Counter-Terror Light Cavalry · An Ethnic Chinese American's Afghanistan Experience

Author: Chen Cheng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: "You are a young Chinese man who became a light cavalry soldier in the United States less than four months after coming here." A firsthand account of an ethnic Chinese American soldier's experience in Afghanistan. In 2004, the author joined his U.S. Army light cavalry platoon on a peacekeeping mission to an outpost in Afghanistan. Over a year of combat life, several close calls with death left the author with indelible memories. The U.S. Army's cavalry, also known as armored reconnaissance soldiers, are divided into heavy and light categories, with only about 2,000 to 3,000 such soldiers nationwide. Heavy cavalry primarily uses armored reconnaissance vehicles, while light cavalry is more specialized, numbering only a few hundred, mostly using Humvees or deploying via helicopter airdrops. "While I can't say this place will haunt me, it is where I once fought, where our comrades bled and even gave their lives, and where I too sweated and bled, but where I earned a sense of pride." In 2004, the author joined his U.S. Army light cavalry platoon on a peacekeeping mission to an outpost in Afghanistan. Over a year of combat life, several close calls with death left the author with indelible memories. In this book, the author meticulously records his service in Afghanistan, including his authentic military life, the world's most advanced weaponry, intense direct engagements with terrorists, firsthand experiences at major international events, and the true conditions of the Afghan people during the war. This is a documentary literary work forged from iron and blood. At the same time, as a reconnaissance soldier, the author captured over a thousand on-site photographs in time, and the book selects nearly a hundred of them, making readers feel as if they are on the scene.