There’s no sugar-coating this one: the Marine Corps just shared video footage of an ugly day in Kajaki, the district in northern Helmand province that has been the site of some of the Corps’ most violent fighting recently. The following five-minute video was posted to YouTube, showing Marines with 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., taking fire at Patro Base Georgetown. They’re shown engaging insurgent fighters armed with AK47s, sniper rifles and 30mm indirect fire. At least one Marine is hurt by an artillery shell exploding. [HTML1] The base is on the far edge of the Corps’…
Browsing: Kajaki
Commandant Gen. Jim Amos’ trip to Afghanistan through the Thanksgiving holiday has brought a little reported Marine Corps mission to the forefront: village stability operations. Associated Press reporter Bob Burns was along for the trip, and outlined in some detail what operators with Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command are doing in Puzeh, a dusty village in Helmand province about 10 miles south of the Kajaki Dam. In September, I discussed the MARSOC village stability operations mission with Maj. Gen. John Toolan, the top U.S. commander in southwestern Afghanistan. Instead of being involved in raids or other high-profile spec-ops missions,…
Odds are, they never knew what hit them. That’s the likely scenario for insurgents who dug in against Marines in northern Helmand province, Afghanistan, during Operation Eastern Storm. The Marine-led offensive is pushing northern from volatile Sangin district into Kajaki, one of the last areas in Helmand where the Taliban is entrenched. The operation began Oct. 14, said Maj. Bradley Gordon, a Marine spokesman in Afghanistan. First Battalion, 6th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., comprises the main effort, with support from combat engineers; Echo Battery, 2nd Battalion, 12th Marines; Third Reconnaissance Battalion; and First Battalion, 12th Marines. The operation…
The Marine Corps released more information about an ongoing offensive in northern Helmand province today, identifying it as Operation Tofan Sharq, or Eastern Storm. The offensive began with Marines pushing north from volatile Sangin district for five days along Route 611, the main highway in northern Helmand province, Marine officials said in a news release. “We are assisting the Afghan National Army’s 215th Corps to secure the main road between Sangin and Kajaki,” said Brig. Gen. Lewis Craparotta, commanding general of Marine ground forces in Afghanistan. “Senior Taliban commanders have been killed or forced into the northern portion of Helmand.…
The Marine Corps’ next significant push in Afghanistan is well underway, and starting to get attention in the mainstream media. Marine forces are pushing into the hills of northeastern Helmand province as part of an assault on the area surrounding the Kajaki Dam, a significant hydroelectric facility that provides power in the region. More than 2,000 coalition forces are involved, USA Today reports, making it substantially smaller than the 2010 assault on Marjah, but still a significant operation. From USA Today: The Kajaki Dam offensive “closes the lid on central Helmand,” [Maj. Gen. John] Toolan said. “It will be one…
Maj. Gen. John Toolan spoke from Afghanistan with reporters at the Pentagon yesterday, sharing some positive news from the volatile Sangin district. I wasn’t able to attend the briefing due to another interview at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., but the transcript shows that Toolan gave the brief after sitting down with a Taliban commander earlier in the day. The commander agreed to reintegrate 30 of his fighters within a few days, and up to 300 by the end of October, Toolan said. “Now he did this because he understands that at this stage in Helmand province, he sees the writing…
The “Kings of Battle” are heading downrange. First Battalion, 12th Marines, out of Marine Corps Base Hawaii, deployed to Afghanistan during the last week of April. The artillery unit reported Tuesday on its Facebook page that Alpha Battery had arrived in Kyrgyzstan, the assumed last stop on their trip before reaching the war zone. About 500 Marines with 1/12 will replace 1st Battalion, 10th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., which has served as the Corps’ primary artillery battalion in Afghanistan for all of 2011, Marine officials said. Elements of 1/10 also have patrolled Kajaki, a volatile district to Sangin’s…
Much of the recent media attention in Afghanistan’s Helmand province has focused on the announced turnover of units in and around volatile Sangin district. That’s certainly newsworthy, but there are certainly other units in northern Helmand still in the fight. One that deserves to be spotlighted is 1st Battalion, 10th Marines, an artillery unit out of Camp Lejeune, N.C. The Marine Corps has released several reports from the unit in the last few days, focusing on their operations in Kajaki district. Noteworthy for its hydroelectric dam that provides power in southern Afghanistan, it received attention on this blog in October…
Last week, Getty News Service published a series of photographs of a foot patrol near the Kajaki Dam, a landmark in northern Helmand province, Afghanistan, that provides hydroelectric power. Third Battalion, 12th Marines, an artillery unit out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., has been assigned the area for several months, protecting a potential Taliban target. This series of photographs was uncommon, though, because it includes scenes from the last foot patrol one Marine ever participated in. Cpl. Jorge Villarreal, a motor vehicle operator, died after stepping on an improvised explosive device, becoming one of the 19 casualties sustained by a Marine unit…
