A Harrowing Night In Afghanistan by U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Brooke Moeder
April 24, 2021
He sat back in his chair at Aviano Air Base, Italy ... recalling
the tragic events that took place that night in Afghanistan. The
explosion, the fire, the confusion.
“The
first thing that comes to mind is fire,” said U.S. Air Force Staff
Sgt. Michael Rogers, 57th Rescue Squadron pararescueman (PJ). “There
were so many things covered in fuel and burning. It looked
apocalyptic.”
Thinking back to a time before this
life-altering event, Rogers explained he worked as a mountain guide
and paramedic in Wyoming before he felt the call to join the U.S.
Air Force in October 2014.
“I was reaching a place in my
previous career where I wanted to take the next step forward, with
medicine in particular,” said Rogers. “I started looking into
flight-medicine and stumbled across the pararescue career field. On
my honeymoon almost a year later, I got a text saying I was leaving
for basic training in a couple weeks.”
After basic training,
Rogers completed PJ training in just a year and a half, even though
the average training time is more than three years. Remaining
mentally resilient was essential to finish the training, Rogers
said.
“It was a grind to see if you're willing to commit to
waking up, knowing what's going to happen the next day, and just
continue to do it over and over,” said Rogers. “It involved lots of
swimming and rucking. It was pretty brutal, but it’s awesome.”
Rogers deployed to Afghanistan in 2017, and again at the end of
2019. During his second deployment as a technical rescue specialist,
Rogers was tasked to recover endangered personnel while attached to
a U.S. Army Special Forces (SF) unit that supported Afghanistan army
units against the Taliban.
The missions were designed to help
the Afghanistan army get the assistance and training they needed to
defend themselves, said Rogers.
“The area we were in was
experiencing a full surge by the Taliban, with them trying to take
and retake several districts and key cities attached to those
districts,” said Rogers. “We were just trying to focus on a few
districts that were holes for drugs and equipment, and prevent that
from continuing to worsen.”
Sixteen-hour days on foot or in
a vehicle was an average day for Rogers and his team. Missions were
completed at night to specific locations of interest.
Although, one of those night missions wasn’t like the others.
“Right toward the end of our time there, we had a village that
previously received a really bad ambush,” said Rogers. “We counted
over 20 rocket-propelled grenades (RPG) that were fired at our
convoy, and two RPGs went right across the hood of our vehicle as we
were trying to return fire.”
Locals in the village told the convoy about a compound listed as
a Taliban headquarters building, located in a school. In this
building they found a large stockpile of artillery.
“There
were piles and piles of radio equipment and different kinds of
electronics, Taliban propaganda, and about 50 to 60 pounds of
homemade explosives,” said Rogers. “Ammunition for all different
kinds of weapons, mortars and stacks of rocket boosters were also
found there.”
Rogers and an SF communications specialist
started sifting through the equipment, but two of his teammates
asked them to leave the area; a request that saved Rogers’ life.
Other individuals, who Rogers knew and recognized, stayed behind
to sort through the pile to identify artillery, including an SF
intelligence sergeant, SF communications sergeant, and an SF
engineer.
“I was looking at one of the guys organizing the
pile through my night vision goggles when all of a sudden we saw a
flash and heard two bangs,” said Rogers. “We then felt the
concussive force from the explosion and immediately thought we were
under attack, so we prepared to fire back.”
After the initial
confusion and chaos of the moment, Rogers composed himself, realized
they weren’t under attack, and jumped into action to assist
individuals injured in the blast.
“The SF medic and I
started going through the mass casualty procedures because we knew
there had been a bunch of guys near the blast,” explained Rogers.
“The engineer was blown over and down into a ditch, and appeared to
be unconscious. The communications sergeant was set on fire with RPG
fuel after it exploded near him.”
Rogers couldn’t locate the
intelligence sergeant at first, but found him on the other side of
the stockpile two meters away from the initial explosion. Rogers
assessed his condition and found him in bad shape. To Rogers’
surprise, the communications sergeant had smothered the fire on
himself and helped drag the intelligence sergeant out of the
stockpile to safety.
“We were able to get a few steps before
the kit that the intelligence sergeant was wearing ignited, as it
was filled with ammo, grenades and a radio,” said Rogers. “They
started going off in his kit and were burning through the material,
cooking off the rounds in the bottom of his magazine.”
Before
he had time to react, the communications sergeant ripped the burning
radio off the intelligence sergeant, in turn reigniting himself.
Rogers then had to rip the kit and burning grenades free and throw
it away from the intelligence sergeant.
“A TACP [Tactical
Air Control Party] arrived and started to help,” said Rogers. “I
directed him to start applying tourniquets to three different limbs
of the intelligence sergeant that were bleeding heavily. He had a
lot of blast injuries throughout his whole body.”
The group
didn’t have the opportunity to leave the edge of the stockpile until
they could treat the intelligence sergeant’s wounds. They instead
positioned themselves between the intelligence sergeant and the
ongoing explosions to keep treating. Three different medical bags
were exhausted to treat the wounds, but it wasn’t enough.
Rogers helped treat six other of his teammates on the scene. While
treating the intelligence sergeant’s wounds, he coordinated a
medevac with the ground force commander. More than an hour later,
the medevac airlifted them to a German surgical center.
“We
kept trying to resuscitate the intelligence sergeant as best we
could on the way to the hospital,” said Rogers. “After about 30
minutes at the hospital, [the medical staff] assessed his condition
and determined he just wasn't sustainable.”
The intelligence
operator passed away later that night, and Rogers stayed with him
the rest of the night as his team came to pay their respects.
“The intelligence sergeant was an ultimate professional,” said
Rogers. “He’s definitely the best intel operator I've ever known. He
was key to ours and the Afghan’s success that winter. Being able to
hold that region… a large portion of it was due to his efforts. He
really cared and believed in his mission.”
Rogers was awarded
the 2021 Air Force Sergeants Association Pitsenbarger Award for his
efforts that night in Afghanistan. While Rogers expressed it’s
extremely humbling to receive the award, he gave credit to the men
he was with that night.
“It's an honor to receive [this
award], but I don't think anyone else in that the same circumstance
would have done anything different,” said Rogers.
The reason
for the detonation was ruled as an accidental discharge into the RPG
stockpile by partner forces.
Rogers says the experience has
changed him but he’s gained an appreciation for the sacrifices that
are made for our country.
“The men I was with didn't have to
work as much as they did,” Rogers said. “Everybody that was there
was passionate about their job and doing it right. This loss wrecked
our team. Losing families, losing a brother. Those men I was with
are our absolute heroes, and I would fight alongside them any day,
anywhere.”
Our Valiant Troops |
Veterans |
Citizens Like Us
U.S. Air Force Gifts |
U.S. Air Force |
U.S. Department
of Defense
|
|