No Worse Enemy (14 page)

‘The purpose of this mission is to return Marjah to the lawful government of Afghanistan and to rescue the people from many years of Taliban rule. They are waiting for the Afghan security
forces, partnered with coalition forces, to come in and lift that burden, lift that yoke of Taliban rule off them.

‘The D-Day force will go sure, big, strong and fast. We will place the enemy on the horns of a dilemma. They will have three choices: number one, stay and fight; number two, make peace
with this government; number three, try to flee. If he tries to flee we certainly will have folks around waiting for him. And if he tries to blend, the importance of the Afghan security forces is
that they will help us separate him when he tries to hide in plain sight.

‘The goal of this operation is the people. It always has been and it will continue to be. In Marjah, the people are the prize. The Taliban is what separates the people from their
government.

‘This may be the largest IED threat and largest minefield that NATO has faced’, Nicholson continued. ‘We will breach and continue to move without losing momentum. There will be
no opportunity for time out, no opportunity to take a knee, no intervention at any level that will stop us from achieving our D-Day objectives. We will immediately, upon achieving those objectives,
engage with the local population. Every Company Commander will hold a
shura
on D-Day. This will be continuous. We will work closely with the Provisional Reconstruction Teams to be able to
show an immediate improvement in the people’s lives. You get one chance to make a first impression with the local population. We understand that, we get it and we’ll pursue it with
great vigour.’ Speaking elsewhere, General McChrystal, leader of NATO and American forces in Afghanistan went further, promising a ‘government in a box, ready to roll’ within
days. He said the Marjah operation was ‘a model for the future: an Afghan-led operation, supported by the coalition, deeply engaged with the people’.

‘You will hear noise in the background’, Nicholson continued. ‘You will hear gunfire on the ranges. That is ANCOP (Afghan National Civil Order Police) training. We have three
hundred ANCOP here today on this base; we’ll have them for about eight days training then we’ll get more ANCOP and we will continue to help prepare the Afghan Security Forces for the
challenges ahead.’

Standing next to the lectern as General Nicholson spoke was Captain Saed of the Afghan National Army. In a few days’ time, the racket he’d make beating the shit out of one of his men
for smoking weed on watch would wake me in the middle of the night.

General Nicholson handed over to General Mahayadin, an incredibly handsome Afghan man, whose face could have been carved from stone. He had a thick black moustache and a head as bald and shiny
as a bowling ball.

‘Marjah is a place of fear, panic and terrorism’, he began, ‘and the people are tired of those controlling Marjah. The Afghan government and its partners, the army and ISAF
decided to terminate the concerns of Marjah people. We have planned, and decided to do our best to free these people from these terrorists and the landmines they are losing their kids and families
to. The ANA, ANP, Marines and other forces will attack Marjah and take it over from the enemy. We will raise the Afghan flag again and bring back the people to their normal lives.’ He then
repeated almost exactly what General Nicholson had said: ‘The enemy has three choices: one, fight or die; second, surrender to the government; third, run away. Wherever the enemy goes we
follow them. Kill them. Be sure that we will bring peace in Marjah and we will terminate and destroy the enemy. Thank you.’

Nicholson and General Carter, the British head of Regional Command South, chatted with the reporters, telling anecdotes that made everyone laugh. Beside him, General Carter’s assistant
smoked his pipe and carried an umbrella. There was a sense of unreality. The atmosphere was jolly, as if everyone were setting off for a game of golf, not about to invade a town the Taliban had
spent months seeding with booby-traps, sniper holes, trenches and bunkers.

General Carter spoke. ‘From the perspective of the Afghan people, what will happen is that they will see their government is genuinely committed to making life better for them. That effect
will start in Marjah; it will spread to Nad Ali, to Helmand and throughout Afghanistan. And you, as the key participants in this operation, will be those who will achieve that effect. But you
should also be clear that the outside world will wish to see a successful operation. And what they will see is an increasingly capable Afghan Security Force at the helm of what will be a combined
operation.’ He emphasised ‘helm’, just as McChrystal had emphasised ‘Afghan-led’. Even the name of the operation –
Mushtaraq
– meant
‘together’. I could see why they were all making the point:
the Afghans are as good as us now, so we can soon leave!
But they actually seemed to believe it.

General Nicholson took the mike again. ‘I cannot recall an operation, anywhere, where we will have had such multinational, joint, combined talent leading it. This is a magnificent force
that’s been assembled for a specific reason. We have confidence in a lot of things: our mission, our ability to accomplish the mission, the inevitability of this mission. But most of all we
have confidence in our team.’ He motioned with his hand to the two Afghans next to him; unfortunately, they weren’t getting a translation. ‘And wherever you see a marine,
you’ll see the Afghan army or police with them. No one is going to be able to do this alone. I know that we’re ready. I think history will judge us favorably on our efforts and our
resolve. So thank you all for coming. We are ready.
Semper Fidelis
. Have a great day.’

Everyone posed for a photograph. General Nicholson shouted ‘Team Marjah!’, adding, ‘That will be in the history books somewhere.’

Later, General Nicholson held an impromptu press conference with General Mahayadin by his side. ‘I don’t know that anyone is closer-embedded. We don’t just talk it, we live it.
Story after story: Christmas Day, Afghan soldiers coming in with turkeys; Ramadan, marines buying goats. A brotherhood that has evolved over ten months of great trust and co-operation. This
isn’t fluff, this isn’t talk, this is the real deal. The Marines have great respect for the Afghan Army and I think that’s reciprocated.’

One of General Carter’s assistants complained light-heartedly to the American reporters that there were no Brits. When they pointed to me, he asked who I was going in with. When I told
him, his face dropped: ‘Be careful, old boy. It’s going to get fruity in there.’

A few nights later, I got a chopper ride to Camp Dwyer, the staging post for the operation. I felt no excitement. Just a grim and draining foreboding that I might badly regret my decision to
come here.

The atmosphere at Dwyer was entirely different and matched my feelings about the operation. Here were the people who would be fighting their way into Marjah.

During the ROC drill I’d paid attention to what ‘my’ marines – 3/6 – were planning to do. Their aim was to approach Marjah slowly over three to four days, clearing
all the IEDs along the way. I’d been switched to 1/6 Marines at the last minute but assumed that everyone had roughly the same plan, except they’d all be approaching from different
directions.

Bravo’s commanding officer, Captain Ryan Sparks, didn’t seem pleased to see me. He was very serious, even among other serious men I’d met, about to go into one of the biggest
battles of their lives. Captain Sparks looked like a Pixar version of the perfect marine. Chisel-jawed, with light blue eyes, he was an absolutely efficient machine. Nothing in his speech or
appearance was unnecessary. Not a hair out of place, not an ounce of fat on his body. No tattoos and didn’t do small talk. Originally from Kansas City, Missouri, he held a first degree in
Political Science. Sparks was in ‘Force Recon’, the closest thing that the Marines then had to Special Forces, on September 11
^th
. He’d been on his way to Afghanistan
that day, originally to set up a few airfields and later to kill or capture Mullah Omar. After tours in Fallujah and Haditha and another in Afghanistan, he had been made CO of Bravo Company. In
between all that, he’d managed to get married, have a baby and complete a masters degree in global leadership. He also loved surfing, which, he said, had ‘some sort of mystical hold on
my soul’.

Sparks took me to one side and asked how much risk I was willing to take. I told him I wanted to be with the guys who’d be right in the thick of it, at the front. He nodded slightly and
told me the plan. Several waves of helicopters would drop Bravo Company into central Marjah at 4 a.m. on day one. For the first few days they would carry only their rifles and a few rockets, have
no outside support, no electricity and no vehicles of any kind. I was stunned. It had to be a joke. My mind started racing: IEDs, anti-aircraft guns, trenches, bunkers, a thousand Taliban fighters,
perhaps two. I wanted to ask Captain Sparks how he intended to deal with all of this when he landed, in the dark, on day one, without support. Instead I just made a crappy joke about the mission
being insane and suicidal.

‘Yes. We were surprised too’, said Captain Sparks, without laughing.

Jesus, I thought, you could tell this guy to walk into Marjah alone with nothing but a Stanley knife and he’d do it without blinking. I’m dead.

When we’d finished, one of the other officers asked me for details of my next of kin and my blood group. This was called my ‘kill data’.

I joined Captain Sparks the next day as he gathered all his men together for their final pep talk before the operation began. The marines were assembled in a tight circle, some
sitting, some squatting and the rest standing, so that they formed a perfect little human ampitheatre.

As Captain Sparks walked past me into the centre of the circle he said: ‘I don’t know what I’m going to say yet.’

‘What’s going on Bravo?’ he said, pacing back and forth.

The marines responded with their traditional chant. ‘Ooh-Rah.’

I’d been told his pep talks were emotional affairs that built up to a crescendo until he – and sometimes the whole company – were screaming and ready to rip off heads with
their bare hands. But everywhere I looked, there was a sense of doom, although no one would openly express it. This was a company of men about to suffer. Some would undoubtedly die; others lose
limbs. As I scanned the faces, waiting for Captain Sparks to speak, I wondered which ones it would be.

‘You guys ready to go?’, he asked.

‘Ooh-Rah.’

‘Long road to get here right?’ He paced some more. ‘Hey! Who can tell me what the point of this operation is? Or the point of our deployment in general … or even this
war?’ There was silence. ‘Anybody got a stab? Corporal Hernandez?’

‘To help out the Afghan people and remove the Taliban’, said Hernandez.

‘Corporal Hernandez is absolutely right. This whole war, at the strategic, operational, tactical level, it’s all about the people. At the strategic level, September 11
^th
2001. Fundamentalist Islamic extremists attacked New York City and killed three thousand people. Civilians. Since that time the Taliban have been here, controlling the people of Afghanistan.
Islamic fundamentalism has caused problems all over the world. At the operational level, for us, the Taliban have their fist in the mix here in Afghanistan. They’re controlling the people,
destroying their freedom, imposing a way of life that is not comfortable. They are not free. At the tactical level this operation is about the people. The people of Marjah every day live under the
iron fist of Taliban law.’

In the build up to Operation Mushtaraq there had been a lot of talk about life in Marjah under the Taliban. Tales of brutality carried out in the name of
sharia,
stories about the opium
trade, heroin-processing labs, Taliban prisons and IED factories.

Sparks went on. ‘Our new motto: “no better friend, no worse enemy”. No better friend is first for a reason. There are eighty thousand people in this city; there’s maybe a
thousand enemy. These people are pretty callous to being around violence. It’s entirely likely that a couple of days into this fight they’ll be going to the bazaar and they’ll be
walking right through the middle of your firefight. It’s more important not to hurt the civilians than it is to kill the enemy. Most importantly, what you have to remember as we go out there
is that what happens over the next five months, and probably even more over the next five days, will be a cornerstone of your memory for the rest of your life. One way or another, good or bad,
those memories will either give you strength or haunt you for the rest of your life. Most importantly, what it comes down to is: we’re the good guys. We’re here to spread freedom
throughout the world. We’re here to ensure our way of life at home and give everyone else in the world a chance at democracy.’

The marines were transfixed. I couldn’t see the faintest hint of scepticism on anyone’s face. They were all absolutely committed and determined. The Captain moved on to the plan.

‘I’ve talked to you before about the gift of aggression. You’re here for a reason. That’s an important concept, because trust me, this is going to be chaotic. This plan,
that we’ve drilled over and over, as soon as you get off the bird it’s not worth anything. Every single one of you, from me down to Ward, who’s probably our newest guy, every day
are going to have to make a hundred decisions that there is no right answer to. You’re not going to have all the information. You’re not really going to know what’s going on. But
guess what? You have to act. None of us will be perfect but have faith in your training and make sure that every day you’re looking out for those guys to your left and your right.

‘The guy that wrote
On Combat,
one of my favourite books, Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman, refers to us as modern day Paladins. The knights of old, the old Paladins, put on their
body armour every day, their steel suit, got on their horse, went through their little area of operations and made sure everything was safe for the people they were in charge of. We’re about
to put on our armour and go out and free these people from an oppressive fist that they’ve been dealing with for a long time. Victory is inevitable. When the enemy chooses to fight us on the
battlefield, we’ll win the direct firefight right now with overwhelming surgical firepower. Destroy him, immediately, so that he doesn’t come back tomorrow and get in the way with the
civilians. Air is there but it takes a long time to get approved. But I’m telling you, look to your left and your right. You’re carrying what you need right now to win this fight. What
do we need? We don’t need anything. There’s a bunch of idiots out there with AK47s and explosives made out of two by fours. You’re carrying right now what you need to win this
fight.’