Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match.

This week Bruce told us about Staff Sgt. Erich Phillips, who was involved in a battle very similar to the one that claimed ten US soldiers lives over the weekend. This story comes to you from the same remote corner of Afghanistan, Nuristan Province,

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Before dawn on Aug. 22, 2007, 60 to 80 Taliban extremists moved into position to launch a three-pronged attack against Ranch House. Video footage posted on an extremist website showed Taliban rehearsing over a detailed map of Ranch House’s fighting positions.

“Their plan was to overrun our forward operating base,” said Phillips, who is from Eastpoint, Fla.

When the Taliban attacked Ranch House, 22 American Soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team were living at the base. They worked side-by-side with the Afghan National Army in one of the most rugged and remote NATO bases in Afghanistan.

The Someone You Should Know radio collaboration began as an extension of Matt Burden’s series at Blackfive. Bruce does an incredible job with the series every week. The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here.

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On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to the radio every Sunday evening from 8-10pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.