Lance Cpl. Jeremiah Dancy (far left holding rocket launcher) stands with fellow Marines in their "fighting hole" at the airstrip the men seized from Taliban forces in Afghanistan in November

A visitor from Afghanistan?

Editor's note: Jeremiah Dancy has several friends family members in Alleghany County, including an aunt and several cousins. Dancy visited Alleghany during his leave.

Lance Cpl. Jeremiah Dancy is back home in Wilkes County on a 16-day leave after being in the first wave of 150 U.S. Marines to invade Afghanistan.

At 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 23, Dancy and his company left the USS Peleliu in the Indian Ocean on six helicopters for a 550-mile flight into Afghanistan. Dancy is in Charlie Company of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment in the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

It was the longest amphibious landing in history. The two other companies in the battalion arrived later by cargo planes at an airstrip that Charlie Company seized from Taliban forces.

"I was pretty nervous going in, particularly when our door gunner started firing... It was my first time in combat. Once the helicopters hit the ground, all my training took over, the nervousness left and it was a big adrenalin rush," explained the 20-year-old from Purlear. Dancy said his company received small arms fire as it landed at the airstrip. Even though the area had been bombed about an hour earlier, a small force of Taliban soldiers remained. "We were told to expect about 150, but there actually were only about 12 Taliban soldiers when we got there." Charlie Company quickly dealt with the resistance, exchanging fire and tossing grenades in about six buildings containing the enemy.

Because the helicopters that brought them only had 45 minutes worth of fuel left, the Marines needed to eliminate resistance in 45 minutes after hitting the ground. It only took them five minutes, allowing the helicopters to safely land.

Dancy was in a group of about 30 Marines assigned to secure a particular anti-aircraft site, which he described as a man-made, giant sand dune.

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