Last July, 9 US soldiers from the 173d Airborne Brigade were killed in a battle high in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. Writer Thomas Ricks has published a 7-part series on his blog that is an excellent analysis of the battle, including what went wrong and what we can learn from it.
The 173d Airborne Brigade is based in Vicenza, Italy and is one of the best light infantry units in the US Army. This tragic event occurred during the last days of the Brigade's deployment to Afghanistan, and the news hit the Vicenza military community hard, just as they were preparing to welcome their soldiers home.
I spent several months in the same part of Afghanistan in 2002, and the terrain is simply unbelievable. The courage and fortitude of these soldiers should not be forgotten.
The story can be found on Thomas Ricks' blog. I highly recommend it.
There is also a well-researched summary of the battle on Wikipedia here.
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