The Nuristanis had resisted Islam as late as the year 1895 and before that had been considered a Hindu nation (Islamic invaders called them "Kaffir" or heathen) with a long tradition of violently resisting outsiders and their beliefs. Soldiers Dead in Bold Attack in Afghanistan", Attack on Afghan outposts kills 8 soldiers, "U.S. ignored warnings before deadly Afghan attack", "U.S. Military Faults Leaders in Attack on Base", "Courage at Keating: 2 Medals of Honor, 1 DSC, 8 Silver Stars for standout B Troop", "Army releases report on battle at Combat Outpost Keating battle", "Afghan insurgents pushed into U.S. base, official says", "Strategic Plans Spawned Bitter End for a Lonely Outpost", "Defense.gov News Release: DoD Identifies Army Casualties", "Defense.gov News Release: DoD Identifies Army Casualty", "Insurgents breached U.S. outpost in battle", The Gazette: Mom works to help Carson soldiers honor battle bonds, "They 'weren't going to get beat that day' the Medal of Honor recipients who held COP Keating against all odds", "US premiere of film about Battle of COP Keating and Latvian soldiers | Aizsardzbas ministrija", Latvijas Televzija: Videofilma "Afganistna. [17], 27 soldiers were awarded the Purple Heart for wounds sustained in combat. Or invite someone to subscribe through this link. In my moment of being the listener to a war story I previously told, I realized that The Outpost was as honest as any war story. A United States Special Operations forces soldier on the Syria-Turkey border in. Capt. MAJ Porter talks about his first couple of days into country as he was getting set up and received direct attack resulting . Daniel Rodriguez, who took part in the real-life Battle of Kamdesh, portrays himself in the movie. Despite overwhelming odds and volume of injuries, MAJ (R) Cordova was able to . The 53. Outnumbered and outgunned, the soldiers fought. U.S. soldiers reported that none of the Afghan defenders held their positions. In real life, there is no record of Porter shooting a dog.According to Jake Tapper's book, two real-life incidents inspired the scene in the movie. -CBS Sunday Morning. [35] Capt. The outpost's depot was promptly looted by the insurgents and bombed on October 6 by a B-1 bomber in an effort to destroy the lethal munitions left behind. In December 2006, it was renamed Camp Keating after the death of ABLE Troop 3-71 Cavalry 10th Mountain Division's Executive Officer Benjamin Keating, who died November 26, 2006, while conducting combat operations south of the camp. Christopher Cordova, the squadrons physician assistant, was manning the aid station where there was no power. New roads would be the final stage, built and maintained by local contractors. At one point, he and his men came under heavy sniper fire. The Outpost true story reveals that the soldiers were surrounded by more than 300 Taliban fighters, many of whom were rushing in from Pakistan, which was only 14 miles from COP Keating. Anyone can read what you share. Despite some condensing with regard to the timeline and a fictional character or two (Pfc. ", Yes. Camp Keating Officers Disciplined for Attack That Killed 8 U.S. The soldiers heard over the radio, "Enemy in the wire The enemy is inside the camp." The camp was defended by a combined force of 140 U.S. and Afghan soldiers. The Allies stopped using the Kamdesh-Naray road. Ty M. Carter pauses during a patrol outside Combat Outpost Keating, Afghanistan, where he was deployed with the 61st Cavalry Regiment in 2009. Urdu and Pashtun HIG warriors brought arms and ammunition from Pakistan. "We're constantly under observation." He wanted to avoid risking the lives of his men while traveling on an unstable road subject to ambush with an overweight vehicle. But I never told the story from my own perspective. Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha and Staff Sergeant Ty Carter were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions during the battle. One of the casualties was a bright young specialist named Stephan Mace, whom Cordova kept alive for nine hours by transfusing fresh blood from other soldiers, himself included. When Captain Aaron Swain of Cherokee Co. had sounded out Afghan Border Police Commander Ahmed Shah about setting up near Kamdesh, he was told that HIG insurgents tried to blow up Shah's jeep on his last trip there and it was a bad place. [23], Once inside, the attackers set fire to the base, burning down most of the barracks. [9], Bravo Troop, 3rd Squadron "Destroyers", 61st Cavalry Regiment manned COP Keating. Using a transfusion kit, Cordova began pumping his own blood into the wounded soldier, along with blood collected from other soldiers. Clint Romesha, portrayed by Scott Eastwood in the film. It seemed like the entire COP was burning [70 percent did].. During the day-long battle at Combat Outpost Keating last Oct. 3, the base was temporarily overrun by an estimated 300 Taliban fighters. The Los Angeles gift shop Bunkado, at center with a fan on its sign, in the 1950s. They did their jobs, and Im here because of what they did, but air support was definitely a must.. American military operations in Kamdesh were affected as soon as units began gathering for deployment in the area. He died when his truck fell off the cliff, and the outpost was later named Combat Outpost Keating in his honor. [19] At 6:00 a.m, the fighters opened fire from all sides of the outpost with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades,[10] immediately putting the Americans' mortar pit out of action. Military commanders had already decided to close the base the previous summer, but delayed doing so because of other operations. "It is one of the most well-planned and carefully choreographed attacks in the history of the Afghan war," Tapper told NPR. It was one of many reasons Cordova was later awarded the Silver Star. Shane Courville; Cordova; George Arvidson as Cordova. Rob Yllescas of Nebraska, in "The Outpost," which tells the story of real-life combat events from the War in Afghanistan. While en route the Platoon encountered a planned ambush on the side of the mountain resulting in three confirmed enemy KIA at approximately 6:00pm. Action at the Aid Station He died when his. Armando Avalos, Sgt. Staff Sergeant Vernon Tiller, the most senior mechanic, was in the passenger's seat when it went over the cliff. On the whole the AAF was a broader based and more formidable force in 2007 than before the American invasion, and represented a significant escalation. Everything was so realistic that had the cameras not been there I would have thought my mind was playing tricks on me. Despite the efforts of two Latvian military advisors, First Sergeant Jnis Lais and Corporal Mrti Dboli,[21] who tried to convince the Afghan National Army forces not to flee,[22] the Afghan defenders quickly broke and ran. Yes. "[16] Four U.S. Army officersCaptain Melvin Porter, Captain Stoney Portis, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Brown, and Colonel Randy Georgewho oversaw COP Keating were admonished or reprimanded for command failures. prosthetic makeup effects technician: Millennium FX. Captain Broward is a fictional character likely based on Captain Melvin Porter, the officer who commanded COP Keating before it was attacked and was reprimanded for its lack of preparedness. Between each take, the director and actors paused and turned to Cordova, who offered feedback to make the scene match his memory. To make amends with the woman and her family, Meshkin agreed to shoot a shaggy brown dog named Franklin. Unlike the movie, The Outpost true story reveals that Keating was not alone in the truck. As seen in the movie, the road in Kamdesh collapsed underneath the truck, throwing Keating from the vehicle as it rolled over a cliff, sending both himself and the truck down toward the Landay-Sin River. It occurred on October 3, 2009, when a force of 400 Taliban assaulted the American Combat Outpost ("COP") Keating near the town of Kamdesh in Nuristan Province in eastern Afghanistan. These troops were ambushed on the Naray-Kamdesh road and shot up badly enough to prevent their arrival in Kamdesh. The note was signed "Mullah Omar". The report found that a "mindset of imminent closure" led the unit to not improve the outpost's defenses despite intelligence reports that warned of a possible attack by "a large enemy force.". Capt. [26] The attack accelerated those plans, with the troops' departure taking place so quickly after the battle that some munitions were abandoned. Known as COIN and refined by General David Petraeus, Commander of US forces in Afghanistan, the Army and Marine Counter-insurgency Field Manual FM 3-24 was to convert the population of Nuristan to American goals. The first effort was made by First Lieutenant Dave Roller. "The investigation concluded that critical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets which had been supporting COP Keating had been diverted to assist ongoing intense combat operations in other areas," the report said. There was an element of ABLE Troop 3-71 CAV 2nd Platoon still left on the PZ after the crash that worked relentlessly to recover the bodies of their 10 comrades and destroy sensitive equipment in the wreckage. However, Army 1st Lt. Benjamin Keating's death actually happened three years earlier, in 2006, not 2009. In the end, we gaveThe Outpost movie a Historical Accuracy Score of 8.5/10. Cordovas care raised the morale of every soldier in the aid station, and word quickly spread across the outpost, the battle narrative stated. Defense officials confirm that two senior officers who oversaw the forces at COP Keating have received administrative punishments that could impact their careers. U.S. air support directed by Sgt. Towards the end, resupply flights were limited to moonless nights when near total darkness offered some protection to helicopter crews and their craft. [34], The flight crews of three United States Army AH-64D Apache helicopters were later decorated for actions during the battle. Gul Mohammed Khan, the government administrator for Kamdesh District, lived at the intersection of the Landay-Sin and Darreh Ye Kushtoz rivers. I reached out to the films director, Rod Lurie, to vent my concerns. An after-action report stated that within less than a few minutes of fighting, the Afghan soldiers serving at Keating, as well as the Afghan security guards, had fled their positions, allowing the enemy to quickly overrun the post. Unlike Donahue, Nicholson was a supporter of COIN in addition to seeing Kamdesh as a decisive control point. When the battle was over, 16 tons of bombs had been dropped. Lieutenant Colonel Mike Howard, Squadron Commander, saw COIN as a process of providing three services: This would improve the local economy while providing improved communications with the central government and the rest of the nation. [2] Combat Outpost Keating is best known as the setting of the Battle of Kamdesh which occurred on October 3rd, 2009. The soldiers left so quickly that they didn't take all of the ammunition. The movie does a good job of capturing the nerve-racking tension of being posted at Combat Outpost Keating. In Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming, Jonathan Shay calls this form of catharsis the communalization of grief, in which trauma survivors tell their stories and listeners can listen, believe and remember. This is when the circle of healing is complete. These AAF were more professional and probably represented groups from areas outside of Nuristan. During the highly risky convoy, the road collapsed under the weight of Keating's vehicle. Seven other Americans and one ANA soldier were wounded. The assassin was later found in Urmul and appeared to have the assistance of one of the Afghan day laborers at Camp Keating and the acquiescence of Urmul's elders. Written by CNN journalist Jake Tapper, he tells the story of soldiers living in the remote mountains of Afghanistan and Combat Outpost Keating. [30] In the report released to the public, the U.S. Army concealed the names of the four disciplined officers. [7]:803,945,11620, While attempting the pickup, a Chinook transport helicopter crashed in the darkness at 10:09 PM when the rear rotor hit a tree, and the helicopter slid down the slope and over a cliff, exploding in flames and killing all the crew and passengers. The report said the heroic action of American and Afghan soldiers contributed to a "severe tactical defeat for the Taliban" that resulted in as many as 150 Taliban fighters being killed. Michael Polidor and Capt. While there are numerous accounts of bravery that day, two Medals of Honor and nine Silver Stars (two have since been upgraded) were awarded. After dispensing with the enemy, QRF continued their descent and entered the outpost at approximately 7:00pm. For their heroism, 2 Medals of Honor, 9 Silver Stars and 21 Bronze Stars were awarded. The second incident happened in 2008 at Observation Post Fritsche. These factors resulted in an attractive target for enemy fighters," the report concluded. It could not be seen or supported with indirect fire due to the multi-level and complicated terrain. Several of the dogs that hung around the camp were with them, one of which supposedly bit an old woman working in a field. Regrouping there, they pushed out teams to retake much of the outpost. The bounty was a thing back then? Captain Sylvanius Broward (Kwame Patterson), whom the men refer to as "Broward the Coward," shoots the dog to appease the elder and calm the situation. The movie is based on the 2012 nonfiction book The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor by CNN's Jake Tapper. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? It's true that some of the Taliban fighters casually strolled through the camp, believing they had won. He decided that American soldiers' "battle rattle" war gear gave the impression of soulless killing machines. 1.33 million dollars was budgeted for these projects. Enemy forces controlled the landing zone, which prevented the wounded from being lifted out. [4] She noted two claims the military put forward in its report: first, the resources to relocate the base had not been available because the brigade was concentrating on guarding a village that Hamid Karzai, president of Afghanistan, considered strategically important. It was adapted for the screen by Eric Johnson and Paul Tamasy (Patriots Day and The Fighter). This separation of the landing zone, and the fact that the site was surrounded by mountains on three sides made the site unappealing because of the difficulty of mounting an effective defense. Even some of the dialogue is taken word for word from real life. Other veterans also acted in the movie, including Henry Hughes. Given its proximity to Pakistan, Combat Outpost Keating was part of a counter-insurgency strategy. On Oct. 3, 2009, Keating was the site of the second costliest U.S. firefight of the Afghanistan War. Something had to be done to bring Nuristan on to the American side. It was this delay that proved fatal to some of the troops stationed at COP Keating. Then tragedy struck again. Some who fled even handed their weapons to Taliban fighters. The camp was originally constructed to be a PRT (i.e., Provincial Reconstruction Team), called PRT Kamdesh, but due to extremely high levels of fighting in the area it remained a fire base instead of a PRT. [7]:1238,1368,18191,407. Cordova continued to treat the wounded even after flames were within 10 feet of his location. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. They made sustained attacks over a two-day period, drawing American support forces and widespread air forces into the battle. During this battle Taliban members outnumbered US forces in a staggering 5 to 1 ratio and was considered one of the bloodiest battle of the War. Defense officials confirm that three other Army officers face disciplinary action for their role in the attack on the military outpost in Wanat in July, 2008 that led to nine dead U.S. soldiers and 27 wounded. View Video of Taliban Fighters in the Camp. 37 soldiers were awarded the Army Commendation Medal with "V" device for valor. [7]:1238,1368,18191,407, On August 8, 2006, 19 days after the first American landing, the PRT was attacked for the first time. The military's failure to close Combat Outpost Keating earlier likely contributed to the Battle of Kamdesh, which resulted in eight U.S. soldiers losing their lives, while 27 others were left wounded. The battle unfolded on October 3, 2009. JavaScript is disabled. As soon as they left, the insurgents would come back.. Loss of life was inevitable and the government. The combination of volatile weather and rugged mountains make any kind of travel and life in general difficult and challenging. Constant ambushes and firefights along the road to Naray did little to relieve Keating's doubts. Formalized as "The Commitment of Mutual Support" the agreement also provided the Shura would provide local security in return for an end to uninvited American military searches of local towns and mosques. Jake Tapper, author of the bookThe Outpost, wondered the same thing when he embarked on his research. Within the first hour, the American and Latvian defenders had collapsed to a tight internal perimeter, centered on the two buildings that were not burning. The rock could not be demolished without raining fragments into the town of Urmul across the Landay-Sin river. The wounded Americans condition immediately improved after the first unit of blood, as did the spirits of all those in the aid station. As it became obvious that COP Keating was too isolated, indefensible, and impossible to supply, plans were made to close it beginning in December 2008. American troops in Nuristan found themselves directly in opposition to the HIG forces. Nine soldiers were awarded the Silver Star for valor. This includes Scott Eastwood's character, Staff Sergeant Clinton Romesha, telling the men, "We're taking this bitch back," after the camp is partially overrun by Taliban fighters. Members of 10th Mountain Division's 1-32 Infantry Regiment were air lifted to the nearest helicopter landing zone on OP Fritsche and arrived at approximately 2:00pm, as recalled by a soldier on scene. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Combat Outpost Keating in Nuristan, Afghanistan, as recreated on the set. Benjamin D. Keating was born in Sanford, Maine on 31 May 1979, and he served as Chair of the Young Republicans at the . The brigade was busy guarding another village, and numerous other resources had been consumed looking for Bowe Bergdahl, a U.S. soldier who was held captive by the Taliban after he deserted his post on June 30, 2009. To further complicate the situation, nearby Observation Post Fritsche was unable to provide mortar support to Keating, as it also was overrun by Taliban. This is a lofty mountain range characterized by steep slopes of enormous granite boulders separated by fast moving rivers in deep narrow valleys. This article is featured in the 2019 October issue of VFW magazine, and was written by Janie Dyhouse, senior editor for VFW magazine. The camp was constructed by 3-71 Cavalry, 10th Mountain Division (Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition) in the summer of 2006 and was manned by their ABLE Troop element until June 2007. Like in the movie, the quick reaction force (QRF) coming down the mountain to help were shocked by the firey devastation. Not an Ordinary Engagement David Porter (February 1, 1780 - March 3, 1843) was an officer in the United States Navy in the rank of captain and the honorary title of commodore.Porter commanded a number of U.S. naval ships. When it came to infiltration from Pakistan, and setting ambushes, HIG was regarded as the most skillful. In May 2016 CBS News profiled Staff Sergeant Romesha, after he published an account of his experiences at the base, entitled Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor. In Afghanistan, MAJ (R) Cordova was involved in the Battle of Kamdesh at Combat Outpost Keating on the 3rd of October 2009. I'd have to look more into the specific situation to know more but from the general impression of the situation. Aaron Dove, pilot and weapon systems officer of one of the F-15E aircraft coordinating close air support, were also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. A dog named Cali growled at the eldest son of an Afghan Security Guard, who would often come to the post with his father. Much of this is the result of the real-life Battle of Kamdesh veterans who were involved in the film, both as technical advisors and actors. 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