U.S. Marine wounded in Kabul attack gives eyewitness account
CBSN
U.S. Marine Major Ben Sutphen was just 15 feet away when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb last month near an entrance to the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
The Marines were warned an attack was coming and had a physical description of the suspected bomber, but in the crush of humanity outside the airport, they were unable to spot him. The explosion killed 13 U.S. service members and over 100 Afghans, and wounded at least 15 American service members, including Sutphen.
"We brought a truck with a loudspeaker down to try to disperse the crowd. I was standing right by that truck when it happened," Sutphen said.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.