Victory Point - Ed Darack [103]
At roughly noon on the twelfth, twelve hours after Echo’s troops entered Sawtalo Sar’s northern valleys, Golf Company’s contingent stormed into the Narang, including First Platoon, under Kyle Corcoran, and Second Platoon, under Lieutenant Clif Kennedy, and a platoon of ANA. Grissom, ever conscious of the importance of his Marines’ role in plugging Shah’s final outlet, pored over intel, maps, and after-actions throughout the day. Sleep-deprived but never fatigued, Grissom churned the variables of the tactical calculus lying before him as the Marines of Fox Company rested and prepared to enter the Chowkay. Having studied Chizmadia’s after-action, the captain knew that the locals had been receptive to the Marines during their probing mission—but he also knew that one foray into a remote valley couldn’t come close to determining the true character of the populace, or the threat level they posed. Grissom couldn’t discount even the slightest risk, as just a small handful of well-placed fighters with PK machine guns and RPGs could ruin the day.
Grissom, wanting to move as fast as possible toward Objective- 4—the village of Qalaygal near the juncture of the upper Chowkay and Korangal—chose as Fox’s route the relatively navigable valley floor rather than the more “tactical” (more positions behind which to take cover and move covertly) ridges above the Chowkay. Logistically, however, the captain knew that the valley’s steep topography wouldn’t stand as the only factor limiting Fox’s rate of ascent into the Chowkay. In addition to Fox-3, his force consisted of a section of 81 mm mortars (four mortar tubes with three Marines per tube to operate the weapons); Fox Company’s First Platoon was to act as a security element for this vital mortar section, a company of forty-five Afghan National Army soldiers, and to aid in the portaging of gear for the Marines, Afghan soldiers, and interpreters in the absence of helicopters for troop insert and resupply, Fox Company enlisted the aid of thirty-six donkeys. Thirty-six very fickle, very stubborn donkeys. This was the other factor Grissom had to consider.
Referencing Chizmadia’s report and photographs as he traced his index finger along his map’s densely packed contour lines from the Chowkay’s opening at the Kunar River into the valley’s heights, Grissom reaffirmed a decision he’d made earlier: he would have the 81 mm mortar section, commanded by Lieutenant Ben Middendorf, along with Fox-1, the Afghan soldiers, and the cargo-laden donkeys, move in trace of Fox-3, providing crucial indirect fire coverage with the 81s, if needed—a plan devised in part by Middendorf. Grissom, ever impressed by Konnie and Crisp’s motivational and leadership synergy, would travel with Fox-3, pushing as fast as possible toward their objective, ahead of the more heavily laden Fox-1 and mortar team. Since their route into the Chowkay would take them just outside of the effective range of Doghouse’s 105s at Asadabad (even with RAP rounds), Grissom planned to have Fox-3 stay within the “umbrella” of Middendorf’s 81s once deep into the valley—of course maintaining radio contact with the mortar team at all times. Also traveling with Fox-3, Casmer “Pigeon” Ratkowiak, the onetime battalion air officer, had sought a closer perspective of the fight and attached to Fox for Whalers as a forward air controller. Known by his radio call sign “Venom-11” to pilots working in the area,