BROTHERHOOD BORN IN BATTLE - Veterans Reflect on Role in 2013 Defense of Forward Operating Base Ghazni
What Began as ‘Normal’ Day for Illinois Army National Guard Soldiers in Afghanistan Ends with 6-Hour Battle as Taliban Insurgents Attack, Infiltrate Forward Operating Base Ghazni
An old adage describes a normal day in war as “months of boredom punctuated by moments of terror.”
Such can be said of Aug. 28, 2013, when Taliban forces attacked Forward Operating Base (FOB) Ghazni, Ghazni Province, Afghanistan, using a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device packed with approximately two-tons of explosives to breach the east perimeter of the base, allowing suicide bombers onto the FOB. Throughout the six-hour attack, U.S., Polish, and Afghan forces endured indirect fire from rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire.
Sixteen Soldiers from the Illinois Army National Guard deployed to FOB Ghazni in 2013 as part of Bilateral Embedded Staff Team (BEST A-11). BEST missions allowed Illinois Army National Guard Soldiers to train and deploy side-by-side with their Polish counterparts.
For Col. Chris Lawson, Command Sgt. Maj. Lester Edwards, 1st Sgt. Johnny O’Brien, Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy Buttram, and Capt. Tristan Myers, Aug. 28, 2013, started out as just a normal day in Afghanistan. Until it wasn’t.
“There were no real indicators something was going to happen,” Edwards said.
Edwards and Polish Army Brig. Gen. Marek Sokolowski, the commander of Task Force White Eagle at FOB Ghazni, began their day at the Tactical Operations Center, each going through paperwork and checking their computers. Lawson began his day in meetings, first with the 101st Airborne Division, and later with the Polish Army staff. Buttram began his workday at the training, education and simulations office going over the day’s work plans. Myers, the battle captain, began his day in the TOC receiving the overnight update from night battle captain Master Sgt. Marcus Cox. O’Brien, as the FOB’s ‘mayor,’ started his day on a conference call working to secure needed items.
“The only thing typical about any given day was that there was nothing typical about any given day in Afghanistan,” Myers said.
Shortly before the attack, Lawson was in his room changing clothes to go workout. Edwards was at the dentist’s office, accompanying Sokolowski to his appointment. Buttram was in the operations shack showing Soldiers how to get to the materials yard on the base map. At some point around midday, Myers did something he rarely did – he left the TOC.
“It was almost a weird day in the respect I left the TOC midday,” said Myers. “Major Jesse Wright called me over to his office to discuss an upcoming operation.”
At about 4 p.m. the ‘normal’ day turned into anything but normal as an explosion tore a 100-foot hole in the FOB’s perimeter wall, allowing Taliban insurgents access to FOB Ghazni.
“I’m sitting in a chair leaned up against a wall while the dentist is working on the general’s teeth. We’re just sitting there, laughing and bullshitting like we always do, and suddenly a horrific boom goes off and knocks me off my stool,” Edwards said. “General Sokolowski and I look at each other, and our thoughts were ‘this had to happen just right outside’. Both of us run out the front door to see where this hole is. There’s nothing near us but as I look around, I tell him it’s near the Copperhead Compound where the unmanned aerial vehicles are kept.”
The two jumped into the general’s vehicle and started toward the TOC to manage things.
Meanwhile, Buttram found himself on the floor in the operations shack from the blast. He checked to make sure he and the other Soldiers in his office were okay.
“For a brief moment, everything was disoriented. My instinct was to check myself for injuries,” Buttram said. “I looked around the room and made sure everyone else was okay before moving to the operations shack door.”
In the S-3 shop, the next thing Myers remembered was picking himself up off the floor.
“There’s a loud explosion, and suddenly I’m on the floor, my head is ringing, I have tunnel vision, and I look over and see Dan and Jesse,” Myers said. “I think Jesse’s up at this point and he’s yelling asking if I’m okay.”
Lawson said he was in his room changing into workout clothes when the percussion lifted the roof off his building.
“The blast knocked me down and blew the doors off mine and Sergeant Major Edwards’ rooms,” Lawson said. “I don’t know how long I was out because when I got off the ground, all I heard outside was gunfire.”
As Edwards and Sokolowski headed toward the TOC, they saw smoke rising into the air.
“There’s several rocket propelled grenades being launched into the FOB now,” Edwards said. “We stop and jump out of the general’s vehicle. A Polish Soldier runs by. The general grabs him, takes his rifle and body armor and throws it on and sends the Polish Soldier back to safety.”
In the operations shack, Buttram opens the door and said it was white outside.
“I yelled outside to see if anyone was hurt,” he said. “I realized I needed to gear up, so I grabbed my battle rattle. By then the dust cloud began to clear and I could see a massive mushroom cloud rising at the rear of the base.”
Elsewhere on FOB Ghazni, O’Brien was caught by surprise.
“Once they called FOB Con Black, I grabbed Polish Army Captain Guaus’ Body Armor and threw it on,” he said. “My body armor was in my room. I had my 9mm sidearm but was wishing I had a long rifle at that time.”
O’Brien said at least he had a firearm.
“We started hearing booms, explosions, and gunfire. The gunfire seemed like it was coming from everywhere. It was all around us,” he said.
O’Brien described the moment as confusing.
“It was like ‘what is going on right now?” he said. “Captain Guaus came back to grab his stuff, so I took off his body armor.”
From inside the S-3 shop, Myers said the first assumption was that a rocket had struck nearby. He stumbled through the door and looked across the courtyard.
“I saw a massive mushroom cloud, five or six stories high,” Myers said. “It was the largest one I’ve ever seen. My first instinct was to run toward the blast. I enlisted as an infantryman and everything in me said to move toward the breach and fill the gap.”
Instead, he forced himself to turn right and run back into the TOC. It went against his training and instinct, and he said he carried shame for not running directly to the breach. Only later did he understand that the TOC was where he needed to be.
“As the battle captain, my role was not to fight at the breach but to coordinate the defense of the FOB and help save lives across the base,” he said.
As Buttram exited the operations shack, the white cloud began to dissipate.
“Gunfire began erupting across the base,” Buttram said. “Most of the gunfire seemed to be coming from the direction of the explosion. We could hear gunfire from several other directions across the installation.”
“We started moving toward the blast site when Myers’ voice came across the base loudspeaker ‘FOB Con Black. I repeat FOB Con Black. Enemy are inside the base,’” Buttram said. “We realized the situation had escalated drastically. We were no longer just responding to an explosion, enemy fighters had breached the base perimeter.”
“General Sokolowski and I headed toward the outer perimeter of where Copperhead is,” Edwards said. “As we get there, an insurgent is laying on the ground just outside the compound. We engage and neutralize him.”
Edwards said that outside the compound is a runway that goes out with three or four containers on the left side.
“General Sokolowski and I are looking in that direction and as we do, another insurgent comes around the end of the containers running toward us,” he said. “We engage him and he falls.”
Edwards said they engaged and neutralized three insurgents.
“I look behind me at the five-gallon fuel cans behind us in the tent,” Edwards said. “One has a bullet hole in it and fuel is pouring out. I grab the general and tell him we have to go as I tell him about the fuel leak.”
“All I had was my 9mm sidearm,” he said. “As soon as I engaged the third insurgent, I noticed my slide had locked back. I was out of ammunition. I dropped the magazine and as I reached down, I realized I wasn’t wearing my body armor just my Army uniform. I thought ‘now what do I do?’”
Edwards said he told Sokolowski he’s out of ammunition and a U.S. Navy lieutenant commander offered Edwards his rifle.
As they head to the TOC, they meet up with O’Brien.
“I met up with Sergeant Major Edwards between where I was and the TOC where he was headed,” O’Brien said. “We needed to get an accountability for all of the BEST Soldiers. There was one we hadn’t heard from yet and communication was terrible. Not everyone had cell phones, we didn’t have radios, and that made it difficult to get in contact with everyone on the spur of the moment.”
O’Brien and Edwards set out to locate the unaccounted-for Soldier.
“I’m walking with Sergeant Major Edwards and I told him I really wish I had my stuff with me,” O’Brien said. “He hands me an M4. Our equipment had close combat optic or advanced combat optical gunsight for sites. The M4 he handed me didn’t have anything. I ask him where he got this.”
O’Brien said Edwards tells him how he came in possession of the M4.
While O’Brien and Edwards were looking for the Soldier, they went to O’Brien’s room where he grabbed his body armor and M4. It was there the two found the Soldier, on the roof in a defensive position.
“I remember walking around with the sergeant major who was very big on checking on everyone and making sure they were where they needed to be,” O’Brien said.
Lawson said he didn’t know how long he was out before getting up off the ground.
“All I heard was gunfire outside,” he said. “I grabbed my weapon, locked and loaded, and went out the back door because that’s where the explosion came from.”
Lawson said as soon as he exited the building, there were rockets coming into the base.
“We had a bunch of holes from rockets and grenade launchers on the back of our building,” he said. “We found out later those were coming from suicide bombers that had come in and were outfitted with grenade launchers and incendiary accelerants. They had ropes with cans around their neck where they can put on buildings and light them on fire.”
Lawson said he headed toward the TOC and an RPG came in front of him where the first of the 10th Mountain Division Headquarters was at.
“They have what’s called CHIGOs. They are split units, an air conditioner and a heater,” he said. “That RPG hit that CHIGO and blew it up. I hit the ground and waited. I’m like, ‘okay, I’m alright,’ and get up.”
Lawson said he kept running to the TOC and was thankful the base had running passwords.
“Everyone on the FOB has weapons in the ready and you’re running around corners,” he said. “So you’d run around a corner and have muzzles in your face because they didn’t know if you’re a good guy or bad guy. I’m glad we had it because I probably used it 20 times with people staring me down with their weapons. They know me, but when you’re frightened that happens.”
Edwards said he and Sokolowski got in the general’s vehicle and headed toward the TOC.
“We get to the TOC where you can get a better idea of what’s going on from the video screens,” Edwards said. “There was a huge plume of fire and smoke that enveloped the area at Copperhead.”
Edwards said it’s important to note Sokolowski was to the left of him during the engagements.
“We get to the TOC and I look over at General Sokolowski and he had a rip in the sleeve of his uniform with some blood,” Edwards said. “The general had caught a piece of buckshot in his shoulder. When the second insurgent we engaged fell, he detonated his vest. His vest was filled with buckshot. When the vest detonates buckshot goes everywhere and the general got hit in the arm. I feel fortunate that being right there, I didn’t get injured.”
Edwards was fortunate indeed.
Buttram said FOB Ghazni was laid out like a maze, built from HESCO barriers. Because of the layout there wasn’t a straight path to the blast site, and we had to maneuver through the base to reach it.
“As we moved through the FOB, we could hear multiple explosions nearby,” Buttram said. “Those were RPG strikes fired by Taliban fighters attacking the base from multiple directions. As we reached an opening near the helicopter runway, another RPG struck a drone fuel pod, causing it to explode and catch fire. That way was blocked.”
Buttram said the three navigated through the dining facility supply area.
“While moving through that area, two additional RPGs struck food supply containers causing additional fires,” he said. “We quickly extinguished them and continued pushing toward the blast site.”
When they reached an opening that gave a clear view of the perimeter, they could see the scale of the damage.
“There was a massive breach about 100 feet long in the barrier wall,” Buttram said. “The breach was caused by a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device from a jingle truck. A jingle truck is just a cargo truck. But in Afghanistan, they decorate everything. They had decorations on that truck with little metal things that jingle. We called them jingle trucks. This guy had pulled up right next to the base wall, got out and he detonated it from the front. When it detonated it had pulverized 100 feet of sand, which is thousands of cubic tons of sand.”
Buttram said the truck had been loaded with approximately 4,000 lbs. of explosives.
He described the barrier walls measuring about seven feet tall, seven feet wide, and seven feet thick. The wall was constructed with two barriers at the base and a second single layer stacked across the top.
As they assessed the breach, Buttram said Wisniewski turned to him and said ‘that hole needs to be fixed. Do you think you can find a way to close it up?’
“During the past five months on FOB Ghazni, I had built relationships with several tenant units across the base,” Buttram said. “Because of those connections, I knew immediately what needed to be done. I shared my plan with Major Wisniewski. Master Sergeant Foster and I set out on foot across the base to gather manpower and equipment.”
Buttram said they stopped at three different units, coordinating support and directing Soldiers to assist with rebuilding the wall.
“The biggest challenge was none of the units had heavy equipment to fill the barriers with sand,” he said. “My last stop was the local national equipment motor pool, where construction equipment was stored. The yard housed dozers, excavators, forklifts, and most importantly – a front loader.”
Buttram said he got into the front loader and his heart sank as he realized there were no keys.
“There were no keys, but two bare wires were hanging down,” he said. “I held my breath, touched the wires together and the engine fired up. I thought ‘well today I’m going to steal a front loader.’ I drove it to the meetup site and as a unit went to the wall.”
Buttram said part of the problem to figure out was how to fill the enormous crater in the ground.
“We couldn’t put the walls there because it wouldn’t do anything,” he said. “I used the front loader and filled it as much as I could then we built a wall parallel to the crater. We didn’t fill in the gap, but making a bubble with the barrier walls.”
Buttram said over the next four hours, more than two dozen American and Polish Soldiers worked together under fire to construct a parallel wall behind the destroyed section of the perimeter, as they endured intermittent direct and indirect fire from small arms and RPGs.
“We had to hunker down and keep working,” he said. “We finally got to the point where we had a wall we know was at least going to prevent people from just running in. Between the temporary wall or beginning of that new wall, we finally got to the point while we were not breathing easy, we were in a better spot.”
Buttram said the team was told later it was the most coordinated attack to date in the war on a base.
“The attack included the VBIED, about 15 suicide bombers and another 60 or more RPG strikes on the base,” he said.
Buttram described the actions of the servicemembers working to rebuild the perimeter wall as heroic.
“Within about 45 minutes of us identifying the gigantic breach in the wall, we were rebuilding,” he said. “Everyone pushed so hard, pushed themselves and each other to work hard. It was so inspiring to see that teamwork.”
“My initial reaction was ‘is this real’? Is this really happening?” Buttram said. “That went away quickly. As we were running through the base, there was a young private just walking around scared to death. He came up to me and asked what do I do? I gave him a sector. Told him we know enemy is on the base. I need you to watch here to here. If you see anyone come through you have to take care of them.
“That calmness gave him a purpose,” Buttram said. “When we found out there was enemy on the base, you revert to your military training. What do I do is not part of the thought process at that point. Your training is engrained. It’s in there.”
Buttram said from his vantage point, staying calm and working as a team were the most heroic things his team did that day.
“As we were making our way through the base toward the breach, there were explosives. There were RPGs,” he said. “It would have been easy to say ‘I can’t do this today’, turn around and go the other way. But for us, this is happening. This is bad and we just kept going.
“Each of those two dozen Soldiers putting together that wall were heroes that day as well,” he said. “We were under the continuous threat of indirect fire. We would stop long enough to be safe but we kept going. They showed no fear. They just did their job.”
Buttram said the deployment changed him.
“When I left the United States, I was one person and when I came home I was someone else,” he said. “Not because of what happened, but because of the people I served with. We were relying on each other to get the job done. They made me stronger and I made them stronger.”
Buttram described the teamwork demonstrated while the team rebuilt the wall was “at a level he’d not seen before.”
“Usually when you’re working with a lot of people, it gets a little diluted or too much is happening,” he said. “But between myself, Sergeant O’Brien who met me at the wall, and Derek my Polish counterpart, we were really instructing the whole piece. We weren’t instructing step by step. It was ‘we gotta get that wall up guys’. No babysitting anyone. Everyone got in there and did it while feeding off each other’s energy.”
Lawson said during the attack, the insurgents blew up an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).
“We had a unit operating UAVs and they kept an abundance of fuel used to fuel their drones,” Lawson said. “An RPG made a direct hit on it, blew it up and it was on fire. I ran into General Sokolowski and Sergeant Major Edwards who I found out later were at the point where the insurgents were coming in. We went to the TOC and the general said we got to get on this. At that point, there are multiple fires on the base. At that point I don’t know where we’re at or what buildings are structurally unsafe to occupy, like the mess hall.”
Lawson said at that point, the three of them went to the Polish fire brigade.
“We find out that more than two-thirds of their Soldiers are going home in three days,” he said. “The fire chief asks for volunteers but no one under the age of 25, which makes the Soldiers younger than 25 years old mad. He changed that to only volunteers and the fire brigade rallied to extinguish the three fires.”
Once the fires were extinguished, Lawson said the fire brigade Soldiers joined in rebuilding the perimeter wall. Lawson said that while most of BEST A-11 were working to secure the base, one Soldier was orchestrating the fight from within the TOC.
“What was great about BEST A-11 is there wasn’t anyone who was a duplicate version of another teammate,” Lawson said. “Captain Tristan Myers had the toughest experience. He was one of our youngest officers and as battle captain, had one of the most difficult jobs in a difficult environment. When scary things happen in the TOC, it goes Polish. By that I mean the Polish staff starts speaking Polish. The demand for information also skyrockets and Tristan was never shaken.”
Lawson said when the announcement came over the speaker system the base was under attack; it was Myers who made the announcement.
“FOB Con Black, get to your fighting positions, get ready to defend at all costs,” he said. “I remember thinking this is real. I didn’t know it was Tristan’s job to give announcements when we’re being attacked.”
Lawson said once things slowed down, Myers wouldn’t leave the TOC.
“I’m like Tristan, we’ve got Marcus for the night shift,” he said. “You need to get some sleep. But none of us slept for 48 hours.”
Myers believed the decision to run to the TOC reflected something Sokolowski had seen in him when he was selected as the battle captain during training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
“If I was not in the TOC, then no one was coordinating the defense, answering questions or directing the response,” he said.
When Myers reached the TOC, the room was in disarray. Monitors and indicators used to maintain the battle space were offline. Doors had been blown off buildings.
“The first thing I say is get me some flipping eyes on the breach. I’m talking a little bit in Polish, asking them to get a monitor up. Phones are ringing, radios are chattering, and everything’s all happening at once,” Myers said.
Once he saw enough to understand the threat, he moved to the public address system and issued the alert of FOB Condition Black – the highest threat level. The FOB was under attack, the perimeter had been breached, and insurgents were attempting to overrun the base.
Myers told his Polish counterparts to contact the Afghan National Army to establish an outer cordon immediately. With the breach still active and the number of insurgents uncertain, he needed friendly forces outside the perimeter and clear communication to avoid confusion.
The Afghan forces responded quickly, moving to establish the outer cordon. Because the situation was confusing and fast-moving, Myers later used the loud speaker to make it clear Afghan Army forces were outside the FOB and should not be mistaken for the attackers.
At the same time, Myers said attackers were also moving on the west side of the FOB. Multiple vehicles pulled up near the hotel complex and people began unloading weapons, including RPGs. They did not appear to realize a Polish sniper team was already positioned there, watching the activity unfold.
The sniper team waited until the final person unloaded the last piece of equipment, then shot them all, ending the western prong of the attack before it could begin.
Buttram said the attack on FOB Ghazni brought the members of BEST A-11 close.
“We all experienced something that no one should ever have to experience, but it did. It happened to us,” he said. “You always wonder what if something extreme happens? How am I going to handle it? We all handled it extremely well. I know what Sergeant Foster and I did, running around and getting all those things. I know what that felt like, but everyone has their own story. Everyone experienced the attack their own way.”
Buttram said the group didn’t talk about it a lot initially.
“It wasn’t until a couple of weeks later Sergeant Major Edwards and I were sitting out back and really started talking about it,” Buttram said. “That was the first time I think he talked about his experience that day. By that time, I had developed a strong friendship with a lot of the guys there, but I had an extraordinary relationship with Sergeant Major Edwards.”
Buttram said he couldn’t have that conversation at that level with the other team members.
“My connections with those guys are different,” Buttram said. “They are my best friends but in different ways. I don’t see them every day. But when we say we’ll give our life for anyone out there. There’s not a day in time when we wouldn’t do anything for those guys.”
Buttram, who received a Bronze Star partly for his actions that day, said one of the other awards he received meant more to him.
“I was awarded a Navy Achievement Medal,” he said. “First Sergeant O’Brien and I were each awarded the medal by the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy in recognition of the things we did. That one holds a special place because as a Soldier in the Army, cross-service awards don’t happen very often.”
Buttram said training was the key to the deployment’s success and the team’s actions during the attack.
“It’s leadership,” Buttram said. “It’s the people you serve with. I’d go anywhere with General Lawson. When I got a chance to meet him in recruiting, he motivated us to change as people really blew me away. When I was selected to serve under his command during the 2013 deployment, that same power came from him. He drove strength into us every day.”
Buttram said the attack was worrisome for the families at home.
“When the attack occurred our families were notified,” Buttram said. “They were aware the base was under attack. We were going through all of these things and the next morning when I had a chance to regroup, I fired up the computer and just do a quick ‘hey how’s it going?’ She’d been up for the last 12 hours, not knowing if her husband is alive or dead.”
Buttram said at that moment he realized what families go through when loved ones deploy.
“It’s not just that person who deploys,” he said. “Families deploy as well. She took care of the house. She did things she never did before. She was proud of it and I was proud of her for it. But it was that moment you know she had been facing the unknown. She was there with family and friends wondering what’s happening. When I finally got a chance to talk to her and tell her things were good, I could see the relief on her face. She had been through her own type of battle. They all did, all the spouses of the BEST team.”
As small teams, the Soldiers serving on BEST missions wear multiple hats.
“My role on the BEST mission was to descope or reduce the size of the base,” Buttram said. “It turned into a handoff mission to the Afghan National Army. One month I was looking for different places to tear down or restructure. The next month I was building up a compound for the Afghan National Army.”
Buttram said he wasn’t sure what to make of the attack initially.
“The very first thing I thought as the attack started was is this real?” he said. “I can still remember my thought process was, this happened but it feels like a dream. I feel like I'm in a movie right now. Is this really happening? That went away quickly.”
Buttram said the deployment changed him.
“I'm a better person. I'm a stronger person. It took some time to react with me when I got back home. I wouldn't change it. From a Soldier perspective I got a chance to prove to myself I could do it and that felt good,” he said. “I’ve been in leadership roles most of my career, both in the military and my civilian career. I've always had the ability to talk to people. It was always difficult for me to say no a lot of times. I didn't have the same backbone that maybe other people did. When I came home, I definitely had more backbone. My wife said I left a girl and came back a man.”
O’Brien said the first thing he thought when the assault started was ‘holy moly’.
“The initial push by the insurgents was crazy,” O’Brien said. “Holy cow, this is real.”
O’Brien said walking around with Edwards seeing the different unexploded RPGs and the craters was chaos. But weighing heavy on his mind was getting home to his five-year-old daughter.
"If I got to go, I'm going to go like this,” he said. “My thoughts were I need to get back to my five-year-old daughter. She doesn’t need to hear stories of me. She needs to know me.”
While O’Brien said he didn’t witness acts of heroism, he heard a few heroic stories.
“The things that stand out in my mind are Sergeant Buttram stealing the front loader, and putting out fires behind the dining facility,” O’Brien said. “I saw Sergeant Major Edwards was eliminating the threats of suicide bombers running onto the base. Those are some things I heard firsthand because of my teammates.”
“As we go on, we hear about Staff Sergeant Michael Ollis who was killed. It was a big deal because he was killed shielding a Polish officer,” he said. “What was he doing? Come to find out he was just in transit. I think he was supposed to leave the next morning to go to Bagram and then go home.”
O’Brien said that's an inspiring story because it shows true brotherhood.
“It doesn't matter. Team up with a Polish counterpart that you just met,” he said. “No language needed, just a common goal. Stop the threat and save lives.”
Edwards said in his view Buttram was one of the battle’s heroes.
“We’re still under attack and we have an exposed perimeter wall that anyone could walk through,” Edwards said. “He grabbed up a crew, including Polish, Afghan and American Soldiers, local nationals and orchestrated the rebuilding of the wall. He was like, ‘we’re not quitting until this wall’s put back together’. He and his group worked through the night, building that wall back up to where we had a defensive wall. In my view, that was heroic.”
O’Brien said the brotherhood forged in battle has brought the team closer.
“Knowing everyone was doing what they were supposed to do throughout the night just brought us all closer together,” he said. “Not everyone gets to experience something like that. Those who do, the people who you are with, the bond is forever. It's never going to be broken.”
Edwards agreed.
“You develop a bond with these guys that is going to be forever,” he said. “They all did the right things at the right times, stepping up. When you go through something like that together you develop a closeness. We’re scattered everywhere but at a moment’s notice I could call any one of those guys and say I need help, they would call the others and all be here. The same goes if any of them called me. It’s not out of anything more than we’ve been through something together.”
O’Brien said of the military medals and accolades he received for his actions that day, the most important one is the Afghan Star awarded by the Polish Army.
“All 16 members of the BEST mission received them,” he said. “I didn't really know the importance of it until Staff Sergeant Ollis’ family was presented one. This is a big deal.”
O’Brien said he hopes BEST A-11 is remembered in history for their accomplishments.
“We did what we needed to do,” he said. “We built an international bond that's forever. It’s solid and will never be broken. The international friendships that are there are phenomenal but knowing that we played a key part in the FOB Ghazni defense is all you can really ask for.”
Edwards said the events which happen during combat answer a lot of questions in any Soldier’s mind.
“Every soldier who hasn’t experienced actual combat has questions which always sits in the back of their mind. We all ask ourselves am I the guy? Would I step up whenever needed?,” he said. “What happened that day answered in my mind of who I am and if I’m the Soldier who would step up whenever it’s needed,” he said. “It changed my outlook a lot on things after I got home about what's important. There’s a lot of things people think are important but when you experience something like that, you realize what is truly important.”
Edwards said he is thankful for the experience.
“As bad as it sounds, I'm thankful for the experience,” he said. “I'm thankful I had the chance to be the guy who was at the breach to help do the little bit I did. I’m fortunate in so many ways. I came home unscathed and mostly undamaged.”
Lawson said one of the first things following the initial blast which ran through his mind was training works.
“I know I probably had a concussion, but there was stuff to do,” he said. “I automatically was doing it without even thinking about it. The other thing is I was proud of our leadership. General Sokolowski and Sergeant Major Edwards led from the front resulting in the general’s injury. They say Soldiers do things no one else wants to do. You have dead insurgents on base. Someone has to pick them up. It’s up to the base Soldiers to take care of this.”
Lawson said one of his biggest challenges following the attack was keeping Soldiers’ minds on the mission.
“Keeping the team together, not distracted, because you don’t know what is going to happen any given day,” he said. “We would have a team huddle every Sunday. You had to stay in your team’s heads and you had to be able to maintain a brotherhood where you could tease each other but also make behavioral corrections.”
Lawson said he needed accountability of the team after the initial blast.
“You have to know where all your people are,” he said. “Some people can get this information quickly, some can’t. If you’re at the gym and you’re attacked, you go find cover. They’re not getting out of that cover until the all clear is given. We’re not going to give an all clear until the base is clear. You then had to go find people. Accountability was my first order of business.”
Lawson said accountability was a challenge because of the dynamic of the team.
“The team is organized for all of them to be independent,” Lawson said. “They’re one deep so not necessarily out as a buddy team. They're out handling their business, so they’re all over the base. We had accountability on all but one of the Soldiers. I’m out back talking to the sergeant major and I hear someone say ‘sir’. I look up and he’s in a fighting position on top of the roof. He said I figured I needed to get a fighting position so he just picked it. It took us a couple of hours to find him.”
Lawson said he’s proud of the heroic actions taken by the team that day.
“Sergeant Major Edwards responded to the suicide bombers without his M4 carbine,” Lawson said. “A Navy lieutenant also credits Sergeant Major Edwards for saving the lives of the people in his unit personally.”
Lawson also credits Chief Warrant Officer 3 Michael Clemens for running toward the gunfire.
“Chief Clemens, who was probably close to 60, ran to the gunfire as well with his weapon,” Lawson said.
He said the two Soldiers who most impressed him were Myers and Cox.
“The two I’m most impressed with were Tristan Myers and Marcus Cox. I think Tristan knew more Polish than Marcus, but when all this happened the TOC goes Polish immediately,” he said. “There’s no one speaking English so having to translate because the Polish didn’t want to take to explain it. Tristan and Marcus had a difficult time because everyone wanted information right then. Everything slowed down so much because of the language barrier.”
Lawson said he’s proud of the brotherhood formed as a result of the deployment.
“I’m proud of the pre-mobilization training because I can look back and say we made some strong connections during that time with our Polish counterparts,” he said. “During, and after, the attack, everyone got in where they fit and were doing things they weren’t asked to do. They were willing to risk their own life to do this. You can’t not get emotional about it. You have all these people who when it came time to do your very best in the most stressful of situations just got it and did it. We laughed. We cried. I couldn’t have been blessed with a better team.” Lawson makes it a point to stay connected with the members of the team.
Myers said he sought out serving on the BEST mission.
Myers said as an intelligence officer, he thought he would be assigned to the intelligence shop, and get to have a really cool experience working with Polish intelligence section.
Myers said during training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Sokolowski selected him to serve as the battle captain.
“Being a battle captain in the operations world, but having an intel background, I always looked at things with intel shaded glasses,” he said. “There was always talk of this grand attack that was going to happen on FOB Ghazni. FOB Ghazni was a very high profile target. We didn't just take it with a grain of salt, but there was so much noise we did the best we could with the intel that we had. With all of my intel training I've had, there's always this joke of when the talking stops, when the noise stops and things get quiet, that's when the attack is going to happen. I won't say that was the exact case in this instance, because even that morning we had reports of attacks coming. It's one of my one of my regrets as an intel officer, I couldn't see it coming. That's been my entire job as a commissioned officer.”
Myers said even after 13 years, the team gets together as much as possible.
“I’m one of the younger guys on the team,” he said. “I’ve got younger kids so I haven’t been able to attend as much as I would like. But even without the attack, just because of the things we experienced as a team, it was a huge bonding experience anyway. Those are relationships that are going to last for a lifetime. When we get together, we have a good time. We have a few drinks to celebrate our brotherhood, the good times and sometimes the hard times.”
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