The troops I was talking to used slightly more colorful language to describe it.
The story hit a nerve. One junior officer in the group growled, “It’s not the ROE. None of us has a problem with reducing the incidence of civilian casualties. But we need to stay on the offensive here if we’re going to win.” Another Special Operator with long experience in Afghanistan agreed, pointing out that the Taliban hadn’t paused in trying to kill them, but U.S. troops were hampered in taking the fight to the enemy. Everyone expressed their hope that the following day’s mission to a remote village in the mountains would be a good opportunity to work off their frustration and give the new Afghan unit they were training a chance to show what they could do when confronting the enemy.
Just before midnight we retired to recheck our gear and get some sleep before the 0400 wake-up call for the mission. Just moments later there was a thunderous roar as a USAF V-22 Osprey swept over our billet, coming in for a landing on the LZ less than fifty meters away.
The Big Bird remained on the ground for a few minutes off-loading personnel and equipment, then loading others to take them to a different base. It lifted off, again flying directly over us. And then—tragedy.
A week or so earlier we had interviewed the commander of the Marine V-22 squadron at Kandahar and he said the tilt-rotor aircraft, “will go further, faster, and carry more stuff than anything else out there.” He also noted the craft was “easy to fly, but hard to fly well.”
The V-22 that went down wasn’t his. It was one of the recently arrived craft flown by the 58th Special Operations Wing, based at the airfield in Kandahar.
Inside the downed aircraft, was an assault force of Rangers from A Company 3rd Ranger Battalion on a mission targeting the terrorist network in Zabul Province. The USAF Special Operations crew aboard were killed when the Bird went down. Survivors and others who saw the crash said it appeared as though the pilot became disoriented in the swirl of dust as he took off from Camp Mogenson and it went down outside the base.
Medevac helos quickly lifted the casualties from the crash to the triage hospital at Camp Morgenson and the big Level III trauma hospital at Kandahar Air Base. But before we lifted off on our mission with the SEALs, Taliban “sources” were claiming they shot the craft down.
It wasn’t true, but both pilots and a civilian contractor were killed outright, while a fourth man, Army Ranger Michael D. Jankiewicz, was pulled from the rubble alive but died a short time later.
V-22 Osprey
Jankiewicz, a twenty-three-year-old Ranger from New Jersey was on his fourth combat tour. His family said he wanted to be a soldier since he was three years old. Highly intelligent and a voracious reader, he planned to complete a career in the military and then go on to become a history teacher. He was engaged to be married as soon as he returned from Afghanistan. Instead, Corporal Jankiewicz was buried eleven days later at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors and was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star.
Cpl Michael Jankiewicz
With the sobering news of the crash fresh in our minds, we followed members of SEAL Team 3 and their fresh Afghan soldiers onto two Russian MI-17 “hip” helicopters for the forty-minute ride to the mountain village which was our objective for the day. Shortly after liftoff, the pilots pointed out the black smudge on the desert floor below, all that was left of the MV-22 Osprey.
We flew the rest of the mission in silence, every man alone with his thoughts inside the old Russian helicopters. The two SEALs sitting in the open rear ramp took pictures as the Birds climbed over stark, craggy peaks on the way to the objective.
One minute out, the inside of the Birds became a study in focused activity. Men readjusted their equipment, charged their weapons, and prepared for a quick exit as soon as the aircraft touched down. We landed a half kilometer from the village, in a tight wadi with a small stream running through it. As the pilots picked their way carefully among boulders in the streambed and landed the huge helicopter with surgical precision, I marveled at their skill. Once we were down, the team wasted no time filing off the bird. As I jumped out behind them, I landed ankle-deep in the tiny rivulet flowing down the wadi. Just like the SEALs, I thought with a grin. Always have to start out wet.
Mi-17 Transport Helicopter
Special Forces soldiers were inserted on mountaintops around the village to overwatch our element.
The helos took off again and the team spread out along the hillside and began moving toward the village. So far, there was no sign of the enemy. The SEALs moved swiftly and with all senses on high alert, though their Afghan counterparts—new to the business of countering insurgents in their own land weren’t quite as attentive.
During the mission, the green Afghan troops, though led by a capable Afghan sergeant, exhibited only the slightest tactical proficiency. Carrying their AK-47s slung over their shoulders seemed to be standard operating procedure. The platoon’s machine-gunner ditched his Kevlar helmet and instead wore a white turban around his head. I noticed that Chuck, a former Army Ranger, spent the day staying as far from the lackadaisical Afghan gunner as he could and so did I. Both of us knew his white turban would make him target number one for a sniper.
Thankfully the Taliban were out to lunch—or went to ground to prevent being spotted on the thermal sights of the Apache helicopters overhead.
The village could have been a scene from the Old Testament. About a dozen mud-walled compounds, the largest of which enclosed at least an acre of ground. All looked to have been built centuries ago. A fertile ribbon of farmland separated it from the river, which ran fast and clear out of the snow-capped peaks on all sides. It was stark but very beautiful.
The people we could see were dressed in traditional Pashtun garb, the men in dark earth-toned robes and the women arrayed in bright colors from head to toe. The only road, if you could call it that, was a dirt track that wound its way up the valley along the river. One of the SEALs immediately took up an over-watch position with a machine gun to guard the approach to the village as the rest of us ventured in.
We moved into the village and began to search each compound. The village men were cool toward the group at first, but when the interpreter explained to them we were there looking for Taliban, they seemed to relax. The elders came out and said the Taliban came to their village every year and demanded food and shelter, but that they had not yet arrived this year. The SEALs pressed their Afghan counterparts to continue searching for weapons, IED-making equipment, and opium while the mission commander and the Afghan sergeant sat down to tea with the head man and the elders. As they sat on the ground and talked outside the headman’s home, the rest of the men from the village gathered around to listen.
The village children quickly lost their timidity and began following Chuck around like the Pied Piper. With no electricity in the village, it was clear none of the kids had ever seen a camera and were fascinated by the moving pictures he was capturing.
After a couple of hours in the village, the SEAL team decided they had done all they could and moved out to take up a position on the outskirts and wait for the helicopters to return. The children followed along, prompting one of the special operators to comment that the team had become the world’s most expensive day care providers.
But as the men played with the kids that afternoon, it became clear to me that while they may not have found any Taliban, the mission itself was a success. The SEALs quickly identified how far they had to go in preparing this Afghan Army unit for the war they were in. And perhaps more importantly, the village children, who were now delighting themselves by arm wrestling and besting the SEALS at slingshot marksmanship, had at least one very positive experience with U.S. and their own Afghan forces.
Chuck Holton with Afghan children
A Navy SEAL stands watch over Afghan children in the village.
FOR AMERICA'S SHADOW WARRIORS
&n
bsp; Through the end of the last century, conventional and strategic nuclear forces were the instruments of national power that received the most resources and attention. The so-called "Powell Doctrine" dictated that our wars would be fought as we did in Operation Desert Storm. Before engaging in combat, we would conduct a massive build-up of conventional forces. The American attack would be preceded by a "shock and awe" air campaign—and then U.S. armored and mechanized forces would rapidly overwhelm the adversary. The one-hundred-hour war to evict Saddam Hussein's Republican Guards from Kuwait seemed to vindicate the strategy.
Then came 9-11-01.
An air campaign alone would be inadequate to unseat the Taliban and destroy al-Qaeda. There were no bases from which the U.S. could stage an attack into the foothills and deserts south of the Hindu Kush. And so the nation called on its shadow warriors.
Since then, the long campaign of "Nation Building" in Iraq and the prolonged conventional fight in Afghanistan have tested the patience and treasure of the American people. Radical Islamic terrorism has proven remarkably resilient to conventional forces—and vulnerable to small teams of highly trained and uniquely equipped unconventional forces—shadow warriors—willing to brave difficult and dangerous terrain and take on an enemy far from other "friendlies" with a minimum of attention. Notably, when the last American "combat units" were withdrawn from Iraq in August 2010, the mainstream media somehow missed the U.S. Special Operators who stayed behind, training, mentoring, and accompanying their Iraqi counterparts on dangerous missions.
U.S. Special Operations Command—and units like the CIA's Special Activities Division and DEA FAST units have proven not only less costly than conventional military force—but in many ways, unexpectedly effective. In some places, like the Horn of Africa, the periphery of the Persian Gulf, and hostile spots like Yemen, unconventional forces are the only option for projecting U.S. power without risking wider hostilities.
A decade from now, unconventional warfare—the art practiced by the American Heroes of Special Operations—is likely to be our nation's first line of defense from those who would do us grievous harm. The shadow warriors in this book are the ones who showed us how.
INDEX
Military Designations
101st Airborne 43
305th Air Mobility Wing 277
A Company 3rd Ranger Battalion 287
American Widow Project 140
1st Calvary Division 97
1st Infantry Division 133
1st Infantry Divisions 3rd Brigade Reconnaissance Troop 94
2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines 103
2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion 229
10th Mountain Division 43, 77, 83–84
4th Ranger Training Battalion 74
5th Ranger Training Battalion 75
6th Ranger Training Battalion 76
75th Ranger Regiment 9–11, 163
41st Expeditionary Rescue Squadron, "the Pedros" 273, 277
58th Rescue Squadron 177
129th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron 275
1st Special Forces Operational Detachment (Delta Force) 93
1st Special Forces Group 131
3rd Special Forces Group 180, 201, 205
5th Special Forces Group 27, 32–33, 37
7th Special Forces Group 55, 131, 231, 268, 280
10th Special Forces Group 174
19th Special Forces Group 53
20th Special Forces Group 104
58th Special Operations Wing 286
160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) 11, 153–54, 163
2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment 210
3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment 63, 238
3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) 203
3rd Platoon, A Company, 2nd Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment 215
4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment 236
AFSOC 12
Bravo Company 2nd Platoon 65
Bravo Company of the 3rd Ranger Battalion (B 3/75) 63
CCTs 37
Charlie Company 1st Platoon 65, 68
Charlie Company 2nd Platoon 65, 68
Charlie Company 3rd Platoon 65, 68–69
Company A, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group 181
Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division 93, 95
DEA FAST 13, 243, 296
JSOC 9
JTACs 37, 192, 232
MARPAT 243
MARSOC 10, 216, 221, 249
Night Stalkers 11, 44, 124, 158–59, 211
ODA 9
ODA 083 167
ODA 342 104
ODA 531 114
ODA 574 28–30
ODA 732 105–6, 112
ODA 765 131–43
ODA 3336 191–201, 205
ODA 7315 115
ODA 7326 114
Sea-Bees 283
SEALs 12
SFAS 27
Special Boat Team 22 59
SOCOM 8
SOWT 40–41
SWCCCs 58
Task Force 160 44
USASOC 9
Names
Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi 91
Abu Obaeideah 167, 169, 171–72
Ahmad Shah 116, 118, 126
Ailes, Roger 7
Amerine, Major (Captain) Jason 27–30
Argus, K-9 Special Operations 268–71
Atmar, Mohammad Hanif 254
Austin, Lance Cpl Aaron 97
Axelson, Sonar Tech 2nd Class Matthew G. 118–26
Barnett, Bob 7
Bass, CPO Stephen 33–34
Behr, Staff Sgt Dillon 194–202, 205
Benton, Colonel Gus, II 205
"Billy," explosives-sniffing K-9 131
bin Laden, Osama 24, 37, 166
Binney, Staff Sgt Matthew 135–140, 143
Birch, Battalion Command Sgt Maj Alfred 67
Bolaños, Sgt Carlos 221–26
Brandi, Dianne 7
Briggs, Staff Sgt Daniel 94–102
Bronze Bruce 54
Brown, Staff Sgt Damone "D" 268–71
Browne, Pamela 7
Canon, Staff Sgt Arin K. 50
Carlson, Shayne 87
Carlson, William "Chief" (CIA) 77–87
Carter, Spc Michael D. 194–202, 205
Chaney, Captain Matthew 168–73
Chaney, Vice President Richard B. 101
Chapman, Tech Sgt Air Force Combat Controller John 45
Church, Captain Benjamin 17
Conway, Lt Gen James 92
Cooper, Chief Warrant Officer 5 David F. 152–60
Crouse, Sgt 1st Class John 224
Cunningham, Specialist Chris M. 50
Cunningham, Pararescueman Specialist Jason 47–48
"Dave," CIA 32
Davis, Cpl Michael 140
Davis, Taryn 140
Dietz, Petty Officer Danny 118–26
"Digger" 257–59
Donald, Lt Mark L. 79–89
Dostum, General Abdul Rashid 31–32
Doyle, Captain David 63–64, 70
Duncan, SFC Jeffrey 66–67
Eggers, Captain Dan 282
Escano, Specialist Oscar J. 50
Featherstone, Craig 7
Fishbaugh, Marsha 7
Ford, Master Sgt Scott 195–201, 203, 205
Ford, Captain Sheffield F., III 131–42
Fuerst, Staff Sgt Joe, II 135–40
Fuerst, Sgt
Tara 136, 140
George, Sgt Patrick 50
Gibson, Specialist Joe 210–15
Gilbert, Major Troy 158
Gilliam, PFC David B. 50
Glover, Major Matthew R. 101
Guendner, Staff Sgt Eric 219–26
Guerrero, Tobi 140
Gutierrez, Staff Sgt Robert Jr. 183–89, 197, 209, 255, 257–67
Halbisengibbs, Staff Sgt Jarion 168–74
Halladay, Father Paul, chaplain 147
Harlow, Rich 7
Healy, Senior Chief Information Systems Tech Daniel R. 123
Hektamyar Gulbuddin 190
Heredia, Staff Sgt Eddie 219–24
Hernandez, SFC Abram 137–139, 143
Hinton, Martin 7
Hollenbaugh, Master Sgt Donald R. 93–101
Holleyman, Staff Sgt Aaron 4
Holton, Chuck 7, 274, 282, 284–85, 289, 291
Howard, Staff Sgt Seth E. 198, 200, 203, 205
Hussein, Saddam 20, 61
Jackson, Chris 7, 231, 234
"Jacob," the interpreter 135–39
James, Mal 7
Jankiewicz, Cpl Michael D. 287
Jenkins, Griff 7
Johns, Sgt 1st Class Stephan 101
Johnson, Greg 7
Karzai, Hamid 28–30, 234
Kopp, Ben 237–42
LaFrenz, Sgt Matthew 51
Lancaster-Totten, Specialist Aaron 51
Lawrence, Diana 7
Lawson, Staff Sgt William 275
Leamon, Forrest 249
Lefebvre, Maj Gen Paul E. 229
Leonhart, Michelle 249
Lindh, John Walker 32–33
Lindsey, Sgt 1st Class Michael 168–173
Livaudais, SSG Nino 72
Logan, Lara 141
Long, SPC Ryan 72
Luttrell, Petty Officer 1st Class Marcus 117–26
Maholic, Master Sgt Thomas D. 131–42