The road to Marjah

Lance Cpls. Keith B. Lawson and Spence G. Press, scout snipers attached to Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, work together to identify targets as Taliban fighters approached from Marjeh toward their position at the "Five Points" intersection, Feb. 9. Marines of Charlie Company conducted a helicopter-borne assault earlier that morning to seize the key intersection of roads linking the northern area of the insurgent stronghold of Marjeh with the rest of Helmand province. Lawson, 25, is from Reedly, Calif., and Press, 20, is from Newbury Park, Calif. Photo: Sgt. Brian Tuthill.

Marines Fight Insurgents, Secure Key Intersection on Road to Marjeh

HELMAND PROVINCE, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, 02.09.2010 – Marines and sailors of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, battled Taliban insurgents, Feb. 9, after conducting a successful helicopter-borne assault to seize a key intersection east of the insurgent stronghold city of Marjeh.

The Marines, some carrying more than their body weight in gear, moved toward the center of an area known as "Five Points," an intersection of major roads in western Helmand province, located between the cities of Marjeh and Nawa. The Marines were joined on the assault by their partnered Afghan National Army soldiers who fought alongside them against the Taliban.

A Marine with Weapons Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, affixes a mortar round to his pack before a helicopter-borne assault to seize the "Five Points" intersection east of the insurgent stronghold of Marjeh. Five Points is a key province. Some Marines carried more than their body weight during the assault. Photo: Sgt. Brian Tuthill.

"I felt the assault went well," said Capt. Stephan P. Karabin, commanding officer, Charlie Company, 1/3. "We got in here quickly, under the cover of darkness on the helicopters, moved into position, set everything in place and were able to seize the objective. This area is important because it's the one intersection which links northern Marjeh ... to (eastern Helmand province) and it blocks that supply route.

"Marines did their job well here, and some engaged with the enemy for the first time in this deployment," said Karabin, 30, from West Palm Beach, Fla.

The Five Points intersection and surrounding area is also part of the main route from Marjeh to Lashkar Gah, the Helmand provincial capital, said Karabin.

"These roads are very important to our movement within the area of operations," said Karabin.

Capt. Stephan P. Karabin, commanding officer, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, gives directions to units on two different radios from a rooftop during a firefight at the center of "Five Points," a key intersection of roads linking the northern area of the insurgent stronghold of Marjeh with the rest of Helmand province. Marines of Charlie Company conducted a helicopter-borne assault that morning to seize the area. Karabin, 30, is from West Palm Beach, Fla. Photo: Sgt. Brian Tuthill.

Not long after Marines established their defensive positions in the area did they observe Taliban fighters approaching from Marjeh. The Taliban immediately began firing their machine guns at the Marines. Marines and ANA soldiers fired back with heavy machine guns, rockets and small-arms fire, wounding and killing several Taliban fighters, forcing them to flee.

Marines took the brief respite to fortify their fighting positions with sandbags and concrete blocks scrounged from the area around them.

"While we were reinforcing our position on a roof, we came under fire again," said Sgt. Stephen Y. Roberts, a 23-year-old assault section leader, Weapons Platoon, Charlie Company, "It was three or four of the same fighters we had seen firing at us earlier."

Roberts responded to the enemy machine-gun fire by launching a Javelin shoulder-fired missile into the position the fighters were firing from, immediately silencing the heavy machine gun. Marine AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters flying the area followed Roberts' fire to strike a volley of heavy machine-gun fire and rockets, putting an end to the engagement.

Charlie Company Marines were joined at Five Points that evening by squads of Marines from Bravo Company, 1/3, having traveled the nine kilometers from Nawa on foot while sweeping for and clearing improvised explosive devices along the road linking the two locations.

The Marines were also joined there today by the 5th Stryker Brigade:

Marines and Taliban insurgents exchanged gunfire Thursday on the outskirts of Marjah, a southern militant stronghold where American and Afghan forces are expected to launch a major attack in the coming days.

To the north, a U.S.-Afghan force led by the U.S. Army's 5th Stryker Brigade linked up with Marines on Thursday, closing off a Taliban escape route to the nearby major city of Lashkar Gah.

No casualties were reported in the scattered clashes, which broke out as Marines moved ever closer to the edge of the farming community of 80,000 people, the linchpin of Taliban influence in the opium poppy producing province of Helmand.

Clearing the way in front of ground troops going into heavily mined areas are the Breachers.

U.S. Marines from the 2nd MEB, 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion sit on top of their Assault Breacher Vehicle (ABV), at Belleau Wood outpost outside Marjah in Afghanistan's Helmand province Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010. The 72-ton ABV tank plows mine fields and fire ribbons of C4 explosive nearly 150 yards ahead of them to blast safe passage. Photo: David Guttenfelder, AP.