No Lack of Courage (11 page)

Corporal Richard Furoy, the medic or “doc,” was sitting directly behind Nolan. “Everything in the world came down on us and then, whoomp, the G-Wagon went black,” recalled Furoy. “I sort of lost consciousness . . . [but] I could still feel the spray of gunfire; I could feel the concussion of the rounds inside my chest, but I couldn't hear anything.”
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Everywhere individual battles of heroism and courage were played out in isolated dramas throughout the battlefield, which had become a cauldron of fire. Sergeant Scott Fawcett was surveying the ground from the rear sentry hatch of his LAV III, C/S 31C, when he ordered his driver
to stop abreast of the other platoon vehicles as they approached to within 30–50 metres of the white school complex. Fawcett witnessed E32D and the G-Wagon get hammered by rocket fire in quick succession. He quickly reported the events to Captain Wessan, who was riding in C/S 31C since his own LAV was non-serviceable.

Fawcett turned his attention to the G-Wagon, which was a blackened and smoking wreck by then. Behind it he could see Corporal Teal desperately signalling for help. Without hesitation Fawcett told Private Mike O'Rourke and Corporal Jason Funnel to follow him and they exited the relative safety of their LAV and sprinted into the inferno outside. “Running through the marijuana towards the G-Wagon, the noise of the guns was deafening and the enemy fire was shredding the tall plants. It was raining marijuana on the sprinting soldiers.”
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Private O'Rourke recalled, “As we dismounted it was just like out of the movies, you hear the whizzes of the bullets and the RPGs—just wicked crazy sounds.”
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Once they reached the G-Wagon the gravity of the situation became clear. O'Rourke and Funnel began applying first aid to Furoy and the interpreter, who were both seriously hurt. Meanwhile, Fawcett and Teal focused on engaging the enemy to relieve some of the pressure. Realizing the tenuous position they were in, Sergeant Fawcett ordered his men to transport the wounded back to the LAV while he and Teal continued to provide covering fire. O'Rourke and Funnel twice traversed the bullet-swept field to evacuate the wounded, an act of bravery for which they received the Medal of Military Valour.

Meanwhile, the entire company was hammered by small arms and RPG fire. Even the Zettlemeyer front-end loader to the rear of the fighting was quickly hit with an enemy 82mm recoilless rifle and put out of action. Every weapon available was fired in return, but no one could see their antagonists. Corporal Gary Reid insisted, “You couldn't see them. There was minimal movement but lots of rounds.” He added, “There was small-arms fire coming from everywhere, RPGs, everything that they had they threw at us. I think we spotted two guys and the rest was all spec[ulative] fire.”
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“The whole time,” lamented Private O'Rourke, “you couldn't see a thing. You couldn't see any movement, anything.”
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He added, “So the
whole chain of command is just yelling put down some suppressive fire. And I'm a C9 [LMG] gunner and so far every time I've had to use my C-9 it's crapped out on me. Every time.” A despondent O'Rourke bemoaned, “It's a horrible feeling when you're in battle and you're popping off a few rounds and then you get a dead gun. A horrible feeling.”
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Even the gunners in the hulking LAV IIIs had difficulty. The marijuana plants were so high that the gunners in the turrets failed to see any targets. Nonetheless, the barrels of the 25mm chain guns soon glowed with heat as suppressive fire was rained down on the suspected enemy positions. Many of the guns jammed due to the incessant firing and the pintle-mounted machine guns soon ran short of ammunition.

At one point in the desperate battle the main gun of the LAV commanded by Master-Corporal Sean Niefer jammed after firing just a few rounds. Realizing the plight of his fellow soldiers caught in the open, Niefer stood up in his hatch, fully exposed, and began to lay down a barrage of fire using the pintle-mounted machine gun in the turret. To many who witnessed his selfless act of bravery to support those around him, his total disregard for the bullets and shrapnel whizzing through the air became representative of the vicious battle “C” Coy Gp found itself in. Clearly, there was no lack of courage.
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At the same time, 8 Platoon was fighting through a group of buildings on the left flank. Master-Corporal Ward Engley's section dismounted to secure a large ditch. “All of a sudden the whole world exploded around us,” recalled Engley. RPGs, mortars, small arms, and machine-gun fire, seemingly coming from all directions, slashed the air. Nevertheless, the 1 RCR soldiers made their way to clear the complex array of compounds and buildings. They were required to go back and clear out buildings that had already been cleaned out because the compounds had so many passages and tunnels that the enemy could use their greater knowledge of the terrain to re-infiltrate the areas that had already been cleared out.

Adding to the problems of the 8 Platoon soldiers were malfunctioning grenades. Instead, the troops used their M72 66mm rocket launchers to clear buildings. A door would be kicked in and the M72 tube punched into the room and fired. The effect of the blast and concussion gave the soldiers bursting into the room the necessary edge.

By that time the platoon commander, Lieutenant Hiltz, had dismounted and ran down the left flank to check on the progress of his soldiers. He explained, “I ran down to my left flank, the south side, and I pushed forward. I'd had several soldiers within my two section actually slightly concussed, knocked out by RPGs. They figure that they took no less than 10 RPGs in their position alone that hit the buildings that they were around . . . They were able to push forward and hold that position.”
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Nonetheless, the incoming fire was heavy and Hiltz attempted to get assistance from 9 Platoon, which was deployed in a firebase on Ma'SÅ«m Ghar. He threw white smoke hoping that it would serve as a reference point. Unfortunately, from 8 Platoon's vantage point it was hard to tell whether the call for support fire was having any effect.

Concurrently, the ANA element assigned to the assault was also heavily engaged. The ANA were apparently fearless. Initially trailing behind “C” Coy Gp, as soon as the Taliban ambush erupted the ANA troops “ran past us with their kit firing on the run,” described Sergeant Donovan Crawford with admiration. “They raced up without hesitation.”
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Lieutenant Ray Corby asserted, “They [ANA] [were] quick, aggressive and eager.”
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Lieutenant Hiltz affirmed, “It was actually quite awesome to see that and it brought me back to grips with exactly what I was required to do. I needed to continue to push the platoon out and cover off and allow 7 Platoon the ability to pull back.”
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By that time Sergeant Fawcett and his men had retrieved the dead and wounded occupants of the G-Wagon and returned to their LAV. But Charles Coy Gp could not seem to catch a break. As the platoon began to withdraw from the trap it found itself in, the driver of C/S 31B backed into a ditch. Like a beached whale, the LAV was stranded and unable to move. Half suspended, its wheels were spinning wildly in the air. The crippled LAV became a preferred target for the enemy and RPG rounds sailed in, a number of them finding the target. The back door was hit, rendering it useless. Other rounds smacked into the vehicle—its armour saving those inside.

C/S 31C quickly came to the support of the stricken vehicle. Broadside to the enemy fire, the crew commander directed the soldiers in the back to take cover in the ditch, which provided greater protection, until they
were able to evacuate the troops from the back of the stranded LAV. In the ditch, one soldier “could hear the ‘ting ting ting' as small-arms fire hit the LAV and he felt the vehicle rock as first one and then a second RPG slammed into the rear hatch area.”
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The occupants of the stranded LAV now had to make their exit through the escape hatch since the back ramp of the LAV had been rendered inoperable by the RPG strikes. One at a time, the soldiers made the dash to the closest piece of shelter and provided covering fire for the next individual to run the enemy's gauntlet of fire. Once all were safely out they loaded into C/S 31C, however, space soon became an issue. “There was no room because we had approximately 12 to 13 guys in the back of a LAV III, which is in my eyes a miracle,” commented Private O'Rourke. “I don't know how we fit so many people back there. But thank God for it.”
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Unfortunately, due to the lack of space, Sergeant Fawcett and Corporal Fields were on their own and had to make their way out of the death trap dismounted. Due to the circumstances, the body of the platoon warrant was initially left behind with the stranded LAV III in the ditch.

The situation continued to spiral out of control. It seemed that luck was simply not with “C” Coy Gp. A French Mirage Jet zoomed in to deliver badly needed air support but for some inexplicable reason the 1,000 pound GPS guided bomb went off-course and landed 20 feet from Major Sprague and his men. Sprague recalled, “The entire firefight stopped as everyone watched this bomb bounce towards us . . . I thought, we're fucked now.” Corporal Rodney Grubb reminisced, “In the middle of all this chaos, we see this big, black fuck-off bomb coming towards us . . . it was like a big, black steel football. It hit the ground and bounced and bounced and bounced.” Grubb hit the ground and concluded, “Okay, we're done.”
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Fortuitously, the bomb never went off.
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As the recovery of vehicles continued the firefight intensified and “C” Coy Gp continued to be plagued by mishaps. The tow vehicle recovering the LUVW missed the breach and the G-Wagon fell into the ditch. After two and a half hours of attempting to recover it, Sprague made the call to blow-in-place (BIP) in order to deny any advantage to the enemy. One positive development occurred when the engineer LAV, C/S E32D, which had been struck in the opening salvo of the ambush, was also in
the process of being recovered. As they began the recovery effort the unconscious driver came to and was able to drive the damaged vehicle out of the trap.

Major Matthew Sprague realized that there was not much more he could do so he directed more fire forward and calmly organized the withdrawal of his forces, ensuring that neither casualties nor disabled vehicles were left behind. Warrant Officer Frank Mellish established a casualty collection point (CCP) behind the now disabled Zettlemeyer in a hollow in the ground. When Mellish discovered that the body of his best friend was still in the stranded vehicle he grabbed Private Will Cushley to help him retrieve the corpse. Before they could move an 82mm recoilless rifle round slammed into Zettlemeyer, spraying the area with hot molten shrapnel.

Lieutenant Hiltz recalled, “I was running in to check on my C-6 [GPMG] team, and I vividly remember an RPG round heading directly towards me. And as I went down into the ditch where the C6 team was, it actually flew over my head.” Hiltz remembered turning around and looking back and witnessing the tragedy about to unfold. “The round impacted on the Zettelmeyer and essentially the blast rained down right onto the group there,” he explained. “It initially looked like everybody was okay but then I realized that there were quite a few of them that were wounded.”
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Lieutenant Justin Bules, the 2 Platoon commander, stated, “My LAV was about 25 metres in front of the Zettelmeyer and my head was out of the turret and a recoilless rifle round came over my head, hit the Zettelmeyer and spalded.”
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Whether RPG or 82 mm recoilless rifle, the effect was the same; the impact of the round mortally wounded Mellish and Cushley.

On top of Ma'SÅ«m Ghar a Canadian special operations forces (SOF) combat control team watched the tragedy unfold. “The LAVs were stuck in the field,” described one SOF operator. “They were crammed in a little field and they had no mobility . . . We saw guys dragging bodies into a CCP and then there was a big explosion and then just guys laying there.”
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Another witness from the SOF team affirmed, “It was one of the most frustrating things I've ever had to watch.”
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On the ground the situation seemed tenuous. “It was total chaos,” opined engineer Warrant Officer Roger Perreault.
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It had become a fight for survival. As the battle continued to rage, 9 Platoon, located in a fire-base position on Ma'SÅ«m Ghar, was frustrated by their lack of ability to fully support their sister platoons. Captain Carey attested to the feeling of helplessness that C/S 33 experienced. “We just knew that they were under contact, they were in a kill zone and we knew that one of the vehicles had been hit by RPG and that there were casualties, so we just started laying as much fire as we possibly could to their frontage . . . We had to be careful because there was quite a bit of confusion on the net and they were in the marijuana fields so they couldn't tell where the fire was coming from, they couldn't get a fix on the enemy.”
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Carey confirmed, “There was quite a bit of mayhem on the ground there.”
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Sergeant Jamie Walsh noted, “After they got hit we tried to engage as best as we could.” He emphasized, “We started engaging the schoolhouse and the bunker system right away.”
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But part of the problem was the limited arcs of fire that 9 Platoon possessed. “We couldn't fire at a lot because it would have been shooting right through [C/S] 31 and [C/S] 32's positions,” conceded Sergeant Walsh. One of the SOF operators concluded, “The firebase was not far enough to the flank so they didn't have adequate arcs of fire so once across the river, ‘C' Coy was on their own.”
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