Starting like most other days, Harry awoke to snow falling upon the makeshift buildings at his combat outpost, high in the mountains above the Tagab Valley in Kapisa Province, Afghanistan.
It was an utterly serene December morning, said then “Harry” (identity removed), an Air Force Combat Controller (CCT). But, that was all about to change.
Harry and a combined team of coalition and ANSF soldiers geared up for a patrol toward an insurgent-infested village, where they hoped to establish new observation posts (OP) at a location key to disrupt regional Taliban activity and impede their gateway to Kabul.
The CCT’s job was to control air assets and provide CAS for coalition efforts.
“The village our team headed toward was at the foot of a steep mountain that joined two valleys,” said Harry, a 10-year Air Force veteran. “To establish an OP on that mountain would give the coalition over-watch of the entire area. The Taliban knew how important that mountain was and were prepared to do whatever it took to maintain control over it.”
As the combined force approached their target area, they split into separate teams. Their team leaders, consisting of three ISAF officers and an Afghan leader took one team toward a flank on the mountain. Meanwhile, one assault team sought to secure the village and the other prepared for a frontal assault of the mountain.
Harry was on the team securing the village and his squad quickly came under contact as insurgents assaulted the coalition forces with small-arms and machine gun fire.
As Harry’s team returned fire on the insurgents near them, the officers’ team struck an improvised explosive device on the ridge of the mountain. An outnumbering insurgent force then ambushed them.
“The enemy was about 150 meters away and we were in heavy vegetation, which took away some of our tactical advantage when using CAS,” said Harry, who was engaged in a fierce firefight while directing CAS to his comrades’ location, who were suffering a brutal assault after already suffering casualties in the IED blast.
The situation began to look a bit brighter as two U.S. Army helicopters acknowledged they were in route.
However, that brightness soon faded.
“We ended up getting a pair of Kiowa helicopters, but one had a broken gun switch and couldn’t expend any ordnance,” said Harry.
Knowing the team that hit the IED was in bad shape and had casualties needing aeromedical evacuation, Harry and his team hastily maneuvered through an ongoing brutal enemy ambush to assist the casualties.
“The broken Kiowa expended its rockets and then had to return to a nearby [forward operating base] and attempted to fix their weapon systems,” said Harry. “We kept fighting with what weapons we had.”
When Harry arrived on the mountain ridge, he found one ISAF captain dead, the Afghan leader and other members of the element wounded. Reacting quickly, Harry and a fellow Green Beret carried the Afghan leader about a kilometer and began to load him and other casualties into one remaining operational vehicle, and prepared to get them to an aeromedical evacuation site.
The primary landing zone (LZ) was under intense fire so the casualties had to be moved to an alternate LZ, which was a short drive away.
Splitting into two teams, Harry sped off toward the LZ while the remaining forces fought on to secure the mountain.
As the small convoy pushed toward the LZ, a team of Taliban set up a trap.
“We left with only my Green Beret buddy, myself, the wounded and dead, and had no working crew-serve weapon on board, so pretty much had two M-4s to defend ourselves with,” said Harry. “At first we had a small Afghan security detail but they soon had to return to the fight which left just the two of us to get our casualties to that LZ.”
All of a sudden, a hail of rounds began hitting the truck. When Harry looked back, he found a coordinated ambush about 25 meters from his position.
The broken Kiowa flew overhead to provide air support for the casualties, saw the ambush happening from above and responded.
“I looked up and saw the Kiowa above us, and the co-pilot was hanging out of the side of the helicopter engaging the enemy with his M-4,” said Harry. “It was a sight I’ll never forget.”
As his team crested a ridge top, Harry said he could see sparkles from across the entire valley where hundreds of insurgents were firing at the circling Kiowa.
“It was intense. They would intermittingly fire at our CAS, then shift fire to us, then back to the helicopter,” said Harry. “It went back and forth like that for a long time, but our CAS never budged. They kept taking a brunt of the incoming fire and helping suppress our ambush.”
The five-hour battle ended with coalition and insurgent casualties, but the Taliban suffered far more losses than the combined coalition and ANSF team, said Harry.
“It was all sketchy at that time, but we fought our best with what we had,” said Harry. “We put pressure on the Taliban and got our jobs done.”
Harry was involved in two more significant TICs during his deployment and, at one point, was attacked at point-blank range in an alley with no cover.
“I was pretty much forced to move forward and try to close on the shooter while returning fire with no cover,” said Harry. “My training is the only thing that kept me alive at that point, because my mind had already checked out, it seemed.”
For Harry, losing some of his close friends during different firefights elsewhere in Afghanistan stays with him daily and has forever changed his life.
Before joining the ranks of the elite CCT, Harry spent the first six years of his Air Force career as a mechanic, which was challenging but didn’t afford him the opportunity to deploy to the front lines, he said. With an unrelenting yearning to be ‘first there,’ the controller can’t wait for his next combat tour.
“Being a CCT and the mixed missions we embark on really intrigues me,” said Harry. “I’m honored by the Awards and bronze stars, but I don’t do what I do for medals or awards. My fellow controllers are my family, my brothers. I wouldn’t choose any other way to live.”
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