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On Dec. 5, 2001, S. Sgt. Brian C. Prosser became the first Military Intelligence (MI) soldier killed during Operation Enduring Freedom. A ten-year Army veteran, Sergeant Prosser supported the 5th Special Forces Group during the first months of the war in Afghanistan.
Brian “Cody” Prosser enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1991 and attended basic training at Fort McClellan, Alabama. After graduating from the Airborne School at Fort Benning, Georgia, Prosser was assigned to the 21st Military Police (MP) Company and the 319th MI Battalion as an MP at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. In 1997, Prosser transitioned to an intelligence position and attended the Intelligence Analyst Course at the U.S. Army Intelligence Center at Fort Huachuca. He then deployed to Camp Yong-In, South Korea, as an intelligence analyst. After returning to the U.S., he was assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Campell, Kentucky, and later served as the Group’s 3d Battalion intelligence sergeant.
Over the course of his career, he participated in several contingency operations, including deployments to Somalia, Haiti, Kosovo, Jordan, Kuwait, and across Southeast Asia. Shortly after the September 11th terrorist attacks, he answered his nation’s call during the early months of Operation Enduring Freedom and volunteered to deploy as the intelligence sergeant with MI Detachment, 2d Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group.
In late November 2001, 2d Battalion arrived near the town of Tarin Kowt in south-central Afghanistan to support Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 574. Commanded by Capt. (later Lt. Col.) Jason Amerine, ODA 574 was working alongside Hamid Karzai, an anti-Taliban Afghan guerrilla leader who would later become president of Afghanistan. ODA 574 and Karzai’s forces had successfully pushed the Taliban out of Tarin Kowt and were preparing to continue south toward Kandahar.
On Dec. 3, the combined force arrived in Shawali Kowt, where they met a sizeable Taliban force on the Arghandab Bridge and in Sayyid Alim Kelay across the river. Sergeant Prosser was later praised for his “ability to quickly analyze enemy order of battle and assimilate enemy courses of action with nearly one hundred percent consistency,” providing key intelligence for operational planning during the ensuing battle. His superior later recommended him for a Bronze Star, noting:
"During the night of 3 December, SSG Prosser directly assisted with Close Air Support (CAS) operations keeping Taliban elements pinned down and allowing airstrikes to eliminate the threat to the strategic town and bridge at [Sayyid Alim Kelay]. …Although his battle lasted over eight hours, SSG Prosser consistently rose to the occasion and provided critical real time intelligence to the battlefield, all of which directly resulted in the defeat of the Taliban at [Sayyid Alim Kelay]."
The Taliban was forced to abandon their position in the village, and reinforcements from Kandahar were pushed back the next day. The American commanders then received intelligence that a small force was hiding in caves on a nearby ridgeline.
On the morning of Dec. 5, 2001, an airstrike was ordered on the ridgeline. Shortly before the strike, one of the U.S. Air Force tactical air control specialists at Shawali Kowt, responsible for radioing in the target location for the B-52 bombers, inserted new batteries into their Global Positioning System (GPS). This had the disastrous consequence of resetting the GPS coordinates to the unit’s own location. As a result, a Joint Direct Attack Ammunition (JDAM) bomb was dropped on the American position, killing Sergeant Prosser, M. Sgt. Jefferson D. Davis, Sfc. Daniel H. Petithory, and several Afghan guerrillas. Dozens more were wounded, including Captain Amerine and Karzai.
Sergeant Prosser was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal with “V” Device for his service during the long battle on Dec. 3, and he also received a Purple Heart. In 2002, Prosser Village, a large complex of barracks, dining facilities, and instruction facilities at Fort Huachuca, was named in his honor. At that ceremony, his family also accepted his posthumous Legion of Merit.
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| Date Taken: | 11.26.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 11.29.2025 10:49 |
| Story ID: | 552513 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 6 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, First MI Soldier Killed in War on Terror (5 DEC 2001), by Erin Thompson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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