command group convoy traveled through.
Just as the HHC convoy stopped to send a dismounted team into the hills, the attack began.
Hamilton stepped out of the passenger side of his vehicle to set up a mortar firing position with his Soldiers, when he heard a roaring noise somewhere behind him.
"I heard a big explosion," he said. "I whirled around just in time to see a [rocket propelled grenade] impact into the truck behind me. I immediately jumped back in my truck."
On cue, a hail of small arms fire came raining down on the convoy from that direction, and the gunners went into action immediately.
"My gunner opened fire with the [M-240b machine gun]," Hamilton said. "The enemy firing positions were so close though; his machine gun broke down after it was directly hit three to four times, so he switched to his M-4 and emptied about six magazines at the attackers."
This was when Spc. Dillon Bergstad, a .50 caliber machine gunner from North Bend, Ore, took a round through his upper arm while firing from the company commander's vehicle.
"Suddenly I was knocked down," Bergstad said. "It felt like somebody pushed me over, and I fell back into the truck. When I got back up, I looked around, but didn't see anything at first, so I thought nothing had happened."
He kept firing, and remembers killing several enemy fighters at close range.
As the convoy started moving forward to get away from the side attack, they started taking even heavier contact from the front.
Four RPGs hit the company commander's truck.
"Every time we stopped, another pane of armored glass was 'spider webbing' as round after round cracked against it," Bergstad said. "I couldn't believe the intensity of this attack, they just wouldn't stop coming. These guys weren't joking around."
Hamilton, back in his vehicle, felt something hit him in the back of his helmet.
"It felt like a jackhammer," he said. "It slammed my head down, and right about then, I heard another thump and a searing heat on my neck."
Two rounds had punched through his truck. One had hit his helmet and another had grazed his neck. He could see a dent on the floor where that bullet had missed his thigh by inches and hit the floorboard.
It was during this time, that the first sergeant's gunner, Pfc. Thomas Wilson of Maurertown, Va., was killed.
Even though the loss of their teammate was awful, the rest of the platoon still had to concentrate on getting out alive, Hamilton said.
"We just couldn't believe it," Hamilton said. "In the moment, you kind of have to forget about it and just focus."
The attackers retreated after about 10 minutes of sustained gunfire and the Paratroopers quickly worked to tow the severely damaged trucks and bring everyone back to Zerok COP. Three vehicles needed to be towed back, and the other vehicles had broken glass, blown out tires and other damage.
Once there, both Hamilton and Bergstad were treated by medics, who were amazed to find their wounds very minor.
Hamilton had barely escaped having his neck pierced and his thigh penetrated; Bergstad had a bullet lodged just under the skin near his bicep, which was easily removed with little damage.
"I realize I could have lost my dome," Hamilton said. "I was incredibly lucky."
In his three deployments, Hamilton, a husband and father of two, says this is the worst ambush he's ever been in. He was able to count 34 bullet strikes on his truck, including the two above his head that nearly killed him.
Three days later, the HHC convoy was mission ready once again, patrolling on the way back to FOB Orgun-E.
Since August, the 1-503rd Paratroopers have made many more trips through ambush alley and have been attacked on most of them.
It doesn't make any difference to the 173rd "Sky Soldiers" though.
Sometimes Hamilton looks up at the bullet holes above his head, and sees the sunlight shining through them.
"When I see those holes, I think to myself, 'a few more inches,'" he said. "It would have been a completely different story."
Despite the loss of a comrade, he still knows they have a job to do.
"We'll just keep rolling through," he said.
Bergstad, looking over the ambush site from his turret, says he now sits a little lower in his seat than before.
"Still, somebody's got to patrol this area," he said. "It might as well be us."
| Date Taken: | 11.26.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 11.26.2007 15:24 |
| Story ID: | 14140 |
| Location: | AF |
| Web Views: | 434 |
| Downloads: | 85 |
This work, Ambush Alley: The Road to Zerok Combat Outpost, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
