Yet Mr de Waal does manage to spring some pleasing and intriguing surprises on this score: how many people are aware, for example, that most soldiers are unwilling to fireattheenemy, even in battle?
From there, he was able to pinpoint the origin of enemyfireat a nearby village, Urmul, and at an Afghan National Police checkpoint that had been seized by the insurgents.
In addition, when we were not in front of the front line intercepting the communications, we were either atthe battalion headquarters or the division tactical headquarters, which are major targets for any enemy artillery fire.