Kandahar, Afghanistan
08 February 2010

American troops are spread widely across Afghanistan.  Some are remote and accessibility is difficult.  In 2008, I was with six soldiers in Zabul Province who didn’t even get mail for three months.  They had no email.  They were on the moon.  Six courageous men, in the middle of nowhere, and their nearest backup was a small Special Forces team about five hours away.  Resupply to these small outposts is crucial, difficult, and would require major effort by ground.  Enter the United States Air Force.

Tonight’s mission was to fly from Kandahar Airfield (KAF) to Bagram Airfield (BAF), pick up specially rigged bundles of fuel and ammunition and parachute those to American forces up near the border of Turkmenistan.

The aircraft would be a C-130J.  The C-130 variants have been around so long that Captain Fred Flintstone may have been the first pilot.  They’ve seen more than fifty years of service.  The aircraft is so good that nobody wants to shed them, so the Air Force simply continues to upgrade a great old horse.  Dozens of countries fly dozens of variants today.

The latest and greatest for general use is the C-130J.  You can spot a “J” from the older variants by looking at the propellers.  Each propeller has six high-tech blades, allowing the aircraft to carry more weight with greater economy.  In Afghanistan, with the “high hot” conditions, pilots say the J can carry 2-3 times more cargo than older variants.

The C-130 crews in Afghanistan have many crucial missions, though the U.S. crews are proud to say that some of their friends are working Haiti.  Here in Afghanistan, they perform such missions as resupply by parachute, or often landing on rough, remote airstrips.  They recover bodies of our lost troops and fly the remains back to base.  The Js can actually carry a firetruck or two fully armored Humvees, which is pretty impressive considering a single Humvee door weighs more than 400 pounds.

Before takeoff, the two pilots go through long checklists using a lot of terms that are unfamiliar to me.  Sounds like a space launch. (They seated me in the cockpit -- which they call the “flight deck” -- wearing a headset, and so I can hear and see it all.)  The flight deck is so big that even giant Dutch people could stand up and take a step or two with no problems.  There is even a bunk bed behind us.

Some things are easy to understand, “Engine number two,” “flaps,” “brakes,” but they go over the checklist so quickly that my pen has no more chance of following than a sparrow could follow a hawk.

Finally, after several long checklists, we start taxiing to the runway.  We got held up by ATC (Air Traffic Control) when the tower spotted two scrawny dogs crossing the runway.  The pilots scanned but didn’t see them, and finally 1LT April Brown, in the right seat, said, “There they are,” pointed, and Captain John Holland, left seat, got eyes on.  The dogs held up this part of the war for about a minute before trotting away, and then the fighter jets and others kept roaring away.

The small pieces of glass in front of each pilot are called “HUDs”, or Heads Up Displays.  Pilots say the HUDs are great because they can keep their eyes out the windows while still seeing critical information without looking down at the instrument panel.  Notice through the left HUD, a fighter jet is roaring down the runway.  (Just after the dogs left.)  My quarters on KAF are straight ahead past the far side of the runway, so it’s pretty loud here day and night.  Helicopters, C-130s, jets of all sorts.  The enemy has been firing more rockets onto the base, causing some casualties, but to my knowledge have destroyed no aircraft.  Years ago, the Mujahidin more or less ran the Soviet Air Force out of Kandahar with their rocket attacks.  The “Muj” once shot down a Soviet general, captured him, but killed him before they realized they had a general.  Today, the enemy shoots at lot with SAFIRE (Surface to Air Fire) at aircraft and sometimes sparkle the pilots with lasers.  If there is a surface to air missile threat, it’s not presented itself.

The pilots throttle up and we rumble away.  There are actually three pilots aboard and the other is sitting behind me, or down in the cargo bay.  It takes about eighteen months to learn how to fly this aircraft.  One year of pilot training, then six months of training on the C-130J.  Captain Holland said the pilot training is pretty tough, but by the time you get to the C-130 school, you are in the study groove and it gets a bit easier.

That’s Lieutenant April Brown in the right seat.  She’s from San Diego and it’s obvious she loves flying.  After we got up into the darkness, she asked Captain John Holland, left seat, to take the controls so she could snap on her night vision goggles.  They see a lot of shooting stars up here, artillery illumination missions, and other aircraft.

They were kind enough to issue me a set of goggles for the mission, but the helmet and that type of goggles were alien to me so later a helpful loadmaster helped fit the goggles on the helmet and adjusted them.

There is a heck of a lot of air traffic up here, especially near the main airfields.  Over the radio, pilots could be heard with accents that seemed to come from all over the world, talking to air traffic control about headings, altitude, and other matters such as the length of available runway.  Predators and other “drones,” which are always looking down, keep their lights on so that pilots don’t plough into one.

The crew has parachutes in case the aircraft becomes uncontrollable.  I asked a pilot how in the heck he was going to get into a parachute if the airplane was out of control.  Bottom line: at least one pilot is going to have to ride the plane in while the crew gets out.

The first leg of the mission took us to Bagram Airfield (BAF), which must be one of the busiest airports in the world.   BAF is madhouse of traffic and they also take a little rocket fire at times.  The rocket fire is not a big deal, though we do take some KIA and wounded.  On the scale of the war, it’s like mosquito bites.  A nuisance you could do without, but trivial when taken to scale.

To avoid SAFIRE, pilots turn on the landing lights during the last few seconds.

So they taxi behind the “FOLLOW ME,” and we roll by all sorts of jets and helicopters.

And then we park, and go to grab take-away dinners at a nearby DFAC (dining facility) while the airplane is loaded with the supplies that are to be parachuted later tonight.

Twenty pallets weighing a total of about 32,000 pounds are rolled into the cargo bay.  The loadmasters have special training and much responsibility.  If they make a mistake, passengers can be hurt, the aircraft can be damaged, and it could even crash.  Each pallet has information posted on the side, including gross weight.  Before the pallets are loaded, they already have been arranged in the proper order, and a loadmaster then programs in the weights of the pallets and their anchor locations into the C-130J’s computer.  This calculates the CG, or Center of Gravity, which must be within specified constraints.  The computer calculates the gross weight of the aircraft, which is the net aircraft weight, plus fuel, plus cargo.  Gross weight for this mission would be about 150,000lbs.

In addition to the loadmaster's heavy responsibilities, the riggers who “build” these pallets and attach the parachutes must be on their job.  They call this a CDS, or container delivery system, and they said it’s using LCADS “low cost air delivery system” parachutes that are relatively cheap and do not need to be turned in.  Whereas parachutes for our soldiers nearly always open, the pallets are more likely to burn in (though they seldom do).  This happened once when I was with the British in Iraq, sending us all diving to the dark, desert floor while we heard the pallet screaming in, and then practically explode when it hit the ground.  The honey comb on the bottom is a shock absorber.  Some of the containers carry ammo.  I asked the pilots about the dangers of parachuting relief aid into places like Haiti (remembering when some Kurds were killed by bundles), and they confirmed the dangers.  Problem is, the people you are trying to help are desperate – hence the willingness to use dangerous means to feed them -- and so when they see the parachutes floating down, the hungry people rush to catch them, not realizing these things are very heavy and coming down very fast, and then people get crushed and we get blamed for killing people with love.  The pilots try to drop far enough away that people don’t get crushed.

Atop are the LCADS parachutes, and these are fuel drums.  Usually, our people try to avoid parachuting ammunition in Afghanistan.  Though normally right on target, cargo has a real chance of floating into enemy hands.  Also, ammo is more easily damaged than MREs and fuel.

Illumination for the drop was to be at .001 lux (pitch black), and moonrise would be 10 minutes before TOT (time on target).  Though military standard for drops is plus/minus two minutes (four minute window), the pilots said they normally are plus/minus one minute.

This is the BSA, or Buffer Stop Assembly.  The BSA is designed to keep the cargo from lurching forward during flight.

The floor of the aircraft is lined with rollers and rings for moving cargo and tying it down.  You must be careful when walking because people do trip.  When we approach the DZ, the pilots will pull the nose of the aircraft up to about 7 degrees, causing the pallets to strain against the anchor webbing as gravity insists they roll out the back.  Looking down the aisle between the pallets, you’ll see that inverted Y cable.  The pallets are tied down with strong webbing, but that cable is attached to two knives that are up against the webbing.  So after the pilot pulls pitch to 7 degrees, and we reach the Computed Air Release Point, a loadmaster uses his controls to cause the knives to cut the webbing and the pallets should slide out.  Each parachute is attached via “static line” to an overhead cable, and so when they roll into the hurricane winds and darkness, the parachutes should be pulled out by static line.  That is, if the parachute riggers have done their jobs.  If the loadmasters have loaded right.  If the pilot is doing the job.  One weak link and something will go wrong.

The algorithm in the onboard CARP computer (Computed Air Release Point) cannot factor the winds without data.  And so as we roared through the night toward the, drop zone a loadmaster would toss a “dropsonde” out the back.  The dropsonde has a small parachute, GPS, and radio transmitter.  The black antennae screws into the nose and transmits drift data that feeds into a laptop onboard, improving accuracy.  In addition to the desire to get this fuel and ammo to our people, nobody wanted that ammo to fall into enemy hands.

This was a great mission so far: our chances of crashing or getting shot down were low, so that made me happy, and all five crew members were enthusiastic about their work, and answered about a thousand questions.  They also wanted to know about the ground war and were asking me a lot of questions.  Everybody’s war is different.

About an hour after flying out of BAF, we were on final approach to the DZ.  The pilots continued to gather information about the situation and decided the dropsonde was not needed and the drop would be strictly CARP.  I crawled down the three stairs from the cockpit to watch the release while a loadmaster kept his eye on his own console, which was counting down to drop time.  To avoid being seen by the enemy, the back was too dark to take good photos.  The ramp was down when we roared over the drop zone and the pilot pulled the nose up 7 degrees, and so now the 32,000lbs in the twenty pallets were straining to be free.  At just the right moment, the knives cut the straps and in maybe 3-4 seconds all twenty rolled into the night and the plane, suddenly lighter, accelerated.  After the ramp was closed, I unbuckled and stood as the pilot pulled hard and we gained altitude, causing me to stagger under the g-force.  Up in the cockpit, he said all the bundles landed on the drop zone, and the last ones landed right on target.  Well done.

The pilots pulled the nose south in the direction of Kandahar.

The moon continued to rise.

The heavenly views at night show no hint of the guerrilla war raging below.  The crew wants to know more about how our people are doing, and I say we can succeed, and their airlift contribution is crucial.  Without the Air Force, we would have to dedicate far more troops to dangerous convoy duty, bleeding our resources away from other important tasks, and we would endure more KIA from the convoys.  The airlift crews are saving lives and freeing combat troops to perform other tasks, such as going after the enemy.

We kept rumbling through the night, amid the clouds, the stars and the glow of the moon.

And finally back to Kandahar Airfield (KAF), which is becoming a bustling, crowded base due to the Afghanistan Surge.

The marshaller brings us into a parking place.

If you are a troop on the ground and need a pizza delivery by parachute, well, tough luck.  It’s not coming.  But if you need fuel, ammo, medevac from remote locations, or any number of  specialty services that require a C-130J, you might look up into the sky and see the 772 EAS (Expeditionary Airlift Squadron), from Little Rock, Arkansas.

The airdrop mission was a success.  I had been back in Afghanistan for eighteen hours and it was great to be back with winners.

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Kandahar, Afganistán
8 de Febrero, 2010

Tropas Estadounidenses estan desplegadas extensamente a través de Afganistán. Ciertas zonas son remotas y la accesibilidad es difícil. En el 2008, yo estuve con seis soldados en la Provincia de Zabul que ni siquiera recibieron correo por tres meses. No tenian correo electrónico. Ellos estaban en la Luna. Seis hombres valientes, en el medio de la nada, y su relevo más cercano era un pequeño equipo de Fuerzas Especiales a cinco horas de camino. El reabastecer para estos pequeños campos aislados es crucial, difícil, y requerie un tremendo esfuerzo por tierra. Aquí es donde entra a la escena la Fuerza Aérea de los Estados Unidos.

La mission de esta noche consistía en volar desde el Campo de Aviación de Kandahar (KAF) hasta el Campo de Aviación de Bagram (BAF), recoger bultos de combustible y municiones especialmente preparados, y entregarlos por medio de paracaídas a fuerzas Estadounidenses cerca de la frontera con Turkmenistán.

El avión sería un C-130J. Las variantes del C-130 han estado en servicio por tanto tiempo que es posible que el primer piloto fué Pedro Picapiedra. El tipo de avión C-130 ha estado en servicio por más de 50 años. Este tipo de avión es tan bueno que nadie quiere deshacerce de ellos, así que la Fuerza Aérea simplemente continua actualizando a un gran ‘caballo’ Viejo.  Hoy en día docenas de países vuelan docenas de variantes.

La última versión para uso general es el C-130J. Usted puede distinguir el tipo ‘J’ en comparación a las variantes más antiguas al mirar a las hélices. Cada hélice tiene seis paletas de alta tecnología, permitiéndole al avión cargar más peso with mayor economía. En Afganistán, con las condiciones de ‘Alto Calor,’ los pilotos dicen que el ‘J’ puede cargar dos ó tres veces mas carga que las variantes más antiguas.

Las tripulaciones de los aviones C-130 tienen muchas misiones cruciales en Afganistán, aunque las tripulaciones Estadounidenses están orgullosas de decir que algunos de us amigos están trabajando en Haití. Aquí en Afganistán, ellos realizan misiones como entregas de abastecimientos por medio de paracaídas, a veces aterrizando sobre pistas escabrosas y remotas. Ellos recuperan los restos mortales de nuestras tropas y vuelan con ellos de regreso a sus bases. En realidad, los ‘J’ son capaces de acarrear un camion de bomberos ó dos camiones ‘Humvee’ totalmente blindados, lo cual es muy impresionante al considerar que una de las puertas en un ‘Humvee’ pesa más de 400 libras.

Antes de despegar, los dos pilotos revisan largas listas de preparación usando términos que no son familiares para mí. Suena como si fueramos a despegar hacia el espacio. (Ellos me permitieron sentarme en la cabina – a la cual ellos le llaman la cubierta de vuelo ó ‘flight deck’ – vistiendo unos auriculares, así que yo podía ver y escucharlo todo). La cubierta de vuelo ó ‘flight deck’ es tan grande que aún Holandeses gigantes pudieran ponerse de pie y tomar un paso ó dos sin problemas. Había hasta una cama detrás de nosotros.

Algunas cosas son fáciles de comprender: ‘Motor Número Dos,’ ‘Aletas,’ ‘Frenos.’ Pero ellos revisan la lista de preparación tan rápidamente que mi bolígrafo tiene la misma oportunidad de alcanzarlos que un gorrión tiene de perseguir a un halcón.

Finalmente, después de varias listas de preparación empezamos a movernos hacia la pista. Fuimos detenidos por el Control de Tráfico Aéreo cuando la torre observó dos perros flacos cruzando la pista. Los pilotos trataron de verlos pero no pudieron, y finalmente la Teniente April Brown, en el asiento derecho, dijo: “Allí están,” apuntando hacía los perros, y el Capitán John Holland, en el asiento izquierdo, pudo observarlos. Los perros detuvieron esta parte de la Guerra por cerca de un minuto antes de trotar lejos, y luego los jets de combate y otros continuaron rugiendo por arriba.

Las pequeñas piezas de cristal al frente de cada piloto son llamadas ‘HUDs’ ó ‘Heads-Up Displays.’ Los pilotos dicen que los HUDs son excelentes ya que les permiten mantener sus ojos fuera de las ventanas mientras que pueden observar información crítica sin tener que mirar hacia abajo al panel de instrumentos. Por favor note que a travéz del HUD que está a la izquierda, un jet de combate pasa rugiendo por la pista de vuelo (después que los perros se fueron). Mi cuarto en el Campo de Aviación de Kandahar (KAF) está al frente del lado más lejos de la pista de vuelo, así que es bastante ruidoso en esta zona de día y de noche. Helicopteros, aviones C-130, jets de todos tipos. El enemigo ha estado disparando más cohetes al campo, causando algunas bajas, pero de acuerdo a mi conocimiento no han destruido ningún avión. Años atrás, los Mujahideen más o menos corrieron a la Fuerza Aérea Soviética fuera de Kandahar con sus ataques de cohetes. Los ‘Muj’ una vez bajaron a un General Soviético, lo capturaron, pero lo mataron antes que descubrieran que tenian en sus manos a un General. Hoy en día, el enemigo dispara con muchos cohetes tipo SAFIRE (de Superficie al Aire ó Surface to Air) a los aviones y a veces marcan a los pilotos con lasers. Si hay una amenaza de misiles de Superficie al Aire todavía no se ha manifestado.

Los pilotos aceleran y avanzamos con un estruendo. Hay realmente tres pilotos a bordo y el otro está sentado detrás de mí, o sea en el espacio de carga. Se necesitan por lo menos 18 meses para aprender a volar este avión. Un año de entrenamiento de piloto, y después seis meses de entrenamiento en el avión C-130J. El Capitán Holland dijo que el entrenamiento de piloto es bastante difícil, pero que cuando uno llega a la escuela de aviones C-130 uno se encuentra con la mentalidad de estudiar y se pone todo un poco más fácil.

Esta es la Teniente April Brown en el asiento derecho. Ella es de San Diego (California) y es evidente que le encanta volar. Después de que alcanzamos la oscuridad, ella le pidió al Capitán John Holland, en el asiento izquierdo, que tomara los controles para que ella pudiera ponerse sus anteojos de visión nocturna. Aquí arriba ellos observan muchas estrellas fugaces, iluminación relacionada con misiones de artillería, y otros aviones.

Ellos fueron lo suficientemente bondadosos de darme un par de anteojos de visión nocturna para esta misión, pero el casco y el tipo de anteojos era extraños para mí así que más tarde un cargador servicial me ayudó a componer los anteojos sobre el casco y a ajustarlos.

Hay mucho tráfico aquí arriba, especialmente cerca de los campos de aviación. Sobre la radio, se puede escuchar a los pilotos con acentos que parecen venir de todo el mundo, hablando con el control de tráfico aéreo acerca de dirección, altitud, y otros asuntos como la distancia disponible en la pista de aterrizaje. Los ‘Predators’ y otros aviones ‘robot,’ que siempre están observando el terreno abajo, mantienen sus luces encendidas para que los pilotos no choquen contra uno.

Los pilotos tienen paracaídas en caso de que pierdan control sobre el avión. Yo le pregunté a un piloto cómo diablos se iba a poner un paracaídas si el avión está fuera de control. Al final, por lo menos un piloto tiene que volar el avión mientras que la tripulación escapa.

La primera parte de la misión nos llevó a el Campo de Aviación de Bagram (BAF), el cual tiene que ser uno de los aeropuertos más activos del mundo. Este campo es un manicomio de tráfico y ellos también reciben fuego de cohetes a veces. El fuego de cohetes no es gran cosa, aunque si hemos tomado bajas en muertos y heridos. En la escala de la Guerra, son como picadas de mosquitos. Un fastidio sin necesidad, pero trivial al considerar la escala de todo.

Para evitar ataques tipo SAFIRE (fuego de Superficie al Aire), los pilotos encienden las luces de aterrizaje durante los últimos segundos al aterrizar.

Ellos continuan detrás del camion con el rotulo que dice ‘FOLLOW ME’ (Sígame), y pasamos frente a todo tipo de jets y de helicopteros.

Y luego parqueamos, y fuimos a recoger unas cenas para llevar en el comedor (Dining Facility ó DIFAC) mientras que el avión es cargado con los suministros que van a ser despachados por paracaídas más noche.

Veinte jergones con un peso total de unas 32,000 libras son colocados dentro del espacio de carga. Los cargadores han recibido entrenamiento especial y tienen mucha responsabilidad. Si ellos cometen un error, los pasajeros pudieran ser lastimados, el avión pudiera ser dañado, y pudieran hasta estrellar. Cada jergón tiene información anunciada a su lado, incluyendo el peso bruto. Antes de que los jergones sean colocados dentro del avión, ellos han sido ya arreglados en el orden correcto, y un cargador entonces programa los pesos de los jergones y sus posiciones dentro del avión en la computadora del C-130J. Esta información ayuda a calcular el Centro de Gravedad (CG), que tiene ciertas limitaciones especificadas. La computadora calcula el peso bruto del avión, el cual es el peso neto del avión más el combustible más la carga. El peso bruto para esta misión pudiera ser cerca de 150,000 libras.

Además de las responsabilidades serias de los cargadores, los ‘Riggers’ que construyen estos jergones y conectan los paracaídas tienen que estar alerta. Ellos le llaman a este arreglo un CDS ó ‘Container Delivery System’ (Sístema de Entrega de Contenedor), y dicen ellos que están usando paracaídas de tipo LCADS ó ‘Low Cost Air Delivery System’ (Sístema de Entrega Aérea de Bajo Costo), los cuales son relativamente baratos y no necesitan ser recuperados. Mientras que los paracaídas de nuestros soldados casi siempre se abren, es posible que los jergones aterricen sin que ellos se abran (aunque ésto no ocurre a menudo). Esto sucedió una vez mientras estaba con los Ingleses en Irak, haciendo que todos nos tiraramos en la oscuridad sobre el terreno del desierto mientras escuchamos el jergón volando hacia nosotros, y luego practicamente explotando cuando golpeó el suelo. El carton que se observa en la forma de un panal de abejas es un absorbedor de choques. Algunos de los contenedores cargan municiones. Yo le pregunté a los pilotos acerca de los peligros de enviar ayuda de alivio por paracaídas en lugares como Haití (teniendo en mente que algunos Kurdos fallecieron por culpa de bultos), y ellos confirmaron los peligros. El problema es que la gente que necesita la ayuda está desesperada – de ahí la voluntad de usar métodos peligrosos para darles de comer – y así cuando ellos ven los paracaídas flotando hacía abajo, la gente hambrienta corre para atraparlos, sin pensar que estos bultos son muy pesados y van viajando muy rápido, y entonces la gente es aplastada y a nosotros luego nos culpan de matar a la gente con amor. Los pilotos tratan de soltar la carga lo más lejos posible para que la gente no sea aplastada.

En la parte de arriba están los paracaídas tipo LCADS, y estos son barriles con combustible. Usualmente, nuestra gente evita enviar municiones por paracaídas en Afganistán. Aunque normalmente caen justo en blanco, existe la posibilidad que la carga llegue a flotar entre las manos del enemigo. Además, las municiones son más fácilmente dañadas que los alimentos ó el combustible.

La iluminación para esta entrega iba a ser .001 Lux (casi en la oscuridad) y la salida de la Luna iba a ser 10 minutes antes del tiempo sobre el objetivo (Time on Target ó TOT). Aunque el standard militar para este tipo de entregas es +/- 2 minutos (una ventana de 4 minutos), los pilotos dijeron que normalmente están bajo +/- 1 minuto.

Este es el BSA ó Buffer Stop Assembly. El BSA está diseñado para evitar que la carga se sacuda hacia adelante durante el vuelo.

El piso del avión está alineado con rodillos y anillos para mover y atar la carga. Usted tiene que tener cuidado al caminar porque se puede tropezar. Cuando nos acercamos a la zona de caida (Drop Zone ó DZ), los pilotos levantan el frente del avión unos 7 grados, causando que los jergones se forcen contra las correas de anclaje al mismo tiempo que la fuerza de gravedad insiste que ellos rueden hacia la puerta trasera. Observando el pasillo entre los jergones, usted puede observar un cable como una ‘Y’ al revés. Los jergones están atados con correas fuertes, pero ese cable está conectado a dos cuchillas que están en contacto con las correas. Entonces después que el piloto levanta el frente del avión 7 grados, y llegamos al punto calculado para soltar la carga, un cargador utiliza sus controles para que las cuchillas corten las correas y hagan que los jergones se deslizen. Cada paracaídas esta sujetado por medio de una ‘línea estática’ a un cable aéreo, así que cuando los jergones ruedan hacia los vientos fuertes y la oscuridad, los paracaídas deberían de ser jalados por la línea estática. Eso es, si los preparadores de los paracaídas han hecho bien su trabajo, si los cargadores han cargado bien, y si el piloto está realizando su trabajo. Un vínculo débil (en este proceso) y algo puede salir mal.

El algoritmo en la computadora CARP (Calculated Air Release Point ó Punto Calculado de Suelta Aérea) no puede factorar los vientos sin datos. Así que mientras viajabamos a través de la noche hacia la zona de entrega, el cargador tiraba una ‘dropsonde’ por la puerta trasera. La ‘dropsonde’ contiene un pequeño paracaídas, una unidad de Sístema de Posición Global (SPG), y un transmisor de radio. Una antena negra se atornilla al frente y transmite datos que son ingresados en una computadora portable dentro del avión, lo cual mejora la presición de la entrega. Además del deseo de que este combustible y municiones lleguen a nuestra gente, nadie quiere que estas municiones caigan entre manos enemigas.

Hasta el momento, esta había sido una gran misión. Nuestras probabilidades de estrellar o de ser derribados eran bajas, así que éso me hacia feliz, y los cinco miembros de la tripulación estaban muy estusiasmados acerca de sus labors, y respondieron a casi mil preguntas. Ellos también querian saber acerca de la guerra terrestre y me hicieron muchas preguntas. La guerra de cada quien es distinta.

Después de casi una hora de haber despejado del Campo de Avación de Bagram, estabamos en nuestro aproche final a la zona de descarga. Los pilotos continuaron de agregar información acerca de la situación y decidieron que la ‘Dropsonde’ no sería necesaria y que la entrega sería estrictamente por medio de la información obtenida por la computadora CARP. Yo bajé a gatas los tres pisos desde la cabina de pilotos para observar la entrega mientras que un cargador mantenía sus ojos sobre su consola de instrumentos, la cual estaba contando regresivamente hasta el tiempo de entrega. Para evitar ser vistos por el enemigo, la parte de atrás del avión era demasiado oscura como para tomar fotos. La rampa estaba abajo cuando volamos sobre la zona de entrega y el piloto subió la nariz del avión 7 grados, y ahora las 32,000 libras en los 20 jergones hacian esfuerzo por liberarse. A casi el momento correcto, las cuchillas cortaron las correas y quizas en 3 ó 4 segundos los 20 jergones rodaron hacia la noche y el avión, de repente más ligero, aceleró. Después que la rampa fué cerrada, me quite el cinturón de seguridad y me puse de pie mientras el piloto tiraba con fuerza para ganar altitude, causando que me tambaleara bajo el poder de la fuerza de gravedad. En la cabina, el piloto dijo que todos los bultos bajaron en la zona de caída, y que los últimos cayeron directamente sobre el blanco. Bien hecho.

Los pilotos tiraron la nariz del avión hacia el Sur en la dirección de Kandahar.

La Luna siguió elevándose.

Las vistas del cielo en la noche no dan muestra de la guerra de guerrillas que se está dando abajo. La tripulación quiere saber más acerca de como le va a nuestra gente, y les digo que podemos triunfar, y que su contribución de cargar abastecimientos por aire es crucial. Sin la Fuerza Aérea, tuvieramos que dedicar muchas tropas más al trabajo peligroso de correr los convoys, desgastando nuestro recursos en misiones menos importantes, y sufriendo mas bajas mortales. Las tripulaciones aéreas están salvando vidas y liberando a las tropas de combate para que cumplan otras misiones, como la de perseguir al enemigo.

Seguimos volando ruidosamente durante la noche, entre las nubes, las estrellas, y el brillo de la Luna.

Y finalmente de regreso al Campo de Aviación de Kandahar (KAF), que se está convirtiendo en una base animada y muy ocupada debido al ‘Surge’ (el reciente aumento en el número de tropas) en Afganistán.

El ‘Marshaller’ nos lleva hasta un espacio de estacionamiento.

Si usted es una tropa y necesita una pizza entregada por paracaídas, bueno, mala suerte. No va a llegar. Pero si usted necesita combustible, municiones, evacuación médica desde ubicaciones remotas, y varias otras misiones especiales que requieran un avión C-130J, usted puede mirar hacia el cielo para ver a los del 772 EAS (Expeditionary Airlift Squadron ó Escuadrón de Transporte Aéreo Expedicionario) de la ciudad de Little Rock, Arkansas.

La misión de entrega por aire fué un éxito. Yo estaba de regreso en Afganistán por 18 horas y fué espléndido el estar de nuevo en la compañía de triunfadores.

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15 January 2010

Cobra Battery at FOB Frontenac
Arghandab, Afghanistan

Artillery is called “The King of Battle.”  When it comes to the delivery of force, probably nothing outside of nuclear weapons can outmatch the sustained delivery of extreme brutality.  Cannons also can deliver small atomic weapons.

Aircraft and missles have range and other profound advantages, yet on a tactical battlefield these guns are like a force of nature.

They can fire in any weather that man dares to stand in.

American artillery can destroy a parked car with the first shot from twenty miles away.  No sniper has ever lived who can shoot so well.

The red glow is caused by an approaching humvee whose lights were dimmed by red filters, yet the sensitive camera collected light over time.

Calculations for shots are extremely complex and include dozens of factors, such as windspeed, barometric pressure, humidity, altitude of the gun and the target, temperature, and the Earth’s rotation, and the specific lot number of the ammunition.  Every gun is different and so the calculations for one gun would lose accuracy in another.  The guns are brutal and rugged, but also high-tech, precision machines that took centuries of science, engineering and experience to reach the current state.

The guns have reached such a high level of evolution that despite the extreme complexity, within minutes of receiving a “fire mission,” a good crew will reliably deliver accurate shots with help from the computer.

Sometimes missions are pre-planned, while at other times crews must wait close to the guns for hours, even days, without a break.  There was some base in Iraq—I went there with CSM Jeff Mellinger but have forgotten where it was—and the base was taking rocket or mortar fire on a frequent basis from a certain area.  And so the cannoneers slept just next to the guns, and finally the enemy fired and was killed because the guns were pointed at the exact predicted firing point.  The cannoneers just loaded and counter-fired and finished them.  Probably few people on base realized that the “cannon cockers” had conducted an ambush-by-howitzer.  (Maybe the crew who was there will recall this and set the facts straight.)

Cobra battery, 1-17th Infantry, fires illumination.

Sometimes the crews fire “H & I” or “terrain denial” missions.  Harassment and Interdiction missions are fired at terrain known to be used only by the enemy at certain times, and so anytime the enemy feels like rolling the dice, they can move into that terrain.  Such missions also provide influence for “shaping” the battlefield.  If the commander is trying to flush the enemy into a blunder—maybe an ambush—or maybe to cut them off from an escape route, he can have the guns pound into a gorge, say, that is used as an enemy route.  Or maybe he just tries to persuade the enemy to take a route where we have sniper teams waiting.  The battery can be used in many ways that do not include direct attacks on enemy formations.

Bringing ammuntion to Afghanistan is far more expensive than most places—all is brought in by air.  Pakistani and Russian officials understandably don’t want our explosives traveling through their territory; nor do we.  I once flew from Kuwait to Bagram in a C-17 that was filled with 155mm projectiles and a couple of passengers.

The cannons can be towed or picked up by helicopters and moved many miles within an hour, and so it’s possible to stage a long-range attack with the guns by suddenly moving them. The guns can wait quietly for months or years without need of refueling or runways.  The crews are small, and the ammunition is hardy and can be stored for a lifetime.

Some muzzle flashes are not bright because the target is near, requiring little propellant.

The Dragon roars: This was an HE mission and the target was far away requiring a larger charge.  Sometimes they are even brighter.

The guns are dangerous, so the crew must be well trained, and they must frequently drill.  Recently, a soldier got hit in the helmet by a recoiling 155mm cannon.  He escaped with no injury but was lucky not to be killed.

Shots can be directed through many methods.  Aircraft such as A-10s or Predators can spot targets, as can soldiers on the ground.  A satellite could just as easily spot targets.  There is no “best way”; each situation is different.  However, it’s tempting to say the “best way” to call in the guns is to have highly trained troops on the ground who can get eyes on the target.  These troops train specifically for calling such strikes.  Their jobs require great preparation, including much classroom time, physical ruggedness, and coolness in the face of getting killed.  But that’s a different story.

Every shot is accounted for.  Some months back, I was staying in downtown Kandahar and photographed illumination floating down over Arghandab.  When I got to 5/2 SBCT, the date/time stamp on the photos was used to ask the FSO (Fire Support Officer) what the missions were about.  He looked it up on the computer a few minutes later.   The fire mission had not come from 5/2 (but plenty of other missions spilled onto the screen).  There is no such thing as a mysterious fire mission from U.S. forces—there are always records that are stored in various places.

Before firing, HQ checks that no aircraft are in the flight path.   Otherwise, sooner or later we’d likely shoot down one of our own aircraft or, worse, a commercial airliner filled with passengers.  These shots can fly higher than the summit of Mt. Everest (really), and could easily traverse through the cabin of a commercial flight.

There are many sorts of cannons, ammunitions and fuzes.

White Phosphorus “WP” ammunition is used for screening, and there is “HE” or “high explosives,” and many other sorts.  Mostly in Afghanistan our people use illumination and HE.

The enemy uses unexploded projectiles as IEDs.  In Iraq, projectiles mostly came from ammo dumps that our government failed to secure after the invasion, thus costing untold numbers of Iraqi and US lives.  Sometimes the enemy would bury the projectiles in the roads, or cast them into concrete just like road curbs.  They would fill trunks of cars with artillery rounds—some ammo was from South Africa—and those made powerful car bombs.  Unexploded artillery rounds that “kicked out” could be found at the scene of some car bombs.

American projectiles are relatively very reliable and normally explode when they impact targets, but earlier in 2009 while in the Philippines, Philippine commanders told me that many of the IEDs killing their soldiers come from old ammunition that didn’t explode on impact.  The enemy returns the bad ammo in the form of IEDs.

On dark nights, illumination rounds, both visible and invisible to the naked eye, can be seen pretty much every night.  Visible “illum” is very bright and casts eerie shadows over the battlefield.  The IR illum is fired often when our guys are about to do something serious.   Our guys want the enemy to be in the dark but we want to see through the NVGs (night vision gear).   To the naked eye, IR illum appears like a dim candle slowly floating in the sky.  Through NVGs it’s like broad daylight (the NVG equivalent of broad daylight, anyway).  IR illum is often fired on nights when natural illumination is low, such as when the moon is hiding around the edge of the Earth, or behind clouds.  Helicopter pilots like IR illum during “red illum” periods (when too dark to fly without special gear) because it helps them see the ground and thus they can avoid crashing the helicopter.

Headlamps of the Cobra Battery soldiers emanate an eerie glow.  At other times they might use red lights that are more difficult for the enemy to see, but we are pretty safe on FOB Frontenac, so the greater danger is making a mistake around the gun, such as dropping a hundred-pound HE projectile on your foot.  The round will not explode—but you can scratch one foot off the inventory sheet, which takes a soldier out of action.

There’s lots of ways to get hurt here even while the enemy is sleeping.  The gunners talked about a time up in Alaska, or maybe it was Washington State, when someone fired a cannon during the winter.  They said the cannon broke from the ice and slid away and hit a truck.

The cannon’s computer and can run on battery or generator, or the soldiers can compute by hand using charts and other aids, just short of an abacus.  You’d have to be a gifted mathmatecian with a great physics background to hit within a half mile of the target without the firing aides.

Here, Cobra battery dug a circular firing pit with shovels (this ground is not quite as hard as Stone Mountain, but it’s getting there), so they can swing the cannon around 360 degrees.  The gunners are very fast, and using the computer could switch from one fire mission to another within about a couple minutes.

Computations before firing.

There are many sorts of fuzes.  The most commonly used in Afghanistan will airburst, explode on impact, or slightly after impact.  Airbursts typically are used for Taliban in areas such as uncovered trenches.  While delay fuzes might be used for enemy who are in bunkers or positions with overhead cover, such as inside an earthen Afghan compound.  Fire missions often include a mix of fuzes.

Sometimes the crew needs about a minute between shots.  The dragon breath from the muzzle during these shots was not so bright; the target area was only maybe a few miles away, and so the charge was small.  As one illum descends and is about to burn out, another is fired behind it.

The artillery shots are not like a normal rifle bullet wherein the projectile is crimped to brass that contains gunpowder.  Instead, the 155mm projectile is selected and the fuze is set.  On the ultra-accurate (and expensive) GPS-guided “Excalibur” projectile, the coordinates are set in the fuze using a handheld electronic gadget that is placed over the fuze like a little snowcone, which wirelessly transmits the data to the guidance system.  There is no exaggeration saying that an Excalibur round could destroy a parked car twenty miles away on the first shot.  The accuracy is incredible, given all the unpredictable winds and other factors the round will encounter during its flight through the sky – which literally could be shot on from a crystal clear mountain, taking the round far higher than the summit of Mt. Everest where it could pass through winds going different directions and at very high speeds, snow, and then down through a hailstorm and finally through rain.  Imagine the quick temperature changes from a hot-shot in the desert up to airliner altitude.  The tracking and guidance computer must be able to handle all that – and fast – after being shot from a cannon.

The projectile with set-fuze is rammed up into the breach, and behind that the soldiers stuff the propellent.  The breach is locked and a primer emplaced, and finally a cord is pulled and there is no turning back.

Some countries, like the United States, have “counterbattery radars.”  The US has Q36 and Q37 radars, for instance, and they can spot birds or incoming mortar or artillery fire.  Rockets and low trajectory mortars often fly below the radar.  Our bases have radars to alert for various attacks, but the alerts are often farcical.  Sometimes the attack is over before the alarm sounds, and over in Iraq there were so many false alarms that people stopped paying attention.  Especially when the ground was muddy.

Counterbattery radar, though, is actually very useful and can be used to pinpoint the POO (Point of Origin) of enemy shots before the first round even detonates.  In some situations, our people would immediately counterfire, unless of course the enemy launches from next to a school or a built up area.  KAF (Kandahar Airfield) gets hit now and then, with some casualties, but the attacks are uncommon compared to what the Brits got in Basra.  You’d get hit more times in a week with Brits than in an entire year with U.S. forces.

We’ve also got a sytem called C-RAM (Counter Rocket and Mortar), which can acquire incoming rounds and shoot a stream of bullets so dense that it looks like a laser.  Sometimes on KAF they wake me up, but apparently they are shooting at the moon or calibrating the guns.  They sure are loud.

When Cobra battery fired at high angles, they had to fire and then lower the gun to reload, and since the camera was set on these shots with 30-second exposures to catch the stars, the gun can be seen firing, then lowered for reloading.

Though the Taliban had an Air Force at one time, they don’t have counterbattery radar.  If they did we would kill it quickly.  But if we were fighting a more capable enemy, we’d have to protect our guns, such as by firing and moving very quickly.  Imagine being in an artillery duel.  As a commander, you don’t want to lose your guns and leave your infantry at the mercy of enemy guns, and so a good enemy commander will probably shoot at where you shot from, and everywhere he thinks you might have gone in that amount of time.  This causes Taliban some headaches because sometimes they fire at us and run, but our guys are already launching shots at where we thought they might go.  It’s got to take nerve to shoot at an American base.  You’ll probably get away with it for a while.

And that’s about it.  Next time our soldiers need a fire mission, Cobra Battery is one of many who are ready to deliver the goods.  Rest assured, when our people get into a serious firefight, or hit by an IED, the Medevac crews know about it within about a minute, and they are watching the narrative scroll on their screens while they toss coffee cups in the trash.   When a casualty report scrolls, they don’t even wait for orders—they just run to helicopters and crank them up and the rotors start whirling.  Meanwhile, the A-10s and other available warbirds already have turned that direction.  If the fight is unfolding in Cobra Battery’s sector, the crew will be standing by this gun.

Arghandab, Afghanistan
New Year's Eve, 2009

On this small base surrounded by a mixture of enemy and friendly territory, a memorial has been erected just next to the Chapel.  Inside the tepee are 21 photos of 21 soldiers killed during the first months of a year-long tour of duty.  The fallen will belong forever to the honor rolls of the 1-17th Infantry Battalion, 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, and they will join the sacred list of names of those who have given their lives in service of the United States of America.

The symbol of the 2nd Infantry Division is the Indian Head.  At night, soldiers of the “Indian Head Division” can be seen passing by the tepee, sometimes stopping to peer inside before walking into the darkness.

Sometimes the soldiers walk by carrying lights that are red or green, or sometimes white.  Tonight, Cobra Battery was firing illumination rounds from the cannons, which boom from the darkness, arcing a round into the night, where miles away a canister unsheathes, and the parachute opens, and brightness floats silently, shimmering over the valley where these soldiers died.

The firing is not done in remembrance, but to support ongoing combat operations.

Inside the tepee are the 21 photos, and a Bible.  The book is opened to Psalm 31.

In front of each photo, electric candles flicker through the night.

Mostly there is silence.

Soldiers put cigarettes in front of each photo, though they say that many of the fallen did not smoke.

…for thou art my strength.

Only during such times are strong men and women of greatest importance.  At all other times we have Hollywood.

Today we need soldiers who never forget their brothers, while they carry forward with devotion and strength.

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13 December 2009
Kandahar, Afghanistan

People are confused about the war.  The situation is difficult to resolve even for those who are here.  For most of us, the conflict remains out of focus, lacking reference of almost any sort.  Vertigo leaves us seeking orientation from places like Vietnam—where most of us never have been.  So sad are our motley pundits-cum-navigators that those who have never have been to Afghanistan or Vietnam shamelessly use one to reference the other.  We saw this in Iraq.

The most we can do is pay attention, study hard, and try to bring something into focus that is always rolling, yawing, and seemingly changing course randomly, in more dimensions than even astronauts must consider.  All while gauging dozens of factors, such as Afghan Opinion, Coalition Will, Enemy Will and Capacity, Resources, Regional Actors (and, of course, the Thoroughly Unexpected).  Nobody will ever understand all these dynamic factors and track them at once and through time.  That’s the bad news.

The good news is that a tiger doesn’t need to completely understand the jungle to survive, navigate, and then dominate.  It is not necessary to know every anthropological and historical nuance of the people here.  If that were the case, our Coalition of over forty nations would not exist.   More important is to realize that they are humans like us.  They get hungry, happy, sad, and angry; they make friends and enemies (to the Nth degree); they are neither supermen nor vermin.  They’re just people.

But it always helps to know as much as you can.  This will take much time, many dispatches, and hard, dangerous work.  Let’s get started.

The Taliban’s main effort at the moment is Kandahar City.  See it down there?  Let’s move closer.

First, let’s talk about understanding “the borders.”  They are fictitious.  The “borders” that describe the “country” of Afghanistan have trivial effect on the enemy, but the borders (without quotes) greatly affect Pakistan and the Coalition.  The AfPak frontier will be sealed the day frogs stop croaking.  We complain that Pakistan should help, but they can’t do much.  We haven’t secured the Tex-Mex border.  Many Afghans are migratory in the way that we see Mexican laborers in the United States.  Only instead of just picking corn, some will pick corn and supplement their income by planting a bomb.  For some, it’s just business, like being a hired gun in Iraq or Afghanistan.  Lots of normal people will do those jobs.  We must consider this when thinking about the rent-a-Taliban.

Click on the above image for larger view.

President Obama and NATO will plan to send tens of thousands more troops.  The big fight shaping up will likely unfold in the south, in places like Helmand, Kandahar, and to a much lesser extent, Zabul, and also in other eastern provinces.  We could use far more troops, and so other places will be left to fester, but the surge and change of course might be enough to turn the war around.  We will find out.

Russians say we repeat their mistakes but they are wrong.  The Soviets employed true scorched-earth tactics—the same tactics that many armchair commanders at home would like to employ.  Every time the Soviets whacked the Afghan hive, more hornets raged out.  Soviets bullied their way around places like Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and were fantastically brutal in Afghanistan, using all the fire they could breathe.  Their “Rules of Engagement,” if any, were probably more concerned with conserving ammunition.  They tortured.

Click on the above image for larger view.

Soviet abuses enflamed the population and combat ranged from north to south—with much occurring in Kandahar Province, the capital of which is Kandahar City.  The Soviets fought in places like Bamian, where today Americans can literally go on vacation.  The Lithuanian Ambassador to Afghanistan told me he took some holidays in Bamian and loved it.  Last year, I drove about a thousand miles from Jalalabad to Kabul to Mazar-i-Sharif and back, and other places, with no problems and no soldiers.  Most of the country is not at war.  Much of this is a result of our strict “Rules of Engagement” (ROE) which seems to be driving people crazy at home (and many soldiers, too).  Many soldiers hate these new ROE, and there is little doubt that we will lose troops due to restrictive ROE.  My own thoughts are of little relevance.

Left Green Zone

The Green Zone on the left is a result of the Helmand River Valley, and also widespread American construction projects last century.  These projects left goodwill toward Americans and fantastic agricultural opportunities for the drug lords, whose products are said to kill more people every year than the war itself.  The drugs are a crucial part of this war and must be correctively addressed.

The British are running the fight in Helmand Province—they are fighting well and courageously but are under-resourced.   There are US Marines, Danish, and other folks out there.  In Helmand, the fight is serious, and friendly troops are spread far too thinly.  Some experts believe that focusing on Helmand before securing Kandahar was a strategic error.  Most districts in Kandahar are said to be under Taliban control or heavy influence.  Some areas of the south are under complete, uncontested Taliban control.  The brown area comprising the lower third of the image above is a massive desert.

Right Green Zone

The Green Zone to the right is caused by the Arghandab River, just next to Kandahar.  The Taliban want Kandahar and are in a good position to get it.  The year 2010 likely will mark a true Battle for Kandahar, though it probably will not be punctuated by the sort of pitched battles we saw in places like Mosul and Baghdad.  This remains unknown.

Armies from at least three countries have ventured into the Arghandab River Valley: British, followed by Soviets, and more recently Canadians; all were unsuccessful.

In the book Three Campaigns in Afghanistan (on the subject of Britain’s three wars), difficult engagements are described: “Further west, however, there is a great gap in the hills, where the plain narrows and runs in the Arghandab Valley.  To force a passage in this direction, through thickly sown villages and gardens and vineyards, was ‘no child’s play.’  Without masses of well-trained infantry, the attempt could not have been made at all.”

The Soviets came.  The Bear Went Over the Mountain contains a description by Soviet Army LTC S.V. Zelenskiy: “In October 1982, our reconnaissance learned that 10 guerrilla forces with a total strength of approximately 350 men were operating north of Kandahar City in the ‘green zone’ bordering the Arghandab River.  This fertile ‘green zone’ stretches for 15-20 kilometers along the northern bank of the river and is up to seven kilometers wide.  It is an agricultural region of gardens and vineyards bisected by a network of irrigation ditches.  It is practically impassible for vehicles.”

LTC Zelenskiy continues:

“The brigade received an order to destroy these mujahideen.  The commander’s concept was to seal off the north with the broneguppa of three battalions.  Helicopter gunship patrols would fly patrol patterns to seal off the south and east.”

The Soviets were defeated.  That was 1982.  But the Soviets kept trying.  In 1987, the Soviets came with all they could muster.

The Battle for Chaharqulba Village

The history is acutely relevant because the 5/2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Fort Lewis, Washington, is at this very moment fighting in the ARV, in the same villages described.

The book The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet Afghan War recounts some experiences of Mujahideen Commander Akhtarjhan, who joined the Jihad at age 12.  At war’s end he was a twenty-five-year-old commander.

Akhtarjhan describes the 1987 battle:

“The Soviets were there in strength, but they stayed on the plain with their tanks and artillery and seldom committed their own infantry.” The Soviets pushed Afghan troops ahead.

The guerrillas had fortifications and thousands of mines. The Soviets employed the tactics that many people at home beg for today; massive artillery, bombings, helicopter attacks.

According to The Bear Trap: The Defeat of a Superpower, Soviet commanders did not search and destroy; they destroyed then searched in villages throughout Afghanistan.

The battle raged for days, then weeks.  The guerillas began to crack.  According to Commander Akhtarjhan, they had plenty of ammunition but were starving and would take food and supplies from soldiers they fought.

”…my base (was) in Babur village in the orchards on the west bank…”

(Today, leaders in 5/2 Stryker Brigade say that Taliban wounded are evacuated to Babur.)

During the big battle, Soviets crept with their vehicles from the Zhare Dashta plain, just west out of the Green Zone, toward the guerrilla base in the village of Chaharqulba.  Sandbags on the Soviet vehicles made them difficult to kill with RPGs, but “It took them a week of fighting to cover six kilometers to our base.”

According to Akhtarjhan, the District Government post was on the east side of the river (as today), and the guerrillas used the east side as R&R because the Soviets would not bomb that area.  Interestingly, today, there are relatively few actions in the northeast Arghandab Valley, but the west side of the river is a madhouse during fighting season.  Unlike the Iraqis who would fight in their own neighborhoods, Afghans take it somewhere else.

Commander Akhtarjhan recounted: “During the siege, however, we could not send our wounded to Pakistan.  We could not remove the shrapnel and so many of our seriously wounded died of their wounds.  We had a few Arabs in our base at this time.  They were there for Jihad credit and to see the fighting.  ‘If you are Muslims, help us collect the wounded,’ we would tell them.  They would refuse.”

On June 05, 1987, the Manila Standard reported that Afghan forces “lost as many as 1,500 men through desertion and casualties,” and that “a 6,000 strong Soviet-Afghan force launched a massive operation on May 26 against their positions around Kandahar and nearby Arghandab. The sources said the anti-government units fought back and captured 300 Afghan troops and seven Soviet soldiers.  They added that guerrillas killed four of the Soviet soldiers while the other three joined guerrilla ranks.”

Akhtarjhan recounted, “We let the enemy get closer than ten meters to us before opening fire.  We let them get this close for two reasons.  First we wanted to be sure to get them with the first shot.  Second, we wanted to prevent their escape.  We laid thousands of PMN mines [anti-personnel] in the area – particularly on the infantry approaches from Jelawor.”

The guerrillas were having a hard time killing Soviet vehicles.  The mujahideen became dispirited and were ready to retreat.  But then Akhtarjhan’s Senior Commander, Mullah Naqib, said, “This is their last battle and will decide the battle between them and us.  They’ve tried to conquer the base for years and this is their last throw.”

Mullah Naqib strode out to fight alone, and his courage rallied the commanders behind him.  After 34 days the Soviets were defeated and retreated.

Of global significance, in what is perhaps ultimate Cosmic Justice, Soviet barbarity was a great factor leading to the downfall of the empire.

Mullah Naqib would become a leader of much influence and would later become helpful to us against the Taliban, who tried unsuccessfully to kill Mullah Naqib.  Unfortunately, he died of a heart attack in October 2007.  Demonstrating the fragility of the situation, Naqib’s death was a major setback for Kandahar city security and left an opening for the Taliban.  President Karzai appointed Mullah Naqib’s son to take over, but he is deemed both inexperienced and unable to handle the task.

Since the 2001 invasion, U.S. soldiers have come and gone from the Arghandab, but we’ve never had enough soldiers to sit still.  More recently, the Canadians made jabs at Arghandab but did not get far.  Some people believe the Canadians have been militarily defeated in their battlespace. No US officer has told me that the Canadians have been defeated, and none have denied it.  There is no doubt that Canadian troops earned much respect, and that more that more than 130 paid the ultimate price.

On current course, Canada will have fully retreated by 2011.  This is crucial: the enemy realizes that our greatest weakness is Coalition cohesion and they have defeated what was an important partner.

Now it’s mostly down to the U.S. and Afghan forces to saddle Arghandab, or lose Kandahar.

DUSTWUN
Duty Status: Whereabouts Unknown

Afghan elections were scheduled for 20 August 2009.  With the Canadians effectively neutralized by enemy resistance, the 5/2 Stryker Brigade combat team was tasked to operate in Arghandab to help facilitate voting.  The Brigade Commander, Colonel Harry Tunnell, had little intel on the region.  (Though I have found 5/2 soldiers reading and discussing everything they can find on the Soviet experience.)  The enemy started by making small bombs but those were not effective against Strykers, and so they kept upping the charges to a thousand pounds or more.  Enough to destroy any vehicle on the planet.

Early in the tour, two soldiers were killed about twenty minutes apart by IEDs.  Their buddies “knew” that the soldiers had been killed, but the bodies could not be found.  The U.S. military will practically stop the war to look for a missing soldier.   Every available asset was sent to Arghandab and they gained huge intelligence and flooded the place for the first time.  Remains were found and the men joined America’s honor roll.  The Taliban suffered humiliation.

The enemy is not defeated, but our people were now operating among them.  U.S. casualties continued during the next three months but there are indications that the enemy is today in disarray.  The enemy became afraid to sleep indoors where they might be killed by an airstrike—or by U.S. soldiers, who have a tendency to burst in during periods of maximum REM sleep.  The Taliban were terrorized and began sleeping in the orchards at night, rigging homes with explosives, which they arm at night.  (I’ve heard similar reports from Pakistan.  Pakistanis have said that drone strikes are demoralizing and terrorizing the Taliban, and though drone strikes are controversial, some Pakistanis want to see the strikes increased.)

Tactically, it is important to recognize that Arghandab is agriculturally rich in products such as grapes and pomegranates.  The valley is not like the big opium farm we see to the west in the Helmand green zone.  Famous for its pomegranates, Arghandab is considered a “breadbasket” for Afghanistan.

Pomegranate trees represent major long-term investments for farmers.  The trees take 5-7 years to mature and are productive for about 50 years.  The harvest occurs between about the first week of October to mid-November.  This is important because the trees are thick and provide good tactical cover for the Taliban, making them difficult to spot from the air, explaining why they sleep in the orchards at night.  This angers farmers; the Taliban plant bombs in the orchards, using their livelihoods for cover and concealment, and fighting during harvest season.  Bombs kill trees.

Mostly the enemy is gone for now.  Each year, many Taliban migrate to Pakistan.  The “snowbirds” return and fight during spring.  Our signals intelligence people intercepted communications from a senior Taliban leader in Pakistan, to the senior surviving leader in Arghandab, who was then heading to Pakistan.  The commander was ordered to return to Arghandab or risk losing to the Americans.  U.S. officers at 5/2 said the Taliban commander was very upset by the order.

Colonel Tunnell would say, “It is our assessment that the enemy has been defeated in the near term in the southern Arghandab River Valley, which has given us a few months’ breathing space.”  The Strykers will soon deploy to other missions in southern Afghanistan and will be replaced by the 82nd Airborne Division.

The Taliban in Arghandab got a serious whipping but they are not dead.   The winter season is providing our side a brief opportunity to earn local support with various projects in a relatively unmolested environment, while the snowbirds are in Pakistan, no doubt plotting their return.

The Battle for Kandahar is on.  Fresh troops in the United States have been given orders to get over here.  The chapter called “Arghandab” will be crucial.

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03 November 2009

British soldiers at war are an incredible group.  Courageous, competent, and committed in very difficult conditions.  An email came today from London, from a BBC correspondent who has been to Afghanistan saying that Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid had been killed.

To see the article in the BBC was deeply saddening: Soldier Killed While Defusing 65th Bomb.

On a side note, the British soldiers are conservative.  Though this is not very important, it’s difficult to imagine that Olaf had only destroyed 64 bombs before being killed.  Just on this single mission, during which all these photos were taken, and during the surrounding few days, his crew must have destroyed several dozen bombs.  You had to be there.  By the time the mission in these photos happened, the crew was very experienced.

Courage is as common as boots among these soldiers, but Olaf stood out even in that company.  You could tell that Olaf knew his business from mean experience, and that he was ready for battle.  His mind was very quick.

His crew was competent and confident, and worked faster to clear bombs than any I had seen.  If not, the soldiers could never have completed this mission, because there simply were too many bombs.  They say all beekeepers get stung, but these are not bees.  These soldiers were facing an extraordinary number of bombs and booby-traps that are designed to kill the team.

According to the Oxford Mail,

“During the course of his tour, he attended 41 tasks, rendered safe 64 IEDs and attended 11 finds of bomb-making equipment.”

The married father-of-one lived with his family in Winchester. His wife Christina said: “Oz was a phenomenal husband and loving father who was cruelly murdered on his last day of a relentless five-month tour."

Olaf was lost on his last mission.  The enemy are blowing up civilians everywhere, and taking a toll on our folks.

According to the BBC:

Lieutenant Colonel Robert Thomson, commanding officer of 2 Rifles Battle Group, said: "Staff Sgt Oz Schmid was simply the bravest and most courageous man I have ever met."

"No matter how difficult or lethal the task which lay in front of us, he was the man who only saw solutions."

"He saved lives in 2 Rifles time after time and for that he will retain a very special place in every heart of every rifleman in our extraordinary battle group."

According to the Oxford Mail,

Lt Col Robert Thomson, the commanding officer of the 2 Rifles Battle Group, said: “Staff Sgt Oz Schmid was simply the bravest and most courageous man I have ever met."

“Under relentless IED and small arms attacks, he stood taller than the tallest. He opened the Pharmacy Road and 24 hours later, found 31 IEDs in one go on route Sparta. Every single company in 2 Rifles adored working with him."

They really did.  Everybody liked to see not just Olaf, but his entire great team.  The mission succeeded that day.  For more about the lives, and missions of these excellent soldiers, please read Bad Medicine.

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