Abstract

In the morning we headed out again on patrol. I looked off toward the bazaar. The Afghan flag was gone. But Saifoolah soon found a better spot for a flag: the top of what was initially just a numbered key terrain feature on our maps but is now affectionately known as Big Guss, an old ruined hilltop fortress of unknown derivation that dominates the skyline of otherwise flat farmland. We were patrolling toward Haji Hadabad Khalay, a town in Durzay indistinguishable in color from the surrounding desert, built as it is from water and earth. We walked through the dusty central square. It was the first time Americans or ANA had been there. Another Marine patrol crisscrossed the village, spray painting the compound gates, identifying them by number in accordance with our grid reference system maps.

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