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COMBAT OUTPOST LION, Afghanistan (10/27/2011) - With no
coalition troops in the western tip of the Horn of Panjwa'i,
Taliban fighters remained free to move, and place improvised
explosive devices, throughout the rural farming village of
Do'ab.
A scrapper dumps dirt at Combat Outpost Lion Oct. 19. The dirt will be picked up later and used to fill Hesco barriers around COP Lion, the newest COP in the Panjwa'i district. The COP's location, in Do'ab village, is the furthest west into the Horn of Panjwa'i coalition forces have ever been. Photo by
Army Staff Sgt. Lindsey Kibler, Oct. 19, 2011
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Seen as the last Taliban stronghold, soldiers from 3rd
Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade
Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, immediately began
assessing a plan of action to disrupt enemy operations in
the Panjwa'i district of Kandahar province, their area of
responsibility.
After the unit's July arrival to
Afghanistan, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, and 1st
Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, also under 1st SBCT, 25th
Infantry Divison, were assigned to cover specific areas
within the district. By September, Company A, 1st Battalion,
5th Infantry Regiment, along with engineers from the Iowa
and Puerto Rico Army Reserve and Afghan National Army, began
operations.
The first step was to build ANA
checkpoints along the already-established Route Hyena. From
the last checkpoint on Route Hyena, the road would be
extended roughly one and one-half miles and end at the
entrance to Combat Outpost Lion; the recent addition to the
road was named Route Agha, after the district's governor,
Hajji Sayed Fazluddin Agha. Finally, at the end of the road
would lay Combat Outpost Lion.
“Lion is the furthest
west outpost in the Horn of Panjwa'i. No one had been into
Do'ab, and it hasn't been patrolled regularly. By going into
Do'ab, we can deny the Taliban any terrain and, in turn,
make the area more secure and help the government of
Afghanistan support their people,” said 1st Sgt. Jeff Peppin,
Company A, 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment first
sergeant.
As construction began, there were met with
resistance, often in the form of IEDs and small-arms fire,
Peppin said. But the work continued on.
The entire
project was slated to take about two months. The engineers
worked feverishly while soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th
Infantry Regiment, provided security.
“We are out
here from the time the sun rises until the sun sets, every
day, making sure we get this done,” said 1st Lt. Marc Helm,
platoon leader with the 322nd Engineer Company, 368th
Engineer Battalion, Naval Construction Regiment. Helm, a
reservist from Des Moines, Iowa, oversees engineers from his
company, as well as soldiers from the 475th Engineer
Company, of Puerto Rico.
“We understand our part in
this — to establish a force presence and get the Taliban out
which will, economically, make a difference for the people
of Do'ab,” said Helm.
Aside from IEDs, engineers
were met with another problem: dust.
Moon dust, a
term used to describe the extremely fine dirt covering the
area, was settling into the moving parts of the equipment
and, mixed with the extreme heat, causing the heavy
machinery to break down a lot quicker, said Helm. Waiting
for parts to be shipped from the United States can take
weeks or months, he added.
Regardless of equipment
challenges, construction was finished more than a week ahead
of schedule.
“The engineers did great work.
Construction has been a success, and now we can help bring
security to the area, get the locals to start trusting us
and, hopefully, getting them to return. ” said Peppin,
adding that he is already seeing some of the local returning
and tending to their crops.
An indisputable sign of
success has been the decrease in enemy activity in and
around Do'ab since construction began in September.
“The insurgents have tried extending the fighting season
because of the presence of troops in the area, but they have
been unsuccessful” according to intelligence analyst Spc.
Joshua Rinker, a Richmond, Va., native serving with
Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment.
Since breaking ground on the road to Do'ab in early
September, IED attacks are down 46 percent, small-arms fire
are down 47 percent and the frequency of indirect fire
attacks has also decreased.
Rinker expects numbers
of attacks to continue to drop as villagers begin returning
to their homes and interacting more with ANA and U.S.
Soldiers in the area.
With construction of the road
and Combat Outpost Lion finished, Peppin's men have begun a
project of their own— make their COP a home.
More associated images in frame below
By Army Staff Sgt. Lindsey Kibler
1st Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division Public Affairs
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2011
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