Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
29:52 | The men of the 489th Civil affairs Battalion were having a good deployment in Afghanistan despite mistrust of their Afghan allies and intermittent funding for their projects. That all changed one day when they took an official from USAID with them to assess local schools. Out of nowhere, machine gun fire erupted and a scramble for life began. Michael Trost, Robert Rose and Colin Walsh combine to tell the story of this surprise attack. (Caution: strong language.)
Keywords : Michael Trost Colin Walsh Robert Rose Afghanistan United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Albanian Afghan National Police
His dad was a Marine so Michael Trost was pulling his own weight as a child. As an adult, he joined the Army. That'll show him! As a reservist, he got into a civil affairs battalion and finally had a deployment in Iraq. He was ready.
Mobilization is a lot of work for a sergeant like Michael Trost. Paperwork and medical stuff. He nearly didn't make the tour because of high cholesterol. He persevered and he was glad because it had been a long wait for action and he had assembled a great team
The business of a civil affairs unit is trying to win the hearts and minds of a local populace. You have to deal with a lot of things that aren't in the book. Michael Trost had a great team with him in Afghanistan but it was tough in a tribal society. Finding humor in the daily grind provided a little relief, like the trouble he had with a containerized housing unit, or CHU, which housed the showers.
It was a messed up mission from the start. A young woman from USAID was with Michael Trost's civil affairs team assessing schools in Afghanistan. She did not care for what she was finding. When machine gun fire came out of nowhere, a mad scramble for life began. Part 1 of 2.
He'd been shot eight times with machine gun fire. Michael Trost had put a couple of tourniquets on himself but his team stepped in and the bandaging began. After some difficulty reminiscent of the Three Stooges, he was evacuated by helicopter. He had some serious wounds and the surgeries began as soon as he touched down. Part 2 of 2.
One thing about the Army, the friendly ribbing is a constant, even in the hospital. Michael Trost was around for a lot of that as he was going through a year of surgery and recovery. Then the physical therapy to get him back on his feet. When he found and contacted the trauma nurse who'd helped him in Afghanistan, it proved to be mutually beneficial
Now he understands how those Vietnam veterans must of felt. When the Afghanistan withdrawal unfolded the way it did, Michael Trost felt a new kinship with them. Still, he was proud of his team and he knew they made the best of a bad situation.
