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M9: Semiautomatic sidearm firing the 9x19 mm NATO standard round. Not very useful for the long-distance engagements typical in the mountains of Afghanistan due to the weapon’s limited range and small round size. Marines were nevertheless required to pack it.
AT4 Rocket: A “fire and forget” antitank rocket; the Marines of ⅔ used the version of the AT4 preloaded with HEDP (High Explosive Dual Purpose) rounds for shots against fortified bunkers.
M40A3: Handcrafted by U.S. Marine Corps gunsmiths at Quantico, Virginia, the M40A3 combines extreme accuracy with extraordinary ruggedness. The M40 is a bolt-action rifle, firing a 7.62x51 mm round. In the hands of a Marine scout/sniper, working closely with his team, the maximum effective range of the weapon exceeds one thousand meters. A scout/sniper team may mount a wide variety of scopes to the M40A3 for various applications.
M82A3 SASR: The SASR, or Special Application Scoped Rifle, is a semiautomatic .50-caliber (12.7 mm) rifle capable of engaging targets up to 1,500 meters distant. While available to the snipers of ⅔ during Operation Red Wings and Operation Whalers, the SASR was not used; the Marines utilize this weapon primarily for antivehicle missions. The SASR is considerably heavier than the M40A3, and not as reliably accurate.
M224 60 mm Lightweight Mortar: Referred to as “the 60,” the M224 is a packable mortar tube with a maximum effective range of over two miles (3,490 meters) that while technically requiring a crew of three, can be fired by just one in a pinch (using the “direct lay” technique). Marines of ⅔ frequently employed these during combat operations, not only to hurl high-explosive rounds at enemy positions, but to turn night into day above enemies’ heads with phosphorus illumination rounds.
M252 81 mm Medium Extended Range Mortar: Referred to as “the 81,” the M252 is an extremely accurate—and extremely deadly—weapon, capable of firing up to thirty fifteen-pound rounds per minute out to a range of nearly three and a half miles (5,608 meters). While it is possible to carry the 81 throughout the mountains of the Kunar (in pieces), this mortar system was typically set up at established bases and not used by infantry on the move. Marines use the 81 to fire a variety of mortar types in addition to high explosive, including illumination rounds.
M120 120 mm Heavy Mortar: While not “organic” to Marine Corps units, ⅔ borrowed several 120s from the Army during their tour in the Kunar province. Capable of firing up to sixteen rounds per minute (for the first minute, four rounds per minute sustained) of massive, football-size, thirty-three-pound mortar rounds, the M120 can hit targets as close as 200 meters or as far as 7,200 (4.5 miles), and everything in between. Like the other mortars on the list, the M120 can fire a number of types of rounds.
M119 105 mm Lightweight Towed Howitzer: With the rated ability to lob a thirty-three-pound standard high-explosive round 14.5 kilometers (9 miles), and a Rocket Assisted Projectile (RAP) round 19 kilometers (11.8 miles), the two-gun battery operated by the Army at Asadabad could accurately support troops as far west as the upper Korangal Valley. In early October of 2005, months after the end of Operation Whalers, the Army moved the 105s west to Camp Blessing, replacing them with two of the much larger 155 mm M198 at Asadabad. Marines of ⅔ called fire missions from the 105 battery, known as “Doghouse,” for high-explosive rounds as well as illumination rounds in both Red Wings and Whalers.
HMMWV: The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, aka the Humvee, was used both to transport troops and for CAAT—an acronym for Combined Anti-Armor Team. Although the enemy didn’t have any armored anything for the CAATs to engage, ⅔ utilized the concept for convoy escort and troop support. ⅔ configured each CAAT Humvee with either an MK19 automatic grenade launcher and an M240G medium machine gun, an M2 .50-caliber machine gun, or an M220A3 TOW (Tube Launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided missile), an antitank weapon that can be used to destroy structures.
MTVR: Officially known as the Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement; Marines know this vehicle as the 7-Ton (it replaced the 5-Ton, hence the word replacement in its official designation). Relatively fast, highly survivable (particularly to IEDs, because at its high clearance), off-road capable, powerful, and able to carry tons of cargo and troops, the 7-Ton was nonetheless limited to a few main routes throughout ⅔’s area of operation because of the tortuous and narrow profiles of most secondary roads in the Kunar. ⅔’s 7-Tons typically had an M240G mounted on their turret (above the cab of the truck), but Marines could mount MK19s as well as M2s, if the mission required.
AIRCRAFT
A-10 Thunderbolt II: Flown extensively in support of ground troops in Operation Red Wings and Operation Whalers; pilots of the A-10 (known to most by its nickname, the Warthog) relied primarily on the aircraft’s devastatingly powerful GAU-8 30 mm rotary cannon for their close air support attacks. While the GAU-8, the business end of which juts out of the aircraft’s nose like a blunt stinger, can fire a variety of projectiles, pilots shot high-explosive incendiary (HEI) rounds during Red Wings and Whalers. At 3,900 rounds per minute, even the standard one- to two-second burst put the equivalent of 65 to 130 grenade explosions into a tight swath. The A-10 also can carry a large assortment of rocket pods, air-to-ground guided missiles, and an assortment of unguided as well as precision bombs.
AC-130: The infamous Spectre/Spooky gunships of the Air Force Special Operations Squadrons aided Marines on the ground during Red Wings and Whalers both kinetically (with the onboard 105 mm howitzer and suite of high-speed rotary and Bofors guns) and with the platform’s high-precision-imagery capabilities—helping troops locate enemy positions at night.
B-52: A massive, versatile platform, the B-52 Stratofortress delivered GPG-guided JDAM munitions for the Marines during Operation Whalers.
C-130 Hercules: Invaluable for providing resupply airdrops to troops on the ground; these drops nonetheless required incredibly detailed coordination to ensure that the cargo, dropped by parachute (called a CDS, or containerized delivery system), didn’t land hundreds of meters (or more) distant from the intended target—which in the steep mountains of the Kunar can mean many more hundreds of meters of elevation troops needed to climb or descend to get to their needed supplies.
AH-64 Apache: Crewed by two Army aviators, the Apache gunship provided Marines of ⅔ invaluable close air support during both Red Wings and Whalers. With a 30 mm M230 cannon—aimed through a reticle mounted to a pilot’s helmet—Apaches, controlled by Marine forward air controllers, laid waste to numerous enemy targets in the summer of 2005 in the Kunar. The Apache can be loaded with a wide variety of other weapons systems as well, including 70 mm (2.75 inch) unguided Hydra rockets (employed extensively during Red Wings and Whalers) and the Hellfire laser-guided missile.
UH-60 Blackhawk: One of the most versatile helicopters ever manufactured (the U denotes “Utility”), the Army Blackhawk served two roles during Red Wings and Whalers: troop transport and the all-important mission of Air Ambulance (with the UH-60Q MEDEVAC variant).
CH-47 Chinook: With one of the most recognizable profiles of all the world’s helicopters, the twin-rotored Chinook was ideally suited for supporting troops in the mountains of the Kunar province with its powerful engines and thick rotor blades. While other helicopters reach their performance limitations well below the altitudes (as well as summer heat and hence density altitudes) required to fly throughout the Kunar, the Chinook handles such challenges easily—fully loaded.
MH-47 SOA Chinook: The Special Operations Aircraft (SOA) Chinook is a modified (hence the M designation) version of the conventional CH-47 designed for special operations applications. Modifications include: more powerful engines, larger fuel tanks, an in-flight refueling probe, enhanced night/adverse conditions imaging systems, armor, and weapons systems. The state-of-the-art night-vision capability of the MH-47, as well as other navigation and guidance systems, allow the Army Aviators (of the 160th SOAR[A]) to maneuver their craft in even the darkest of nights.
MQ-1 Predator: Capable of multihour loiters over an area of operatio
n /area of interest while sending real-time video feed to ⅔’s combat operations center, the Predator proved to be a vital link in the command-control-imaging chain, particularly during Operation Whalers. Predator imagery was also used extensively to plan both Red Wings and Whalers, identifying possible targets, named areas of interest, and potential egress routes of enemy troops—as well as possible routes of attack for the Marines.
ENEMY WEAPON SYSTEMS
AK-47: The most prolifically manufactured gun in the world, the AK- 47 saw production in a variety of countries including China and Pakistan (from where many of the AKs found in Afghanistan today originated). A gas-operated, magazine-fed weapon, the AK-47 (and its many variants) can be fired either on semiautomatic single shot or fully automatic. Although the AK’s round (7.62 × 39 mm) is larger than that of the M16, its effective range is much shorter, and it is less reliably accurate.
SKS: A 7.62 × 39 mm semiautomatic carbine, originally made in the Soviet Union, but mass produced by other countries, including China and Pakistan. It is not as common as the AK-47.
SVD: The Dragunov Sniper Rifle was produced in the Soviet Union, China, and Iraq. A favorite of the well-trained Chechan snipers, this coveted 7.62 × 54 mm weapon is rare.
RPK: Best described as an AK-47 with a bipod, the RPK also has a longer muzzle than the AK-47, but fires the same type of ammunition (7.62 × 39 mm) and has an effective range of up to one thousand meters.
PK: The favored weapon of Ahmad Shah, the PK medium machine gun is a bipod-mounted, belt-fed machine gun that fires 7.62 × 54 mm rounds. The PK is relatively lightweight, and is fed through metal drums containing anywhere from 100 to 250 rounds.
RPG-7: Initially designed as an unguided, shoulder-launched, antitank weapon utilizing an armor-penetrating shaped charge; al-Qaeda fighters often use the RPG-7 as an integral part of a coordinated ambush with other weapons such as the PK and IED strikes. It has a maximum range of just over nine hundred meters, at which point, if it hasn’t struck a target, the warhead will self-detonate.
PP87 82 mm Mortar: Used frequently in nighttime ambushes of Camp Blessing, this Chinese-made mortar tube can launch a projectile out to 4,660 meters (2.8 miles). Because it breaks down quickly into three pieces, Ahmad Shah’s men used these mortar systems in both Red Wings and Whalers.
Type 63-2 107mm Rocket: A North Korean- and Chinese-manufactured unguided rocket containing eighteen pounds of TNT, the Type 63-2 was designed to be launched in twelve-tube multiple-launch vehicles or on single-tube launchers. Throughout the Kunar, however, insurgents and terrorists would simply lean these up against rocks behind the crest of a ridge near the intended target, then launch them. Because the 63-2 utilizes an electric actuator, it could be set on timers, allowing insurgents time to egress back to their safe houses long before an attack began. Inaccurate, these were used as harassment and terror weapons, but nevertheless inflicted causalties.
IED: Most Marines consider the Improvised Explosive Device, or IED (frequently referred to as a “roadside bomb”), to be the most insidious of all weapons used by insurgents and terrorists. IEDs come in an infinite number of designs and types, from command-wire-triggered land mines, to massive radio-controlled “daisy chained” artillery shells (multiple artillery shells, each with a detonator, electrically interconnected to one another). While the Marines of ⅔ utilized a number of techniques to mitigate the threat of IEDs, they ultimately found that the most effective and enduring came from establishing relationships with locals, who would point the Marines in the direction of caches of materials used to make IEDs—as well as identifying those responsible for building, emplacing, and triggering them.
APPENDIX II
INTERVIEWEES
All are members of the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Marine Regiment, unless otherwise noted
Allan, Nigel J.R. (Afghanistan Historical Expert)
Anes, Mario Corporal
Bambey, John 1st Lieutenant
Bartels, Matthew 1st Lieutenant
Bradley, Justin Corporal
Brown, Richard Lance Corporal
Burgos, Chris Corporal
Capuzzi, Peter Captain
Chizmadia, Jesse 1st Lieutenant
Cirencione, Salvatore Corporal
Cooling, Norman Lieutenant Colonel (Battalion Commander, 3/3)
Corcoral, Kyle 1st Lieutenant
Crisp III, Lee Staff Sergeant
Diss, Corey Lance Corporal
Donnellan, James Lieutenant Colonel
Eggers, Keith Sergeant
Fisher, Cody Corporal
Geise, Steward 1st Lieutenant
Grissom, Kelly Captain
Guyton, Nick 1st Lieutenant
Hagan, Christopher 1st Lieutenant
Kinser, Patrick 1st Lieutenant
Konstant, J.J. 1st Lieutenant
Lemons, Roe 1st Lieutenant
Long, Robert 1st Lieutenant
MacMannis, Andrew Lieutenant Colonel
Middendorf, Ben 1st Lieutenant
Perna, Mark Lance Corporal
Pigman, Jamie HM3 (Navy Hospital Corpsman)
Plunk, Joshua Corporal
Priddy, Andrew Major (operations officer, 3/3)
Rashman, Zach Captain
Ratkowiak, Casmer Captain
Rock (The Rock) (Interpreter)
Roy, Joe Corporal
Sandvick-Monroe, Jeremy Lance Corporal
Scholl, Mike Lance Corporal
Scott, Robert Major
Seiffert, Lance 1st Lieutenant
Strand, Richard (Afghan Historical Expert)
Sultan (Interpreter)
Tracy, Matt Captain
Turner, Regan 1st Lieutenant
Waters, Perry Captain
Westerfield, Scott Major
Wood, Tom Major
Others, undisclosed
After Action Reports, undisclosed
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