How A Marine Sniper Earned His Silver Star

Marine Sniper Kills Five Taliban And Fires A Rocket Launcher On His Way To A Silver Star -- Business Insider

There was only one thing to do: Marine Cpl. David Gerardi reached for the rocket launcher.

Torsten Ove at The Pittsburgh Post Gazette used a Silver Star award citation to report that a group of Taliban fighter caught two teams of Recon Marines in a fierce ambush. Gerardi's team, referred to as Team 2, was pinned down under a barrage of close range fire pouring in from less than 100 feet away.

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My Comment: A citation well deserved.

On The Ground Report From Afghanistan

HELPING AFGHANS - U.S. Army soldiers help injured Afghan villagers onto a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during an operation to transport patients in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan, March 28, 2010. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Nicholas T. Loyd

Afghan Front Feels Little Obama Effect -- Washington Times

Focus is Taliban, not corruption.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan | Surrounded by gravel-filled buttresses and manned 24 hours a day by alert American and Afghan gunners, Combat Outpost Kowall appears like an outpost under siege. It is one of the frontline posts in Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal's expanded campaign to flush out a resurgent Taliban militia ahead of the major offensive on Kandahar expected in the coming months.

President Obama's surprise trip to Afghanistan was an opportunity to express U.S. displeasure with the rampant corruption in the government of President Hamid Karzai. But for the soldiers of Alpha Company of the 82nd Airborne Division, Kabul's conference halls and money-

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My Comment: This article focuses on President Obama's trip to Afghanistan, but in outposts like Combat Outpost Kowall it is clear that President Obama's visit has zero if any impact.

I feel for the Afghan soldiers who must operate in this part of Afghanistan even though they are from a different ethnic group, and I feel for the Americans who find themselves in the middle of all of this.

On The Ground Report From Afghanistan

Lance Cpl. Ryan T. Mathison, left, after stepping on a mine that did not go off. An ordnance disposal team destroyed the explosive. Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Foot On Bomb, Marine Defies A Taliban Trap -- New York Times

SHOSHARAK, Afghanistan — If luck is the battlefield’s final arbiter — the wild card that can trump fitness, training, teamwork, equipment, character and skill — then Lance Cpl. Ryan T. Mathison experienced its purest and most welcome form.

On a Marine foot patrol here through the predawn chill of Friday morning, he stepped on a pressure-plate rigged to roughly 25 pounds of explosives. The device, enough to destroy a pickup truck or tear apart several men, was buried beneath him in the dusty soil.

It did not explode.

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My Comment: To say that these soldiers were lucky is an understatement.

An On The Ground Action Report From Afghanistan

INSURGENT SAFEHOUSE - U.S. and Afghan forces demolish the so-called Taliban Hotel, a safehouse insurgents used to infiltrate Khost, Afghanistan, Dec. 18, 2009. An explosive ordnance disposal team assigned to the 707th Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit, soldiers assigned to the 25th Infantry Division's1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, and Afghan forces partnered to level the safehouse. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Stephen J. Otero

Perilous Patrol Through Heart Of Taliban Territory -- Washington Times

Troops try for rapport with locals.

HUTAL, Afghanistan | Villagers stared at the Americans as they made their way into a small bazaar where goat meat hung from hooks amid stands of used clothing, pots, pans and various trinkets.

For the Afghans, the big Americans in full battle gear looked like beings from another planet. At each turn of the road, soldiers on the point knelt on the ground, automatic weapons ready. The men and women on the security walk were staggered in zigzag formation to keep casualties low in case Taliban sharpshooters were in the area and taking aim. Capt. Casey Thoreen, 30, the commander of the unit, monitored his radio for intelligence.

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My Comment: This is an excellent report .... read it all.

On The Ground Action Report From Afghanistan

The sun rises as seen from a a U.S. Army helicopter flying over the Kunar River October 21, 2008 near Asadabad in the Kunar Province of eastern Afghanistan. American military units there are engaged in some of the fiercest fighting with the Taliban in the country. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images AsiaPac)

Taliban Attacks California Guard Soldiers In Eastern Afghanistan -- L.A. Times

Reporting from Dubai, United Arab Emirates - A California Army National Guard group was attacked Saturday by a "complex double ambush" from Taliban fighters along a treacherous mountain road in eastern Afghanistan while the unit was returning from helping farmers in isolated villages, the Army reported today.

The Californians' slow-moving six-vehicle convoy was attacked by two groups of Taliban militants firing medium machine guns and AK-47s. Most of the vehicles were hit and one was slightly disabled with a flattened tire and a bullet hole in the windshield, the Army said.

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My Comment: The sentence that caught my eye was the following ....

Spc. Kathy Tanson, the only woman among the soldiers, raked one of the ambush sites with fire from a 50-caliber machine gun mounted atop one of the U.S. vehicles.

When 9/11 happened, Spc. Kathy Tanson was a little girl of 11.

Sighhh .....

This is becoming a very long war.

On The Ground Report From Afghanistan

Marine Squad Three Five walk through a soon-to-be poppy field during a daily patrol. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)

In Taliban Stronghold, U.S. Medics Win Friends For Marines -- McClatchy News

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HASSANABAD, Afghanistan — In the middle of a foot patrol Saturday through what may be the most dangerous part of the most dangerous province in Afghanistan for U.S. troops, Staff Sgt. John Nickerson peered through the scope of his assault rifle at a group of Afghan men who were rolling a wheelbarrow toward him.

Suddenly, he had to switch gears to the gentler form of counterinsurgency.

"Hold," Nickerson said into his hand-held radio, lowering his gun. "We've got some men with a kid in a wheelbarrow trying to get our attention. Where's Doc at?"

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My Comment: Besides providing medical attention .... providing educational tools and building schools .... even crude ones .... have a huge impact on the local population. Every parent wants the best for their children .... even some who work with the Taliban.

An On The Ground Action Report From Afghanistan

US Apache helicopter (Photo from The Daily Mail)

Taliban Biker Militia: Anatomy Of A Failed Afghanistan Ambush -- Christian Science Monitor

The Taliban rode Honda motorcycles, but US and Afghanistan troops didn't fall for trap set by hardened, battle-ready insurgents.

Forward Operating Base Nawbahar, Afghanistan - The Taliban had set a trap for the tiny company of Afghan soldiers here, its handful of US mentors and the American helicopters that they expected would rush in to help.

Firing mortars to lure the Americans and Afghans out of their mud-straw base, the motorcycle-borne Taliban headed toward a nearby ravine. Dozens of insurgents with light machine guns, a recoilless rifle and four trucks bearing three anti-aircraft guns and a heavy machine gun were set up in a classic ambush from high ground.

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My Comment: Some days they get you, other days you get them. In this battle, U.S./Afghan forces got them.

On The Ground Action Report From Afghanistan

Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT. The crew of "Flipper 76" stands in front of a Chinook CH-47F, similar to their own, at Kandahar Airfield.

How Miracle Army Evacuation Came Within Inches Of Disaster -- McClatchy News

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — As Chief Warrant Officer 3 James Woolley eased the giant Chinook down into the mud-walled compound, Special Forces troops on the ground dashed to form a perimeter to protect the helicopter, a prize target for Taliban insurgents.

The landing zone in the western Afghan province of Badghis wasn't under fire when U.S. Special Forces called for help to evacuate five wounded U.S. soldiers. But seconds after the Chinook, call sign Flipper 76, touched down, generating its trademark cloud of khaki-colored dust, the attack began.

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My Comment: To say that they had a close call is an understatement.

An Action Report From The Ground In Afghanistan

Image from Stltoday.com

Calm - Then Sudden Death In Afghan War -- Yahoo News/AP

DAHANEH, Afghanistan – The pomegranate grove looked ominous. The U.S. patrol had a tip that Taliban fighters were lying in ambush, and a Marine had his weapon trained on the trees 70 yards away. "If you see anything move from there, light it up," Cpl. Braxton Russell told him.

Thirty seconds later, a salvo of gunfire and RPGs — rocket-propelled grenades — poured out of the grove. "Casualty! We've got a casualty!" someone shouted. A grenade had hit Lance Cpl. Joshua "Bernie" Bernard in the legs.

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My comment: I wish the AP did more reporting of this type. They have the resources and the people in the field to cover these types of operations. I understand that it is dangerous work .... but the news that they send back is important in giving us a picture of what our men and women in uniform must go through every day.

On The Ground Action Report From Michael Yon In Afghanistan -- September 2, 2009

Michael Yon

Precision Voting -- Michael Yon

31 August 2009
Helmand Province, Afghanistan

The historical Afghan elections scheduled for 20 August were days away. While the west mostly continued to vote for Afghanistan, the big question was, “Will Afghanistan vote for itself?”

The latest media wave splashed into the main voting centers in places like Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Herat and Lashkar Gah. The larger cities only account for perhaps 20% of the Afghan population. Whereas the easy and obvious stories are in the cities, a crucial and larger dimension—the other 80%—would unfold in the boonies. Most Afghans would have no chance to vote.

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My Comment: Michael Yon is clearly one of the best bloggers in covering conflicts and wars. This post on Afghanistan is riveting and informative .... the pictures are also incredible.

Another On The Ground Report From the Danger Room In Afghanistan

No Mochaccinos, No Problem for Marines of Echo Company -- The Danger Room

MIANPOSHTEH, Afghanistan — By any rational measure, the Marines of Echo company should be miserable. During the day, they trudge through the mud until they got shot at and endure temperatures that regularly spike above 110 degrees. At night, they sleep in holes in the dirt, next to mortar tubes. Dinner for the last three evenings has been something brown called “beef burgundy.” With enough hot sauce, you can keep it from tasting too much like cigarettes.

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My Comment: The Danger Room has a series of excellent articles that report what the fighting has been like for the past month. My recommendation is go through their archives and enjoy each story.

An Action Report On The Ground From Iraq

U.S. Army Capt. Clay White, right, talks to an Iraqi police officer as he carries an Iraqi child wearing a police uniform following a school supply distribution in eastern Baghdad, Iraq, April 1, 2009. White, a company commander, is assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division's Company C, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team. U.S. Iraqi officials invited U.S. paratroopers to participate in National Orphan Day across Iraq and more than 60 orphan children received needed goods. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Alex Licea

From Military.com:

CAMP ECHO, Iraq - A 4th Infantry Division Soldier whose life was saved by his Advanced Combat Helmet received a Purple Heart and Combat Action Badge in south-central Iraq.

Staff Sgt. Matthew Harvey, construction supervisor with Company E, 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, received the awards after being shot and continuing to return fire during an enemy attack in Najaf, Feb. 10.

The attack came during a route clearance mission when Harvey, who was truck commander of the lead vehicle, dismounted to clear debris that became tangled underneath his vehicle.

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