U.S. Army Aviation air assaults coalition force into Marjah, Afghanistan

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Aubree Rundle | U.S. Marine Infantrymen from Kilo Company, 3/6 Marines carry their gear out to U.S. Army rotary wing helicopters from the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade prior to an air assault into Marjah Proper, Helmand province, Afghanistan. Three serials of helicopters consisting of UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and CH-47F Chinook helicopters inserted nearly 300 Marines into the objective area during the middle of the night, Feb 13.  

MARJAH, AFGHANISTAN

02.13.2010

Story by Sgt. Aubree Rundle 

82nd Combat Aviation Brigade

HELMAND PROVINCE, Afghanistan - Operation Moshtarak is the single largest combat operation to date in Operation Enduring Freedom. With focus on the Districts of Marjah and Nad Ali, Helmand province Afghanistan, this joint force operation was constructed and executed to relieve the Afghan people of Taliban rule.

U.S. Army rotary wing assets from the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade (Task Force Pegasus) inserted the first coalition boots on ground in northeastern Marjah by air assaulting U.S. Marine and Afghan forces into multiple landing zones surrounding objective areas of the assault.

Nearly 300 Marines and Afghan security forces air assaulted into Marjah, Afghanistan, under the hours of darkness, Feb. 13.

Twelve UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and CH-47F Chinook helicopters, command and control helicopters, and aerial security provided by AH-64 Apache helicopters from TF Pegasus facilitated the air assault of Kilo Company, 3/6 Marines in seizing their objective area.

"Protected by Apache air weapons teams, the Marines and their partnered Afghan security forces quickly began moving to their initial objective, seizing key terrain and preparing to link up with their parent headquarters scheduled to begin a ground assault into Marjah [mere hours after the air assault]," said 82nd CAB commander, Col. Paul Bricker.

Having been in theater 30 days prior to Operation Moshtarak, 3/6 Marines are a constituent of the 30,000 increased force structure called to Afghanistan by President Barack Obama in accordance with International Security Assistance Forces commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request this past year.

Shortly after the U.S. Marine insertion, additional Task Force Pegasus aviation assets concurrently assisted a coalition air assault into nearby objective areas in Nad Ali. Task Force Pegasus's 1st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 82nd Aviation Regiment (TF Wolfpack) was one of three rotary wing aviation units involved in the operation in support of the United Kingdom's Task Force Jaguar.

"Their air assault was equally effective in seizing key terrain in the city of Nad Ali, located adjacent and northeast of Marjeh," said Bricker. "Their operation was even more complex as it included over 20 rotary wing aircraft from the U.S., Britain and Canada."

Task Force Pegasus continues to provide support to operation Mostarak; however, the focus is now turned from aerial security to medical evacuation. Casualty evacuation teams are standing-by to transport wounded coalition and Afghan forces to appropriate field hospitals as necessary.

"[The CH-47F Chinook helicopter] has been specially configured with helicopter cabin litter support systems and manned with TF Pegasus surgeons and medics to conduct critical patient transfers from less capable combat surgical wards within Helmand province, to southern Afghanistan's largest and most advanced hospital on Kandahar Airbase," said Bricker.

The 82nd CAB has successfully completed more than 120 air assault operations throughout southern Afghanistan over the span of 10 months in support of International Security Assistances Forces and Afghan national security forces.

• Date Taken: 02.13.2010
• Date Posted: 02.17.2010 07:47
• Story ID: 45459
• Location: MARJAH, AF