Chosen Co 1st platoon here: July 3rd/4th. I was out at Bella during that time, it was incredibly unfortunate that the civilians were killed in the attack, there were two trucks driving on the road, one truck had a mortar tube in the back launching mortars at us, we didn't know that the second truck was civilians. the wake up call on July 13th is one that i'll never forget. SFC Stockard shouting throught the barracks "Get your shit on, get the trucks ready, and grab as much ammunitian as you can. 2nd platoon is being ambushed!" We had driven out to Wanat before and it took about an hour and a half with checking for IEDs, but that morning we flew out there with little regard for our own safety, all we could think about was getting out to 2nd platoon as fast as we could. The day and a half we spent out at Wanat was a blur, My squad was in the first two trucks, we dropped a few guys off at the TCP entering the base, and the rest of us pushed through to the North to begin the clearing operations of the buildings there. It was surreal after the battle had ended to think about what had happened and to mourn those we had lost. RIP Chosen Few.
Thanks for your service brother. I was in Iraq at This time, fighting our own battles. I appreciate what y’all did and this sounds like a scary and terrible day.
This fucking place never should’ve existed. If “WE” needed to be there why not build on the high grounds. Tack that would’ve made more sense. It’s very unfortunate and definitely could have been avoided. Thanks for your support and service
Man I was having a hip replacement this morning. I always felt bad I wasn’t there. But like it wasn’t my fault nov9th was insane and gets looked over. There was 13 of us and we were on a cliff and only 7 of us lived and we were all severely wounded. And we were ambushed by 200 people no trucks no heavy weapons of any kinda. It’s not a competition but like wanat gets all this attention Nov 9th and when ranch house got over ran is never talked about and like at least wanant people had sand bags and rocks to hide behind we were literally on the side of a cliff can’t go up and in most places if you go down you fall of a cliff 900 feet or more. I got some closure reading the hardest place. It tells why we were up there. And why it’s swept under the rug. CIA stuff that we knew nothing about. Is the only reason we were there
Man, I'll never forget hearing the news of 09Nov. 3rd platoon was set up at JBAD for a little mission that ended up getting cancelled, we were all on pins and needles just dreading the news. I transferred to 1st shortly after to replenish numbers. I have the utmost respect and love for you guys after hearing what you guys went through. As for being there or not, there's only so much we can control. You guys went through enough hell with all the shit that went down out while ya'll were out at Bella. @@justinplaysguitar
Is this the one where the military was found negligent so the brass relaunched another investigation and interviewed only certain leaders and ultimately blamed a dead soldier? Classic army
Oh no, they got ribbons, medals, and promotions for this, this was necessary for their careers don't you see...they need to retire as a bird Col at least if not General. If they have to get you killed to do that oh well "I had a good career and now I have a great retirement and draw a big check just for breathing every day" and that's the same way it was in Nam, they didn't give a damn about the troops, they treated the grunts like dog shit. I see notjings changed.
This was amazing to watch and learn from. I have never gotten a perspective like this before and was a big eye opener for me. Would like to see more of these and be apart of recreations. My heart goes out to the solider that had endure this.
I am french and I agree with you. But there is something I don't understand. I have been Marine. Why you, americans, always build yours coumpund downside of the montains and not on the top. It's more easy for defense, you have "glacis", sorry I don't know the word, and choppers are more difficult too shoot down?
I've never been in the military but I think reasons might include 1. It's easier for transportation. The mountains in Afghan are ridiculously steep. If we have compounds on top of the hill, it's gonna be tough to bring the bulldozers/ humvees up there. 2. It reduces dead space. Because the mountains are so steep, if we have compounds on top of them, we will create a lot of dead space like what happened to OP Topside. Can see far but can't see near and it may make it easier for enemies to sneak up on them. 3. It's easier to reinforce in case things happen. Had 2nd Plt been on top of the hill, they'd all be dead because they will be completely cut off and it's going to take much longer than 40 minutes or so for 1st Plt to arrive. Overall I think it's a failure on intelligence and leadership. Their commanders should never have left their guards down and they should never have allowed those fighters to sneak up so close.
Gilles Guillaumin they don't always do that, but in this part of Afghanistan you're either on a mountain or in a valley. You can't build a full fob on the top of a mountain.
You friend might be in this documentary. Documentary with footage of Chosen Company along with interviews of the some of the soldiers of Chosen Company. ruclips.net/video/e08Vh31Cw6s/видео.html
The 2LT (deceased) was largely blamed for this failure when it appears that senior officers should have been disciplined. If this is true, and as a retired Army officer, this makes me sicjk to my stomach. I cannot think of a worse reflection on my Army.
How do you feel now that a soldier was in the brig for demanding accountability for the 13 dead in the disastrous Afghanistan pull out.. I never served but im furious at the state of our military under this embarrassment administration.. they are pushing out good men for diversity hires and refusing to be forced to take a jab.. this great nation so many fought and died for is becoming something our forefathers would be ashamed of
@@3rdyoutubechannelstopdelet914 Agreed, 100%! Sleepy Joe and the left are trying to turn our once proud US Military into a bunch of woke kittens. Shame!
Documentary with footage of Chosen Company along with interviews of the some of the soldiers of Chosen Company. ruclips.net/video/e08Vh31Cw6s/видео.html
Falcon you know for sure he is ? We hung a lot of these guys out to dry . I have 2 friends that are here now that I worked with from Afghanistan that worked with us there for more than 10 years each and I met there and they are the lucky ones .
After watching 11 days and a wake up I can't stop thinking about this battle and those poor soldiers who were sent into a suicide mission 2 weeks before going home ..they were already burnt out they had been taking multiple contacts daily sometimes upto 11 times a day..they all knew before they left for wanat they were fucked and nobody was coming back...it should never of happened...the chosen few were heroes
This was my plt thought i was having hip replacement this day cause I got shot 9times on the Nov 9th ambush All of the fallen are heros It’s been 15 years and I’m still affected. My body has been in constant pain since Nov 9th 2007 and my mind
The Locals warned us that day that they were coming 30 groups of 5 spread out in 360 degrees so it was IMPOSSIBLE to counter. We put an FOB in the bottom of a fishbowl.
We learned a lot from it, our best learning opportunities are the ones that ended in the most tragedy, we are honor bound to learn from their mistakes, and never forget their sacrifices. Leadership should have realized their issue(s), I am not surprised by the Army's lack of acknowledgement for the brass's mistakes, they think they can toss around some silver stars and we'll just get over it... Sorry, we all lost people throughout that cluster fuck and we KNEW the bulk of the Afghani "commandos" were double agents. Way too many good guys died at the hands of bad guys and the brass who were in field and support command should all be tried!
SmithN' Wesson never fight on the low ground. Putting those guys where they put them sealed their fate. It’s just the dumbest tactical battlefield decision I’ve seen. That’s saying a lot. Those guys fought unbelievably hard though. They did very good for what they had to deal with.
@Syphax Atlas I'm not here to argue whether the US Army should have or shouldn't have went into Afghanistan. You're mixing two stuff together, because the soldiers that died weren't the one who declared war. I understand your point of view when you say that USA tried to "invade" Afghanistan but that's a choice that the government made not the soldiers. So next time show a little more respect especially when it's about the lost of someone important to that person.
Absolute cover-up of the Intelligence failure of major proportions. The reliance of all the vaunted drones failed to uncover the MASSIVE movement of Taliban forces into the area. If I had survived the attack, I would have been brought on charges after I killed the S2. The report also glossed over the almost complete lack of artillery support because it was "difficult" to shoot into a hole surrounded by mountains. One volley of ineffective 155 fire IS NOT fire support!!!! 2 bombs from an AF plane IS NOT fire support. The arrival of 2 Apaches almost an hour after the fight started IS NOT fire support. If all the leadership, who never showed up until too late, was concerned about how a 2LT was positioning his forces, why didn't put boots not the ground to help the platoon out. Cowards, all and worse, incompetent. There was NO engineer support contrary to the report that kept on stressing that there was. What a LIE! One bobcat is nothing! Part 1.
It may be observed that the artillery problem was attempted to be remedied by the issued of multiple mortar systems. The artillery was there to cover outside the danger close radius and the surrounding heights and the mortars would cover closer. I believe the mortars have a smaller danger close than arty. The terrain would of been the worst you could of seen except for jungle I am guessing.
A few things I could understand like few resources and the inability to send enough supplies but you are right about that they should have payed way more attention
Sad thing is they blamed the 2lt of chosen company. A marine lt general did an investigation and found out all the senior commanders were derelict of duty. The army changed the marines investigation and blamed the 2lt. The second LT actually was very brave during this fight. Eyewitnesses said he kept a cool head ran under enemy fire to ger ammo and lots more valiant behavior. Sad that a dead man cant defend himself
I loved the way the script and story board were styled like a report. No dressing it up, just packed with information. Thank you for your hard work on this, you got my sub!
Documentary with footage of Chosen Company along with interviews of the some of the soldiers of Chosen Company. ruclips.net/video/e08Vh31Cw6s/видео.html
The graphics look like ArmA (the first one), but it's still a pretty good video showing of what happened. Most of the time for people who were never there, from what youtube footage we can see, it's long range suppressing fire between bases and mountain positions. This is probably the best example we're getting on RUclips, aside from movies, of what happened during these instances of close combat battles.
It's not exactly ArmA, but an offshoot called Virtual Battlestations, made by Bohemia Interactive Simulators, a division of Bohemia Interactive focusing entirely on Simulators for military clients. While it is based on the same engine, BIS has done massive modular changes for the game to allow Military clients to modify it in a manner that would be suitable for specific needs. I never got my hands on it so take this with a grain salt, but while it is also present in the ArmA series, the Modularity of VBS allows for an even greater amount of consistency and realism, since they are all in-built and are done in mind of other modules, therefore resulting in a Simulator that can more easily train and teach various aspects.
@@aaudi6365 The British Army also adopted this system a year before I left. They now use it regularly and extensively for training. VBS has come a long way.
My squad was suppose to go to perform the engineering side of building the base and my squad leader chickened out cause it was being talked about as a Purple Heart mission before any engineers went. We went as far as having our bags packed up geared up and on the flight line. We waited for long time and as the bird that we was suppose to get on to go to Wanat descended someone running the flight line pills my squad leader to the side and he comes to us minute later and yells for us to go back to the tent we weren’t going? A different squad from a different platoon was selected to go which my squad leader was ecstatic about but I was disappointed at the time being new hungry private. Couple days later we learned what happened. 2 soldiers from my company received Purple Heart and 3 with bronze stars with V device. Luckily we did not lose any engineers and hated to hear about the warriors from 173rd who was lost. In the 15 months I served in The Stan 173rd was by far the greatest unit we worked under. 1 of the Soldiers shot and wounded at Wanat returned to Afghanistan against medical advice in very short time after the casualty.
@@SaulTink It was a perfect kill zone from elevated positions, if anything more service members probably would have lost their lives if more were in play.
Funny you say you were a new hungry private when in reality they needed a seasoned battle experienced platoon to go. So something isn't adding up here.
I am very upset that the KIA and WIA were not named. A very good friend was with Chosen Company, and has the massive scar and medals, from this battle. These soldiers deserve that. Brothers were killed and wounded.
this names all of them in the beginning: ruclips.net/video/e08Vh31Cw6s/видео.html&ab_channel=BattleofWanat%2CAfghanistanWarDocumentary I think around the 2-3 minute mark
Long live the boys of Chosen Company...Rest In Peace to the men who bravely and valiantly fought and lost their lives. Thank you very, very much for your service.
6 лет назад+2
this is better than a movie. Good breakdown of what happened.
Amazing video and amazing attention to detail. I'm impressed with the amount of information given. Excellent work. The obvious conclusion is that when things go wrong just put the blame on those who were killed and use "shadows and mirrors" to hide the incompetence of the real culprits. May the brave men killed in action rest in peace.
Crazy.. I was a Marine in an ETT and spent almost my entire deployment at FOB Bella and left country about 6 months before this went down. Was a horrible area smack in the middle of the mountains and constantly exposed to rocket fire and many battles. RIP Bocks!
Documentary with footage of Chosen Company along with interviews of the some of the soldiers of Chosen Company. ruclips.net/video/e08Vh31Cw6s/видео.html
I was in Chosen 1st platoon, we spent the end of the deployment out at Bella. I was dumbfounded at the location for the outpost, surrounded by highground. it was nuts for sure.
@@GRANDDOSE appreciate you too, idk if I could’ve done your job training over there. Almost got shot in the foot trying to do marksman training with the ANA on my next deployment haha
@@coolerman_13 lol yea let's just say it was wild for sure, but they had their own ways and customs and just had to try and work with it. I got pretty lucky and was around a lot of good guys for the most part and had a great interpreter I became good friends with. Hope they're well and wish for the best for their people over there under today's circumstances. They just want a good life too and that's what they were trying to fight for.
Wow. Subscribed and looking forward to more. I never paid much attention to the conflict, but this makes it quite clear how difficult the situation is.
Nothing like digging your own grave in 110F heat while the enemy is 50ft away having tea at the local coffee shop watching you. Sign me up , obvious genius' running this operation.
I lOVE watching historical accounts of real battle's but it gets old when the creator uses old B-Roll / Stock footage I've seen on half a dozen other videos....But, this was VERY well explained! I bet it took you days to make this! PLEASE, make many more! These young men are TOTAL BADASSES.... Least we forget their courage & sacrifices! R.I.P to the Fallen!
A whole army may become demoralized, and a general may lose heart. In the morning a soldier is full of fight, in the afternoon he is slowing down, and in the evening he thinks only of returning to camp. A skilled general will avoid the enemy when they are full of fight, and engage with them when their thoughts have turned to their beds. This is mastery of morale. He uses discipline in the face of disorder, and calmness to confront frenzy. This is mastery of emotion. To be close to the battlefield whilst the enemy is still far away, to be fresh and rested when the enemy is exhausted, to be well-fed when the enemy is hungry, this is mastery of the upper hand. Holding off from an enemy whose banners are well ordered, and not engaging with an army in tight formation, this is mastery of circumstance. Here are some of the basic principles of war: never attack uphill, nor defend downhill; do not be lured into attack by feigned flight, and do not attack an enemy who is rested and full of fight. Do not swallow the bait put out for you, and do not get in the way of an army that is homeward bound. When you surrounded an enemy, always leave them a way out, and do not press a corncered foe too hard. This is the art of waging war. -THR ART OF WAR BY SUN TZU....
PART 2. MY COMMENTS are truncated for reasons unknown to me. 2 Apaches arriving after almost an hour IS NOT fire support. Bottom line, the complete failure of the chain of command and their staffs is the ultimate reason for the sacrifice of a platoon of Airborne Troops. If I were the Company Commander, the Battalion Commander and the Brigade Commander as well as the S2s at all levels, I would put a gun in my mouth and fire for effect. Those guys are the epitome of the concept of mind over matter: The higher command doesn't mind, and the troops don't matter. What a complete whitewash of the Company Commander and above as far as fault. Although commanders they qualify as REMFs.
I think Lt Brostrom's father got it right when he said "no one had the balls to say don't do it." If they didn't have the troop strength or resources to protect these soldiers while they built the new base, they shouldn't have gone there in the first place. This video is bullshit and throws these soldiers to the wolves. It said that Chosen CO made wrong assumptions about the kind of attack that was coming and thus weren't prepared? They all seemed to know pretty damn well that they were getting handed a suicide mission where a large, coordinated attack was likely. Shoring them on things like Claymores, trip flares, concertina wire, appropriate machinery to construct defenses like 8 ft Hesco's, and WATER, was criminally negligent. Basically, four Humvees and a bunch of sandbags. Too many times we have seen investigations where the U.S. Army eats its young instead of holding higher-ups accountable. We see Army investigations where non-comms and Junior officers get hanged out to dry in business as usual fashion to avoid embarrassment or legal culpability for field grades and higher. It's a calculated, sickening, and demoralizing practice which needs to end. Honor to the dead hero's demands it.
Kinda like today where they got 13 soldiers killed in the shit show pull out of Afghanistan and then throw a soldier in the brig for demanding accountability for the leaders who planned this disaster getting these men killed.. our military leaders are a disgrace right now and maybe they always have been in recent times.. im absolutely disgusted
@@3rdyoutubechannelstopdelet914 yup, I'm sure that if any Lt Col, Colonel, or General had to eat, sleep, and defend the perimeter at Wanat with 360 degrees of mountains and fighting age males staring at them for days on end in the 120 degree heat, they would have sorted out the materials and manpower issues immediately. There's no way in hell they would've just sucked it up and waited for the bullets to start flying. You think Colonel Ostlund would've spent a minute on the ground that week in Wanat and tolerated being used as bait, waiting for for hundreds of crazy Fundamentalists with AK's and RPG's to surround and massacre them? Another thing was the ridiculous rules of engagement! These paratroopers were so worried about discharging their weapons without the proper predicates and going to Leavenworth. They have colleagues who spent years in prison because the politics had bled into what was once a clear cut war against terrorists who dress like civilians and hide like cowards. It got so bad that there were even "good"Taliban and "bad" Taliban. They are all drug dealing, child raping, murderers, taking their orders from the higher-ups in Pakistan. We should have just violated Pakistani sovereignty and finished them off werr they live. What, were the Pakistanis going to use nukes on us? It's a miscarriage of justice that Ostlund and Chip Preysler weren't indicted for sheer negligence. Instead, Ostlund is probably a full Colonel by now and in the pipeline to be a General. It's sickening. The ones who work the hardest and sacrifice the most are always the ones who pay the highest price in blood.
@@jonathanbecker8935 exactly.. its almost like they want these wars to continue.. no thats exactly what they want and they throw our young men over there to die.. that mission should of never happened and those men knew they were going to die, the part of the one documentary was heartbreaking where they were talking about what they knew was going to happen.. those men were straight up heros fighting to keep their brothers alive
Part 3. Higher command doesn't mind and the troops didn't matter. The command structure above the platoon, despite them being Infantry (?), as a result of this whitewashed debacle are now the poster officers of REMFs. I can only hope eventually enough people could see that they were unworthy of command that they never commanded a unit again (but unfortunately, they had protectors, fellow REMFs so they are probably generals and colonels now.). For the soldiers at Wanat; "Let it be said, well done, be thou at peace".
I visited the 'fishbowl' one time on a supply run. Pucker factor was a 10 the entire trip up and back down. We all talked about it for weeks before it actually happened. Even the lowliest private could have taken a 10 second look and determined it was a killing zone.
Just yesterday a young man told me about an attack on a similar base belonging to rhe Americans in Kunar province early in the morning in 2008 or 09. He said that they set the mules free when they got into the compound. Many More stories from him but it will take a lot of time.
You seem to gloss over the fact that UAV coverage was withdrawn to cover a visit by Joint Chiefs staff. Also, the multiple warnings of impending attack were ignored. The Chosen Few were also left with little food or water and no resupply. The planned engineering support didn't show up. This was a screw up by command at the company level and up. From site selection, logistics and intel. Later, the Pentagon covered the butts of the officers by withdrawing letters of reprimand and placing blame on the dead platoon leader that heroically ran through withering fire to reach topside. Wanat resulted in multiple Silver Stars and one Medal of Honor. Those seem worth mentioning.
Once again we see the Afghan Police involved in this battle, disgusting. Thankfully the reinforcements arrived or this could have been a massacre. Great video and thanks for sharing this. Thank you for your service guys, ML&R Scott
Principles of defence - Depth - There was a degree of depth as there were 2 positions, however it was woefully insufficient for the ground. All round defence - This was not achieved. 360 degree arcs were achieved, but large amounts of dead ground and insufficient cover meant the enemy had freedom of movement. Mutual support - The unit was isolated from other units which allowed large ingress/egress areas which in turn allowed the unit to be surrounded. Air support can only do so much. Reserves - There was no reserve force. The unit was isolated in insufficient numbers to have a reserve element. Offensive spirit - The unit was too small and focused on building the camp to have an in depth patrol plan, and could not dominate the surrounding area. Deception - The camp was overlooked by high ground. Locals had access and there was little that could be done to hide actions or intent. There were a number of other errors in the above but you get the point. Essentially there were significant failings in all aspects of the basic principles of defence. Most of these stem from position of the camp and limited numbers and resources which were outside of the control of the platoon commander. The base location is decided at strategic level. Resource allocation is at Bn level at a minimum. While the platoon commander has control over the OP site the company commander is supposed to exercise oversight and control, particularly as the senior guy on the ground is a young 2Lt. Using him as a scapegoat is a failure of integrity at all levels.
Those guys should never been at least 45 minutes from their nearest backup. A Predator drone was also pulled away from Wanat shortly before the attack. A Predator drone they very badly needed. An hour to get any type of Apache support? Man an hour is a long time to be outnumbered 10 to 1 and fighting for your lives. As usual The high ranking General's like General Petraes blamed the Liutenant who did the best he could with a terrible location, rather than admit the Big Brass are the ones who screwed this up. Those men fought hard and are fallen heroes !! Betrayed by the Afghanistan people they are there to help. I'm glad we left Afghanistan, that country is hell on earth.
Til Valhalla brothers.. They fought their a*s off for each other. These guys actually got to use a claymore too on a lighter note thats cool and rare these days.
During Basic we had a drill sergeant , DS Gillmore and he received the silver star from this ambush, after finding out the entire situation. It was a completely fucked story and could have been prevented. So many lives gone. RIP
Documentary with footage of Chosen Company along with interviews of the some of the soldiers of Chosen Company. ruclips.net/video/e08Vh31Cw6s/видео.html
Such a shame our young men had to die defending a spot that just got thrown away. The enemy attacks to drive out US troops, US troops withdraw, insurgent mission successful
@@abrb1223 from that website: In late 1916, the US navy funded Sperry Gyroscope Company (later named Sperry Corporation) to develop an unmanned torpedo that could fly a guided distance of 1000 yards to detonate its warhead close enough to an enemy warship. Almost two years later, on March 6, 1918, after a series of failures, Sperry efforts succeeded in launching an unmanned torpedo to fly a 1000-yard course in stable guided flight. It dived onto its target at the desired time and place, and later was recovered and landed. With this successful flight, the world’s first unmanned aircraft system, which is called Curtis N-9, was born.
Our government lied to us. I deployed with 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (I-MEF) as the G-2 Systems Chief as a GySgt in 2010. The Marines I was responsible for ran that shop. I was just a buffer between them and the Major who rode our asses. It’s a fucking blur. So many died that year and since I retired a couple years later, I didn’t deploy to Afghanistan again. I’ll never forget hearing those guys outside the wire calling in support every single day for Marines and others with a leg missing. Two legs missing. An arm or both. And when those precious angels took flight. 😓🕊️ Take voting very, very seriously, America. God bless the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice. I’m so sorry we didn’t all know the greedy truth why we were there. 😥
Amazing how the story changes from this cya dept of the army version and the version of the guys who had to eat the sandwich. Pretty sure it's called spin. Thanks and condolences to the front line guys. Thoughts and prayers for the rear echelon.
Its some form of VBS which is Bohemia Interactive's simulation software. I think its built off the same engine as ArmA2 if my memory serves me correctly
Fubar.... wasted our brave men and protected high leadership! Terrible loss and those that failed their men were protected to save their careers. Who side are the leadership on anyway!!! Sad...
Guerilla warfare is a nightmare, especially in these conditions, you are basically surrounded by hostiles, they litteraly studied the fortified position in details from a few meters away for days.
I understand that the army investigation into this action blamed the platoon leader for the failings. He, of course, was dead and could not defend himself. There is a very comprehensive video on RUclips regarding this action that contains many interviews with the survivors of Chosen Company and absolutely lays the blame higher up the command chain for placing these COPs in very vulnerable places.
Silvernale was hands down the best leader I've ever had, he really set the example and always wanted to lead from the front. I transferred to 1st platoon from 3rd after 9Nov, Kuhlman.
As a retired 1SG/ US Army Paratrooper ...this also made me proud of every Highspeed/ Junior Enlisted that I ever had, that loved doing his job. I did not know this Soldier but I could picture his face and see him delivering some hurt. HOOAH! AIRBORNE, ALL THE WAY!
Fortunate enough to know this fantastic exemplar of a warrior. Truly a humbling experience hearing from him. My dad worked with him after he got out of the army during a company vets day meeting. SSGT Pitts is a stand-up guy in every respect. My only regret is having not seen him again after I enlisted.
Yes, they did a great job on this. I was in Chosen Company, 1st platoon, part of the initial QRF for this battle. I've avoided watching these for so long but I'm glad they they're documented for us like this. Thanks for your help out there.
20 years difference almost different country but me and my boys were thrown in an impossible tactical too that same way. Brass will always tell you you’re to blame for their errors and will continue in their lives uninterrupted while our brothers die for those arrogant mistakes.
The Afghan construction company that was supposed to build a fortified position and camp for these men postponed leaving them out there literally with shovels trying to make holes in the ground for some kind of cover. These soldiers should not have had to go to Wanat until it was 100% ready and supplied for them. And they should have only had to go to such a remote outpost with triple the amount of troops they had, immediate Air support, and armor and heavy weapons systems on the ground. Not just small arms weapons like they had. Put a couple Phalanx weapons systems in for them and a Specter Gunship overhead.
Yea the shitty part was, the night before the attack the air support was diverted, I think battle company got into a firefight. one cool memory from all of that was the night of the 13th we had a specter flying over and they shot a few shells at some enemy nearby.
The way the brass treats their people you would think they're trying to recruit generals rather than privates, but it doesn't work like that. How do these big shots not realize that they are the ones making recruitment so difficult? USS Bonhomme Richard case... Nobody in charge got in serious trouble but they tried to throw one sailor in the brig forever with a botched investigation. MARSOC 7 spent years fighting for their exoneration.
Wanat was a battle that should never have happened. COP Kahler was a vehicle patrol base that was being set up during the RIP/TOA between the 173d and 1ID. Half of the 173d had already rotated out of country. The set up of a COP should have been left to the 1ID, after the 173d left, because they would have to defend it and they should be the ones to decide if the COP in the village would be part of their engagement plan. The 173d sending soldiers out to set up a vehicle patrol base (VPB) when they are literally days from going home, in a indefensible position, only to be handed over immediately to the inbound rotating unit (1ID) to complete building, thus taking the decision of setting up a COP from the the 1ID is absolutely ridiculous and makes no tactical sense. The 1ID should have been briefed on the plan and left to decide if it was something they wanted to pursue. The proof that it was all unnecessary for these soldiers rotating out is the fact that the VPB/COP was immediately abandoned. I was in JBAD working with the Afghan police at the time, and I can assure you that the 173d leadership was shit.
100% When we got to country, 10th mountain had just set up a VPB out at chowkay valley, near Fortress. Nothing was built up, we had sandbag walls a few feet high at the time. We knew it was a shitty situation to come in to, not sure why we felt it neccessary to do the same thing to 1st ID.
Those that ordered and approved those low lying area fish bowl positions are the ones that should be used as a reference for change? Seems the disconnect between the REMFs and the grunt just gets us casualties and wounded. If Communication for the best info, to make the best decisions was done then that’s that. But if that wasn’t the case here? How was it addressed? And What was the result?
Did they use Arma to make this? Need more educational videos like this, those Machina ones are too dramatic, shaky and close up the whole time. This is more what I'm looking for on some WWII battles.
Rule #1 Go to the house of the guy who runs the town, have tea with him and then pull out your plugger and mark the middle of his courtyard for targeting. The very first FM is that coord and immediate suppression. If not, well then you'll just suffer time and time again and people will die.
Ten Millimeter ABSOLUTELY! Rule number #1 in counter insurgency (as u said) the local leaders must be made to know that we are here to help, and WE WILL! but if anything happened to us, you will be held responsible. Officially if your lucky. Unofficially if your not. We will put our necks out for u, we expect the same. If u betray us, the village gets leveled.
Now imagine that was your town and your home with a big target marked on where your kids play around.... There's NO WAY you'd think of him as anything other a killer enemy. It would make all the friendship stuff you say nothing but bg noise. If you threatened to blow up my kids home, you have made a mortal enemy.
@@WorshipinIdols And that's why every US coin op has failed. Arrogance and a complete lack of empathy. Besides they never asked for US help, they never believed US were capable of protecting them and whenever they tell US the best thing they can do to help them is to leave, they ignore them.
SISYPHUS VASILIAS of-course I would understand. And the villagers would also understand, and many understand right now and many have before. I don’t know if u have any experience with this, something tells me your more then an average RUclips commenter, but either way, Your comparing apples and oranges. #1 they live, and have lived since ‘79 at LEAST, in a totally failed state where the rule of law, basic medicine (which we provide), running water that’s actually clean (again that we provide). These people do not live in 21st century, western, industrialized society and its affiliated social or technological norms. They live lap-dab in the middle of 12-century medieval Europe and all ITS affiliated norms. So no! They are not stupid, they understand what the word intent means. And 2, back to what I was saying in the beginning, it’s a tribal society, their world is not built on law and order or justice, it’s built on allegiance and alliances and lathes etc...so it would make perfect sense to expect the village to pick their agreement.
SISYPHUS VASILIAS r u a moron? Are u 11 years old? COIN? Stop using big words u don’t u understand. The problem is we need to know when a mission is not cost effective. When an ally, or just an oppressed or persecuted group has there act together you almost never here about them cause 1) we show up 2) their oppressors get wrecked 3) they stand up a regularly military and form government and become a stable state. In fact they are so eager to fight u don’t hardly get to see the bad guys. Examples are the Kurds, Thais, Ukrainians, Georgians, South Koreans in their day, Israel (when it was newer, now they are teaching us lessons, lol). And many others
Its a shame with our huge Army and supply capacity these men where left out there with minimal support and placed in peril by their command choosing such as lame position. I am not talking about the company to platoon leaders, I am speaking of Col. Olstrom who decided this was a great place to build a base. The signs were all there that a attack was imminent and yet there was zero escalation of assets. The men at wan-at did not even have trip wire flares given to them to cover dead zones. This whole engagement was a disaster waiting to happen, as a disabled Vet myself I know how the Army will put soldiers through hell while the leaders sit in their little office like Caesar. The leaders should be out on the front every freaking day to observe and not micromanage, but fill in gaps that are so apparent a private could have seen them. Supply is the weakness and because they where shipping back I guarantee the bean counters stopped having a supply of accessory weapons, so they would be ready to leave . My heart breaks for these men and I am ashamed of the Army for whitewashing this incident to protect the officers and place blame on a dead Lt. Get off you asses Colonels and get out in the field but don't showboat , advise in private to the officers and help them have the tools they need. The mission had weak air support that took an hour to reach them, whatever happened to all hours air cover, it all comes down to the low deployment of assets to afghanistan. Pray for the soldiers still in harms way and lets hope the cadets and other officers get their act together so more don't die needlessly. I purposely lower cased the afghan names because I believe they are a bunch of back stabbing bastards and we should move the populations out of the valleys in force and place them away from the aaf. Who cares if they haven't changed to support us we need to crush the insurgents supply and method of hiding in plain site. The battle will always cause me to shed a tear for the men and their families thrown to the wolves.
Stand To was something that wasn’t always done by some units in Nuristan for some reason 100% stand to was a must to have the ability to gain the initiative by fire superiority when attacked.
Alan Dempsey appreciate it buddy, a simple yes or no would’ve worked. I’m glad that he got recognition for this and became “famous” but the only thing I cared and prayed for was his safety. So thank the lord that he is still alive.
SGT Ryan Pitts, he survived and was awarded the Medal of Honor. He was calling in airstrikes as well as defending the position. Here's a video about his story ruclips.net/video/ekurHlfnWeo/видео.html
Fenty Jbad ? We touched down with Duke June 2008. We were too "cherry" at the time. Asadabad would have been the reinforcement point , supplies coming out of JBad.
A demonstration of what happens when "Can Do Attitude" conflicts with situational reality. The analogy of too little peanut butter on too much bread makes for a shitty sandwich is very appropriate. Senior combat leaders needing to demonstrate they can accomplish the mission with inadequate resources leads to putting small units at risk to accomplish a larger political goal...this leads to metaphysical failures....the mind over matter phenomenon..."We don't mind and you don't matter". It's a modern American military problem...too concerned about image and too little concern about mission.
When the guys got moved to wanat just 2 weeks before the end of their tour...they were left out to dry...the bastards who even sent them there with little or no support even put the blame on the LT for the 9 KIA...the guys made the ultimate sacrifice...dead men can't talk!!! Ours not to reason why...ours but to do or die...god bless them all..from a friend 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
This happened 2 months and 7 days after I enlisted in the army yet I had never heard about this, what happened to these soldiers is beyond fucked up and disgusting that the chain of command basically doomed them and they should of been held accountable
What really happend was; my Infantry Brother, Jason Bogar, was sent to his dealth by negligent cowards. They will pay the price for thir sins. Vengence is mine.
Where, Sir, is the discussion of the problems of placing COPs exactly where it is easiest to have them over-run? The nine killed are the cost of an officer deciding, "Yes, the site sucks. But it will only be for a couple of weeks. No one is going to try to attack your fish bowl, honest!" CYA still is a critical skill for field grade. Nice.
How do you move a base without all the equipment you need and why wasn't their a gunship in the air especially while our guys are completely uncovered and wouldn't it make sense to send 1st squad to help build the defenses after the bobcat broke (which is why there should be two)
Chosen Co 1st platoon here:
July 3rd/4th. I was out at Bella during that time, it was incredibly unfortunate that the civilians were killed in the attack, there were two trucks driving on the road, one truck had a mortar tube in the back launching mortars at us, we didn't know that the second truck was civilians.
the wake up call on July 13th is one that i'll never forget. SFC Stockard shouting throught the barracks "Get your shit on, get the trucks ready, and grab as much ammunitian as you can. 2nd platoon is being ambushed!" We had driven out to Wanat before and it took about an hour and a half with checking for IEDs, but that morning we flew out there with little regard for our own safety, all we could think about was getting out to 2nd platoon as fast as we could. The day and a half we spent out at Wanat was a blur, My squad was in the first two trucks, we dropped a few guys off at the TCP entering the base, and the rest of us pushed through to the North to begin the clearing operations of the buildings there.
It was surreal after the battle had ended to think about what had happened and to mourn those we had lost. RIP Chosen Few.
Thanks for your service brother. I was in Iraq at This time, fighting our own battles. I appreciate what y’all did and this sounds like a scary and terrible day.
This fucking place never should’ve existed. If “WE” needed to be there why not build on the high grounds. Tack that would’ve made more sense. It’s very unfortunate and definitely could have been avoided. Thanks for your support and service
Man I was having a hip replacement this morning. I always felt bad I wasn’t there. But like it wasn’t my fault nov9th was insane and gets looked over. There was 13 of us and we were on a cliff and only 7 of us lived and we were all severely wounded. And we were ambushed by 200 people no trucks no heavy weapons of any kinda. It’s not a competition but like wanat gets all this attention Nov 9th and when ranch house got over ran is never talked about and like at least wanant people had sand bags and rocks to hide behind we were literally on the side of a cliff can’t go up and in most places if you go down you fall of a cliff 900 feet or more. I got some closure reading the hardest place. It tells why we were up there. And why it’s swept under the rug. CIA stuff that we knew nothing about. Is the only reason we were there
Man, I'll never forget hearing the news of 09Nov. 3rd platoon was set up at JBAD for a little mission that ended up getting cancelled, we were all on pins and needles just dreading the news.
I transferred to 1st shortly after to replenish numbers. I have the utmost respect and love for you guys after hearing what you guys went through.
As for being there or not, there's only so much we can control. You guys went through enough hell with all the shit that went down out while ya'll were out at Bella. @@justinplaysguitar
11 Days And A Wakeup HOOAAAH ‼️🇺🇲🕯️🕊️🪔
Is this the one where the military was found negligent so the brass relaunched another investigation and interviewed only certain leaders and ultimately blamed a dead soldier? Classic army
I know this question was a while go.... But yes, they blamed the soldier
Total BS those boys did what they could with what they had!
Afghan guards are corrupt... No surprise US is the greatest military in the world
Yeap ! Same one...
FUCK AMERICA , FUCK NATO !
';;'';';;'';;''
The chain of command hung those guys out to die and they got away with it. They should be in prison
Oh no, they got ribbons, medals, and promotions for this, this was necessary for their careers don't you see...they need to retire as a bird Col at least if not General. If they have to get you killed to do that oh well "I had a good career and now I have a great retirement and draw a big check just for breathing every day" and that's the same way it was in Nam, they didn't give a damn about the troops, they treated the grunts like dog shit. I see notjings changed.
Causalities of warfare.. is term that'll clear all fuck ups.. 21 gun salute, served his country with pride..
A-10 all said
They should be shot.
@MALA2243 Moron detected.
This was amazing to watch and learn from. I have never gotten a perspective like this before and was a big eye opener for me. Would like to see more of these and be apart of recreations. My heart goes out to the solider that had endure this.
I am french and I agree with you. But there is something I don't understand. I have been Marine. Why you, americans, always build yours coumpund downside of the montains and not on the top. It's more easy for defense, you have "glacis", sorry I don't know the word, and choppers are more difficult too shoot down?
I've never been in the military but I think reasons might include
1. It's easier for transportation. The mountains in Afghan are ridiculously steep. If we have compounds on top of the hill, it's gonna be tough to bring the bulldozers/ humvees up there.
2. It reduces dead space. Because the mountains are so steep, if we have compounds on top of them, we will create a lot of dead space like what happened to OP Topside. Can see far but can't see near and it may make it easier for enemies to sneak up on them.
3. It's easier to reinforce in case things happen. Had 2nd Plt been on top of the hill, they'd all be dead because they will be completely cut off and it's going to take much longer than 40 minutes or so for 1st Plt to arrive.
Overall I think it's a failure on intelligence and leadership. Their commanders should never have left their guards down and they should never have allowed those fighters to sneak up so close.
Gilles Guillaumin they don't always do that, but in this part of Afghanistan you're either on a mountain or in a valley. You can't build a full fob on the top of a mountain.
For the truth, look at on RUclips "CNN the truth about WINAT" This is a white wash and a dump onto the LT on the job.
@@gillesguillaumin6603 because they were using us as bait honestly, so the helicopters could come in and kill everyone
they lied about the situation but a dead man speaks no words
He doesn't speak words, he tells tales though. I had an experienced PSG tell me this in Ranger Regiment. Very right, Daryl Johnson.
Very well done. I had a friend at Ghazni with me, we returned home, he went back, ended up at Wanat. I mourn his sacrifice.
You friend might be in this documentary.
Documentary with footage of Chosen Company along with interviews of the some of the soldiers of Chosen Company. ruclips.net/video/e08Vh31Cw6s/видео.html
The 2LT (deceased) was largely blamed for this failure when it appears that senior officers should have been disciplined. If this is true, and as a retired Army officer, this makes me sicjk to my stomach. I cannot think of a worse reflection on my Army.
My father was Green Baret CSM and he has said the same thing. He deployed in January of 2002. He was in the area of Kabul.
Thank god trump is here after king hussein the terrorist.
How do you feel now that a soldier was in the brig for demanding accountability for the 13 dead in the disastrous Afghanistan pull out.. I never served but im furious at the state of our military under this embarrassment administration.. they are pushing out good men for diversity hires and refusing to be forced to take a jab.. this great nation so many fought and died for is becoming something our forefathers would be ashamed of
@@3rdyoutubechannelstopdelet914 Agreed, 100%! Sleepy Joe and the left are trying to turn our once proud US Military into a bunch of woke kittens. Shame!
Documentary with footage of Chosen Company along with interviews of the some of the soldiers of Chosen Company. ruclips.net/video/e08Vh31Cw6s/видео.html
The local who was loyal to the afghan government and snitched on the insirgents truely is a hero.
The real MVP
Falcon you know for sure he is ? We hung a lot of these guys out to dry . I have 2 friends that are here now that I worked with from Afghanistan that worked with us there for more than 10 years each and I met there and they are the lucky ones .
@@johnneill5960 In light of the recent US withdrawal and complete coup by the Taliban, I hope your two friends and their families are safe.
others would say a traitor ..
After watching 11 days and a wake up I can't stop thinking about this battle and those poor soldiers who were sent into a suicide mission 2 weeks before going home ..they were already burnt out they had been taking multiple contacts daily sometimes upto 11 times a day..they all knew before they left for wanat they were fucked and nobody was coming back...it should never of happened...the chosen few were heroes
@Syphax Atlas yeah
FUCK AMERICA , FUCK NATO !
';';;'';';';';
I just watched it last night and it was one of the saddest things I’ve ever watched smh.
This was my plt thought i was having hip replacement this day cause I got shot 9times on the Nov 9th ambush All of the fallen are heros It’s been 15 years and I’m still affected. My body has been in constant pain since Nov 9th 2007 and my mind
The Locals warned us that day that they were coming 30 groups of 5 spread out in 360 degrees so it was IMPOSSIBLE to counter. We put an FOB in the bottom of a fishbowl.
Im sorry for the loss of your brothers and I thank you for your service to our country.
It was the same for us at Keating
We learned a lot from it, our best learning opportunities are the ones that ended in the most tragedy, we are honor bound to learn from their mistakes, and never forget their sacrifices. Leadership should have realized their issue(s), I am not surprised by the Army's lack of acknowledgement for the brass's mistakes, they think they can toss around some silver stars and we'll just get over it... Sorry, we all lost people throughout that cluster fuck and we KNEW the bulk of the Afghani "commandos" were double agents. Way too many good guys died at the hands of bad guys and the brass who were in field and support command should all be tried!
SmithN' Wesson never fight on the low ground. Putting those guys where they put them sealed their fate. It’s just the dumbest tactical battlefield decision I’ve seen. That’s saying a lot. Those guys fought unbelievably hard though. They did very good for what they had to deal with.
Who are you? I was at Keating.
And another Kahler gives up his life for our country. RIP, cousin. We miss you.
Sorry for your loss bro
@Syphax Atlas don’t be a dick , he was a hero who undoubtedly saved his men
@Syphax Atlas if you don’t have something positive to say, sit down and shut up.
@Syphax Atlas bro u serious? Get the fuck out of here
@Syphax Atlas I'm not here to argue whether the US Army should have or shouldn't have went into Afghanistan. You're mixing two stuff together, because the soldiers that died weren't the one who declared war. I understand your point of view when you say that USA tried to "invade" Afghanistan but that's a choice that the government made not the soldiers. So next time show a little more respect especially when it's about the lost of someone important to that person.
I served in Afghanistan, back in 2010-2011. Our AO was just down the valley. We operated out of FOB Blessing and COP Michigan, in Pech river valley.
Absolute cover-up of the Intelligence failure of major proportions. The reliance of all the vaunted drones failed to uncover the MASSIVE movement of Taliban forces into the area. If I had survived the attack, I would have been brought on charges after I killed the S2. The report also glossed over the almost complete lack of artillery support because it was "difficult" to shoot into a hole surrounded by mountains. One volley of ineffective 155 fire IS NOT fire support!!!! 2 bombs from an AF plane IS NOT fire support. The arrival of 2 Apaches almost an hour after the fight started IS NOT fire support. If all the leadership, who never showed up until too late, was concerned about how a 2LT was positioning his forces, why didn't put boots not the ground to help the platoon out. Cowards, all and worse, incompetent. There was NO engineer support contrary to the report that kept on stressing that there was. What a LIE! One bobcat is nothing! Part 1.
amen bro.
where you there?
It may be observed that the artillery problem was attempted to be remedied by the issued of multiple mortar systems. The artillery was there to cover outside the danger close radius and the surrounding heights and the mortars would cover closer. I believe the mortars have a smaller danger close than arty. The terrain would of been the worst you could of seen except for jungle I am guessing.
A few things I could understand like few resources and the inability to send enough supplies but you are right about that they should have payed way more attention
Sad thing is they blamed the 2lt of chosen company. A marine lt general did an investigation and found out all the senior commanders were derelict of duty. The army changed the marines investigation and blamed the 2lt. The second LT actually was very brave during this fight. Eyewitnesses said he kept a cool head ran under enemy fire to ger ammo and lots more valiant behavior. Sad that a dead man cant defend himself
I loved the way the script and story board were styled like a report. No dressing it up, just packed with information. Thank you for your hard work on this, you got my sub!
Documentary with footage of Chosen Company along with interviews of the some of the soldiers of Chosen Company. ruclips.net/video/e08Vh31Cw6s/видео.html
The graphics look like ArmA (the first one), but it's still a pretty good video showing of what happened. Most of the time for people who were never there, from what youtube footage we can see, it's long range suppressing fire between bases and mountain positions. This is probably the best example we're getting on RUclips, aside from movies, of what happened during these instances of close combat battles.
It's not exactly ArmA, but an offshoot called Virtual Battlestations, made by Bohemia Interactive Simulators, a division of Bohemia Interactive focusing entirely on Simulators for military clients. While it is based on the same engine, BIS has done massive modular changes for the game to allow Military clients to modify it in a manner that would be suitable for specific needs. I never got my hands on it so take this with a grain salt, but while it is also present in the ArmA series, the Modularity of VBS allows for an even greater amount of consistency and realism, since they are all in-built and are done in mind of other modules, therefore resulting in a Simulator that can more easily train and teach various aspects.
@@aaudi6365 The British Army also adopted this system a year before I left. They now use it regularly and extensively for training. VBS has come a long way.
The footage is intentionally degraded.
Incredible video. Never seen such a detailed reconstruction. Breathtaking to watch.
My squad was suppose to go to perform the engineering side of building the base and my squad leader chickened out cause it was being talked about as a Purple Heart mission before any engineers went. We went as far as having our bags packed up geared up and on the flight line. We waited for long time and as the bird that we was suppose to get on to go to Wanat descended someone running the flight line pills my squad leader to the side and he comes to us minute later and yells for us to go back to the tent we weren’t going? A different squad from a different platoon was selected to go which my squad leader was ecstatic about but I was disappointed at the time being new hungry private. Couple days later we learned what happened. 2 soldiers from my company received Purple Heart and 3 with bronze stars with V device. Luckily we did not lose any engineers and hated to hear about the warriors from 173rd who was lost. In the 15 months I served in The Stan 173rd was by far the greatest unit we worked under. 1 of the Soldiers shot and wounded at Wanat returned to Afghanistan against medical advice in very short time after the casualty.
just imagine if you guys had gone as well. I bet there would have been fewer KIA and it would have been a more successful operation
FUCK AMERICA , FUCK NATO !
;'';;'';';';;';'';';';';';;'
@Adam Khan FUCK AMERICA , FUCK NATO !
@@SaulTink It was a perfect kill zone from elevated positions, if anything more service members probably would have lost their lives if more were in play.
Funny you say you were a new hungry private when in reality they needed a seasoned battle experienced platoon to go. So something isn't adding up here.
I am very upset that the KIA and WIA were not named. A very good friend was with Chosen Company, and has the massive scar and medals, from this battle. These soldiers deserve that. Brothers were killed and wounded.
What do you expect from corrupt leadership?
this names all of them in the beginning: ruclips.net/video/e08Vh31Cw6s/видео.html&ab_channel=BattleofWanat%2CAfghanistanWarDocumentary
I think around the 2-3 minute mark
There's a phenomenal video about the chosen few that honors these soldiers.
I respect your perspective but that’s not really what this video was about
i came here right after watching the tribute video, just go watch the hour long tribute video, its really good.
Long live the boys of Chosen Company...Rest In Peace to the men who bravely and valiantly fought and lost their lives. Thank you very, very much for your service.
this is better than a movie. Good breakdown of what happened.
Initially I didn't think I was gonna watch a 30 min video lol but I did. Great job, great video!
Amazing video and amazing attention to detail. I'm impressed with the amount of information given. Excellent work. The obvious conclusion is that when things go wrong just put the blame on those who were killed and use "shadows and mirrors" to hide the incompetence of the real culprits. May the brave men killed in action rest in peace.
Crazy.. I was a Marine in an ETT and spent almost my entire deployment at FOB Bella and left country about 6 months before this went down. Was a horrible area smack in the middle of the mountains and constantly exposed to rocket fire and many battles. RIP Bocks!
Documentary with footage of Chosen Company along with interviews of the some of the soldiers of Chosen Company. ruclips.net/video/e08Vh31Cw6s/видео.html
I was in Chosen 1st platoon, we spent the end of the deployment out at Bella. I was dumbfounded at the location for the outpost, surrounded by highground. it was nuts for sure.
@@coolerman_13 appreciate you man. I made friends with a few of the Airborne guys that were there too.. that was 2007
@@GRANDDOSE appreciate you too, idk if I could’ve done your job training over there. Almost got shot in the foot trying to do marksman training with the ANA on my next deployment haha
@@coolerman_13 lol yea let's just say it was wild for sure, but they had their own ways and customs and just had to try and work with it. I got pretty lucky and was around a lot of good guys for the most part and had a great interpreter I became good friends with. Hope they're well and wish for the best for their people over there under today's circumstances. They just want a good life too and that's what they were trying to fight for.
Thanks for sharing this!
Really instructive for any military!
My most respect and gratitude for those involved in the fight.
Wow. Subscribed and looking forward to more. I never paid much attention to the conflict, but this makes it quite clear how difficult the situation is.
As soon as they arrived in Afghanistan. They were doomed.
Nothing like digging your own grave in 110F heat while the enemy is 50ft away having tea at the local coffee shop watching you. Sign me up , obvious genius' running this operation.
I lOVE watching historical accounts of real battle's but it gets old when the creator uses old B-Roll / Stock footage I've seen on half a dozen other videos....But, this was VERY well explained! I bet it took you days to make this! PLEASE, make many more! These young men are TOTAL BADASSES.... Least we forget their courage & sacrifices! R.I.P to the Fallen!
A whole army may become demoralized, and a general may lose heart. In the morning a soldier is full of fight, in the afternoon he is slowing down, and in the evening he thinks only of returning to camp. A skilled general will avoid the enemy when they are full of fight, and engage with them when their thoughts have turned to their beds. This is mastery of morale. He uses discipline in the face of disorder, and calmness to confront frenzy. This is mastery of emotion. To be close to the battlefield whilst the enemy is still far away, to be fresh and rested when the enemy is exhausted, to be well-fed when the enemy is hungry, this is mastery of the upper hand. Holding off from an enemy whose banners are well ordered, and not engaging with an army in tight formation, this is mastery of circumstance.
Here are some of the basic principles of war: never attack uphill, nor defend downhill; do not be lured into attack by feigned flight, and do not attack an enemy who is rested and full of fight. Do not swallow the bait put out for you, and do not get in the way of an army that is homeward bound. When you surrounded an enemy, always leave them a way out, and do not press a corncered foe too hard. This is the art of waging war.
-THR ART OF WAR BY SUN TZU....
They were sent as bait .To see how many insurgents were in the area .This tactic happened alot in Vietnam
and to give pretext to prolong the war
I highly advise you to watch "11 days and a wake up" if not done so already
PART 2. MY COMMENTS are truncated for reasons unknown to me. 2 Apaches arriving after almost an hour IS NOT fire support. Bottom line, the complete failure of the chain of command and their staffs is the ultimate reason for the sacrifice of a platoon of Airborne Troops. If I were the Company Commander, the Battalion Commander and the Brigade Commander as well as the S2s at all levels, I would put a gun in my mouth and fire for effect. Those guys are the epitome of the concept of mind over matter: The higher command doesn't mind, and the troops don't matter. What a complete whitewash of the Company Commander and above as far as fault. Although commanders they qualify as REMFs.
I think Lt Brostrom's father got it right when he said "no one had the balls to say don't do it." If they didn't have the troop strength or resources to protect these soldiers while they built the new base, they shouldn't have gone there in the first place. This video is bullshit and throws these soldiers to the wolves. It said that Chosen CO made wrong assumptions about the kind of attack that was coming and thus weren't prepared? They all seemed to know pretty damn well that they were getting handed a suicide mission where a large, coordinated attack was likely. Shoring them on things like Claymores, trip flares, concertina wire, appropriate machinery to construct defenses like 8 ft Hesco's, and WATER, was criminally negligent. Basically, four Humvees and a bunch of sandbags. Too many times we have seen investigations where the U.S. Army eats its young instead of holding higher-ups accountable. We see Army investigations where non-comms and Junior officers get hanged out to dry in business as usual fashion to avoid embarrassment or legal culpability for field grades and higher. It's a calculated, sickening, and demoralizing practice which needs to end. Honor to the dead hero's demands it.
Kinda like today where they got 13 soldiers killed in the shit show pull out of Afghanistan and then throw a soldier in the brig for demanding accountability for the leaders who planned this disaster getting these men killed.. our military leaders are a disgrace right now and maybe they always have been in recent times.. im absolutely disgusted
@@3rdyoutubechannelstopdelet914 yup, I'm sure that if any Lt Col, Colonel, or General had to eat, sleep, and defend the perimeter at Wanat with 360 degrees of mountains and fighting age males staring at them for days on end in the 120 degree heat, they would have sorted out the materials and manpower issues immediately. There's no way in hell they would've just sucked it up and waited for the bullets to start flying. You think Colonel Ostlund would've spent a minute on the ground that week in Wanat and tolerated being used as bait, waiting for for hundreds of crazy Fundamentalists with AK's and RPG's to surround and massacre them? Another thing was the ridiculous rules of engagement! These paratroopers were so worried about discharging their weapons without the proper predicates and going to Leavenworth. They have colleagues who spent years in prison because the politics had bled into what was once a clear cut war against terrorists who dress like civilians and hide like cowards. It got so bad that there were even "good"Taliban and "bad" Taliban. They are all drug dealing, child raping, murderers, taking their orders from the higher-ups in Pakistan.
We should have just violated Pakistani sovereignty and finished them off werr they live. What, were the Pakistanis going to use nukes on us? It's a miscarriage of justice that Ostlund and Chip Preysler weren't indicted for sheer negligence. Instead, Ostlund is probably a full Colonel by now and in the pipeline to be a General. It's sickening. The ones who work the hardest and sacrifice the most are always the ones who pay the highest price in blood.
@@jonathanbecker8935 exactly.. its almost like they want these wars to continue.. no thats exactly what they want and they throw our young men over there to die.. that mission should of never happened and those men knew they were going to die, the part of the one documentary was heartbreaking where they were talking about what they knew was going to happen.. those men were straight up heros fighting to keep their brothers alive
It's more damaging for a nation to show weakness and show senior leadership as incompetent than to throw some nobody LT or CPT under the bus
Part 3. Higher command doesn't mind and the troops didn't matter. The command structure above the platoon, despite them being Infantry (?), as a result of this whitewashed debacle are now the poster officers of REMFs. I can only hope eventually enough people could see that they were unworthy of command that they never commanded a unit again (but unfortunately, they had protectors, fellow REMFs so they are probably generals and colonels now.). For the soldiers at Wanat; "Let it be said, well done, be thou at peace".
I visited the 'fishbowl' one time on a supply run. Pucker factor was a 10 the entire trip up and back down. We all talked about it for weeks before it actually happened. Even the lowliest private could have taken a 10 second look and determined it was a killing zone.
Just yesterday a young man told me about an attack on a similar base belonging to rhe Americans in Kunar province early in the morning in 2008 or 09. He said that they set the mules free when they got into the compound. Many More stories from him but it will take a lot of time.
You seem to gloss over the fact that UAV coverage was withdrawn to cover a visit by Joint Chiefs staff. Also, the multiple warnings of impending attack were ignored. The Chosen Few were also left with little food or water and no resupply. The planned engineering support didn't show up. This was a screw up by command at the company level and up. From site selection, logistics and intel. Later, the Pentagon covered the butts of the officers by withdrawing letters of reprimand and placing blame on the dead platoon leader that heroically ran through withering fire to reach topside. Wanat resulted in multiple Silver Stars and one Medal of Honor. Those seem worth mentioning.
Once again we see the Afghan Police involved in this battle, disgusting. Thankfully the reinforcements arrived or this could have been a massacre. Great video and thanks for sharing this. Thank you for your service guys, ML&R Scott
Principles of defence -
Depth - There was a degree of depth as there were 2 positions, however it was woefully insufficient for the ground.
All round defence - This was not achieved. 360 degree arcs were achieved, but large amounts of dead ground and insufficient cover meant the enemy had freedom of movement.
Mutual support - The unit was isolated from other units which allowed large ingress/egress areas which in turn allowed the unit to be surrounded. Air support can only do so much.
Reserves - There was no reserve force. The unit was isolated in insufficient numbers to have a reserve element.
Offensive spirit - The unit was too small and focused on building the camp to have an in depth patrol plan, and could not dominate the surrounding area.
Deception - The camp was overlooked by high ground. Locals had access and there was little that could be done to hide actions or intent.
There were a number of other errors in the above but you get the point. Essentially there were significant failings in all aspects of the basic principles of defence. Most of these stem from position of the camp and limited numbers and resources which were outside of the control of the platoon commander. The base location is decided at strategic level. Resource allocation is at Bn level at a minimum. While the platoon commander has control over the OP site the company commander is supposed to exercise oversight and control, particularly as the senior guy on the ground is a young 2Lt. Using him as a scapegoat is a failure of integrity at all levels.
Those guys should never been at least 45 minutes from their nearest backup. A Predator drone was also pulled away from Wanat shortly before the attack. A Predator drone they very badly needed. An hour to get any type of Apache support? Man an hour is a long time to be outnumbered 10 to 1 and fighting for your lives. As usual The high ranking General's like General Petraes blamed the Liutenant who did the best he could with a terrible location, rather than admit the Big Brass are the ones who screwed this up. Those men fought hard and are fallen heroes !! Betrayed by the Afghanistan people they are there to help. I'm glad we left Afghanistan, that country is hell on earth.
Til Valhalla brothers.. They fought their a*s off for each other. These guys actually got to use a claymore too on a lighter note thats cool and rare these days.
During Basic we had a drill sergeant , DS Gillmore and he received the silver star from this ambush, after finding out the entire situation. It was a completely fucked story and could have been prevented. So many lives gone. RIP
Izzy Jay C,co 258 ?
Documentary with footage of Chosen Company along with interviews of the some of the soldiers of Chosen Company. ruclips.net/video/e08Vh31Cw6s/видео.html
How did you manage to get Sylvester the Cat to narrate this video?
it took me a while to realize that they literally just recreated the battle of wanat using the original arma.
this is a lets play
It's way better than those shitty animations made from some early 2000s program
The OP was never abandoned!
Such a shame our young men had to die defending a spot that just got thrown away. The enemy attacks to drive out US troops, US troops withdraw, insurgent mission successful
Taliban successful in driving out the occupying forces
BS, for 2k i can get a drone with a go pro on it and see everything. Give the guys what they freaking need.......
@Zig Zag it's fucking 2002
Kane-baka ANA are getting schwacked in their hundreds. They have been for years.
@@lorddayy 2008, drones where just coming out.
Drones have been around since 1916....
www.e-education.psu.edu/geog892/node/643
@@abrb1223 from that website:
In late 1916, the US navy funded Sperry Gyroscope Company (later named Sperry Corporation) to develop an unmanned torpedo that could fly a guided distance of 1000 yards to detonate its warhead close enough to an enemy warship. Almost two years later, on March 6, 1918, after a series of failures, Sperry efforts succeeded in launching an unmanned torpedo to fly a 1000-yard course in stable guided flight. It dived onto its target at the desired time and place, and later was recovered and landed. With this successful flight, the world’s first unmanned aircraft system, which is called Curtis N-9, was born.
A terrible feeling I wish upon no man, not even the enemey.
This broke my heart ...
Ssgt Dennis P K
U.S Marines 0311
FALLUJAH VET
Thank you for your service 🇺🇸🇺🇸 planning on joining the marines in a couple years when I’m of age hopefully your doing well ooh rah
Our government lied to us. I deployed with 1st Marine Expeditionary Force (I-MEF) as the G-2 Systems Chief as a GySgt in 2010. The Marines I was responsible for ran that shop. I was just a buffer between them and the Major who rode our asses.
It’s a fucking blur. So many died that year and since I retired a couple years later, I didn’t deploy to Afghanistan again. I’ll never forget hearing those guys outside the wire calling in support every single day for Marines and others with a leg missing. Two legs missing. An arm or both. And when those precious angels took flight. 😓🕊️
Take voting very, very seriously, America.
God bless the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice. I’m so sorry we didn’t all know the greedy truth why we were there. 😥
If this is accurate, having played enemy for US forces in peace time, none of this comes as a surprise. Subscribed.
Amazing how the story changes from this cya dept of the army version and the version of the guys who had to eat the sandwich. Pretty sure it's called spin.
Thanks and condolences to the front line guys.
Thoughts and prayers for the rear echelon.
Excellent video and over view of the battle.
The accuracy of a B1 to stop a convoy of troops is epic
This is a really well made recreation. Are there anymore videos done like this?
Anyone know what simulator was used to make this? Looks a lot like ARMA.
Its some form of VBS which is Bohemia Interactive's simulation software. I think its built off the same engine as ArmA2 if my memory serves me correctly
more of this and other stuff pls
*****
September 2012 Camp Bastion raid
I'm a vbs designer, does that count? :) Not military unfortunately.
*****
p.s. the BISIM guys here in Orlando love your work. We watch the battle AARs and instructional videos all the time.
Krause
We also watch in Ottawa, and in Prague.
+Tboc Sims Is it view able through ako or some other gov't sight?
This was more enjoyable than any avengers movie
@Jayden Cruz you need to grow up😂 stop crying
The brass always finds a patsy
Was this made with arma 2 or something? The explosions and firearms, even down to the animations are the same.
I think it's america's army
Fubar.... wasted our brave men and protected high leadership! Terrible loss and those that failed their men were protected to save their careers. Who side are the leadership on anyway!!! Sad...
Guerilla warfare is a nightmare, especially in these conditions, you are basically surrounded by hostiles, they litteraly studied the fortified position in details from a few meters away for days.
I understand that the army investigation into this action blamed the platoon leader for the failings. He, of course, was dead and could not defend himself. There is a very comprehensive video on RUclips regarding this action that contains many interviews with the survivors of Chosen Company and absolutely lays the blame higher up the command chain for placing these COPs in very vulnerable places.
Hell yea my squad cleared the bazaar and hotel. Clearing rooms with an axe. Silvernale was a beast
Silvernale was hands down the best leader I've ever had, he really set the example and always wanted to lead from the front.
I transferred to 1st platoon from 3rd after 9Nov, Kuhlman.
20:03 My heart sank. :(
As a retired 1SG/ US Army Paratrooper ...this also made me proud of every Highspeed/ Junior Enlisted that I ever had, that loved doing his job. I did not know this Soldier but I could picture his face and see him delivering some hurt. HOOAH! AIRBORNE, ALL THE WAY!
Fortunate enough to know this fantastic exemplar of a warrior. Truly a humbling experience hearing from him.
My dad worked with him after he got out of the army during a company vets day meeting. SSGT Pitts is a stand-up guy in every respect. My only regret is having not seen him again after I enlisted.
As a UAS operator overflying this very operation I can attest to accurate nature of this video.
3/1 got it bad after we left...
I believe your comment was the battle did happen. End of story. Again i believe this is really a case of Don't Ask, cause I cant tell!
Yes, they did a great job on this. I was in Chosen Company, 1st platoon, part of the initial QRF for this battle. I've avoided watching these for so long but I'm glad they they're documented for us like this.
Thanks for your help out there.
20 years difference almost different country but me and my boys were thrown in an impossible tactical too that same way. Brass will always tell you you’re to blame for their errors and will continue in their lives uninterrupted while our brothers die for those arrogant mistakes.
The Afghan construction company that was supposed to build a fortified position and camp for these men postponed leaving them out there literally with shovels trying to make holes in the ground for some kind of cover. These soldiers should not have had to go to Wanat until it was 100% ready and supplied for them. And they should have only had to go to such a remote outpost with triple the amount of troops they had, immediate Air support, and armor and heavy weapons systems on the ground. Not just small arms weapons like they had. Put a couple Phalanx weapons systems in for them and a Specter Gunship overhead.
Yea the shitty part was, the night before the attack the air support was diverted, I think battle company got into a firefight.
one cool memory from all of that was the night of the 13th we had a specter flying over and they shot a few shells at some enemy nearby.
The way the brass treats their people you would think they're trying to recruit generals rather than privates, but it doesn't work like that.
How do these big shots not realize that they are the ones making recruitment so difficult?
USS Bonhomme Richard case... Nobody in charge got in serious trouble but they tried to throw one sailor in the brig forever with a botched investigation.
MARSOC 7 spent years fighting for their exoneration.
Wanat was a battle that should never have happened. COP Kahler was a vehicle patrol base that was being set up during the RIP/TOA between the 173d and 1ID. Half of the 173d had already rotated out of country. The set up of a COP should have been left to the 1ID, after the 173d left, because they would have to defend it and they should be the ones to decide if the COP in the village would be part of their engagement plan. The 173d sending soldiers out to set up a vehicle patrol base (VPB) when they are literally days from going home, in a indefensible position, only to be handed over immediately to the inbound rotating unit (1ID) to complete building, thus taking the decision of setting up a COP from the the 1ID is absolutely ridiculous and makes no tactical sense. The 1ID should have been briefed on the plan and left to decide if it was something they wanted to pursue. The proof that it was all unnecessary for these soldiers rotating out is the fact that the VPB/COP was immediately abandoned.
I was in JBAD working with the Afghan police at the time, and I can assure you that the 173d leadership was shit.
Eh ;/
100% When we got to country, 10th mountain had just set up a VPB out at chowkay valley, near Fortress. Nothing was built up, we had sandbag walls a few feet high at the time. We knew it was a shitty situation to come in to, not sure why we felt it neccessary to do the same thing to 1st ID.
This is very informative, does a reenactment like this exist for the Tongo Tongo ambush?
Those that ordered and approved those low lying area fish bowl positions are the ones that should be used as a reference for change?
Seems the disconnect between the REMFs and the grunt just gets us casualties and wounded.
If Communication for the best info, to make the best decisions was done then that’s that.
But if that wasn’t the case here? How was it addressed? And What was the result?
Did they use Arma to make this? Need more educational videos like this, those Machina ones are too dramatic, shaky and close up the whole time. This is more what I'm looking for on some WWII battles.
yea i think its arma 2
@ 15:00 where are the enemy's weapons? I'm guessing the only reason the TOW operator didn't blast on them was because they weren't carrying weapons?
Also it said this was not a ACCURATE Representation of this
Also A-10.
Rule #1
Go to the house of the guy who runs the town, have tea with him and then pull out your plugger and mark the middle of his courtyard for targeting. The very first FM is that coord and immediate suppression. If not, well then you'll just suffer time and time again and people will die.
Ten Millimeter ABSOLUTELY! Rule number #1 in counter insurgency (as u said) the local leaders must be made to know that we are here to help, and WE WILL! but if anything happened to us, you will be held responsible. Officially if your lucky. Unofficially if your not.
We will put our necks out for u, we expect the same. If u betray us, the village gets leveled.
Now imagine that was your town and your home with a big target marked on where your kids play around.... There's NO WAY you'd think of him as anything other a killer enemy. It would make all the friendship stuff you say nothing but bg noise.
If you threatened to blow up my kids home, you have made a mortal enemy.
@@WorshipinIdols And that's why every US coin op has failed. Arrogance and a complete lack of empathy.
Besides they never asked for US help, they never believed US were capable of protecting them and whenever they tell US the best thing they can do to help them is to leave, they ignore them.
SISYPHUS VASILIAS of-course I would understand. And the villagers would also understand, and many understand right now and many have before.
I don’t know if u have any experience with this, something tells me your more then an average RUclips commenter, but either way,
Your comparing apples and oranges. #1 they live, and have lived since ‘79 at LEAST, in a totally failed state where the rule of law, basic medicine (which we provide), running water that’s actually clean (again that we provide). These people do not live in 21st century, western, industrialized society and its affiliated social or technological norms. They live lap-dab in the middle of 12-century medieval Europe and all ITS affiliated norms.
So no! They are not stupid, they understand what the word intent means. And 2, back to what I was saying in the beginning, it’s a tribal society, their world is not built on law and order or justice, it’s built on allegiance and alliances and lathes etc...so it would make perfect sense to expect the village to pick their agreement.
SISYPHUS VASILIAS r u a moron? Are u 11 years old? COIN? Stop using big words u don’t u understand.
The problem is we need to know when a mission is not cost effective. When an ally, or just an oppressed or persecuted group has there act together you almost never here about them cause 1) we show up 2) their oppressors get wrecked 3) they stand up a regularly military and form government and become a stable state.
In fact they are so eager to fight u don’t hardly get to see the bad guys. Examples are the Kurds, Thais, Ukrainians, Georgians, South Koreans in their day, Israel (when it was newer, now they are teaching us lessons, lol). And many others
Its a shame with our huge Army and supply capacity these men where left out there with minimal support and placed in peril by their command choosing such as lame position. I am not talking about the company to platoon leaders, I am speaking of Col. Olstrom who decided this was a great place to build a base. The signs were all there that a attack was imminent and yet there was zero escalation of assets. The men at wan-at did not even have trip wire flares given to them to cover dead zones. This whole engagement was a disaster waiting to happen, as a disabled Vet myself I know how the Army will put soldiers through hell while the leaders sit in their little office like Caesar. The leaders should be out on the front every freaking day to observe and not micromanage, but fill in gaps that are so apparent a private could have seen them. Supply is the weakness and because they where shipping back I guarantee the bean counters stopped having a supply of accessory weapons, so they would be ready to leave . My heart breaks for these men and I am ashamed of the Army for whitewashing this incident to protect the officers and place blame on a dead Lt. Get off you asses Colonels and get out in the field but don't showboat , advise in private to the officers and help them have the tools they need. The mission had weak air support that took an hour to reach them, whatever happened to all hours air cover, it all comes down to the low deployment of assets to afghanistan. Pray for the soldiers still in harms way and lets hope the cadets and other officers get their act together so more don't die needlessly. I purposely lower cased the afghan names because I believe they are a bunch of back stabbing bastards and we should move the populations out of the valleys in force and place them away from the aaf. Who cares if they haven't changed to support us we need to crush the insurgents supply and method of hiding in plain site. The battle will always cause me to shed a tear for the men and their families thrown to the wolves.
This is amazing work, well done!
thank u I am from Korea army , this video so wonderful
aftermath - My father fought in the Vietnam War. He still talks about the bravery of South Korean soldiers.
great informational video
This recreation is unintentionally hilarious. Not the actual context, but the recreation.
Stand To was something that wasn’t always done by some units in Nuristan for some reason
100% stand to was a must to have the ability to gain the initiative by fire superiority when attacked.
Was this made with Arma 1?
20:03 does anyone know if that soldier made it? I pray that he did
Alan Dempsey and did he make it?
Alan Dempsey appreciate it buddy, a simple yes or no would’ve worked. I’m glad that he got recognition for this and became “famous” but the only thing I cared and prayed for was his safety. So thank the lord that he is still alive.
so, wait.....what happened to the lone remaining soldier at OP Topside who scrounged the M240?
ww2 colorizer he was med evac out
Valar Dohaeris
SGT Ryan Pitts, he survived and was awarded the Medal of Honor. He was calling in airstrikes as well as defending the position. Here's a video about his story ruclips.net/video/ekurHlfnWeo/видео.html
Wonder what happen to the Afghanistan police with the clean uniforms.
General Petraeus really messed up in the investigation on this one. He should do a video on the barge matal battle next.
And Keating
Fenty Jbad ? We touched down with Duke June 2008. We were too "cherry" at the time. Asadabad would have been the reinforcement point , supplies coming out of JBad.
A demonstration of what happens when "Can Do Attitude" conflicts with situational reality. The analogy of too little peanut butter on too much bread makes for a shitty sandwich is very appropriate. Senior combat leaders needing to demonstrate they can accomplish the mission with inadequate resources leads to putting small units at risk to accomplish a larger political goal...this leads to metaphysical failures....the mind over matter phenomenon..."We don't mind and you don't matter". It's a modern American military problem...too concerned about image and too little concern about mission.
What is “AAF Estimate”?
Miguel Guzmán afghan army forces estimated death
The army let these heros down by blaming the platoon leader instead of the leadership of those above....
When the guys got moved to wanat just 2 weeks before the end of their tour...they were left out to dry...the bastards who even sent them there with little or no support even put the blame on the LT for the 9 KIA...the guys made the ultimate sacrifice...dead men can't talk!!! Ours not to reason why...ours but to do or die...god bless them all..from a friend 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
what was this made in?
How many were killed total
Isn't this made with VBS2 or ArmA1?
is this Arma 3 on the lowest graphics?
This happened 2 months and 7 days after I enlisted in the army yet I had never heard about this, what happened to these soldiers is beyond fucked up and disgusting that the chain of command basically doomed them and they should of been held accountable
What really happend was; my Infantry Brother, Jason Bogar, was sent to his dealth by negligent cowards. They will pay the price for thir sins. Vengence is mine.
Where, Sir, is the discussion of the problems of placing COPs exactly where it is easiest to have them over-run? The nine killed are the cost of an officer deciding, "Yes, the site sucks. But it will only be for a couple of weeks. No one is going to try to attack your fish bowl, honest!" CYA still is a critical skill for field grade. Nice.
What happened to taking the high ground?
How do you move a base without all the equipment you need and why wasn't their a gunship in the air especially while our guys are completely uncovered and wouldn't it make sense to send 1st squad to help build the defenses after the bobcat broke (which is why there should be two)
Great upload! Thx
VBS right?
Most definitely now that I'v seen more of the video.
***** It is probably bad that I am actually considering buying VBS-3
mushidigger I would love to own it but the price...
InsaneCommunity bro do u even arma?
Gerard Zhou Of course I do. Milsim is the best gaming expierence you can have on the PC.