somebody was sleeping the day they taught about seizing the high ground i guess...
Posted on 10/11/2009 4:56:10 PM PDT by STARWISE
Here, passed along by retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, is an account of the recent battle in Nuristan in which eight American soldiers were killed.
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Here are the facts, without revealing sensitive information. I feel compelled to write this because I heard some very fine, brave Americans foght for their very lives Saturday, 03 OCT 09. They fought magnificently.
Eight of them made the Ultimate Sacrifice. I don't know their names, only their call signs. Though it may have been smaller in scale, and shorter in duration, their battle was no less heroic than the exploits of their ancestors, in places like LZ Xray or Fire Base Ripcord in Vietnam.
I want people to know that there are still some GREAT Americans who serve in the US Army, fighting for Freedom, who will probably never be given the due they deserve. I don't know ALL the facts, only what I overheard on the satellite radio.
COP Keating was (past tense) located on low ground, near a river, surrounded by mountains - a poor place to have to defend to begin with. The village of Kamdesh was nearby, as was a mosque. About two platoons and a cavalry troop headquarters occupied the COP - Combat Outpost.
*snip*
I was on duty from 0600-1800 (6 a.m. until 6 p.m.) on Saturday, 03 OCT 09, and heard, first-hand, the events I am about to recount transpire. I took notes as the battle unfolded.
Things were relatively quiet when I came on shift at 0600. Not too long afterward, I heard a call sign describing taking small arms fire at his position.
*snip*
The situation, then began to deteriorate. The Troop Commander - urgently - requested rotary wing gunships to support him.
(Excerpt) Read more at ricks.foreignpolicy.com ...
I didn't know retired Gen. McCaffrey had an official role in Afghanistan.
~~~~
Listen to the raw videos of the interviews with two of the involved troops and two of the responding pilots ..HERE .. and awesome!
~~PING!
and be proud. BE VERY PROUD.
(Not a John effing Kerry among them. Nor, I'll wager, among all our soldiers in the ‘ghan.)
http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=general/general_search.php&table=video&query=COP+Keating&type=
Absolutely .. I linked above to the videos I posted.
“Listen to the raw videos of the interviews with two of the involved troops and two of the responding pilots ..HERE .. and awesome!”
And look at how young, calm and in control they are. Simply awesome military we’re blessed to have. God keep them safe.
Well, well imagine that…tell the butt boys in Washington D.C., that Mosques have always been designed with the intent to be fortresses; similar to castles. And until we stop being compromised with foreign entanglements and start killing this parade of human debris 12 cousins deep, this infestation upon humanity will not end!
Worth noting considering the asinine ROEs our service members are burdened with...
Thank you. A great post. A lot of information not in the earlier reports. But nothing that the enemy wouldn’t already be aware of.
I would have the same question as one of the comments, namely: Why in hell were they ordered to put a base camp there, where it could be fired down into from above? They couldn’t use their mortars because that part of the camp was completely open to enemy fire. Crazy.
Plus evidently one side of the camp was vulnerable if their Afghan allies didn’t defend it. Which they evidently were unable to do.
I know .. very vulnerable, incomprehensible location.
Well, if we cut through the author’s descriptive hyperbole two things stand out; firstly, a freshly hatched Lieutenant could probably have sited an outpost better than the over promoted incompetent that sited COP Keating and secondly, the insurgents are the ones who strike me as the 'magnificent fighters'. Unlike our own forces, which had little option, but to fire back the insurgents showed grit by sticking to it in the face of intense bombing attacks by jet fighters plus being worked over by attack helicopters.
I understand in war it is perfectly natural to puff our own side and diminish the enemy but this particular attack on our forces was unusual. It reminds me of VC and NVA attacks into the teeth of fantastic American firepower during the war in Vietnam. There is a lesson in this incident and we had better learn it. That lesson is the intensity of insurgent morale and their willingness to absorb disproportionate sacrifice and fight on.
Yep, looks like the Afghan National "troops" ran away when the Taliban pressed the attack into their part of the camp, leaving the American side wide open. The Taliban knew exactly where the weak point was in the defenses, and how to exploit it.
bottom of a fish bowl.
Even a kid playing war games knows you position your troops on high ground because he who rules the high ground, wins the day.
Our troops were staked out like Judas Goats and the enemy had a field day, like shooting fish in a barrel -
But, despite all odds, these wonderful troops fought like Spartans...Heroes all.
ALL their personal belongings and things like warm gloves, wool socks, wool helmet liners, balaclavas, personal hygiene supplies, fleece blankets, etc. and things to make life in barbarian land a bit lighter: DVD’s, movies, iPods, letters from home -
the Army was looking for new uniforms = well, whoop whoop,
However, a chain of people who organize such things had EVERYTHING on the list ‘present and accounted for’ within THREE days - and all is on it's way to these heroes.
It’s a whore religion. I hear they even got their Kaba stone stolen years ago but don’t dare show it. Maybe Obama’s got it somewhere along with his other stolen titles.
No, I get it, Obama is the Kaba stone.
somebody was sleeping the day they taught about seizing the high ground i guess...
God Bless them.
Bump.
Yes
I suspect (and I’m just guessing) that someone ordered them to build their camp near the Afghan camp or village (complete with mosque), in order to make “friends” with them.
I hope it wasn’t McChrystal.
Sometimes the leadership gets stuck on a theory to the point of neglecting more important considerations. Like befriending the enemy and showing that you trust them is more important than protecting yourself.
I’ve read about cases in Iraq where Americans were paired with Iraqis on sentry duty, with unfortunate consequences.
I hope that McChrystal has more sense than to order that sort of thing. But I really don’t know whose idea it was to put the camp in such a bad spot.
If only the Commander in Chief had access to a cable channel called CNN.
Because on the afternoon of August 18, 2009
CNN broadcast a report from their embed at COP Keating.
Obama clearly wasn’t watching -smoking, golf or basketball always takes precedence over the troops’ welfare.
Or most likely, he saw the piece and didn’t give a ****.
The Taliban and their fellow insurgents must have smiled broadly when they saw the CNN piece.
Don’t know how to say Piece of Cake or Sitting Ducks in Pashto, but, that had to be what they shouted .
Part of CNN’s report is here http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/08/18/walsh.afghan.embed.itn?iref=videosearch.
This does not include the entire broadcast report, including the frustration of
those at COP Keating that they were not allowed
to take out known Taliban before they were attacked by the same Taliban and that they were fighting with one arm tied behind their backs.
The Taliban knew about the Taliban friendly ROEs and were exploiting them.
Did Barry order the Afghanistan ROEs ?
Or does he think roe is the Beluga fish egg that Michelle has on toast with her champagne ?
He ordered it ...
It might even be ‘row’ to him .. as in
he’s up a creek and doesn’t know how
to row. ;)
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