Saturday, June 27, 2009

First Fatality

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. Lost one of my guys last night, not to Taliban activity or criminal elements, but to a stupid accident on the Bagram-Kabul road. Mr. Wali Mohammad, son of Haji Malang, was riding his motorcycle home after his shift when he was struck and killed by a US Army Stryker ICV.

A guy on a motorcycle doesn't stand much of a chance when run over by a 22-ton armored vehicle, and Wali Mohammad died early this morning in the hospital.

There are myriad ways to get killed in this country, gunfire, rockets, mortars, IEDs, not to mention cholera, typhus and other assorted ailments. A traffic accident seems somehow too prosaic.