TWO-DAY FIREFIGHT!

STRIKING AT THE HEART OF THE TALIBAN

On 23 June, 2006, Operational Detachment Alpha 765 (ODA765), under the command of Captain Sheffield F. Ford III, was in the field with 48 Afghan National Army personnel, hunting for Taliban leadership. Their mission was to seek out and kill or capture senior Taliban leaders in the Panjawi District of Afghanistan, roughly 12 miles from Kandahar.

Their mission was part of a larger Coalition operation, Operation Mountain Thrust – consisting of a combined force of over 11,000 American, British, Romanian, Dutch, Afghan, Canadian, and Australian troops in an attempt to force back the Taliban. The Taliban had escalated their offensive in the spring of that year.

BACKGROUND TO THE BATTLE

After the liberation of Afghanistan in October and November of 2001, the Taliban retreated to refuges in the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. After Operation Anaconda, the Taliban had begun relying on mobile training camps which allowed them to train new recruits and also avoid targeting by American forces.

The Taliban’s insurgency escalated in 2006, when they began to force Afghans who did not support them to leave villages. As a result, the Coalition began launching larger operations against them. Operation Mountain Thrust was to be the largest offensive since the 2001 campaign to drive the Taliban out of power.

ODA765 moved out as part of Operation Kaika on a cordon and search mission in support of Mountain Thrust. According to the Army’s counterinsurgency manual, this type of mission is often used in small villages and population centers during counterinsurgency operations. The American personnel had settled into a patrol base during the evening of 23 June when the Taliban came for them.

MORTAR ATTACK!

The first indication they were under attack came when mortar shells began landing in the position ODA765 had selected. The fire was surprisingly accurate.

“[T]hat was a sign,” Ford would later say during an interview with 60 Minutes.

Just how bad it would become would soon be made abundantly clear. As a patrol of Green Berets and ANA troops moved on the suspected mortar firing position, the Taliban opened up yet again, this time with machine guns and RPGs.

The first to be wounded in the fusillade of bullets and rockets was Staff Sergeant Matthew Binney, a medic assigned to the ODA. As he was about to throw a hand grenade at Taliban fighters, a round hit him in the back of the helmet, resulting in a skull fracture. The injury caused him temporarily to lose his sight and hearing, but rather than quit, he tried to find his weapon and keep fighting.

Almost at the same time, Staff Sergeant Joseph Fuerst, a National Guard soldier from Florida attached to the ODA, was hit in the leg by an RPG rocket fragment. Binney immediately went to assist the wounded Soldier, then took a burst from a Taliban PKM machine gun. The burst wrecked Binney’s M4 carbine, and shattered his left shoulder and arm. Binney was still able to call for assistance and to coordinate efforts to rescue himself and Fuerst.

TALIBAN TAUNTS AGAINST AN INTERPRETER’S COURAGE

The Taliban had seen both Soldiers go down, and now they began making offers to an Afghan interpreter working with ODA765: Hand over the Americans, and all would be forgiven. Their intent toward the Green Berets was anything but friendly.

The interpreter’s response was not to agree with the offer, but instead to get a radio. Contacting Captain Ford at the patrol base, the interpreter requested permission to kill himself and the wounded Americans to prevent them from being captured, tortured, and eventually executed by the Taliban. Ford refused, telling the interpreter to hang on.

Hearing that, Sergeant First Class Brendan O’Connor volunteered to rescue the wounded soldiers. It would be a decision that would make him a legend.

BACKGROUND OF A HERO

Brendan O’Connor had entered ROTC in 1978, and from 1979 to 1985 had served with the 11th Special Forces Group in the Army Reserve. For the next two years, he served as an infantry platoon leader and company commander, before taking command of ODA 1125 in 1987. In 1994, though, with the deactivation of the 11th Special Forces Group, O’Connor resigned his commission and enlisted. He was assigned to ODA765 in 1996, and with the exception of a three-year tour as an instructor at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, was with them ever since.  

O’Connor assembled a quick reaction force of himself, another Green Beret, an interpreter, and eight Afghan troops. They began to move out, only to face a Taliban machine gun nest. Quickly dealing with the Taliban nest, they broke out of the patrol base and began looking for the wounded Americans.

They reached the compound and were told the location of the casualties. O’Connor and his team moved to the end of a compound wall. All the while, Taliban bullets and RPG rockets whizzed around them. O’Connor tried to cross a field, but turned back when the Afghan Army personnel were repulsed by the barrage, leaving the wounded Americans still out there.

80 YARDS UNDER FIRE, NO BODY ARMOR

O’Connor, realizing that he was still too visible, decided to lower his profile. Removing his assault pack and body armor, he began to prepare for another attempt to reach the wounded Americans. His only concession to his personal safety was an orange panel marker tied to his back so that AH-64 Apaches coming to provide close-air support would not mistake him for the enemy.

O’Connor tied the panel to his back and began crawling through the 80 yards to his first objective, another small wall. After inching across the field, he made his way over the wall and then moved another 150 yards – Taliban bullets impacting the ground within inches of him.

When O’Connor finally made contact with Binney, Freucht, and the interpreter, he engaged the Taliban who were taunting the wounded Americans. Despite his lack of body armor, he shielded the wounded with his own body. At the same time, he coordinated the evacuation. O’Connor and an Afghan soldier picked up the wounded Americans and made their way back to the compound, with O’Connor lifting both wounded Americans over a wall while bullets and RPG rockets impacted the structure.

FIREFIGHT AT THE COMPOUND

While O’Connor had been out on his rescue mission, the firefight at the compound had turned vicious. Master Sergeant Thomas D. Maholic had been directing the defense against a large portion of the Taliban force trying to overrun the Green Berets. He, another Green Beret, and 15 Afghan troops were exchanging fire with the enemy.

All the while, Maholic was moving within the compound – sprinting time and again to positions around the compound despite RPG rockets and bullets flying everywhere. When he broke cover to engage a single Taliban who had moved down an alley, he was hit. The Afghan soldiers fought on and eliminated the enemy forces.

As Apache gunships provided cover fire, O’Connor and his team made it back to the compound. Upon learning that Maholic had been hit, O’Connor took over organization of the defense, called for medevac flights, and coordinated the re-supplying of the force with ammunition. As night fell, O’Connor arranged the team’s escape. As the Apaches provided covering fire, O’Connor led the team back into the patrol base ODA765 had established.

When the battle was over, the Green Berets held their patrol base and had driven the Taliban back, with an enemy body count in excess of 120. Master Sergeant Maholic and Staff Sergeant Freucht died of their wounds. The Taliban did come away with Staff Sergeant Binney’s body armor as a trophy, and claimed victory.

AWARDS FOR VALOR

ODA765 became the most decorated Special Forces team in the Global War on Terror. Captain Ford and Sergeant First Class Abram Hernandez received the Silver Star. Ford would be promoted to major, while Hernandez, who also received the Purple Heart, would retire from the Army. Staff Sergeant Binney also received the Silver Star for his actions, but had to retire due to his wounds. Master Sergeant Maholic received the Silver Star posthumously. Seven Bronze Stars with “V” (valor) device and three Army Commendation Medals with “V” device were also awarded for actions during the battle.

Brendan O’Connor would be promoted to Master Sergeant, and he was later named the 2006 U.S. Army Special Operations Command Medic of the Year. On 30 April, 2008, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by Admiral Eric Olsen, commander of United States Special Operations Command.

Through it all, Master Sergeant O’Connor was modest about his actions. “I don’t think that what I did was particularly brave,” said O’Connor. “My friend needed help and I had the opportunity to help him, so I did.”