Priceless in Afganistan

Priceless in Afghanistan

From Afghanistan Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2004 9:43 AM

Story of the week;

So we are up in the mountains at about 0100 hrs looking for a bad guy that
we thought was in the area.
Here are ten of us, pitch black, crystal clear night, about 25 degrees. We
know there are bad guys in the area;
a few shots have been fired but no big deal. We decide that we need air
cover and the only thing in the area
is a solo B-1 bomber. He flies around at about 20,000 feet and tells us
there is nothing in the area.
He then asks if we would like a low level show of force. Stupid question.
Of course we tell him yes.

The controller who is attached to the team then is heard talking to the
pilot. Pilot asks if we want it
subsonic or supersonic. Very stupid question. Pilot advises he is twenty
miles out and stand by.
The controller gets us all sitting down in a line and points out the proper
location. You have to picture this.
Pitch black, ten killers sitting down, dead quiet and overlooking this about
30 mile long valley.
All of a sudden, way out (below our level) you see a set of four 200' white
flames coming at us. The controller
says, "Ah-- guys-- you might want to plug your ears". Faster than you can
think a B-1, supersonic, 1000' over our
heads, blasts the sound barrier and it feels like God just hit you in the
head with a hammer". He then stands it
straight up with 4 white trails of flame coming out and disappears.

Cost of gas for that: Probably $50,000
Hearing damage: For certain
Bunch of Taliban thinking twice about shooting at us: Priceless