Afghanistan

Capt. Will Swenson, next Medal of Honor recipient, sends touching invitation to Gold Star families

By Dan Lamothe on October 3, 2013 Afghanistan, Ganjgal, Medal of Honor

Former Army Capt. Will Swenson will receive the Medal of Honor on Oct. 15, more than four years after he and other U.S. forces tried desperately to find and save three Marines and a Navy corpsman who were trapped under heavy fire in the infamous Battle of Ganjgal in Afghanistan. Those troops didn’t make it out of the Sept. 8, 2009, ambush alive, but Swenson has not forgotten them. He invited the families of Marine 1st Lt. Michael Johnson, Gunnery Sgt. Edwin Johnson, Staff Sgt. Aaron Kenefick and Navy Hospitalman 3rd Class James Layton to his White House ceremony, said…

Exclusive videos: Cpl. Rob Richards, Marine scout sniper, speaks on ‘urination video,’ getting wounded in Afghanistan

By Dan Lamothe on September 23, 2013 Afghanistan, Infantry, Wounded warriors

Marine Corps Times posted online last night my long-form profile of Cpl. Rob Richards, one of the Marine scout snipers who appeared in a video urinating on dead Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. The video created an international uproar after it first appeared on the Internet in January 2012. My story is posted in its entirety here. However, I also wanted to point out the work of staff videographer Mike Morones, who traveled me with for the interview to Jacksonville, N.C. With Richards’ permission, we recorded the interview and Morones edited together two video packages. First, here’s Richards speaking on how…

Dakota Meyer’s interpreter, once scared in Afghanistan, now safe at U.S. Wal-Mart

By Dan Lamothe on September 20, 2013 Afghanistan, Ganjgal, Medal of Honor

In recent weeks, Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer has forcefully advocated for the U.S. to allow his former Afghan interpreter into the U.S., saying the man feared for his life after getting death threats from the Taliban. Fayez, shown at right with Meyer, is now in the U.S. The Marine posted the photograph on Twitter on Friday, adding a note that showed relief. “Back together finally,” Meyer said. “Fazel is in America.” Fazel — known in a lot of previous media coverage as Hafez to protect his identify — was in the Ganjgal Valley in eastern Afghanistan on Sept.…

Gritty war-zone video emerges of Capt. Will Swenson, next Medal of Honor recipient

By Dan Lamothe on September 19, 2013 Afghanistan, Awards, Ganjgal

The White House announced on Monday that former Army Capt. Will Swenson will receive the Medal of Honor on Oct. 15, four years after he braved enemy fire repeatedly while leading U.S. forces through a horrific ambush that erupted in eastern Afghanistan. The Battle of Ganjgal on Sept. 8, 2009, is especially well known because Marine Sgt. Dakota Meyer already received the nation’s top award for valor that day. Until tonight, however, few had seen a gritty war-zone video of Swenson on the battlefield during it. A sergeant in the Army National Guard recorded it while working that day on…

Last U.S. Marine tank unit heading home from Afghanistan

By Dan Lamothe on September 5, 2013 Afghanistan, Infantry, Kajaki, Musa Qala, Sangin

The Marine Corps made national headlines in fall 2010 when it sent tanks to northern Helmand province to bolster firepower there. It was a first for the U.S. in the war, which was nine years old at the time. Nearly three years later, the tanks are coming home. Delta Company, 2nd Tank Battalion, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., will redeploy to the U.S. soon, and will not be replaced by a similar unit, said 1st Lt. Philip Kulczewski, a Marine spokesman in Afghanistan. It’s one of the most tangible indications recently that that the U.S. drawdown in forces in Afghanistan…

GQ magazine profiles attack on Camp Bastion, Marines who repelled it

By Dan Lamothe on September 4, 2013 Afghanistan, Camp Bastion, Camp Leatherneck, The CMC

The deadly attack last year on Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, has received widespread coverage, especially by Marine Corps Times. But it isn’t every day that a Marine operation makes the pages of a gentlemen’s magazine. The newest GQ magazine profiles the Sept. 14, 2012, battle, sharing a number of details that square with previously published reports. It was written by Matthieu Aikins, whom I crossed paths with last October while embedded with Marines in Helmand province. Aikins’ story is written colorfully, and includes one troubling new allegation that had not previously been reported: But a troubling question still lingers: How could…

Purple Hearts awarded to Marines wounded in Camp Bastion attack

By Dan Lamothe on August 31, 2013 Afghanistan, Camp Bastion, Camp Leatherneck

At least four Marines who served with the Harrier squadron attacked last year at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan, have received the Purple Heart, Marine officials said in a news release published Thursday. Lance Cpl. Cole Collums, Sgt. Jonathan Cudo and former Cpl. Matthew Eason received the award Aug. 1 for wounds sustained in the Sept. 14, 2012, attack, Marine officials said. Maj. Eason, Collums and Cudo are the second, third and fourth Marines from VMA-211 who acted at Camp Bastion to receive Purple Hearts. They were all with Marine Attack Squadron 211, out of Marine Corps Station Yuma, Ariz., when the…

Marines respond to suicide attack in Afghanistan

By militaryonline on August 28, 2013 Afghanistan

The pace of Marine operations in Afghanistan has slowed, but there are still plenty of bad days to be had. This photograph emerged on the wire today: A suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into a convoy of foreign troops in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province. Four civilians were killed, but there no confirmed military casualties.

Medal of Honor recipient Staff Sgt. Ty Carter overcame painful past as Marine

By Dan Lamothe on August 26, 2013 Afghanistan, Awards, Medal of Honor

Army Staff Sgt. Ty Carter received the Medal of Honor this afternoon, a fitting tribute to a man who repeatedly braved enemy fire in Afghanistan while defending Combat Outpost Keating from a fierce Taliban attack in 2009. Before serving in the Army, however, Carter served as a Marine — and overcame a significant family tragedy. According to Carter’s hometown newspaper in Spokane, Wash., the newest Medal of Honor recipient’s brother was killed by a drunken friend playing with a shotgun at a party in 2000. Carter was a 20-year-old Marine serving in Okinawa, Japan, at the time: The brothers grew…

How long will Regional Command-Southwest in Afghanistan survive?

By Dan Lamothe on August 14, 2013 Afghanistan, General officers, I MEF, III MEF, Infantry

Month by month, it increasingly looks like it could be a matter of time before the two-star Marine headquarters in southwestern Afghanistan ceases to exist. Regional Command-Southwest, as it is known, was established in 2010 as the U.S. rapidly expanded military operations in Afghanistan, surging thousands of troops there. The Marine Corps was among the first involved in that surge, seeing its footprint grow in Helmand province from about 11,000 in 2009 to 20,000 the following summer. Maj. Gen. Richard Mills took command that spring of the newly formed RC-Southwest, which split off from the neighboring two star-headquarters in Kandahar…

Browsing: Afghanistan