Wanat, 2008

The battle, stage by stage

1. 8–12 July 2008

   Building Vehicle Patrol Base Kahler

   In Operation Rock Move, Chosen Company of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry (173rd Airborne Brigade) gives up the remote outpost of COP Bella. Its 2nd Platoon drives in after dark on 8–9 July to Wanat, the Waygal district centre about 8 km north of FOB Blessing, and starts building a new base on an open field on the south-west edge of the village, between the Waygal River and the road. With them are about two dozen Afghan National Army soldiers, three Marine trainers and an engineer squad with a Bobcat loader — some 48 Americans in all. The base is named for Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Kahler, the platoon's former platoon sergeant, killed in January. Nine paratroopers dig in at Observation Post Topside on terraces about 100 m to the east. Heat, a short supply of water and a contractor who never delivers the heavy equipment slow the work; by the 12th the wire and HESCO walls are still incomplete, and there are no posts on the high ground that rings the village.

2. Night of 12–13 July; 04:00 stand-to

   Fighters in the village

   Unseen by the Americans, a large insurgent force — U.S. estimates were about 120–200, an Afghan official said several hundred — moves into Wanat. By most accounts they occupy the mosque, the hotel and café complex, the bazaar and houses that ring the base, a two-storey building on the terraced hill to the north, and the brush-choked ravine of the Wayskawdi Creek, which drops away only about ten yards north of Topside and gives them dead ground right up to the OP. Others take positions on the mountains to the west, north and east. At the 04:00 stand-to, men are spotted on the high ground west of the river; Sgt. Ryan Pitts and Spc. Tyler Gobble at Topside begin a fire mission and Capt. Matthew Myer prepares to engage them.

3. 13 July, about 04:20

   The dawn attack

   Before the fires land, a burst of machine-gun fire from the two-storey building to the north opens a coordinated attack from three sides. Volleys of RPGs from the village strike the mortar pit and set it ablaze, and the TOW missile HMMWV is hit and destroyed in the first minutes, its missiles burning. At Topside, fighters rise out of the ravine and throw grenades and fire RPGs from a few metres away; Cpl. Matthew Phillips and Cpl. Gunnar Zwilling are killed in the northern position, and nearly every other man there is wounded, Pitts badly. The main base, raked from the mosque, hotel, bazaar and the slopes, fights back with whatever weapons still work.

4. About 04:45

   The run to Topside

   With the OP calling for help, 1st Lt. Jonathan Brostrom, the platoon leader, and Spc. Jason Hovater run from the command post across the open, past direct fire from the hotel, and up the terraces to Topside. Cpl. Jason Bogar, Cpl. Pruitt Rainey and Cpl. Jonathan Ayers are fighting on the OP; Pitts, unable to stand, hands his machine gun to Rainey and fights on with grenades and an M203. Brostrom's men try to build a defence on the north-west side of the position. In the next minutes Brostrom, Hovater, Bogar, Rainey and Ayers are killed; Spc. Chris McKaig goes down to the main base for ammunition, and Spc. Jacob Stafford and Gobble, wounded, make their way to the casualty point at the traffic control point.

5. About 05:00

   Topside nearly overrun

   For a time Pitts is the only living American on Topside, so close to the enemy that he can hear them talking. Whispering on the radio, he asks for covering fire, and Sgt. Brian Hissong at the traffic control point fires grenades just over his position. Staff Sgt. Sean Samaroo, Sgt. Israel Garcia, Spc. Michael Denton and Spc. Jacob Sones climb to the OP from the south. A fresh volley of RPGs wounds every man there; Garcia is mortally wounded, and Samaroo orders the survivors to pull back. Pitts was later awarded the Medal of Honor (2014) for holding the position.

6. About 05:00–06:15

   Apaches over the ravine

   AH-64 Apaches arrive — about half an hour into the fight, by most accounts — and make their first run on the ravine north of Topside, with rounds landing only metres from the Americans. Under that cover a third group from the main base (by one account led by the platoon sergeant) climbs the terraces and retakes the OP for good. Artillery from FOB Blessing, a Predator drone and other aircraft join in. At about 06:15 a medevac helicopter lands on the terraces under fire and lifts out Pitts, Samaroo, Sones and Denton. Spc. Sergio Abad, reportedly wounded early in the attack in the main perimeter, dies of his wounds.

7. 13 July, morning

   The QRF and the end of the attack

   Chosen Company's 1st Platoon, sent as the quick reaction force from FOB Blessing, reaches Wanat and, with Apaches overhead, clears the bazaar, the hotel and buildings around the base and the hillsides beyond. After about four hours of fighting the insurgents break off and withdraw into the mountains. Nine Americans have been killed and 27 wounded, with four or more Afghan soldiers wounded; U.S. estimates of insurgent dead ranged from about 20 to more than 50, though few bodies were recovered. Villagers' losses and damage in Wanat were reported but never fully recorded.

8. 13–15 July 2008

   Leaving Wanat

   Afghan commandos search the village; a weapons cache is reported found in the police station. Commanders judge the position untenable, and on 15 July (some accounts say the 16th) U.S. and Afghan forces pull out of Wanat. The Army's 15-6 investigation, a review ordered at Senator Jim Webb's request and a further investigation under Lt. Gen. Richard Natonski followed; reprimands issued to three officers in 2010 were later withdrawn. The dead of 13 July: Spc. Sergio S. Abad, Cpl. Jonathan R. Ayers, Cpl. Jason M. Bogar, 1st Lt. Jonathan P. Brostrom, Sgt. Israel Garcia, Cpl. Jason D. Hovater, Cpl. Matthew B. Phillips, Cpl. Pruitt A. Rainey and Cpl. Gunnar W. Zwilling.