Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
6:25 | Landing at Bagram looked like landing back home in Big Pine, CA. That's what John Brusa thought as his plane came in. His first mission was to occupy a new combat outpost in the mountainous region near the Pakistan border.
Keywords : John Brusa Afghanistan Bagram Paktika Province Big Pine CA Pakistan combat outpost (COP) mountains
He knew growing up that he wanted to be either a police officer or in the military. John Brusa stayed out of trouble and played sports and, when the time came, he decided on the military. The only thing he knew was that the Navy was not an option.
They were getting so many rockets fired at them that they decided to put a combat outpost at the top of the mountain to see where they were coming from. John Brusa was just a PFC at the time and was used chiefly as an ammo mule. They were very near the Pakistan border and had several white flag meetings with their counterparts from across the line.
The road between the two US bases took only twenty minutes to drive, at first, but it soon became the most heavily booby trapped road in Afghanistan. John Brusa recalls that the IED's may have been plentiful but that his combat outpost was never successfully attacked. The engineers had built a real fortress.
The forward operating base had one road in and out and when John Brusa's unit left the base, the convoy was miles long. At one point it stopped for three hours and most of the guys were thinking what he was thinking. We're gonna get hit.
John Brusa's first Afghanistan deployment was extended from 12 to 15 months. When he finally departed it was back to the 173rd Airborne home base in Italy. He knew he was slated to move to the 82nd Airborne so he made the most of the rest of his time in Italy.
John Brusa was with the advance team that deployed early to Afghanistan. They wound up doing temporary small unit assignments in various places. The first mission was to relieve a beat up National Guard unit who were glad to see the Airborne guys come in. It was there that they met a gung ho Afghan National Police commander who was a little too gung ho for his own good.
John Brusa was told to just pack ammo and water. They were going to provide security for a body recovery mission at a remote river. After several days of a nearly constant firefight, the Taliban backed off. The mission dragged on and on, however, until food became a serious issue.
For the combatants on the ground, the sounds of the US air support could be terrifying. For John Brusa, the scariest sound was from the A-10 Warthogs. It reverberated around the Afghan mountains producing an eerie wail.
It was winter when John Brusa's unit arrived in the Arghandab Valley in Afghanistan. The fighting season wouldn't start until spring, which gave them a chance to get to know their area of operation.
Once fighting season was underway, there was contact or an IED every day. John Brusa's platoon was lucky or maybe they were making their own luck. They would move by difficult, indirect routes to stay away from the booby trapped roads and paths.
It was like a movie. John Brusa saw his platoon leader shouting and waving but could not hear what he was saying. Finally he understood. A man had been wounded and he needed to pull him to safety. It was the most tense few minutes he would experience in Afghanistan. (Caution: strong language)
Morale was not good at the end of that deployment. It was time to leave but John Brusa's unit was given one more assignment. They had to go support another company that was even more beat up than they were. Finally the time came and then the question. Do I want to reenlist?
Good leadership means a lot and John Brusa gives a shout out to several leaders who had a big influence on him. And what was his biggest leadership challenge once he was promoted?
