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scribbler · 05-30-2006, 07:22

In Their Own Words
Jason Hope

We arrived in the morning. We normally like to operate at night for obvious reasons, but the enemy always has a vote on that.

They were pretty much ready for us. We were receiving fire as we were going in and an immense amount of fire when we were exiting the helos.

We were told there would be five to seven guys we would have to contend with. Having known this guy has made statements that he wasn’t going to be taken alive we knew there was going to be a fight.

The camp was in an area surrounded by low ground. We landed outside his camp only about 300 meters away. Between us and his camp is this ridge line.

As we landed, they took up positions on that ridge line. As it turned out, there was probably about 20 fighters. They were up on the ridge line ripping into us as we moved up.

We had already lost the element of surprise. We had to gain it back through aggressive maneuvers.

(Hope and his teammates charged up the ridge, overcoming the fighters.)

Once we crested the ridge line, we determined that we had to flank the enemy’s position. There was about 600 meters between us and where we needed to get.

I decided that we had to get this done because we are getting chewed up. Myself and three of my other teammates maneuvered to that position.

We just flat out ran across the 600 meters of open ground and got shot at pretty good. There wasn’t any cover. It didn’t make sense to me to friggin’ hit the ground. One, I’m old and I am wearing a lot of friggin’ equipment. I might hit the ground and not get back up.

I didn’t have a death wish. I am the oldest, slowest guy on the team. I figure if I can do it those guys will follow.

We were about 150 meters away from the camp now, and still taking an incredible about of fire.

We knew our rounds weren’t having an effect because they were still shooting at us. I got to thinking that this was a little more than just a tent they were hiding behind.

The difference between these and the regular Bedouin tents is that these had a fortified position inside of them. They had bricks and firing ports.

Myself, (Staff Sgt. Charles Maxwell) and another teammate basically cleared the position that we were receiving fire from.

As soon as the bullets stopped flying, we always do a search. One of our searches turned up these two women. They had actually moved his body. They were sitting on his body and one of our guys said, ‘Get up.’

Hey, jackpot, we got him.

05-30-2006, 07:22	#12
scribbler Asset Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Fayetteville Posts: 6	Bravery under fire 3 of 3 In Their Own Words Jason Hope We arrived in the morning. We normally like to operate at night for obvious reasons, but the enemy always has a vote on that. They were pretty much ready for us. We were receiving fire as we were going in and an immense amount of fire when we were exiting the helos. We were told there would be five to seven guys we would have to contend with. Having known this guy has made statements that he wasn’t going to be taken alive we knew there was going to be a fight. The camp was in an area surrounded by low ground. We landed outside his camp only about 300 meters away. Between us and his camp is this ridge line. As we landed, they took up positions on that ridge line. As it turned out, there was probably about 20 fighters. They were up on the ridge line ripping into us as we moved up. We had already lost the element of surprise. We had to gain it back through aggressive maneuvers. (Hope and his teammates charged up the ridge, overcoming the fighters.) Once we crested the ridge line, we determined that we had to flank the enemy’s position. There was about 600 meters between us and where we needed to get. I decided that we had to get this done because we are getting chewed up. Myself and three of my other teammates maneuvered to that position. We just flat out ran across the 600 meters of open ground and got shot at pretty good. There wasn’t any cover. It didn’t make sense to me to friggin’ hit the ground. One, I’m old and I am wearing a lot of friggin’ equipment. I might hit the ground and not get back up. I didn’t have a death wish. I am the oldest, slowest guy on the team. I figure if I can do it those guys will follow. We were about 150 meters away from the camp now, and still taking an incredible about of fire. We knew our rounds weren’t having an effect because they were still shooting at us. I got to thinking that this was a little more than just a tent they were hiding behind. The difference between these and the regular Bedouin tents is that these had a fortified position inside of them. They had bricks and firing ports. Myself, (Staff Sgt. Charles Maxwell) and another teammate basically cleared the position that we were receiving fire from. As soon as the bullets stopped flying, we always do a search. One of our searches turned up these two women. They had actually moved his body. They were sitting on his body and one of our guys said, ‘Get up.’ Hey, jackpot, we got him.
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