Marjah’s “Greyhound Bus”

It’s Sgt. Timothy Anderson’s last resupply mission to a volatile part of Helmand Province, north of Marjah.

He’s been running the vulnerable resupply convoys to the 3rd battalion, 6th Marines small patrol bases and combat outposts for seven months now.

It shows.

He recites the mission brief from memory. It’s the most amusing brief I’ve ever seen. His deadpan style of speaking about such topics as IED’s, or roadside bombs, medical helicopter evacuations and rules of engagement are as colorful as they are informative.

“If we hit an IED, don’t get out of the truck. If the truck is on fire, we’ll get out of the truck and walk along our tracks because there are sure to be secondary IED’s planted on the side of the road,” he said. “Don’t get complacent because this is your last month, week or day here. It would suck to get hurt because you weren’t paying attention.”

The troops listen silently. They chuckle when Anderson becomes comically exasperated because more and more troops, who weren’t told the proper departure time, keep showing up late.

But this is deadly serious business.

In and around the rural collection of farms and fields that make up Marjah, the situation in some areas is still so bad that resupply convoys must travel far into the desert in order to avoid the few small dirt roads and trails where the Taliban is sure to lay roadside bombs.

Even with those precautions the resupply company, nicknamed the “Greyhound” because of it’s regularly scheduled service, has had 12 trucks destroyed or severely damaged by IED’s in seven months.

On their last mission, the crew dropped off two mechanics who were repairing an armored all-terrain vehicle, called a MATV, that lost both front wheels when it hit an IED on the desert route.

Sgt. Anderson completed his July 4 mission without incident and his whole unit made it out of Marjah last week without any casualties.