Russia
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The Bird
Afghanistan
by Behrouz Mehri
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Medevac helicopter is a confusing place. Hell and heaven. You see the good guys and the bad guys but you
can't tell the bad from the good, you can't figure it out.
Medevac helicopter or as American soldiers in Afghanistan call it, The Bird, has many untold stories. But this
Bird is a mute one and ironically can not talk though makes a hell of noise upon arrival and departure.
The Bird without any preconceived notion takes the responsibility of evacuating an Afghan who sustained
five shots while planting an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and is still struggling for his life and a soldier
of Coalition Forces who has just has lost his legs stepping on an implanted IED. The Bird silently screams
both of them to safety while filled with their red blood. A good guy alongside a bad guy.
I witnessed and clicked, my camera's shutter sound was muted amid the thunderous roar of the Bird's scream
taking the good and the bad guys to safety without any judgment, but yet my stories in the Bird are not
thorough. I keep the some locked in my heart. I become like the bird. The Bird screams loudly but who can
understand what it says.
You should see it yourself. You should feel the blood, the same red blood.
But neither me, nor the Bird judge.
Who can judge a 13-year old who plants an IED, just to earn enough money to feed his loved ones, or a young
18-year old soldier who joins the army to escape unemployment at home, shooting the Afghan teenager for
planting the IED. Afghans suffer the IEDs more than anyone. Children, farmers, workers, villagers, soldiers and
policemen. They’re born, live and die in war.
Afghanistan has been screaming for decades. The whole world has screamed here, Afghans more than the
others, West and East too. I and the Bird screamed too, a different one.
But you still can’t judge any scream. No one can.
US Flight Medic, sergeant 1st class Joseph Lemons (R) from 159th Brigade Task Force Thunder
comforts the blindfold Afghan civilian cook, Salman Gowhar, in ambulance on the way to
Kandahar Hospital after airlifting him from the Khakriz village in Kandahar province on October 17,
2011. Salman was injured by the steam blown on his face and eyes while cooking in his village in
Kandahar province. A decade into the war, US troops on the ground complain that Afghan forces
are still over-reliant on them and fail to take initiative.
US flight medic officer, Jeff Johnson from the U.S. Army's Task Force Lift "Dust Off", Charlie
Company 1-171 Aviation Regiment leaves the helicopter after a mission aborted at Forward
Operating Base (FOB) Dwyer in the southern Helmand province on October 24, 2011.
US Marines and flight Medic Officer, staff seargent Ronald Benavidez (L) from U.S. Army's Task
Force Lift "Dust Off", Charlie Company 1-171 Aviation Regiment carry a local Afghan who is
wounded by a gun shot from insurgents to a medevac helicopter in Helmand province on October
29, 2011. Four Afghans who got shot were local contractors attacked by insurgents while
transporting their trucks.
A severely wounded US Marine hit by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) is carried by his
comrades to a medevac helicopter of U.S. Army's Task Force Lift "Dust Off", Charlie Company
1-171 Aviation Regiment to be airlifted in Helmand province on October 31, 2011. The Marine who
was hit by an IED lost both his legs and fights for his life.
A fatally wounded US Marine hit by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) receives medical
treatment after airlifted by Medevac helicopter of U.S. Army's Task Force Lift "Dust Off", Charlie
Company 1-171 Aviation Regiment in Helmand province on October 31, 2011. The Marine who
was hit by an IED lost both his legs and fights for his life.
US Marine lance corporal Zachary Densmor from 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines suffering from
fractures in his leg is carried by his comrades to a Medevac helicopter of US Army's Task Force
Lift "Dust Off", Charlie Company 1-171 Aviation Regiment after he was hit by an Improvised
Explosive Device (IED) in Helmand province on October 31, 2011.
US Flight Medic staff sergeant Ronal Benevidez speaks with Crew Chief sergeant Heriberto Ibarra
from US Army's Task Force Lift "Dust Off", Charlie Company 1-171 Aviation Regiment while
airlifting US Marine lance corporal Zachary Densmor from 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines suffering from
fractures in his leg by a Medevac helicopter after he was hit by an Improvised Explosive Device
(IED) in Helmand province on October 31, 2011.
An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier looks on while he is airlifted by a Medevac helicopter of
US Army's Task Force Lift "Dust Off", Charlie Company 1-171 Aviation Regiment in Helmand
province on November 1, 2011. Three ANA soldiers were shot in their legs by insurgents. There
are currently 98,000 US troops out of a total NATO-led force of 130,000 deployed to Afghanistan,
fighting an insurgency that remains virulent across the country, with the war now focused on the
eastern border with Pakistan.
Flare is seen while a UH-60 Black Hawk Medevac helicopter from US Army's Task Force Lift
"Dust Off", Charlie Company 1-171 Aviation Regiment lands at the point of injury of a US Marine
hit by an Improvised Expolsive Device (IED) in Helmand province on November 2, 2011. The
Marine who was hit by an IED lost his right leg.
Seen through a haze of fine dust kicked up by the helicopter's rotor blades, US Marines carry a
wounded comrade who was hit by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) to a medevac helicopter
of U.S. Army's Task Force Lift "Dust Off", Charlie Company 1-171 Aviation Regiment in Helmand
province on November 2, 2011. The Marine lost his right leg from the knee in the blast.
US Flight Medic sergeant Jose Fierro from U.S. Army's Task Force Lift "Dust Off", Charlie
Company 1-171 Aviation Regiment reads a book at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Edinburgh in
Helmand province on early midnight November 2, 2011.
US Flight Medic staff sergeant Noah Berg from US Army's Task Force Lift "Dust Off", Charlie
Company 1-171 Aviation Regiment looks at a mirror after shaving at Forward Operating Base
(FOB) Edinburgh in Helmand province November 3, 2011.
US Flight Medic sergeant Megan Ford helps a severely wounded elder Afghan who got shot on his
face, to breath with a bag valve mask after airlifing him by a Medevac helicopter of US Army's
Task Force Lift "Dust Off", Charlie Company 1-171 Aviation regiment in Helmand province on
November 6, 2011.
US Flight Medic sergeant Megan Ford (L) and Crew Chief staff sergeant Ryan Haworth (R) help a
severely wounded elder Afghan who got shot in the face, to breathe with a bag valve mask after
airlifting him by Medevac helicopter of US Army's Task Force Lift "Dust Off", Charlie Company
1-171 Aviation regiment in Helmand province on November 6, 2011.
US Navy medical officers take off the blood stained clothes of a severely wounded elder Afghan
man who got shot on the face, to move him to the Shock Trauma Platoon (STP) at Forward
Operation Base (FOB) Edinburgh after he was airlifted by a Medevac helicopter of U.S. Army's
Task Force Lift "Dust Off", Charlie Company 1-171 Aviation regiment in Helmand province on
November 6, 2011.
US Flight Medic sergeant first class Keith Gensamer from US Army's Task Force Lift "Dust Off",
Charlie Company 1-171 Aviation regiment cleans the blood on the floor of a medevac helicopter
after his comrades airlifted a severely wounded elder Afghan man who got shot on his face in
Helmand province on November 6, 2011.
An Afghan local man who accompanies a severely wounded elder Afghan man who got shot on
the face holds the seat belts in a Medevac helicopter of U.S. Army's Task Force Lift "Dust Off",
Charlie Company 1-171 Aviation regiment in Helmand province on November 6, 2011.