This was no doubt the ideal spot for a terrorist camp.
The dangerous trek along the road and up through the switchback began about a mile from the edge of Gulp. Just as the Green Berets had anticipated, they were attacked right in the center of the switchback, with a volley of fire even more ferocious than before. They had no choice but to dig into the mud of the trail, and hope for the best.
The enemy began lobbing mortar rounds down on the attackersâan effective meteor shower of shells, which blasted clumps of mud high into the air all around the pinned-down lead force of about fifty Pesh and seven Green Berets.
One Special Operator recalls lying face-down in the mud, looking over at his medic, Bobby, who was crouched in a small bit of cover nearby. The fire continuedâmore than ten minutes of absolutely the most intense fire they had ever seen. A mortar round hit the earth right in front of the Special Operator, and a clod of wet mud hit his face squarely like a pie in a slapstick comedy routine.
The medic and the mud-covered Special Operator looked at each other and began laughing out loudâthere was nothing else they could do until the support forces could get around the switchback or the Ansar ran out of ammunition altogether.
The Green Berets finally began to suppress the enemy with their M-240B SAW light machine guns and a few MK-19s that had been carried into the switchback under direct enemy fire. The enemy were suppressed just enough for the Peshmerga to make a run for the side of the switchback and begin a flanking maneuver.
It worked. The Ansar al-Islam fighters withdrew around the switchback, and into their Alamo, where they would rearm and await their fate. The Special Operators and their battle-weary guerrilla fighters reloaded their magazines and readied for another battle charge. This time it was around the hairpin and into the bowl-shaped village of Varogat, where they no doubt would make easy targets.
Miraculously, there were hardly any casualties for the eight- to ten-thousand-man force. Somehow, luck was on their side this morning. What had taken the Special Operators and their Pesh only two and a half hours had been estimated to take from six to twelve in their pre-battle calculations. Things were looking good.
Around the switchback, the Green Berets and the Pesh began taking sporadic fire as they were within eyesight of Varogat. By this point, the combined forces were so desensitized to the heavy fire they had been taking all morning that they moved on unflinchingly. To the terrorists on the high ground surrounding their Alamo, it must have been horrifying. The Americans and the Peshmerga just kept advancing and advancing, and now they were simply ignoring the bullets that cracked by their heads.
âWe literally didnât think much of it at all,â one Green Beret recalled. âBeing shot at was normal to us at that point. We thought, âHey, maybe this will just be a little burst of fire, and be over in ten minutes.ââ Ten minutes of heavy enemy fire was no big deal at that point.
Coolness under fire was nothing new to the battle-hardened Green Berets, who came around the switchback ten feet tall and bulletproof, doing three- to five-second rushes (also known as IADs, or Immediate Action Drills) as they gained the ground a few feet at a time.
The first truck had come around the switchback at this point. While under heavy, direct enemy fire, the Special Operators unloaded the fifty-caliber M2HB, walked over to a suitable location, and began setting it up.
Soon, the machine gun was ârocking and rolling,â piling up brass casings as its barrel began to smoke, and the enemy fire died down. It grew eerily quiet, with only small bursts of fire here and there in the distance. It reminded one of the operators of training back in Fort Carson, where the still air of the Rocky Mountains would echo with the distant fire from shooting ranges and exercises
The dangerous trek along the road and up through the switchback began about a mile from the edge of Gulp. Just as the Green Berets had anticipated, they were attacked right in the center of the switchback, with a volley of fire even more ferocious than before. They had no choice but to dig into the mud of the trail, and hope for the best.
The enemy began lobbing mortar rounds down on the attackersâan effective meteor shower of shells, which blasted clumps of mud high into the air all around the pinned-down lead force of about fifty Pesh and seven Green Berets.
One Special Operator recalls lying face-down in the mud, looking over at his medic, Bobby, who was crouched in a small bit of cover nearby. The fire continuedâmore than ten minutes of absolutely the most intense fire they had ever seen. A mortar round hit the earth right in front of the Special Operator, and a clod of wet mud hit his face squarely like a pie in a slapstick comedy routine.
The medic and the mud-covered Special Operator looked at each other and began laughing out loudâthere was nothing else they could do until the support forces could get around the switchback or the Ansar ran out of ammunition altogether.
The Green Berets finally began to suppress the enemy with their M-240B SAW light machine guns and a few MK-19s that had been carried into the switchback under direct enemy fire. The enemy were suppressed just enough for the Peshmerga to make a run for the side of the switchback and begin a flanking maneuver.
It worked. The Ansar al-Islam fighters withdrew around the switchback, and into their Alamo, where they would rearm and await their fate. The Special Operators and their battle-weary guerrilla fighters reloaded their magazines and readied for another battle charge. This time it was around the hairpin and into the bowl-shaped village of Varogat, where they no doubt would make easy targets.
Miraculously, there were hardly any casualties for the eight- to ten-thousand-man force. Somehow, luck was on their side this morning. What had taken the Special Operators and their Pesh only two and a half hours had been estimated to take from six to twelve in their pre-battle calculations. Things were looking good.
Around the switchback, the Green Berets and the Pesh began taking sporadic fire as they were within eyesight of Varogat. By this point, the combined forces were so desensitized to the heavy fire they had been taking all morning that they moved on unflinchingly. To the terrorists on the high ground surrounding their Alamo, it must have been horrifying. The Americans and the Peshmerga just kept advancing and advancing, and now they were simply ignoring the bullets that cracked by their heads.
âWe literally didnât think much of it at all,â one Green Beret recalled. âBeing shot at was normal to us at that point. We thought, âHey, maybe this will just be a little burst of fire, and be over in ten minutes.ââ Ten minutes of heavy enemy fire was no big deal at that point.
Coolness under fire was nothing new to the battle-hardened Green Berets, who came around the switchback ten feet tall and bulletproof, doing three- to five-second rushes (also known as IADs, or Immediate Action Drills) as they gained the ground a few feet at a time.
The first truck had come around the switchback at this point. While under heavy, direct enemy fire, the Special Operators unloaded the fifty-caliber M2HB, walked over to a suitable location, and began setting it up.
Soon, the machine gun was ârocking and rolling,â piling up brass casings as its barrel began to smoke, and the enemy fire died down. It grew eerily quiet, with only small bursts of fire here and there in the distance. It reminded one of the operators of training back in Fort Carson, where the still air of the Rocky Mountains would echo with the distant fire from shooting ranges and exercises
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