Kabul Evac: Cpl. Krische

Cpl. Krische
Northern Provisions
-Stash

Right Back at You

"You joined to get into the fight, to do that stuff…don’t wish for it, but be prepared for it, because it will take a toll."

As the number one force of the 24th MEU ], Krische, part of 2nd Platoon, Aztec (Alpha) Company of 1st Battalion, 8th Marines (1/8) stayed sharp. Conducting live-fire ranges with our British allies, basic combat skills were stressed and the comradery honed. With the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, the pre-staging of 1/8 began. First stop, Kuwait. Similar to other stories amongst the various Marines and Corpsmen, Krische began receiving indicators that something, a mission, would be in the pipeline.
“I just got off a guard post with the Air Force because we were doing rotating posts and I’d gotten a call from my father, asking me ‘Hey, are you going to Afghanistan?'"

Surprised, Krische responded with “No, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Walking into the chow hall with a fellow Marine T.V screens had been blasting headlines from the State Department. The word, at best, was fuzzy, and Krische at the time, was no in the loop. Following a brief, but not uncommon, stand-down, the word finally filtered through that they were headed to Afghanistan. Being the first plane in, and hastily briefed in-flight, he and his team were told “Hey, you might need to run to the closest piece of cover.”

Unsure of the exact state of affairs on the ground, they were greeted unceremoniously by a bus. Astonishingly, Krische spotted a familiar site, his uncle, Colonel Krische. A chaplain in the U.S Army, and a veteran of past deployments to the Middle East, was greeting the rough-and-ready Marines moving in single-file. The colonel, at first, did not immediately recognize his nephew.

“I walked up, kind of saw him and I was, you know, more professional and I was like ‘Hey, Colonel Krische, what’s going on?’
‘Hey, how’s it going, man?’ Unsure who or why extended conversation was warranted beyond the formal greetings.
‘How you been?’
‘Do I know you?’
Popping his Kevlar helmet off his head, recognition took hold.
‘Hey, Uncle Jim, its me man.
‘Oh, what are you doing here?’"

Getting acclimated to their environment, Krische got the skinny out of the situation at the Joint-Operations-Center (JOC), to include the general layout of the of the base, video footage and a rundown of the contingency called the “Alamo Plan,” which boiled down to a final stand at the JOC. 2nd Platoon, Aztec Company, was then attached to Task Force Polar Bear, part of the U.S Army’s 10th Mountain Division who had been there already for a couple of months. Creating a scratch unit of Combined Anti-Armor Teams (CAATs) to act as a quick-reaction force (QRF), 2nd platoon was to patrol and plug any gaps in the isolated perimeter. From there, a quick routine developed of hygiene, continuous chow, and leader’s reconnaissance. Asleep for barely 45 minutes, “My platoon Sergeant came into the room, and pretty much kicked the door open and he said ‘Hey, get your stuff on, get outside, let’s go, right now!’ and we come running out of our compound.”

Entering the courtyard, which separated Aztec from Bravo Company’s future bivouac, the sights and sounds gunfire and the thumping rotor blades of helicopters mixed with the illumination of the flares being discharged. Amid the yelling and screaming, headcounts were conducted. As this was being completed, “The CO [commanding officer of Aztec] walked in and said ‘Hey, I need 78 killers to get out on the runway and do God’s work.’"

Loaded on the back of up-armored troop carriers called “Bears,” 2nd Platoon Aztec rolled onto the airfield, as the chosen for the Lords’ work. A mass of humanity had swarmed the runway. Dismounting from the troop carrier, Krische took stock of the unfolding activity. Almost in disbelief, while observing the multitude of people, their luggage and the panic, Krische wondered what they had walked into.

This piece was written by an assistant writer, a "scribe" of American military and Marine Corps history, "Stash".