- milla da killa
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I didn't until recently. For those who want to read an interesting story on why, read on, if you don't want a wall'o'text or whatever, then you got your answer, just scroll down.
During my first deployment to Afghanistan we got stuck on a rather small COP (Combat Outpost) about the size of a football field. The COP in question has seen some rough days, and many lives have been lost fighting to protect it from hordes of insurgent fighters. It's become rather infamous, and for the longest time was rated the worst place in Afghanistan (not joking).
During the most famous attack, over 200 insurgents charged the COP getting within 50 feet of the wall. This attack left 2 dead, and roughly 20 wounded, but somehow they managed to fight off the seemingly endless horde after hours of fighting. Fast forward a bit to when we got there 2 years later.
We got stuck guarding the compound by sitting up in towers, perched overlooking the mountainous area peaking up from each corner of the COP. 2 of those towers faced towards where that attack came from, and where the Taliban and insurgent fighters numbering at least 3 digits called home. Initially a few people came down from one of the towers asking around wondering if someone went up to see them at night, but we dismissed it as being the rabid dogs.
After a few weeks though, the reports came in around the same time. Around midnight, footsteps would be heard walking across the COP. People would hear them at one area and claimed it sounded like someone walked past. Those footsteps would be heard going all the way to those two towers, originating where those 2 unfortunate soldiers died.
It took us a while to get everything straight, and besides saying they heard footsteps nobody really talked about it all. I never believed the stories until I got stuck in one of those towers on a cold night. It sounded like someone was coming up the stairs so I turned on my flashlight and looked around outside, nothing. At this point I was still skeptical, but then the board that sat at the bottom of the stairs made a clap, as if someone stepped on it.
I looked through the small peep-hole window and saw someone standing there, looking up at me wearing an older uniform. Out of curiousity, I opened the door, and low and behold, he was no longer there.
I discussed the event with a few friends, and they claimed to have seen the same thing. Among those accounts, people started opening up more about it. In those two guard towers, people had the doors open, heard footsteps, saw somebody either standing there looking at them, or standing outside looking out towards where the fighters came from. One event even sent a full grown man running out of the tower screaming, pale, and sweating. It took him a good day to even talk about it all.
Most people started refusing to go up there out of fear. Up until my time sitting in those towers, I never really believed in ghosts, but you be damned sure I do now. Whether or not you believe this is all up to you, but 60 others will vouch for those occurences.