Who plays Nia on the outpost? [5][10] Two USAF F-15E fighter bombers circled overhead, led by Captains Mike Polidor and Aaron Dove and their wingmen, 1st Lt. Justin Pavoni and Captain Ryan Bone, for almost eight hours, helping coordinate airstrikes by 19 other aircraft. In 2006, Allied commanders identified the Kamdesh area to be key to denying anti-coalition militia the required access to supply lines crossing into and out of nearby Pakistan. He was thrown from the truck, which rolled over him and sank into the river. Shot in the head by a Taliban sniper after being wounded by RPG fire. It looked just like our outpost on the day of the battle. Formalized as "The Commitment of Mutual Support" the agreement also provided the Shura would provide local security in return for an end to uninvited American military searches of local towns and mosques. The report said that there were as many as 47 attacks in the five months prior to the deadly assault, 10 in the 30 days prior to the mass attack. Contained between the Landay River and steep mountains, Keating was attacked from multiple directions by 300 enemy fighters. The elder considers this to be a bad omen and demands that there be retribution. In Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming, Jonathan Shay calls this form of catharsis the communalization of grief, in which trauma survivors tell their stories and listeners can listen, believe and remember. This is when the circle of healing is complete. Furthermore, Camp Keating's location, surrounded by mountains on three sides, exposed helicopters and the outpost's garrison to insurgent fire. Capt. Chris Cordova with actors who portrayed him and medics under his command. [19] At 6:00 a.m, the fighters opened fire from all sides of the outpost with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades,[10] immediately putting the Americans' mortar pit out of action. [7]:28,41,908,123, The Nuristan provincial reconstruction team base was strongly recommended by Nuristani Province Governor Tamim Nuristani. It occurred on October 3, 2009, when a force of 400 Taliban assaulted the American Combat Outpost ("COP") Keating near the town of Kamdesh in Nuristan Province in eastern Afghanistan. [38], The battle of Kamdesh is documented in the 2017 book Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor by Clinton Romesha, a former United States Army soldier who received the Medal of Honor for his actions during the battle for Combat Outpost Keating in Nuristan, Afghanistan. They did their jobs, and Im here because of what they did, but air support was definitely a must.. Zorias Yunger), most of what unfolds in the movie is largely accurate. Military commanders had already decided to close the base the previous summer, but delayed doing so because of other operations. In real life, Keating had served with the 3/71 CAV, not the 3/61 CAV (the unit he's part of in The Outpost movie). Or invite someone to subscribe through this link. There was an element of ABLE Troop 3-71 CAV 2nd Platoon still left on the PZ after the crash that worked relentlessly to recover the bodies of their 10 comrades and destroy sensitive equipment in the wreckage. During the Soviet occupation, HIG received more support from the CIA than any other Mujahideen resistance group. He died when his truck fell off the cliff, and the outpost was later named Combat Outpost Keating in his honor. Served with United States Army since 2005 and Participated in. As we walked into the replica aid station, I looked at Cordova. Clint Romesha, portrayed by Scott Eastwood in the film. Despite overwhelming odds and volume of injuries, MAJ (R) Cordova was able to . They should had just followed their fucking orders. The pick up zone for Able Troop 2nd Platoon was called PZ Reds, located on the side of an 8,000-foot mountain. Here's what else we covered in this week's newsletter. "We're constantly under observation." As a result, the depot was looted by the Taliban. "[16] Four U.S. Army officersCaptain Melvin Porter, Captain Stoney Portis, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Brown, and Colonel Randy Georgewho oversaw COP Keating were admonished or reprimanded for command failures. Yes. Like in the movie, the quick reaction force (QRF) coming down the mountain to help were shocked by the firey devastation. After dispensing with the enemy, QRF continued their descent and entered the outpost at approximately 7:00pm. As it became obvious that COP Keating was too isolated, indefensible, and impossible to supply, plans were made to close it beginning in December 2008. 37 soldiers were awarded the Army Commendation Medal with "V" device for valor. Contained between the Landay River and steep mountains, Keating was attacked from multiple directions by 300 enemy fighters. [37], Staff Sergeant Ty Carter (then Specialist) was also awarded the Medal of Honor for his courage during the battle. An officer also received administrative punishment for his role in a delayed artillery response to an ambush last September on a joint U.S.-Afghan patrol that left four Marines and nine Afghans dead. Keating was killed in November 2006 when he volunteered for a dangerous mission to drive an army truck loaded with supplies up to the camp, along treacherous 200-foot cliffs. [5][7]:53141 Observation Post ("OP") Fritsche was attacked simultaneously, limiting available support from that position. The fighting at COP Keating, which is also known as the Battle of Kamdesh, involved an attack by over 400 insurgents against the combat outpost, which was slated to be dismantled. The climate of the area has hot summers, a monsoon season in the summer, and cold winters of ice and snow extending down into the valleys. Scott Eastwood, right, in a scene from The Outpost. The film tells the story of the 2009 Battle of Kamdesh in Afghanistan. The attack was the bloodiest battle for US forces since the Battle of Wanat in July 2008, which occurred 20 miles (32 km) away from Kamdesh. Without air support, I dont think we would have made it, considering the number against us and the area we were in, McMurtrey said. [7]:95,268. The pilots landed at a nearby base and then limped the aircraft to an airfield for repairs, separating me and a small contingent of soldiers from the outpost. The logistical location of the outpost, which was located deep in a valley surrounded by three steep mountains, put the soldiers at an enormous disadvantage. Yllescas' death happened when he was serving with the 6/4 CAV in 2008. The movie was filmed in 2018 on a set created at the base of a mountain in Bulgaria, not far from the city of Sofia. It also said the commanders had become "desensitized" to reports of imminent large scale attacks because previous warnings had turned out to be on a much smaller scale. The Outpost is a 2020 war film directed by Rod Lurie, based on the 2012 non-fiction book The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor by Jake Tapper, about the Battle of Kamdesh in the war in Afghanistan.It stars Scott Eastwood, Caleb Landry Jones, Orlando Bloom, Jack Kesy, Cory Hardrict, Milo Gibson, Jacob Scipio, Will Attenborough, and Taylor John Smith. The outpost's depot was promptly looted by the insurgents and bombed on October 6 by a B-1 bomber in an effort to destroy the lethal munitions left behind. The outpost itself also needed to be accessible by road since most of the helicopters were being used in Iraq and were unavailable. [20] Observation Post Fritsche was attacked simultaneously, limiting available support from that position. Through the summer and fall of 2008, Captain Joey Hutto, COP Keating's new commander, expanded this initiative. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox every Friday. [3] Romesha was critical of the choice of site for the base, describing it as "like being in a fishbowl or fighting from the bottom of a paper cup. For the most part, yes. . After Keating's death, a "Night Letter" appeared on the door of the Upper Kamdesh mosque on April 29, 2007. Because the reports had not been verified by other intelligence sources, such as electronic intelligence, the reports were discounted. These bases were a key element of the American counterinsurgency strategy. American forces had already planned to pull out of the area as part of a plan to move forces to more densely populated areas, so closure of the base was imminent when the attack occurred. -The Outpost book. Several of the dogs that hung around the camp were with them, one of which supposedly bit an old woman working in a field. Keating landed between two rocks nearly 150 feet down the cliffside, next to the river. ABC News' Karen Russo contributed to this report, 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. [39] The Netflix documentary series, Medal of Honor, includes an episode detailing the actions of Clinton Romesha and Ty Carter.[40]. A new counter-insurgency strategy seemed to offer a way around these problems. So it was something that had its objective changed and wasn't moved due to limited resources and it being 'probably good enough' there? Nearly 20 Air Force and Army aircraft flew close-air support missions throughout the day, helping to kill about 150 insurgents. Within the first hour, the American and Latvian defenders had collapsed to a tight internal perimeter, centered on the two buildings that were not burning. The report found that a "mindset of imminent closure" led the unit to not improve the outpost's defenses despite intelligence reports that warned of a possible attack by "a large enemy force.". This letter was written in Pashto and signed "Mujahideen". [7]:228,249,469, At the end of May 2007, Bulldog Troop, 1-91 Cavalry Squadron, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, arrived at COP Keating. Located near the border with Pakistan in the Afghan province of Nuristan, COP Keating was the scene of a coordinated attack by as many as 300 Taliban fighters who stormed the exposed base. Shane Courville; Cordova; George Arvidson as Cordova. Captain Bostick was killed by a rocket propelled grenade. Sgt. He wanted to avoid risking the lives of his men while traveling on an unstable road subject to ambush with an overweight vehicle. Robert Yllescas. The report concluded that it was the lack of adequate defenses that made Keating "an attractive target" for the Taliban. In the movie, he dies almost immediately after landing at the bottom of the cliff. From November through January 2008 members of the Shura traveled the villages of the Kamdesh area, informing the residents of the support agreement and stating that the era of holy war was over, and that local government would bring peace and prosperity. Relief had been slowed in reaching COP Keating due to a lack of available aircraft and density of terrain. [34], The flight crews of three United States Army AH-64D Apache helicopters were later decorated for actions during the battle. He jumped up undeterred and ran through heavy fire to get more ammunition. Keating's death, while mostly historically accurate, is pushed up in the film as a way to condense the storyline.Knowing the LMTV armored supply vehicle was too heavy for the road in Kamdesh, Keating volunteered against protocol to drive the truck, choosing to risk his own life instead of the lives of the men serving underneath him. Additionally, 20 Afghan troops, two Latvian soldiers and a dozen Afghan security guards were at Keating. On Oct. 3, 2009, a force of about 50 Americans faced down as many as 400 enemy fighters intent on overrunning COP Keating in eastern Afghanistan. A year later COP Keating would be the location for the fateful October 2009 Battle of Kamdesh for . Moreover, again according to Romesha, the officer who was in charge until very shortly before the battle, Captain Melvin Porter, was criminally incompetent and allowed the perimeter defenses to fall into decay, despite repeated requests from Romesha and his friends to improve them. The Allies hoped that extending these bases into Nuristan, one of the most remote and isolated eastern provinces in Afghanistan, they could demonstrate to the entire Afghan population the government's credibility and power. [1] Plans were drawn up in the summer of 2006 by the US Army's 10th Mountain Division as part of Operation Mountain Lion. The outpost was renamed Camp Keating in December 2006 (not in 2009). The rock could not be demolished without raining fragments into the town of Urmul across the Landay-Sin river. To further complicate the situation, nearby Observation Post Fritsche was unable to provide mortar support to Keating, as it also was overrun by Taliban. [8] Coalition forces responded with small arms fire, mortars, and by the afternoon, helicopters, heavy artillery, and airstrikes. The true story confirms that the Afghan National Army soldiers, who were fighting alongside the U.S. troops, either fled the outpost after the attack began or hid in cowardice. [7]:1238,1368,18191,407. Given that her reticence led to her subordinates acting on their own initiative resulting in her plan failing, not really. His death had a traumatic effect on the morale of 3-71 Cav. Despite some condensing with regard to the timeline and a fictional character or two (Pfc. "The little bastards keep shooting at us every day. As Cordova worked to stop the bleeding, five injured Afghan soldiers and another American who suffered a chest wound were brought in. The outpost was manned by 54 American personnel from B Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, who faced greater than seven-to-one odds in the battle. U.S. air support directed by Sgt. [10], OP Fritsche was established to provide overwatch for COP Keating and was manned by a mix of US and Afghan national forces. David Porter (February 1, 1780 - March 3, 1843) was an officer in the United States Navy in the rank of captain and the honorary title of commodore.Porter commanded a number of U.S. naval ships. Written by CNN journalist Jake Tapper, he tells the story of soldiers living in the remote mountains of Afghanistan and Combat Outpost Keating. Something had to be done to bring Nuristan on to the American side. It took place while First Lieutenant Kaine Meshkin (not in the film) was leading a patrol to Observation Post Fritsche. Area of Operations. He became the fourth surviving soldier from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts to be awarded the Medal of Honor due to courageous actions during the battle. The note was signed "Mullah Omar". [7]:229,256,26380[12], The Battle of Saret Koheh made good on the threats of the "Night Letter". While this is indeed alarmingly frequent, the movie makes it seem like the attacks are happening daily. Colonel John W. Nicholson Jr., Commander of the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division, had observed that Kamdesh was located at a point where three of the valley systems from the Pakistan border in the north converged. Those guys were amazing. Years later, I still feel guilty for not getting there until nightfall, even if the circumstances were out of my control. At 6 a.m., Oct. 3, 2009, Combat Outpost Keating in Kamdesh District, Nuristan Province, Afghanistan, came under complex attack by an enemy force estimated at 300 fighters. [5] Within two minutes of the beginning of the attack, American forces suffered their first casualty. (U.S. Army) The Counterattack: "We're Taking this Bitch Back" With more and more Taliban soldiers now inside the base, an important decision was needed. Another 10 Afghan soldiers and several Taliban were killed during these operations. [8] The Coalition forces withdrew from the base shortly after the battle. Seven other Americans and one ANA soldier were wounded. By allowing soldiers to tell their story, by hearing their story, you are also part of the healing. [18], At about 3:00a.m. on October 3, over 350 Taliban backed insurgents ordered all Kamdesh villagers to leave the area. The battle is also the main focal point of the 2020 film The Outpost, which was in-turn based on the book The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor by Jake Tapper. Afghan contractors were unable to keep the narrow mountain road in safe condition, and convoys were subject to constant ambush from the surrounding mountains that lined the route. What if there was a country in place of the Bay of Biscay? prosthetic makeup effects sculptor: Millennium FX. [14] At the time, Afghan national forces were supervised and trained by members of the Latvian Operational Mentor Liaison Teams. On that day, then-1LT Bundermann's leadership and heroic actions in orchestrating the defense of Combat Outpost Keating, helped prevent it from falling into the hands of a Taliban force of more than 400 fighters. American troops in Nuristan found themselves directly in opposition to the HIG forces. "We're surrounded, and we're sitting in a bowl," Porter said on "Good Morning America" today. The Soviets had to contend with a rebel group known as the Dawlet of eastern Nuristan. AAF forces involved fit the pattern of the improved force, in that they were uniformed and equipped as Afghan Army and police forces, with the latest weapons and radios issued to government Afghan forces, along with ski masks. Benjamin D. Keating was born in Sanford, Maine on 31 May 1979, and he served as Chair of the Young Republicans at the . Regrouping there, they pushed out teams to retake much of the outpost. In response to this, the local Afghan officials sent more government troops into the area. American forces formed a thinly held and poorly supplied picket line from Naray to Kamdesh along the river. This separation of the landing zone, and the fact that the site was surrounded by mountains on three sides made the site unappealing because of the difficulty of mounting an effective defense. Captain Sylvanius Broward (Kwame Patterson), whom the men refer to as "Broward the Coward," shoots the dog to appease the elder and calm the situation. Urdu and Pashtun HIG warriors brought arms and ammunition from Pakistan. At such time the platoon cleared the remaining areas of the outpost which members of 3-61 had not yet retaken. Matthew McMurtrey a cyber systems operator was attached to the 61st Cav and woke at6 a.m. that day to the walls of his bunk shaking, alerting him to the attack. My soldiers and I had been sharing stories since Oct. 3, 2009, when our 53 cavalry scouts fought off more than 300 Taliban fighters bent on overrunning Combat Outpost Keating in Nuristan, Afghanistan. A dog named Cali growled at the eldest son of an Afghan Security Guard, who would often come to the post with his father. In December 2006, it was renamed Camp Keating after the death of ABLE Troop 3-71 Cavalry 10th Mountain Division's Executive Officer Benjamin Keating, who died November 26, 2006, while conducting combat operations south of the camp. Captain Frank Brooks, commanding at LZ Warheit, was dismayed to discover the PRT could not be quickly reached by LZ Warheit. Once we got overhead the target, the biggest thing that struck me was how much of Keating was on fire. [7]:21530, The closeness of the action, and coordinated fire from both sides of the valley indicated that the attackers in this ambush were different from the groups that had been using sporadic, long range, harassing fire. 8 killed 27 wounded[5] 4 killed 10 wounded. Skola karalauk", "COP Keating Investigation Findings Released", "Afghan, US troops kill 40 militants in east", "Camp Keating Officers Disciplined for Attack That Killed 8 U.S. Ty M. Carter pauses during a patrol outside Combat Outpost Keating, Afghanistan, where he was deployed with the 61st Cavalry Regiment in 2009. But the courage of the Americans who fought there will never be forgotten. Some who fled even handed their weapons to Taliban fighters. To avoid damaging the trust they had established with the Afghans, Cali and another semi-hostile dog named Willie Pete were shot by Staff Sergeant Ian Boone and another soldier. Nicholson and officers of his command believed that much of the flow of weapons and troops from Pakistan could be stopped at Kamdesh. aircraft.[5]. Yes. If they shoot from the hills, US troops can shoot at them without fear of hitting civilians in town, and it makes an enticing target. The letter stated: "At the present time for those who work and obey the American devils by taking contracts for building schools, road, and power plants: also those who work as police, district administrators, and commanders as well as sold-out mullahs who deny Allah's orders and holy war and deny the holy Quran: We are telling you that we are continuing our holy war in Allah's will Soon we will start our operations." His actions saved the lives of several soldiers, and he alone accomplished the work of four medical professionals without stopping for food or sleep, the battle narrative aptly concluded. [7]:12930 1345,156. Not an Ordinary Engagement Provide clean water by installing gravity fed pipelines. (Multiple explosions near the ammo supply set off a series of fires at the post.). prosthetic makeup effects administrator: Millennium FX. Known as COIN and refined by General David Petraeus, Commander of US forces in Afghanistan, the Army and Marine Counter-insurgency Field Manual FM 3-24 was to convert the population of Nuristan to American goals. Unlike Donahue, Nicholson was a supporter of COIN in addition to seeing Kamdesh as a decisive control point. [7]:1238,1368,18191,407, On August 8, 2006, 19 days after the first American landing, the PRT was attacked for the first time. It seemed like the entire COP was burning [70 percent did].. Nine years earlier, Cordova and his medics toiled away in the aid station to treat the wounded and save the dying. It was adapted for the screen by Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy (Patriots Day and The Fighter). I highly recommend picking up a copy as it goes into far far greater detail about the history and events leading up and during the battle. Meanwhile, back at the aid station, Cordova learned that the first medevac would not arrive until after 7:30 p.m. A critically wounded soldier needed a blood transfusion in order to survive. Joshua Hardt, who until this time had been MIA. On Oct. 3, 2009, the odds were against U.S. troops at Combat Outpost Keating in Afghanistan's Nuristan province, located just 10 miles from the Pakistan border. In the year that followed the agreement, ANA and American deaths dropped from thirty to three. Omar was the top Taliban leader, but U.S. Intelligence stated that HIG had done the killing, crediting Omar to instil more fear due to Omar's greater reputation. A common misconception is that the Taliban are primitive fighters who lack the necessary skills to be effective in battle. That process helped us heal, but a bad rendering of the battle would leave us talking about what the movie got wrong instead of what actually happened. [35] Capt. Cordovas care raised the morale of every soldier in the aid station, and word quickly spread across the outpost, the battle narrative stated. On the whole the AAF was a broader based and more formidable force in 2007 than before the American invasion, and represented a significant escalation. "[5], On November 9, 2018, the Netflix series Medal of Honor featured two separate episodes for both Romesha and Carter's personal accounts of the events that took place at COP Keating during the Battle of Kamdesh. The military had planned to relocate the outpost in August 2009, but the resources needed for such a move were tied up elsewhere. Camp Keating Officers Disciplined for Attack That Killed 8 U.S. After an investigation, four officers in the chain of command were disciplined for their failure to adequately support the base. Set up new plants in Mirdesh and Gawardesh. I was not on the outpost when the battle kicked off. These valley and road intersections combined with the political leadership in the area inspired the positioning of the Nuristan PRT. Portis had been in command of the platoon for less than two weeks when, on Oct. 3, 2009, the Taliban attacked Combat Outpost Keating while he was away visiting a mountain observation post. Other veterans also acted in the movie, including Henry Hughes. In this December 2012 interview, MAJ Melvin Porter, US Army, Signal; discusses his deployment to Afghanistan as a company commander for 3-61 Cavalry (CAV) in 2009 through 2010 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). I'll just quote this part from Staff Sergeant Romesha's Medal of Honor citation: Folks Media Madness is full of arguments over TLJ, we don't need to import that headache into the War Room. The steep mountains rendered two dimensional maps and landmarks useless. 3-71 Cavalry conducted many successful combat missions in the area surrounding the camp and repelled various attacks on the base. In the movie, a dog that some of the soldiers at the outpost are taking care of bites a visiting Kamdesh village elder. The entire Outpost Keating was recreated. It's at least the third time officers were disciplined after soldiers' deaths. The camp burned into the night and some of the building walls fell to the ground. Yllescas's charismatic relations with the Shura had supported the transition from 1-91 Cavalry to 6th Squadron, and the Shura's influence and collaboration with ISAF forces declined from this point. A deliberate withdrawal had been planned some time before the battle began, and the closing was part of a wider effort by the top commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, to cede remote outposts and consolidate troops in more populated areas to better protect Afghan civilians. [24], The insurgents began to retreat later in the day. They performed heroically and bravely.. The U.S. soldiers killed in the battle were: Amy Davidson Sorkin, writing in The New Yorker, tried to answer the question why the base had not been moved, when it was found to be unsuitable. Div., at Combat Outpost Keating in Afghanistans Nuristan province on Aug. 6, 2009. On October 28, the commander of COP Keating, Captain Robert J. 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