82nd Airborne Fighting in the Arghandab Valley | William Yeske
Combat Story
Ryan Fugit
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 9 November 2024
⏱️ 79 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today we have our second account of the brutal fighting within the Arghandab Valley in Afghanistan from Will Yeske, a former 82nd Airborne RTO at the time. Will went on to write the book Damn the Valley: 1st Platoon, Bravo Company, 2/508 PIR, 82nd Airborne in the Arghandab River Valley Afghanistan.
Will recounts his experiences fighting and surviving in this brutal location in Afghanistan which takes place at the same time (and just across the river) from the same experience faced by our former guest Andrew Bragg who was in Charlie Company. The IEDs, the suicide bombs, and more come to life in both this interview and the book.
Since leaving the service Will has gone on to write two books and, despite initially dropping out of college, now has an Ivy League degree. When many other kids in their mid-20s were partying and living it up, he elected to serve and, one year later, found himself fighting for his life. I’m sure you’re going to enjoy the multiple combat experience Will shares with us in this episode and, if you’re like me, will be getting your own copy of the book.
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Book https: https://www.amazon.com/Damn-Valley-Airborne-Arghandab-Afghanistan/dp/1636243657
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Show Notes:
00:00 Intro
00:28 Introduction to Combat Story
00:47 Will Yeske's Background and Book
02:09 Connecting with Andrew Bragg
02:42 Experiences in the Argandab Valley
04:10 Writing and Sharing War Stories
06:35 Memorable Artifacts and Stories
08:55 The Brutality of the Argandab Valley
15:03 Joining the Military: Will's Journey
26:42 First Combat Experience
39:56 Mission Overview and Initial Challenges
40:29 Controversies and Unpublished Accounts
41:26 Hard Moments in Argandob
42:23 IED Incidents and Minefields
49:27 Command Changes and Midtour Leave
01:00:26 Courage and Bravery in Combat
01:03:59 Writing the Book: Challenges and Reflections
01:08:03 Sentimental Items and Lucky Charms
01:10:27 Final Thoughts and Future Projects
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | If he wasn't really on right on top of that, it very possibly would have taken out most of the squad. |
| 0:06.8 | It already was a mascal. |
| 0:08.9 | The size of it was just, I was directly across, but maybe 25, 25 feet away or so. |
| 0:16.6 | I was the only one who wasn't knocked over. |
| 0:18.4 | Everybody else, you know, Ross was thrown over the wall. |
| 0:21.2 | You've got Johnston also thrown over the wall. |
| 0:23.7 | And it was just for a lot of people, it was one of the worst days of life. |
| 0:28.0 | Welcome to Combat Story. |
| 0:29.3 | I'm Ryan Fuget and I serve Warzone tours as an Army attack helicopter pilot and CIA officer over a 15-year career. |
| 0:36.0 | I'm fascinated by the experiences of the elite in combat. |
| 0:39.5 | On this show, I interview some of the best to understand what combat felt like on their |
| 0:43.8 | front lines. This is combat story. Today we have our second account of brutal fighting within |
| 0:50.4 | the Argonab Valley of Afghanistan, this time from Will Yeski, former 82nd Airborne |
| 0:55.5 | RTO at the time. Will went on to write the book, Damn the Valley. First, platoon, Bravo Company |
| 1:00.2 | second of the 508th PIR, 802nd Airborne in the Argonob River Valley of Afghanistan. Will recounts |
| 1:05.9 | his experiences fighting and surviving in this brutal location, which takes place at the same time and just |
| 1:11.4 | across the river from the experiences faced by our former guest, who many will recall Andrew Bragg, |
| 1:16.7 | who was in Charlie Company at the time. The IEDs, the suicide bombs, the ticks, and more |
| 1:22.3 | come to life in both this interview and the book. Since leaving the service, Will is going on to |
| 1:26.7 | write two books, and despite initially dropping out the service, Will has gone on to write two books, |
| 1:33.9 | and despite initially dropping out of college, now has an Ivy League degree to his name. When many other kids in their mid-20s were partying and living it up, he elected to serve and one year |
| 1:38.6 | later found himself fighting for his life. I'm sure you're going to enjoy the multiple combat experiences that Will |
... |
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