Okay, this is what I’ve gotten from my source on Bagram about the attack the other day and it was confirmed as good poop by another guy I know on Bagram. From the eyes on the ground…
I personally was woken up at around 0345 by the sound of close AK fire. There were around 15 AAF going for ECP 1 with a VBIED and suicide vests… which turned out to be the successful diversion. Apaches were in the air within minutes of all hell breaking loose at ECP 1 but in the interim somewhere between 7-10 AAF with grenades and RPGs made it through the first perimeter fence by Coyote Creek on the North side close to the SF compound. Air cover was already in the air and they were stuck in no man’s land so they went for the final perimeter fence and started tossing grenades over the Hescos trying to hit the living areas (which in my opinion are obviously too close to the fence line). Guys from 173rd and a couple Sr NCOs coming through BAF on R&R put together a team and shot 1 AAF with a stack of RPGs and 3 others with suicide vest that were in the process of breaching the perimeter…At least one had made it through and was killed within moments and the other died stuck in the wire. One of the towers was also breached (although [unconfirmed] rumor has it the AF tower guard, who man the tower with a ANA partner, fled his post…not sure if that is true or just standard AF bashing) All the big stuff was over with by 0630, SAF continued throughout the day. The scary part was how close these guys came to really doing some damage…They were literally within 25 yards of housing areas. Force Protection on BAF is a joke…Simple things like not allowing the vegetation to grow 3 ft high up to the perimeter fence, not having living areas within grenade throwing distance of the weak perimeter and other common sense stuff.
If not for the quick thinking of a few take charge NCOs and a few guys they were able to scoop up, we would have been screwed. Some of those guys wound up badly injured, but they held the (thin) line.
Oh and there were obvious signs that there was a large force forming up for something and probes for the last 6 wks. And they were spot on regarding where the weak points were. Not a warm fuzzy feeling. And it is very curious why this has not gotten more media attention…VERY strange indeed.
Then I asked if the breach and attack were near Camp Cherry-Beasley where I thought it was and this is the response I got…
Yep, the 5 guys the make shift QRF shot were along the stretch behind Cherry Beasley and the North DFAC ending at the UAE compound. Oh and all the dead guys were wearing full ACUs complete with brown t shirt. This was not just some half assed attempt, this was well planned,
coordinated and executed. Each of the dead guys were rigged to blow with HME and grenades.
[There are guys here who] were here back in 2004-2005 and they have mentioned how different the FP is. All the concrete is gone, those of us lucky enough to be in a B-Hut are exposed; we had a contractor killed in my area (Infantry Village) in FEB by a 107 rocket that had his B-hut had something as simple as sand bags, he probably would have made it through…but they have gotten rid of those too… Billeting moves Soldiers into stacked CHUs on the perimeter with NO type of barriers in place… [removed to protect anonymity].
We have kids who like to spend their days throwing rocks across the fence into our work area trying to hit us or our VSAT. The other day one of them had a slingshot and was shooting out the big perimeter lights. BASE OP and FP were called but [the unit] was told they are not responsible for replacing the lights. NO SHIT, think you can maybe send over someone to chase them off? [If any of the soldiers in this unit do anything other verbally reprimand the kids they get UCMJ action no matter how many times they get hit with a rock] There probably was a reason these kids were going after the lights (duh), just like they were likely the ones who supplied the weapons caches they found on the perimeter the last couple days. Oh and we have had Haji come through the fence and right up to the towers at night and walk off with the solar panels…But the guards are at least in full rattle now.
We have tried to go through the right channels, we have jumped up and down and screamed about this stuff, we have gotten IG involved and we get the same BS answers and nothing changes (although IG did get their attention for about a week). Just like this incident will get people spun up for a couple weeks, then it will be back to business as usual. There was no plan for something like this, unless you call random people coming around on a gator telling you to lock and load and sit in the bunker a plan. Makes me long for the days of “stand to”. I guess that we should count ourselves lucky there was no fratricide.
Things don’t look so good out in Bagram. The BDOC at BAF never really did have it all together but now it seems like it’s all falling apart. WTF? Removing the concrete bunkers? Housing within grenade range of the hescoes? That’s JV bullshit. You don’t do that and expect to NOT have all hell break loose.
And for all those that want to throw out the “were you there?” and “did you witness this?” questions, no I wasn’t… but I have two people that way that this is about how it went down so take it for what its worth. I personally tend to believe it.
Tags: Afghanistan, ambush, attack, Bagram, Bagram Air Base, Bagram Air Field, Base Defensive Operations, breach, Camp Cherry Beasley, deriliction, lax defenses, myopia, Taliban, towers, wire
It’s high time to get preped.
Barrels Foo-gas on the perimeter, plenty of trip-flares and claymores backed up by 105′s and M1A2 Abrams, bore sighted and loaded with beehive and canister.
Put every swinging dick on 50% alert, locked and loaded. Stockpile grenades and LAAWs.
Get the A-10′s and Apachies in the air to saturate the ground with 30mm and canister and most importantly:
Blow every living creature in the kill zone into a pink mist, ASAP!
Sniper,
All the jokes, Tuesday’s, etc. Are totally fun and all.
But THIS is why I come here at least once a day.
Well this and the Demotivators…
Seriously, THANK YOU and your sources for sharing REAL news and decent SA with us.
David
Thanks Sniper, for what Keith Olberdork and PMSNBC won’t give us. None of us want anyone to violate OPSEC, but just a bit of reality helps. We’ve come a long ways since the News Reels of the war at the local Movie Theater, but todays media absolutely sucks! Biggest reason that I miss Badgers Forward, and his posts of when he was “incountry”. Never told us any secret shit, just stuff that we care to know about OUR TROOPS, from day to day. Thank your sources for ME and the rest of US!
But keep the Demotivators coming too, We need them!
Nuf Sed
This is pretty much a repeat of what’s above, but I can’t let a post like this go uncommented. This is the type of media coverage I wish I would be able to obtain and view often, not because I have any family or friends currently in BAF, but because I care for every single one of our troops and I wish to know how there current status. Just view me as a concerned parent who wishes to know what my kids are up to (even though im only 18). I cannot say enough that you deserve to be commended for these past two posting. You may not be serving over in Afghanistan, Iraq, or any other country that we also have troops in, but you are making an invaluable contribution to the public just the same. Thank you.
i know all these area left baf in april all that was said is right on according to thetents bhuts and stacked containers not much for fp
OK. Is there any way to get the names of the complete IDIOTS running that circus??!!
You say things have been brought up and nothing changes? Somebody needs to be relieved.
If you can find a real pro-troops politician in that den of iniquity inside the beltway, get this poop to him/her and let the fur fly.
No words, just anger at the blatant dereliction of duty to protect the troops.
Winning hearts and minds is all good, but when the general population percieve that you have no sting, your credit goes down. So, if you’re Bagram, don’t pick a fight, but take off your gloves when the fight comes to you. That does not mean putting on hold the Friday bazar for a week. It means having a punchy defense that denies anyone the ability to brag how far they got trying. It doesn’t take fancy cameras, multi-million aircraft, or a retarded big voice. All it takes is a bit of warrier’s spirit, common sense, and sticking to your guns when people come asking questions. Valor isn’t just for enemies. BDOC wouldn’t know.
The army.mil doesn’t understand it is engaged in a hot war with some of the most belligerent azzwipes on the planet… I honestly think that AARs from disasters like Fire Base Mary Ann and books like “Hell In A Very Small Place” (French debacle at Dien Bien Phu) are used as arsewipe in Command and Staff College. Hackworth was right, CRS syndrome is endemic in today’s army.mil
DO you really think that this is appropriate to post online? I mean too many details-of what happened, where, etc. Oh yeah, WTF are you putting a map up with markings on it? Come on man. Have consideration for all of us here and and delete/change it to protect the innocent ones here who have given the right to post.
I appreciate you trying to convey the truth, but sometimes more is too much
I’m pretty sure the insurgents who attacked the base know exactly where they attacked and what they did. Plus that’s google imagery… any Taliban member in his right mind knows he can look at that and clearly see every base we have in AFG. I think OPSEC is still intact here. Now doing a BDA (Battle Damage Assessment) for the enemy, IE letting them know what was hit and how successful it was is violating OPSEC.
This really makes me sick to think that my son is so unprotected there. I pray that our commanders will do better for all our military soon.
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[...]Bagram Attack Update « The Sniper[...]…
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[...]Bagram Attack Update « The Sniper[...]…
My son is there now and manning some of the towers among other things and has told me much of what you are saying here. All kinds of crap going down and no one cares. They report a breach on the wall (some Afghan guy supposedly ‘praying’ up on the wall) and they are told to leave him alone because he is praying. Kids throwing rocks and hitting our troops in addition to cracking the glass of the towers that even have glass, rendering them difficult to see out of, but no, leave the kids alone. They have TIED THEIR HANDS BEHIND THEIR BACKS and expect them to just stand around and do nothing for 12-14 hours per day. Why have them there then? Reading your post infuriates me because they’ve known about these security breaches for a long time and they haven’t done anything about it. If anything, it’s even more lax than before. Thank you for the intelligent update. Very refreshing to read the black and white of it.