CBS Reporters Bring War Stories Home
It's our job here at CBS News to report on the troops while they're in harm's way - to give clarity to the fog of war. But it too is dangerous work. We bring you battlefield accounts from our colleagues who have been covering this story.
Byron Pitts: I've been to a lot of bad neighborhoods for CBS News - there is no neighborhood worse than Afghanistan.
I'm Byron Pitts, Chief National Correspondent for CBS News and contributing correspondent to 60 minutes. I've been to Afghanistan twice - spent about a month and a half there.
I was there November 2001 -- just a few months after 9/11 and I was travelling with a team of folks from CBS News - and we catch up with a warlord who we hang up with for a couple of days. And he tells us with a big smile on his face he just killed about 12 to 20 Taliban.
And I said how can you be so certain of the exact number you killed? He says, "Oh I know because they were laying in a ditch. And I ran them over and I counted them when I ran them over.
Video: CBS News Reporters' Reflections on the War
Lara Logan: In 2003 on the Pakistan border our convoy hit a double tank mine and the soldier next to me lost his leg.
I'm Lara Logan. I'm the Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent for the CBS Evening News and a correspondent for 60 minutes.
I remember everything going completely white and slowing down - and hearing my cameraman producer Jeff Newton who had landed right on top of me and actually was this far from my face screaming my name.
And he was looking at me and my eyes were wide open and blood was pouring out of my mouth and the Sergeant turned to him and said "Is she alright?"
And he said, "No I think she is dead."
And I remember thinking Oh my God they are going to leave me here to die because they think I am already dead.
Scott Pelley: I'm Scott Pelley a Correspondent on 60 Minutes and I've been to Afghanistan five times now.
Henry Schuster I'm Henry Schuster. I'm a producer for 60 Minutes. I've been to Afghanistan a number of times, most recently last month for three weeks.
Pelley: Just a few weeks ago we were in a field expedient battlefield memorial for seven Marines in one company who had been killed since the assault began in July.
And arrayed in front of the Marines there are seven battlefield crosses- .which is a pair of boots -- a rifle, and a helmet on top with the dog tags of the deceased Marines.
Schuster: And then at the end the first Sergeant does a roll call. He calls a couple of names - they answer present.
Then he starts calling the names of the dead marines. He calls the name first in a normal tone of voice. No answer.
He calls it again - louder this time. No answer.
The third time he call it there is a great deal of urgency and he is practically shouting as you would expect a Marine sergeant to do. And the silence is overwhelming.
Tom Anderson: We were in a convoy for two days -- it was terrifying.
My name is Tom Anderson. I'm a producer on 60 Minutes.
You find yourself looking out the side windows from time to time because the bombs -- which are the primary weapon in this war -- go off on the side of the road so you are always looking out the side of the road rather that the front of the road.
And it would happen once - then a second time - a third time - boom.boom - four times..five times.
I'm not sure I would ever want to do it again.
Cami McCormick: There is always that sense that something could be around the corner.
The enemy seems to be moving around a lot. And each time I go to Afghanistan it seems more dangerous.
In August McCormick was severely injured by a road side bomb. She is recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
McCormick: There was a governor in the eastern part of the country who survived three assassination attempts. And I got a chance to meet him and talk to him and I asked why do you do what you do? You have a family. And he said, "If I wouldn't do it. Who would?"
I would definitely go back to Afghanistan. I'm very eager to go back to Afghanistan. And I'm very anxious to see how the military is planning on winning this war. I do think that it is a story that will continue to unfold and continue to be a top story for years."
David Martin: I'm David Martin. I'm the CBS News National Security Correspondent.
Mary Walsh: I'm Mary Walsh. I am the Pentagon producer for CBS News.
We went in to a small village called Yagu Kala with American troops. They had bought with them backpacks for the children.
Martin: It immediately turned into a fight because there were more kids than book bags to go around and the village elders were literally beating the kids away
Walsh: And sure enough all the backpacks were going to the boys until the very last backpack was handed out and one little girl grabbed it and went running as hard she could.
It was just one of those very, very sad eye-opening experiences of seeing how even good intentions sometimes don't go far enough.