Joint Afghan/ U.S. raid yields enemy weapons cache used to attack soldiers at Jagahtu

Jagahtu, Wardak- Two Chinooks came in the moonlight. Dust and rocks kicked up at the running shadows of 2nd Platoon, Able Co. soldiers and Afghan forces as they rushed on to the down load ramp.

Five minutes later they touched down on the hill above a wadi, in an area where rockets are often fired at their base from. The objective seemed small after so much planning and rehearsals- a mud and straw hut. It was a reputed mid-level Taliban cache sight. Intelligence can be shifty, so the Afghan Police and U.S. going to hit the door could have expected anything.

(Photo: PFC Matuzak scouts the terrain through the sights of his M-4 rifle.)

At first light they hit the door. The first room they entered was lined with mortars, several rockets, anti-tank mines and assorted explosives, a treasure trove of killers that would most likely be used to fire at COP Jagahtu. The COP takes daily rocket fire, and soldiers have faced IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices), including one that killed five Afghan soldiers, on missions close by.

Because Apache attack helicopters were overhead, the Taliban and men who probably fled the compound, didn’t have a window to counter attack. Two armed men ran from the tree line towards a compound. One was hit in the head by a round or shrapnel from a hovering Apache, and somehow survived. He would be evacuated for medical treatment and questioning.

(Photo: A trusted Afghan Police Commander prepares to be the first into the weapons cache house.)

After categorizing and photographing the ordinance, Ssgt. Puthoff wrapped the shells in detonation cord and moved with the platoon past the wadi towards the pick up site before blowing the shells and the compound with it. An explosive ordinance team came in and blew it twice more for good measure.

“That’s the first air assault, in over twenty, that I’ve been on that we’ve actually gotten a [weapons] cache and blow it up,” Spc. Ben Powell, 21, said.

(Photo: Sgt. Dawson, 22, of Missouri can't help but smile at the yield of enemy weapons.  For a twice-deployed soldier this is obviously a big deal.)

 Ssgt Johnson said, “We were expecting about 40 rockets. The ones that were hitting COP Jagahtu. We get hit by them quite a bit…. But it wasn’t this stuff. It was more of a stockpile… The intel was accurate as far as placement, but not as far as rockets. We did get at least three IEDs in there. It was our first cache we took out.”

Later, intelligence confirmed that the Taliban had probably been tipped 10-12 hours before the air assault hit the cache house.  One indicator was, although an informant indicated their were rockets, 2nd Platoon only found two.  The mortars and other ordinance were probably left as a decoy.

“Basically, they gave that to us,” Ssgt. Johnson said… “We know they rotate their cache between dozens of houses.  We’d like to map out which ones they use, so we can hit multiple ones at the same time.”

Back at Jagahtu
 3rd and 2nd Platoon moved into some shrapnel scared barracks with no electricity.  The walls covered in Pashto scrawl, rumored to be a former school, are at least hardened.

The move was fortunate.  A few days later, a rocket wounded three E Company soldiers unloading their re-supply convoy.  Two were able to walk to first aid, one was seriously wounded in the leg. Sgt. Michael Dolce told me about helping the soldier wounded by rocket shrapnel.  Big chunks had been taken out of his legs. “

(Photo: 2nd Platoon soldiers throw on their protective gear immediately following a morning rocket attack)

The last soldier I’ve seen like that is myself,” Sgt. Dolce said, referring to being wounded by an IED in Iraq. “I tried to talk to him, to keep him conscious.  Telling him, yeah dude, I’ve been there. It was a reality check, I guess.”

Even more sobering, HHC Company providing over watch on the convoy delivering supplies to Jagahtu that same day hit a huge IED just off the route.  One U.S. soldier and one Interpreter were killed.
 
The continued risks of rockets inside and IEDs outside the wire, have been buffered by more assets- a platoon of scouts and IED route clearance soldiers patrolling n specialized vehicles, who have been assigned to Jagahtu for several weeks. 

 Intelligence is working on cultivating informants to report on attacks before they’re launched, sometimes minutes before.  Still every few days the rockets come.  The latest hit 50 meters outside the new hard shelter that 2nd and 3rd Platoon moved into. 

(Photo: 2nd Platoon soldiers provide overwatch to 1st Platoon moving into an area known to be infested with improvised explosives)

“First they were hitting close to the tent and as we moved, the rockets moved.  It leads me to believe we have a spotter on the [outpost],” Sgt. Aaron Dawson said.  (This speculation is prevalent, but not necessarily backed by any facts other than observations.)

Sgt. Dawson was out surveying the blasted sand, sifting out finger-sized pieces of shrapnel and describing how they try to plot coordinates to trace the direction the rockets come from.

Slow improvements
When not on missions, the waiting is for the good news- either the arrival of supposedly “lost” mail and/or the final setting up of the MWR computers.  

Sure enough, one convoy brought another company’s mail, supposedly they’re missing software for the MWR internet satellite, and soldiers were trying to horse trade for a generator for their new barracks- All part of the daily imposition of Murphy’s Law in Afghanistan.

(Photo: 2nd Platoon soldiers read through some high school morale letters accidentally sent to them, but appreciated)

“The only thing we get is high explosives, at high velocity, twice a day,” Lt. Richard Hill said jokingly.  They play an evening wiffle ball game when rockets are least likely.