The Ghazni Eight

The Ghazni Eight
DoD photo by Sgt. Pete Thibodeau
Battlefields Staff
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Commentary

We ran ammo bunker “missions” all the time. It was really more of a work detail. In the early days of 2003, the Afghan National Army (ANA) was still in its infancy, being stood up and mentored by the U.S. and NATO partners. Part of standing up was to stockpile equipment and ordnance for ANA later use. There were often weapons caches captured from the bad guys. But word quickly got out to the masses and unused ordinance just started showing up all over. You know how we Americans generally shut down our garage sales at lunchtime and then just try to give everything away? Same thing. Sometimes it was whole truckloads. Sometimes it was an Afghan kid running up to our foot patrol giving them a land mine from Grandpa’s basement. You never knew.

David Hartmann is a father, husband, son, boss, writer, beekeeper, outdoorsman, occasional teacher, compulsive elk hunter, Afghanistan veteran, and living proof that anyone is trainable. He is a 1994 South Dakota School of Mines graduate. David spent 12 years in the Army and Army Reserve as an Engineer Officer before that career was cut short with Afghanistan injuries. He spent decades as a consulting civil engineer working in communities all around the American West and now oversees his firm’s engineering department. As an engineer who can write a story, Dave continues to amaze both friend and foe.
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