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65-522: Victory Point tells the comprehensive story of Operation Red Wings including regional history of Afghanistan's Kunar Province , specifically, the Korangal Valley and other areas of and around the Pech District of this eastern Afghanistan province. The book further provides background information about how Operation Red Wings evolved, including its purpose, and gives information on the leader of

130-482: A satellite phone . The team could not establish consistent communication other than for a period long enough to indicate that they were under attack. Three of the four team members were killed and the only survivor, Luttrell, was left unconscious with a number of fractures and other serious wounds. He regained consciousness and was rescued by local Pashtun, who ultimately saved his life. In his condition, without assistance, he would probably have been killed or captured by

195-827: A cab to drive the Pech road to Nangalam. When Shina reached the base in Nangalam in the middle of the night, he met with the commander and related the story about a wounded American soldier in their village. He then gave him the note Luttrell had written. In the weeks following Marcus Luttrell's rescue, Gulab and his family received threats from the Taliban, and they were relocated to Asadabad. 2005 Afghan parliamentary election Yunus Qanuni Naveen Parliamentary elections were held in Afghanistan alongside provincial elections on 18 September 2005. Former warlords and their followers gained

260-517: A consistent operational tempo. The culmination of 3/3's efforts was the April 2005 forced surrender of a regional (and national) high value target , an ACM commander known as Najmudeen, who based his operations out of the Korangal Valley. With the surrender of Najmudeen, ACM activity in the region dropped significantly. Najmudeen's surrender, however, left a power vacuum in the region. 3/3 tracked

325-567: A legislature in which the majority of members have little or no legitimacy. Because a sizable percentage of the Afghan population is unable to read and write, all candidates had an icon as well. Those icons were included on the lists. These included, but were not limited to, pictures of footballs , cars or different sorts of flowers . Because there were not enough different icons, some candidates had multiple icons as their symbol: two or three footballs behind each other, like Gulallay Habib ( page 16 of

390-573: A list of hockey team names. 2/3 continued the use of hockey team names for large operations. Seiffert's list included ten teams, and the battalion settled on the fourth name on the list, " Red Wings ", since the first three, New York Rangers , Chicago Blackhawks , and New Jersey Devils , each could be misconstrued as a reference to military units currently in Afghanistan at the time. The name has been widely misstated as "Operation Redwing" and sometimes "Operation Red Wing". This error began with

455-779: A number of "decoy drops" to mislead any enemy observers, the other inserted a four-man Navy SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team via fast rope in a saddle between Sawtalo Sar and Gatigal Sar, a peak just to the south of Sawtalo Sar. The insert point was roughly one and one half miles from the nearest Named Area of Interest. The team members were team leader Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1, based out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii ; Petty Officer Second Class Danny Dietz from SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 2, based out of Virginia Beach, Virginia ; Petty Officer Second Class Matthew G. Axelson from SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1; and Navy Hospital Corpsman Second Class Marcus Luttrell, of SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1. After moving to

520-653: A number of books about the Afghan war. Victory Point was chosen as one of the best books of 2009 by the United States Naval Institute . Operation Red Wings Taliban victory Timeline Major operations Airstrikes Major insurgent attacks 2002 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Massacres Other Operation Red Wings (often incorrectly referred to as Operation Redwing or Operation Red Wing ), informally referred to as

585-462: A number of known ACM groups they determined to be possibly seeking to fill the power void in the region. The battalion began planning a new operation, tentatively called Operation Stars, which was named after the Dallas Stars professional hockey team (3/3's battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Norman Cooling, hailed from Texas, hence most operations were named after Texas sports teams) Stars, like

650-519: A number of representatives in parliament, depending on the population. The largest province by population, Kabul , has 33 seats (390 candidates, 50 female, 340 male), whereas the small ones like Nuristan, Nimruz and Panjshir , have only two. The total number of candidates for the provincial councils was 3,025. Each province, except Oruzgan , had women running for seats in the provincial council. Female candidates ran for parliament in all districts. District council elections, originally also scheduled for

715-590: A pre-determined covered overwatch position, from which the SEALs could observe the Named Areas of Interest, the team was discovered by local goat herders. Determining that they were civilians, not combatants, Murphy released them, according to rules of engagement . The team, surmising that they would likely be compromised, retreated to a fallback position. Within an hour, the SEAL Reconnaissance and Surveillance team

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780-769: A result of Afghanistan's new electoral law, which left voters in many cases unclear on who they were voting for. Turnout was highest in the Turkmen , Uzbek and the Tajik populated provinces in the north - generally over 60% - and 50% in some of the Pashtun southeastern areas where the Taliban insurgency is strongest. Turnout was also surprisingly low (34%) in the capital Kabul , which is dominated by Tajiks. The first results were declared on 9 October, with final results being delayed by accusations of fraud, and were finally announced on 12 November. Only

845-543: A small cell led by a man named Ahmad Shah , based on intelligence sent back by 3/3's intelligence officer. Shah was from a remote region in Nangarhar Province, which borders the south side of Kunar Province. Shah, they determined, was responsible for approximately 11 incidents against coalition forces and government of Afghanistan entities, including small arms ambushes and improvised explosive device (IED) attacks. By June 2005, 2/3 had relieved-in-place 3/3 and, using

910-804: A weapons company augmented to function like an infantry line company, gathered a wealth of human intelligence about Shah during a patrol including his full name: Ahmad Shah Dara-I-nur (Ahmad Shah of the Valley of the Enlightened ones); his birthplace, the Kuz Kunar District of Nangarhar Province ; his primary alias: Ismael; his chief allegiance: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar , who was based out of the Shamshato Refugee Camp near Peshawar , Pakistan; his group's size: fifty to one hundred fighters; and his goals: to impede

975-447: The 2001 Bonn agreement , the elections were to be held in June 2004. However, due to the security situation, Hamid Karzai (then interim President , now President of Afghanistan ) moved the elections more than a year to the later date. Security was still an issue, as Taliban and others threatened to disrupt the elections violently. Several candidates were killed before polling. A quarter of

1040-624: The Battle of Abbas Ghar , was a joint military operation conducted by the United States in the Pech District of Kunar Province, Afghanistan . It was carried out from late-June to mid-July 2005 on the slopes of a mountain named Sawtalo Sar , situated approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of the provincial capital of Asadabad . The operation was intended to disrupt the activities of local Taliban -aligned anti- coalition militias (ACM), thus contributing to regional stability and thereby facilitating

1105-624: The Dallas Mavericks basketball team) in April 2005, and Operation Celtics (named after the Boston Celtics basketball team) in May 2005. These operations, all of which included Navy SEALs, were conceived and planned by the battalion, with the specifics of those phases involving Navy SEALs being planned by the SEALs. Each operation lasted between three and four weeks. 3/3 planned and executed approximately one of these operations per month, maintaining

1170-528: The Kabul parliament candidate list). For example, the candidate list for the Nuristan section of the parliament looked like this . Candidates were not able to choose the icons themselves: instead, the electoral committee chose them. Forty-five candidates were refused because of connections with armed groups or for not giving up their government jobs. People vote for a candidate in their own province . Each province has

1235-514: The September 2005 parliamentary election for the National Assembly of Afghanistan . At the time, Taliban ACM activity in the region was carried out predominantly by a small group led by a local man from Nangarhar Province known as Ahmad Shah , who had aspirations of achieving regional prominence among Muslim fundamentalists . Consequently, Shah and his group were one of the primary targets of

1300-436: The U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) 160th Airborne Special Operations Aviation Regiment (160th SOAR), for the opening phase of the operation. A team of four Navy SEALs, tasked with surveillance and reconnaissance of a group of structures known to be used by Shah and his men, were ambushed by Shah and his group just hours after inserting into the area by fast-roping from an MH-47 Chinook helicopter. Three of

1365-429: The U.S. Army Special Operations Command's 160th Special Operation's Aviation Regiment (Airborne) (SOAR(A)) MH-47 Special Operations Helicopter, which resulted in the deaths of 8 Navy SEALs and 8 Army Special Operations aviators, and the search for and recovery of Marcus Luttrell , the only survivor of the four-man Navy SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team. Victory Point narrates the development and execution of

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1430-463: The "indelible" ink used in the 2005 election to prevent people from voting more than once had turned out to be washable after all. The same problem had also occurred in the 2004 presidential elections, and was repeated again in the 2009 elections. Turnout was estimated at 50%, substantially lower than at the presidential election in October 2004. This is blamed on the lack of identifiable party lists as

1495-428: The 160th SOAR were prepared to dispatch a quick reaction force , but approval for launch from higher special operations headquarters was delayed for several hours. A quick reaction force finally launched, consisting of two MH-47 Special Operations Aircraft of the 160th, two conventional Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters , and two AH-64 Apache attack helicopters . The two MH-47s took the lead. Upon reaching Sawtalo Sar,

1560-504: The 160th, Major Stephen C. Reich , and ground commander LCDR Erik S. Kristensen , of SEAL Team 10. Command and control was lost and neither visual nor radio contact could be established with the SEAL team. At this point, late in the afternoon, storm clouds were moving in over the region and the aircraft returned to their respective bases. A massive search began, at first from the ground, and then with aviation assets which were able to retrieve

1625-555: The American base at Asadabad. Because Gulab had previously met the Marine commander based at Nangalam, he asked an older man, Shina, from another part of the village of Salar Ban to make the trek with the note to the base in his stead and gave him 1,000 Afghanis (about twenty U.S. dollars) for the trip. This required a longer journey down the trails of the Shuryek valley to Matin, where he then hired

1690-410: The American military operation. Operation Red Wings was conceived by the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines (2/3) of the U.S. Marine Corps based on an operational model developed by 2/3's sister battalion, the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines (3/3), which had preceded the 2/3 in their combat deployment. It utilized special operations forces (SOF) units and assets, including members of the U.S. Navy SEALs and

1755-482: The American press during the days after the events occurred. The SEALs' firefight with Ahmad Shah's Taliban forces began along a high-elevation ridgeline called Sawtalo Sar (whose highest peak is 2,830 m (9,280 ft)). A descent down the east side of the ridgeline leads into the Shuryek Valley. The northeastern gulch in which the SEALs became trapped was in this direction, above the village of Salar Ban. To

1820-458: The Marine commander at Nangalam, Matt Bartels, when he was visiting Matin. It was partly because of this goodwill that Gulab gave Luttrell sanctuary. The Taliban leader, Ahmad Shah, knew that the wounded man he was tracking had to have passed through the village of Salar Ban as he made his way downhill. Through intimidation, Shah was able to ascertain which house sheltered the wounded man and demanded that he be turned over. However, Gulab had invoked

1885-486: The Stars concept, had developed a comprehensive operation which they called Operation Red Wings. Red Wings' goal was disrupting ACM activity, with an emphasis on disrupting Ahmad Shah's activities, which were based near the summit of Sawtalo Sar. 2/3's battalion staff began planning Operation Red Wings when they arrived in Afghanistan. Lieutenant Colonel Andrew MacMannis, 2/3's battalion commander, and his staff wanted to maintain

1950-420: The Taliban. Since the SEAL reconnaissance and surveillance team had been ambushed, the focus of the operation immediately shifted from disrupting ACM activity to finding, aiding, and extracting the team members. The operation became known as Operation Red Wings II. After the broken transmission from the SEAL team, their position and situation were unknown. Members of SEAL Team 10, U.S. Marines, and aviators of

2015-505: The absence of party lists. In other words, each province elects a number of members, but each voter can vote for only one candidate. This runs the risk of fragmenting the vote to the point where candidates can be elected virtually by chance. Early returns confirmed this fear. For example, in Farah Province, one of the first provinces to declare its results , 46 candidates competed for five seats. No candidate polled more than 11%, and four of

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2080-459: The area for possible "buy in". U.S. Navy SEALs from SEAL Team 10 and SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1 expressed interest. Red Wings was planned as a five-phase operation: While the Marines planned the overall operation, the SEALs planned the specifics of their roles of Red Wings. Late in the night of June 27, 2005, two MH-47 helicopters approached Sawtalo Sar. While one of the aircraft performed

2145-507: The area of Chichal in late June, a time of low lunar illumination. The operation would require a helicopter insertion of forces to cordon the area and search for Shah and his men. They sought to conduct this operation at night, after positive identification of Shah by a Marine Corps scout sniper team, which would walk into the area under cover of darkness some nights before. As with 3/3 before them, 2/3 sought to use Special Operations Forces assets for Red Wings but, unlike 3/3, they sought only

2210-460: The area, Appel and Piercecchi returned to the site of the battle two days later and retrieved the remains of Dietz, Murphy and Axelson. In the years following Operation Red Wings, more details emerged about the circumstances surrounding Luttrell's survival, including that he was given sanctuary by local villagers. Many of the details regarding the Afghans who aided Luttrell were reported incorrectly in

2275-485: The assistance of fellow villagers in protecting Luttrell until American forces could be contacted. Shah could not risk a fight at that stage as he was outnumbered. It is likely Luttrell would have been turned over to the Taliban had he descended into the Korangal instead of Shuryek. Luttrell was subsequently moved to different places until forces could arrive to extract him. Luttrell wrote a note and asked that it be taken to

2340-491: The assistance of fellow villagers to help protect Luttrell until American forces could be contacted. Not long before Operation Red Wings, relations with the Americans had improved in the Shuryek Valley and the greater Pech River region because of humanitarian work that had taken place. Medical services had been provided and a girls' school was built at Nangalam . Gulab was aware of these developments and had introduced himself to

2405-553: The battalion's counterinsurgency work in the area. These barriers included non-sharing of intelligence with the battalion and non-disclosure of impending raids by special operations units in the area. To mitigate these problems, 3/3's staff developed an operational model which integrated special operations forces units into their operations, allowing the sharing of intelligence between the battalion and special operations forces as well as maintaining solid operational control of operations with integrated special operations assets and units by

2470-629: The battalion. Operations that 3/3 conducted based on this model proved successful in disrupting ACM activity. The first of these, Operation Spurs (named after the San Antonio Spurs basketball team), conducted in February 2005, took place in the Korangal Valley , in Kunar Province's Pech District. Spurs utilized Navy SEALs for the opening two phases of the five-phase operation. Similar operations that followed included Operation Mavericks (named after

2535-579: The bodies of the 16 killed in the MH-47 shootdown. Meanwhile, Luttrell had been taken in by a local Afghan, Gulab, from the village of Salar Ban, roughly 0.7 miles (1.1 km) down the northeast gulch of Sawtalo Sar from the location of the ambush. After word was received of his survival, Luttrell and Gulab were recovered by United States Air Force Pararescuemen (PJs) from the 59th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron ( 305th Rescue Squadron deployed) Josh Appel and Chris Piercecchi. Based on Luttrell's descriptions of

2600-426: The bodies of the killed SEALs and Army Special Operations aviators were recovered and the only surviving member of the initial SEAL team, Marcus Luttrell , was rescued. While the goal of the operation was partially achieved, Shah regrouped in neighboring Pakistan and returned with more men and armaments, boosted by the notoriety he gained from his ambush and helicopter shoot-down during Red Wings. In August 2005, Shah

2665-450: The common thread among all was a strong resistance to the unification of the country and subsequent increasing presence of national government entities in the Kunar. This would pose a threat to their activities, some of which included attempting to aid a resurgent neo-Taliban and lumber smuggling. With the goal of successful elections in Kunar, military operations in the area focused primarily on

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2730-485: The country would need to proceed "unencumbered" (without external influence, by either American and coalition forces or Taliban and anti-American and coalition forces), including those in Kunar. Insurgent activity in Kunar Province during this time came from 22 identified groups, some of which had tenuous ties to the Taliban and al-Qaeda while the majority were little more than local criminals. These groups were collectively known as anti-coalition militia (ACM), and

2795-440: The disruption of ACM activity, and these military operations utilized a number of different units and operational constructs to achieve this goal. The 3/3, which deployed to Regional Command East (which included Kunar Province) in late 2004 to conduct stability and counterinsurgency operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom , identified a number of operational barriers because of Special Operations Command doctrine for

2860-404: The five elected candidates polled less than 8%. In Kabul, which had 33 seats available, most of the candidates elected received well under 1% while over 30% of the votes cast went to three candidates, with the leading candidate receiving over 25 times the vote of the candidate elected with the lowest vote share, and several elected candidates receiving less than 2000 votes. This creates the risk of

2925-402: The four SEALs were killed during the ensuing battle, and one of the two quick reaction force (QRF) helicopters sent in for their aid was shot down by an RPG-7 fired by Shah's insurgents, killing all eight U.S. Navy SEALs and all eight U.S. Army Special Operations aviators on board. The operation then became known as Red Wings II and lasted approximately three more weeks, during which time

2990-446: The ground in Afghanistan with Marines in the region where Operation Red Wings and Operation Whalers took place for research for writing Victory Point. Victory Point has been noted for its detail and comprehensiveness with regard to both Operation Red Wings as well as Operation Whalers . Victory Point has also been noted for its comprehensive overview of the region in which these operations took place. Victory Point has been cited in

3055-454: The initial invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, U.S. military and coalition partner operations shifted from "kinetic" operations to those of a counterinsurgency nature. One of the primary goals of the coalition by 2004 in Afghanistan was nation-building , that is, providing a security environment conducive to the establishment and growth of a democratically elected government, as well as infrastructure support. A key milestone in this campaign

3120-540: The majority of seats in both the lower house and the provincial council (which elects the members of the upper house ). Women won 28% of the seats in the lower house, six more than the 25% guaranteed in the 2004 constitution . Approximately twelve million voters were eligible to vote for the 249-seat Wolesi Jirga , the lower house of parliament, and 34 provincial councils . The 2,707 parliamentary candidates (328 female, 2,379 male) are all independent; parties are not recognized by law and lists do not exist. This has been

3185-405: The opening phases, the Marines of 2/3 would act in a supporting role. After the initial phases were completed, 2/3 could become the lead element. The battalion agreed to this, believing, however, that this unconventional command structure defied a fundamental tenet of successful military operations – " unity of command ". The operation was presented to a number of Special Operations units working in

3250-546: The operational tempo set by 3/3. 2/3's operations officer, Major Thomas Wood, began planning the five-phase Red Wings operation off the Operation Stars model. During this time, 2/3's intelligence officer, Captain Scott Westerfield, focused further on learning about Ahmad Shah. His overall intelligence picture of Shah took a substantial leap when 2nd Lieutenant Regan Turner, a platoon commander with 2/3's "Whiskey Company" –

3315-469: The other operations before it, focused on disrupting ACM activity, although Najmudeen's surrender caused activity to drop, and specific groups proved difficult to pinpoint. In May 2005, the advance party of 3/3's sister battalion, the 2/3, arrived in Regional Command East. Even before deploying to Afghanistan 2/3's, intelligence officer Captain Scott Westerfield and his assistants had been tracking

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3380-482: The publication of the book Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 , which was written by Patrick Robinson based on interviews with Marcus Luttrell . The 2/3 eventually abandoned this naming convention out of sensitivity to the local population, instead opting for using Dari names for animals, including "Pil" (elephant) and "Sorkh Khar" (red donkey). After

3445-426: The same date, were not held in 2005 (district numbers, boundaries and population figures had to be determined first). These were the first parliamentary elections in Afghanistan in 33 years: after communist rule, civil war and Taliban rule, the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan toppled the Taliban regime and after the presidential elections in 2004 , parliamentary elections were organized in 2005. Originally, according to

3510-520: The seats - 68 seats - in the parliament are reserved for women, as well as 10 seats for the Kuchi community. Those are minimum numbers: there is no maximum for the number of seats for those groups. The 102 members of the Meshrano Jirga , the upper house, are indirectly elected by the provincial councils. During the 2009 Afghan elections, former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald E. Neumann recalled that

3575-644: The sequel to Operation Red Wings , Operation Whalers . Operation Whalers resulted in the serious injury of Ahmad Shah and forced Shah and his men into Pakistan after a series of intense firefights in a high, steep, and treacherous valley. Victory Point illustrates the complexities and difficulties of this successful operation, one that relied not only on traditional Marine Corps infantry tactics, but modern combined arms coordination, with assets including Army Air Ambulance, U.S. Air Force attack aircraft, U.S. Army intelligence, U.S. Army artillery, and U.S. Air Force logistical support. Author Ed Darack spent two months on

3640-419: The subject of criticism: relatively unknown people could win a seat as easily as very popular candidates. It has also made it considerably difficult for the population to decide whom to vote for, even though some candidates may be a member of or (financially) backed by a political party . Another source of criticism is the use of the single, non-transferable vote in multi-member constituencies, particularly in

3705-404: The target cell of the operation, Ahmad Shah , and how this information was uncovered. The book provides background on the command relationships among the various military entities involved in the operation, and discusses the ambush of the four Navy SEALs tasked as a reconnaissance and surveillance team for the opening of the operation. Victory Point further provides information on the shootdown of

3770-408: The two MH-47s received small arms fire. During an attempt to insert SEALs riding in one of the MH-47 helicopters, one of Ahmad Shah's men fired an RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade which struck the transmission below the rear rotor assembly, causing the aircraft to immediately plummet to the ground. All eight 160th SOAR aviators and crew and all eight Navy SEALs on board were killed, including commander of

3835-468: The upcoming elections and attempt to aid a resurgent Taliban in the region. Although Shah was a relatively unknown entity in the region, he apparently held regional aspirations and possibly had the assistance of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. 2nd Lieutenant Turner also gathered a number of photographs of Shah. Further intelligence, including human intelligence and signals intelligence , indicated that Shah based his operations out of some small structures outside of

3900-419: The use of Special Operations Aviation assets, specifically, MH-47 Special Operations Aircraft of the 160th SOAR , not any ground forces. Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force – Afghanistan refused this request, stating that in order for Red Wings to be supported with Special Operations aviation the battalion would have to task the opening phases of the operation to Special Operations ground forces. During

3965-803: The village of Chichal, high on the slopes of Sawtalo Sar mountain in the upper Korangal Valley, approximately 20 miles (32 km) to the west of Kunar's provincial capital Asadabad . Using imagery intelligence taken from an unmanned aerial vehicle on June 17, 2005, Westerfield identified likely structures used for housing his team, IED making, and overwatch of the area below for IED strikes. The intelligence staff identified four named areas of interest containing specific structures which Shah might be using. Westerfield and his staff determined that Shah and his men had been responsible for approximately 11 incidents against American, Coalition, and Afghan government entities, including IED strikes and small arms ambushes. They determined that Shah and his men would be occupying

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4030-527: The west of the Sawtalo Sar ridgeline is the Korangal Valley. As the wounded Luttrell descended the gulch, he encountered a Pashtun named Mohammad Gulab Khan from the mountain village of Salar Ban. Known simply as Gulab, he took Luttrell into his home that first day in accordance with the Pashtunwali custom of Nanawatai , whereby asylum is given to a person to protect them from their enemies. Gulab then invoked

4095-449: Was attacked by Shah and his men who were armed with RPK machine guns, AK-47s , RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenades, and an 82mm mortar . The intensity of the incoming fire, combined with the type of attack, forced the SEAL team into the northeast gulch of Sawtalo Sar, on the Shuryek Valley side of Sawtalo Sar. The SEALs made a number of attempts to contact their combat operations center with an AN/PRC-148 multi-band radio and then with

4160-478: Was seriously wounded and his group was destroyed during Operation Whalers in Kunar Province. In April 2008, Shah was killed by Pakistani troops during a gunfight in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. When the 2/3 took the Operation Stars model and developed the specifics of it, 2/3's operations officer , Major Thomas Wood, instructed an assistant operations officer, 1st Lieutenant Lance Seiffert, to compose

4225-407: Was the September 18, 2005, Afghan national parliamentary elections . While many of Afghanistan's provinces at this time had stable security environments, one of the most restive continued to be the Kunar Province, which lies in eastern Afghanistan, on the border with Pakistan. For election results to be seen as legitimate by the citizens of Afghanistan and the world at large, all elections throughout

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