If Gen. John Allen is leaving Afghanistan, what’s next?
May 16th, 2012 | Afghanistan General officers Washington | Posted by Dan Lamothe
The Washington Post ran a long-form story on Gen. John Allen on Sunday, highlighting his efforts as a “triage commander” while leading the war in Afghanistan.
The general has a “pragmatic focus,” the piece said. He’s “more professor and Southern gentleman than hard-bitten Marine general,” and closely studying the Russian withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989 during a complicated withdrawal of 23,000 U.S. troops there this summer.
Yesterday, we got a striking revelation about that same general: The supposedly indispensable leader of the war in Afghanistan is in line to become top commander of U.S. European Command, according to another story in the Post. He could leave his post in Afghanistan as soon as next winter, in between fighting seasons.
How those two realities square with one another seems like a fair conversation to have.
On one hand, there’s obvious reason for concern. “Another Afghanistan Commander Bails on the War Early,” reads a headline on Wired magazine’s popular Danger Room blog, and that’s a point of view that will certainly be held by many.
On the other hand, it’d be fascinating to know what’s going on behind the scenes at the White House and in Kabul that spurred this conversation.
Did Obama and Allen reach some sort of deal? Did Allen ask to move on? If so, why would the president agree to it when most educated observers believe the war in Afghanistan already has had far too many transitions in leadership in the last few years?
This one will bear watching in coming weeks.
Wrapping up after a good Marine embed in Afghanistan
May 15th, 2012 | Afghanistan Embedded journalism Infantry Kajaki Sangin | Posted by Dan Lamothe
SPRINGFIELD, Va. — You just never know when all hell is going to break loose.
That’s the most amazingly unsettling thing about being in a war zone like Afghanistan. You can prepare for trouble — even expect it — but it will still eventually find you in the most unexpected ways, at times that simply don’t make sense.
A first-person account published Saturday by Wall Street Journal scribe Michael Phillips makes that perfectly clear.
Phillips watched in horror April 28 as a Taliban suicide bomber blew up a pickup truck carrying several U.S. troops in Zaranj, Afghanistan. The blast killed Master Sgt. Scott Pruitt, an accountant, and injured at least two other men in the vehicle.
Just a few days before, photographer James Lee and I crossed paths with Phillips at Camp Leatherneck, the Marine Corps’ main hub of operations in Afghanistan. Lee and I were headed to Sangin, the notorious district in northern Helmand province where more than 50 Marines have been killed since 2010. Phillips, a veteran war correspondent, was waiting for a ride to Zaranj, a relatively peaceful town in Nimroz province that was newsworthy because of its close proximity to Iran.
After wandering around Sangin for a week, that’s the kind of irony that sits heavy with me like a cast-iron stove. Lee and I returned from Afghanistan late last week, and were fortunate to spend several weeks on the ground in Sangin and Kajaki districts without anything truly jarring occurring. That’s just fine with us, especially after previous war-zone forays that were much violent. We’re grateful to the Marines who opened up and shared their worlds with us.
Today marks my first day in the office since March. I’ve got a couple more stories to complete coming out of the trip, but it’s also good to be home.
To everyone who followed along on this blog while we were overseas, thank you. We’ll be sharing more photos and anecdotes from our trip here in coming days, so please stay tuned.
Marines, Afghan police crash Taliban funeral
May 7th, 2012 | Afghanistan Battle Rattle Embedded journalism Infantry Kajaki Marines | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Afghan Uniformed Police asked for Marine help recently to visit a Taliban funeral in Kajaki, Afghanistan, to talk to the mourning elders.
KABUL, Afghanistan — Photographer James Lee and I made the move yesterday from Camp Leatherneck to Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital city. That means the end of our trip is nearing — but there’s still plenty left to discuss about it.
Take Taliban funerals, for example. In a long-form story Marine Corps Times posted online on Sunday, 1st Lt. Brandon Remington shared with me a surprising development between the Afghan Uniformed Police unit he and his Marines train and the local Taliban in Kajaki.
From the story:
KAJAKI, Afghanistan — It was an eerie mission: The Afghan police wanted to crash a Taliban funeral, and they needed Marines to help.
The Afghan Uniformed Police made the decision after learning that two insurgents had been killed by a Hellfire missile strike two days earlier while planting an improvised explosive device. A team of AUP and Marine advisers made their way April 14 to a small Taliban-held village here in Kajaki, and the police summoned tribal elders to speak with Zahir Jan, the AUP’s assistant district commissioner, Marine officials said.
Marines with 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., cordoned off the area to provide security, and the police leader told the grieving elders that emplacing IEDs wasn’t a legitimate way to practice jihad, the holy war against those who don’t follow Islam. Zahir, who fought the Soviet army as a member of the mujahedeen, stressed that the Marines were assisting Afghan police and doing no harm, said 1st Lt. Brandon Remington, a Marine adviser who sat alongside him. The elders offered tea to the No. 2 policeman in Kajaki district, but he declined and suggested it might be poisoned, the lieutenant said.
“It was a bold move because no one ever goes there,” said Remington, the officer in charge of 1/8’s Police Adviser Team 1. “Right there you feel safe, but when you get 100 meters away, it’s ‘game on’ again.”
The meeting clearly caught Remington off guard. It occurred last month while we were embedded with another part of 1/8, his battalion. When we returned to Forward Operating Base Zeebrugge, he found us, shared his story and expressed amazement at what he had witnessed.
“That only happens,” he said, “in a counterinsurgency environment.”
Marines make sense of Taliban flags in Afghanistan
May 4th, 2012 | Afghanistan Embedded journalism Infantry Kajaki Marines Sangin | Posted by Dan Lamothe
CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — Good morning, friends. Photographer James Lee and I are currently holding it down at this massive forward operating base and waiting on a few interviews.
Over the next week or so, we’ll continue to offer up images and thoughts here on Battle Rattle from our time in Kajaki and Sangin districts with Marine infantry units.
A Marine with 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, stops on patrol beneath a flag marking a compound in Sangin's volatile "Fish Tank" area. The Taliban marks buildings with several different kinds of flags, each with a different meaning. (Dan Lamothe / Staff)
Up for discussion today: Taliban flags.
Several times outside the wire, we observed that Marines pay attention to flags flown over compound buildings. They come in several colors, but the ones that draw the most attention are black or white.
In Kajaki, Marines at Observation Post Shrine paid close attention to a compound that had a white flag flying overhead. It marked the building as Taliban friendly, said Sgt. Levi Steele, a squad leader with 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C.
In the Upper Sangin Valley, flags came up again. Marines at Patrol Base Watson handed 2nd Lt. William McCabe a black flag last weekend that they had seen a child playing with in a nearby field. They traded the boy a few of pieces of candy for the flag, Marines said.
White flags in Taliban country typically mark insurgent safe havens, said McCabe, a platoon commander with 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, out of Twentynine Palms, Calif. Black flags are frequently a call to arms — an order to come out and fight, essentially.
We also came across the green and white flag depicted in the photograph here in Sangin’s volatile “Fish Tank” area this week. The 1/7 Marines on patrol with us that day were uncertain what it meant, but their interpreter told them green flags can be used to mark buildings occupied by new inhabitants. It was unclear if it was Taliban-related or not.
A closer look at Kajaki Dam — and the Marines who defend it
May 2nd, 2012 | Afghanistan Embedded journalism Infantry Kajaki Marines | Posted by Dan Lamothe
CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — Good morning, friends. Photographer James Lee and I made it back early this morning to this forward operating base, the main hub of Marine operations in southern Afghanistan.
That means we’re finished with patrols on this trip. I’d like to thank the personnel with 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C.; and 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, out of Twentynine Palms, Calif. They hosted us along the way in Kajaki and Sangin districts, respectively, sharing their worlds in some of the most dangerous areas Marines patrol.
For those who have been following along on this blog during our trip, I wanted to point out that Marine Corps Times has posted online our story about Forward Operating Base Zeebrugge, the cliffside base used to defend the landmark Kajaki Dam in Afghanistan.
As the story points out, artillerymen with Golf Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marines, spent the better part of their deployment serving as provisional infantrymen in the region, defending the dam and the surrounding area.
One of the fascinating parts about the dam is its varied history. Russian, British and U.S. forces all have served there, a fact that highlights the many years of conflict in Afghanistan.
Staff Sgt. Gregory Sanders put it well while looking out at the dam’s picturesque cliffs with me last month:
Every time you see something like this, it makes you realize this place used to be nice,” said the platoon sergeant with Golf Battery, standing on one of the cliffs overlooking the dam’s spillway.
“Once you look around, you say ‘Wow, this place has a lot of history to it.’”
Local folklore holds that Soviet troops were trapped and killed by mujahedeen fighters in one of Zeebrugge’s buildings. I couldn’t verify that story, but observed that the building’s hallways are pockmarked with bullet holes. The facility, now known as “Militia House,” houses Afghan soldiers partnered with Marines.
A day on patrol in Sangin’s notorious “Fish Tank”
May 1st, 2012 | Afghanistan Embedded journalism Infantry Marines | Posted by Dan Lamothe
(James J. Lee/Staff) Lance Cpl. Kevin Belgrade, a member of 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, navigates the "Fish Tank" region of Sangin, Afghanistan.
SANGIN, Afghanistan – Sgt. Johnathan Cook’s instructions to his Marines were clear before they pushed Tuesday morning into the notorious “Fish Tank” section of Sangin.
“Everyone knows the atmospherics yesterday got a little weird,” he said. “Keep your head on a swivel. We all know the summer offensive is supposed to start in the next 10 days, so expect we could take contact any time.”
The ominous directive came before photographer James Lee and I left Patrol Base Fulod with his unit, an element of Baker Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, out of Twentynine Palms, Calif. Second Squad, 3rd Platoon, had patrolled nearby the day before, and observed wearily that villagers were avoiding them.
After more than a week of relative peace in Sangin, was the honeymoon over?
The squad patrolled this morning through what is historically one of the most dangerous sections of Sangin district, where dozens of Marines have been killed since summer 2010.
Sangin is famous for the lush fields of poppy and wheat in its Green Zone, but there also is a Brown Zone to the southeast of Route 611, farther away from the Helmand River. The Fish Tank is one of its signature areas. It was named by British forces, who gave several bases in the region “fishy” names like “Shark,” before the U.S. took over security in August 2010.
Unlike the Green Zone, the Fish Tank has few open spaces. It’s a maze of tight alleys, tiny doorways, sharp angles and 10-foot mud walls. Marines there have little chance to determine what faces them around the next bend – until danger is potentially upon them.
Advice I received this morning underscores that. Before the patrol, Cpl. Manuel Espinoza, a fire team leader, cheerfully suggested that if a firefight broke out, I should not only avoid diving for cover onto turf not scanned for improvised explosive devices (which I knew), but also brush the ground in front of me before dropping to one knee.
“You don’t want to go down on a toe-popper,” he said. “It’ll blow your kneecap off.”
The patrol itself moved more deliberately than any of the estimated 20 I’ve been on in my career with Marine Corps Times. Whenever possible, the Marines stayed on hard-packed trails, where it’s more difficult to emplace IEDs. They also backtracked out of at least three alleys after deciding that there wasn’t enough tactical value to go through them. Staying on roads that villagers travel frequently is the best way to avoid taking steps that can alter or end a life, they reason.
(James J. Lee/Staff) Lance Cpl. Jedidiah Morgan jumps a low wall rather than walk around it, bypassing a potential IED choke point during a patrol.
The squad’s personnel also communicated much more frequently than most of the small units I’ve seen in action. They pointed out seemingly sinister piles of stones that could be booby-trapped and investigated a number of “murder holes” — spots in which enemy fighters can open fire at coalition forces behind the relative safety of a wall.
“There are a lot of murder holes here,” Cook said midway through the patrol, pointing out a potential ambush spot. “Half the time when you take fire, you don’t even know where it’s coming from.”
Third Platoon’s squads began patrolling the Fish Tank early in April after deploying, and were tested early, the Marines said. Within days, the Marines were attacked several times with both small-arms fire and grenades, but no Marines have been seriously injured in the area since 1/7 deployed. An interpreter was medically evacuated after sustaining gunshot wounds to both legs, however.
“We need to not get complacent,” Espinoza said. “When the fighting starts happening again, it’s going to come really quick, I think.”
Marines push raids, surveillance as Afghanistan drawdown begins
April 30th, 2012 | Afghanistan Battle Rattle Embedded journalism Infantry Kajaki Marines | Posted by Dan Lamothe
FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHAMSHER, Afghanistan — Good morning, friends. I’m back at the computer now after a foot patrol in Sangin’s Green Zone this morning with Baker Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines. We pushed through fields, canals and trails for several hours, and it was relatively uneventful.
One thing I would like to point out today: Marine Corps Times has posted online another of my long-form features out of Kajaki district. It highlights the increasing prominence of surveillance and raids for Marines in Afghanistan, particularly in light of the planned drawdown of forces there.
Conducting raids successfully requires massive amounts of planning and understanding, however. Marines must know where Taliban fighters and their weapons caches are, and the best way to strike.
Staff Sgt. Matthew Hutchenson, a platoon sergeant with Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., put it well:
I guess I can say that now I know what a cop feels like on a stakeout,” said the platoon sergeant for 1/8′s 2nd Platoon, Alpha Company. “You wait, and wait, and wait – and then you get what you need and move on them.”
The raids and surveillance have been particularly helpful in the Zamindawar area of Kajaki, Marines said. The region is a known insurgent staging ground where coalition forces have confiscated mass quantities of drugs, weapons and materials used to make improvised explosive devices.
Watching Hutchenson and other Marines observe Zamindawar from Observation Post Shrine made for a fascinating evening.
‘Holy Helo’ delivers priests to Marines in Afghanistan
April 29th, 2012 | Afghanistan Camp Leatherneck Embedded journalism Infantry Marines Sangin | Posted by Dan Lamothe
An MV-22 Osprey leaves Forward Operating Base Shamsher after delivering The Rev. Kevin Sweeney, a Catholic chaplain and Navy commander. (Dan Lamothe/Staff)
FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHAMSHER, Afghanistan – Helicopters are used for many reasons in Afghanistan, but only a few are called the “Holy Helo.”
That’s the nickname U.S. service members give to the aircraft used to deliver chaplains to military bases in a war zone. They’re frequently on bases just a few hours, long enough to conduct a religious service and say hello before moving on to the next location.
That was the case Sunday morning when The Rev. Kevin Sweeney arrived here at the home of Baker Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, out of Twentynine Palms, Calif. Sweeney, a Roman Catholic priest and Navy commander, celebrated a mass in the base’s chow hall after landing in an MV-22 Osprey. He was on the second leg of a three-part stop in northern Helmand province, he said.
“Typically, we’re flying,” Sweeney said. “We’ll take a convoy if there’s something close by, but we joke that we have frequent flier miles on the ‘Holy Helo.’”
There are about a dozen chaplains assigned across Regional Command Southwest, home to thousands of Marines and sailors in Helmand province. Many of them are assigned to infantry battalions, providing spiritual guidance and a friendly ear to troops who seek them.
Protestant ministers cannot say a Catholic mass, however. That’s primarily where the “Holy Helo” comes in.
There are currently three Catholic priests deployed to RC-Southwest as chaplains. Sweeney is one of two based at Camp Leatherneck, the Corps’ largest base in Afghanistan. All three make flights to say masses across the Corps’ area of operations, Sweeney said.
Sweeney said he felt called to become a Catholic chaplain in the military. He was commissioned as an officer aboard the battleship Missouri in 1991, and became a priest in 1994 after graduating from seminary school. He is on loan to the military from the Diocese of Orange in California.
“It’s very rewarding work,” he said of being a chaplain. “You definitely feel appreciated. Not everyone gets to do something meaningful in life, and we get to every day.”
A day on patrol with the Marines of Dog Company 1/7
April 28th, 2012 | Afghanistan Embedded journalism Infantry Sangin | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Lance Cpl. Christopher Sanders patrols past farmers scoring poppy buds April 28 in Sangin, Afghanistan. Sanders serves with 3rd Platoon, Dog Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines. (James J. Lee/Staff)
SANGIN, Afghanistan – For a minute, it seemed like a manhunt in the hills of the Upper Sangin Valley was possible.
Pushing out from Forward Operating Base Tabac early Saturday, Marines with Dog Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, noticed a man on a nearby hill holding a metallic black object that was glinting in the sunlight. The assumption: The stranger was carrying a radio, making it entirely possible a Taliban spotter was spying on the patrol.
“I saw it glistening in his hand,” said Lance Cpl. Christopher Sanders, making his way through a green field of thigh-high wheat. “There isn’t much out here these guys have that glistens like that.”
Over the next 20 minutes, the reinforced squad with Dog Company’s 3rd Platoon made its way up a steep rocky hill in northern Helmand province. The Marines weaved there way around a rocky cliff and through an eerie cemetery. Its graves were marked with carefully placed rocks and brightly colored flags.
Quickly, the Marines found their man. The shepherd was at least 70 years old, and sported a long, flowing white beard. He laughed nervously, explaining in Pashto that he was merely taking his flock of sheep out for the morning from his nearby home. The radio in his hand played music, and couldn’t transmit anywhere else.
The incident highlights the restraint Marines must show, even as they patrol a notoriously hostile land. Sangin district remains one of the most dangerous regions in which Marine forces are deployed, but the average lance corporal still must think before acting to avoid hurting civilians such as the shepherd.
On Saturday, the patrol pushed out early, led by Sgt. Anthony Garbo. The Marines swept through muddy fields, rocky trails and murky canals for more than eight hours to gain a better understanding for the villagers living in the immediate area. Our boots were soaked several times as we made our way through several villages.
Timing was key. The cash crop in Helmand is opium-producing poppy, and harvest season has arrived. Migrant workers travel long distances to work the fields but are mixed in with insurgent fighters from other regions, Marines said. In some cases, the workers will pick up a paycheck and return home. In others, they’ll pick up an assault rifle and open fire on coalition forces.
To combat that uncertainty, Marines in Sangin are now actively collecting biometric information in the field. They use a hand-held device known as HIIDES, or Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment System, to compile and compare fingerprints, DNA, photographs and iris scans, each of which can be used to see if an individual has a sinister past.
The Marines on patrol with photographer James J. Lee and I today stopped dozens of workers, and registered at least 40 men in their system. None of them popped immediately in the system as insurgents, but if those same individuals are implicated in something down the road, coalition forces will have a number of ways to track them down. There’s no better time to do it, considering the traditional Afghan fighting season will begin with days, after the harvest is complete.
“We’ve heard chatter that the Taliban told them to put down their weapons and go harvest,” said 2nd Lt. William McCabe, 3rd Platoon’s commander. “We definitely have seen an influx of new people in the area.”
As a footnote, we have since moved on from Dog Company, arriving Saturday night at Forward Operating Base Shamsher. It’s headquarters to Baker Company 1/7. We’ll be spending several days with Baker getting the lay of the land and visiting with Marines.
Lance Cpl. Trevor Wiren gains biometrics from an Afghan civilian using the HIIDES (Handheld Interagency Identity Dectection Equipment System) during an April 28 security patrol in the Upper Sangin Valley. Wiren serves with 3rd Platoon, Dog Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines. (James J. Lee/Staff)
Gunfire and children: A day on the ground in Sangin
April 27th, 2012 | Afghanistan Battle Rattle Embedded journalism Infantry Sangin | Posted by Dan Lamothe
Female Engagement Team members Staff Sgt. Kimberly Taylor and Cpl. Austin Walswick, along with interpreters Susan and Salim Mandokhil, conduct a "children's shura" once a week in Sangin, Afghanistan, to educate the children and engage with the local populace. (James J. Lee / Staff)
FORWARD OPERATING BASE TABAC, Afghanistan – In just a few short hours, I saw both sides of Sangin.
On one hand, photographer James Lee and I visited a shura, or meeting, that brought together 67 boys and 25 girls at the gates of this base, the headquarters of Dog Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, out of Twentynine Palms, Calif. Most of the children sat obediently in straight rows on the ground as two interpreters and two Marines with a Female Engagement Team taught lessons about geography, civics and poetry.
A few hours later, we heard our first gunshots fired in anger during this trip to Afghanistan. Sitting in on a resupply convoy mission from FOB Tabac to nearby Patrol Base Georgia, we heard harassing fire nearby aimed at Dog Company’s 1st Squad, 2nd Platoon, which was maneuvering on foot to meet the convoy at Georgia. We watched and followed Marines with Dog Company’s mobile section as they scanned an open field for enemy fighters and hopped on a compound roof to provide security for the squad that had been under fire.
The contrast captures a large part of the dynamics here in Sangin district. Events like the shura are used to not only build a working relationship with families, but to gather valuable information about the “atmospherics” in a region and how coalition forces are perceived. The harassing fire this afternoon underscores that Sangin is still a very dangerous place and likely to see an uptick in violence after the ongoing poppy harvest ends in coming days.
To backpedal, we arrived here on Tabac on Friday morning. The base is best known as FOB Alcatraz, but it was given a new name within the last year as part of the effort to put an Afghan face on the war. It sits in the Upper Sangin Valley along Route 611, a place that was notorious for violence as recently as last summer. Marines with 1/7 now man the entire Sangin area of operations and work with the growing Afghan National Security Forces.
Not long after arriving at Tabac, we were introduced to Staff Sgt. Kimberly Taylor, 27, and Cpl. Austin Walswick, 21. They’re part of 1/7’s FET team, and they work with Dog Company to build an understanding of the region and its inhabitants.
Today’s shura stands as an excellent example of that. As someone who took teaching classes in college, I was impressed to see that most of the kids listened closely and participated in the lessons taught by the FET Marines and a husband-wife interpreter team, Salim and Susan Mandokhil of Loudon County, Va. That’s no easy feat anywhere.
The children, ranging in age from about 2 to 12, stood at attention during Afghanistan’s national anthem then recited the provinces surrounding Helmand in Afghanistan.
In between, the Marines urged the children to be honest with coalition forces and to watch out for Taliban fighters. The warning wasn’t unlike something you’d give a child in the U.S. about talking to strangers.
“They’re going to have candy, and they’re to offer you candy because they’re cowards,” Taylor told them. “They want to use you as human shields.”
Taylor also raised an issue from a previous shura: A male Marine providing security was wounded in the face by a boy shooting rocks with a slingshot two weeks ago. He won’t be welcome back at another event for kids until he writes a letter of apology to the Marine, Taylor told the other children.
Later in the day, we hopped out on the resupply mission. It gave us a chance to see more of Route 611 and to meet more of the Dog Company grunts, who are spread out in several outposts in Upper Sangin.
Cpl. Kevin Meehan scans for enemy fighters in Sangin, Afghanistan, on Friday. Dog Company's Mobile Section, 1st Battallion, 7th Marines responded to small arms fire directed at 2nd Platoon, 1st Squad by setting up an overwatch position in support of their comrades. (James J. Lee / Staff)
That got complicated when the shooting began. Safely inside the wire at Georgia, we heard a handful of gunshots in the distance. Dog Company’s mobile section, led by Cpl. Jason Skow, pushed a patrol out from Georgia to assist the other nearby squad.
Once they arrived at Georgia, the Marines who had been under fire said none of the potshots were particularly close. They questioned whether the three fighters they saw botched a more complex ambush by opening fire too quickly.
“We saw two of them running through the treeline, but they were a good 500 meters away,” said the squad leader, Cpl. John Drake.
The Marines involved said they haven’t seen many ambushes in recent days, but they expect the violence to pick up by next month after the poppy harvest.