On November 11th a new monument dedicated to US Special Operations Forces will be unveiled near Ground Zero in New York. The statue, of a soldier on a rearing Afghan horse, commemorates all SOF troops, but in particular the handful who fought alongside anti-Taliban opposition in Afghanistan in autumn and winter 2001. The author Doug Stanton told their story in Horse Soldiers, a book that I found rather frustrating: while the heroism and feats of both Afghan and US armed forces was spectacular, Stanton’s prose was unnecessarily overlarded. I do recommend it, however, if you want to know about the most recent “last cavalry charge”, which took place when Afghan opposition soldiers galloped pell mell into machine gun fire (and succeeded) and to get some idea of the incredible risks that both sides ran.
The Daily Caller has a special filmed report on the horse soldiers, whose story is shortly to be made into a Jerry Bruckheimer film. I would love to interview the Afghan fighters about that last cavalry charge…
I do not believe this is science-fiction – so possible the date above is wrong? winter of 2011 is not quite here yet…
Well caught!
My first visit to your blog. I love all things horse, too. The idea of horses in battle makes me cringe. And yet horses have always been called to duty haven’t they? Whenever I see a mounted police officer in NYC my heart swells. The owner of the barn where I keep my mare trains mounted security teams, both horse and rider, and has great tales to tell about catching the bad guys on horseback.