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Building from the Ruins: With men of the 3rd Special
Forces Group in Kabul, Afghanistan, Spring 2002. I am seated
on the front left next to Jim Burnside, XO of 3rd Special
Forces Group and among some of the finest soldiers I have
ever had the privilege to serve with.
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Operation Enduring Freedom:
December 2001 - July 2002
In December of 2001, I deployed to Kuwait to serve
as the Chief of Future Operations for the Coalition Forces Land
Component Command (CFLCC) built around the 3rd United States Army.
Our future operations team was responsible for the opertional level
combat planning for the Afghanistan Area of Operations. Our plans
were refined by Joint Forces Special Operations Command and Joint
Task Force-Mountain to become the tactical operations better known as
'Tora Bora' and 'Anaconda.' Our team also worked the strategic and
operational-level plans to tie together the International Security
and Assistance Force (ISAF) and developed the entire concept planning
for the building of the Afghan National Army in support of President
Bush's national policy decision announced in late January 2002. CFLCC
developed a special team for this purpose which I had the privilege
to also lead. Our work encompassed meetings with the Afghan Minister
of Defense and his deputies, concept planning for the training of the
army, participation in a UN Afghan Security Conference in Geneva, and
most often, just the plain old hard soldier work of operating in a
dangerous environment and establishing the training of anti-Taliban
soldiers to make a better life for themselves and the future of
Afghanistan. When the Afghanistan area of operation transitioned from
CFLCC to XVIII Airborne Corps/JTF-180--which we also planned--I
transitioned back to Kuwait and remained there until the end of July
2002 when I returned to the United States.
Hope you enjoy a sample of my pictures.
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The US Embassy Kabul - February 2002
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The men who helped build the Afghan army: CPT
George Harris, MAJ Ken Swanson, Capt Gene Redding
(USMC), LTC Steve Russell, and MAJ John Buck
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Tea time with Northern Alliance soldiers
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Having fun working a T-54 Northern
Alliance tank
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In the boneyard of destroyed Soviet
Equipment
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The first recruits for the new Afghan
National Army
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This page is dedicated to CW2 Stan Harriman, killed in action
during Operation Anaconda, who sereved on our future operations
planning team in Kuwait before rejoining his A-Team. We shall always
remember him.
CW2 Stanley L. Harriman, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Special Forces -
Killed 2 March 2002, near Shahi-Kot / Gardez Afghanistan
Comments? Please contact Steve
Russell
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