bobdina
07-17-2010, 02:40 PM
Staff Sgt Daniel Stabak | Kandahar Province, Afghanistan | August 24, 2009
By Charlie Reed
Stars and Stripes
Bronze Star with "V"
Had any of his troops been wounded or killed during the 12-hour battle against Taliban fighters last summer, Staff Sgt. Daniel Stabak figures he’d have been relieved of his duties.
Had he known the insurgents outnumbered the 1st Platoon two-to-one when the fighting broke out, he might not have taken as many risks that day as acting platoon sergeant.
But as it turned out, his platoon — as well as the American helicopter crew and Canadian soldiers who later joined the fight — left the battlefield Aug. 24 unscathed, and Stabak earned a Bronze Star with “V” for valor.
Like most of the fighting in Afghanistan, the clash was impromptu. It kicked off not long after the soldiers discovered a bomb along Highway 1 — Afghanistan’s main road, which links Kabul and Kandahar, the country’s second-largest city.
While Stabak and several soldiers secured the area around the explosive, his platoon leader, 1st Lt. Sean Grady, and five others went looking for anything that might reveal who planted the bomb. They fanned out among the dozen or so mud huts dotting the grape fields along the Arghandab River, just a few kilometers from the small village of Howz-e Madad in Kandahar province.
The sounds of small-arms fire soon rang out, and Grady called Stabak over the radio.
Within minutes of leaving the protective bubble of the convoy, Grady’s team was ambushed. Initially pinned down in a field, the soldiers managed to find cover in an abandoned building as insurgents fired from nearby machine-gun nests.
Stabak, the platoon’s second in command, shifted the defensive perimeter around the bomb and his soldiers led two gun trucks into a barrage of bullets and rocket-propelled grenades.
“I knew I had to draw fire from the enemy so my lieutenant could gain some situational awareness,” Stabak said. “So they could get some eyes on the enemy.”
It worked, and Stabak and Grady were soon able to formulate a plan of attack. It focused on penetrating the insurgents’ fortified positions in the tree line across the river.
Helicopter gunships had arrived by then, and artillerymen had begun firing high-explosive rounds from afar.
But the insurgents remained concealed for the most part and continued laying down heavy fire.
That’s when Stabak led a four-man team across a bridge to confront the enemy up close, to flush them out and prevent them from flanking the platoon.
Unaware of the size of the enemy force that waited on the other side, Stabak and his men were met with a fight. They were nearly overrun before forcing many of the insurgents into an open field and the cross hairs of his fellow soldiers.
“It by no means won the battle for us, but it was a huge turning point,” the 28-year-old Liberty, N.Y., native recalled.
“This was as close to a conventional fight as you get in guerrilla warfare.”
Stabak would put himself in the line of fire several more times throughout the marathon fight, according to Army records, most notably to later resupply Grady and his men in the compound and to link up with Canadian forces who showed up hours after the fight began.
Stabak and the assault team pulled back from the bridge but would return with Canadian soldiers before the end of the day for a reconnaissance mission. An enemy element remained, but Stabak and the soldiers fought them off again.
After 12 hours, the enemy had been whittled down but continued to fight.
“We don’t know why they were fighting so hard that day. It’s something we’ll never know,” Stabak said.
“But we were spent and decided to break contact and live to fight another day.”
It was afterward, when they were able to do the math, that the soldiers realized just how outnumbered they were initially.
“We didn’t know what we were up against,” said Grady, the platoon leader, who along with Stabak and squad leader Staff Sgt. Sonny Sin, received the Bronze Star with “V” for valor for actions that day.
Neither did the insurgents. Between 40 and 50 Taliban fighters were either killed or wounded, according to military records based on eyewitness reports from the soldiers on the ground and in the air during the battle.
Before reinforcements showed up, Stabak estimates his platoon of 30 squared off against a force of between 50 and 100 insurgents. Army records show the unit was outnumbered at least 2 to 1.
The unit could easily have broken contact after the initial engagement, Stabak said.
After all, as combat engineers their main mission was finding bombs and clearing the way for other troops.
“Did we take a risk? Yes,” Stabak said. “Did it work? Yes.
“In this war, the hardest part is finding the enemy, and so when you do, you have to fight. It doesn’t matter what your job is.”
By Charlie Reed
Stars and Stripes
Bronze Star with "V"
Had any of his troops been wounded or killed during the 12-hour battle against Taliban fighters last summer, Staff Sgt. Daniel Stabak figures he’d have been relieved of his duties.
Had he known the insurgents outnumbered the 1st Platoon two-to-one when the fighting broke out, he might not have taken as many risks that day as acting platoon sergeant.
But as it turned out, his platoon — as well as the American helicopter crew and Canadian soldiers who later joined the fight — left the battlefield Aug. 24 unscathed, and Stabak earned a Bronze Star with “V” for valor.
Like most of the fighting in Afghanistan, the clash was impromptu. It kicked off not long after the soldiers discovered a bomb along Highway 1 — Afghanistan’s main road, which links Kabul and Kandahar, the country’s second-largest city.
While Stabak and several soldiers secured the area around the explosive, his platoon leader, 1st Lt. Sean Grady, and five others went looking for anything that might reveal who planted the bomb. They fanned out among the dozen or so mud huts dotting the grape fields along the Arghandab River, just a few kilometers from the small village of Howz-e Madad in Kandahar province.
The sounds of small-arms fire soon rang out, and Grady called Stabak over the radio.
Within minutes of leaving the protective bubble of the convoy, Grady’s team was ambushed. Initially pinned down in a field, the soldiers managed to find cover in an abandoned building as insurgents fired from nearby machine-gun nests.
Stabak, the platoon’s second in command, shifted the defensive perimeter around the bomb and his soldiers led two gun trucks into a barrage of bullets and rocket-propelled grenades.
“I knew I had to draw fire from the enemy so my lieutenant could gain some situational awareness,” Stabak said. “So they could get some eyes on the enemy.”
It worked, and Stabak and Grady were soon able to formulate a plan of attack. It focused on penetrating the insurgents’ fortified positions in the tree line across the river.
Helicopter gunships had arrived by then, and artillerymen had begun firing high-explosive rounds from afar.
But the insurgents remained concealed for the most part and continued laying down heavy fire.
That’s when Stabak led a four-man team across a bridge to confront the enemy up close, to flush them out and prevent them from flanking the platoon.
Unaware of the size of the enemy force that waited on the other side, Stabak and his men were met with a fight. They were nearly overrun before forcing many of the insurgents into an open field and the cross hairs of his fellow soldiers.
“It by no means won the battle for us, but it was a huge turning point,” the 28-year-old Liberty, N.Y., native recalled.
“This was as close to a conventional fight as you get in guerrilla warfare.”
Stabak would put himself in the line of fire several more times throughout the marathon fight, according to Army records, most notably to later resupply Grady and his men in the compound and to link up with Canadian forces who showed up hours after the fight began.
Stabak and the assault team pulled back from the bridge but would return with Canadian soldiers before the end of the day for a reconnaissance mission. An enemy element remained, but Stabak and the soldiers fought them off again.
After 12 hours, the enemy had been whittled down but continued to fight.
“We don’t know why they were fighting so hard that day. It’s something we’ll never know,” Stabak said.
“But we were spent and decided to break contact and live to fight another day.”
It was afterward, when they were able to do the math, that the soldiers realized just how outnumbered they were initially.
“We didn’t know what we were up against,” said Grady, the platoon leader, who along with Stabak and squad leader Staff Sgt. Sonny Sin, received the Bronze Star with “V” for valor for actions that day.
Neither did the insurgents. Between 40 and 50 Taliban fighters were either killed or wounded, according to military records based on eyewitness reports from the soldiers on the ground and in the air during the battle.
Before reinforcements showed up, Stabak estimates his platoon of 30 squared off against a force of between 50 and 100 insurgents. Army records show the unit was outnumbered at least 2 to 1.
The unit could easily have broken contact after the initial engagement, Stabak said.
After all, as combat engineers their main mission was finding bombs and clearing the way for other troops.
“Did we take a risk? Yes,” Stabak said. “Did it work? Yes.
“In this war, the hardest part is finding the enemy, and so when you do, you have to fight. It doesn’t matter what your job is.”