NATO Feature Highlights Mike & November Coy, OMLT Tm in Zhari

[The Bread Guy]

Well done all!  Photo below article...

Joint ISAF and ANA Operation disrupts insurgents in Zhari District
NATO news release, 8 Nov 08
News release link

Kabul, Afghanistan - A joint ISAF and Afghan operation aimed at disrupting an insurgent cell responsible for planting IEDs and staging ambushes against ISAF and Afghan forces was successfully completed October 27th in the Zhari District.

The two-day operation, known as Operation ARTASH was launched in the area around Howz-e-Medad. ISAF and Afghan National Army troops worked hand-in-hand, with the support of other coalition assets, to seize several compounds that were suspected to be used by insurgents as a staging ground for their activities.

Under cover of darkness, Canadian armoured vehicles from Mike Company began blazing a trail into the location while ANA and ISAF soldiers from November Company and the Operational Mentoring Liaison Team (OMLT) discretely approached from a different direction. At first light the ANA and ISAF soldiers seized the compounds without resistance and called upon military working dog teams and engineers to clear the compounds for any potential threats. Many items commonly used to make IED's, small arms ammunition, medical supplies as well as a small quantity of uniforms and cash were discovered in the area.

Major Rob McBride, the Officer Commanding November Company explained, "The success of this operation is two-fold. Not only have we disrupted a specific group of insurgents responsible for making IEDs, we have also proven once again that we are able to work effectively side-by-side with the ANA to assert our presence in this area and deny the insurgents the freedom to carry out their activities."

Later that morning, Afghan and ISAF soldiers came under fire from several insurgents who had moved into the area. The exchange of gunfire, however, lasted only a few minutes. "I think the insurgents were surprised to see such a powerful response from our presence on the ground," said Maj. McBride. "That also goes a long way to reminding them that we will continue to conduct deliberate operations alongside the Afghan National Security Forces against any insurgents who are a threat to ISAF, the ANSF and the people of Afghanistan."


ANA and ISAF soldiers worked together to disrupted (sic) insurgencies activities.

 

[Franko]

Under cover of darkness, Canadian armoured vehicles from Mike Company began blazing a trail into the location while ANA and ISAF soldiers from November Company and the Operational Mentoring Liaison Team (OMLT) discretely approached from a different direction.
<snip>
Later that morning, Afghan and ISAF soldiers came under fire from several insurgents who had moved into the area. The exchange of gunfire, however, lasted only a few minutes. "I think the insurgents were surprised to see such a powerful response from our presence on the ground," said Maj. McBride.

So Mike has tanks/ Badgers?        :

What next...the ability to time travel?

Again, the media doesn't get it right...mind you someone COULD have ensured the right troops got mentioned, not just Mike Coy.

Regards

 

[vonGarvin]

So Mike has tanks/ Badgers?         :

No, Mike Coy doesn't.  But Mike Company Combat Team did for that op, just as A Sqn Cbt Tm had infantry platoons for other ops.  But heck, the author failed to even mention that tanks were involved, so why let the truth get in the way of a good story? ;D

 

[The Bread Guy]

As much as I have issues with MSM - can't blame them this time - this is a NATO/ISAF-produced piece, so (sadly) it's one of your coalition colleagues who didn't seem to ask enough, or the right, questions...  Sigh....  can ANYONE ever get 'er right?

Thanks for the REST of the story, guys, and as usual, stay safe.

 

[Old Sweat]

Is this referring to the same operation that was featured on the Sandbox news earlier today or yesterday? On the surface it seems similar - a combat team, a dismounted company, ANA and OMLT and a TB compound used as an IED factory or storage depot.

Edit: I found the story, here.

Pioneer Press, Minnesota - Nation
Post Article Launched: 11/09/2008
ZHARI, Afghanistan

Small force under big pressure to make gains on tough turf

The company of Canadian soldiers set off from the small base in southern Afghanistan a few hours before dawn. Combat boots crunching along the wide plains of the Kandahar desert, they moved slowly in a long line into the moonless black ahead.

No one said a word as they picked their way across an old cemetery. The soldiers strained to hear any sound of approaching insurgents above the slap of funeral flags in the crisp autumn wind. Someone at the head of the line motioned them forward. A few dozen yards later, they stopped again.

The soldiers' target, a Taliban bomb-supply compound, was only a little more than two miles away. But it took the contingent of 200-plus troops about three hours to march from the cemetery to the insurgent stronghold. That is the way the war is being fought in southern Afghanistan: inch by inch.

The pace is frustratingly slow for many of the 2,500 Canadian troops fighting to break the Taliban's hold on Kandahar. The insurgents move swiftly under cover through much of the province. But for the Canadians, every tactical wiggle in Kandahar involves days of planning and dozens — sometimes hundreds — of soldiers.

Since taking charge of security there in 2005, Canadian forces have mounted several major offensives aimed at driving the Taliban out of Zhari and the neighboring district of Panjwai, in the western part of the province. Yet Taliban fighters maintain a stranglehold on much of the

area. Skirmishes with the Taliban in the province this year alone account for about a quarter of Canadian casualties in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001. The Canadian force is less than a tenth the size of the 33,000-member U.S. force. Nonetheless, the Canadians are responsible for maintaining security in one of the most historically fractious parts of the country.

Meanwhile, they are also struggling to find their footing in their first large-scale combat operation since the Korean War.

"We've had to play a bit of catch-up when it comes to getting into a big fight. We've traditionally been seen as peacekeepers," said Capt. Shawn Dumbreck, who leads one of several Canadian platoons in western Kandahar. "When the conflict started, our fighting skills were obviously there, but there was a steep learning curve to really get into the combat mission."

In Zhari, a mix of rocky desert and fertile farmland, the Taliban fighters wage their war largely from the deep gravel culverts lining Highway 1, Kandahar's main transit route. Roadside bombs along the highway account for about half of the 97 Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001. This year, the Canadian death toll has reached a record high, with 23 troops killed through September, many of them in Zhari and Panjwai. As a result, the soldiers go to great lengths to avoid possible booby traps.

"Frankly, it slows us down, because if I'm not confident a road has been swept, then the soldiers will head straight into the desert and drive across country," said Brig. Gen. Denis Thompson, the top Canadian commander in Kandahar. "It takes forever to get from A to B because you can't travel on a road."

One well-placed bomb in a culvert along the highway can easily result in multiple casualties. And multiple casualties over time increase pressure on Canadian politicians to end involvement in a war that is widely unpopular in their country. Like many of the 39 nations that make up the coalition forces in Afghanistan, Canada has faced repeated demands from the United States to shore up the flagging Western military mission. But Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has vowed to pull the majority of Canadian troops out of Afghanistan by 2011.

With the Canadian casualty count mounting in areas near Highway 1, the pressure to bring the restive province under control has never been higher.

But control of Kandahar, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban, has proved elusive. In June, Taliban insurgents attacked the province's main prison, near Kandahar city, freeing an estimated 1,200 inmates. About 400 of those who fled the prison were thought to be Taliban fighters. Four days later, Canadian and Afghan troops mounted a counteroffensive after locals reported seeing dozens of armed insurgents massing in Arghandab, a valley district near Zhari and Panjwai. Since then, nine Canadian soldiers have been killed in insurgent attacks — all in Zhari and Panjwai.

"The bottom line in Zhari and Panjwai is that we own about a third of those districts. The other two-thirds aren't owned by the Taliban, but I call them contested," Thompson said. "If you're out there, you're going to get into a scrap. There are firefights, and there's combat every day in Zhari and Panjwai

 

[The Bread Guy]

You may have seen that story even sooner here (1 Nov 08), just after the Washington Post published it:
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/80973.0.html
Sometimes papers keep such material "in the can" to run when there's spaces - hence the time gap.

Could be same, same based on the broad strokes, no?

 

[vonGarvin]

Yes, this is the same operation in both (all?) articles.