Posted on 03/25/2006 5:56:32 PM PST by SandRat
SALAR BAN, Afghanistan (Mar. 24, 2006) -- In conjunction with soldiers from the Afghan National Army, Marines from Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, based out of Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, recently conducted a week-long company-wide operation led by Charlie Company Commander Capt. Jared Spurlock in the Shuryak Valley of Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan immediately followed by another week-long mission manning an observation post along the Pech River Road in the often hostile area between Camp Blessing in Nangalam and Camp Wright in Asadabad.
All told, Marines from Charlie Company's 3rd Platoon spent 15-days in the field, and along with the rest of the company, engaged in numerous firefights with the enemy during the company operation while also placing eleven suspected Anti-Coalition Militia and ACM collaborators in the status of personnel under control, noted 1st Lt. Kevin Frost, platoon commander, 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1/3.
The most significant of these battles, according to Spurlock, occurred near the remote mountain village of Salar Ban in the Shuryak Valley, moments after Marines discovered an alleged safe house storing over one thousand pounds of explosives suspected to be potentially used for making improvised explosive devices, commonly known as IEDs.
"Our mission on this company operation was simple - to close with and destroy the enemy," said Spurlock, a native of Pocatello, Idaho. "The Shuryak Valley is a known enemy stronghold in our area of operations. We knew the enemy was out there, we just didn't know exactly where."
The Marines of Charlie Company would find out soon enough.
"During our reconnaissance in force we searched numerous villages in the area looking for Anti-Coalition Militia members and collaborators, as well as for weapons and to gather intelligence," said Spurlock. "We had reports that there was enemy in the vicinity of Salar Ban, so we went to that village to talk to local residents and village leaders to get a feeling of enemy activity in the area."
What the Marines found was a literal ghost town.
"The insurgents are like ghosts," said Gunnery Sgt. Paul Davis, company gunnery sergeant for Charlie Company, 1/3, and a native of Laurens, S.C. "They just disappear into the mountains and sometimes you see them and sometimes you don't."
"I knew there was something wrong when we rolled up and the village was basically deserted," said Sgt. Nathan Zechman, 2nd squad leader, 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1/3. "There was no one really in the village. I had a feeling something was going to go down," recalled the Hershey, Pa., native.
As it turned out, Zechman's gut feeling was right on the money.
"During our search of a home in Salar Ban, we discovered roughly one-thousand pounds of explosives with an additional one-thousand pounds of time fuses and other accessories used to detonate explosives," said Spurlock.
During the search, the explosives were discovered by two combat engineers attached to Charlie Company - Lance Cpl. Jordan Mills, from Louisville, Ky., and Lance Cpl. Daniel Johnson, from Salt Lake City.
"Almost as soon as we got the word that the explosives were found, I saw a back-blast from an RPG (rocket propelled grenade) and saw the RPG headed straight for us," said Lance Cpl. Brandon Benz-Marrs, assaultman, 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1/3. "I dived down and thought, 'This is it. We're dead.' Then, somehow, it ended up landing about 15 meters from us. None of us were hit. We didn't have time to count our luck. We immediately started sending rounds down range," recalled the Wailuku, Maui native.
What ensued over the next 30 minutes was a ferocious firefight between Marines from Charlie Company and the ACM, the likes of which Charlie Company Marines hadn't seen since the battle of Fallujah in Iraq in November of 2004, noted Sgt. Michael Chambers, platoon sergeant, 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1/3.
"The Marines who hadn't seen combat before got their wish today," said Chambers, a Purple Heart and Bronze Star with combat distinguishing device medal recipient from Lexington, S.C. "The enemy had the terrain advantage. The potential was there for them to put a hurting on us, but the Marines did what they were trained to do and in the end, we crushed them."
Indeed, according to Spurlock, later reports estimated that upwards of 20 insurgents were killed in the firefight and in the artillery bombardment and air support that followed.
"All told, including the initial firefight, the battle lasted over an hour, but once the big guns and air support came in there was nothing the enemy could do," said Chambers. "I heard we killed 20 of them. I wish it was 21. There is always room for one more dead Taliban who is trying to kill Marines, our ANA brothers and innocent Afghans."
Many Lava Dogs from Charlie Company called it a miracle that there were no Marine casualties during the exchange. "I think it was a combination of a miracle by God and Marine Corps training that none of us were killed or wounded at Salar Ban," said Lance Cpl. Jose Romero, 1st Fire Team Leader, 3rd Squad, 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1/3. "For a minute there I thought I was going to die, but I never felt fear. All I felt was the Marine Corps training kicking in. It seemed like we were in one firefight or another every day on this operation, but Salar Ban was definitely the worst, or, if you think about it, the best."
Others were a little less spiritual in their outlook on the battle at Salar Ban.
"Yeah, I'm surprised none of us died at Salar Ban," said Cpl. David Gordon, 3rd Squad Leader, 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1/3. "There were a lot of close calls," continued the Bowling Springs, S.C., native. "It just came down to they missed and we didn't."
"It was luck no Marines got killed," said Mills. "Pure and simple good old-fashioned luck. The Marines are good. But I'd rather be lucky than good any day."
"They shot crooked and we shot straight," added Frost in his summation of the firefight.
Others chalked up the decisive Marine Corps victory at Salar Ban to neither divine intervention nor luck, but rather to the superiority of Marine Corps training and the fighting spirit of the individual Marines.
"To have RPG's and AK-47's shot at you, you would think that the reasonable man theory would kick in and you'd start spazzing the heck out and dive in a ditch or something," said Davis. "These guys didn't do that at all. They held their positions and immediately put lead back toward the enemy. The Marines did good. No, they did better than good. They were awesome."
Some would say none more so than Davis himself.
"Years from now probably most of the Marines who were at Salar Ban won't remember how Gunny Davis steadfastly checked on the safety of his Marines or that he advanced on the enemy, but rather that it was he who first broke the tension of combat by cracking open an MRE (meal ready to eat) immediately after the initial firing stopped and said to a group of Marines in his nonchalant way, 'Combat makes me hungry,'" recalled Chambers. "That's the stuff of legends."
Countless other Marines distinguished themselves during the battle, according to Davis, but it was Frost that most Lava Dogs seemed to be talking about following the victory.
"He's not the type of Marine leader who is yelling instructions from the distance," said Cpl. William Graves, 1st Fire Team Leader, 1st Squad, 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1/3. "He's gonna be right there beside his grunts on the frontlines of the fight, like just like he was at Salar Ban," observed the Bowling Green, Ky., native.
"It's just basic human instinct that when you are getting shot at you take cover," said Romero, a native of La Mirada, Calif. "It is even how we are trained in the Marine Corps - take cover and then return fire. I never saw Lieutenant Frost take cover. We were under fire and he was walking around barking orders making sure his Marines were OK and that they were doing the right things tactically. He was like an action hero from the movies. I never thought I'd see something like that in real life. His example inspired us and gave us all confidence."
Frost, who was previously wounded in action during a firefight on Jan. 25 by an AK-47 round, was quick to downplay any heroism on his part during the events at Salar Ban.
"All that stuff about me not taking cover, that's not exactly true," said Frost, a native of Zeeland, Mich. "I took cover just like everyone else when the first barrage hit, but once I figured out where the rounds were coming from I felt good enough about my location to walk around in certain areas. It might have appeared like I was just walking around like a madman, but that's not exactly how it went down. I was just doing my job, finding my squad leaders, making sure they were good to go and ensuring that we had combined arms fire going down range."
"During the fight I never felt fear and I never saw fear on the faces of my Marines," continued Frost. "It's only after the fact when you have some time to think about it when you go, 'Man, I really could have gotten killed today."
For most of the Lava Dogs who served at Salar Ban, it was more than just a little coincidence that the enemy attacked soon after the explosives were discovered.
"As soon as we found the explosives they pretty much instantly opened up on us," said Chambers. "It doesn't take a rocket-scientist to know they weren't happy about us finding a stash of explosives that they had easy access to and could pretty much dip into any time they wanted. They knew the explosives were there - no question about it."
According to Lance Cpl. Anthony Mitchell, an intelligence specialist from Burlington, Colo., attached to Charlie Company, 1/3, it was the largest such explosive cache find since coalition forces first came to Afghanistan in 2001.
"There is a big problem having a thousand pounds of explosives right in the backyard of the insurgents," said Frost, "where there is one bad guy for every pound of explosives we found. It's a huge security risk having that much material potentially in the hands of the enemy."
"The significance of this company operation was the recovery of the explosives that I believe will directly result in lives being saved - not just Marines but other coalition members and ANA and ANP (Afghan National Police) forces," said Spurlock. "When we can take away the enemies access to explosives we are also taking away their ability to put those explosives on the roads in the form of IEDs and that directly results in the lives of coalition forces being saved. Anytime we can take explosives out of the reach of the bad guys it is a victory."
Marines in Afghanistan too!
Ha ha! Reporter must have transcribed that from the guy's thick Southern accent. It's "Boiling Springs", but pronounced, more like "Bahlin' Springs".
BTTT
The Kunar Province is going to be cleared out over the next 6 months - It will see the most concentrated attention it has seen yet, since we have been there -
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Lance Cpl. Anthony Mitchell, an intelligence specialist attached to 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, from Burlington, Colo., aims in on suspected insurgents during a company-wide operation conducted near the remote mountain village of Salar Ban in the Shuryak Valley of Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan.