November 07, 2008
Meet Afghanistan's Motorcycle Police
Check the USNews site for picture of "crazy horse". Name was dubbed by U.S. soldiers.
GHAZNI, Afghanistan—The newest weapon in the U.S. military's fight against the Taliban here is the country's first unit of motorcycle-riding Afghan police, trained and mentored by an Army captain with the help of a biker bar owner and Harley devotee from Washington state.More below the fold.......
After soldiers from the 1st Battalion of the 506th Infantry Regiment killed three Taliban insurgents on motorbikes last month, they considered selling off the bikes to supplement the salaries of the poorly paid local police.
Then they had another idea. "We were sitting around talking one night and thought, 'Hey, maybe the Afghan police can use these things,'" says Lt. Col. Tony DeMartino, the battalion's commander[...]
In the months since, the motorcycle unit has proved highly effective in supplementing U.S. operations in the area and surprising insurgents.
Recently, a Taliban commander hiding in a garden during a U.S. raid on his village heard one of the motorcycles drive by and hopped out, waving his hands in hopes of flagging down a lift out of town.
He soon realized that he had signaled an Afghan policeman.
During the course of operations, one unit standout soon emerged. He was an Afghan policeman who MacDonald initially nicknamed Mad Dog. But the officer did not like this moniker: "Dogs are dirty in Afghan culture," MacDonald explains.
And so they dubbed him Crazy Horse. He didn't like this nickname, either. He didn't like being named after any animal, MacDonald says.
Then Threadcraft recounted the story of Crazy Horse, explaining that he was a Native American legend.
Crazy Horse was born, and the motorbikes have become so popular around town that the governor recently disguised himself as a Taliban insurgent and took one of the bikes out for a late-night spin to inspect local checkpoints. "I looked just like a Talib," says Dr. Muhammad Usman, the governor of Ghazni province. "But no one stopped me."Biker psychological warfare. heh.
