A Report On My Mortar Platoon

The 4th Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) has a proud history of accomplishments. It has served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Historically, the morale across the brigade was high; leaders took care of their Soldiers, and all of them did their best to train them, accomplish missions successfully, and support them in any way. The 4th ABCT HQ, as well as each of the battalions, were highly efficient and effective, and most of them were jubilant to be part of the brigade. Three years ago, one of the best maneuver brigades in FORSCOM was the 4th ABCT. The brigade had focus; leaders and soldiers were dedicated, and there was a strong work ethics. However, the 4th is facing some challenges ahead that are going to make difficult to reach its full potential. Amongst several leadership problems, there is a major one. There is not an organizational vision in the brigade, and if there is, it is unclear and poorly evident.

It wasn’t long for the company to get settled into the COP and the platoons used to the mission tempo of daily conducting mounted and dismounted presence patrols, humanitarian aid missions, and census gathering. For the first few months our AO remained very calm. There was no direct fire from the enemy, and I don’t recall there being many, if any, improvised explosive devices (IED). If the other platoons came across any, they didn’t cause any battle damage to the vehicles. As any Army

Historical context:Publish year 2009. Was written as a flash back to the first couple super bowls

It was 115 degrees; the platoon was walking through the middle of the desert each of them with 40 pounds of gear on and an M16A2 rifle. It was summer time in the country of Afghanistan and the temperature was rising. At this point I asked myself what the hell I am doing here and why did I join the United States Army? Right when I was thinking that I felt a tug on my leg and there stood a young boy about 7 years old with only one arm, “Candy,Candy” he asked. Upon speaking with the local villagers we found out that his arm was taken from an improvised explosive device (IED) planted

Air support had planned to bombard enemy positions for 55 minutes; however, miscommunication between Texas 14 and higher led to a short bombardment and a total of six bombs being dropped. TF HAMMER was unsuccessful in entering the valley due to a heavy amount of small arms fire and mortar attacks. The lack of air support triggered by bad communication frustrated Afghan and Special Forces alike and led to Afghan trucks being hit heavily by pre-registered mortar fire on known choke points by Taliban and al Qaeda fighters. Unity of command is crucial in conducting a successful military operation: communication flows smoothly through a unified command, but unfortunately for a non-unified command, the reverse effect holds true.

The 304th Regiment comes within bounds of a second wave. Lack of reinforcement or motivation could lead to loss of confidence or hope. Being without hope is the easiest way to lose a battle. The effect of the first battle left Henry and others to cower and run because of discouragement within their regiment. Henry was dealing with doubt that was placed in his head by his mother, prior to leaving to join the 304th Regiment.

On March 10, 2010, at 13:30 a.m., 3rd Platoon, Company D, 1-22 Infantry Battalion, was conducting a convoy operation. The purpose of the operation was to transport equipment and selected Service Members to the battalion’s main Forward Operating Base. Twenty minutes into the convoy operation, Patrick’s unit was under attack by an enemy force equipped with automatic weapon systems. During this time, Patrick maintained his confidence and began returning firing toward the enemy force. As Patrick was returning fire from the vehicle that he was in, he was struck by one round from the enemy force. The medic that was attached to the convoy operation immediately tended to Patrick’s wounds and managed to get him to a medical facility,

When they reached the five mile marker there was a large sign reading “Leaving home of the 82nd Airborne! Entering Indian Country, enter at your own risk.” Sergeant Major Valliant radioed for the convoy to pull over to the side of the road. He got out and met with the General and the Platoon Leader, it was decided it was time to lock-and-load all weapons. Word was also passed that the area they were entering was not secured and they could expect anything. The troops were told of some potential militia movements in the area and to be on alert. If they are fired on they are allowed to return fire and please please keep civilian casualties down to a minimum. It was a sign of the times that there were going to be civilian casualties and to varying degrees it was acceptable. There were no precision guided weapons anymore. The bad guys had been using civilian areas to fight from and used civilians as

The United States Army’s 442nd Regimental Combat Team was comprised of Americans of Japanese ancestry (Nisei) who fought courageously during World War II against Hitler’s Third Reich in Italy and France. Its members sustained heavy fatalities but earned recognition, battle honors and medals of valor. Commanders considered them intelligent, “conscientious, loyal, and anxious to prove their devotion to their country” (“442nd Regimental Combat Team.” the 442.org, 2015). Interestingly, the 442nd was organized after more than a year after the U.S. War Department declared Americans of Japanese descent “4-C or enemy aliens, forbidden to serve their country.” There were exceptions made for those already in military service (“The War”). With their bravery

Makarov was held up in an abandoned weapons factory in Ukraine. The place was heavily guarded with only two exits and from what I heard there is a scammer in the area so I would not be able to be rely on any help. I armed myself with a suppressed MP5, one M1911, a helmet-mounted AN/AVS-6 vision goggle, standard issue parachute, C4 plastic explosives, frag grenades, a coil of rope, and a Blackhawk Tatang knife. I decided to go at the drop of night from a AC-130 and paradrop on top of the factory. It was a cold night, but I knew I had no time to waste and jumped out. There was a bombardement of air as I was crashing down and I had to admit the view never got old. I could see for miles and saw the stars shining above me and the darkness of the night. As I approach the ground I pulled my chute and landed peacefully. While I descended onto the ground I quietly took of my parachute and killed a soldier on the roof. I attached the rope to the railing up there and and attached the other end to my harness. I descended down and I pulled out my MP5 and set the C4 explosives on the wall. I detonate the explosive and jumped in and while I situated myself I could hear the sound of confused men around me and then a alarm went off. None of these things bothered me as I searched for the control room since I knew that would be where he was. As I battled my way to their I quickly double tapped anyone who got in my way by shooting them twice in the chest and one in the head or I left them in pain as I walked over them. When I got to the entrance to the control room there lay one last enemy eyeballing me ready to fire. I wasted no time and fired, it was a perfect headshot. I could see a gush of mercury-red blood spew from his head as echoes of men wailing and screaming went on around me. As I slammed the door open I could see Makarov in his chair

He then told us, search every building in the area then secure it. That’s it, that’s what we were given. No problem, we’ve got this. We did as we were told, we searched and secured areas and continued to receive mission updates by SATCOM as they came in for us. Our 2 day mission (or so we thought) was now into our 5th day. We had a Black Hawk come and drop off some food and water for us on our 3rd day, so we were good there. On the 5th day we got into contact. I won’t go into a lot of details but my men still walk today while enemies do not. But now we’re running black on ammo as well. We we’re originally told we don’t believe you by higher…………that’s another story. Eventually we got them to come back out and drop us a speed ball and everyone was able to reload. This wouldn’t be the last time we were engaged during this

Arriving on base Tank reported to Command Ops. They recalled him from leave for a mission in Syria. From his platoon, the eight-man team selected consisted of sniper units also Arabic language qualified people with Tank in command. They are going in by way of a HALO jump at night.

At one point in the early morning hours, I watched the battle rage from the distance of three hundred meters away behind the barrier walls of the COP. The ANA* were engaging the enemy with small arms AK 47’s as well as their issued RPG’s*. Hundreds of rounds were dumped on the heads of the enemy’s as a showering rain of lead. Plumes of dust rose from the ground as ANA RPG’s and American 203’s volleyed fire. No reports of any casualties from either of the friendly forces. It is always a superb day when we can engage the enemy forces and cause destruction to them while not having any injuries to our forces. The fire fights have died down now that it is dark. Though the moon is out and there is some illumination, the enemy will not engage US forces at night very often because of our night vision capabilities, in a sense, we own the night. Rests assure that tomorrow morning the enemy will wake up and wipe the sleep from their eyes and the battle will rage once again. The area of operation that I am currently in is well known for its enemy

There you are. You’re hiding behind a hastily constructed bunker made to protect yourself from enemy fire. You can hear the enemy firing on your position, and you can feel the shots screaming above your head. The firing ceases for a moment. You pop out, fire off a few rounds, and duck back in; but as you are going back in the shots start up again, and you feel the rounds whizzing past your head and ear. One catches your sleeve. You glance down. No damage. Suddenly you have a fellow fighter there in your bunker with you. He tells you he’s going to try to take the enemy bunker out. Before you can stop him, he charges out of the bunker, gun blazing. A burst of fire, and a cry. You glance out, and see that your teammate

I look in all of them and find a flamethrower, cans of beans, and more pistol bullets. I was surprised of how I found such great loot in, "What even is this place?" I Asked questionably. "I shall call it the Dome!" Heading back down this Dome, I hear explosions. I quickly ran across the thin rusty beam and down to the ground.. All the sudden they stop, and I walked briskly towards my base. I come to my base and see 3 armored guys.. I hide behind a tree and realize they were the ones making the explosions and they were blowing up my base. So with the Thompson and pistol bullets I just found, I spray at them only killing 1 of the 3. I run away frightened, I kept running and running looking behind me, and no one was there. I run back. I see no sight of the 2 guys and my base. "Where's my base?" I exclaimed. Looking at the surroundings, they all seem familiar. I then realize I am standing right where my base used to be. All I have left is a Thompson, pistol bullets, axe, pickaxe and some food. The beginning began again. I go back to hitting trees and strange looking rocks. I make myself a smaller base and go out hunting for animals. I see 2 armored guys in the distance. I hide behind a rock and I hear their footsteps keep getting louder and louder. Then they