IN MY SHOES: “This Is Your Rifle Now”
McClatchy Newspapers reporter Jonathan S. Landay, who is imbedded with U.S. troops in Afghanistan describes an encounter with insurgents that left three of those in his group wounded, one of them seriously:
Marine Maj. Kevin Williams of Louisville, Ky., took a bullet in his left forearm. Marine 1st Sgt. Christopher Garza of Houston suffered a near total loss of hearing and a serious concussion from a rocket-propelled grenade explosion. U.S. Army Sgt. Kenneth W. Westbrook of Colorado Springs, Colo., was gravely wounded when a bullet gouged his right cheek and then tore into the base of his neck. …
I … sprang up from the furrow where I was lying and weaved and dodged my way back to where I'd last seen the others. I dove behind a stone wall and nearly landed on top of the bleeding Westbrook.
Westbrook lay on his back as Swenson, his friend and boss, pressed a field dressing to his neck. With his other hand, Swenson called the locations of insurgents into his radio. He then would take time to calm Westbrook, telling him that his wound wasn't fatal and trying to bolster his spirits by teasing him that he was being overly dramatic.
As bullets zapped above and around us, Fabayo grabbed the wounded Westbrook's M-4 and threw it to me.
"This is your rifle now," he yelled. Then he turned to fire bursts from his own rifle.
It took a few seconds for me to decide that I'd use the rifle if I had to save my life and the lives of the others.
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