You experience reminded me of this story.
When I was at FOB Rhino in Afghanistan during Nov 2001, I got the mission of doing an area recon and map verification around the FOB.
The operations officer told me (in part), "Get out there and look around. Don't come back unless you need fuel, water, food, or ammo."
So off we went across the desert looking for OBL and other bad guys while using Soviet maps overlaid with our MGRS map info.
The real limitation of the mission was the range of my vehicle mounted radio. We quickly got out to the distance where I couldn't send situation reports back to the FOB and more importantly couldn't call for fire support. We were well outside the mortar fan, but I still wanted to be able to call for the Cobras and CASEVAC if needed.
I'm not a comm guy, so I can't recall the vehicle radio nomenclature or its range, but I knew there were other man pack radios available that had more range.
So when we eventually came back to the FOB for fuel, I went to the comm shop to ask for a better radio so that I could extend the distance of my patrols.
The Comm Chief (a Gunnery Sergeant, E-7) had a very squared away Lance Corporal (LCpl, E-3) with a comm MOS give me the relevant information on the better radio.
Again, not being a comm guy a lot of the info was very foreign to me.
Finally, I asked the Comm Chief if the LCpl could just go with me and operate the radio (again, I don't recall the nomenclature).
The Gunny had no problem with that, so the LCpl grabbed his gear, weapon, and the radio and off we went again looking for the bad guys.
We gave the young comm Marine the relevant information on the MK-19, M2 .50cal, and especially the sighting systems on the TOW so that he could help stand watch at night.
We were able to significantly extend the range of our patrols due to the expertise of the comm LCpl, but we didn't find any bad guys.
When we began the preparations for the move to Kandahar Airfield, the LCpl went back to his unit.
We shook hands and he said to me, "Staff Sergeant, thanks for getting me out of the comm shop."
Those few days that he spent with us patrolling around the desert, sleeping on the ground, and sending the comm reports back probably meant more to him than counting batteries, repairing antennas, and surveying handsets back in the comm shop ever did.
Good times - Semper Fidelis!
In keeping with the thread theme:
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