Читать книгу Weapon of Choice: The Operations of U.S. Army Special Forces in Afghanistan - Combat Studies Institute - Страница 14

For the 2nd Battalion, 5th SFG, the 9/11 attacks prompted an immediate cancellation of its scheduled Middle East exercise. However, within 24 hours, the cancel order was rescinded, and the exercise was “back on.” Thus, on 16 September, the initial elements of the 2nd Battalion, less one Special Forces company, departed Fort Campbell for a regional air base to participate in Exercise BRIGHT STAR. At its forward operating base (FOB), the 2nd Battalion headquarters staff organized a small Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force (CJSOTF) to support the U.S. (joint) and allied (combined) units. LTC Don Forsythe (pseudonym) was in charge, and his executive officer, MAJ Jeffrey Solis (pseudonym), directed FOB operations and commanded the Army units in the task force.

For Exercise EARLY VICTOR, Forsythe’s CJSOTF directed the operations of two Special Forces companies, a Navy SEAL platoon, an element of Air Force special operations transport aircraft, a 160th SOAR Army helicopter unit, and a company of Army Rangers. The allied elements in the task force were Jordanian ranger and special forces companies and observer teams from Yemen, Egypt, and Kuwait. Forsythe’s mission was to conduct combined special reconnaissance (SR) and direct action (DA) missions—violent, rapidly executed raids. Practicing combined SR and DA missions in a Middle East environment proved prescient in late October when reports of 5th SFG’s ODAs being inserted in Afghanistan after the initial air campaign were received. By the time EARLY VICTOR ended on 26 October, LTC Forsythe and MAJ Solis felt that the 2nd Battalion staff, with its Special Forces Operational Detachments B (ODBs) and ODAs, was combat ready. They were anxious to join the 5th SFG’s fight in Afghanistan.

Figure 26. Amman, Jordan.

The next stop for the “2nd of the 5th” was Al-Jafr Air Base in southern Jordan to await further orders from the SOCCENT forward element in Qatar. LTC Forsythe was told to be ready for several possible missions. His battalion might be sent to Masirah Island, near Oman, or to Yemen or Qatar to be the CENTCOM theater crisis response element (CRE) or to serve as the headquarters for other units serving as a theater CRE. Solis was convinced that they would be moved to a base in Pakistan and from there into Afghanistan. As trained and most recently practiced in EARLY VICTOR, Forsythe and his staff planned to commit the 15 Special Forces ODAs first and then the three Special Forces company headquarters (ODBs) for regional command and control while the battalion base (FOB) initially remained outside the “denied area.” The battalion intelligence staff provided daily updates from the war zone and distributed information on Afghan culture; the country’s terrain, weather, infrastructure, and politics; and some history on British and Soviet interventions while they waited for orders.