Commander says Camp Pendleton's force is prevailing over Taliban
As President Barack Obama weighs sending more troops to Afghanistan and debate over the course of an increasingly difficult war rages in Washington, the commander of a Camp Pendleton battalion says his troops have tamed one slice of the country's volatile Helmand province.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/military/article_e8d82969-cb8c-552a-976c-30ac84c0dc67.html
MARK WALKER - mlwalker@nctimes.com
Monday, October 12, 2009 10:00 pm
The 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment is now in its fifth month of operations in the Nawa district, an agricultural region of about 180,000 people along the Helmand River that was largely under Taliban control when the Marines arrived this spring.
While U.S. officials paint a portrait of increasingly deteriorating conditions, Lt. Col. William McCollough draws a different picture of what's occurred in his "battle space" in the volatile southern Afghanistan province.
"We are very far removed from the debate that is taking place," McCollough said Monday during an exclusive interview with the North County Times via satellite telephone. "All we can do is the mission that we have been given, and what I know very clearly is that we are winning here. The things we set out to do are being accomplished every day."
Among those accomplishments is making the district secure enough for its first council election in years to be conducted.
Speaking from his command post at Patrol Base Jaker, McCollough said his 1,100 troops are scattered at numerous outposts where they are partnered with 300 Afghan National Army troops and 300 Afghan police.
"We are in multiple positions and all of the people in those villages know every single Marine, an important and key piece to our success," he said.
What the troops have been able to do in their area, unlike the situation in many other regions, he said, is largely eliminate Taliban fighters and gain the trust of the local residents. It's the kind of success that strategists say is key to turning the tide in Afghanistan where 242 U.S. troops have died this year, the largest death toll there since the war began eight years ago.
Two lost
Two battalion troops have been killed in action: Sgt. William Cahir and Lance Cpl. Donald Hogan, both of whom died in small-arms firefights in August. The battalion also has seen about 65 troops wounded.
Most of the heavy fighting took place shortly after the battalion arrived in May.
"We thought initially that we might take more casualties, but the fighting was minimized because we were so lethal and able to kill the enemy in place," McCollough said.
His troops now encounter small groups of Taliban fighters about every other day, McCollough said, usually while patrolling on the fringe or outside the battalion's established "green zone" where the district's crops are produced.
"It's where the desert meets the green zone where we still have troops in contact," he said. "Once we've established a position, we've been able to hold it, but there are areas where we ran off the Taliban that they try to come back in."
For many other troops, the war hasn't been going as well as McCollough asserts. U.S. commanders in recent weeks have said the situation remains perilous in many regions and is complicated by an often ineffective and corrupt government.
On Sunday, U.S. Sen Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called for a new, comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan before any more troops are sent to the country.
'Hold and Build'
McCollough is a slightly built Minnesota native who heads a battalion that was part of Obama's troop surge this year that has seen the overall U.S. military force in the country rise to nearly 68,000.
Whether more troops, and more local Marines, are headed to Afghanistan is now under consideration by the administration, which is wrestling with a request from the overall U.S. commander, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who wants 40,000 more troops.
As McCollough and his troops begin a countdown to their expected return to Camp Pendleton around Christmas, two other Camp Pendleton units are gearing up for Afghanistan.
The base's 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion is headed there at year's end to take over command of special forces missions in the northern and western regions of the country. And earlier this month, the base announced it was reactivating the 1st Marine Expeditionary Battalion, a force of about 8,000, for an assignment to Afghanistan in the spring.
Those troops are expected to perform the kind of work McCollough's troops have been tasked with. After the initial clearing of enemy fighters, the Marines have focused on the "hold and build" aspects of counterinsurgency doctrine that call for maintaining ground won and building a rapport and trust with the residents.
"A little more than three months ago, this was Taliban country," McCollough said. "Now, this is our district where I am able to work with one governor, one police chief and one council."
Once the residents realized he and his Marines were staying in the villages and not just coming in, conducting firefights and leaving, McCollough said, the tide began to turn.
"The community quickly realized that the Marines were honorable and trustworthy and that we were here to help them," he said. "We've been able to clear the roads, and that helps spur economic activity. The people are feeling safer, and they now feel all right about traveling the district."
Augmenting the military presence are workers from the U.S. Agency for International Development, which provides economic assistance to developing countries.
Their effort, along with a commander's fund that McCollough can tap into, has helped rebuild bridges, fix buildings and develop new markets in the area.
These days, when his troops go out on patrol, they start by checking in with a village elder and then talking with other local officials and residents, many of whom now voluntarily tell the Marines about Taliban sightings and the location of suspected IEDs, or roadside bombs.
"When we first got here, it was the brave local who would tell us those things," McCollough said. "But five months later, we've earned enough goodwill and trust that the locals will tell us those things and IEDs are becoming far less prevalent."
Living in austere forward operating bases provides little contact with the outside world, but McCollough said every one of his troops has received a care package from family or supporters.
There are none of the large mess halls of the type that dot Iraq where U.S. troops can choose among hot meals and desserts and catch a little television, so certain cravings are prevalent, he said.
"Everybody wants a cold beer, a big thick juicy steak, and would like to be able to see the baseball playoffs and a football game."
Call staff writer Mark Walker at 760-740-3529.