OpEd News: Screaming for Help at Ganjgal

The book Into the Fire: A Firsthand Account of the Most Extraordinary Battle in the Afghan War by Dakota Meyer and Bing West, reveals the dangerous refusal of officers responsible for aiding the men who fought and died alone.

Team Monti- the Marines ambushed at Ganjgal (image by Dakota Meyer )

(SALEM) - Ganjgal village in Afghanistan was the scene of a brutal ambush on the 8th September 2009, that claimed the lives of four U.S. Marines, an American soldier, and eight Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers.

The story is plagued with scandalous decisions and violations of established U.S. policy that make no sense. Intel received early that morning from drones showed large numbers of heavily armed jihadists walked into Ganjgal from Pakistan. But the soldiers and Marines, somehow, were not notified, and they walked into a brutal, deadly attack.

Marine Staff Sergeant Juan Rodriguez-Chavez, Marine Corporal Dakota Meyer, and Army Captain Will Swenson, along with Afghan soldiers, worked together to save as many as they could, and as a result Meyer and Swenson were awarded the Medal of Honor.

The book Into the Fire: A Firsthand Account of the Most Extraordinary Battle in the Afghan War by Dakota Meyer and Bing West, reveals the dangerous refusal of officers responsible for aiding the men who fought and died alone.

• They were denied critical intelligence.
• They were denied air support.
• Two pilots who tried to respond anyway were turned back.
• They were denied artillery.
• Calls for assistance were met with the question, "Are you Marines or Army?" when it made no difference at all.
• The U.S. State Dept. was in Ganjgal one day before the ambush meeting with village elders. What spared them from a deadly ambush?
• Their Operation Center staff was replaced that morning.
• Vehicles with defensive guns were parked a mile away.
• There was no QRF (Quick Reaction Force) to aid the fallen Marines.
• Special Forces soldiers at Camp Joyce were physically restrained from aiding the Marines.

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