The Forgotten War
By Lt. Col. Oliver North
1:21 p.m.
Strongpoint “Bravo,” 1st battalion, 6th Marines — The IED — an improvised explosive device - detonated directly beneath the lead vehicle of our patrol. The explosion blew Chris Jackson, our FOX News cameraman from his seat on the right rear of the vehicle. Though heavily armored, the Humvee was immediately engulfed in flames.
Trapped in the front of the vehicle were the driver Cpl. Arnaldo Figueroa, and Sergeant Courtney Rauch, both of whom were wounded. Despite his own wounds from shrapnel, Chris immediately jumped up and rushed back to the flaming vehicle to rescue Sergeant Courtney Rauch.
As ammunition “cooked off” inside the vehicle, Chris helped the Marines drag Sgt. Rauch and Cpl. Figueroa to safety behind another vehicle. As the company medical corpsmen, HN Jose Pena and HN Gregory Cox began administering first aid, the Marines spread out to secure a helicopter landing zone.
Within minutes the explosion, an armed UH1N and an AH1J Cobra Gunship appeared overhead - followed immediately by a ch-46 Sea Knight helicopter. Less than 20 minutes after the blast that had wounded them, the two Marine casualties were in the air headed for the hospital.
It has been my great blessing to have spent most of my life in the company of heroes - people who put themselves at risk for the benefit of others. That certainly defines the young Americans here in Marine
Expeditionary Force 24.
Hero is also a word that applies to our FOX News cameraman, Canadian Chris Jackson.
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5:45 a.m.
Strongpoint “Bravo,” 1st battalion, 6th Marines — It is more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The bright sunlight is oppressive. Dust permeates everything and the terrain in this part of Helmand province, Afghanistan can look as desolate as a lunar landscape.
For our FOX News “War Stories” team, Producer Greg Johnson; assistant producer, Andy Stenner and cameraman, Chris Jackson; fresh from more comfortable weather, the climate is enemy enough.
It took us nearly 60 hours, five flights and a heavily armed ground convoy to get here. We departed New York to Dubai on a comfortable Boeing 777 – from there, flew to Kabul on afghan airways and then took a small turbo-prop plane for the flight to Kandahar.
There, after being briefed by Col. Peter Petronzio, the commanding officer of marine expeditionary unit 24 [24 meu] we boarded a U.S. Marine C-130 for a flight to forward operating base [fob] Bastion where we next embarked on a Marine CH-46 helicopter for the pre-dawn trip to fob Dwyer in the desolate desert of southeastern Afghanistan.
Fob Dwyer is the current headquarters for 1st battalion, 6th Marines, the ground combat element of 24 meu, commanded by Lt. Col. Anthony Henderson. War stories was embedded with this marine infantry battalion during December 2006, in Ramadi, Iraq and nearly half the Marines in this unit were with us then.
After a few hours of rest, Lt. Col. Henderson arranged for us to board a re-supply ground convoy headed from fob Dwyer to this remote outpost further south. The convoy, comprised of armored Humvees and 7-ton trucks, headed down the dusty route first to fob Delhi, then strong point “alpha” where we were forced to remain overnight by a sudden dust storm.
On Sunday morning we again headed out with the convoy, finally arriving here at strongpoint bravo that afternoon in 100+ degree heat and covered with a thick coating of desert dust. Tomorrow morning we’re scheduled to go on our first combat operation of this deployment.
When the story hits, FOX News is there. With bureaus across the world, there isnt any news that gets by FOX News. 
This guy is a true American hero. His actions to save another’s life, in our America where every life is valued and precious, says so much about the man. He is an inspiration for us all.
Heroic doesnt begin to describe Chris Jackson’s actions. This man should be awarded a medal by the United States. I know the parents of Sergeant Courtney Rauch sure are glad that Chris was there at that moment.
Thank you Col. North for your eyes and ears in the field, relaying the one absolute and undeniable fact…our men and women in uniform(and some not,i.e.Chris Jackson)are the finest in the world, and coming from an old Army tanker, allow this “doggie” to send along a SEMPER FI!!!
Ollie North is great!
Been watching Fox War Correspondents and their great crews since we first saw Steve Harrigan in Afghanistan at the beginning of this war. He won us over and we have been watching nobody but Fox reporters since then. Your cameramen are the best ever. How about that other Canadian, Dana Lewis. He is no slouch either. We could go on and list all of you but anyone up on this war against terrorism knows the good ones as well as we do. You people keep us watching Fox and we are not surprised by your bravery. We are thankful to all of you bringing us the truth, the real news, from these places. Thank you for reporting on our wonderful Military as well. They truely are doing a fantastic job and they are keeping us safe here in this country no matter how many naysayers there are who don’t realize that. We are fortunate to have real men to defend us and to give us the news of war. Our thoughts, prayers and hearts are with you all, especially Chris Jackson.
There are news reports daily regarding this war, so how it can be described as ‘forgotten’ is beyond me; and how ironic that I read this on the opening day of the Beijing Olympics, 28 years after the Moscow Olympics which was boycotted by the USA because Russia invaded Afghanistan.
Pretending that the war in Afghanistan is under-reported doesn’t add any credibility to this typical North serving of the usual myopic, mawkish, gung-ho twaddle that he mistakes for journalism.
Why is it the Forgotten War
Afghanistan is the forgotten war. Afghanistan was where terroists trained and got the ideas to fly planes into buildings. Afghanistan was a country that has been war torn and wounded enough that the Taliban could take over and forbid girls to attend school and kill at random. Afghanistan is now a place where the bravest men and women in our country VOLUNTEER to go, to be away from family and friends, to endure hellish heat, no electricity, enemies everywhere to keep the fight over in Afghanistan instead of in the streets of America. People have forgotton why we are there and who is over there now enduring the danger of IED’s, Sharpshooters and suicide bombers. The soldiers, reporters and new civilian police have not forgotton why they are there, we should be reminded everyday to NOT FORGET AFGHANISTAN, I will never forget because my son has been there everyday since April, he was with the camera man that day with Oliver North, my son at 22 years old saw an IED explode in front of him, and as a Navy Corpsman worked to save his Marines, his brothers, lives. I will never forget Afghanistan and I am thankful people like Col. North won’t let the American public forget. The reporters are our eyes and ears so that we never forget what these hero’s are doing everyday as we enjoy freedom and a life of virtual ease. Never forget Afghanistan and Never Forget 9/11 because if we didn’t go to Afghanistan there might have been something much worse then 9/11. I am thankful every day for the mostly young men and women who put their lives on the line so that I can choose to forget or not.