JTACs Guide Air Strikes, Turn Tide During Major Battle
(July 9, 2011) |
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| NURISTAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan (AFNS - 7/5/2011) -- Airmen
from the Washington Air National Guard directed multiple
airstrikes May 25 helping a significantly outnumbered U.S.
Army and Afghan National Security Force unit fight through
an ambush and free a district center from insurgents. |
Senior Airman Michael McAffrey patrols alongside a field near Khanda Village in Laghman province, Afghanistan June 18, 2011. Airman McAffrey is a joint terminal attack controller with the Washington Air National Guard's 116th Air Support Operations Squadron. The efforts of Airman McAffrey and the other JTACs from the 116th ASOS were credited by Soldiers fighting in the battle of Do Ab May 25,
2011 as being the difference and saving many of the Soldiers' lives that day. (Courtesy Photo) |
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Joint terminal attack controllers from the 116th Air Support
Operations Squadron, in communication with coalition aircraft,
directed aerial attacks on enemy positions while U.S. and Afghan
soldiers fought to drive insurgents from Do Ab, a tiny village in
Nuristan province, Afghanistan.
Approximately 40 U.S. service
members, including two JTAC Airmen, and about 20 of their Afghan
counterparts went to Do Ab after intelligence reports indicated
insurgents had overrun the district center.
The Airmen and
Soldiers from the 133rd Infantry Regiment, Task Force Ironman, 2nd
Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, TF Red Bulls,
fought through a massive ambush from an enemy force numbering in the
hundreds, killing more than 100 insurgent fighters in an intense
72-hour battle.
The service members involved said the most
amazing part of the whole conflict, though, was there was not one
coalition force casualty. The |
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Airmen from the Washington ANG were the key to the battle, they
added. |
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"If they hadn't been there dropping bombs, I don't know that
we would have gotten out of that valley," said Army Sgt.
Edward Kane, an infantry team leader. "The enemy was getting
closer, and their shots were getting more accurate."
The Airmen spoke modestly of their involvement in the
mission.
"We were very lucky," said Tech. Sgt. Tavis
Delaney.
Delaney and Senior Airman Michael McCaffrey
were the two specially-trained members of the U.S. Air Force
Tactical Air Control Party inserted with the Soldiers that
day.
The Army leaders and rank-and-file members the
JTAC Airmen support said there was much more than luck at
work during the fight.
JTACs are trained to work
alongside Soldiers to control precision air strikes on the
enemy. In Afghanistan, their work is critical to saving U.S.
and Afghan lives, said Maj. Raed Gyekis, the 116th's Air
Liaison Officer.
He said the training and
preparation a JTAC undergoes is strenuous, combining many of
the top specialized schools from both the Army and Air
Force.
The geography of the valley made it extremely
challenging for coalition forces.
"This is a fairly
remote valley, surrounded by high canyon walls," said Lt.
Col. Chris Adamson, the 116th ASOS squadron commander. "It
had been a while, nearly two years, since any American
forces had been there."
"Do Ab is a remote area with
a small district center, comparable to a small town
courthouse in America," he said. "Not much else is there."
Adamson said his Airmen and the 133rd's Soldiers
faced a lot of uncertainty pertaining to the mission.
"We received several reports indicating that the local
Afghan police had been overrun by 400 to 500 Taliban
fighters, but the information was of questionable value," he
said.
"The mission came down quickly," recalled
Gyekis. "Headquarters wanted to know what the situation in
Do Ab really was. Our Army unit had very little time between
notification and mission execution."
"Maj. Gyekis
told me to grab Mac and be ready to go for a three-day
mission, at the helicopter, in 52 minutes," said Delaney,
the lead JTAC.
Delaney and McCaffrey boarded CH-47
Chinook helicopters with the platoon. When the helicopters
touched down in the narrow canyon floor next to a rushing
river, the Airmen said they were tactically in one of the
worst possible spots, one where an ambush could easily
happen. The Soldiers and Airmen were in a valley surrounded
by steep canyon walls. However, it was the only suitable
landing zone in the narrow canyon.
"There was no good
cover or concealment on the landing zone," said Army 1st Lt.
Justin Foote, the platoon leader for Recon Platoon.
The 116th ASOS JTACs have navigated some of the most
difficult terrain in eastern Afghanistan, in the shadow of
the Hindu Kush mountain range.
"This was some of the
worst terrain," Delaney said, "and exactly where I would
choose to place an ambush if I was the enemy."
Which
is exactly what happened.
"As soon as we got off the
helicopters, we started taking fire from every direction ...
rocket propelled grenades, AK-47, machine guns and mortars,"
McCaffrey said. "They held all the high ground surrounding
the landing zone."
For the Army, there was nothing to
do but seek cover and return fire. Nonetheless, cover was
sparse, and the enemy was so high above the coalition forces
they could use plunging fire to shoot over what little cover
the Soldiers had. The JTACs, knew these first minutes were
critical for their unit's survival.
"The Army laid
down suppressive fire on all the enemy locations, while
Delaney and McCaffrey hastily requested more firepower,"
recalled Master Sgt. Rob Lee, another 116th ASOS JTAC who
was working the headquarters' radios.
Sergeant Lee
relayed their urgent requests and quickly got Navy and Air
Force strike aircraft overhead to support his pinned-down
teammates.
Within a short time, while under fire,
Delaney began to guide jets to drop the first bombs onto the
heavily-armed enemy surrounding his embattled unit. The
bombs continued to fall for the next seven hours.
Meanwhile, Apache and Kiowa attack helicopters also joined
the fight even as the enemy continued to attack. The
Soldiers fended off the enemy attack in the landing zone
area for the better part of an hour before moving to a
better position.
With Delaney and McCaffrey guiding
bombs onto the enemy positions, the small infantry force
escaped the open landing zone. They took cover in a nearby
series of abandoned Afghan mud huts and rock-walled animal
pens.
For six hours, they, along with their Afghan
National Army counterparts, fought off the enemy. Meanwhile,
the enemy continued to swarm around them in the mountains
above. The Soldiers did not know it at the time, but the
enemy had heavily fortified fighting positions: trenches dug
into solid rocks that were chest-high.
The Soldiers
said they continued to fight, but as the enemy drew closer,
the air strikes began to take their toll on the overwhelming
enemy force that had them surrounded and pinned down.
Despite a deadly hail of bullets kicking up dust at
their feet and RPGs exploding nearby, Delaney and McCaffrey
continuously ran between the huts to figure out where the
greatest threats were coming from and then control
airstrikes on the advancing enemy fighters.
The
Taliban targeted the JTACs each time they sprinted across
open ground.
"Every time Sergeant Delaney lifted his
foot, a bullet kicked up dust in the footprint he had just
left," McCaffrey said.
Meanwhile, Airmen at FOB
Mehtar Lam did their best to support their fellow Airmen in
the fight in the valley at Do Ab.
"We loaded a bunch
of emergency helicopter resupply 'speedballs' full of more
ammo, water and food for the guys," said Master Sgt. Dave
Glisson, a 116th ASOS member helping push assistance forward
to Delaney and McCaffrey. "But only a few were successful
getting dropped off due to the heavy amount of gunfire in
the battle. Several aircraft were shot up in the effort."
"It got to the point where the enemy had maneuvered
within 200 meters of the team," said Tech. Sgt. Jaime
Medina, another 116th ASOS JTAC. "Tavis made the gutsy call
to recommend a danger-close mission to the ground
commander."
Dropping massive bombs that close to
U.S. forces, just outside the bomb's maximum effective
range, left no room for error by the pilots, and was a very
difficult decision to make.
"It had to be done,
however," Delaney said. "We were in direct danger of being
overrun."
The bombs shook the entire team.
"We felt it hit, rocks flew by our heads, dust erupted
everywhere and all sound seemed to stop for several
seconds," McCaffrey said.
The Soldiers and Airmen
said the bombs made the difference in the battle.
The efforts of the pilots also were crucial to helping save
the lives of the platoon, added Army Staff Sgt. Luke
Chatfield, a joint fires observer who worked hand in hand
with the JTACs during the battle.
"I give a lot of
credit to the pilots, both helicopter and fighters,"
Chatfield said. "They came in under fire each time we needed
them to, and they were getting shot at and still were able
to get on target time and time again and didn't hesitate. We
had fixed-wing come down the valley lower than any fixed
wing I've ever seen before, and they were getting shot at
there, too, and they didn't care."
"The 116th ASOS
and Washington ANG have had members deployed nearly
continuously since Sept. 11, 2001," Gyekis said, "We have
members who humbly wear the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple
Heart and other awards for valor for their service to the
nation. What these two did that day is right up there with
the very best of those."
After a final burst of
enemy resistance, the battle ended, almost as suddenly as it
began.
"For the next several days, we secured the
district center and conducted patrols through the villages,"
Delaney said. "We didn't receive any more gun shots."
Adamson said the two Airmen had not only survived a
well-laid ambush, but had turned the tables on the enemy.
They used their wits and skills to bring air power to bear
on an overwhelming enemy force, and in the end, their
actions were pivotal to bringing every single one of their
brothers-in-arms home, he said.
All of the men of
the platoon were pulled out three days afterward, exhausted
and humbled by their good fortune.
"I couldn't be
prouder of what our Washington guardsmen did to bring those
Soldiers home safely to their families," Adamson said.
"What Delaney and McCaffrey did that day was both
extraordinary, as well as expected from each of our JTACs,"
Gyekis said. "We spend years preparing for days like this.
They were the right men in the right spot at the right time.
We train so that each of our teams can be thrown into a meat
grinder like Do Ab and do what those two did. We are
fortunate to have a lot of men of their caliber in our unit
... and they were all jumping at the chance to hop on a
helicopter and get up there and help Tavis and Mike out
during this battle."
The day after the platoon
returned to their forward operating base, several of the
Army soldiers and leaders individually approached Delaney
and McCaffrey's team leader, Gyekis.
"Your two JTACs
saved our lives," they told him.
Gyekis recalled how
one of them had tears in his eyes when he recounted the
story, and how his wife and children had Delaney and
McCaffrey to thank for his safe return.
"Those
Soldiers words," Delaney said, "are the highest compliment
you could ever pay one of our JTACs." |
By Army SSgt. Ryan Matson
210th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
Copyright 2011 | |
Provided by Air Force News Service
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