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EDITOR'S NOTE: While dramatic in nature, the following is a
true account of recent events. Due to the currency of this
story, names may have been changed or removed in the
interest of Operational Security.
BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan (8/14/2012) - Coalition troops
were recently attacked by insurgents in the mountains of
eastern Afghanistan. Air Force A-10s provided close air
support while many other organizations cooperated to help
the troops complete their mission. Military men and women
deployed to Bagram Air Field normally consider such a
situation ordinary. But in the summer of 2012 a perfect
storm of complications forced ordinary heroes into
extraordinary circumstances.
Metro, a pilot assigned to the 104th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, stands in front of a U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, July 7, 2012. Metro and his fellow A-10 pilots provide responsive and precise top cover to coalition forces operating in Afghanistan. Photo by USAF Capt. Raymond Geoffroy |
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During the morning of June 28, 2012, approximately 90
coalition service members were working toward their planned
point of recovery after completing a late night mission in
eastern Afghanistan. Their destination was the flat top of a
mountain ridgeline about a mile above the ten-mile wide
crater-like valley below. The ridgeline and valley were
entirely surrounded by massive, craggy 12,000-foot peaks.
High above the coalition troops, a pair of A-10s
provided close air support. The Thunderbolt IIs were
assigned to the 104th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron at Bagram
Air Field. The pilots flying overhead were deployed from the
Maryland Air National Guard's 175th Wing, one of the two deployed
Air Guard flying units. The deployed 175th |
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airmen had just a week left in their deployment. |
During their trek the coalition troops
discovered enemy forces were in the area and were aware of
their location. While they maneuvered toward better cover on
the side of the ridgeline they began to receive sporadic
incoming fire from farther down the ridge. As the group
found cover and returned fire, gathering clouds began to
darken the sky.
When incoming fire seemed to
increase, coalition troops prepared themselves for extended
combat. Over the next hour the growing exchange of bullets
seemed to correspond with the building clouds and rising
winds. The group's Joint Terminal Attack Controllers
contacted the two A-10s above and began communicating the
situation.
The coalition troops knew thickening
clouds would soon complicate things for aircraft support.
Gusting winds had already forced a waiting UH-60 Black Hawk
to depart earlier than planned. Above, the pair of A-10s
supporting them already needed relief.
At Bagram Air
Field, two more of the squadron's pilots, “Zucco,” the
flight lead, and his wingman, “Metro,” were in their mission
brief. Army 1st Lt. Jared Bachelder, a ground liaison
officer with 4th Battlefield Coordination Detachment, had
been monitoring the conflict in the valley since it began.
He dreaded his next brief more than any before it.
“I've never had a brief like that one, and I probably never
will again. I knew I was sending these pilots into an
increasingly difficult situation. Four other pilots had
already gone into the area, and it was only getting worse.
It was nerve-wracking. But I know this is why we're here,
and I was confident in all of us to do our jobs,” said
Bachelder.
Normally the weather forecast is a
formality during a mission brief. This time the elements
were threatening to be as hazardous as the enemies on the
ground. One particular mountain range just north of the
embattled valley and ridgeline provided the ideal
environment for an especially dangerous kind of storm.
Staff Sgt. Olivia Updike, a weather forecaster with
455th Expeditionary Operational Support Squadron, had the
stressful task of monitoring the tenuous conditions.
“Weather can obviously be unpredictable. But we can look at
local patterns and other evidence and get a pretty good idea
about what to expect. There was really no doubt about this
situation. A very strong storm system was building just
north of the mission area. But, as the morning went on,
thunderstorms were rapidly building over the whole region.
It was so widespread and the indicators were so blatant...
This was going to be a bad day,” said Updike.
Updike
echoed many other briefers' sentiments that morning.
“I don't like briefing things like this because I know
it isn't going to stop the mission, and I know how it will
impact the mission. All anyone can do is make sure we are as
accurate as possible, so everyone knows what to expect and
how to prepare for it. It's so important to really know your
job at times like this; even in weather.”
Zucco and
Metro finished their pre-mission preparations and headed
toward their aircraft in the early afternoon Afghanistan
heat. They would soon relieve two other A-10s from their
squadron already providing support at the site of the
conflict.
The ground battle continued as JTACs
coordinated with their A-10 support to target incoming fire.
Despite the return fire from coalition troops and air
support, the insurgent attack from the valley somehow
continued to intensify. The ground forces held their ground
on the ridge as long as possible, hoping for additional help
from an AH-64 Apache attack helicopter nearby.
But,
the massive storm building above the 12,000-foot-high
northern mountain range was forming its own kind of assault
on the troops. The combination of afternoon temperatures
topping 100 degrees and the expanding storm front caused the
Apache support mission to divert away from the attack site.
The weather had also diverted the UH-60 Black Hawk scheduled
to pick them up. Even far above the ongoing battle, a KC-135
Stratotanker refueling aircraft waiting to refuel a pair of
F-16s had to change course to avoid the weather.
Zucco and Metro checked in at the scene and received
situational information from the pilots they were relieving.
The clouds had gotten thicker and lower in just the short
time since they arrived. This forced the jets to operate at
a lower altitude and burn more fuel. They soon got their
first request for support from the JTACs below. Their target
was below coalition forces near the bottom of the ridgeline.
The pilots began to coordinate their strikes.
But
the insurgent attack escalated even further.
The
pilots knew they were running out of time and would need
fuel sooner than planned and their relief was not scheduled
to arrive for some time. They were forced to decide on a
plan to both protect the troops and find a way to refuel.
Zucco elected to remain on station and sent Metro to refuel.
As Metro departed, the massive developing storm front
breached the mountains from the north. He worked his way
around the giant system, but soon discovered that the
refueling tanker had moved from its scheduled position – to
the other side of the storm.
Zucco prepared to begin
his first strike on his own. But within minutes the massive
thunderstorm poured into the valley.
Back at Bagram,
Updike and her officer, Capt. Angela Joy-Radden, anxiously
watched the storm create a worst case scenario. Pressure
from the storm's building layers caused it to collapse
within itself when it hit the valley, creating a Microburst.
“Microbursts release a lot of energy. Downdrafts
cause wind funnels that fill the valley with rain and then
dust. It also generates lots of lightning and electricity
that interferes with equipment. There is zero visibility and
no way to know where anyone is on the ground,” said Joy-Radden.
Coalition ground forces remained under increasing fire
as the torrential downpour arrived, engulfing the entire
area around the troops. Wind, heavy lightning, and driving
rain overpowered the valley. Waves of airborne sand mixed
with rain, obscuring everything.
Just moments after
the storm began, the coalition forces were ambushed. They
suddenly found themselves vastly outnumbered by enemy forces
advancing from below. The massive insurgent army moved
toward the middle of the coalition troops, dividing them.
They began taking fire from a mountainside across the
rain-soaked valley. The ambush had escalated into a full
battle. Above the battle, Zucco's visibility decreased and
forced him to a lower altitude.
“The ceiling dropped
to maybe 3,000 feet, but I still had 12,000-foot cliffs all
around the valley. I could barely see through the sides of
my cockpit, and I could barely see anything out of the
front,” said Zucco.
In addition to depending on his
moving map display to remain clear of the terrain and being
forced to maneuver against insurgent gunfire, the relentless
storm conditions caused him to expend more fuel than
planned. He also knew he was running low on ammunition.
While Metro avoided the storm and managed to rendezvous
with the tanker, he heard Zucco's increasingly urgent
requests for his return change from trained operational
communication to plain English, “where are you?” and “Get
here as soon as you can.” Metro knew the situation was
degrading, but he no longer had enough fuel to both support
the fight and return home.
Static became more and
more of a problem for radios on the ground and in the
aircraft. The storm seemed to affect communication more than
usual. But the weather team at Bagram discovered the
probable source of the radio issues, and could only shake
their head in disbelief.
Energy released from a
recent solar flare was beginning to arrive in Earth's
atmosphere, disrupting electronics and radio signals.
Zucco continued providing close air support while
receiving hostile fire under heavy rain and low visibility
as he carved a path between mountain peaks, the valley, and
heavy dust. Finally, although the battle raged on below,
Zucco fired his last 30mm round. He also no longer had
enough fuel to meet the tanker on the other side of the
storm. Even though his radio squawked with highly animated
communications from below, he was forced to leave the battle
and pass his target area info to Metro as best as he could.
Zucco returned to base, but Metro was still eight minutes
away from the target area.
The massive insurgent
march continued up the ridgeline, completely splitting the
coalition group in half. The JTACs, also divided, were
trying to contact Zucco, when both of them were shot. One
was able to continue some of his duties, but the other
suffered a more serious wound and could not continue. In the
usual personnel configuration for mission support, losing
both JTACs was a limitation that could mean the already
desperate situation had become unmanageable.
But this
mission happened to include an additional junior JTAC just
out of training. Although tense, it was his turn to control
the fight help his brothers in arms as Metro checked back
in.
Metro had refueled and approached the target
area, but everything had changed.
“When I left, it
was just a low ceiling. This looked completely different,
and the storm was incredible. This was the worst weather I
had ever flown in. I would never purposefully fly my jet
into weather like that,” said Metro.
Metro reached
the beginning of the valley and radioed the JTACs. The
coordinates he received were confusing.
“The last
location of our friendlies that I got from Zucco was exactly
the same place the JTAC was telling me to target. I had very
limited visibility outside. The guy on the radio was not the
one I was used to hearing. I was really having doubts about
being able to help.”
As Metro began planning for what
amounted to a “Hail Mary” pass with his 30mm, several more
troops had been injured on the ground including the unit
medic. They were impossibly outnumbered. And there was only
Metro and his A-10 left to help them. The friendly forces
were communicating more and more frantically, urgently
calling for support as if the situation seemed too far gone.
Metro worked with the new JTAC to isolate a small target
area between the divided coalition groups. But the
combination of heavy storm conditions and the chaos of the
battle caused communication delays that made it nearly
impossible to manage a precise strike to break contact. To
play it safe, Metro launched a targeting rocket to mark the
target area. He made his rocket pass, and waited for
corrections.
“That's a good mark!” the JTAC shouted.
There was still a delay in communication with the JTACs. The
delay was enough to cause problems and question the accuracy
of the mark.
Then reinforcements arrived. Two more
A-10s arrived from Zucco and Metro's unit checked in, ready
to help. Metro directed the coalition forces farther up
their ridgeline to a safer position. Then the three aircraft
coordinated and began a series of strikes. They accounted
for the limited conditions, each following the pilot's
strike ahead of him to hone in on the enemy's position.
Moments later the three aircraft dove down just above
the friendly troops and hundreds of 30mm rounds from the
trio of Thunderbolts showered onto the enemy position on the
ridgeline. The effect was instantly noticeable. The three
aircraft coordinated another strike. The JTACs confirmed the
rockets created a good mark, and relayed the results to the
A-10s.
“That's it! Shoot the ridge! Shoot the
ridge!”
The insurgents were tightly targeted, and
everyone on both sides of the battle knew it was only a
matter of time before hundreds of exploding incendiary
rounds would finish off the remaining enemy combatants. Once
again the ground beneath the insurgents erupted from A10
gunfire.
Metro was again low on fuel, and it was
time for him to turn support over to his wingmen behind him.
Two A-10s remained for close air support and Metro returned
to base. The enemy attack had quieted enough for an HH-60
Pave Hawk to pick up the most seriously injured troops.
Helicopters continued to pick up injured personnel from
the ridgeline as rescue and recovery operations were
underway. Above them pairs of A10s continued to provide
close air support and armed escort for the helicopter rescue
operation. As the remaining troops were recovered from the
valley, the A10 pilots donned their night vision goggles as
the sun set on the 13-hour fire fight.
The weather
team was amazed that the mission succeeded and everyone
survived. They were also amazed at the pilots' willingness
to risk everything under those conditions.
“In the
middle of that chaotic sky and that chaotic mess on the
ground, that whole Air National Guard unit went in there and
really blew us all away. That was really impressive,” said
Joy-Radden.
Back at Bagram, Zucco climbed out of his
aircraft. He saw his crew chief, Senior Airman Wes Pool, but
his mind was on getting fuel and returning to help the
troops in the valley.
“Hey, I think I was shot at.”
said Zucco, as he glanced back at the aircraft. “We should
have a look.”
Pool carefully walked around the
aircraft and quickly had a response.
“Yes, sir. You
got one... make it two,” said Pool. He shook his head and got
to work. The strikes meant Zucco was done flying for the
day.
Later that night after Metro landed, the two
pilots went to Bagram's Craig Joint Theater Hospital to find
the injured JTACs and coalition troops. Some of the other
members of the battle were already there. Zucco and Metro
asked about the injured. One of the troops paused and shook
his head.
“I tried to help the JTACs out of the helo.
They wouldn't let anyone help. They walked into the
hospital. One with a bullet in his shoulder, and the other
with a bullet in his side. He just did a one-arm pull-up on
the helo door, stood up and walked in,” said one of the
troops.
Zucco and Metro eventually found the JTACs in
the hospital. One of the controllers' eyes lit up when he
saw the pilots.
“Were you the ones that stayed when
the weather got bad? You saved a lot of lives out there.”
In the end, 12 A-10s from the 104th Expeditionary
Fighter Squadron supported the battle with only one aircraft
sustaining battle damage... two bullet holes. Metro said he
and Zucco later shared a sentiment about that day.
“That was the pinnacle of my military career. Everything
went wrong. But we all did our jobs, no one died, and we're
back in the fight.”
And Pool had Zucco's aircraft
ready to fly within 24 hours.
More photos available in frame below
By USAF Tech. Sgt. Shawn McCowan
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2012
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