Dire sunrise at Wanat

[unhappycamper]

Ambush in Afghanistan
Inside the firefight that claimed 9 soldiers


Dire sunrise at Wanat
By Michelle Tan - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Dec 14, 2008 11:13:19 EST

Task Force Rock arrived in Afghanistan’s central Waygul Valley in Konar province in June 2007. The soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment were operating in a 4,000-foot-high valley, with rugged, steep sides reaching up to 9,000 feet. Their mission: Engage the local population and take on the enemy in one of the country’s most hostile and volatile areas.

They set up their headquarters at Camp Blessing, in the southern end of the valley, but built a number of combat outposts to be closer to the locals.

But a series of deadly attacks, including betrayals by Afghan security guards who were supposed to protect their bases, forced them to abandon two of those locations, leading the soldiers to the village of Wanat.

And on July 13, 2008, near the end of their 15-month deployment, the deadliest Afghanistan battle yet for the soldiers unfolded. Nine paratroopers died and 27 were wounded in a fight with a well-organized enemy intimately familiar with the harsh terrain. The soldiers wound up abandoning the base.

But amid the heartbreaking loss emerged tales of courage. This is the story of that battle, revealed in interviews with soldiers who were there and the report from the Army’s AR-15-6 investigation.


Rest of aticle at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/12/army_WanatMain_121408/%2e