Cliffhanger Afghan mission is heroes' tale - USATODAY.com
"Shortly after dawn on April 6, a small team of American and Afghan commandos lifted off from an airfield in Jalalabad and flew into a small slice of hell.
Their objective was an insurgent stronghold perched atop a snow-capped mountain more than 10,000 feet high and surrounded by sheer cliffs.
By the end of the day, two Afghans were killed and many of the team of Americans and Afghans were injured, some badly. Between 150 and 200 insurgents were killed.
The heroism displayed on that cold mountaintop can now be measured as well. Of 15 U.S. troops that assaulted the main target, 11 have been approved for the Silver Star, the military's third-highest award for bravery. Two will be awarded the Bronze Star.
Details of the raid are emerging in advance of a ceremony scheduled for today at Fort Bragg, where members of the team will receive medals.
Intelligence had indicated that insurgent leaders were holed up in a compound in Shok Valley, an area considered remote even by Afghan standards. They would be the first U.S. forces in the area.
A team of 15 U.S. troops and about 30 Afghan commandos headed for the main target. Two similar-size units were to secure nearby zones.
Shortly after leaving Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan, the helicopters descended into a small area at an elevation of 10,000 feet. "We were surrounded by extremely sheer rock faces in all directions," said Capt. Kyle Walton, 29, the Special Forces Officer who led the raid.
The terrain was too rugged for some of the helicopters to land, forcing soldiers loaded with 60 pounds of equipment to jump from the hovering aircraft onto razor-sharp rocks or in an ice-cold stream that ran through the landing zone.
The insurgent compound was perched on a ridge line 1,000 feet above them.
"It was as close to vertical as a mountain can be," recalled Staff Sgt. Seth Howard, a 24-year-old from Keene, N.H.
They crept toward the compound along the icy rock face. One of Walton's men noticed a couple of insurgents carrying rocket-propelled grenades. He shot and killed the militants.
The mountain then opened in fire. Insurgents in fortified positions along a ridge and in the compound shot at the raiding troops who were spread along a barren mountainside with almost no cover.
Walton's Afghan interpreter was shot and killed instantly. The commandos were outnumbered by the insurgents, who were well-armed and held the high ground. The team was taking fire from all directions.
"No matter where you went, you weren't going to get away from any gunfire," said Staff Sgt. Ryan Wallen, 22, of Palm Springs, Calif.
"It was a very well-trained and disciplined enemy," Walton said.
The commandos fought back hard, pouring fire on the enemy and calling for repeated airstrikes. "The (Afghan) commandos did an excellent job," Walton said.
Staff Sgt. John Wayne Walding, 27, was with a small team that had reached close enough to the insurgents to hear them issuing orders.
Walding radioed to Walton, who was in position several hundred yards behind him, requesting an airstrike.
"I asked them, 'Are you too close to drop close air support?' " Walton recalls. "They said, 'Drop it anyway.' "
"I called him immediately as soon as the bomb exploded to see if he was still alive," Walton said. "I could hear gunfire in the background. All I heard from his radio was him yelling: 'Hit it again.'
"We brought in another airstrike," Walton said.
During the 6½ hour battle, the team called in 70 "danger close" airstrikes, meaning the bombs, missiles and strafing runs were close enough to potentially cause friendly casualties.
"A danger close mission is one of those things I have to give my initials over the radio to authorize," Walton said. "After the first two or three of them I told them: Don't ask for initials again. Just keep them all coming danger close."
As enemy fighters threatened to overrun their positions, the Americans would call in airstrikes nearly right on top of their heads, causing U.S. injuries.
"We didn't care if the bomb took us out, too," Walton said. "It would be better than letting the enemy kill us."
Airstrikes helped the team regain the initiative, but the commandos were running low on ammunition and medical supplies. Casualties mounted. Insurgents kept firing at the team from the higher ground.
The team needed to evacuate casualties. Doing that, however, meant climbing off the mountain and down a 60-foot cliff between them and the landing zone. Walton and his team were pinned down with the bulk of the casualties.
Walton radioed to Walding, ordering him back from his position to begin preparations for getting casualties off the mountain.
Walding had just finished deploying Afghan commandos to begin removing casualties when he was shot by a sniper. His right leg was mostly severed below the knee.
Walding tied a tourniquet and then used a boot lace to tie the lower portion of his leg to his thigh to secure it so he could move.
He kept firing at the enemy as he moved down the mountain, hopping on his good leg, sometimes sliding on the ground and getting help from the Afghan commandos.
It took Walding three hours to reach the landing zone.
About a third of the commando team of Americans and Afghans were injured. They helped each other get off the mountain, firing at the enemy as they went.
Some helicopters flew below power lines stretched across a couple of ridgelines to reach the landing zone. One pilot was injured by enemy fire.
After the casualties were evacuated, Walton wanted a quick-reaction force for another attack on the compound. But bad weather meant the team could be stuck on the mountain for days; his headquarters overruled the second attack.
Still, Walton said, "I think we broke the enemy's back."
The men climbed aboard helicopters that would take them out of Shok Valley.
Walding lost his leg below the knee and is doing well in therapy. He remains in the Army and wants to rejoin a Special Forces team. "That's my dream.""
Apparently this is the most decorations given to a unit for a single battle since the Vietnam War.
Good job guys.