HQ$History - United States Special Operations Command

enemy opened fire with AK-47s on the soldiers,
who returned fire killing at least two. One
American was wounded when an enemy bullet
ricocheted and hit him in the foot. Within short
order, the A/1/5 detachments secured the objective,
capturing 26 enemy combatants and a large
stockpile of munitions.
Meanwhile, the other assault force, comprising
ODAs 511 and 516, dismounted from the
HMMWVs and approached Objective BRIDGET.
Having achieved tactical surprise, the ODAs
found themselves engaged in extremely close
combat upon entering the complex. Hand to
hand fighting occurred in several places.
Fortunately, the detachments secured BRID-
GET without a single casualty. Only one enemy
combatant chose to surrender while 18 others
had been killed. As the U.S. forces retired, the
AC-130 destroyed both targets and their stockpiles
of ammunition.
The intelligence leading to the raid on Hazar
Khadam had turned out to be obsolete. After
A/1/5 seized the objectives, one of the assaulters
identified a flag of the new Afghan government.
The soldiers discovered that the Afghan fighters
had recently changed sides. This episode was
not the fault of A/1/5, which returned fire when
fired upon. However, it did demonstrate the
complexities of combat operations that the coalition
would face for the next several years to
come.
In the month following Hazar Khadam, TF
K-BAR began a series of raids
in the mountains along the
Pakistani border. Operating
in excess of 10,000 feet,
SEALs and coalition forces
cleared a number of large
Taliban complexes. All told,
K-BAR conducted 42 SR and
23 DA missions, not including
the various missions that it
executed in support of
Operation ANACONDA.
2002, 3rd SFG (A) arrived to assume that mission.
TF DAGGER had started preparing BAF
for introduction of forces in November. By
February 2002, DAGGER had established a
sizeable forward headquarters there. TF DAG-
GER stood down on 15 March, and C2 of UW and
FID operations were transferred to TF K-BAR,
thus creating CJSOTF-Afghanistan (A). On 30
March, TF K-BAR stood down, and 3rd SFG (A)
assumed C2 of CJSOTF-A. JFSOCC, coupled
with component commands in the United States,
did a far better job of enabling the CJSOTF-A to
perform its varied functions. JFSOCC sponsored
a joint manning document (JMD), which
added Naval and Air Force Special Operations
Forces, and additional Special Forces personnel
to execute both operations and planning functions.
Additionally, the CJSOTF contained a
healthy number of liaison slots to facilitate the
operations of the CSOF elements. While the
JMD has been tweaked by various CJSOTFs in
the last several years, its base structure has survived
largely intact.
In addition to the transition of the CJSOTF,
the maneuver elements from 5th SFG (A) redeployed
as well. The three battalions from 5th
SFG (A) departed by March and were replaced
by two battalions from 3rd SFG (A), FOBs 31
and 33, and FOB 192 from 19th SFG (A). Both
FOB 33 and FOB 192 had arrived much earlier,
with FOB 33 originally providing forces to TF K-
BAR and FOB 192 assuming administrative and
CJSOTF-A Emerges
Even prior to Operation
ANACONDA, planners at
JFSOCC intended to collapse
the two CJSOTFs into one
headquarters. In March
Soldiers from 3rd SFG (A) conduct “tailgate” MEDCAP (medical civilian
assistance program).
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