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2011 Third Squad

Location:
Patrol Base Fires, Sangin District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan

Unit:
3rd Squad, 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines

Name and Rank: Corporal Michael Minor

Age: 25

Hometown: Sea Grove, North Carolina

Why did you join the Marine Corps?

"You can ask my mom, when I was a little kid I always wanted to join the Army or something. I figured if you’re gonna join something, why not the hardest?"

Describe what it's been like in Sangin so far?

"When we first got here nothing really happened, then we started getting shot at a little bit. We took a mass cas July ninth, lost a buddy of mine, Lance Corporal O’Brien. Then three days later we took another mass cas, lost another buddy of mine, Lance Corporal McDaniels, who was our engineer, he was sweeping. Lost a friend of mine, Elliott. He’s a machinegunner, lost his leg. Then no more than thirty to forty-five minutes later, we took another mass cas, lost the other engineer, Baucher. Lost the platoon sergeant, lost our CO . . ."

What's it like going up against the IED threat?

"Well no matter where you go it’s always gonna be dangerous if someone’s trying to kill you. I mean, here, the biggest threat’s IEDs. I mean, getting shot at, hell, these guys aren’t marksmen around here. They can shoot at me all day long and I wouldn’t give a shit.

IEDs is a completely different story because they’re making ‘em out of non-metallic devices and stuff like that, because we have metal detectors that usually picks up the rods and stuff they use in it, but they’re using carbon rods from the batteries themselves. What they’ll do is throw it in the fire and put a lid over it so that when the battery explodes, the acid doesn’t get everywhere. They’ll remove the lid then grab the carbon rod, and it’s really hard for the metal detector to pick up carbon rods . . .

"Psychologically? You’re out there constantly like, 'Man, am I gonna lose my leg today? Am I gonna lose my life?' Yo

Filename
Sangin_Minor.jpg
Copyright
@ Elliott D. Woods 2011
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5000x5000 / 15.2MB
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Third Squad
Location:<br /> Patrol Base Fires, Sangin District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan<br /> <br /> Unit: <br /> 3rd Squad, 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines<br /> <br /> Name and Rank: Corporal Michael Minor<br /> <br /> Age: 25<br /> <br /> Hometown: Sea Grove, North Carolina<br /> <br /> Why did you join the Marine Corps?<br /> <br /> "You can ask my mom, when I was a little kid I always wanted to join the Army or something. I figured if you’re gonna join something, why not the hardest?"<br /> <br /> Describe what it's been like in Sangin so far?<br /> <br /> "When we first got here nothing really happened, then we started getting shot at a little bit. We took a mass cas July ninth, lost a buddy of mine, Lance Corporal O’Brien. Then three days later we took another mass cas, lost another buddy of mine, Lance Corporal McDaniels, who was our engineer, he was sweeping. Lost a friend of mine, Elliott. He’s a machinegunner, lost his leg. Then no more than thirty to forty-five minutes later, we took another mass cas, lost the other engineer, Baucher. Lost the platoon sergeant, lost our CO . . ."<br /> <br /> What's it like going up against the IED threat?<br /> <br /> "Well no matter where you go it’s always gonna be dangerous if someone’s trying to kill you. I mean, here, the biggest threat’s IEDs. I mean, getting shot at, hell, these guys aren’t marksmen around here. They can shoot at me all day long and I wouldn’t give a shit.<br /> <br /> IEDs is a completely different story because they’re making ‘em out of non-metallic devices and stuff like that, because we have metal detectors that usually picks up the rods and stuff they use in it, but they’re using carbon rods from the batteries themselves. What they’ll do is throw it in the fire and put a lid over it so that when the battery explodes, the acid doesn’t get everywhere. They’ll remove the lid then grab the carbon rod, and it’s really hard for the metal detector to pick up carbon rods . . .<br /> <br /> "Psychologically? You’re out there constantly like, 'Man, am I gonna lose my leg today? Am I gonna lose my life?' Yo