were a small, though welcome, distraction from the overall mission against the Taliban offense.
Just after the kickoff of combat operations for Mountain Viper, Ray called me late at night. His voice was urgent.
“Tony, I’ve got indications we’ve got a company-size Taliban near this village.” He named a grid coordinate—it was Deh Chopan, 100 miles northeast of Kandahar and one of the few villages in the rural Zabul province. One of his Afghan teams was in the area. It was in the heart of the Taliban activity. “We think they will overrun the place in the morning.”
“Ask your guys if there are any Paks in the area,” I told him. “I’ll go talk to Dave and see what he can get ** ********
I went over to Dave’s office. He was still working as well. “I just got this from Ray: a company-size Taliban element headed to Deh Chopan. What do you think?” I gave him the grid coordinates.
“Let me talk to Captain Knowles,” he said and turned to our foreign analyst. They worked with Dave in the SCIF, ******** **** **** *** ********** ** ***** *** ****** ****.
Capt. Mary Knowles looked up from her desk. “I’ve got indications of activity in the area.”
Dave and I headed outside the SCIF to the fires area in the Operations Center and grabbed Torres.
“We’ve got a company-size element. There is activity according to my folks and his guys have got eyes on target. They’re ready to take the village,” Dave told him.
“You sure?” snapped Torres.
“Indications are that the village elder has been resisting their advances. He told ’em to take a hike so they’re going to take it by force. Can we send anyone in to defend it?” asked Dave.
“Yeah, we got a company about 10 kilometers farther away in the mountains,” said Torres. He was thinking out loud. “We might be able to get airlift in to move them closer. I’ll have to check with aviation. Let’s get together at oh two hundred and decide what to do next.”
Torres gave an update to Ault and then to the aviation guys. Turns out a flight of Chinooks and Apaches was near one of the forward bases getting refueled. Torres gave him a verbal frago (fragmentary) order to change the existing order and then followed up a few minutes later with a written request.
About 0100, I got an e-mail from Ray. “Got a call from one of my guys. They’re about one klick (kilometer) away from the Taliban position. The Taliban are dispersing,” melting into the countryside to wait to launch an offensive soon on the village.
“Any indications of HVTs in the area?” I e-mailed back. HVTs are high-value targets like bin Laden, Hekmatyar, and Mullah Omar that the Leadership Targeting Cell was tasked to chase after.
“No.”
That was too bad for the LTC, but it meant we could go in guns blazing.
“Will advise you in an hour,” I typed back.
At 0200, we all gathered around the table in front of the big board in the SCIF.
“What do you got?” Torres asked.
“Indications are they’re dispersing for the moment.” The enemy knew the terrain. A lot of them were from the area, had been recruited, and had gone to Pakistan to train and had come back to try to retake these areas for the Taliban.
Torres nodded in satisfaction. “That’s good news. I’m going to move the 10th Mountain guys into the village while they’re still dispersed, and I’ll send a squad around back—to the east of the village—to cut them off.” We had to block off the road into Deh Chopan because we knew they were resupplying on motorcycles. We didn’t want them to be reinforced from Pakistan.
Torres went over to the map. “Can you tell me how they’re set up?”
I traced my hand along a ridgeline southeast of the village. “They’re along there. Indications are they’re lying low and will attempt a dawn attack.”
We disbanded, and I shot an e-mail back to Ray. “Make sure your guys know we have troops in the area.”
“What do you need now?” he e-mailed
Just after the kickoff of combat operations for Mountain Viper, Ray called me late at night. His voice was urgent.
“Tony, I’ve got indications we’ve got a company-size Taliban near this village.” He named a grid coordinate—it was Deh Chopan, 100 miles northeast of Kandahar and one of the few villages in the rural Zabul province. One of his Afghan teams was in the area. It was in the heart of the Taliban activity. “We think they will overrun the place in the morning.”
“Ask your guys if there are any Paks in the area,” I told him. “I’ll go talk to Dave and see what he can get ** ********
I went over to Dave’s office. He was still working as well. “I just got this from Ray: a company-size Taliban element headed to Deh Chopan. What do you think?” I gave him the grid coordinates.
“Let me talk to Captain Knowles,” he said and turned to our foreign analyst. They worked with Dave in the SCIF, ******** **** **** *** ********** ** ***** *** ****** ****.
Capt. Mary Knowles looked up from her desk. “I’ve got indications of activity in the area.”
Dave and I headed outside the SCIF to the fires area in the Operations Center and grabbed Torres.
“We’ve got a company-size element. There is activity according to my folks and his guys have got eyes on target. They’re ready to take the village,” Dave told him.
“You sure?” snapped Torres.
“Indications are that the village elder has been resisting their advances. He told ’em to take a hike so they’re going to take it by force. Can we send anyone in to defend it?” asked Dave.
“Yeah, we got a company about 10 kilometers farther away in the mountains,” said Torres. He was thinking out loud. “We might be able to get airlift in to move them closer. I’ll have to check with aviation. Let’s get together at oh two hundred and decide what to do next.”
Torres gave an update to Ault and then to the aviation guys. Turns out a flight of Chinooks and Apaches was near one of the forward bases getting refueled. Torres gave him a verbal frago (fragmentary) order to change the existing order and then followed up a few minutes later with a written request.
About 0100, I got an e-mail from Ray. “Got a call from one of my guys. They’re about one klick (kilometer) away from the Taliban position. The Taliban are dispersing,” melting into the countryside to wait to launch an offensive soon on the village.
“Any indications of HVTs in the area?” I e-mailed back. HVTs are high-value targets like bin Laden, Hekmatyar, and Mullah Omar that the Leadership Targeting Cell was tasked to chase after.
“No.”
That was too bad for the LTC, but it meant we could go in guns blazing.
“Will advise you in an hour,” I typed back.
At 0200, we all gathered around the table in front of the big board in the SCIF.
“What do you got?” Torres asked.
“Indications are they’re dispersing for the moment.” The enemy knew the terrain. A lot of them were from the area, had been recruited, and had gone to Pakistan to train and had come back to try to retake these areas for the Taliban.
Torres nodded in satisfaction. “That’s good news. I’m going to move the 10th Mountain guys into the village while they’re still dispersed, and I’ll send a squad around back—to the east of the village—to cut them off.” We had to block off the road into Deh Chopan because we knew they were resupplying on motorcycles. We didn’t want them to be reinforced from Pakistan.
Torres went over to the map. “Can you tell me how they’re set up?”
I traced my hand along a ridgeline southeast of the village. “They’re along there. Indications are they’re lying low and will attempt a dawn attack.”
We disbanded, and I shot an e-mail back to Ray. “Make sure your guys know we have troops in the area.”
“What do you need now?” he e-mailed
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