Brutal Fighting in The Arghandab River Valley with the 82nd Airborne | Andrew Bragg | The Devil’s Playground

Combat Story

Ryan Fugit

History

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 September 2024

⏱️ 85 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On today’s Combat Story we have a deep dive into intense fighting that took place in Afghanistan in the treacherous Arghandab River Valley with Andrew Bragg, a former Army infantryman who served back to back tours to two distinct places in Afghanistan, both with plenty of kinetic activity.

Andrew’s book The Devil’s Playground is about one of his deployments with the 82nd Airborne to the Arghandab River Valley where his unit experienced 50% casualties, including 6 KIA. Andrew traveled the country in his car to interview members of his unit from 12 years prior, many of whom had not seen each other since. Their common bond was the impact that the Valley had on each of them.

I think you’re going to really enjoy this recounting of some incredibly challenging fighting experienced by just one of several units to survive the ‘Dab with Andrew Bragg.

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Find Andrew Bragg Online:

Book The Devil's Playground: The Story of Two Charlie and The Arghandab River Valley https://www.amazon.com/Devils-Playground-Charlie-Arghandab-Valley/dp/1636244718

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🎵 Intro Song: Sport Rock from Audio Jungle

Show Notes:

00:00 Intro
00:30 Introduction to Combat Story
00:49 Meet Andrew Bragg
02:06 The Devil's Playground
02:59 Andrew's Journey to Reunite with His Unit
04:16 The Heavy Toll of Combat
04:57 Andrew's Early Life and Military Beginnings
05:45 First Deployment with the 173rd
06:35 The Impact of 9/11
07:14 Writing the Book: A Collective Effort
07:38 Reuniting with Fellow Soldiers
12:50 The Argandab River Valley Deployment
14:34 The Harsh Realities of War
22:12 The Aftermath of Combat
32:40 A New AO: The Argandab River Valley
41:08 Arrival During Hibernation
42:09 Learning the Terrain and Locals
43:07 The Return of Conflict
43:49 Escalation and IED Threats
45:30 Close Calls and Ambushes
48:47 Operation: Loveless Shot in the Face
54:29 The Valley's Grip
59:05 Reflections and Reunions
01:11:08 The Healing Process
01:20:15 Final Thoughts and Book Release

Transcript

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0:00.0	There was a shimmer from the sun and it was like a spider web.
0:05.0	When you walk through the forest and the spider web, yeah.
0:08.0	So it was like that, just right over the corner of my shoulder and
0:11.0	realizing that there's a trip IED literally two feet away from me and
0:16.2	right over my shoulder and I turned around and said don't move and they still look on my face and they didn't question it.
0:24.0	Just the idea that if my saw gunner had gone left,
0:27.0	the team probably would have been gone.
0:30.0	Welcome to Combat Story.
0:31.0	I'm Ryan Puget and I serve War Zone Tours as an Army
0:34.0	Attack helicopter pilot and CIA officer over a 15-year career. I'm fascinated by the
0:39.0	experiences of the elite in combat. On this show I interview some of the best to understand what
0:44.4	combat felt like on their front lines. This is combat story. On today's combat
0:50.5	story we have a deep dive into intense fighting that took place in Afghanistan
0:54.8	in the treacherous Argandaba River Valley with Andrew Bragg, former Army infantrymen who served
1:00.0	back-to-back tours to two distinct places in Afghanistan but both with plenty of
1:04.9	kinetic activity. Andrew's book and the majority of this podcast center around
1:09.3	the Devil's Playground which is one of his deployments with the 82nd Airborne to the
1:13.9	Argandau River Valley, for his unit experienced 50% casualties including 6 KIA.
1:19.2	Andrew traveled the country in his car to interview members of his unit from 12 years prior,
1:25.0	many of whom had not seen each other since their time fighting alongside one another.
1:29.7	Their common bond was the impact that the Valley had on each of them.
1:33.5	I think you're going to really enjoy this recounting of some incredibly challenging fighting
	...

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