05/31/2026
Brian Hissong – Hometown Hero May 2026
U.S Army 2004-2009
Brian Hissong enlisted in the U.S. Army driven by a desire to serve that began in
childhood, shaped in part by military commercials and the events of 9/11. He joined as
an infantryman and went to basic and Airborne School at Fort Benning. He served with
Chosen Company, 2nd Battalion 503 rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), part of the 173rd
Airborne Brigade based in Vicenza, Italy.
Brian deployed to Afghanistan in 2005, going on weeklong or 10-day missions hunting
down and getting into firefights with Taliban fighters in the Zabul province. He would
also complete training at the coveted Pathfinder School during his service, where he
learned how to set up parachute drop zones and helicopter landing zones.
He would deploy again to Afghanistan in 2007, as a Sergeant and a team leader. During
his second deployment to Afghanistan, he fought in the Kooringal and Waigel Valley. He
served mostly from Combat Outpost (COP) Bella against the Taliban. Due to the
remote, rugged terrain the only way Brian and the soldiers at COP Bella received
supplies was by helicopter.
Because of the isolated location of COP Bella, on July 8th, 2008, Brian and his platoon
established a new combat outpost in Wanat-- COP Kahler-- named in honor of Matthew
Kahler, who had been killed earlier that year. The soldiers constructed the outpost by
largely hand and soon faced critical shortages, including water.
At around 4:20 a.m. on July13 th , 300 insurgents attacked the outpost. Brian was at the
traffic control bunker when the attack began. During the fighting, a Humvee’s .50 caliber
machine gun went down. Brian shifted positions to repair the feed tray, which had
sustained damage from gunfire. But when he fired it, the round exploded in the chamber
blowing off the feed tray, making it now inoperable. Despite this, he delivered covering
fire to assist Sergeant Ryan Pitts, who was wounded and alone at the observation post.
Brian narrowly avoided death from friendly air support while completing this task. He
met with the reinforcements and told them that the enemy was everywhere.
As the battle began to wind down at around 8:30 a.m., Brian and other soldiers ran a
gauntlet of fire to deliver ammunition to the observation post (Called Topside). The
Battle of Wanat would become one of the bloodiest battles of the war in Afghanistan.
Out of the 49 American defenders, nine had given the ultimate sacrifice and 27 were
wounded. Only Brian and two others from his squad were unscathed. After the battle,
Brian escorted the remains of fallen soldier Jason Bogar home to Seattle.
Journalist Greg Zoroya eventually reached out to Brian and later wrote The Chosen
Few: A Company of Paratroopers and Its Heroic Struggle to Survive in the Mountains of
Afghanistan, which details Chosen Company& #39;s deployment in Afghanistan from 2007 to
2008. An interesting fact-- Brian is even on the front cover of the book.
Currently, Brian serves as a police officer for the City of Charleston. His hobbies are
target shooting and hunting. We are so grateful for his service—both to our country as
well as our local community
