Post unit ends insurgent threat with Excalibur

Cpl. Matthew Axford / 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — It was a pleasant evening at Jelawur Strong Point, the kind of evening that makes you forget that home is thousands of miles away and that you are in the Arghandab River Valley of Kandahar Province in southern Afghanistan. The temperature had cooled nicely and we had just finished up another platoon barbecue consisting of some mystery Afghan meat (possibly beef, most likely goat).

Then it came across the radio — intelligence assets had picked up traffic stating that 100 Taliban fighters were crossing the nearby river. OH-58 scout helicopters and various Unmanned Aerial Vehicles were immediately dispatched to the area.

The Soldiers of 2nd Platoon, C Battery, 3rd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment, got their game faces on. We knew that our 155 mm M-777 Howitzers were an ideal choice to eliminate this insurgent threat.

After orienting our guns in the direction of the river there was little to do but monitor the radio traffic, hoping to get a grid, a target. But it wasn’t long before it became apparent that if a force of 100 Taliban fighters had indeed formed and moved across the river then they had since disbanded.

Then it happened. The Fire Effects Coordination Center of 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment called us on our secure phone and gave us exactly what we had been waiting impatiently for, a target.

Several men had been observed coming out of a building carrying what appeared to be large bags. They buried the bags in a culvert on a road frequently used by International Security Assistance Forces. That was all we needed. A grape hut in the middle of a vineyard was now our target.

Given the nature of the target and the presence of nearby civilian buildings, the best way to engage this target was with the most sophisticated round we have – the XM-982 Excalibur, a GPS-guided, precision munition with a six-figure price tag. All we needed was for the insurgents to reoccupy the structure.

Fire Direction NCO Staff Sgt. George Norris worked a firing solution with his FDC; Sgt. Andrew Holmes, chief of 1st Section, 2nd Platoon prepared his howitzer and the round.

This was going to be the first time an artillery unit from Fort Lewis fired the Excalibur in Afghanistan and we all knew it. We rechecked our data one last time and sent the mission down to the howitzer. Seconds later we heard the unmistakable boom of the cannon.

Our fire direction officer, 1st Lt. Liam Keys, was on the phone with 1-17 Inf.’s FECC. They were monitoring the target via UAV video feed and the yelling and cheering our FDO heard over the phone let him know when the round hit.

We had done it. We had successfully fired the Excalibur round for the 5th Bde. 2nd Inf. Div. But more important, we had neutralized an insurgent threat. The battle damage assessment consisted of five enemy dead, one enemy safe house destroyed, one weapons cache destroyed, and one enemy motorcycle destroyed. A solid night’s work for us.