Master Sergeant John Bolduc was the handpicked leader for A-Team 585…With two intelligence sergeants, two demolition specialists, two weapons experts, two communications specialists, and two highly trained medics, Bolduc, team had everything it needed…
Bolduc was a proven product, forged in battle in Panama and Desert Storm. He was a superb leader and physically imposing….MSG Bolduc had something else going for him, and that was faith. John carried a pocket Bible on the battlefield. He also had a special talisman that the first Green Beret into each war had worn for thirty years – the magical, mystical ring….(this ring had a Burma star ruby “crafted….in 1964….an unusual gemstone for the Green Beret rings, traditionally implanted with the more common blue star sapphire, ruby, or tiger’s eye”…(from pp 48-49)) (Bolduc was the first man to go in, on reconnaissance, but his team was the 3rd team in)
….Once the team became oriented and integrated with the muj,….they never gave the Taliban a chance for a direct confrontation. They wore typical Afghan clothing, Massoud-style caps and Afghan scarves around their sholders, long hair, and beards. Their compounds were hidden in remote areas, and they moved at night whenever possible. They hid in mud trenches and crumbling bunkers, calling in air strikes as they destroyed the Taliban. Narrowly missed by enemy mortars and rockets, they fought the terrorists. They used their long-range sniper rifles to kill them one by one when necessary.
Pg 115….
The Northern Alliance leaders had more than a thousand journalists in the north and they wanted them watching the war…
The team tried to convince the muj to stop the press far behind the frontline area, but journalists were willing to pay whatever it took to see the action….
On November 7, Gary Scurka, a journalist…drove with his National Geographic film crew to the front lines
Pg 118…
….As Gary Scurka and his film team tried to get battlefield footage in Kal-a-Khata, TIGER 03 and the Taliban were slugging it out….muj wer raining down mortar rounds on the Taliban trench lines….Scurka was told not to leave his Green Beret escort’s side under any circumstances. The frontline at Kal-a-Khata was treacherous; Taliban and Northern Alliance trenches were woven in and out of the hills and stretched across the countryside…
pg 119…
…Journalists were swarming over the Northern Alliance hills like bees around a hive. A CNN cameraman ran up to the observation post and frantically announced that Taliban rockets and artillery had just hit a journalist….it was Scurka…Idema ran as fast as he could, sliding down the sandy hillside, hitting the dirt road , and running toward the nearby hill where Scurka was hit….Drenched in blood from the waist down, Scurka was now standing up with the help of several people. Everyone was arguing about what to do. Tim Friend from USA Today and Kevin Sites from NBC News had wrapped Afghan scarves around Scurka’s leg to stop the bleeding….Several of the journalists began to argue that Scurka should be immediately put in a vehicle and driven to a hospital. Kevin Sites, the NBC producer, explained that Scurka was only hit in the leg and the bleeding wasn’t that bad. A brief argument ensued. They were promptly asked how many bullet wounds they had seen and told to “shut the f*** up”….Scurka had holes through his right leg and thigh, and blood was pouring out of his upper thigh. “Looks like you’ve been shot in the ass too; how appropriate”….
Pg 120…Scurka was in shock, and had lost a lot more blood than first suspected. He was quickly hit with controlled drugs, huge dosages of Ciproflaxin antibiotics and fluids. Putting him on a Northern Alliance truck, they forded the river back to the rear area….
….Idema cut off Scurka’s blue jeans and examined the primary wound. It was a four-inch-long, three-inch-deep gaping wound. The muscle tissue was splayed open like a filleted trout, displaying the bright , pinkish-white bone in his leg. As Idema probed inside for ruptured arteries, Scurka finally began to complain. It took another ten minutes to stop the blood and dress the wound for transport. Sites offered to follow the team in another vehicle. “What if your truck breaks down?” “It’s too dangerous and it will be dark before we get there,” Idema told him. “Matters not. I’ll go in case you need me,” Sites said. Kevin Sites had “bad ass” written all over him and was about as close to looking like a Green Beret as anyone Idema had ever seen. Only a few minutes before, Idema found out that it was Sites and Friend who had actually gotten Scurka out of the field of fire and Sites’ levelheaded response that had kept things under control until Idema got there. “Thanks, I’ll take you up on it. One last thing: Thanks for getting him out of the impact area.” Idema later made it clear that Sites was the hero that day --- he had left no man behind. “No problem,” Sites said “Let’s roll,” Idema said as they drove off.
(end of quote from the book)
posted for your information, interesting appearance by our favorite journalist in the war against the Taliban just 3 months after the September 11, 2001, attack on America.
The clip I saw on MSN News had a statement from Sites in which he spoke of the professionalism of the Marines he'd been travelling with. I don't know what happened or was said after that.
I take it from this that Sites was the one who was told to shut up?
Benedict Arnold was quite a hero before he turned coat.
"Several of the journalists began to argue that Scurka should be immediately put in a vehicle and driven to a hospital. Kevin Sites, the NBC producer, explained that Scurka was only hit in the leg and the bleeding wasn’t that bad. A brief argument ensued. They were promptly asked how many bullet wounds they had seen and told to “shut the f*** up”….Scurka had holes through his right leg and thigh, and blood was pouring out of his upper thigh. “Looks like you’ve been shot in the ass too; how appropriate”…."
Isn't it likely that good old Kev wanted to play down Scurka's wound because it didn't happen to him. Sites was no doubt jealous that Scurka would get lots of attention for having been shot. Sites wanted the attention. Understanding this is really pretty simple.
All the brilliant prose aside, the story of this scumbag Sites needs to be kept alive. Stories generated by Sites and his ilk needs to be routinely exposed and discredited for the self-promoting tripe it truly is.