U.S. Soldier Wears a GoPro During a Firefight Against the Taliban in Afghanistan

The nightmarish realities of war is all too easily out-of-sight, out-of-mind for most Americans; You wake up, grab a cup of coffee, go to work, crush beers while complaining about Larry from Accounting at happy hour, rinse, wash, repeat. Our troops stationed in Afghanistan fighting the Taliban don’t have such a blissfully simple day-to-day routine and its all too easy to forget the hells of war they go through.

A U.S. soldier wearing a GoPro captured an intense firefight after being ambushed by the Taliban in Logar Province.. Here’s his description of what went down:

This patrol was a relief in place and I was on point leading the new guys in for the RIP. We hadn’t taken much contact in this area, and it was generally considered a “safe” zone in Logar Province.

We patrolled the area frequently, and the locals would regularly thank us for pushing the Taliban away from their village so they could live their daily lives without constant threat.

The Taliban that we came across during this patrol were actually setting up to shoot down our new surveillance balloon that was launched in the area. The balloon caught the entire fight on camera from above, which confirmed that we killed 3 Taliban fighters during this engagement.

I saw the first guy shoulder his RPG, take a knee, and point it directly at me from about 15 meters away. I’m not sure if it was luck, but I shot first and hit him twice. The rest of the team engaged immediately after.

At the end of the day there were no friendly casualties, and we had eliminated 3 Taliban fighters.

I wanted to share the video with the world because I was sick of hearing all the ignorant things said about what we are doing over there. People need to understand what it’s like on the ground for the troops on the front line, and see what we have to deal with on a daily basis without some political spin on the story.

This footage has been edited to exclude the close up graphic footage of the enemy KIA.

This footage is part of an ongoing documentary of the war in Afghanistan from the soldiers’ point of view.

Respect. Watching this firefight from the comfort of your office chair will give you a profound new respect for what our troops go through on a regular basis.

War isn’t a video game; Never forget that.

[H/T: Esquire]

Brandon Wenerd is BroBible's publisher, writing on this site since 2009. He writes about sports, music, men's fashion, outdoor gear, traveling, skiing, and epic adventures. Based in Los Angeles, he also enjoys interviewing athletes and entertainers. Proud Penn State alum, former New Yorker. Email: brandon@brobible.com