The abandoned company
E-book, Czech
The abandoned company
At the end of 2007, a single company of US paratroopers called "Chosen Few" arrived in eastern Afghanistan. They expected to win the hearts and minds of the people in the remote mountains and extend the reach of the Afghan government into this wilderness. Instead, they spent the next fifteen months in desperate struggle. They resisted constant attacks and were forced into a slow and continuous retreat. They were still outnumbered by Taliban fighters, pouncing on them from all sides.
As U.S. attention and military resources shifted to Iraq, month after month of rocket, missile, and machine gun fire poured in on isolated and under attack paratroopers. Just a few weeks before returning home, they fought their last and stiffest battle. Near the village of Wantu in Nuristan province, about three hundred enemy fighters surrounded approximately fifty members of Chosen Few Company defending a partially completed combat base. On that day in June 2008, nine of them fell and more than 20 were injured. It was probably the bloodiest battle of the war in Afghanistan.
The paratroopers returned home, hardened by the war. Two of them were awarded the Medal of Honor. Their experiences changed everyone forever.
EUROMEDIA GROUP a.s., Nádražní 762/32, Praha 5-Smíchov 15000, Česká republika, www.euromedia.cz
