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SAREAGAR VILLAGE, Helmand province, Afghanistan - Afghan National Army soldiers and more than 40 Marines surged through Sareagar village during a two-day operation to increase the International Security Assistance Force presence throughout the village and interact with the people there, Aug. 25 and 26.
The operation was spearheaded by the Marines and sailors of Bravo Company and an ANA company partnered with 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment located in the district of Sangin. The mission looked the same as traditional clearing operations with partnered forces flooding the village. Unlike traditional clearing operations, where every house is searched for weapons caches, the focus was on the villagers not the village. The purpose was to provide a security presence in the area that hadn’t been present in months.
“Sareagar is kind of a tragic story. When we started off it was heavily patrolled to where the enemy didn’t have any say in what happened within Sareagar. Due to shifts in kinetics, the unit that patrolled Sareagar got pushed up to (Patrol Base) Transformer,” said Capt. Patrick O’Shea, the platoon commander for the 81 mm Mortar Platoon, Weapons Company in support of Bravo Company. “What that did was create a gap in the patrolling efforts that was given over to the Afghan National Army which wasn’t able to saturate the area.
“So over time, Sareagar changed from the really peaceful area with no (improvised explosive devices), no direct fire contact to having IEDs and small arms threats,” said O’Shea
The most recent operational shifts within the area set the stage for Marines from 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company to increase patrolling efforts in the village and prevent insurgents from exploiting the village.
“So what needed to happen was a directed push back into Sareagar for a few reasons. It let the locals know that their government had not abandoned them because I am sure there was some of that within the village,” said O’Shea, a 2007 alumnus of the University of San Diego. “It also let the enemy know that they do not own Sareagar. The nature of the enemy we fight is that they are where we aren’t.”
“There hasn’t been much ISAF presence there, so we needed to go back and remind the people that we haven’t forgotten about them,” said 81’s team leader Sgt. Michael Segaline. “In this counterinsurgency fight, we are the clear element, the Marines of 3rd Platoon are the hold, and our whole goal was to set them up for success.”
The Afghan National Army had changed their patrolling tempo due to soldiers fasting during the Holy month of Ramadan. This combined with a temporary departure of a Marine platoon made conditions ripe for insurgents to plant improvised explosive devises. The partnered forces set out with vigilance against the buried bombs.
“We will have the worst of both worlds out there,” O’Shea stoically briefed the mission to both the Afghan and American small unit leaders before the operation. “There hasn’t been a large enough patrol effort to prevent the emplacement of IEDs, but unlike (previous operations in the battalion security area) there has been enough patrolling to warrant the emplacement of IEDs.”
Despite that threat, the first wave of Marines stepped off before sunrise and pushed into the village. The two waves each comprised three squad sized elements. The Afghan National Army and the Marines of the first wave were designated as the clearing elements and were to be followed by the second wave which would focus more heavily on interacting with the villagers.
The clearing elements followed a less traditional interpretation of the word ‘clear.’ They were not moving house-to-house in search of cache materials.
“What we have found over the previous clearing operations is that clearing every building doesn’t get you any further. What it usually does is it upsets a lot of people just like at home if cops came and searched every house in the neighborhood just because there was one drug dealer in the area. People would be pissed at that,” said O’Shea. “So our goal was to conduct a reconnaissance on the area.”
“It was basically like a presence patrol even though we don’t patrol that area that often. We were partnering to augment the ANA presence during the month of Ramadan,” said Segaline, who also serves as the team-chief for the company-level intelligence cell.
“We are trying to change the behavior of the people and thereby deter the insurgents from operating in the village. They will see the fliers and radios passed out on behalf of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and feel uncomfortable returning to that village.”
That illusion is important because it puts insurgents, who normally feel comfortable coming in for day missions, on their toes, explained O’Shea.
“The type of enemy we face is small in numbers. What happens when all the sudden motorized assets come out and you have 40 Marines flood the area is the enemy assesses the threat and lie low,” said O’Shea. “So that gives us unfettered access to the population. It sends messages to both the people and the enemy that we control Sareagar. When we want do something, we do it and the enemy is forced to hide.”
Taking this unimpeded access, the Marines were in search of locals out and about in the village so that they could interact with them and conduct their meet-and-greet offensive. The clear elements pushed through the village stopping often to listen to the people, play traditional Afghan music in the streets and pass out candy and their own snacks to children. The Afghan soldiers used their sparse grasp of the English language, learned from the Marines, to help the Marines communicate with the village audiences they encountered along the way. They were in no rush so the platoon moved, split into three sections, at a leisurely pace.
“Interacting with the local populous and opening up that line of communication builds rapport and can lead to more actionable intelligence. It also shows the human side of us especially to people who are on the fence,” said Wenatchee, Wash., native Segaline. “When you go up and show people the human side of you, that you are not just some kind of machine that never smiles or says hello, it starts to change the way they think. It humanizes you to both the enemy and the population.”
“Being willing to talk to the kids, while holding security during operations like this, builds camaraderie between the troops in Afghanistan and the people. It gets the people familiar with our names and faces so they trust us,” said Green Ridge, Mo., native Lance Cpl. Michael Ebeling, a team leader for 81’s Plt. “I have had a lot of interaction with the kids here and have become familiar with recognizing the patterns and responses to insurgents presence. If the kids are out and hanging around then that is a pretty good sign that there are no IEDs.”
Spending time talking to the people enabled the Marines to learn about the problems that plague the village and allowed the people to freely vent their concerns.
“The end state of all our operations is we need to determine the elements of instability and the root causes of problems,” said O’Shea. “If we don’t do that, then it’s an endless cycle. The only way you do that is building relations with the locals; figuring out the root causes and then you can address those.”
The Marines were also prepared to collect fingerprints, iris scans, family lineage data, and personal information to help separate friend from foe and separate the villager from the insurgent. Segaline reported that the people screened during the course of the operation already had their information registered from when the area was heavily patrolled.
At the end of the operation the Marines had accomplished their mission and showed the Afghan village they were not forgotten. The Afghan security forces in partnership with Bravo Company Marines will continue to bring peace and sanctuary to Sareagar Village.
| Date Taken: | 09.06.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 09.06.2011 12:06 |
| Story ID: | 76527 |
| Location: | SAREAGAR VILLAGE, HELMAND PROVINCE,, AF |
| Web Views: | 292 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, Marines, ANA surge Sareagar in ‘meet and greet’ operation, by Sgt Benjamin Crilly, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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