The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor (100 page)
Read The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor Online
Authors: Jake Tapper
Tags: #Terrorism, #Political Science, #Azizex666
Greg Jaffe’s interview with McChrystal ran in the
Washington Post
on June 16, 2009, and was entitled “Gen. McChrystal, New Afghanistan Commander, Will Review Troop Placements.” Woodward’s story appeared on July 1, 2009, also in the
Washington Post,
under the headline “U.S. Says Key to Success in Afghanistan Is Economy, Not Military.”
Plans for the closure of COP Keating were related in interviews with George, Brown, Scaparrotti, McChrystal, and other, anonymous officers and NCOs.
Biographical information about Breeding was provided by him in interviews.
Information about the mortar pit came from interviews with Breeding, Rodriguez, and Barroga.
Information about Kevin Thomson was gleaned from interviews with his fellow troops and his mother, Debbie Routson.
Disagreements between Porter and his troops were reported in interviews with Porter, Jones, Rasmussen, Breeding, Romesha, and others.
Biographical information about Romesha came from interviews with him.
McChrystal’s July 6, 2009, tactical directive was issued by NATO/ISAF.
Information about the attack that wounded Jacops was taken from interviews with Jacops and Cordova.
Brown’s presentations to McChrystal and others were described in interviews with Brown, McChrystal, George, Scaparrotti, and others. McCrystal’s competing considerations were summarized in interviews with McCrystal, Scaparrotti, George, and Brown.
The account of Bodmer’s time alongside 3-61 Cav was taken from interviews with Bodmer, Brown, and Shrode.
Information about Operation Mountain Fire in Barg-e-Matal came from interviews with McChrystal and George.
For book 3, I interviewed more than fifty of the troops stationed at COP Keating and OP Fritsche on the day of the attack, including Adams, Avalos, Barroga, Bellamy, Birchfield, Breeding, Jory Brown, Bundermann, Burton, Cady, Carter, Casey, Chappell, Cordova, Courville, Dabolins, Daise, Dannelley, Davidson, Dulaney, Floyd, Francis, Frunk, Gilberto, Gregory, Grissette, Harder, Hill, Hull, Jones, Kahn, Knight, Koppes, Lakis, Larson, McMurtrey, Portis, Rasmussen, Rodriguez, Rogers, Romesha, Salentine, Shrode, Souter, Stanley, Stickney, Thomas, and Wong. Descriptions of the camp itself and the general esprit de corps were elaborated from interviews with all of them. After-action reports written by all surviving troops informed this section of the book.
Biographical information about Kirk was gathered from interviews with his wife, Gavin-Kirk; sister, Tingley; and uncle Dinsmore. The email from Kirk was shared by Gavin-Kirk. The description of Kirk in battle came from 3-61 Cav troops.
Biographical information about Zach Koppes was provided by him in an interview. The “hang fire” incident was described in interviews with Wilson, Romesha, and Koppes.
Biographical information about Ed Faulkner, Jr., was furnished by his father, Ed Faulkner, Sr., and sister Faulkner Minor. Law-enforcement incidents from Faulkner’s youth were summarized by Shane Brown of the Burlington Police Department in an interview.
Events involving Nelson were recounted by anonymous members of 3-61 Cav.
The incident with Faulkner and the hashish was described by Hill, Francis, and other members of 3-61 Cav.
Biographical information about Salentine was provided by him in an interview.
Biographical information about Rogers came from an interview with him.
The conversations between Hill and Salentine were recalled by both men in interviews.
Information about Walsh and Webb was drawn from interviews with both men. Their report, which featured the exchange that began “Do you ever think to yourself, ‘Why am I here?’ ” as well as other quotes in this section, aired on August 17, 2009, and was accessed on the
http://www.channel4.com
Web site.
Various family members of 3-61 Cav troops shared their concerns about their loved ones’ wasting away. Joshua Hardt’s statement, “We barely have food,” was cited by his wife, Olivia Hardt, in an interview.
Biographical information about Joshua Hardt, details about his relationship with his wife, and emails to her were provided by Olivia Hardt.
Information about 3-61 Cav’s activities outside of COP Keating came from interviews with Brown and George.
Observations related to the voting at Urmul and elsewhere were provided by officers and ranking NCOs of 3-61 Cav, including Brown, Shrode, and Hill. Information about alleged voter fraud at Barg-e-Matal came from Pentagon and State Department sources.
Biographical information about Justin Gallegos was shared by his ex-wife, Amanda Marr.
Biographical information about Eric Harder was provided by him in an interview.
Information about Vernon Martin came from interviews with his mother, Connie Brown; wife, Brittany Martin; and girlfriend, Cashet Burks. Grissette and Thomas recounted conversations they had with Martin in interviews.
Differences between Porter and Hull were recalled by both men in interviews.
Tensions between the White House and the Pentagon were described in interviews with officials on both sides, as well as by McChrystal and Kolenda. Woodward’s article, accompanied by the redacted version of McChrystal’s report, was published in the
Washington Post
on September 21, 2009, under the headline “McChrystal: More Forces or ‘Mission Failure.’ ” Nancy Youssef’s story “Military Growing Impatient with Obama on Afghanistan,” was published on September 18, 2009, by McClatchy Newspapers.
Brown’s outreach to Sadiq was related by Brown and also by Greg Jaffe of the
Washington Post,
who generously shared a copy of Brown’s letter.
Biographical information about Portis was provided by him in an interview.
Portis’s first interactions with the men of 3-61 Cav were recalled by Portis, Shrode, Courville, Breeding, and others.
Information about Chris Griffin came from interviews with his mother, Kerri Griffin Causley, as well as Portis and Salentine.
The events at George and Brown’s shura at Kamdesh were recounted by George, Brown, Portis, and other attendees, including one officer who wished to remain anonymous.
The report that Portis heard about the shura attended by HIG and Taliban leaders, as well as an account of his conversation with the Afghan National Police chief, were elaborated in an email he sent to Brown, which was in turn included in the Swan report. Portis’s briefing of his officers was described in interviews with him and the officers.
Intelligence information came from the Swan report and was confirmed with various sources within 3-61 Cav.
The interview with Faruq was conducted via Skype. Faruq’s remarks were translated by Javid Nuristani.
The interview with Ishranullah was conducted on paper, again through Javid Nuristani.
Information about McChrystal’s trip to London was gathered from an interview with McChrystal and from media coverage, including John Burns, “McChrystal Rejects Scaling Down Afghan Military Aims,”
New York Times,
October 1, 2009; and Alex Spillus, “White House Angry at General Stanley McChrystal Speech on Afghanistan,”
Telegraph,
October 5, 2009.
Portis, Salentine, and Birchfield described the chopper ride in interviews.
Information about Abdul Rahman’s plans came from Faruq.
Information about Hill’s and Harder’s activities was shared by both men in interviews.
Scusa and Dulaney’s conversation was reported in interviews with Dulaney.
The interview with Noor Din was conducted on the phone, with translation assistance from Javid Nuristani.
Information about the insurgents’ arrival in Urmul and surrounding areas was drawn from interviews with Faruq, Ishranullah, and Din, as well as from the Swan report. The quote “There were a lot of foot soldiers from all the surrounding villages” came from an interview with a former resident of Nuristan.
The story of the Afghan National Police chief’s coming to the outpost and all following details were recounted in interviews with those on duty at the time: Davidson, Gregory, Wong, Souter, Stanley, and Daise.
Quotes from insurgents were taken from videos of the attack posted on the Internet by enemy forces. They were translated by Javid Nuristani.
Information about events at the aid station came from interviews with Rodriguez, Cordova, and Courville.
Events in the Bastards’ barracks were described in interviews with Hill, Harder, Frunk, Dulaney, and Adams.
Events at the mortar pit were related in interviews with Rodriguez, Breeding, and Barroga. Thomson’s autopsy results were included in the Swan report.
The content of Bundermann’s radio call to the mortar pit and his initial actions in the operations center were recalled by him in interviews.
Events in the Red Platoon barracks were detailed in interviews with Romesha, Dannelley, Jones, Davidson, Gregory, and Knight.
The attack on OP Fritsche was described by Stickney and Bellamy in interviews.
“Black Knight_TOC” and “Keating2OPS” communications were included in the Swan report.
Events at LRAS-2 were recounted in interviews with Larson.
The activities of ANA soldiers and ASGs were relayed by Lakis and Dabolins and recorded in the Swan report.
Activities in the Bastards’ barracks and the run to the ammo supply point were covered in interviews with Hill, Harder, Carter, and Francis.
Events in the shura building were described by Davidson, Knight, and Gregory in interviews. Kirk’s autopsy results were included in the Swan report.
Activities in the aid station were summarized by Cordova, Courville, and Floyd in interviews, as well as in Stone’s after-action report, incorporated in the Swan report.
Activities at the shura building were recalled by Courville, Davidson, Rasmussen, and Stanley. Activities at the aid station were reported by Cordova and Courville.
Activities at LRAS-1 were related by Koppes, Dannelley, and Jones in interviews.
The conversation between Francis and Dulaney was repeated in interviews with both men.
Breeding and Rodriguez described events at the mortar pit.
mIRC chat between
Accounts of the activities at the Bastards’ barracks were provided by Hill, Carter, Frunk, Rogers, Francis, and Harder.
Activities at the aid station were described in interviews with Cordova, Courville, Floyd, Chappell, Harder, and Francis.
Events at FOB Bostick were covered in interviews with Brown, Portis, Salentine, and Birchfield.
Events outside the Red Platoon barracks were recalled by Romesha, Gregory, Rasmussen, and Jones.
Larson and Carter gave descriptions of the activities in LRAS-2.
Daise’s activities were related by him in an interview; myriad troops heard his “Enemy in the wire” call throughout the camp.
Bundermann, Burton, and others in the operations center shared details about activities there.
The F-15 bomb drops were described in the Swan report.
The conversation between Hill and Francis was recounted in interviews.
Activities in the aid station were recalled by Hill, Courville, Romesha, and Floyd in interviews.
In interviews, Koppes, Romesha, and Francis reviewed the events at LRAS-1.
The plan to rescue the men stuck at LRAS-2 was explained in interviews with Bundermann and Romesha as well as in Faulkner’s after-action summary, which was included in the Swan report. Griffin’s autopsy results were also part of the Swan report. Many troops heard Hardt’s last words on the radio.
Thomas described his activities in an interview.
Chapter 33: Taking This Bitch Back
Portis summarized events at FOB Bostick.
Carter and Larson’s conversation was related in interviews with both men.
Romesha, Lakis, Dabolins, Gregory, Jones, and Dannelley described their efforts to fight back.
Activities in and around LRAS-2 were detailed by Larson and Carter in interviews.
Bundermann and Shrode recalled activities inside the operations center.
Diagram information came from interviews as well as the Swan report.
Bundermann, Romesha, Hill, and Burton recounted their conversations about consolidating the outpost and fighting to take it back.