- 6/19/2025
For educational purposes
Take an inside look into the latest military tactics and technology being used by the U.S. in the War on Terror.
Enter the rocky terrain of Afghanistan, a landscape that has served both as a showcase for some of the newest warfare technology and a reminder of the need for old-fashioned training and readiness.
Low-flying, heavily-armed Apache helicopters engage in firefights. Bunker-busting bombs penetrate into the mountains, detonating inside and destroying Taliban and Al-Qaeda cave hideouts.
But it's the Special Forces troops on the ground that make these strikes possible, by calling in attack coordinates to their airborne brethren.
In this new era of warfare, victory requires successfully coordinating the precision of high-tech weaponry with the power of the basic soldier.
You'll follow the training exercises these courageous warriors must complete in order to deal with the many challenges they face.
Then watch as they head into real-world battle in Operation : Anaconda as a part of the largest contingent of ground troops since the Gulf War.
Take an inside look into the latest military tactics and technology being used by the U.S. in the War on Terror.
Enter the rocky terrain of Afghanistan, a landscape that has served both as a showcase for some of the newest warfare technology and a reminder of the need for old-fashioned training and readiness.
Low-flying, heavily-armed Apache helicopters engage in firefights. Bunker-busting bombs penetrate into the mountains, detonating inside and destroying Taliban and Al-Qaeda cave hideouts.
But it's the Special Forces troops on the ground that make these strikes possible, by calling in attack coordinates to their airborne brethren.
In this new era of warfare, victory requires successfully coordinating the precision of high-tech weaponry with the power of the basic soldier.
You'll follow the training exercises these courageous warriors must complete in order to deal with the many challenges they face.
Then watch as they head into real-world battle in Operation : Anaconda as a part of the largest contingent of ground troops since the Gulf War.
Category
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LearningTranscript
00:00Thank you for listening.
00:30It is a declared war against the network of terror that attacked America on its own ground.
00:43Now, in the deserts and in the skies of Afghanistan, the United States goes to battle like never before.
00:53On the ground, American commandos call in 4,000-pound cave-busting smart bombs.
01:00Above, low-flying Apache helicopters pound Al-Qaeda forces.
01:10We beat the air into submission.
01:18And throughout the war, new camera-mounted drones feed back real-time battle video to commanders thousands of miles away,
01:27capturing scenes like a mountain rescue mission that went terribly wrong.
01:32This was all apparently being watched by a Predator UAV feeding the video back to CETCOM headquarters.
01:39The war in Afghanistan has become a showcase for some of the newest technology in warfare,
01:47while highlighting the need for old-fashioned training and readiness.
01:52Yet the enemy remains at large.
01:54Who is the U.S. battling in Afghanistan?
01:58And has it changed forever how Americans fight?
02:02On a pitch-black night over Afghanistan, approximately four weeks after the World Trade Center bombing,
02:18a Special Forces team fast ropes deep into Taliban territory.
02:22They are Team 555 from the U.S. Army's 5th Special Forces Group,
02:32and their mission is clear.
02:34To work with resistant soldiers, destroy Al-Qaeda forces, and topple the Taliban regime.
02:40In the dark of night, Team 555 links up with allied Afghan troops from the Northern Alliance forces,
02:50who lead them on a long trek across miles of unfamiliar terrain.
02:57It is nearly ten days since the first U.S. bombs rained down on Afghanistan,
03:03targeting Taliban troops, military facilities, and cave hideouts.
03:10By week two, the power and precision of the air campaign have obliterated most known targets,
03:22and there is barely anything left to destroy.
03:34To sense and seek out the enemy, Special Forces Team 555 is deployed.
03:40Just days after linking up with their Afghan allies,
03:49the Special Forces soldiers begin calling in coordinates to new targets.
03:54Once again, smart bombs, called J-DAMs, start falling from the sky.
04:00J-DAMs, or Joint Direct Attack Munitions, use global positioning satellites to find their way to target.
04:10The bolt-on tail contains a guidance system which receives target coordinates punched in by the pilot.
04:22You can drop this thing in any weather, any kind of conditions you want,
04:26and as long as there's enough satellites overhead that it can see,
04:31it's going to go sick FIDO right on top of the target.
04:41Laser-enhanced binoculars are the most effective tool used by ground soldiers
04:46to obtain coordinates for a J-DAM target.
04:49The most common one is that they have what's called a PEQ-1, or a PEQ-10.
04:57It's a target designator with a laser rangefinder on it.
05:01Set it up on a little tripod, and it goes and fires a laser beam at the target,
05:06and from that it will determine a range.
05:09You can then plug in a GPS receiver to the targeting unit,
05:12and based upon the range from that target,
05:15it will generate a targeting coordinate,
05:17which you can either then type in into a data messaging unit,
05:21or you can call up on a radio to an airplane overhead.
05:25That then is punched into the bomb by the air crew.
05:28They drop it, and it goes right down on top of the target.
05:35American fighters have flown some of the bombing missions in Afghanistan,
05:39but for the most part, it is older bombers
05:42dropping these smart weapons on the battlefield.
05:50One trooper came down out of the hills and said,
05:53God, I love those B-52s, you know.
05:56They fly over, and you just hear these huge explosions,
05:59and, you know, they're taking out bad guys.
06:01I loved them.
06:01The B-52 Stratofortresses, now flying over Afghanistan,
06:11are the oldest aircraft in the Air Force inventory.
06:17They fly at subsonic speeds at altitudes up to 50,000 feet.
06:22The B-52 first saw action in Korea, 50 years ago.
06:36Yet in the heavy air campaign over Afghanistan in the fall,
06:40this aging workhorse dropped 80% of the bombs.
06:43The power of America's air campaign will quickly grant the Northern Alliance troops
06:55the victory that has eluded them for over a decade.
06:59To suddenly realize they had an Air Force.
07:03It was somebody else's, and they were borrowing it,
07:05but they had an Air Force that could do that to their enemies
07:08and was going to do it day and night for as long as it took
07:12before they were ready to make the assault, just emboldened them.
07:17For the U.S. Special Forces soldiers choreographing the bombing from the desert floor,
07:22target designation is just part of their mission.
07:26As soon as they drop in country,
07:28the Americans begin working with Northern Alliance troops,
07:31building up a force capable of destroying the Taliban
07:34and finding Osama bin Laden.
07:36Special Forces teams help train Afghan fighters,
07:42supplying them with weapons, ammunition, food and clothing.
07:47They're superbly trained, very self-confident.
07:50They speak, you know, lots of languages.
07:53They're all, you know, trained almost, it seems like,
07:56to a surgeon level of medical care.
08:00For each of these soldiers, their mission in Afghanistan
08:04began at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center
08:07at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
08:12In recent years, Discovery Channel cameras have dropped behind the scenes
08:17to document how commandos in the making
08:20learned to fight a war like the one being waged in Afghanistan.
08:23Graduates of the Special Warfare School are the U.S. Army's best and brightest,
08:31given only the most challenging assignments.
08:37Weeks of sleep deprivation, 25-mile marches,
08:41and exhausting mental tests
08:43weed out those who aren't up to the task.
08:46The final exam is a two-week-long brow-beating exercise
08:53called Robin Sage,
08:55where American Special Forces candidates
08:57must put all their training and knowledge to the test.
09:02These students kick off their Robin Sage mission
09:05by preparing to jump into pitch-black night
09:07over unknown terrain.
09:08The student missions closely mirror real-life scenarios
09:15now faced by Special Forces teams in Afghanistan.
09:19This group of candidates has orders
09:21to find their way through hostile territory
09:23and make contact with and train a guerrilla resistance force.
09:29They are lightly armed,
09:31each man carrying about 210 rounds of ammunition.
09:36Most are equipped with the M4 carbine.
09:38a modified M16 combat rifle.
09:41It's like an M16.
09:45A C-130 makes the quick hop behind enemy lines.
09:52Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go.
09:59According to the student's mission statement,
10:02the fictional country they moved through
10:04was recently overthrown by a despotic leader.
10:08A resistance force has called upon the Special Forces team
10:12to help restore the previous government to power.
10:14Like Team 555 in Afghanistan,
10:26each soldier has a specialty.
10:30Demolitions, weapons, communications, intelligence, and field medicine.
10:35The biggest element to a guerrilla's survival is mobility.
10:40He has to be able to move at a moment's notice
10:41and move out of an area and stay fluid
10:44so the enemy can't pin him down
10:46or back him up against someplace where he can't get out of
10:48and crush him.
10:50They work their way through the rough terrain
10:53for over 24 hours.
10:57Once they finally locate the guerrilla base camp,
11:00they must establish trust with a local guerrilla chief.
11:02You are at right now,
11:04whether you're sitting down there or here.
11:10Let's go ahead and sit there.
11:11You don't need to get up.
11:12In this fictional scenario,
11:14he proves to be a hard man to impress.
11:16Tell me where you're at.
11:18Right in there.
11:20Don't draw it down in a circle.
11:21Point to a point and say,
11:23I am right there, no doubt.
11:26We are right there.
11:27You are wrong.
11:29You're not right there.
11:31I'm not going to show you where you're at
11:32until I think if I want you guys in here,
11:36maybe then I'll show you where you're at.
11:37What happens in a normal Robin Sage
11:39is exactly what we did in Afghanistan.
11:44Special Forces team links up with a guerrilla band
11:46finds out their requirements,
11:49resupplies them,
11:51trains them,
11:52helps them execute a plan,
11:54and gets into an operational tempo
11:56to help liberate the country.
11:58Kill us all.
11:59Go through the map right over here.
12:01That's how you get up.
12:02I said, fuck,
12:02throw the map.
12:03Sit back down.
12:05Much of Robin Sage is a mind game.
12:08The guerrillas are instructed
12:09to treat the student teams with utter contempt.
12:11What are you telling me, Captain?
12:12I don't think you understand what you're telling me.
12:15I think you need to sit there
12:16and think about it for a little while.
12:19No, you do need to explain to me
12:20because I know captains.
12:22They like tap dance.
12:24I don't have time to tap dance out here.
12:25I want tap dance.
12:26Robin Sage prepares a Special Forces soldier
12:32to operate in a dangerous world without rules.
12:43I don't have the means to do prisoners of war.
12:46What'd you come here to do?
12:51They learn to deal with ethical dilemmas,
12:54such as an Allied commander guilty of human rights violation.
12:58We blow her up if we kill her.
13:00I tell you what.
13:00I tell you what.
13:01I want to go and talk to her myself.
13:04Somebody knows she's here.
13:05Somebody sent her.
13:06She couldn't have operated autonomously.
13:09In a situation like that,
13:10ultimately comes to a really hard choice of,
13:12you know, do you risk the lives of all the men in the camp
13:15as well as her defending her, help you.
13:18I tell you what.
13:18I'm going to give you five minutes
13:19to figure out what you want to do.
13:21Who said I'm going to shoot her?
13:22We blow her up if we kill her.
13:23I tell you what.
13:24I tell you what.
13:24I want to go and talk to her myself.
13:28I'm going to target her.
13:31All right.
13:31The girl's just been assassinated.
13:43The captain was really, not dumbfounded,
13:54but the gears were turning continuously.
13:57And at one point,
13:58when they took the girl up the trail,
13:59I thought he was going to run after them
14:01because he started that way.
14:02And I'm like, you're going to lose it.
14:05But he stopped,
14:06and you could just see him trying to think,
14:08what am I supposed to do?
14:10So it was a good dilemma.
14:11I ask you again,
14:13are you going to tell the colonel
14:14that you are reporting him of a human rights violation?
14:21No, I'm not.
14:23Do they want to be associated with this act,
14:25and that's where they have to separate themselves?
14:28Plus, in addition to trying to stop it through advice,
14:35they can't physically stop it.
14:37So all they can do is really report
14:39and not let the guerrilla chief know that they're reporting it.
14:45They'd lose all report at that point.
14:47In Afghanistan,
14:50U.S. Special Forces face similar dilemmas.
14:53Northern Alliance soldiers
14:55have a well-known track record of committing war crimes.
15:02The Special Forces guys have said to me,
15:05you don't want to know about the world.
15:07We have to work it.
15:10It's the real world.
15:15They come from the point of view
15:17that the United States plays
15:19in a dirty, dirty neighborhood.
15:21And we sometimes have to do dirty things
15:23just to, you know, stay on our footing.
15:30In this war against terrorism,
15:33the U.S. has entered an unknown environment.
15:39Facing a new kind of enemy.
15:44The face of the enemy here
15:46is not just a handful of men,
15:48much less a handful of very wealthy,
15:51religiously eccentric men.
15:53What we're talking about here
15:55is a philosophy of zealotry and extremism.
16:01The first thing to realize is that we're not even at war with a country.
16:07When President Bush went before Congress in September
16:10and declared war,
16:12he, in effect, declared war on an individual
16:15and a network spread all over the world.
16:17Chuck Spinney is a long-time Pentagon employee
16:23and an outspoken critic of the military he works for.
16:28He's agreed to speak to us only on the condition
16:31that it's stated his views are personal.
16:33Now we're dealing with this sort of vague thing in the mountains.
16:39The real thing that has to be done
16:41is you've got to take out the al-Qaeda network
16:43and its leadership.
16:46And it's not clear what has happened there.
16:47A fluid network like Osama bin Laden's
16:53is a stateless organization
16:55whose warriors infiltrate our society
16:57and use our own technology against us.
17:01They know they can't go head to head with an organized army.
17:04So they're going to go around it,
17:06try to achieve their objectives
17:07by striking directly at the centers of power and culture in a society
17:12and bypassing the military in the process.
17:14True victory against this kind of enemy
17:18remains difficult to define.
17:25By December 2001,
17:28U.S. airstrikes against Taliban and al-Qaeda targets
17:30are into their eighth week.
17:34Just a month earlier,
17:36the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif
17:38had fallen to allied troops.
17:40Then the spiritual center of the Taliban government,
17:42the city of Kandahar, also falls.
17:46After six years in power,
17:48the Taliban government dissolves almost overnight.
17:53Despite these significant conquests,
17:56the hunt for the one man in charge,
17:58Osama bin Laden, continues.
18:05The pursuit leads U.S. forces
18:07to the mountainous caves of Tora Bora
18:09in eastern Afghanistan,
18:11thought to be a last refuge of bin Laden
18:16and his al-Qaeda fighters.
18:17Specially constructed 3-D mapping of Afghanistan
18:31shows the mountainous topography
18:33of areas like Tora Bora.
18:36While U.S. bombers pound the cave complex,
18:39American special forces try to guard mountain passes
18:42to prevent al-Qaeda fighters
18:43from escaping across the border into Pakistan.
18:46But with relatively few U.S. soldiers on the ground,
18:52the enemy is able to filter through the mountains.
18:55In the end,
18:57the two-week pounding of Tora Bora
18:59still fails to locate bin Laden
19:01or to destroy al-Qaeda.
19:03The Taliban, as the government of Afghanistan,
19:07has certainly been displaced.
19:08Much easier than anybody, including myself,
19:11thought would happen.
19:13But there was an armed force
19:15of somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000
19:18al-Qaeda and Taliban forces.
19:20If you add up all the people killed and captured,
19:22you might get the 4,000.
19:24So where did the rest go?
19:25You know, conservatively speaking,
19:2720,000 disappeared.
19:29Maybe as many as 40,000 disappeared.
19:31They went to the hills with their weapons.
19:33This war is not over.
19:34Cleaning out the Taliban and al-Qaeda,
19:38you have to go ahead and do it zone by zone,
19:40take them out,
19:42clear it,
19:43and then move on while protecting
19:44what you've already done.
19:46Osama, we think, is still at large.
19:49Or is he?
19:50As we're talking about this right now,
19:52there has been no proof-of-life video
19:56that can be dated past December of 2001.
20:01He may be dead.
20:02He may be incapacitated.
20:04He may just not want to show his face.
20:06He knows right now
20:08he is the most hunted man on the planet.
20:10He, Zawahiri, and Sheikh Omar
20:13are the three prizes.
20:16We do need to go and find these men
20:19or kill them.
20:22The hunt for al-Qaeda operatives
20:25in the labyrinth of deep caves
20:27that make up Afghanistan
20:28has required a powerful penetrating explosive,
20:32commonly known as the Bunker Buster Bomb.
20:37They come in a couple of sizes,
20:39the most common being something called
20:41the Blue 109 or BLU-109,
20:43which is a 2,000-pound weapon.
20:44It's essentially interchangeable
20:46with the big Mark 84 2,000-pound,
20:48ballistically the same,
20:50and you can mount laser-guided bomb
20:52or JDAM's kits to it
20:53in exactly the same way.
20:54The lugs are the same.
20:56When it hits a concrete or rock surface,
20:59the Bunker Buster delays its detonation.
21:02Still tracking it.
21:03Still tracking it.
21:03Happy.
21:04Bumper stop.
21:07First breaking through the surface of a target
21:10like a masonry nail
21:11before it explodes.
21:12For caves buried deeper than 50 feet,
21:32there is the 4,700-pound super penetrator.
21:36We use it in two configurations.
21:39There's a GPS-guided version
21:41that can be dropped off the V-2.
21:43There's also a laser-guided version,
21:45the GBU-28,
21:46which can be dropped off the F-15 Strike Eagle.
21:55The alleged success of the Bunker Buster bomb
21:58in destroying al-Qaeda hideouts
22:00has encouraged the development
22:02of a new generation of precision-guided weapons.
22:05One called Automatic Target Acquisition, or ATA,
22:10has already entered service aboard Navy cruise missiles.
22:14ATA does not require a soldier on the ground
22:17to designate a target.
22:18Instead of using a laser beam
22:22to home in on
22:24or a little TV camera
22:25to fly down into a target,
22:28such as you've seen before,
22:30it uses a dual technology.
22:32It uses a GPS receiver
22:34to get it into the general neighborhood
22:36where it then starts looking for a target.
22:39The seeker head,
22:41mounted on a bomb or air-launched missile,
22:44will use global positioning satellites.
22:48Then an image of the target
22:50already loaded into the seeker's mini-computer
22:52searches for the structure on the ground
22:55that matches that image.
22:57It looks for trackable features
23:08around a target.
23:10For example, an air shaft,
23:12an air conditioning duct,
23:13a door, a window, whatever.
23:15Locks those in to that template,
23:18adjusts it appropriately,
23:20and then will fly to any point
23:22within the template
23:22directed by the user.
23:24The intelligence images
23:27from which systems like ATA can draw
23:29are also becoming
23:31increasingly sophisticated.
23:35This three-dimensional CIA graphic
23:37of a Washington suburb
23:39was created from overhead infrared cameras
23:42and depicts the satellite image
23:44of the future.
23:47You could fire, say, from Philadelphia,
23:52and it could fly through a window
23:54of a building all by itself
23:56through heavy weather,
23:58day or night,
23:59say in Washington, D.C.,
24:01you know, over 100 miles plus distance away.
24:06The structural detail
24:08that 3D infrared imaging provides
24:10means that weapons with ATA
24:12will be able to hunt out
24:14specific office or apartment windows
24:16and strike without even brushing the curtains.
24:23If Osama bin Laden were to be located,
24:26he would have little chance of escape
24:28against a high-tech system like ATA.
24:34But finding a moving human target
24:36like Osama bin Laden
24:37has proved to be more challenging
24:39than anticipated for U.S. intelligence.
24:42Osama bin Laden and his associates,
24:46they can decide on a moment's notice
24:49to stand up, go outside,
24:52get in a vehicle, and drive away,
24:54and thereby change their location,
24:57change the context.
24:59Let's say we know Osama bin Laden
25:01is in House B
25:03in Kabul, Afghanistan this morning.
25:06Let's say we want to fire a missile
25:08at that house
25:08from a missile launch platform
25:11that will take 10 minutes.
25:14We're betting that Osama bin Laden
25:16will be there 10 minutes from now,
25:18and that's a poor bet.
25:21It's especially difficult
25:23inside terrorist organizations
25:24who work on the basis
25:26of not only personal relationships
25:28that usually have been formed
25:30for many years,
25:32but they work on
25:33constant personal interaction
25:35and constant personal testing
25:37of loyalties,
25:39of capabilities,
25:40of stability
25:41for the terrorist's activities.
25:45But one high-tech surveillance system
25:47has gained superstar status
25:49in the hunt for Osama bin Laden.
25:53The unmanned Predator Surveillance Drone
25:56has become a regular sight
25:58over the battlefields in Afghanistan,
26:01gathering video that is instantly fed back
26:03to control centers hundreds,
26:05even thousands of miles away.
26:08Predator is nothing more
26:09than an oversized model airplane.
26:12It's got a propeller at the rear
26:13that drives it,
26:14a couple of wings,
26:15fairly low radar cross-section,
26:17can stay up for some hours.
26:19In the front, though,
26:20is the payload.
26:21This is usually a forward-looking
26:23infrared thermal imager
26:25with a TV camera
26:26as well as a laser rangefinder
26:27and designator,
26:28and you can actually go
26:30and use this system
26:31to designate laser-guided bombs,
26:34or, because it's got a GPS system
26:36tied to it,
26:37you can actually get positions
26:38for JDAMs and other systems
26:40as well to drop on to targets.
26:42When it's just in a looking mode,
26:47it tends to fly patterns
26:48much like a dog would go
26:50searching for game
26:52back and forth across an area.
26:54But when it finds it,
26:55it's able to then set up an orbit
26:56and actually surveil that target
26:58so that if that target attempts to move,
27:02if something changes,
27:03the information is immediately relayed back.
27:05And again,
27:06because it's got a satellite uplink,
27:08it can go ahead and share this
27:10over a UHF satellite
27:12anywhere in the world.
27:15While most praise
27:17the capabilities of the predator,
27:19reports back from the field are mixed.
27:22The predator is tracking a target
27:25with a camera
27:25that is essentially looking
27:27through a soda straw.
27:28You see a very narrow field of view.
27:30And so everybody becomes focused
27:32on what that predator is looking at,
27:35and they may not see something
27:36that is much more important
27:38than it's just outside the field of view.
27:43For the first time ever,
27:45continuous live coverage
27:47of recent ground battles
27:48between U.S. and Al-Qaeda forces
27:50was fed back to generals
27:52and civilian leaders
27:53in Washington, D.C.,
27:5410 time zones away.
27:58The predator,
27:59by providing this imagery
28:01back to the command post,
28:03is leading to over-supervision.
28:05In fact, some of them
28:06are referring to it
28:07as the great nanny in the sky.
28:09And it basically is distracting them
28:13from the job they have at hand,
28:15and people are sort of overriding
28:17their local decisions.
28:19It is not an opinion shared by all.
28:23In fact, this war has pushed
28:26the era of armed combat drones upon us.
28:29In Afghanistan,
28:33the first ever unmanned combat aerial vehicle,
28:36or UCAV,
28:37was sent into battle by remote control.
28:41On November 18, 2001,
28:45U.S. jets attacked a Taliban building.
28:47As a group of Al-Qaeda operatives
28:55fled from the destruction,
28:57a predator drone loaded with a Hellfire missile
28:59was directed to launch its deadly package
29:02into the escaping men.
29:06The result?
29:08100 dead,
29:10including some senior Al-Qaeda officials.
29:13Bin Laden not among them.
29:14Using improvised racks for the Hellfires,
29:19Predator has become
29:20the de facto first UCAV,
29:22and it's really shaking people up.
29:24The idea that
29:26if an airstrike is plinking things
29:29and suddenly you see a truck taking off
29:31and going the other direction,
29:32and that you can just use this
29:34as a clean-up shot and just shoot
29:35is very, very exciting.
29:39Drones could eventually
29:41take on an immense variety
29:42of combat roles
29:44that up until today
29:45have been left up to humans
29:46who have to eat,
29:48drink,
29:49sleep,
29:49and who die.
29:54While Afghanistan has shown
29:56that the future of UCAVs
29:57is promising,
29:58one of the war's tragic incidents
30:00warns us that over-reliance
30:03on technology in combat
30:04can lead to human error.
30:06It is the morning
30:10of December 5th, 2001.
30:13Special Forces Team 555
30:16and a group of Afghan opposition fighters
30:18are positioned near Kandahar
30:20in southern Afghanistan,
30:22calling in airstrikes
30:23on enemy targets
30:25over a mile away.
30:26Suddenly,
30:31a satellite-guided bomb
30:33dropped from a B-52 bomber overhead,
30:36explodes just 100 yards
30:38from the soldiers.
30:42The bomb detonates
30:44with the force
30:44of its 2,000 pounds
30:45of explosives.
30:48The devastation is instant.
30:50Three Special Forces soldiers
30:52and six Afghan allies
30:53killed
30:54and 38 injured.
30:57There is no time
30:58to understand
30:59why they've been attacked
31:00by their own,
31:01and the soldiers scrambled
31:02to medevac the dead
31:03and injured
31:04off the battlefield.
31:06There was a Ford Air Controller
31:08who called in
31:09a close air support mission.
31:12A B-52 responded
31:13with JDAM munitions.
31:15One of those JDAM weapons
31:17landed somewhere
31:19in the vicinity
31:19of 100 meters
31:20from where our troops
31:21were at,
31:23and that's what has
31:23obviously caused
31:25the casualties
31:25and injuries.
31:27It was one of those
31:27little oddities
31:28of technology.
31:29The batteries
31:30in the GPS receiver
31:31ran out,
31:32and the controller
31:33on the ground
31:33popped out the old battery,
31:35popped in the new one,
31:36and forgot that
31:36when the GPS receiver
31:38reinitialized itself,
31:40the position that came up
31:41on the readout
31:42was the position
31:43of the receiver itself.
31:46And so when the controller
31:47called up those coordinates,
31:49he was essentially
31:49calling down a 2,000-pound bomb
31:51on his own position,
31:52and that's why
31:53they had those casualties.
31:56The deadly bomb
31:57had dropped exactly
31:59where it was told to hit.
32:01Now the kind of technology
32:02that you want to have
32:04in that kind of situation
32:05is the kind
32:06that you don't have
32:06to think about using,
32:08that you can use intuitively
32:09rather than analytically.
32:11Here's what I want to do.
32:13The basic infantrymen
32:15is proving to be
32:16the best piece
32:17of technology we have.
32:18You know,
32:19can put eyes on a target,
32:22can make a judgment
32:23who or what
32:24that target is.
32:25I like the fact
32:26that you've got your record
32:27to stay in the high ground.
32:28So if that's
32:30the best weapon we have,
32:31and it's a pretty good one,
32:33it's also the least
32:34well-resourced weapon.
32:37We lavish money
32:38on big, expensive
32:39weapons programs.
32:42Infantrymen
32:43still walking
32:44in pretty much
32:44the same boots.
32:45In the December battle
32:50for Tora Bora,
32:51U.S. leaders
32:52had relied too heavily
32:53on Northern Alliance troops
32:55to wage the ground war.
32:58So in January,
33:002,500 soldiers
33:01from the 101st Airborne Division
33:04landed in Afghanistan.
33:07Together with army troops
33:08from the 10th Mountain Division,
33:10they formed the largest
33:11contingent of U.S. ground forces
33:13sent out to war
33:14since Desert Storm.
33:17I have almost never seen
33:18soldiers so eager
33:20to get into action,
33:22very aware that
33:24they were carrying
33:26the nation's desire
33:28to pay back for 9-11,
33:30that it was on their shoulders,
33:31and that they had a chance,
33:33unlike most people,
33:33to actually do something about it.
33:35Every one of our generations
33:37has been called on
33:38to do something
33:39for its country.
33:41We are no different.
33:42We've been called on
33:45to fight the war on terror.
33:48You are part of that fight.
33:53Along with the 101st
33:55came a battalion
33:56of powerful Apache helicopters,
33:58ready to provide
33:59air support to the soldiers
34:01when it came time
34:02to wage war.
34:03Okay, we're at 3,500 meters.
34:05All right, we're going down.
34:07Okay, guns.
34:08Okay.
34:08The AH-64 Apache helicopter
34:15is one of the most
34:16technologically complex weapons
34:18that the U.S. has ever
34:19sent into combat.
34:20Okay, right.
34:22Yep.
34:27Okay.
34:28Okay, going cold.
34:29The two-seat gunship
34:35can prowl undetected
34:36deep into enemy territory
34:38with a load
34:39of laser-guided missiles.
34:49To an Apache pilot,
34:51rugged terrain
34:51is both enemy
34:52and friend.
34:54Hugging the deck,
34:56he is taught
34:56to use the folds
34:57of the earth
34:58to stalk his prey,
35:00which in Afghanistan's
35:01southern deserts
35:02becomes a greater challenge.
35:05Apache pilots
35:06in Afghanistan
35:06have had to fight
35:07blowing sand and dust,
35:10sometimes in the thin air
35:11of high altitudes.
35:15But those who man
35:16these deadly flying machines
35:18are a special breed of pilot.
35:19It's just something
35:27that helicopter pilots
35:28have voiced again
35:29over the years
35:30and that's the way
35:31they fly is that
35:32we beat the air
35:32into submission.
35:36Once in range,
35:38the pilots pop up
35:39and pull into a hover,
35:41providing a steady platform
35:42to get their weapons
35:43onto target.
35:46There it goes.
35:47I remember my initial instructor
35:49years ago in flight school
35:50told me that he thought
35:52trying to teach somebody
35:53who had never flown
35:54a helicopter
35:55to hover a helicopter
35:56in one spot
35:57three feet above the ground
35:58was about like time
35:59to teach a guy
36:00how to ride a unicycle
36:01on top of a basketball.
36:05Each man flying
36:06Apache missions
36:06in Afghanistan
36:07has gone through years
36:09of training
36:10back in the States.
36:11There's going to be
36:12Apaches on the battlefield
36:13tomorrow night,
36:14so I want a very well
36:15thought out
36:16either restrictive
36:18fire measures
36:19or procedures ironed out
36:21to protect the infantry
36:22force on the ground
36:23as well as to enable
36:24Colonel Cornwall
36:25to get fires
36:26from the Apaches.
36:27But you're right
36:28on top of their head
36:29and we need a very good job.
36:30In a war zone
36:30like Afghanistan,
36:32coordinating air
36:33and ground units
36:34requires precise timing
36:36and exact situation awareness.
36:38The method
36:38that we're going to do that with...
36:39Working just tens of meters
36:41from friendly forces
36:42calls for detailed planning
36:44and rigid precision.
36:46Roughly in this vicinity.
36:48I don't know where to put you
36:50to keep from hitting our guys
36:51once they're in there.
36:52We will drop down
36:53to the ground frequency
36:54and if you come up
36:55against any unexpected resistance,
36:58we're there to provide
36:58direct fires.
37:02The Apache pilot
37:04is directly connected
37:05to the $14 million aircraft
37:08he flies
37:09by a system of sensors
37:11mounted on the side
37:12of his helmet.
37:15The eyepiece
37:16and the sensor
37:17on the front of the aircraft
37:18are in coincidence
37:18and wherever you look,
37:19it's looking.
37:21In effect,
37:21it's the same
37:22as if you took your eye,
37:24moved it three feet down
37:25and ten feet forward
37:27and placed it
37:27at the front of the aircraft
37:28because all of the imagery
37:29that you receive
37:30on the screen
37:31is from that sensor
37:32at the very front
37:33of the aircraft.
37:35The destructive power
37:37at the pilot's fingertips
37:38is formidable.
37:41and includes
37:42a 30-millimeter chain gun,
37:45up to 38 rockets
37:46and as many as 16
37:52laser-guided Hellfire missiles.
37:54The Hellfire missile
38:07is the tool of choice
38:08for Apache pilots
38:09in Afghanistan.
38:12This anti-tank weapon
38:13fires upward
38:14and then descends
38:16onto the top
38:16of the enemy vehicle,
38:18striking it
38:19at its most thinly
38:19armored point.
38:20The Hellfire's dual
38:26seeker head
38:27follows a laser beam
38:28that the backseater
38:29points at the intended target.
38:31at Bagram Air Force Base
38:44in Afghanistan,
38:45Apache helicopters
38:46lie in wait.
38:48It is March 4th, 2002,
38:51and the biggest assault
38:52of the war
38:53has kicked off,
38:54Operation Anaconda.
38:56A team of Special Forces
38:59soldiers
38:59is being sent
39:00on a reconnaissance mission
39:01to a mountain ridge.
39:04In two MH-47
39:06Chinook helicopters,
39:07they take off
39:08from Bagram Air Force Base.
39:10The team is headed
39:14for a high-altitude region
39:15in southern Afghanistan
39:16called Shahi Khot.
39:19The Chinook helicopter
39:21they fly on
39:22has been the transport
39:23warhorse
39:24of the U.S. military
39:25since the Vietnam War.
39:28In the darkness,
39:30the Chinooks land
39:31in a predetermined
39:32mountain LZ
39:33just above 10,000 feet.
39:36Recon photos suggest
39:38the enemy abandoned
39:39the ridge months ago.
39:42But as the soldiers
39:43jump to the ground,
39:46they come under heavy fire.
39:50A rocket-propelled grenade
39:51hits one of the helicopters,
39:53and the troops
39:54scramble back
39:55onto the Chinooks
39:56that manage to lift off
39:58amidst heavy fire.
40:01The helicopter's rear gunner,
40:03the Navy SEAL,
40:04returns fire
40:05from the open back hatch
40:06of the aircraft.
40:09And as the Chinook
40:10climbs steeply
40:11and banks hard
40:12to the north
40:12away from danger,
40:14he is jolted out
40:15of the aircraft,
40:16left behind
40:17on the desert floor.
40:20And the story
40:20we've been told
40:21is that this SEAL
40:22charged a machine gun nest
40:24and personally shot.
40:27Everybody in the nest
40:28took out the crew
40:29of this machine gun
40:30that was firing
40:31on the Chinook
40:32as it was trying
40:32to escape.
40:34A predator drone
40:36then appears
40:37over the battle zone,
40:38capturing the scene
40:39that ensues.
40:42Apparently,
40:43the SEAL
40:44was then
40:44either taken captive
40:46or disabled
40:47and was very badly treated
40:49and eventually,
40:50of course,
40:51died.
40:52This was all
40:52apparently being watched
40:54by a Predator UAV
40:55feeding the video
40:57back to CENTCOM headquarters
40:59back at
40:59MacDill Air Force Base
41:00in Tampa.
41:01So everybody
41:02watched this happen
41:02in real time.
41:03For unknown reasons,
41:10CENTCOM headquarters
41:11does not communicate
41:12news of the Navy SEAL's death
41:13to a Special Forces
41:15rescue team
41:15already on its way
41:17to extract
41:17the fallen soldier.
41:19This team heads
41:20into danger
41:21not knowing
41:22that the soldier
41:23they are on their way
41:24to rescue
41:24is already dead.
41:27On board
41:28is an Air Force
41:29para-rescue man
41:30trained to recover
41:31downed soldiers
41:32trapped behind
41:33enemy lines.
41:37Discovery Channel cameras
41:38had been present
41:39last spring
41:40as this Air Force
41:42commando
41:42named Jason Cunningham
41:44faced the last hurdles
41:45of the two-year
41:46para-rescue school
41:47in New Mexico.
41:54Cunningham had successfully
41:56passed the school's
41:57six-day final exercise
41:59which included
42:00an all-night firefight
42:01against a fabricated
42:02enemy force.
42:06Now,
42:07almost a year later,
42:09in the skies
42:10over Afghanistan,
42:12this was the real thing
42:13at Cunningham's
42:15first-ever combat mission.
42:17It is what he has
42:19trained long and hard
42:20to do.
42:22But as Cunningham
42:23and the rest of the
42:24special ops rescue team
42:25prepare to land,
42:28an RPG missile
42:29hits the Chinook.
42:31The heavy aircraft
42:32crashes to the ground
42:33and the surviving soldiers,
42:35including Cunningham,
42:37run for cover
42:38from the hail
42:39of small arms fire.
42:41For Jason Cunningham
42:43and the rest
42:44of the special forces
42:44rescue team,
42:46it is a long fight
42:47to the death.
42:50For the next 12 hours,
42:52they face constant fire.
42:57Cunningham tends
42:58to the wounded
42:58for hours,
43:00removing the injured
43:01from the incoming enemy fire
43:03landing just feet away
43:04until he, too,
43:06is fatally hit.
43:13When rescue helicopters
43:15are finally able
43:16to extract the men,
43:17the casualty count
43:18is the worst
43:19of the war yet.
43:21Seven U.S. servicemen dead.
43:25U.S. ground troops
43:26were now more than ready
43:28for Operation Anaconda.
43:30You know,
43:34when they gathered
43:35to get on the helicopters
43:36in the middle of the night
43:38before the operation started,
43:40they were jumping up
43:42and down like popcorn.
43:43Even though they had
43:44these incredibly heavy packs on,
43:46they were just vibrating
43:48with adrenaline.
43:49They couldn't wait
43:49to get up there.
43:52Apache and Cobra helicopters
43:54filled the skies
43:55as U.S. soldiers
43:56joined a contingent
43:57of Allied Afghan troops
43:59across strategic areas
44:00of the Sha'i Coat Valley.
44:04The Allied force
44:05began pounding
44:06the mountainous redoubts.
44:08Go, go, go!
44:09Go, go, go!
44:11Fighting at altitudes
44:12of 10,000 feet
44:14against an enemy force
44:1510 times greater
44:16than expected,
44:18victory was not
44:19to come easy.
44:25It was a very tough fight
44:27they got into.
44:29And they came back
44:31saying,
44:32we know we can take
44:34these guys,
44:34but they are really good
44:36and this is going
44:37to be hard
44:37and a lot of us
44:38are going to get hurt.
44:42For weeks,
44:43the battle in the caves
44:44at Sha'i Coat
44:45raged on.
44:47U.S. infantry troops
44:48remained under
44:49constant fire
44:50from RPG rockets
44:51and other heavy weapons
44:52and retaliated
44:54with equal force.
44:55by battle's end,
45:00the power of the
45:01Allied ground troops
45:02prevailed.
45:03This operation
45:04was an unqualified
45:06and absolute success
45:07from the perspective
45:08not only
45:09of the American
45:10and coalition forces
45:11involved,
45:12but also from the point
45:13of view of the Afghan
45:14forces involved.
45:16U.S. military officials
45:18claimed over 500
45:19enemy dead
45:20and the mountainous valley
45:22once again
45:23free of Taliban
45:24and Al-Qaeda threats.
45:28Reporters covering
45:29the war
45:29were unable
45:30to confirm
45:31the number
45:31of enemy casualties,
45:33but Operation Anaconda
45:35was declared
45:35a victory
45:36despite the loss
45:37of seven U.S. soldiers.
45:39to those who like
45:41to say,
45:42oh, come on,
45:42you know,
45:43why are we losing people?
45:44Well, folks,
45:45it's a war
45:45and it's,
45:47we're fighting on,
45:48we're fighting
45:50on the other guy's
45:51home field.
45:52This is the place
45:52where the Russians
45:53fought for 10 years
45:55and got their butts kicked
45:57and we handed
45:58their heads to them.
46:01But a month
46:02after Operation Anaconda,
46:05Al-Qaeda
46:05and Taliban forces
46:07were already
46:07filtering back
46:08from neighboring Pakistan
46:10into the mountainous
46:11redoubts of Afghanistan.
46:14And warnings
46:15of more terrorist attacks
46:17on the U.S. persist.
46:20So whether we choose
46:22to fight terrorism
46:23with the precision
46:23of high-tech weaponry
46:25or the power
46:31of the basic soldier,
46:32one thing is clear.
46:37This is a battle
46:38that has only just begun.
46:44Militarily,
46:44I think there's always
46:45going to be people
46:46who don't want us there
46:48and will take shots
46:49at our people
46:50that will just go on
46:52and on and on.
46:54I guess it's sort of up to us
46:56how long we stay there
46:56and fight it.
46:57It's going to require a continuous effort
47:04probably for a generation.
47:07And it's going to obviously start
47:09with military action,
47:10but it's going to finish
47:11with financial aid,
47:14industrial and agricultural development,
47:17education,
47:18and all the other things
47:21that we were talking about earlier
47:23that represent the ultimate solution
47:25to giving hope
47:26to the rest of the world.
47:31This is not just
47:33a military solution.
47:35General Hugh Shelton,
47:36the retired chairman
47:37of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
47:38once told me
47:39that the military
47:40is like a hammer.
47:42It's great
47:44as long as what you're hitting
47:45with it is a nail.
47:48But not every problem
47:50in the world
47:50is a nail.
48:12The Joint Chiefs of Staff
48:14is a nail.
48:15The Joint Chiefs of Staff
48:16is a nail.
48:17The Joint Chiefs of Staff
48:18is a nail.
48:19The Joint Chiefs of Staff
48:20is a nail.
48:21The Joint Chiefs of Staff
48:22is a nail.
48:23The Joint Chiefs of Staff
48:24is a nail.
48:25The Joint Chiefs of Staff
48:26is a nail.
48:27The Joint Chiefs of Staff
48:28is a nail.
48:29The Joint Chiefs of Staff
48:30is a nail.
48:31The Joint Chiefs of Staff
48:32is a nail.
48:33The Joint Chiefs of Staff
48:34is a nail.
48:35The Joint Chiefs of Staff
48:36is a nail.
48:37The Joint Chiefs of Staff
48:38is a nail.
48:39The Joint Chiefs of Staff
48:40is a nail.
48:52
|
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