Bouhammer's Military Blog

A blog about Military Issues, Afghanistan, and everything in between

Monthly Archives: April 2010

Combat Controller recognized for his bravery and valor

Whenever any service-member gets an award for valor, it is a pretty awesome thing. Medals for Valor are not something that are handed out easily. The Silver Star is one of those and as the 3rd highest medal for valor that is given, it is quite an honor to get one awarded.

There are many battles and great things have/are happened in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places in the world. Many of those great things never get recognized like they should. So this young man, Air Force Combat Controller, SSG Sean Harvell to get recognized and awarded a Silver Star is an impressive thing.

You know what is even more impressive? He was awarded TWO Silver Stars. That means he was in two separate enemy engagements that he performed with superb valor in while in Afghanistan. Not to mention he has a Purple Heart and at least two Bronze Stars already.

I don’t know all the details behind this young man and what he has done in his career, but I am sure it is awe-inspriring and probably contains the kind of details that movies are made about. A few details can be found over at www.afa.org/portraits%5C2008%5Cportrait_harvell.asp

In spring 2007, Staff Sergeant Sean Harvell, a Combat Controller, and his Special Forces team were the leading edge in the battle for control of the fiercely contested Helmand Province in Afghanistan. Months of intense fighting had taken a heavy toll on the team.
On July 25, 2007, the team was tasked to patrol several miles up the Helmand River valley, straight into a Taliban stronghold. The plan was to “move to contact,” a tactic designed to force the enemy to reveal their positions.

From the moment they rolled into the first village, Sergeant Harvell’s team came under heavy fire. The teams fought ferociously, killing dozens of enemy fighters at close range. As darkness fell, an AC-130 gunship notified Sergeant Harvell that the enemy had an elaborate series of trenches and bunkers surrounding his position. As the battle intensified, Harvell directed the gunship to decimate the enemy trench lines. The enemy made frantic attempts to reinforce using motorcycles and trucks. Throughout the night, Sergeant Harvell and his teammates eliminated the insurgents with small arms fire and grenades.

Dangerously low on ammunition, the team decided to make its way out and wait for additional air support. During their movement, enemy fire erupted from every direction. Once they made it back to their vehicles, Sergeant Harvell manned his Humvee’s heavy weapon to suppress the insurgents. At the same time, he coordinated air support. Minutes later, A-10s and an AC-130 gunship arrived and Sergeant Harvell directed precise, devastating attacks on the enemy positions.

You can read the whole story at www.komonews.com/news/local/92448524.html

Thanks to LL for the tip on this story.



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Afghanistan Shell Game?

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog posting (www.bouhammer.com/2010/04/us-forces-leave-afghanistans-korengal-valley/) about the US forces pulling out of Korengal Valley as part of GEN McChrystal’s directive to pull back from small, less-populated areas.

I even posted a series of pictures in a second posting that was related to the same topic at www.bouhammer.com/2010/04/2-12-infantry-leaves-korengal-valley/

Well now it seems that maybe it is just a Afghanistan shell game moving forces around the battlefield. Almost like robbing Achmed (Peter) to pay Shariz (Paul). There are reports coming out of Afghanistan now that are saying US Forces are pushing into brand new areas they have never been in or where forces have not been in a long time.

Nearly nine years into the Afghan war, many small valleys in mountainous eastern Afghanistan remain mostly off limits to NATO and Afghan troops. In their absence, smugglers, isolationists and religious extremists dominate. The U.S. Army recently launched a mission to re-establish a presence in one dangerous valley. These soldiers with the 503rd Infantry Regiment face a risky mission. They intend to drive deep into the Chowkay Valley in eastern Kunar province.

So now we will have to see if these new moves will be successful or executed poorly and deadly. Lets hope and pray for the first option. God Speed Paratroopers!



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Afghanistan Report making waves

There is a new report that has been released called “Report on Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan and United States Plan for Sustaining the Afghanistan National Security Forces” which is a report to Congress based on a requirement set by section 1231 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (Public Law 110-181).

I have a copy of the report and plan to read it over the next few days and then write up my feelings about it. However until then, many media outlets who can pay their people to read the report and write up their opinions have already starting putting up articles about it.

On the official mouthpiece website, defense.gov, you can see synopsis of the report in a “positive light”.

Stability in Afghanistan is no longer on the decline, and most Afghans believe that despite increased violence, security actually has improved since this time last year, according to a new report Pentagon officials sent to Congress today.

The congressionally mandated Report on Progress Toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan attributes the 87 percent increase in violence from February 2009 to March 2010 largely to increased U.S., coalition and Afghan national security force activity, particularly into areas where they previously had not operated.

www.defense.gov//news/newsarticle.aspx?id=58948

But if you head over to the Stars&Stripes website at www.stripes.com you can see a headline and their story that is not so “positive” in review of the report.

Despite the addition of more than 50,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan over the past year, there still aren’t enough forces to conduct operations in the majority of key areas, according to a congressionally mandated report released Wednesday on progress in Afghanistan.

Coalition forces have decided to focus their efforts on 121 key districts in Afghanistan, but right now, NATO has enough forces to operate in only 48 of those districts, the report said.
There are currently 86,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, up from about 30,000 when President Obama took office. By August, there will be 98,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

With the rest of the U.S. and foreign partner troops that will arrive in Afghanistan this year, coalition and Afghan security forces will be able to focus on all 121 districts “over coming months,” a senior Defense official said Wednesday, declining to be more specific.
The 150-page progress report said that Afghanistan’s deteriorating situation has leveled off, but violence still increased 87 percent between February 2009 and March 2010…

You can read the Stars and Stripes full article at www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=69668



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Scott Kesterson Action Figure

Anyone that has been reading this blog for a while knows that I am very close with Afghanistan documentary filmmaker, Scott Kesterson. In fact I had a chance to visit with Scott last week while he was back in the USA. We were able to meet up for a couple of hours in D.C.

I recently got this image from my buddy and fellow blogger, CJ Grisham and I just had to post it as the new Scott Kesterson Action Figure. This picture had me ROFLing that is for sure.



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Who reads Bouhammer? Apparently the Government does!

I got word of this weekly report a while back, but this is the first time I have seen it made public. It appears the folks over at Wired.com’s Danger Room have gotten a hold of several reports and they are now out on the web.

I am always flattered every day to see so many people reading this blog and I know there are many from within the military that do, however I did not realize that Bouhammer.com was monitored and reported on to all the leaders of the Army. I did find it interesting that in the three sample reports in the article, that Bouhammer.com was noted as balanced three times in one report and critical once in another.

I guess it shows that I call it like I see it and that this blog does not cater to anyone.

You can read the Wired.com story and see the reports by going to www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/04/actually-the-army-kind-of-likes-your-blog/

I keep an eye on who reads by blog and where they come from. You can see from the two graphs below that I get a fair amount of traffic from military and government networks. These graphs are just since midnight. In the 2nd graphic you will see that I have gotten 10% of the traffic today from military networks (.mil) and 5% from Government networks (.gov)


To the leaders in all the Services of our military, I hope you like what you read here. I invite you to comment on any posting or better yet, feel free to email me at admin@bouhammer.com and let me know if you would like to write a guest blog entry.



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YouServed.com has a great book and an iPad for you

My buddy Marcus over at YouServed.com has put together a great deal for the readers of our YouServed.com blog and the YouServed.com Radio show. If you have never checked it out, be sure and head over to www.youserved.com and from there you can link to the show archives too. In addition to the link to the show, you will find a linked ad to the You Served ebay auction store.

We get many guests on the YouServed Radio show that give and donate things to the show which we sell on the ebay store to raise money for the awesome charity of Soldier’s Angels. The auctions run Thursday-Thursday (because the radio show is on Thursday nights). Starting this Thursday Marcus has acquired the new book, Rage Company, A Marine’s Baptism by Fire (Amazon, Barnes & Noble) by Thomas Daly. In addition to getting this book if you win the auction, the publisher has also thrown in a BRAND NEW and much sought after iPad.

So the winning bidder, of the auction that starts on the 29th and will end on May 6th, will win not only this great new book but also a iPad. All in the name of Soldier’s Angels.

But you don’t have to wait until then to get some great stuff and help out Soldier’s Angels, because you can head over to the eBay Store now and bid on this week’s auctions. They are only gonna be up for 2 more days, so be sure and check out a brand new signed CD from Bridge of Sighs or a copy of the awesome book my Eric Blehm, “The only thing worth dying for”. I did a review of the book here on Bouhammer.com at www.bouhammer.com/2010/02/book-review-the-only-thing-worth-dying-for/. We also had Eric on the You Served Radio show on Feb. 12th, and you can listen to that interview at www.blogtalkradio.com/show.aspx?userurl=youserved&year=2010&month=02&day=12&url=episode-75.



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