# Green Berets Recount Deadly Taliban Ambush



## Ravage (Apr 21, 2008)

(CBS) With all the focus on the war in Iraq, we don't hear much about the war in Afghanistan any more, even though the U.S. is fighting the Taliban nearly seven years after they seemed to be defeated. 








> Maj. Sheffield Ford and Master Sgt. Brendan O'Connor listen to a question during an interview with Lara Logan, a CBS news reporter, at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Museum in Fort Bragg, N.C., January 23. A 60 Minutes story on Operation Kaika, the 2006 operation in Afghanistan that resulted in the most decorated Special Forces Operational Detachment-Alpha in the war on terror, will air April 20 at 7 p.m. ET/PT. (Photo by Sgt. Daniel Love, USASOC News Service)



And we hardly ever hear from the elite, secretive U.S. Special Forces who are leading that fight. But a Green Beret team wanted to talk to 60 Minutes to honor the men they lost when they were ambushed by hundreds of Taliban fighters two years ago. 

Not since "Black Hawk Down" in Somalia have we heard a story of a small band of elite American soldiers who were so badly outnumbered and fighting for their lives. 

This is a story about valor. But it's also a wake-up call about the growing strength of the enemy in Afghanistan. 


From behind enemy lines, a Taliban camera captured pictures of the fighting, which started at sundown on June 23, 2006. 

"And it's like all hell breaks loose. Literally, all hell breaks loose," remembers Major Shef Ford. "The enemy is firing at all directions at us. And soldiers are trying to identify the positions and return fire. They had completely surrounded us and were firing at us with multiple systems." 

The battle, over two days and two nights, took place in a small village about 12 miles southwest of the city of Kandahar. The Green Berets, just nine of them, went into the village with eight other American and 48 Afghan soldiers. They were on a mission to capture or kill a Taliban commander known to operate in the area. 

Maj. Ford says he didn't know hundreds of well-armed, well-supplied hardcore Taliban were waiting to ambush his men. American forces were accustomed to quick hit and run attacks by the Taliban, but Ford and Sergeant Brendan O'Connor say they were shocked by the sustained, organized assault in the village. 

"We had not seen this disciplined execution of infantry tactics," Sgt. O'Connor explains. 

"And you had never experienced anything like this?" correspondent Lara Logan asks. 

"Not to this extent," Ford says. "We also started taking mortar fire into the patrol base, which also demonstrated that there was somebody who knew about the weapons system and how to operate it." 

"So that was a sign that this was going to be different?" Logan asks. 

"Yes, that was a sign," Ford says. 

At one point, the Taliban even broke through the Green Berets' perimeter, but were pushed back. Maj. Ford called in air support. But the bombs couldn't stop the Taliban - they were everywhere. 

Using an unmanned aerial vehicle as their eyes in the sky, the Green Berets located a compound near the town graveyard that they suspected the Taliban were using as a command center. 

Team Sergeant Thom Maholic led a small group of men from the Green Beret patrol base to the compound, a third of a mile away. The Taliban pulled back, but a short distance away they were dug in with machine guns. 

"There was enemy located in three different positions in this irrigation ditch," Ford remembers.

The machine guns opened fire on Staff Sergeant Matthew Binney, who had split off to provide cover for the assault on the compound. "I got hit in the back of the head…by a round. Knocked me to the ground," he remembers. 

The bullet fractured Binney's skull. "I didn’t hear anything. It was just the loudest buzzing I'd ever heard out of both ears. Any my vision was real blurred as well," he remembers. 

Despite his injuries, Binney, who was the team medic, got up and kept fighting. "That's when I was hit the second time. Went through my shoulder," Binney says. 

Binney had no shoulder left. "It wasn't connected structurally anymore," he explains. 

Then, a U.S. soldier who was with Binney, Joe Fuerst, was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and seriously wounded. The Taliban managed to get within shouting distance of the two wounded Americans and started taunting their Afghan translator. 

"A lot of the things that the Taliban were yelling at them while they were shooting at each other was that, 'Hey, you're a fellow Muslim, we can forgive you, just put your weapons down and walk away. We want the Americans alive,'" Ford remembers. 

"The things they would have done to me if they had caught me alive - you can only imagine what they would have done," Binney says. "The kind of propaganda they would have been able to have made - it would have been real bad." 

Over the radio, the translator, named Jacob, told Ford the situation was so dire that he was prepared to kill the two wounded Americans and himself just so they wouldn't be taken hostage. 

"He said that he was willing to make sure that both of them were killed. And that he would kill himself so that nobody would be taken alive by the Taliban. Because he understood what would happen if they were to capture 'em," Ford says. 

Asked what he said to that, Ford tells Logan, "I told him not to. I said, 'We've got people coming.'" 

But Maj. Ford says his small team was scattered around the village, and under attack from hundreds of Taliban. The relentless, intense sound of the fighting was captured when one of the Green Berets' cameras was accidentally knocked on. 

The camera captured the sound of fighting, the machine guns and the grenade launcher. 

"We're completely surrounded by Taliban," Ford remembers, hearing the recording. "Every position, the patrol base, the compound." 

"So you guys were in real trouble at this point," Logan asks. 

"Yes, we were," Ford replies. 

Afghan reinforcements tried to reach the village but were pushed back by the Taliban. 

The Green Berets could have been overrun were it not for individual acts of heroism by members of their team. Sergeant First Class Abram Hernandez was teetering on top of a ladder he had climbed at the corner of a building to get a clear shot at the Taliban fighters trying to take Matthew Binney and Joe Fuerst prisoner. 

"You were hanging on that ladder, high in the air, holding on with one arm, shooting with the other arm," Logan remarks. 

"Because I lost my balance. That’s why," Hernandez explains. 

But he held on.

"Seeing Hernandez propped up at that ridiculous angle was absolutely inspiring," says O'Connor. "You could see the tracer rounds actually flail the wall in front of him. And he'd duck down and then pop back up and tracer rounds were coming, they were whizzing right by our heads." 

"Were you amazed by Hernandez, what was he was doing?" Logan asks. 

"I was. I was," O'Connor says, tearing up. 

"Brendan says he's never seen anything more inspiring or motivating than that moment when he laid eyes on you," Logan tells Hernandez. 

"And I’d say the same thing about him," Hernandez replies. 

While Hernandez was firing from the ladder, O'Connor started to crawl under fire across an open field to rescue the two wounded Americans. With no cover, his thick body armor made him an easy target. 

"I actually pulled back to cover, to a covered position and removed my body armor," O'Connor remembers. 

O'Connor says he couldn't get low enough, and was still under fire. "There was exchanges of fire going on at all times," he remembers. 

Maj. Ford said everyone watching O'Connor crawl 90 yards across the open field without his bullet-proof vest couldn't believe what he was doing. 

"They described to me watching the machine gun fire go right over his body, seein' it hit grass that he was crawlin' through and seein' it mow some of that down, the fires were so heavy it was literally cutting some of the grass in different spots," Ford explains. 

It took an hour and a half for O'Connor to reach Fuerst and Binney. From a rooftop, Master Sergeant Thom Maholic was single-handedly holding down a group of advancing Taliban who were threatening the rescue operation. 

"They were coming to take that compound that Thom was holding. And he would stop them by killing them or wounding them. And eventually they gave up their assault," Ford explains. 

"Did Thom make it possible for you to get out?" Logan asks O'Connor. 

"Absolutely," he replies. 

Asked if he couldn't have done it without him, O'Connor says, "Absolutely not." 

Then Maholic took a bullet in the head. Abram Hernandez rushed to his aide but there was little he could do. Maholic died in his arms. 

Joe Fuerst also died as Sgt. O'Connor tried to carry him to safety. At this point, other members of the team, including Staff Sergeant Brandon Pechette, began to think no one would make it out alive. 

Asked if he was afraid, Pechette tells Logan, "I was, at a point. There was a lull. When I heard that Thom Maholic and Joe had passed it was kind of a point where we're like, 'Well, we're still surrounded, you know? What are we gonna do? Well, we’ll keep fighting.' So, I pull out a notebook. Wrote a little quick note to my wife. Said goodbye and said, 'Well, if I'm goin', I'm takin' as many as I can with me. And we're gonna fight as bravely as we can.'" 

After nearly two days of fighting, two men lost and one seriously wounded, the Green Berets were almost out of ammunition. 

Apache gunships were continuing to hammer Taliban positions, but the Green Berets were still surrounded. To get them out, they asked one of the pilots flying overhead to lay down an infrared beam that they used to guide them through the dark back to their patrol base. The plane fired at anything moving outside that infrared beam. 

Ford says the beam could be seen on night vision, but not by the naked eye. 

"How far did you have to travel like this?" Logan asks. 

"About 600 meters," O'Connor says. 

"Have you ever seen that done before?" Logan asks. 

"No, I have not," Ford says. 

In a propaganda video, the Taliban showed off Matthew Binney's body armor as a war trophy and claimed victory, even though they lost an estimated 120 men in the fighting. But they surprised the Green Berets with their skill on the battlefield. 

"The Taliban want to take Afghanistan back. They want to install their government, their system of life," Ford says. 

"But, bottom line, a force that was defeated in the invasion is no longer defeated," Logan asks. 

"Not at this time," one of the soldiers replies. 

"But people will watching this how - wondering how did we get to this point? When this is the army that literally ran from U.S .forces. And now we're fighting them on this scale?" Logan asks. 

"They've hid. And they've trained," Ford says. 

"The kind of training that you use," Logan remarks. 

"Right. Absolutely," Ford acknowledges. 

"And now I'm sitting here and you're talking about a force that not only uses American style combat and infantry tactics, but is able to engage America's finest warriors," Logan remarks. 

"That's correct," one of the soldiers replies. 

At an emotional ceremony in Kandahar, the Green Berets honored the two warriors they lost in the fighting, Thom Maholic and Joe Fuerst. The team believes their whole unit would have been killed or captured had it not been for the bravery of individuals like Brendan O'Connor. 

"I mean he's an absolute hero," says Ford. "He's what people want to be." 

Later this month, O'Connor will become only the second American to receive the Distinguished Service Cross, for valor in Afghanistan. 

The rest of the unit was honored at Fort Bragg late last year and became the most decorated Special Forces team for a single battle in the Afghan war. 

Thom Maholic's Silver Star was presented to his son Andrew. He stood proudly in front of the men whose lives his father had saved.

Two years after the battle, the village where the fighting took place - and much of southern Afghanistan - remain under Taliban influence.

Video in LINK


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## Rabid Badger (Apr 21, 2008)

*Green Beret to receive DSC*

*Green Berets Recount Deadly Taliban Ambush*

*VIDEO HERE...*

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/18/60minutes/main4026734.shtml


*The DSC ceremony for MSG O'Connor will take place at FB on 30 April, 2008.*


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## HoosierAnnie (Apr 21, 2008)

Mere words cannot describe the absolute pride I feel knowing these men wear OUR uniform.


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## shortbrownguy (Apr 21, 2008)

Are there any other questions about the professionalism, dedication and courage of the SF Warrior?


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## HoosierAnnie (Apr 21, 2008)

My comment in the GB receiving the DSC thread stands verbatim for this case. The US Warriors know no equal.


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## RackMaster (Apr 21, 2008)

Absolutely amazing!


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## The91Bravo (Apr 21, 2008)

Outstanding news... much deserved...


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## Ravage (Apr 21, 2008)

shortbrownguy said:


> Are there any other questions about the professionalism, dedication and courage of the SF Warrior?



No Sir ! >:{


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## Ravage (Apr 21, 2008)

Warriors exist, and Angels are among them.


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## Gypsy (Apr 21, 2008)

I'm so angry I missed this last night.  God bless 'em all...


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## mattie2u (Apr 21, 2008)

shortbrownguy said:


> Are there any other questions about the professionalism, dedication and courage of the SF Warrior?



Not in my mind there aren't.


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## surgicalcric (Apr 21, 2008)

Hey guys...

SBG was making a point to those who have, and continue to have, questions about the character of men such as those mentioned here.

Lets not muddle it with answers to a rhetorical question.     ;)

Extraordinary men doing an extraordinary job.

Crip


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## Rabid Badger (Apr 21, 2008)

Inside story about the man receiving the DSC:

His wife was aware that 'something' had happened. She called another SF wife for consolation. The 'other' wife couldn't make the drive (6 hrs) to FB because of eye surgery.

2 days after the incident, MSG O'Connor called the family friend's wife to console HER for not being able to make it to FB.....

THAT's a true QP and Hero.

:2c:


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## car (Apr 21, 2008)

razor_baghdad said:


> Inside story about the man receiving the DSC:
> 
> His wife was aware that 'something' had happened. She called another SF wife for consolation. The 'other' wife couldn't make the drive (6 hrs) to FB because of eye surgery.
> 
> ...



Good story RB.  Give my best to your buddy when you see him next week. I'll be playing in the woods at AP Hill or I would find a reason ("officially") to go with you.


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## Swill (Apr 22, 2008)

Guys like that are why I stay in. Unreal.


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## Crusader74 (Apr 22, 2008)

Amazing story..


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## JBS (Apr 22, 2008)

badass...


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## Scotth (Apr 22, 2008)

Incredible story.


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## al2004 (Apr 22, 2008)

That was definitely one of the most inspiring things I've watched. Reminds me of the old admiral in Bridges of Toko Ri, "where does we get such men?"


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## bella (Apr 22, 2008)

Professionals like that are why I worry so little when my son deploys with them.  He is with the best.  The kind of men that I owe such a deep debt of gratitude for how he has been 'reared' in the Army... 

Reading this left me with goosebumps. 

There has never been a doubt in my mind why they are called "Quiet Professionals".

Thanks out to them for thier sacrifice and serice and to all you QP's who read this for keeping the wind in sail in free.


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## Rabid Badger (Apr 29, 2008)

Thanks out to all who appreciate the military as a whole. :cool:

Brendan gets pinned/Ceremony tomorrow. ;)

Hopefully an upgrade is in order. He deserves it. :)


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## Ravage (Apr 29, 2008)

Congratulations to him !
I'm sure Master Sergeant Thom Maholic and Joe Fuerst will be watching him from above, amongst other Warriors....


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## Simmerin' SigO (Apr 29, 2008)

I had the pleasure of serving with Brendan O'Connor when he was a Team Leader in 11th SF Group back in the 90s.  He was a Great American then and he's certainly one now.

How does one codify the totality of skill, courage, guile, and inner strength demonstrated by _each of the men of that ODA_, much less when considered _in the aggregate_?  Man for man, pound for pound, SFODAs are the best fighting units in the world.


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## Ravage (May 1, 2008)

http://news.soc.mil/releases/News Archive/2008/May/080501-01.html

*Special Forces Soldier is awarded the second highest medal for combat*

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (USASOC News Service, April 30, 2008) – A 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) Soldier was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross during a ceremony at Bank Hall, Fort Bragg, N.C., April 30 for valorous actions during Operation Enduring Freedom.

On his 20th year of military service, Master Sgt. Brendan O’Connor, formerly a senior medic on a 2nd Battalion, 7th SFG (A) Operational Detachment Alpha, was presented the award while he stood before family, friends, and fellow Soldiers. 

“For the men who were with him that day, Master Sergeant O’Connor is a savior,” said Adm. Eric T. Olson, commander of United States Special Operations Command, who presented the award to O’Connor. “For all Americans, he is a hero, and for all members of special operations across the services, he is a source of enormous pride.”

 O’Connor was instrumental in keeping his team alive during an intense battle with over 250 Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan on June 22, 2006. While making a temporary stop during a patrol, his team and their attached Afghan National Army soldiers were attacked from all sides with small arms fire, heavy machine guns, rocket propelled grenades,  recoilless rifles and mortars.

During the 17 1/2 hours of sustained combat that followed, O’Connor and his team fought of wave after wave of Taliban attackers from a group of small compounds, fighting for their lives against insurgents who were intent on killing or capturing the beleaguered defenders. Much of the combat was so close that the defenders of the compounds could hear cursing and taunting from the enemies who swarmed the perimeter.

After hearing two Soldiers were wounded at another location, O’Connor removed his body armor and low-crawled under heavy machine gun fire to treat and extract his wounded comrades. O’Connor then carried a wounded Soldier back to a safer area, again passing through intense fire. One teammate commented that as he was crawling, machine gun fire “mowed the grass” around him.

“I don’t think that what I did was particularly, brave,” said O’Connor. “My friend needed help and I had the opportunity to help him, so I did. I think I’m lucky to get this sort of recognition; there are so many other Soldiers who do similarly brave things overseas and are happy with just a pat on the back when they get home.”

O’Connor is the second Soldier to be awarded the DSC for actions taken in Operation Enduring Freedom. The first was a 5th Special Forces Group Soldier, Maj. Mark Mitchell in 2003. Before Mitchell there had been none since the Vietnam War. The DSC is the second highest award for valor, surpassed only by the Medal of Honor.

“I’ve never been more honored, but this medal belongs to my whole team,” said O’Connor. “Every member was watching out for the other, inspiring each other, and for some, sacrificing for each other. We all fought hard, and it could just as easily be any one of them standing up here getting it pinned on; every one of them is a hero.”






HiRes


> Master Sgt. Brendan O’Connor, formerly a senior medic on a 2nd Battalion, 7th SFG (A) Operational Detachment Alpha, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross during a ceremony at Bank Hall, Fort Bragg, N.C., April 30 for valorous actions during Operation Enduring Freedom. (Photo by Sgt. Daniel Love, USASOC News Service)







HiRes


> Master Sgt. Brendan O’Connor, right, 7th SFG (A) Operational Detachment Alpha, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross during a ceremony by Adm. Eric T. Olson, commander of United States Special Operations Command, at Bank Hall, Fort Bragg, N.C., April 30 for valorous actions during Operation Enduring Freedom. (Photo by Sgt. Daniel Love, USASOC News Service)


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## Gypsy (May 1, 2008)

Razor...please give us an AAR when you get back.


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## Rabid Badger (May 1, 2008)

*DSC Ceremony*



Gypsy said:


> Razor...please give us an AAR when you get back.



Brendan came by the hotel to say hi yesterday......I've know Brendan for a few years, he actually came by to say hi to Harry and I.....

I'll look for the vid of the ceremony....all kinds of news stations were there.

H2 and I had front row...H2's in a wheelchair and the coordinations for us to enter were extraordinary and we had our own lil PSD to get us in...

I'll write more and post pics tomorrow after 'clean-up'.....but here's what stands out about the 'awardee'....

When Brendan came to the hotel, his first statement to us was....

'D, that was just another day at work. I did something *stupid* (de-kit) and they gave me a *medal* for it'.....*A testament to the man*... *a true QP*... :cool:

pics forthcoming....but here's a few..(H2 is in the foreground)

http://www.shadowspear.com/vb/album.php?albumid=134&pictureid=1058


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## Rabid Badger (May 2, 2008)

*Medic gets Distinguished Service Cross*

By Henry Cuningham
Military editor

Staff photo by Raul R. Rubiera 
Master Sgt. Brendan O’Connor wears the Distinguished Service Cross during an award ceremony Wednesday. 

Master Sgt. Brendan O’Connor on Wednesday received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s second-highest valor award, for his actions during a 17-hour battle in Afghanistan.

The 47-year-old Special Forces medical sergeant spoke with humor and humility after the medal was pinned on his uniform in a ceremony at Bank Hall on Fort Bragg.

“My word!” O’Connor said, reacting to praise by a three-star Army general and a four-star Navy admiral. “My name is Brendan O’Connor, and I didn’t fully approve that message.”

*In his self-effacing remarks, O’Connor apologized to his children for missing birthdays and thanked his wife, Margaret, for what she has done in raising their family in his absence. *

Margaret O’Connor writes a Home Front column for The Fayetteville Observer.

*Master Sgt. O’Connor, who resigned his commission as an officer and then took the rigorous training to become a Special Forces medical sergeant, said his “momentary courage” pales in comparison to people who cope courageously with difficult situations daily, such as Capt. Ivan Castro, who is blind, and Harry Hubbard, a friend who suffered a stroke in his mid-30s.*

The audience included former U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy, a friend of the O’Connor family, and former 7th Group commanders.

The heroism of O’Connor and his team in the face of an attack by 300 Taliban fighters received national attention April 20 in a segment on the CBS news show “60 Minutes.”

Adm. Eric Olson, the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command at Tampa, Fla., pinned the award on O’Connor’s uniform.

Video:


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## Swill (May 2, 2008)

Awesome! Thanks for sharing RB!!


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## HoosierAnnie (May 2, 2008)

As a medical professional, I am doubly proud of Master Sgt O'Connor.  This is what being a combat medic is all about.


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## Gypsy (May 2, 2008)

Thanks D...I'm sure it was incredible.  Glad you and H2 had some private time with him.


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