Combat Outpost Badel, Kunar Province-(Sgt. First Class De La Garza manning the grill.)
The smell of a barbecue wafted from under the camo netting on the top of the heavily fortified hill. Steaks and marinated chicken were better than the usual cardboard and plastic Meals Ready to Eat. And the soldiers would need the calories.
Early the next morning a squad of infantrymen from 2nd Platoon, Able Co. 2-503 of the 1-173 Airborne would hike through the terraced wheat fields to the gumdrop hill in the distance. They climbed the hill in darkness and set up defensive positions to wait for sunrise. The hill overlooked Subagar, a town they sometimes took fire from, on one side and a cache of smuggled wood on the other.
I had last visited the Badel valley in August. The air was then humid with summer heat and 10th Mountain soldiers tense with the upcoming national elections. Shots usually rang down from the surrounding mountain tops around dusk. The soldiers called it harassing fire. Some things had changed, much had not. I was interested in what the Able Co. soldiers thought about their mission here three months into it.
“Our purpose is to provide security for surrounding towns. To push out the Taliban. So far we’ve pushed them back to the ridge line,” said Sgt. Michael Dolce, 24. a team leader who'd last been deployed and wounded by an IED attack in Iraq.
One of Dolce’s soldiers, a 21-year-old private said, “I tell my wife we pull a lot of guard, meet Afghans, give them stuff. That we're trying to turn it from a third world country to a country we could visit some day.”
The 10th Mountain platoon wasn’t large enough to conduct patrols outside the concertina wire. Now, 2nd Platoon of Able Co. have twice as many soldiers at COP Badel. They expected to climb the surrounding mountains, it’s what they do in Afghanistan.
In ’07-’08 this unit out of Vicenza, Italy, was deployed to outposts deep in Kunar’s mountains like the Pesh Valley, where they operated mostly on foot. Their battalion got into 1,100 firefights during a 15 month deployment, according to several soldiers. Now they're back fighting the same enemy, on the same terrain.
“They’re smart,” said Sgt. David Lopez, 23, now on his second tour here, of Kunar's Taliban. “They know what they’re doing. They’ve been fighting for decades. They use some of the same movement techniques we use under fire.”
“They’re ghosts,” said Lt. Richard Hill, Able Co.’s 2nd Platoon Leader. Describing how the local fighters scale the mountains, and maneuver into position undetected, but for their coded radio chatter, which signals a coming attack, or a boast, or a bluff to keep the U.S. soldiers off guard. The bullets come when the soldiers are most vulnerable. When they don’t have helicopter support.
Early the next morning a squad of infantrymen from 2nd Platoon, Able Co. 2-503 of the 1-173 Airborne would hike through the terraced wheat fields to the gumdrop hill in the distance. They climbed the hill in darkness and set up defensive positions to wait for sunrise. The hill overlooked Subagar, a town they sometimes took fire from, on one side and a cache of smuggled wood on the other.
I had last visited the Badel valley in August. The air was then humid with summer heat and 10th Mountain soldiers tense with the upcoming national elections. Shots usually rang down from the surrounding mountain tops around dusk. The soldiers called it harassing fire. Some things had changed, much had not. I was interested in what the Able Co. soldiers thought about their mission here three months into it.
“Our purpose is to provide security for surrounding towns. To push out the Taliban. So far we’ve pushed them back to the ridge line,” said Sgt. Michael Dolce, 24. a team leader who'd last been deployed and wounded by an IED attack in Iraq.
One of Dolce’s soldiers, a 21-year-old private said, “I tell my wife we pull a lot of guard, meet Afghans, give them stuff. That we're trying to turn it from a third world country to a country we could visit some day.”
The 10th Mountain platoon wasn’t large enough to conduct patrols outside the concertina wire. Now, 2nd Platoon of Able Co. have twice as many soldiers at COP Badel. They expected to climb the surrounding mountains, it’s what they do in Afghanistan.
In ’07-’08 this unit out of Vicenza, Italy, was deployed to outposts deep in Kunar’s mountains like the Pesh Valley, where they operated mostly on foot. Their battalion got into 1,100 firefights during a 15 month deployment, according to several soldiers. Now they're back fighting the same enemy, on the same terrain.
“They’re smart,” said Sgt. David Lopez, 23, now on his second tour here, of Kunar's Taliban. “They know what they’re doing. They’ve been fighting for decades. They use some of the same movement techniques we use under fire.”
“They’re ghosts,” said Lt. Richard Hill, Able Co.’s 2nd Platoon Leader. Describing how the local fighters scale the mountains, and maneuver into position undetected, but for their coded radio chatter, which signals a coming attack, or a boast, or a bluff to keep the U.S. soldiers off guard. The bullets come when the soldiers are most vulnerable. When they don’t have helicopter support.
That morning, it was as they started to climb down the gumdrop. The crack of AK-47s and bullets whizzing.(2nd Platoon over watching the Badel Valley from the gumdrop.)
There is no hesitation on returning fire. “At first you get that adrenaline, oh sh--, what am I gonna do? Now it’s second nature," said, Private First Class Jonathan Gallegos, 24. "Go to cover, charge the weapon without thinking."
One squad covered from behind trees and rock walls, as the other surged forward, through one of the towns, where kids carrying bundles of tree limbs stared at them. Back to COP Badel. These small firefights and retreats happen at least two or three times a week.
“It’s kind of like island hopping,” Lt. Hill said, describing their movement to surrounding villages, where they try to establish relationships with elders and offer assistance in exchange for a reduction in attacks.
“Security means projects,” Hill explained the carrot approach of the funding Able Co. doles out to surrounding villages. 2nd Platoon is trying to get the Narang district to use the money as its quarterly budget, so village elders can collectively deciding on projects and begin to maintain accurate records. The idea is that selected elders from surrounding villages will decide on how the budget should be spent, rather than the Army just handing the decision to the most powerful person in the village, as has happened in the past.
Easier said then Done
So far, the bulk of American commander allocated funding, or CERP, has been spent on projects that are easiest to allocate, like local wells, in order to gain quick credibility with the elders, if they can ensure security, said Able Co.’s Commander, Capt. Joe Snowden.
In Narang, the sub-governor came to Lt. Hill's last meeting with an entire quarterly budget proposal for two retaining walls and a pipe scheme for a village well. The price of these three projects- $240,000.
"It's very doubtful," Lt. Hill said of the cost. "Obviously they're looking at us as a giant cash cow." Lt. Hill now has to diplomatically reject, and help the district reprice the bid without the sub-governor losing face. He will face resistance, as he believes someone is getting a large kickback. Usually the deeper the village is in the valley the more resistant it is to U.S. forces.
In the Badel Valley, Qala Wana is viewed as a friendly village where some projects have been built, where as Subagar's allegiance is more ambiguous, as exemplified that morning. The soldiers believed they spotted a man trading an Ak-47 off to others on a donkey train coming from Subagar, after shots were fired at them.
In the Badel Valley, Qala Wana is viewed as a friendly village where some projects have been built, where as Subagar's allegiance is more ambiguous, as exemplified that morning. The soldiers believed they spotted a man trading an Ak-47 off to others on a donkey train coming from Subagar, after shots were fired at them.
But the soldiers who are getting shot at, are not all pessimistic. “I see us turning some of the villages green,” Sgt. Lopez said. “The more we go in, the bigger impact. The more villagers see we’re not afraid.”
Climbing the Big Hill
Later that week, 2nd Platoon scaled the mountain directly overlooking their outpost, where they most often get hit from. The purpose was to scout out an observation post the Afghan Army could man. It was clear from the spent brass casings and bullet scarred rock, they would take away the Taliban’s favorite advantage- height. But the ridge line was precarious and even with all the resources and a reinforced outpost structure, it was questionable whether Able Co. would have time to complete the project or whether their battalion would approve to resupply the Afghans via helicopter.
Then there's the danger in staying up there for extended periods. As soon as the two over watching Kiowa helicopters went to refuel, 2nd Platoon could feel it. They were about to get attacked. They’d been monitoring radio chatter of two Taliban cells moving into position.
Climbing the Big Hill
Later that week, 2nd Platoon scaled the mountain directly overlooking their outpost, where they most often get hit from. The purpose was to scout out an observation post the Afghan Army could man. It was clear from the spent brass casings and bullet scarred rock, they would take away the Taliban’s favorite advantage- height. But the ridge line was precarious and even with all the resources and a reinforced outpost structure, it was questionable whether Able Co. would have time to complete the project or whether their battalion would approve to resupply the Afghans via helicopter.
Then there's the danger in staying up there for extended periods. As soon as the two over watching Kiowa helicopters went to refuel, 2nd Platoon could feel it. They were about to get attacked. They’d been monitoring radio chatter of two Taliban cells moving into position.
(Sgt. Eugene Lackey, 25, of St. Louis, climbing the big hill.)
“This is where they got us last time,” said Private First Class, Stephen Finch, 21, setting up his automatic rifle on a rock. “I don’t like carrying it, but I like shooting it... You can go through your rounds like that, so you have to keep a cool head.”
Sure enough, shots rang from the opposing ridge line. As soon as they returned fire, PFC Gallegos spotted a Taliban shooter through binoculars. “I saw him come up in brown man jamies," Gallegos said. "Sgt. Lopez said to engage him. I directed fire towards him. I could see the tracers coming back.”
Minutes later, the rotor thwock of the returning Kiowas. The smaller copters circled and laid down 50. caliber bursts, missile fires sounded across the valley. The fighters fired back at the helicopters and then reportedly retreated to a cave.
“Last deployment we would have been laying bombs,” several soldiers commented.
But at least 2nd Platoon's soldiers made the two hour descent through the mountain wash safely. Sweaty and dirty, with no running water, it was time to chug Gatorade and light the grill again.
Stories of getting shot at commenced. “If you didn’t laugh it off, you’d think about it too much and f--- yourself mentally... ", said Sgt. Lopez. "But we learn from it. Talk what we did wrong.”
“I just got in I my first firefight.
Shit was insane.
So much adrenaline,
Pumping through your veins,
Shots everywhere.
Just lighting up the sky,
like the fourth of July.
F----- wicked. Other than that everyone
was safe. No one got hurt.
We were walking those mountains all day.”
– PFC Jonathan Gallegos, recorded himself saying these words after his first firefight in early Jan.
3 comments:
Whole new situation,Jim.Looks like you are on the front end as apposed to the middle/back end in Iraq.More fighting less counterinsurgency at this time.Does it seem like the same thing all over again?
Love this piece kid, especially the lyrics or the lyrical content...keep up the good work dude!
Jimmy, Nice to read your words. Glad you are no longer inside the T-wall city, but, wow, man, stay safe out there. -ss
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