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Going in small in Afghanistan
Returning from Gomal
'They pick and choose when to fight'
When the 1-87 convoy heads home from Gomal at the end of a four-day mission, tension rises as it enters prime ambush territory, a choke point of wooded hills south of the firebase at Orgun.
"I know this is when you need [air cover], but they have to refuel," the news crackles over the radio of Sgt. William Skerrett's mud-caked Humvee.
Without Apache attack helicopters hovering overhead, Sergeant Skerrett warns his men to keep their guns handy. His driver, Spc. Jack Horn, is more sanguine. "They're not gonna hit us with this large a force," he wages, but checks to make sure the jammer is on for remote-detonated road bombs.
It's an unenviable calculation for 10th Mountain soldiers fighting in Afghanistan, many for the second time: How to present a force small enough to invite an enemy strike, but still potent enough to defeat it.
Or, in soldier's terms: "We want to make contact, but I also want to get my 10 guys back," says Sergeant Davis, a squad leader in 1-87's Alpha Company.
The problem is rooted in a clever, virtually invisible enemy.
Indeed, ask almost any 10th Mountain infantryman on his second tour here, and he'll rattle off a list of what the enemy has learned. "They've adapted to our body armor - they know where to shoot us," says Alpha Company Sgt. Christopher Below. "These guys may be the hard-core survivors. They seem more trained than the guys in [Operation] Anaconda," he adds, referring to a major battle in March 2002 in which 1-87 fought.
Guerrillas in Paktika have a "robust" early warning system alerting them to US troop movements, according to a military intelligence officer. They communicate using radios and wireless phones.
They also easily disguise themselves. Some wear a second set of clothing under a black tunic, allowing them to drop their AK-47 and chest rack of ammunition, make a quick change, and melt into the countryside.
Others hide weapons under civilian robes, as did suspected Al Qaeda who approached three 1-87 snipers on Aug. 31. They dropped down and opened fire, killing two snipers at close range. Another fighter posing as a farmer shot from behind a tree at US troops who arrived at the scene. Once wounded, he blew himself up with a grenade, knocking two soldiers down.
Sgt. Jeffrey Grothause, an Afghanistan combat veteran whose Charlie Company squad responded that day, sums up the feeling of many troops about their enemy: "They pick and choose when to fight."
Barmal
'If we show up big, they take the week off'
Sketching out a new mission north of Shkin in Barmal district in mid-December, Maj. Dennis Sullivan wrestles with how to best outwit this elusive opponent.
"We have a very smart, competent enemy," says Major Sullivan, 1-87's executive officer. "He will only attack when he thinks he has a chance of success." Sullivan, the son of Irish immigrants from Oxford, Mass., is the top officer at the tiny Shkin firebase, a mud-walled compound rented from a tribal leader for $5,000 a month. Sitting on a hill in full view of Pakistan's border, the base is often a target of enemy rockets.
Around the camp, soldiers clean guns and ready vehicles for the mission. The crack of a sniper rifle echoes from a makeshift range outside the wall. Meanwhile, over bitter coffee at Shkin's chow hall, Sullivan strategizes.
"If we show up too big, they take the week off and farm the field," he says, drawing a rough map of the operation.
This time, the calibrations worked, as Sullivan recounted later.
On Dec. 14, more than 100 US soldiers and Afghan militiamen set out from Shkin. At dawn the next day, they broke camp and started driving - in three separate groups - along a narrow, winding mountain pass topped with evergreens a few miles east of the border town of Mangretay.
At one juncture, steep walls of rock lined the road. The first two groups, including members of 1-87's Bravo Company and the 10th Military Police Company, passed without incident. But 90 minutes later, as the smaller third group of MPs, medics, and Afghan militia passed through, enemy rounds burst down from the high ground.
The first two vehicles of MPs sped forward while two others held back. Six more - including one that stalled - were stuck in the "kill zone," forcing their drivers and crews to take cover alongside the rocky mountain face and return fire against an estimated 15 to 20 insurgents.
Heavy machine-gun fire tore up the dirt a few yards away, while RPGs exploded in front and behind of the stalled truck, narrowly missing it. Meanwhile, the Air Force controller, Sr. Airman Peyton Knippell, guided two F-16s toward the ambush, but the jets couldn't unleash their 500-lb. bombs until the trapped soldiers could move to safety.
Freeing them was "the toughest collective challenge" of the skirmish, Sullivan says.
In an effort to suppress enemy fire, 1st Lt. Rob Eyman moved in with a platoon of armored Humvees, firing grenades and machine guns. Then a mortar section launched rounds against the guerrilla positions. After a 45-minute firefight, the soldiers escaped the "kill zone" and the F-16s dropped two bombs, causing the insurgents to flee into the forested terrain.
Two Apache helicopters flew in, spotting a camouflaged mud hut 500 yards behind the ambush site. The hut was later destroyed by an A-10 aircraft's cannon. Then, aided by the Apaches, Capt. Justin Pelkey's soldiers from Bravo Company moved to try to intercept anyone escaping. They detained a man walking away from the ambush site, who was suspiciously ignoring the Apache. He had an AK-47 and chest rack hidden under his wrap.
Along a likely enemy escape route, 1st Lt. Richard Steinbacher's platoon detained two other suspected guerrillas, including one from Pakistan's Waziristan region. Platoon soldiers also found a bunkhouse built for eight to 10 men with food and other winter supplies, military sleeping bags, and rooms with hidden entrances.
The mission, while not a "deliberately planned baited ambush," shows the calculated risks commanders must take to lure out their enemy, Sullivan says. The relatively small size and thin-skinned vehicles of the third convoy, along with the absence of aircraft immediately overhead, probably contributed to the insurgents' willingness to attack, he says.
"We presented a force of size and type that would possibly not deter the enemy from fighting, but was large enough and lethal enough to fend and fight for itself" until reinforced, he says. His soldiers returned unscathed, while two guerrillas were confirmed dead and three others wounded.
Indeed, as the ambush attempt near Mangretay showed, US forces usually overwhelm militants who stand and fight. Since arriving last summer, 1-87 has lost three men in Paktika, while killing scores of enemy. Still, soldiers here realize that if this war is fought as one of attrition, the road ahead remains long.
As the snow line drifts lower on the gray-blue peaks, 1-87 plans to step up incursions, denying insurgents a traditional winter lull in which to regroup. "If you ... hunt down the bear where he sleeps, there will be no hibernation," says Sullivan. "We will go there."
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