Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Whitney Hughes | From Right: U.S. Army Sgt. Ryan Hubbard, of Cushing, Okla., with the Oklahoma...... read more read more
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PAKTYA PROVINCE, Afghanistan – At least five insurgents were killed and one captured as Afghan and U.S. soldiers foiled a complex attack on Forward Operating Base Gardez Sept. 24.
Two Afghan security guards were killed defending the base, and there were no U.S. casualties.
“Thanks to our soldiers' aggressive reaction, the insurgents never made their way onto our base. The battle took place at the entry control point since our plans and defensive posture worked well and our soldiers performed fearlessly,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Paul Edwards, the 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Regiment's senior noncommissioned officer.
At about 12:30 p.m., insurgents attacked the entry control point, the gate that all people and vehicles must pass through to get on post. Insurgents attempted to use a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, or car bomb, and personnel on foot with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades and suicide vests to penetrate the ECP and enter the FOB. However, Afghan and U.S. soldiers quashed the attack at the gate, and killed the driver of the vehicle and four other insurgents wearing suicide vests. The rest of the attackers, about 20 of them, fled to a nearby village.
However, as they fled through a field filled with wadis (dry river beds), to a nearby village and treeline, other soldiers in the unit instinctively reacted. After hearing the initial attack, soldiers like U.S. Army Sgt. Stephen Lanfear of Rutland, Vt., U.S. Army Spc. Sean Greany of Leesburg, Va., U.S. Army 1st Lt. David Wagner of South Burlington, Vt., instantly grabbed their protective gear and headed for a tower to engage the enemy. They could be heard calling out enemy positions and suspicious vehicle activity back and forth.
“I have PID (positive identification)," yelled Greany, a combat engineer assigned to the scout section of the company, in between bouts of firing an M240 machine gun. Greany engaged the enemy, despite having a broken collarbone.
Lanfear, in the same tower, also fired at the enemy.
“I returned fire several times after witnessing muzzle flashes and green tracer rounds being fired at my position,” said Lanfear in an official report.
Amidst the sporadic tattering of gunfire, peppered by jolting booms of RPGs, more soldiers could be heard calling instructions to each other during the firefight.
“Get to pit!” was all U.S. Army Sfc. Cantrece Adams of Hamdan, Conn., the noncommissioned officer in charge of the mortar team, had to yell to let his soldiers know to report to the mortar pit to prepare to return fire to the enemy.
“Get in the bunkers, now!” U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ross Thibodeau the medical platoon sergeant bellowed down the halls of the soldiers’ barracks before taking off in a run to the ECP to find any casualties who may have needed treatment.
As the firefight died down and the sound of gun fire could no longer be heard, the soldiers continued to man the towers and scan for more insurgents.
Soldiers in leadership positions like U.S. Army 1st Sgt. James Stimpson, the Headquarters Company first sergeant from Lyndonville, Vt., made sure all his soldiers were accounted for and uninjured, each playing their role as smoothly as if the attack were a choreographed battle drill.
“The reaction of our soldiers was immediate and automatic. They reported to key defensive positions and instantly started actively mounting a very stiff resistance to the enemy attack in most cases without any orders. I really can't express how privileged I am to be their senior enlisted leader,” said Edwards.
| Date Taken: | 09.24.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 10.06.2010 01:32 |
| Story ID: | 57565 |
| Location: | PAKTYA PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 1,685 |
| Downloads: | 6 |
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