Battlefield Tourist

So even though my alarm is set, someone woke Captain Dent so he could get my late-ass up. Actually, I wasn't late, they just wanted me there sooner than they told me. However, for the purpose that humility goes a mile, I was late.
No problem. I'm quick to move and before no time where I should be. I'm assigned a Hummvee with the intelligence officer, Capt. Bullard. Taller than average, chisel -type. Deep strong voice. Pretty nice guy. Meritoriously earned a commission. First time I'd heard of that. Very rare means very cool. The driver's name is Turner and beside me is a sergeant of unknown surname. I do know he's from Michigan, just north of Muskegon. It's near the area my Grandfather Sloat was born and raised.
When I jumped into the hummer, the two marines were sleeping, just waiting for the word. Captain Bullard and I got some coffee out of the command tent. Fortunately for me, it was the uncomfortable, "last cup and the Colonel hasn't had one yet" scenarios. It was a good cup.
See, I understand how the ship is ran here, as do his men. Lt. Col. Khan is a tough Marine. He's is direct, abrasive and demanding. Yet at the same time, it's in a manner of "no kidding guys, just think!" type of attitude. He expects a lot and everyone knows it. There's a real "snap to" when he talks to you. People react with urgency to him, and when they don't, you know about it.
Three hours into the ride through the desert, the sun had come up and the dust was just warming up. I've said it before, and I have to reiterate it: The dust here is absolutely choking.
We stop at a small village that is a "known" Taliban - sympathizing village. It's been surrounded since just past dawn by some special Marines and some AMF units. No one gets out until the Marines search it.
This is how it's done by the Marines and they've been doing it across southern Orazgun since late April. This particular mission is known as "Thunderball" and is expected to last three days.
At least five different U.S. elements, including the command element (which I'm in), are about to begin clearing eight objective areas throughout south and eastern Orazgun.
In all, the command element has about 50 Marines and more than 200 AMF troops. Claimed by Lt. Col. Kahn as "a first". Quite the party. At times it's like the "Road Warrior". We're moving down the horrible roads at a pretty fare speed, and these little Toyota trucks are zipping along side of you crammed to the gill with AMF fighters. No kidding, 10 - 12 in one pick up bed. All armed, some of them high. I'm told repeatedly that the AMF is almost as bad as the insurgent forces. Robbery, beatings, and rape are not uncommon, but unverifiable.
From what I gather, Jan Mohammed is a shady guy himself. Thrown in prison and tortured by the Taliban, he was personally rescued by President Karzai and is considered a staunch supporter of the president. Mohammed's efforts have helped bring security to the area, enough so that more than 10,000 have registered to vote since the Marines came a month ago.
But there is talk that the governor is involved in the drug trade. This would not at all be uncommon and really shows the root of the problem here in Afghanistan. Everything is connected to the drug trade. Warlords, militias, governors, terrorists, the local economy. All of it dependent on the poppy plant. In fact there is no way possible that the governor, whose compound is surrounded by the lovely flower, would not be getting a cut of the wealth that surrounds him. It's ingrained in the culture here and it's going to be a tough habit to break.
Currently the coalition is in a "support mode" and pretty much turns a blind eye to the poppies. There is an unconfirmed, but well "in the know" report that two soldiers killed in Orzagun province earlier this year weren't killed by Taliban, but were killed by farmers after they torched some poppy fields.
I'm also told that satellite imagery shows that this year's poppy harvest (which we are in the middle of) will be a record harvest. This is the first full harvest since the fall of the Taliban, which just a few years ago had the poppy nearly eradicated.
So here we are going "campaigning" with a group called by some Marines as "The Flying Circus".
At the first village, Colonel Kahn is out of his jeep yelling at the Marines still in their trucks. "Get the f*** out of the trucks! Who's in charge here?" You're like a bunch of old people!"
The Marines sweep into the village with the AMF and begin the process of searching it. They pushed through the village quickly at first, then regrouped and started a methodical search.
An hour into the search and I am watching Capt. Bullard ask a young bearded man questions. Bullard's goal is to try to trip the suspect up, very similar in technique to a lawyer. It takes absolutely no time for the officer to have the guys' story all wound up in inconsistencies. The one that sticks out is that he has permission for the governor to be working here. When asked who the governor was (who was standing outside), he didn't know.
Just then gunshots ring out from the compound the man claimed to own. We all immediately started running toward the sound of the gunfire. I follow two Marines across the open yard, and there's more shots. We make it to a door and I wait behind them. I can hear children crying and all I can think is that the Marines shot someone in front of those kids.
As we get into the compound, I see a large dog that had been shot lying in a door war. Behind me a woman is crying. The marines that fire explain that the dog charged them and they were forced to shoot. That is the normal and expected procedure: Don't get bitten. The dog is taken to a ditch and left there. The owner wants $80.
I make my way toward the group of men who had just been interrogated (in the shade with tea). Colonel Khan points out the large stack of wheat that is piled up. He says he has been learning that these villages are staging points for the guerrillas. Villagers buy extra rice and allow the insurgents to store small caches of ammunition in the cracks and crevices of the mountains surrounding the village.
When an attack is planned, the militants pick up there supplies and move on.
Intelligence is gathered, but no one is arrested. Besides the rice, two boxes of Chinese AK-47 rounds are found. The town elders are told there won't be any wells coming this way until they change their ways. The convoy loads up and moves on.