The absence of experienced senior leaders and inadequate action by officers in a tactical operations center, including a failure to provide effective artillery and air support, contributed to the deaths of five U.S. troops and nine Afghans in a Sept. 8 battle, an official investigation has found.
Three unidentified officers from the 10th Mountain Division from Ft. Drum, N.Y. received official reprimands following the inquiry into the clash, which erupted after Afghan security forces and U.S Army and Marine trainers were ambushed in the Ganjgal Valley near the border with Pakistan in northeastern Kunar Province.
PDF: Report on Operations in the Ganjgal Valley
Snip
The officers' names were redacted from the report that McClatchy obtained.
"The absence of senior leaders in the operations center with troops in contact . . . and their consequent lack of situational awareness and decisive action was a key failure," it said.
Another major factor, it said, was the operations center officers' failure to provide "effective" artillery fire on the insurgents, despite repeated requests from the battlefield.
The acting commander and "all commissioned staff officers" failed to "monitor a rapidly degenerating tactical situation," the report said. That mistake "prevented timely supporting fires in the critical early phases of the operation and ensured that higher headquarters did not grasp the tactical situation."
Only four artillery salvoes were fired in the first hour of the operation; three were ineffective and no more salvoes were authorized from 6:39 a.m. until 4:15 p.m., it said. >>>>>
Earlier Report on the fifth soldier to die as a result of this attack:
Wounded soldier becomes 5th to die after Afghan ambush
There are other back links to earlier reports at site page.
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