Level Zero Heroes: The Story of U.S. Marine Special Operations in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan

335 Pages·2014·3.34 MB·English

by  Michael Golembesky

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To the men of Marine Special Operations Team 8222 and everyone who
lived, fought, and died in the Bala Murghab River Valley.
* * *
Always Faithful, Always Forward
© 2014 Level Zero Heroes LLC
C
ONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Map
Epigraph
Author’s Note
Foreword
Prologue
1. Camp Stone, Afghanistan
2. Convoy to Nowhere
3. Halloween in Afghanistan
4. Let the Burning Begin
5. Welcome to FOB Todd
6. Operation Hero Recovery
7. Recovery Site
8. Cleared Hot
9. Afghan Commandos
10. Further Down the Rabbit Hole
11. Mass Casualty
12. One Way Out
13. Going Home
14. PRO 6 and the Entourage
15. Daneh Pasab, Part I
16. Five Kill Zone Gauntlet
17. Intel Dump
18. Operation Buongiorno
19. Objective Pathfinder, Day 1
20. Warning Shot
21. First Wave
22. Misery Loves Company
23. This Ends Now
24. Enemy Inside the Wire
25. The Truth Hurts
26. Some Good
27. Exfil
Epilogue
List of Characters
Fallen Heroes: Bala Murghab, Afghanistan
Acknowledgments
Bonus Material
Glossary
Photographs
About the Authors
Copyright
The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get
at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep
moving on.
—ULYSSES S. GRANT
A N
UTHOR’S OTE
Before we left Afghanistan, I promised the men of my Marine Special
Operations Team that if we lived through this experience I would find a way to
share our story with the American people. I promised I wouldn’t sugarcoat it, or
turn it into a feel-good story like some of that sexy high-speed recruiting shit that
Hollywood is known to produce. I wanted to tell the truth, even if the truth was
something hard to swallow. The story of our team is a chronicle of a small group
of extraordinary men thrown into a hopeless situation and asked to go win a war.
The men of MSOT 8222, call sign Dagger 22, represent the very best of what
the Marine Corps brings to the Special Operations community. As the newest
component of SOCOM, activated on February 24, 2006, Marine Corps Special
Operations Command (MARSOC) hit the ground running with endless
deployment cycles in support of operations in Afghanistan.
The Marines and sailors who make up these small and elite teams are asked
to do nothing less than to be pioneers who will write a new chapter in Marine
Corps history. The black granite blocks that sit in front of the MARSOC HQ
building at Stone Bay, North Carolina, already bear the names of twenty-nine
operators who have willingly given their lives performing the job that they
loved, for the people they loved, and for a nation that will always be in their
debt. Sadly, there is still plenty of blank space for more names to be added.
The story of Bala Murghab Valley is the story of the Afghan War in
microcosm. Our struggle to liberate the valley from Taliban control reflects the
challenges and trials of every unit throughout the country. Our chunk of
Afghanistan happened to be an area once thought secure, and so little attention
was paid to it. We arrived to discover the truth that the Bala Murghab Valley had
never been secure. Instead, accommodations were made between the
International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the enemy to live and let