FORWARD OPERATING BASE ZEEBRUGGE, Afghanistan — Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve reached the edge of the empire. Photographer James Lee and I arrived Tuesday on a convoy on this fire base. It’s situated on the northern reaches of the Marine area of operations in Helmand province. Only a small Marine observation post known as The Shrine is farther north, and it’s just a short drive away. Zamindawar, a violent section of Kajaki district, is about a mile to the north. We hit the ground running and quickly joined a patrol run by Police Advisory Team 1, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, out…
Browsing: Kajaki
FORWARD OPERATING BASE WHITEHOUSE, Afghanistan — Friends and family of deployed service members have frequently said that one of their favorite parts about journalists embedding with their loved one’s unit is the window it provides into their world. To that end, photographer James Lee and I will be posting some slice-of-life images and anecdotes throughout this deployment. We encountered the Marines you see here on Sunday, after arriving here at the headquarters of 1st Battalion, 8th Marines. We befriended the gentlemen you see playing chess here behind our tent. As many in the military do, they quickly asked where we’re…
KAJAKI, Afghanistan — How does a nation faced with decades of conflict turn a new page? With any luck, a new police force. The Afghan Uniform Police have been growing for several years, joining the more widely known Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police on the streets and dirt paths of Afghanistan. We saw that firsthand today while visiting an AUP graduation with Lt. Col. Kevin Trimble, commander of 1st Battalion, 8th Marines. The ceremony was quick, but underscored the transition that will be coming as U.S. forces draw down in Afghanistan. Even the AUP leader here at the…
FORWARD OPERATING BASE WHITE HOUSE, Afghanistan – We’ve reached the final frontier in Helmand province. This base serves as headquarters to 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, which oversees combat operations in Kajaki district. Top Marine officers in Afghanistan acknowledge they’ve pushed as far north here as possible ahead of the planned drawdown, and will seek this summer to solidify gains already made, rather than pushing farther into the countryside. There were about 20,000 Marines in theater last summer, but that number could drop to as low as 7,000 this fall. In coming weeks, we’ll have several long-form pieces assessing the future…
Two years ago, this blog was launched as I headed downrange to cover Marine operations in Afghanistan’s Helmand province. It’s about time I got back to it. Beginning next week, Marine Corps Times photographer James Lee and I will be embedding with several battalions in northern Helmand. We’ll transit through the Corps’ main hub of operations in the country, Camp Leatherneck, with plans to spend time in Sangin and Kajaki districts. I’m not bringing this up beforehand for bragging rights. No, I thought the best way to do this was to start a conversation early, as any good blog should.…
The Magnificent Bastards are coming home. Second Battalion, 4th Marines, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., is returning to the U.S. this week after a seven-month deployment. Most of the unit was based in Musa Qala, but the unit also pressed into neighboring Kajaki district at times as part of an effort to squash the insurgency there. The battalion will be replaced downrange by a sister unit, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines. Its Marines will continue to push the Taliban as far as they can from population centers, facing a mix of small-arms ambushes, improvised explosive devices and other threats. For 2/4,…
Marine Corps Times just posted a long-form story I filed analyzing what Marines in Afghanistan can expect to see in coming months. It relies mainly on a long phone conversation with Maj. Gen. John Toolan, the outgoing commander of coalition forces in Helmand and Nimroz provinces. Among the more interesting things to emerge from the interview: Toolan said Marine forces in northern Helmand province have focused recently on clearing Zamindawar, a region of volatile Kajaki district. The area is northwest of the landmark Kajaki Dam, and zig-zagged by a maze of underground irrigation tunnels. From the story: A significant target…
I was away covering Bold Alligator this weekend, but it’s worth circling back to an impressive New York Times Magazine article published Sunday. Pieced together after seven weeks of downrange reporting by Luke Mogelson, it examines in detail Marine operations in Kajaki, Sangin and Musa Qala districts. Those, of course, are the main battlegrounds at this point in the war in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, where about 19,000 Marines are deployed. Details worth highlighting: The fight in Musa Qala Second Battalion, 4th Marines, out of Camp Pendleton, Calif., has continued to press into new areas in and around volatile Musa Qala.…
After another long deployment, “1/6 HARD” is coming home. First Battalion, 6th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., will return to the U.S. soon, according to a Marine Corps news release published today. The Corps has been flying forces from Lejeune’s 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, to replace them in combat, the service acknowledged earlier this week. It has been a whirlwind few years for 1/6’s Marines, some of whom pushed through major offensive on three consecutive deployments. In 2008, 1/6 served as ground combat element of the Lejeune’s 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit as it kicked in the door in Afghanistan,…
Marine forces assaulted key sections of Afghanistan’s Kajaki district last fall as part of Operation Eastern Storm, taking back several sections of it back from the Taliban. One of those places was Kajaki Sofla. First Battalion, 6th Marines, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., and other elements of other units worked through the area, hunting insurgents and confiscating weapons caches as they went. Eventually, some level of reconciliation with Afghan citizens in the area became possible. That brings us to the big event this week: A suicide bomb was detonated by an insurgent on a motorcycle in the Kajaki Sofla Bazaar…
