With the nearly twenty-year-long conflict in Afghanistan over for the United States military, many veterans are coming forward to tell their stories. Fierce battles and firefights that took place at remote combat outposts may have received brief press coverage at the time, but many of the soldiers involved have yet to tell their story.
In 2006, a young lieutenant named Ray McPadden was in the 10th Mountain Division, charged with conducting combat patrols in the Korengal valley, a remote river valley within the harsh, nearly vertical terrain of Kunar Province.
McPadden led his platoon into the mountains and established a patrol base that they ended up occupying for three consecutive days. Normal protocol is for a patrol to never spend more than 24 hours in a patrol base, but the environment was so harsh that the Platoon Leader had to make a judgment call. Remaining in place seemed less dangerous than moving his men who were already seriously tired and dehydrated.
"The enemy in that part of Kunar was notorious, even if you are super dialed in doing all the right things and aggressively patrolling they have a way of finding you," McPadden said in a recent interview. "I planned to move the next day, and that night we got hit really, really hard."
Once it got dark out, the Taliban hit their patrol base. They hit the Americans with machine-gun fire and RPGs, while their maneuver element closed on the patrol base to within hand grenade range. The patrol base was in danger of being overrun. "They tried to run us over," McPadden said. "It was a really intense firefight."
"We knocked 'em back," he explained. "But that was when I got wounded."
McPadden was moving from position to position to check on his men when he realized the enemy was specifically shooting at him. He took cover behind a small pine tree with one of his enlisted soldiers and returned fire. An RPG screamed through the forest and hit the tree just three feet away from McPadden. "I remember the white flash and the heat of it, we both got thrown. It was nuts, just crazy," he said.
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McPadden gathered himself and realized he was not seriously injured but likely sustained a concussion. The enlisted soldier required medical attention and would require evacuation. Two other soldiers had been seriously injured as well. The 10th Mountain Division infantrymen drove back the Taliban and prevented them from overtaking the patrol base.
McPadden works as a Park Ranger today, and has authored a memoir about his experiences in Afghanistan titled, "We March at Midnight."
In 2005, another young lieutenant named Louis Fernandez served with the 82nd Airborne Division, leading infantrymen in combat against the Taliban near the border with Pakistan. Placed in charge of a ramshackle border control point, he began conducting foot patrols in his area of operations.
The 82nd paratroopers kept taking enemy fire from a nearby mountain that was situated on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Hill 2911, as the U.S. military called it, was half in one country, where American troops could operate, and half in another country, where they couldn't. It made for a frustrating situation for the soldiers.
One day, the paratroopers were patrolling the Afghan side of the mountain while Fernandez was looking down at his map when he realized they were actually in Pakistan after accidentally crossing the border.
"I hear something and I look up," Fernandez said, as he caught sight of a four-man Taliban patrol moving on a ridge ahead of them. "I know I'm across the border, but here we got, this is the situation," he explained. A Squad Leader shot and killed the lead Taliban fighter. Then a second Taliban was shot by the Americans through the hip before the firefight broke out in earnest.
As higher headquarters became aware that they were in Pakistan, they came over the radio and ordered Fernandez and his men back into Afghanistan. He began complying with instructions, but in moments was taking fire from his front and both flanks, and from far more than just the four Taliban he had spotted.
"They had the momentum and fire superiority," Fernandez said as he began to question whether or not they could fight their way out of this situation. "Bullets are whizzing past us and they are throwing grenades," which exploded in the trees covering them with branches and pine needles. The patrol called in artillery strikes but received no reply. They were being enveloped by the enemy, becoming encircled.
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The paratroopers attempted to break contact, heading back to where they left their vehicles but at high elevation in the mountains, the men were all short of breath. One enlisted soldier named Pvt. Smith had been shot in the face but continued to fight while covered in his own blood.
Fernandez found himself face to face with a Taliban fighter who crested a ridge, able to see the expression on his face. "They were right on top of us," Fernandez said. He opened fire as a bullet crossed from in front of his face. He stumbled backward as another bullet slammed into a pine tree next to him, showering him with bark.
One of his men fired a LAW rocket at a rock that three Taliban fighters were taking cover behind, just 16 or so meters away. The LAW hit the rock. "Let me tell you, the whole firefight stopped," Fernandez said with a laugh as he recalled the experience. Eventually, the 82nd Airborne troops were able to maneuver back to their vehicles and evacuate after having expended nearly all of their ammunition.
With the benefit of hindsight, Fernandez and McPadden look back on their experiences with candor, humor, and even nostalgia as they recall serving and fighting alongside young infantrymen in combat.
Whatever the war in Afghanistan will end up meaning for Americans, those who served there had formative experiences that they will never forget.
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