Longtime reader Kim shared with me the following email that she received from an Army Captain currently serving in Afghanistan…

Hi everyone.
I’m still alive but freezing my tail off. We got 8 inches of snow last week and it reached 5 degrees below zero that night. That’s not why I’m e-mailing though. You may have heard about a suicide car bomb attack in Kabul last Thursday. It was at one of our FOB’s (Forward Operating Bases) about 27 miles from here. But the real story is why no one was killed.

We employ several thousand Afghans on our various bases. Not to mention the economy that is fed by the money these locals are making. Some are laborers and builders, but some are skilled workers. We even have one Afghan that just became OSHA qualified, the first ever. Some are skilled HVAC workers.

Anyway, there is this one Afghan that we call Rambo. We have actually given him a couple of sets of the new ACU uniforms (the new Army digital camouflage) with the name tag RAMBO on it. His entire family was killed by the Taliban and his home was where our base currently resides. So this guy really had nowhere else to go. He has reached such a level of trust with US Forces that his job is to stand at the front gate and basically be the first security screening. Since he can’t have a weapon, he found a big red pipe. So he stands there at the front gate in his US Army ACU uniform with his red pipe. If a vehicle approaches the gate too fast or fails to stop he slams his pipe down on their hood. Then once the gate is lifted the vehicle moves on the 2nd gate where the US Army MP’s are. So he’s like the first line of defense.

Last Thursday at 0930 hrs a Toyota Corolla packed with explosives and some Jack Ass that thinks he has 72 Virgins waiting for him approached the gate. When he saw Rambo he must have recognized him and known the gig was up. But he needed to get to that 2nd gate to detonate and take American lives. So he slams his foot on the gas which almost causes the metal gate to go up but mostly catches on the now broken windshield.

Rambo fearlessly ran to the vehicle, reached thru the window and jerked the suicide bomber out of the vehicle before he could detonate and commenced to putting some red pipe to his heathen ass. He detained the guy until the MP got there. The vehicle only exploded when they tried to push it off base with a robot but no one was hurt. I’m still waiting for someone to give this guy a medal or something. Nothing less than instant US citizenship or something. A hat was passed around and a lot of money was given to him in thanks by both soldiers and civilians that are working over here.

I guess I just wanted to share this because I want people to know that it’s working over here. They have tasted freedom. This makes it worth it to me.

-JOHN W. HUNT, CPT, US ARMY

I guess the MSM missed all of that, or didn’t think it worth publishing. Thanks Kim for sharing and thank you CPT Hunt for passing along the rest of the story and a very BIG THANK YOU to Rambo for not only standing up to evil, but for protecting our Soldiers serving in the Stan. Sgt Hook out.

UPDATE: Black5 has a similar letter written by a Staff Sergeant also currently serving in the Stan. A must read.

I am tired of people like Meredith Vieria from NBC asking oxygen thieves like Senator Chuck Hagel questions like “Senator, at this point, do you think we are fighting and dying for nothing?” Meredith might not get it, but soldiers do know the difference between fighting and dying for something and fighting and dying for nothing.

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Posted by Hook @ 1635 zulu | | Permalink
This post is filed under: GWOT & Heroes & The Stan

My Own Thoughts linked with A Real Hero
The Daily Brief: Military Musings and Thoughts Less Filtered linked with Rambo is an Afghani
Dan’s Ramblings - Unsung Heroes linked with Dan’s Ramblings - Unsung Heroes

[…] SGT. Hook has a nice post up about an Afghani, nicknamed “Rambo” that works the first gate of a Forward Operating Base’s Entry Control Point in Afghanistan.  Basically the Afghani’s quick action defused a very dangerous situation. […]

Pingback by Dan’s Ramblings - Unsung Heroes — 31 January 2007 @ 2210

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[…] Sgt Hook tells us a story about an Afghan hero, who saved lives. He got it from an email sent to him by a longtime reader. The email was from an Army Captain currently in Afghanistan. Anyway, there is this one Afghan that we call Rambo. We have actually given him a couple of sets of the new ACU uniforms (the new Army digital camouflage) with the name tag RAMBO on it. His entire family was killed by the Taliban and his home was where our base currently resides. So this guy really had nowhere else to go. He has reached such a level of trust with US Forces that his job is to stand at the front gate and basically be the first security screening. Since he can’t have a weapon, he found a big red pipe. So he stands there at the front gate in his US Army ACU uniform with his red pipe. If a vehicle approaches the gate too fast or fails to stop he slams his pipe down on their hood. Then once the gate is lifted the vehicle moves on the 2nd gate where the US Army MP’s are. So he’s like the first line of defense. […]

Pingback by The Daily Brief: Military Musings and Thoughts Less Filtered » Rambo is an Afghani — 1 February 2007 @ 0355

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[…] Read about him at Sgt. Hook. This guy, with a red pipe and his own hands, took a suicide bomber out of commission and saved a bunch of soldiers. […]

Pingback by My Own Thoughts » A Real Hero — 1 February 2007 @ 0529

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http://miserabledonuts.blogspot.com/2005/08/gratuitous-afghanistan-photo-of.html

Yes, I remember Rambo!

Comment by Major John — 1 February 2007 @ 1913

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Black5 ia unhappy with Meredith Vieria and Senator Chuck Hagel.

In regards, to Meredith Vieria, I see a lot of complaints on the MSN, and a number of them like this are because they are trying to address key questions. Certainly what we are doing in Iraq is a key question and Senator Hagel is in the middle of the debate.

Its pretty cheap to smear him just because you disagree with him. All the people I see in the middle of this debate are patriots who want the best for their country. They certainly can’t agree on what it is that’s needed, but I see them all trying their best to make sense of a very confused situation.

Soldiers often do not know if what they are fighting for is worth dying for or not, they have to depend on their leaders. I think of a battalion defending a hill — they can fight to the last man, but never know whether or not the specific hill is worth anything. Their effort can be totally wasted or totally critical, and they have to depend on the decision of their commander when they put their lives on the line.

Chuck Hagel had his life on the line in Vietnam, which is a lot more than almost any of the other participants in this national debate can say. And as it turned out, he and the other soldiers who were fighting and dying in Vietnam weren’t fighting for much. “Nothing” comes pretty close. Certainly the lives, treasure and resources that we put into Vietnam could have been much better used in other ways, and would have gotten the nation a lot more. It took us way too long to figure that out, and for a long time we were sending people into a conflict that the top leaders already recognized as lost. So it’s clearly appropriate for the senior leadership of our nation to look at what we are doing in Iraq and assess what is worth it. Are we throwing more lives down a rat hole, or will we really get something out of it.

Maybe it’s premature to say that Iraq is lost, but it’s hard at this point to see how we will get a stable and viable government out of it, much less a democratic government representing all the Iraqi people and serving as a shining beacon for the region and the world. Not a single Iraqi politician has articulated a vision of what a prosperous, democratic Iraq might look like.

Our troops have been fighting their hearts out and often dying. They have taken thousands of positive steps and performed innumerable wonderful acts of kindness & courage. One of the huge differences between the Vietnam and Iraq conflicts is that the American people are totally behind the troops in Iraq. I see no one questioning their dedication, patriotism, or love of their country.

The problem is that while the troops have been fighting and dying, the leadership has been managing the entire effort so incompetently that the troops are now in an almost untenable position. The other day there was a pitched battle near Najaf, with a couple hundred “insurgents” killed, but we still don’t even know who these people were, the situation is so confused. Apparently Shiite militia in Baghdad are going underground, so troops surged there will have little effect unless they stay for years.

What we are doing in Iraq now isn’t working. A top-level debate on how, or if, we can do it better is badly needed. Chuck Hagel is part of that debate, and Meredith Vieria is helping ask the questions that the American people want to.

Comment by Corc615 — 1 February 2007 @ 1924

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More info on Rambo from a few other milblogs (”RTO Trainer” from signaleer is currently stationed at Camp Pheonix). Thanks for helping get these stories out Sgt. Hook.

http://signaleer.blogspot.com/2007/01/trying-to-counter-different-versions-of.html

http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?91756

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2007/01/afghans_pull_ra.html#comments

Comment by Jake P. — 1 February 2007 @ 1934

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That’s the American spirit… our Heroes treating the brave Afghan national like the Hero he is. Our troops are the best, and this one deserves to be an honorary!!!

Posted at SA… Thanks Sgt Hook!
Jackie Mason
Soldiers’ Angels-LWT Team Leader/Wounded TLC Member

Comment by Jackie — 1 February 2007 @ 2122

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Is there any way that a member of Soldiers’ Angels could ‘adopt’ Rambo…send him letters and care packages? It seems to me he’s one of ours, and should be treated as such.

Comment by Bonnie — 1 February 2007 @ 2337

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Rambo and the interpreter with him were honored by the “powers that be” - I posted on it today.

Comment by Flag Gazer — 7 February 2007 @ 0101

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