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Weapon of Choice is a history of the Army special operations forces in Afghanistan from 11 September 2001 to 15 May 2002, during America’s global war on terrorism (GWOT). Lieutenant General R. Doug Brown, commander, U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC), directed and personally sponsored this initial effort “to capture the current operations history of the Army special operations soldiers as they fought the war in Afghanistan.” Writing an unclassified, well-documented history of current operations was a first for the command and staff of USASOC as well as for the supported headquarters, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM); U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM); Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC); and Special Operations Command, CENTCOM (SOCCENT). The “learning curve” was steep for all parties, but the final results—a special edition of Special Warfare magazine, “ARSOF in Afghanistan,” and this book, Weapon of Choice—demonstrate what can be accomplished.

Appropriate thanks are due a myriad of people whose encouragement, assistance “above and beyond,” and constant support made this timely history possible. Within the USASOC history community are Dr. Cherilyn Walley, USASOC historian, and Dr. Kenn Finlayson, U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (SWCS) historian, who read, commented on, and edited Weapon of Choice and who proofread the final manuscript; Mr. Earl J. Moniz, resident “computer wizard,” who physically organized and compiled all of the written material into a manuscript, scanned photographs and leaflets into the text, and designed the cover for Weapon of Choice; LTC Robert Jones, a mobilized U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) historian, who “commanded” and tended to the administrative needs of the 126th and 45th Military History Detachments (MHDs), facilitating the 126th’s overseas deployment and personally coordinating their activities in Afghanistan; Ms. Monet McKinzie, archives technician, who performed innumerable administrative tasks to assist the historians; Ms. Cyn Hayden, USASOC archivist, who helped the contract historians; and Mr. Erdie Picart, archives technician, who ensured the physical security of classified material; the 126th MHD, Army National Guard (ARNG), Boston, Massachusetts—MAJ Paul Landry, SFC Daniel Moriarty, SSG Patrick Jennings, and SGT Landon Mavrelis—for covering civil affairs (CA) activities during Operation ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF), Afghanistan; and the USAR 45th MHD, Atlanta, Georgia, for covering psychological operations (PSYOP) in OEF at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

There are many on the USASOC, U.S. Army Special Forces Command (USASFC), U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (USACAPOC), and SWCS staffs who deserve special mention. From USASOC: COLs Ives Fontaine and Charles Cleveland, Chiefs of Staff, the major proponents of the project; Mr. Charles Pimble, Secretary of the General Staff; Ms. Connie Wicker; Ms. Jane Sutherlin and Ms. Karen Glass, Acquisition and Contracting; COL Steve Schrum, Mr. John Green, Ms. Sally Hurt, Mr. Dan Brand, Mr. John Watkins, Mr. Ed Nelson, and Ms. Sarah Fields, Deputy Chief of Staff, Intelligence; COL Philip McGhee, LTC Christopher White, Ms. Susan Ritter, Ms. Rose Reid, and Ms. Robin Jones, Deputy Chief of Staff for Resource Management; Mr. Dorsey Mellott, MSG Charles Koonce, and Ms. Shelley Marné, Deputy Chief of Staff for Information Management; COL Randy Cochran, Deputy Chief of Staff, Special Operations Aviation; Mr. Randall Wilkie of the Army Compartmented Element; LTC Jack Ziegler, MAJ Robert Cairns (manuscript reader), MAJ Andrew Nichols, and Ms. Sally Smith, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans (DCSOPS); MAJ John T. Corley and MAJ Eric Patterson, TDY to DCSOPS for Project Insight; and Major Robert Hardy, SFC T. Dennis, and SSG J. Simon, HHC, USASOC. From USASFC: COL Manny Diemer, Deputy Commander; COL John Knie, Chief of Staff; Mr. James Hargraves (manuscript reader) and Mr. Chris Crain of the G3; and MAJ Jim Rosenberry and MSG Charles Hopkins of the G1. From USACAPOC: LTC Christopher Leyda, G3, and MAJ David Fox and SFC G. Doles, CENTCOM desk. From SWCS: COL Richard Helfer, Chief of Staff; MAJ Brian Banks, Staff Judge Advocate (manuscript reader); COL Andy Anderson; Major David Beech; CW3 William Bryant; and Mr. Jerry Steelman, editor, Special Warfare magazine, Department of Training and Doctrine. To all the soldiers and airmen of USASOC who contributed their time, personal photos, and records to the USASOC history team, thanks for being true professionals.

Within the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), Tampa, Florida, thanks go to Mr. Kirk Moeller for the practicalities of “how to get contract personnel into the theater of operations” and points of contact in Afghanistan. In the USSOCOM History Office, Dr. John Partin, Command Historian; Ms. Gaea Levy, archivist; and the USSOCOM historians who worked in Afghanistan—COL Richard Stewart, LTC Thomas Searle, and MAJ Matt Dawson, CJSOTF-Afghanistan—for meeting the USASOC team in Qatar and getting it to Bagram to begin work. At JSOC, COL Andrew Milani, Mr. Steve Cage, and Mr. James Kelliher (manuscript readers); Mr. Mario Forestier; and Mr. D.J. Friederichs. At SOCCENT headquarters in Tampa and overseas in Qatar, we appreciate the help from the J3 section that arranged the USASOC trip to Afghanistan.

Special thanks go to Carol Rippey and Tad Sifeis, Armed Forces Information Service, Alexandria, Virginia, for providing electronic copies of the Early Bird covering September 2001- May 2002. These proved invaluable to the history writers.

Thank you to Mark Boyatt of SYTEX, Inc., Fayetteville, North Carolina, for providing three outstanding retired Army special operations personnel with advanced academic credentials and the requisite experience to serve as contract historians for this project.

Finally, accolades are due for Dr. W. Glenn Robertson, Combat Studies Institute (CSI), Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and editors Patricia H. Whitten who edited and laid the book out and Robin D. Kern who assisted with layout and worked on the covers, Research and Publication Team, CSI, for producing a quality Weapon of Choice.

While all authors sincerely appreciate the help rendered by everyone mentioned above, errors of fact and identification, and the nonattributable observations and reflections section in Weapon of Choice are my responsibility as senior writer and editor.—Dr. Chuck Briscoe