Spc. Adam Blackburn, 24, of Grant Bay, Calif., shakes the hand of Brig. Gen. Rodney O. Anderson after being awarded the Purple Heart Medal on Monday. Blackburn, wounded in combat in southern Afghanistan, is with the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment. U.S. troops recuperating from battle for Musa QalaBy Les Neuhaus, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, December 11, 2007
BAGRAM, Afghanistan — American troops wounded in the battle for a southern Afghan town this week are recuperating at a military hospital and telling of heavy fighting in the city.
Operation Zafar involves British, American and Afghan troops and seeks to take back the town of Musa Qala, known as the last sizeable Taliban-controlled town in Afghanistan.
Two NATO soldiers have died in the fighting, along with two Afghan civilians, a NATO spokesman said Monday.
At Bagram air base, soldiers with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division were being treated for wounds sustained in the battle. Doctors and nurses from Bagram’s Task Force Med, a unit comprised at Craig Joint Theater Hospital, are treating them.
“I woke up to complete chaos ... and a stinging sensation,” said Sgt. Jon Moldovan, 25, from Greenville, S.C.
Rest of article at:
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50879