North Atlantic Treaty Organization - Operation Medusa: the furious battle that saved Afghanistan from the Taliban

On the cover

The image on our front cover holds deep meaning for all members of the Posse. Ours was as tight a group as any serving in Afghanistan. We depended upon each other. This shot was taken by Greg Mooner Moon on April 21, 2006, at the end of our visit to the small village of Gumbad in Kandahar Province. There we met with tribal elders, soldiers of 7 Platoon from the 1st Battalion, Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry, and members of our civilian military cooperation ( CIMIC ) team. By days end we were thoroughly impressed with their success in re-establishing the presence of the Government of Afghanistan in the north of the province. The photo shows a Blackhawk lifting off to take me and some of the Posse back to Kandahar Airfield and our brigade headquarters. The four soldiers in silhouette are (left to right) Randy Payne, Rick Tucker, Dave Houthuyzen and Matt Dinning. They and the rest of the Posse returned by road. Tragically, the day after this photo was taken, their vehicles were hit by an IED , killing Matt, Randy, Bill Turner and Myles Mansell.

Copyright 2018 Major General (Retd) David Fraser and Brian Hanington

Hardcover edition published 2018

All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the publisher or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency is an infringement of the copyright law.

Published simultaneously in the United States of America by McClelland & Stewart, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited, a Penguin Random House Company.

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Fraser, David (Major-General), author

Operation Medusa / Major General David Fraser, Brian Hanington.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 9780771039300 (hardcover).ISBN 9780771039317

(EPUB)

1. Operation Medusa, 2006. 2. Afghan War, 2001- CampaignsAfghanistanPanj w i (District). 3. International Security Assistance Force (Afghanistan). 4. North Atlantic Treaty OrganizationArmed ForcesAfghanistan. I. Hanington, Brian, author II. Title.

DS371.4123.O655F73 2018 958.1047 C2017-904792-2

C2017-904793-0

Library of Congress Control Number is available upon request

Front cover photograph: Cpl Gregory C. Moon

Back cover photograph: Mike Wright

Front cover design by CS Richardson

Endpaper maps Stiff (Ottawa)

McClelland & Stewart,

a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited,

a Penguin Random House Company

www.penguinrandomhouse.ca

v5.2

a

To the families of all those who serve.

Our fight for justice in the ragged corners of the world is possible only because you sacrifice so much yourselves.

When military authors write about military events, they often use terms and abbreviations specific to their occupation. The texts they publish will then appeal to experienced military readers as familiar and therefore legitimate. Using such terminology carries two risks, however. First, the military terms of one nation are not always those of another, even among those operating in English. Working with our coalition counterparts in Afghanistan, Canadian soldiers were often compelled to convert Canadian terms to those better understood by our American, British, Danish, Dutch and Romanian partners, and we had to work hard to make sure we understood their own terms correctly. Second, when civilian readers encounter military jargon, they may understand generally whats going on yet not appreciate the specifics hidden within the terminology. To manage both risks, we either explain each esoteric term when first encountered or avoid that term altogether. We hope our simple language will not lead any sharp-end readers to doubt the authenticity of our account. We do favour acronyms here and there to keep the overall heft of the book reasonable, but always show the full term nearby.

Spelling is another issue. Afghan words for places, people and things spring from local languages such as Pashto, Dari, Hazaragi, Uzbek, Turkmen, Balochi and Pashayi. Attempts through history to transliterate these terms into English have resulted in a wide variety of spellings with few conventions. For clarity we wish to be consistent. Panjwayi, where much of the action takes place, is written elsewhere as Panjwaii, Panjwaye, Panjwai and Panjway. The district on the north bank of the Arghandab River that runs east to west through Kandahar Province is variously called Zheley, Zharey, Zharay, Zheri and Zheray. We write it as Zhari. The village of Pashmul may appear in other sources as Pashmol, Pshml and Pazmul. Where possible confusion remains, we have made a note in the text. Lastly, the names of companies in Task Force 3-06 are written as A Company, Bravo Company and Charles Company, as those were the conventions used in theatre.