Brits in Afghanistan

British combat medic Jodie Kayhill, 21.

From Robert Wilson's gallery at Times Online. Striking and intimate images of a British Army brigade in Afghanistan.

Update: Link fixed. Sorry about that.

Marines launch assault in Helmand province

U.S. Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit wish one another well as they prepare to leave in convoy from a forward operating base in southern Afghanistan, Monday April 28, 2008. AP Photo/David Guttenfelder.

OUTSIDE GARMSER, Afghanistan (AP) — Marines stormed into a Taliban-held town before daybreak Tuesday, trading gunfire with insurgents on the ground and using helicopter gunships to destroy a militant compound in one of Afghanistan's most violent regions.

Several hundred Marines, many of whom have fought in Iraq, reportedly met light resistance in the assault, which is the farthest south in years that American troops have operated in Helmand province.
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"We haven't seen anybody who isn't carrying a gun," [Maj. Tom] Clinton said of the mostly deserted town. "They're trying to figure out what we're doing. They're shooting at us, letting us know they're there."

The assault on Garmser was the first major task undertaken by the 2,300 Marines of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which arrived in April from Camp Lejeune, N.C., for a seven-month deployment.
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Attack helicopters "obliterated" a compound used as a base by the insurgents, said Clinton, 36, of Swampscott, Mass. He said he didn't if anyone was killed by the airstrike.
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Many of the men in the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit served in 2006 and 2007 in Ramadi, capital of Anbar province in western Iraq. The vast region was once the stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq before the militants were pushed out in early 2007.

Capt. John Moder, 34, a company commander from North Kingstown, R.I., said before the assault began that the experience in Iraq would affect how his men fight in Afghanistan.

"These guys saw a lot of progress in Ramadi, so they understand it's not just kinetic (fighting),but it's reconstruction and economic development," he said.

Two Schweinfurt soldiers receive Silver Star

Spc. Jarrod Taylor, right, an infantryman with the 172nd Separate Infantry Brigade in Schweinfurt, Germany, shakes hands with 172nd commander, Col. Jeffrey Sinclair, after being decorated with the Silver Star at his battalion headquarters Tuesday. At center is Staff Sgt. Octavio Nuñez, who, like Taylor, was decorated Tuesday for heroic actions in Baghdad last May. Photo and story Mark St.Clair / S&S.

SCHWEINFURT, Germany — Two infantrymen were awarded the nation’s third-highest medal for wartime valor on Tuesday in a short ceremony on Ledward Barracks.

Staff Sgt. Octavio Nuñez, 28, and Spc. Jarrod Taylor, 22, were decorated with the Silver Star by Col. Jeffrey Sinclair, commander of the 172nd Separate Infantry Brigade, for heroic actions in Iraq on May 14, 2007.

Telling of how the two heroes chose their friends over themselves, Sinclair said people who have never served may not understand how someone will repeatedly put themselves in harm’s way to save a fellow soldier.
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“You’ll never be prepared for something like that,” Nuñez said when asked whether or not his training kicked in during the attack. “I never thought I was going to see my buddies running around on fire.”

Paratroopers Get Hands-on Training During Live-fire Event

Paratroopers assigned to Company C, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division perform the stacking techique on a door as they prepare to clear a building during a training event on April 15 at Live Fire Village complex. Paratroopers train on all aspects of combat operations to prepare them for deployments in support of the war on terror.

The Virtues of Our Sons

From JD Johannes via Blackfive.

THE VIRTUES of our sons, hope, love, fortitude are tested in a crucible every minute of every day in Iraq and Afghanistan. For centuries, these virtues were lauded as the foundation of culture and society. But in the post-modern era they are shunned precisely because they are virtues and most of all fortitude is ignored because it is virtue that can be witnessed in action.
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Hope is used as a campaign slogan, love as a lyric, but fortitude requires a choice and action during encounters with mortal adversaries of the good.

A society that denies the virtues of its sons in battle, will cease to exist, because it is only through battle with the mortal enemy of the good that evil is defeated.

Welcome Home, SSG Matt Maupin

U.S. Marine Sgt. Micah Maupin salutes the casket of his brother, Army Staff Sgt. Matt Maupin as it arrives at Lunken Airport.

Thousands lined the roads along the procession route, paid their respects at a public viewing, and attended the public funeral at Great American Ball Park for SSG Matt Maupin this weekend.

Welcome home, Matt. Your mission is complete.

h/t and more links at Blackfive.

JAM's days numbered - Updated and bumped

Army Capt. Will McNutt, a native of Deridder, La. and assigned as the 2nd Battalion, 42nd Iraqi Army Brigade, 11th Iraqi Army Division Military Transition Team chief provides security from a building rooftop as Iraqi army soldiers from the 42nd Iraqi Army Brigade, 11th Iraqi Army Division battle armed militiamen in the Sadr City district of Baghdad April 17. U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Adrian Cadiz.

From The Long War Journal:

The showdown with the Mahdi Army continues in Baghdad and outlying areas to the North as Iraq's prime minister says the days of the militias are over. US and Iraqi forces engaged the Mahdi Army in Baghdad and the towns of Rashidiyah and Hussaniyah in northern Baghdad Province over the past several days, killing 16 Mahdi Army fighters and capturing five. Seventy-two Mahdi Army fighters have been killed in Baghdad since Muqtada al Sadr threatened to initiate a third uprising.

Well done to the IA and the US MiTTs teams. Keep up the good work.

Update: US, Iraqi troops killed 41 Mahdi Army fighters in Baghdad clashes

ANA Commandos and US Special Forces capture and kill insurgents in Kapisa province

Members of the Afghan National Army’s 207th Commando Kandak move toward their objective during a pre-graduation mission, in Kapisa province, April 21-24. During the operation, the Commandos, supported by Coalition [Special Forces] forces, captured one insurgent, killed one other who tried to mount an attack against them and recovered weapons, IED material and rockets. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Corey T. Dennis.


Update 30 April: Matt Dupee at The Long War Journal provides lots of context around operations in Kapisa province.

“The security situation in Tag Ab remains unstable,” a US military spokesman told The Long War Journal in a recent interview. “Afghan National Security Forces and International Security Assistance Forces are working hard to uproot the localized insurgency. Kapisa is being used as a staging area for attacks into the capital including suicide attacks. Various Taliban and Hezb-i-Islami commanders, in and outside the Valley, realize the importance of maintaining support in this area to keep this facilitation hub open.

The 1st Kandak of the 201st Corps of the Afghan National Army along with other Afghan National Security Forces and supported by Coalition Forces, are currently conducting Operation Mouje Sealam to disrupt insurgent activities, increase the support of the populace for the Afghan government and increase the level of security in Kapisa. The local populace is the most important aspect of bringing safety to the villages of Tag Ab.”

TF Saber and COIN in Afghanistan: “Where the road stops is where the insurgency starts.”

Two Afghan men and a group of boys gather at the Gowerdesh Bridge after U.S. and Afghan government troops had taken control of it. Drew Brown / S&S.

More top-notch reporting and photography from Drew Brown of S&S about operations of the 173rd Airborne Brigade’s 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment in Nuristan Province. Operation Mountain Highway II is Task Force Saber’s largest operation to date.

U.S., Afghan troops retake key bridge

NURISTAN PROVINCE, Afghanistan — U.S. and Afghan troops have secured a key bridge in volatile northeastern Afghanistan, a move U.S. military officers say will allow Afghan border police to return to the area and help quell the insurgency there.

The seizure of the Gowerdesh Bridge on Tuesday will also allow U.S.-funded efforts to widen and improve the main road into Nuristan province to resume. U.S. officers say this will bring badly needed economic development to the remote mountainous region.

“This road is important,” said Maj. Nathan Springer, a staff officer for the 173rd Airborne Brigade’s 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment, also known as Task Force Saber. “Where the road stops is where the insurgency starts.”

The region around the Gowerdesh Bridge had been under insurgent control since last August, when border police abandoned the checkpoint after anti-government fighters threatened to kill them if they did not leave.

The border station controls a crossing point into Pakistan, which is just beyond the next mountain range.

Road construction stopped about 10 kilometers south of the bridge two months ago, when four Afghan contractors working on the project were captured and beheaded by insurgents.

But now road work can start again, Springer said. U.S. forces have set aside $40 million to widen and pave the road from Asmar to Kamdesh, a key town in eastern Nuristan province, he added.

“The next thing the local people are going to see is an immediate infusion of development dollars,” said Springer, 31, of Norman, Okla.

Economic development will bring jobs, which will give young fighting-age men an alternative to toting a gun for the insurgency, he said.

The latest operation to retake the bridge started about a week ago when U.S. forces flew in by helicopter at night and set up three hilltop outposts overlooking the bridge and the road.

But the work began long before that.

Tuesday’s operation went smoothly because it came after weeks of negotiations with a 100-man shura, or council, of Kamdesh tribal elders, said Lt. Col. Christopher Kolenda, commander of Task Force Saber.

The Kamdesh shura is the most influential tribal body in this part of Nuristan province.

“They’ve been going from village to village telling the enemy not to fight and to work with the government,” said Kolenda, of Omaha, Neb. He added that the tribal council’s message has been simple: “You’re either going to reconcile or you’re going to be an enemy of the whole tribe.”

Kolenda met Monday with about two dozen members of the Kamdesh shura, and they gave him the final go-ahead to retake the Gowerdesh Bridge.

That same group of elders drove up a couple of hours after U.S. and Afghan forces secured the bridge.

They met briefly with Capt. John Williams, commander of Workhorse Troop, who thanked the men for their efforts to bring peace to the region.
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Afghans are notoriously wary of outsiders, and the elders were clearly ambivalent about the presence of U.S. troops in the valley. But one of them thanked Williams for their efforts.

“We are very, very happy about this,” the tribal elder said quietly.

Article with photo gallery here.

More on roads, bridges, and COIN at the SWJ via Mrs. G's Dawn Patrol.



Click here for more 173rd ABCT Afghanistan posts.

ANZAC Day 2008

Half mast ... the Australia flag in Sydney's Darling Harbour flies at half mast as a mark of respect to the nation's fallen. Picture: Charlie Brewer

Lest we forget ... Hobart's Cenotaph was the venue for many to remember the contribution of Australias servicemen and women. Picture: Kim Eiszele

Pilgrims ... Australian visitors gather at Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli peninsula, northwestern Turkey, as they wait for the dawn service / AP

Reunited ... four of the famous Desert Rats enjoy a drink as they catch up at Sydney's Gallipoli Club after the march for a reunion. Picture: James Croucher

Return ... former World War II prisoner of war Bill Haskell, 88, makes his way on part of the death railway after the dawn ceremony to mark ANZAC Day at Hellfire Pass in Kanchanaburi province, western Thailand / AP

Early start ... Vietnam veteran John Everingham has a beer at 7am at The Grand Hotel in Sydney after the dawn service in Martin Place. Picture: Stephen Cooper

Diggers mark last Anzac Day in Iraq - ABC News AU

All photos news.com.au except where noted.