By: Vincent J. Curtis
Date: 8 Dec 2010
Dateline: In the field outside FOB Kushamond, Dila District, Paktika Province, Afghanistan
It was a day of little activity at FOB Kushamond. 2nd Lt Jones’s platoon was not scheduled to go out on another patrol for a couple of days, and Rocket Man had not bothered us for the last two. Rocket Man is the name of the Taliban who has the skill of setting up, aiming, and firing the 107 mm Chinese made rocket. He rocketed the FOB on a daily basis in October and November, but recently his activity has tapered off.
A little after 2:00 p.m., after the time of the Muslim afternoon prayers, the artillery on the FOB started kicking up a ruckus. A shot here and a shot there is not unusual at Kushamond, but this was a surprising amount of fire.
I walked over to the 1 Platoon hut to find out what was going on. 2nd Lt Jones already had his body armor on. “Get your gear, we’re going to do a BDA, “ he said. BDA stands for bomb damage assessment. I expected that we were going to check out the effectiveness of our own shelling, but it turns out that Rocket Man had fired at the District Governor’s Headquarters that afternoon, and we were going to do a BDA on his work.
By 4:00 p.m. we were in the middle of the Afghan desert near a 19th century-looking fort. On this occasion, Rocket Man’s aim was not very good. He may have intended to hit the Governor’s headquarters, but his missiles landed several hundred yards outside the fort. A group of 4 ANA met us there. They traveled from Kushamond in a modified Ford Ranger and used the dirt road which got them there quickly from the FOB. Traveling cross country in a MATV is safer but slower.
The danger of setting off an IED with a Ford Ranger is not as great as it used to be. As American vehicles up-armored and got heavier as a result, the Taliban increased the weight required to set off the pressure plate which triggers the IED. In this way, they reduced the likelihood that a local Afghan will set off the IED himself.
The Currahees perform a BDA on Rocket Man’s work because the impact crater and angle of the imbedded rocket points back to the launch point. Enough BDAs, and the Currahees may be able to triangulate a few of Rocket Man’s favorite launching sites.
The work done, we head back to the FOB. Not far along, the lead vehicle, callsign Gunfighter one-two, reported one individual seen in a tower 800 meters away to our ten o’clock. His heat signature had given him away. Although the ground is rough, the terrain is flat and one can see a great distance. Looking through the windows of the MATV, one could see the structure behind a screen of trees.
Immediately, 2Lt Jones ordered the patrol to make straight for the position. About 200 meters out we halted and dismounted. The gunners in the MATVs provided overwatch, and support fire if we needed it. The Gunfighters moved in on foot to discover a Taliban observation post and a cache of IED components.
No one was there, but Gunfighter one-seven reported one individual moving away on a motorcycle at high speed with an AK slung over his back. “He was 700 meters away when we spotted him, and 900 before we could get a ‘make’ on him. So we let ‘em go,” said M/Sgt Mason.
The complex was of an abandoned and ruined home. The trees were an old wind-break. The half of the roof on the mail building had collapsed. There were two outbuildings, one of which was connected to the mail building by a roofed-over trench.
A search of the main building revealed a cache of IED components hidden behind a false wall. Access from the outside was blocked by a poorly made adobe work that patched over the original doorway. Tearing away the adobe, the Gunfighters created an opening large enough to remove all the material. By volume most of it was used, empty one gallon plastic jugs. But filled with explosive powder and connected to a detonator and it becomes and IED. All this material was stacked in the middle of the compound and M/Sgt Mason set it alight with a thermite grenade.
The place provided an excellent, well-concealed observation point and work area. The trees ordinarily screened it from view. Had it not been for the thermal signature of the individual, the Gunfighters would not have found it, or suspected it. Before we left, the Gunfighters grenaded the trench and the outbuilding it connected to.
From here we moved to another suspected OP. It too was empty, but the abandoned structures provided concealment and a good view of the countryside. The exact grid references of both these positions are now likely marked on the artillery map.
The Gunfighters returned to FOB Kushamond well after dark, and after scheduled chow time. However, we were greeted with a warm dinner of roasted chicken left in the chow hall for us by the thoughtful cooks.
The intent of LTC Dave Womack, the commanding officer of 1/506 Inf, , to which Charlie company, nicknamed the Gunfighters belongs, is to disrupt Taliban operations. By finding these hiding places, with an uncanny, to them, ability to detect and then to chase these isolated individuals, and by killing or capturing the talented hard-core Taliban like Rocket Man, Womack hopes to demoralize the less ardent among the Taliban and cause them to quit the fight. I’m sure the motorcyclist was shocked to see the MATVs sudden turn and rush his position. He was lucky the position had a hidden escape route.
This BDA mission was a microcosm of Womack’s strategy in action.
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