Dan Neely
29 Jan 03, 21:38
"The Associated Press reports on a fascinating document that has "mysteriously
made it onto the Internet"--a supposedly secret affidavit given by Air Force
Staff Sgt. Kevin Vance three weeks after a battle in Afghanistan last March.
The U.S. military has confirmed the authenticity of the document, which appears
in full here."
Interview of SSgt Kevin Vance 25 March 2002
Bagram, Afghanistan
My name is Kevin Donell Vance. In June, I will have been in the United States
Air Force for eight years. I hold the rank of Staff Sergeant. I am currently
married with two children, ages four and two. I was born on 3 September 1976
and am currently 25 years old. My SSN is XXX-XX-XXXX
I entered into the USAF eleven days after graduating from high school. I went
to open general basic training. I was not sure which career path to take until
I was asked to try out to be a tactical air control party [TACP] from a TACP
recruiter. I was one of the few who tried out and was chosen.
I went to technical school in Florida for fourteen weeks. My first assignment
was at Ft. Polk in Louisiana supporting the 2nd Armored Calvary Regiment[ACR]
for three years. I then transferred to support the Joint Readiness Training
Center [JRTC] for a year. Next, I was assigned to Camp Casey in Korea for one
year. Afterwards, I tried out for and was selected for my present job. I have
been with my current unit for two and a half years. I have had basic training,
TACP training, Ranger School, Basic Airborne School, Air Assault School, HALO
School, and Pathfinder School.
At around 0115z on 4 March 2002, I was told that a military member was on the
ground in a hostile area in Afghanistan after falling out of a helicopter.
My team was told that another team was attempting to go in and get him, but if
they were not successful, my team would go in. We were waiting to find out if
we would go in to try to get to our lost military member. My team was in a
helicopter in route and our estimated time of arrival was 0150z. My team
consisted of ten people plus three special tactics squadron members [STS] and
we were with eight crewmembers, a total of twenty-one personnel.
At 0140z I had noticed we were flying in circles around the mountaintop because
I had noticed the same terrain twice. As we were circling about the third time,
we were hit with a rocket-propelled grenade [RPG] around 0145z. There were
sparks on the right side of the aircraft and we started to shake violently.
Then our helicopter just fell out of the sky about 15 feet to the ground. After
the first RPG hit us to when the helicopter hit the ground, I do not remember
specifics of what happened, it was a blur. No one, to my knowledge, was injured
from the initial crash.
Before I could get off the aircraft, another RPG hit the aircraft where the
right door gunner was. There was only one military member between the right
door gunner and myself. I am not positive how many times our helicopter was
shot but I think altogether, four RPGs were shot at us. I was snap linked into
the helicopter, a precaution so we do not fall out of the helicopter.
First I was trying to get my snap link/safety line off but the pararescueman
[PJ] behind me was pushing me so it pulled tight. I had a little bit of trouble
getting it off; it slowed me down about 15 seconds. I then ran off the back of
the aircraft.
By the time I was able to get off of the aircraft, three of our team members
were already dead. One team member was on the ramp with a hole in his head.
There was no mistaking that he was dead. The second team member was at the end
of the ramp face down in the snow. His position was such that if there had been
life left in him, he would have moved his head out of the snow. I later found
out that he had been shot under the arm though his chest and out his above
right nipple. The last deceased team member was lying on his back at the end of
the ramp not moving. These three deceased members survived the initial crash
without injury, but had died from enemy fire. Their names
were Marc Anderson, Brad Crose, and Matt Commons.
I knew we had three killed in action [KIA], which left seven of our team, three
of which were injured. I had shrapnel in the arm, but did not notice it until
later. My platoon leader had shrapnel in his leg, it was a pretty good chunk,
and another team member had shrapnel in his lower left calf and moving slow.
Our team knew how to fight and how to operate on the ground. The aircrew did
not have the same training.
I exited the aircraft and threw my rucksack off but kept it within 20 meters
from me. I figured out which way we were being engaged from and I sought cover
behind a cut out in the rock face. It was just big enough for four team members
to kneel behind it. We set up a perimeter. Two other members were back to my
right and three members to my left. I was closest to the enemy. There were two
enemies about 50 meters north of us near a tree. There was one enemy behind me
and to the right already dead. There were
some more enemies to the south coming out. Then we started to engage the enemy.
I was shooting an M4. At first, my priority was to keep engaging the enemy to
hold them back and then to seek assistance for close air support [CAS] on the
radio. My radio, a PRC 117F, was still in my rucksack. There was a combat
controller [CCT] with us named Gabe Brown who was behind me a bit. I turned
around and yelled at him to work on getting communications running; he was
already was working on it.
I decided that I needed to be on the line fighting, if I had been on the radio,
then the combat controller would have been sitting there doing nothing because
he doesn't have the assault training.
I decided that he should call in the CAS as I directed him. I told him my
rucksack had a radio in it. A member of the crew dragged my rucksack to the CCT
so he had my radio.
First, we shot M203 rounds at bunker. A M203 is a grenade launcher that fits on
a M4/16. As the squad leader and team leader shot M203s, I stood up and
provided covering fire. When he would stand up to fire a grenade at the bunker,
I would standup and shoot at the bunker to cover him. I did the same when the
crewmembers would run for more ammo.
We tried throwing fragment grenades at the enemy but it they were too far away
and the bunker was on the backside of the hill. The enemy threw fragment
grenades at us but they landed 5-10 feet in front of me, buried in the snow and
blew up.
I believe one of the helicopter pilots was dead and the other was injured
severely. The other pilot opened the door to the aircraft and fell out of the
aircraft face first. He lay there in the snow securing his area.
There was no power to the aircraft without which we could not operate the
mini-guns. One of the team members yelled at a member of the crew to get the
power working so we could use those guns. The mini-guns shoot 7.62 ammo and so
does our M240. The crew was taking ammo and giving it to our M240 gunner.
When the crewmembers would run back to the aircraft for more ammo, I would
standup and shoot at the bunker to cover them. They were also taking M203
rounds and magazines off of the KIA and bringing it to us. The crew pulled off
insulation from the aircraft to wrap the casualties in to keep them warm.
Then four of us (myself, the platoon leader, squad leader, and team leader)
started to assault the tree area where the enemy was coming from while the M240
gunner suppressed it. The CPT Self, the platoon leader [PL], was in charge.
Once we realized that it was a bunker, a couple of enemy came out from behind a
tree and took shots at us. We were moving slow because the snow was up to our
knees and we were going uphill.
The platoon leader finally said let's back up and rethink this. We backed up
because we could not afford to lose any more guys.
The combat controller yelled that we have F-15s on station. The Platoon Leader
was next to me and we discussed it. Then F-15s were overhead and the combat
controller was directing them to the enemy according to my instructions. I told
the combat controller to have the F-15s to strafe the bunker and have them come
in from our right to our left.
The CCT repeated what I said. He was smart enough that I did not have to tell
him too much detail of what to say on the radio. We used the position of the
helicopter to give clock directions. He had basic knowledge of CAS so I could
tell him to have the fighters do gun runs on an area from which direction and
he would get on the radio and make it happen.
The first F-15 pass was really close and I was uncomfortable because I could
not tell if the guns were pointing at my team or the enemy bunker so I told the
CCT to abort it. I told him to have them come in more from behind us, so I
could tell they were not pointing at us. I told him to clear them and the
rounds hit right by the bunker. I told him to have them do that over and over
again.
I think the gun runs were made by both F-15s and F-16s. For the first 10-15
minutes, the CCT thought I was the team leader. He yelled to me: "aren't you
the team leader?" when the team leader was sitting next to him.
At this point, the team member who was injured in the leg and could not move
easily was facing one way. Sgt Walker and I were pulling security on the
bunker. CPT Self and I tried to determine where would be a good landing zone.
The fighters did some more gun runs and the enemy was still jumping up shooting
at us. The enemy was moving on us from behind us (we didn't know this at the
time) but the majority of enemy were firing at us were on the hill near the
bunker area. We killed seven of them.
The last time I saw anyone move in the bunker, I was scanning the hilltop and I
saw the upper half of an enemy behind some bushes. I shot three times, got down
and stood back up. This was the last I had seen him. I never went over towards
that bunker so I cannot confirm if I had killed him.
Then we shot some more bombs in the bunker area. I told CCT to direct them to
shoot down the backside of the hill north of us. I thought it was better to
have them shoot downhill with the first one so we could walk him in to the
target. The first bomb hit the backside of the hill and then I told him to
bring it up and hit the tree over the bunker. The second one hit the tree dead
on and split it in half. The fire from the bunker area ceased.
We could not see over the hill and did not know what was over there. CCT said
we have some 500-pound bombs to use. After discussing with the PL, I said let's
drop them on the backside of the hill and walk them up. They were dropping them
about 75 to 100 meters away from us. Some of the pilots did not want to drop
them without the commander's initials because they were afraid they would kill
us.
At that point we were not taking any more fire from the top of the hill so the
platoon leader wanted to wait until our reinforcements linked up with us before
we tried moving on the top of the hill.
By this time, the second helicopter landed at the bottom of the hill to our
northeast and reinforcements were moving towards us. The second aircraft had
ten team members on it. They moved uphill to us.
This was about two and a half hours after we had crashed. On the way, they were
taking some mortar fire. At one point they had bracketed us with the mortars
but then they started shooting mortars down the hill to try and hit the second
team members as they were coming up the hill to reinforce us. I do not know
where the enemies were shooting the mortars from. Later, I learned they were
being shot from a position about 300 meters from us on the backside of the
hill.
Finally, our reinforcements linked up with us. Sgt Walker took a couple of
rounds in his helmet. When the reinforcements arrived, Sgt Walker came forward
and told SSG Wilmoth which direction the enemy was located. Sgt Walker's helmet
had holes in the top of the head and the side of the head.
A 500-pound bomb hit just over the backside of the hilltop. It hit at an angle
where it blew everything back over the top of us so it was raining debris and
metal pieces down around us. That was the only point where we were really
concerned with our safety from the friendly bombs. This was the last time we
used the 500-pound bombs. Together we started to take the top of the hill.
Once we took the top of the hill we found two more friendly bodies. They
included the member who fell out of the helicopter that we were there to find
and a member from the team before us that tried to go in to get him. We were
sent in because they were not successful. Both members had been shot and
killed. We had thirty-three members on the hill (including two deceased we
found), sixteen were fighting, and three of those sixteen were wounded. The
other half was working on casualties or were casualties themselves.
As we took the top of the hill, we started taking fire from behind us. We had
to turn around and fight the other way. Meanwhile, all of our casualties were
lying out in the open down the hill. Once taking fire from the other direction,
we had to go downhill to get our casualties. The casualties were the first
three team members out of the aircraft and the pilot. A PJ, SrA Jason D.
Cunningham, and another team member were killed from gunfire as they were going
down to get the casualties. Jason Cunningham was injured seriously but did not
die immediately.
At this point, I was still on the top of the hill sitting next to the CCT and
the PL while talking on the radio. I was reporting back to higher and CCT was
talking to the aircraft. We were the command and control [C2] section. I could
have taken the radio back from CCT and said that it is my job to call in CAS,
but he had been working with them already and understood the landmarks he was
talking about. If I had to do it, then it would have been a relearning process
so I continued to monitor him and let him call in CAS. The medics kept the PJ
alive for about 10 hours (about an hour and half before we got exfiltrated). I
reported it to the Controller when he died.
They also dropped 1000 pounders that landed 150 meters away from us. That was a
little close and I made sure the CCT had them push those out a bit. It hit the
nearside of the hill instead of the far side and shook the team members up. No
one was injured. When the bomb hit, some debris on fire flew up into the air
about 75 feet over our heads and continued on into the valley where it caught
something on fire in the valley.
After being on the ground for about three hours, we had to move the bodies up
the mountain before we could be exfiltrated. This would have taken about one
half hour.
Controller asked me if the pick-up zone [PZ] was cold and how many guys we were
going to lose if we waited to be exfiltrated. I asked the medic: "if we hang
out here, how many guys are going to die?" The medic said at least two, maybe
three. I reported to Controller it is a cold PZ and we are going to lose three
if we wait. Just as I said it was a cold PZ, we were shot at.
However, we could have made it cold by the time they got the helicopters in
there. It was just every once and while the enemy would take pop shots at us.
If we had CAS on station dropping bombs, we could have gotten out of there at
that time. I told CCT to drop bombs down in the valley and on the small hill
every now and again.
Every time the plane showed up and you could hear them, we weren't being shot
at. Just having the planes nearby kept the enemy away. Continuously dropping
bombs discouraged them from coming after us. So every now and again, we would
drop bombs on them with B52s, B-1s, those were the last aircraft we had. I
cannot remember which one.
I was watching our medic, he was a part of the second team, as he was working
on the PJ. I saw him doing CPR on the PJ and I knew it was bad. I then saw the
medic stand up, look over at me, and start walking to me. That is when I got on
the radio to Controller and told him that we now have seven KIA.
The whole fifteen and one half hours we were on the ground I was fighting,
talking on the radio, or telling CCT what to call in. I shot a total of 420
rounds during the fifteen and one half hours. I was on the C2 line the whole
time while watching over CCT's shoulder to make sure everything was all right.
As the hostile fire started slowing down, I barely had to tell CCT what to do,
just drop bombs over here or over there.
I kept telling Controller that we'd lost another one, cold PZ, when are we
getting exfiltrated? Controller said to hold on. After asking him three
times, PL expressed urgency at getting the team out of there. I continued to
tell Controller but he just kept telling me to hold on. After the third time, I
handed the hand mike to the PL and asked him to tell Controller the same thing.
For the next thirteen hours, there were sporadic firefights from about 300
meters away. All of the close fighting was done because we had neutralized all
close enemies. The mountaintop had three different peaks. We held the two
highest ones. About 300 meters to our south, southeast was the third hilltop
where the enemy was coming up. At one point Controller told me that the enemy
was trying to reinforce with seventy guys. I was not clear if he was talking
about seventy friendly or enemy. I then asked if the seventy guys coming up
this way were not my friends. He said "Roger". I said I wanted to make sure
that was clear. I tried to keep that between the PL and myself because it would
have destroyed the other guys' morale. I think the PL let the team know so they
could be ready. We never did see the seventy enemies.
I put the PL on the radio and he was being told the exfiltration sequence of
events. I was sitting next to him taking notes. Once the exfiltration plan was
sorted out, we sat around and waited until the AC-130 checked in. We had them
fly around and occasionally shooting. Controller said we had eight enemies
moving in to our south. I never did run into them.
CCT was talking to the AC-130 and I was talking to Controller. I gave
Controller the approach heading, the land heading and the departure heading.
There was a 090 approach heading, 235 land heading, and 270 departure heading.
The first aircraft came in on a 090 and then came to a hover. I tried to get
him on the radio to tell him to turn around and do a 180. I could not reach
him so I called Controller and asked him to get in contact with the second and
third helicopters to have them land at 180 degrees from what the first one did.
It was important to have the second one land that way in order to upload the
KIAs quickly. He was able to reach them and the second and third helicopters
landed according to direction. Because the first one landed heading the wrong
direction, the exfiltration was slowed down immensely. We had to drag the
casualties all the way around the back of the helicopter and load them up. It
was important that the second one landed the way it did.
My entire unit got on the second helicopter while another unit got off to pull
security. They then got on the helicopter and left. If they had landed the way
the first one did, it would have taken a lot longer than it did. The entire
exfiltration process took too long, about 15 minutes for the first two
helicopters. It was all quiet when we were being exfiltrated.
It felt really good when I got back and my buddies said they were sitting
around the radio listening. They were impressed that I never got emotional and
was calm and professional the whole time. I tried to keep a monotone voice.
There were times that I tried to throw some words in there to make Controller
realize that we have to get out. It became a personal conversation and we kept
saying we have to get out of here.
I received a minor wound to my left shoulder. It is a shrapnel puncture wound.
I didn't notice it until a day later when I woke up and my shoulder felt like
someone punched me. I then looked at the T-shirt I was wearing that night and
noticed it was blood stained.
I went through so many different emotions, excited, mad, frustrated, sad, any
other emotion you could possibly feel, you feel going through this whole thing.
And I felt guilty if I felt anything was funny like Sgt Walker's helmet with
the holes in it because we had lost members of our team.
Everyone out there just did his job. I just did my job, everything came natural
and my training kicked in. There is nothing I could have changed about that
day. Nothing we could have done different or better. I could not ask for a
better group of guys to work with. I have trained for eight years to do this
and now I had the chance to get to do my job -- that is reward enough.
Everybody working together and the good Lord is what got us home.
I swear that I have read this statement and it is true and correct to the best
of my knowledge.
This statement has been subscribed and sworn to before Capt Erin Bree Wirtanen,
an officer authorized to administer oaths this 29th day of March 2002 and
witnessed by Lt Col Kenneth M. Rozelsky, II.
KEVIN DONELL VANCE, SSgt, USAF At Bagram, Afghanistan
I, Erin Bree Wirtanen, the undersigned do hereby certify that on this 29th day
of March 2002, before me personally appeared SSgt Kevin Donell Vance, who
signed and executed the foregoing document.
I do further certify that I am a person in the service of the United States
Armed Forces authorized the general powers of a notary public under 10 U.S.C.
1044a of the grade, branch of service and organization stated below and that
this certificate is executed in my capacity as a person authorized notary
authority under Title 10 U.S.C. 1044a.
ERIN BREE WIRTANEN, Capt, USAF 332 AEG/JA Al Jaber AB, Kuwait
I certify I was witness to SSgt Kevin Donell Vance's oath of truthfulness and
signature on the aforesaid document on the 29th of March 2002.
KENNETH M. ROZELSKY, II, Lt Col, USAF
made it onto the Internet"--a supposedly secret affidavit given by Air Force
Staff Sgt. Kevin Vance three weeks after a battle in Afghanistan last March.
The U.S. military has confirmed the authenticity of the document, which appears
in full here."
Interview of SSgt Kevin Vance 25 March 2002
Bagram, Afghanistan
My name is Kevin Donell Vance. In June, I will have been in the United States
Air Force for eight years. I hold the rank of Staff Sergeant. I am currently
married with two children, ages four and two. I was born on 3 September 1976
and am currently 25 years old. My SSN is XXX-XX-XXXX
I entered into the USAF eleven days after graduating from high school. I went
to open general basic training. I was not sure which career path to take until
I was asked to try out to be a tactical air control party [TACP] from a TACP
recruiter. I was one of the few who tried out and was chosen.
I went to technical school in Florida for fourteen weeks. My first assignment
was at Ft. Polk in Louisiana supporting the 2nd Armored Calvary Regiment[ACR]
for three years. I then transferred to support the Joint Readiness Training
Center [JRTC] for a year. Next, I was assigned to Camp Casey in Korea for one
year. Afterwards, I tried out for and was selected for my present job. I have
been with my current unit for two and a half years. I have had basic training,
TACP training, Ranger School, Basic Airborne School, Air Assault School, HALO
School, and Pathfinder School.
At around 0115z on 4 March 2002, I was told that a military member was on the
ground in a hostile area in Afghanistan after falling out of a helicopter.
My team was told that another team was attempting to go in and get him, but if
they were not successful, my team would go in. We were waiting to find out if
we would go in to try to get to our lost military member. My team was in a
helicopter in route and our estimated time of arrival was 0150z. My team
consisted of ten people plus three special tactics squadron members [STS] and
we were with eight crewmembers, a total of twenty-one personnel.
At 0140z I had noticed we were flying in circles around the mountaintop because
I had noticed the same terrain twice. As we were circling about the third time,
we were hit with a rocket-propelled grenade [RPG] around 0145z. There were
sparks on the right side of the aircraft and we started to shake violently.
Then our helicopter just fell out of the sky about 15 feet to the ground. After
the first RPG hit us to when the helicopter hit the ground, I do not remember
specifics of what happened, it was a blur. No one, to my knowledge, was injured
from the initial crash.
Before I could get off the aircraft, another RPG hit the aircraft where the
right door gunner was. There was only one military member between the right
door gunner and myself. I am not positive how many times our helicopter was
shot but I think altogether, four RPGs were shot at us. I was snap linked into
the helicopter, a precaution so we do not fall out of the helicopter.
First I was trying to get my snap link/safety line off but the pararescueman
[PJ] behind me was pushing me so it pulled tight. I had a little bit of trouble
getting it off; it slowed me down about 15 seconds. I then ran off the back of
the aircraft.
By the time I was able to get off of the aircraft, three of our team members
were already dead. One team member was on the ramp with a hole in his head.
There was no mistaking that he was dead. The second team member was at the end
of the ramp face down in the snow. His position was such that if there had been
life left in him, he would have moved his head out of the snow. I later found
out that he had been shot under the arm though his chest and out his above
right nipple. The last deceased team member was lying on his back at the end of
the ramp not moving. These three deceased members survived the initial crash
without injury, but had died from enemy fire. Their names
were Marc Anderson, Brad Crose, and Matt Commons.
I knew we had three killed in action [KIA], which left seven of our team, three
of which were injured. I had shrapnel in the arm, but did not notice it until
later. My platoon leader had shrapnel in his leg, it was a pretty good chunk,
and another team member had shrapnel in his lower left calf and moving slow.
Our team knew how to fight and how to operate on the ground. The aircrew did
not have the same training.
I exited the aircraft and threw my rucksack off but kept it within 20 meters
from me. I figured out which way we were being engaged from and I sought cover
behind a cut out in the rock face. It was just big enough for four team members
to kneel behind it. We set up a perimeter. Two other members were back to my
right and three members to my left. I was closest to the enemy. There were two
enemies about 50 meters north of us near a tree. There was one enemy behind me
and to the right already dead. There were
some more enemies to the south coming out. Then we started to engage the enemy.
I was shooting an M4. At first, my priority was to keep engaging the enemy to
hold them back and then to seek assistance for close air support [CAS] on the
radio. My radio, a PRC 117F, was still in my rucksack. There was a combat
controller [CCT] with us named Gabe Brown who was behind me a bit. I turned
around and yelled at him to work on getting communications running; he was
already was working on it.
I decided that I needed to be on the line fighting, if I had been on the radio,
then the combat controller would have been sitting there doing nothing because
he doesn't have the assault training.
I decided that he should call in the CAS as I directed him. I told him my
rucksack had a radio in it. A member of the crew dragged my rucksack to the CCT
so he had my radio.
First, we shot M203 rounds at bunker. A M203 is a grenade launcher that fits on
a M4/16. As the squad leader and team leader shot M203s, I stood up and
provided covering fire. When he would stand up to fire a grenade at the bunker,
I would standup and shoot at the bunker to cover him. I did the same when the
crewmembers would run for more ammo.
We tried throwing fragment grenades at the enemy but it they were too far away
and the bunker was on the backside of the hill. The enemy threw fragment
grenades at us but they landed 5-10 feet in front of me, buried in the snow and
blew up.
I believe one of the helicopter pilots was dead and the other was injured
severely. The other pilot opened the door to the aircraft and fell out of the
aircraft face first. He lay there in the snow securing his area.
There was no power to the aircraft without which we could not operate the
mini-guns. One of the team members yelled at a member of the crew to get the
power working so we could use those guns. The mini-guns shoot 7.62 ammo and so
does our M240. The crew was taking ammo and giving it to our M240 gunner.
When the crewmembers would run back to the aircraft for more ammo, I would
standup and shoot at the bunker to cover them. They were also taking M203
rounds and magazines off of the KIA and bringing it to us. The crew pulled off
insulation from the aircraft to wrap the casualties in to keep them warm.
Then four of us (myself, the platoon leader, squad leader, and team leader)
started to assault the tree area where the enemy was coming from while the M240
gunner suppressed it. The CPT Self, the platoon leader [PL], was in charge.
Once we realized that it was a bunker, a couple of enemy came out from behind a
tree and took shots at us. We were moving slow because the snow was up to our
knees and we were going uphill.
The platoon leader finally said let's back up and rethink this. We backed up
because we could not afford to lose any more guys.
The combat controller yelled that we have F-15s on station. The Platoon Leader
was next to me and we discussed it. Then F-15s were overhead and the combat
controller was directing them to the enemy according to my instructions. I told
the combat controller to have the F-15s to strafe the bunker and have them come
in from our right to our left.
The CCT repeated what I said. He was smart enough that I did not have to tell
him too much detail of what to say on the radio. We used the position of the
helicopter to give clock directions. He had basic knowledge of CAS so I could
tell him to have the fighters do gun runs on an area from which direction and
he would get on the radio and make it happen.
The first F-15 pass was really close and I was uncomfortable because I could
not tell if the guns were pointing at my team or the enemy bunker so I told the
CCT to abort it. I told him to have them come in more from behind us, so I
could tell they were not pointing at us. I told him to clear them and the
rounds hit right by the bunker. I told him to have them do that over and over
again.
I think the gun runs were made by both F-15s and F-16s. For the first 10-15
minutes, the CCT thought I was the team leader. He yelled to me: "aren't you
the team leader?" when the team leader was sitting next to him.
At this point, the team member who was injured in the leg and could not move
easily was facing one way. Sgt Walker and I were pulling security on the
bunker. CPT Self and I tried to determine where would be a good landing zone.
The fighters did some more gun runs and the enemy was still jumping up shooting
at us. The enemy was moving on us from behind us (we didn't know this at the
time) but the majority of enemy were firing at us were on the hill near the
bunker area. We killed seven of them.
The last time I saw anyone move in the bunker, I was scanning the hilltop and I
saw the upper half of an enemy behind some bushes. I shot three times, got down
and stood back up. This was the last I had seen him. I never went over towards
that bunker so I cannot confirm if I had killed him.
Then we shot some more bombs in the bunker area. I told CCT to direct them to
shoot down the backside of the hill north of us. I thought it was better to
have them shoot downhill with the first one so we could walk him in to the
target. The first bomb hit the backside of the hill and then I told him to
bring it up and hit the tree over the bunker. The second one hit the tree dead
on and split it in half. The fire from the bunker area ceased.
We could not see over the hill and did not know what was over there. CCT said
we have some 500-pound bombs to use. After discussing with the PL, I said let's
drop them on the backside of the hill and walk them up. They were dropping them
about 75 to 100 meters away from us. Some of the pilots did not want to drop
them without the commander's initials because they were afraid they would kill
us.
At that point we were not taking any more fire from the top of the hill so the
platoon leader wanted to wait until our reinforcements linked up with us before
we tried moving on the top of the hill.
By this time, the second helicopter landed at the bottom of the hill to our
northeast and reinforcements were moving towards us. The second aircraft had
ten team members on it. They moved uphill to us.
This was about two and a half hours after we had crashed. On the way, they were
taking some mortar fire. At one point they had bracketed us with the mortars
but then they started shooting mortars down the hill to try and hit the second
team members as they were coming up the hill to reinforce us. I do not know
where the enemies were shooting the mortars from. Later, I learned they were
being shot from a position about 300 meters from us on the backside of the
hill.
Finally, our reinforcements linked up with us. Sgt Walker took a couple of
rounds in his helmet. When the reinforcements arrived, Sgt Walker came forward
and told SSG Wilmoth which direction the enemy was located. Sgt Walker's helmet
had holes in the top of the head and the side of the head.
A 500-pound bomb hit just over the backside of the hilltop. It hit at an angle
where it blew everything back over the top of us so it was raining debris and
metal pieces down around us. That was the only point where we were really
concerned with our safety from the friendly bombs. This was the last time we
used the 500-pound bombs. Together we started to take the top of the hill.
Once we took the top of the hill we found two more friendly bodies. They
included the member who fell out of the helicopter that we were there to find
and a member from the team before us that tried to go in to get him. We were
sent in because they were not successful. Both members had been shot and
killed. We had thirty-three members on the hill (including two deceased we
found), sixteen were fighting, and three of those sixteen were wounded. The
other half was working on casualties or were casualties themselves.
As we took the top of the hill, we started taking fire from behind us. We had
to turn around and fight the other way. Meanwhile, all of our casualties were
lying out in the open down the hill. Once taking fire from the other direction,
we had to go downhill to get our casualties. The casualties were the first
three team members out of the aircraft and the pilot. A PJ, SrA Jason D.
Cunningham, and another team member were killed from gunfire as they were going
down to get the casualties. Jason Cunningham was injured seriously but did not
die immediately.
At this point, I was still on the top of the hill sitting next to the CCT and
the PL while talking on the radio. I was reporting back to higher and CCT was
talking to the aircraft. We were the command and control [C2] section. I could
have taken the radio back from CCT and said that it is my job to call in CAS,
but he had been working with them already and understood the landmarks he was
talking about. If I had to do it, then it would have been a relearning process
so I continued to monitor him and let him call in CAS. The medics kept the PJ
alive for about 10 hours (about an hour and half before we got exfiltrated). I
reported it to the Controller when he died.
They also dropped 1000 pounders that landed 150 meters away from us. That was a
little close and I made sure the CCT had them push those out a bit. It hit the
nearside of the hill instead of the far side and shook the team members up. No
one was injured. When the bomb hit, some debris on fire flew up into the air
about 75 feet over our heads and continued on into the valley where it caught
something on fire in the valley.
After being on the ground for about three hours, we had to move the bodies up
the mountain before we could be exfiltrated. This would have taken about one
half hour.
Controller asked me if the pick-up zone [PZ] was cold and how many guys we were
going to lose if we waited to be exfiltrated. I asked the medic: "if we hang
out here, how many guys are going to die?" The medic said at least two, maybe
three. I reported to Controller it is a cold PZ and we are going to lose three
if we wait. Just as I said it was a cold PZ, we were shot at.
However, we could have made it cold by the time they got the helicopters in
there. It was just every once and while the enemy would take pop shots at us.
If we had CAS on station dropping bombs, we could have gotten out of there at
that time. I told CCT to drop bombs down in the valley and on the small hill
every now and again.
Every time the plane showed up and you could hear them, we weren't being shot
at. Just having the planes nearby kept the enemy away. Continuously dropping
bombs discouraged them from coming after us. So every now and again, we would
drop bombs on them with B52s, B-1s, those were the last aircraft we had. I
cannot remember which one.
I was watching our medic, he was a part of the second team, as he was working
on the PJ. I saw him doing CPR on the PJ and I knew it was bad. I then saw the
medic stand up, look over at me, and start walking to me. That is when I got on
the radio to Controller and told him that we now have seven KIA.
The whole fifteen and one half hours we were on the ground I was fighting,
talking on the radio, or telling CCT what to call in. I shot a total of 420
rounds during the fifteen and one half hours. I was on the C2 line the whole
time while watching over CCT's shoulder to make sure everything was all right.
As the hostile fire started slowing down, I barely had to tell CCT what to do,
just drop bombs over here or over there.
I kept telling Controller that we'd lost another one, cold PZ, when are we
getting exfiltrated? Controller said to hold on. After asking him three
times, PL expressed urgency at getting the team out of there. I continued to
tell Controller but he just kept telling me to hold on. After the third time, I
handed the hand mike to the PL and asked him to tell Controller the same thing.
For the next thirteen hours, there were sporadic firefights from about 300
meters away. All of the close fighting was done because we had neutralized all
close enemies. The mountaintop had three different peaks. We held the two
highest ones. About 300 meters to our south, southeast was the third hilltop
where the enemy was coming up. At one point Controller told me that the enemy
was trying to reinforce with seventy guys. I was not clear if he was talking
about seventy friendly or enemy. I then asked if the seventy guys coming up
this way were not my friends. He said "Roger". I said I wanted to make sure
that was clear. I tried to keep that between the PL and myself because it would
have destroyed the other guys' morale. I think the PL let the team know so they
could be ready. We never did see the seventy enemies.
I put the PL on the radio and he was being told the exfiltration sequence of
events. I was sitting next to him taking notes. Once the exfiltration plan was
sorted out, we sat around and waited until the AC-130 checked in. We had them
fly around and occasionally shooting. Controller said we had eight enemies
moving in to our south. I never did run into them.
CCT was talking to the AC-130 and I was talking to Controller. I gave
Controller the approach heading, the land heading and the departure heading.
There was a 090 approach heading, 235 land heading, and 270 departure heading.
The first aircraft came in on a 090 and then came to a hover. I tried to get
him on the radio to tell him to turn around and do a 180. I could not reach
him so I called Controller and asked him to get in contact with the second and
third helicopters to have them land at 180 degrees from what the first one did.
It was important to have the second one land that way in order to upload the
KIAs quickly. He was able to reach them and the second and third helicopters
landed according to direction. Because the first one landed heading the wrong
direction, the exfiltration was slowed down immensely. We had to drag the
casualties all the way around the back of the helicopter and load them up. It
was important that the second one landed the way it did.
My entire unit got on the second helicopter while another unit got off to pull
security. They then got on the helicopter and left. If they had landed the way
the first one did, it would have taken a lot longer than it did. The entire
exfiltration process took too long, about 15 minutes for the first two
helicopters. It was all quiet when we were being exfiltrated.
It felt really good when I got back and my buddies said they were sitting
around the radio listening. They were impressed that I never got emotional and
was calm and professional the whole time. I tried to keep a monotone voice.
There were times that I tried to throw some words in there to make Controller
realize that we have to get out. It became a personal conversation and we kept
saying we have to get out of here.
I received a minor wound to my left shoulder. It is a shrapnel puncture wound.
I didn't notice it until a day later when I woke up and my shoulder felt like
someone punched me. I then looked at the T-shirt I was wearing that night and
noticed it was blood stained.
I went through so many different emotions, excited, mad, frustrated, sad, any
other emotion you could possibly feel, you feel going through this whole thing.
And I felt guilty if I felt anything was funny like Sgt Walker's helmet with
the holes in it because we had lost members of our team.
Everyone out there just did his job. I just did my job, everything came natural
and my training kicked in. There is nothing I could have changed about that
day. Nothing we could have done different or better. I could not ask for a
better group of guys to work with. I have trained for eight years to do this
and now I had the chance to get to do my job -- that is reward enough.
Everybody working together and the good Lord is what got us home.
I swear that I have read this statement and it is true and correct to the best
of my knowledge.
This statement has been subscribed and sworn to before Capt Erin Bree Wirtanen,
an officer authorized to administer oaths this 29th day of March 2002 and
witnessed by Lt Col Kenneth M. Rozelsky, II.
KEVIN DONELL VANCE, SSgt, USAF At Bagram, Afghanistan
I, Erin Bree Wirtanen, the undersigned do hereby certify that on this 29th day
of March 2002, before me personally appeared SSgt Kevin Donell Vance, who
signed and executed the foregoing document.
I do further certify that I am a person in the service of the United States
Armed Forces authorized the general powers of a notary public under 10 U.S.C.
1044a of the grade, branch of service and organization stated below and that
this certificate is executed in my capacity as a person authorized notary
authority under Title 10 U.S.C. 1044a.
ERIN BREE WIRTANEN, Capt, USAF 332 AEG/JA Al Jaber AB, Kuwait
I certify I was witness to SSgt Kevin Donell Vance's oath of truthfulness and
signature on the aforesaid document on the 29th of March 2002.
KENNETH M. ROZELSKY, II, Lt Col, USAF