WARDAK PROVINCE, Afghanistan – As bullets flew toward an armored vehicle on the adjacent hill, the mortarmen at Observation Post Savannah aligned their tube toward the enemy fighting position, March 15.
The ground shook around the mortar tube as Charlotte, N.C., native U.S. Army Sgt. Luiz D. Alamo slid six consecutive 60 mm rounds down the cylinder. The sequential explosions across the ridgeline, followed by silence, seemed to indicate the rounds found their mark.
Company B, 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Task Force Warrior established OP Savannah at the mouth of the Tangi Valley less than a week prior.
“The Afghan National Army will establish a checkpoint, which will then be turned over to the Afghan National Police,”said West Springfield, Mass. native U.S. Army Capt. Mark J. Balboni, the commander of Company B. “On the 15th, we began installing the first of the smaller OPs that will overwatch the future Traffic Control Point.”
Establishing the OP and TCP is essential for securing the valley.
“The OP and TCP will prevent the movement of arms and insurgents in and out of the valley,” said U.S. Army 1st Lt. Will J. Rendall, a platoon leader assigned to Company B.
Rendall, a White Bear Lake, Minn., native, explained that moving hundreds of sandbags, one by one, down to the newly formed fighting position is hard work, but securing the winding road in the base of the valley is worth it.
“The buildup of coalition presence in the valley has resulted in an increase of insurgent activity and contact within the last week,” said Rendall. “We have been hit every day since we stood up the OP.”
Because U.S. forces will inevitably leave Afghanistan, Company B is working on a long-term solution to secure the hostile valley.
As night fell over the hilltop on the western end of the valley, soldiers continued to ferry sandbags, one by one, down to the newly formed fighting position. Once enough progress was made, Balboni ordered his soldiers to rotate out of their security positions and for the recently arriving platoon to take over. The battle-hardened infantrymen seemed in high spirits as they loaded their vehicles to head back to their combat outpost after braving rocket-propelled grenade attacks and multiple firefights on the remote wind-battered hilltop.