2-56

 

56.

Three times we were called to this same forlorn place: a string of bunkers overlooking a busyhighway. We had intel that Taliban fighters were routinely gathering¹ there. They came in threecars, jalopies, carrying RPGs and machine guns, took up positions and waited for lorries to comedown the road.

Controllers had seen them blow up at least one convoy².

There were sometimes half a dozen men, sometimes as many as thirty. Taliban, clear as day.

But three times we flew there to engage, and three times we failed to get permission to fire. Wenever knew why.

This time we were determined³ things would be different.

We got there fast, saw a lorry coming down the road, saw the men taking aim. Bad things wereabout to happen. That lorry’s doomed⁴, we said, unless we do something.

We requested permission to engage.

Permission denied.

We asked again. Ground Control, request permission to engage hostile target—!

Stand by…

Boom. A huge flash and an explosion on the road.

We screamed for permission.

Stand by…waiting for ground commander clearance⁵.

We went screaming in, saw the lorry blown to pieces, saw the men jumping into their jalopiesand onto motorbikes. We followed two motorbikes. We begged for permission to fire. Now wewere requesting a different kind of permission: not permission to stop an act, but permission toaddress an act just witnessed.

This kind of permission was called 429 Alpha.

Do we have Four Two Nine Alpha to engage?

Stand by…

We kept following the two motorbikes through several villages, while griping about thebureaucracy of war, the reluctance⁶ of higher-ups to let us do what we’d been trained to do. Maybe,in our griping, we were no different from soldiers in every war. We wanted to fight: we didn’tunderstand larger issues, underlying⁷ geopolitics. Big picture. Some commanders often said,publicly and privately⁸, that they feared every Taliban killed would create three more, so they wereextra cautious. At times we felt the commanders were right: we were creating more Taliban. Butthere had to be a better answer than floating nearby while innocents got slaughtered⁹.

Five minutes became ten became twenty.

We never did get permission.

 

1 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

2 convoy   

vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队

参考例句：

• The convoy was snowed up on the main road.护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
• Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。

3 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

4 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

5 clearance   

n.净空；许可(证)；清算；清除，清理

参考例句：

• There was a clearance of only ten centimetres between the two walls.两堵墙之间只有十厘米的空隙。
• The ship sailed as soon as it got clearance. 那艘船一办好离港手续立刻启航了。

6 reluctance   

n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿

参考例句：

• The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
• He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。

7 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

8 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

9 slaughtered   

v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The invading army slaughtered a lot of people. 侵略军杀了许多人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Hundreds of innocent civilians were cruelly slaughtered. 数百名无辜平民遭残杀。 来自《简明英汉词典》