European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 14, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse June 2007 stars and stripes heroes pages my hands were burning with his by by Jeff Schogol stars and stripes in the nearly five months Marine Brian Cillessen had been in the bad Guys tactic would be to hit hard and melt that changed on was an embedded Trainer with afghan troops in Northeast attached to a name Brian Cillessen unit assigned to task Force Phoenix medal Silver Star earned in Northeast Afghanistan special forces detach ment that fell under task Force Phoe afghan troops had found several Large weapons causing Al Aida and islamic militants to stir from their Winter said of and recent some members of the afghan Security forces had been killed by a Roadside on this Day in Cillessen and the afghan troops had hired 60 donkeys to take away part of a Large weapons he the local authorities were but in they seemed to know something was he they had a feeling that something would happen to us also because no one wanted to talk to us for very on the Way the afghan troops sent some soldiers ahead of the main but their vehicle broke we caught up to them about the time we got to the kill zone for the Cillessen the 45 afghan commandos and four service members were on a Road flanked on both sides by Steep Mountain slopes when Al Aida and other islamic militants fired a Volley of rocket propelled disabling the vehicle in front of Cillessen the coalition troops and bad Guys were separated by a my initial instinct was to return fire and kill As Many of the enemy As possible before they have a Chance to he but after 10 minutes of sustained Courtesy of Brian Cillessen Brian Cillessen participates in the recovery efforts after the crash of a Boeing 737 in 2004 outside of Reg he realized the bad Guys were not going we started to gain fire it looked like we had things Well in and then the casualties started to mount in our one afghan Soldier was dead More were just As they moved to leave the kill the enemy opened fire from the now they were in serious one Marine said when that he thought he was going to throw Cillessen i can relate to because my stomach was in my Throat at the for a he thought there was no Way but then an afghan Abdul began directing marines and grabbed Cillessen and led him to the Middle of the i remember thinking to he cant be serious he wants me to go where but Abdullah had led him to a better position where he could fire at the he could now see All of the enemy the Downside was there was no that didst seem to faze which reassured he looked at and the Confidence he and i it cant be that bad because Hes been fighting his whole so Cillessen started firing grenades at the enemy As Abdullah patted him on the Back and told him where to another Marine who was at the scene later told Cillessen that he seemed to disappear in a Cloud of dust and Cillessen eventually fired some 40 Gre Nades until he ran All the while taking he was but Abdullah was Cillessen said he raced Back to a vehicle to try to give him first but it was Clear Abdullah had been mortally my hands were burning with his Cillessen at that he had to make a decision continue to try to save Abdullah or get the rest of the coalition troops out of the kill Cillessen Laid Abdullah Down and told the other afghan troops to get ready to i just told him i was Cillessen then a Marine and several afghan troops moved one of the disabled vehicles out of the allowing the rest of the vehicles to finally get out of the kill zone after close to an he Cillessen May have been Given the Silver Star for his but he says Abdullah was the hero that he inspired All of us to fight email Jeff Schogol at everybody was shooting everywhere7 by Ashley Rowland stars and stripes Colin Hoyseth got the Bronze Star with v device for courage in but what he remembers about his first True combat in the Days after the United states invaded Iraq was being you get kind of angry when people Are shooting at but As a Leader you get More angry when people Are shooting at your sol he said of that Earl morning firefight outside the Bagh dad i wanted to get rid of the danger As quickly As possible because we had people on the ground who were sex name Colin Hoyseth unit 3rd infantry Divi Sions 2nd 7th infantry medal Bronze Star with earned april in Saddam International Baghdad it was april two weeks after the Hoyseth was travelling North to Baghdad from about 60 Miles and was among the first from his company to arrive outside the Iraq held Saddam International on the cites Western at the Airport was quiet for the next four hours As the rest of his company he the iraqis began to attack and it just went nuts rocket propelled Small arms tanks being blown it was just nonstop said now i remember looking at my gun Ner As the Day went on and this is and its getting we knew it was a Little bit different fight that iraqis began shooting at Hoyseth and his soldiers from an Airport but the Hoyseth americans were positioned under Trees and see the iraqis Hoy then a moved his soldiers about 100 Yards to the away from the and began returning it was the worst fighting he had seen since the War that the Day i thought it was most like combat was going to be tanks shooting air planes dropping High intensity he other i guess i was More scared because it was More but that it was pretty because everybody was shooting every he had spent the past year training with his they became his motivation during the you get to know these people pretty hit was just nonstop i remember looking at my gunner As the Day went on and this is and its getting j9 Colin Hoyseth and obviously you want to protect the people you he thoughts of his two then 4 months and 19 months provided Simi Lar he about two hours after the attack forces broke through a Wall and got inside the Hoy sets company detained 30 iraqi a few of his soldiers were wound but none was killed that Hoyseth is proud of his and of helping remove Saddam Hussein from i believe in the things Haven gone the Way everyone had he i would like to go Back to to see the just to see whats changed in four email Ashley Rowland at
