All language subtitles for Fighting Season s01e05 The Hunt for Arctic Fox

Previously on The Fighting Season.

These elections are big. These elections
cannot fail.

Kabul is defended by a series of
checkpoints that are called the Ring of

designed to keep suicide bombers away.
In the previous few weeks, there have

been eight magnetic bomb attacks.

This is a hard blow to the security of
Kabul.

We should expect enemy activity to
increase.

Something will happen.

The movement of lethal aid in
Afghanistan is critically important for

fighting season.

Arctic Fox's role is to oversee the
supply -resupply process that runs

his province.

We invaded Afghanistan, and some of the
guys that we're chasing around the

battlefield now were three or four when
the invasion occurred.

And the thing is, you're never going to
win a counterinsurgency through

brutality. You're just going to face
generation after generation of new

insurgents until you correct the
political, social, and economic

allow an insurgency to exist.

As people get educated, they realize,
hey, wait a minute, I do have a voice, I

have a vote. And being able to do that,
to cast that vote instead of throw that

grenade, is going a long way with these
people.

And they want what we want. They want
their children to have the ability to go

to school without fear of death or their
fingers being cut off because they

voted. We are going to hunt down and
destroy the elements that threaten

Afghanistan.

and this nation government and the
Afghan soldiers.

We are also going to protect the people.

When Americans go to war, we're not
contract killers. We are going to help.

are going to build schools. We're going
to build roads. We're going to assist

them with the medical clinics. We are
going to help the folks who need it the

most.

At Forward Operating Base Sweeney,
Lieutenant Colonel Larson, Commander of

White Devils, and Major Will Kanda, his
operations officer, review the status of

their mission to capture or neutralize
the Taliban leader codename Arctic Fox.

The first air assault effectively
flushed a pretty big Taliban player in

Garang Valley.

And so Arctic Fox...

We're pretty sure it's there. And, you
know, that's a pretty significant

And certainly the benefits of capturing,
you know, or neutralizing Arctic Fox is

big for the campaign. And it's big for R
.C. South. So we'd go in and raid that

target and get Arctic Fox off the
battlefield.

The White Devils plan a combined
operation with the Afghan National Army

conduct a cordon and search of SOCSI for
weapons, insurgents, and Arctic Fox.

He's the main facilitator.

He's also an attack coordinator, but
really what he does is he facilitates

movement of Lethal Wade through the
Grand Valley down further south.

The way we're going to execute this
operation is we're going to isolate a

village where one of the C2 or the
facilitators of that Lethal Wade lives

take him out of the equation.

All right, everybody's got to be sharp
on this, okay? We're using multiple HLCs

to infill and multiple HLCs to exfill.

Accountability of all personnel is key.

First platoon, you'll isolate to the
northeast with your attached ANA. Second

platoon, you'll isolate to the
northwest.

And third platoon, you'll isolate to the
south.

Battalion mortars and company mortars,
you'll establish more fire points just

south of HLV and support the company.

We'll be in there at 03 in the morning.
We're not leaving until 2200 at night.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. We should
have already been doing it.

The White Devils plan the operation, but
the Afghan National Army will be the

ones on point to search the village.

We'll take in 60 ANZAP, ANA Army guys.

We'll isolate the objective so they
can't get off of it. And then the ANA

go in and clear the village and go to
the compounds of interest, trying to

locate the guy.

Where we're going to be setting up,
there's a road that's curved.

The platoon leaders brief the operations
order in exact detail so that the

troops can effectively rehearse the
mission with their Afghan counterparts.

Ramps down, go.

Those rehearsals, that's your bread and
butter right there.

Is it okay with you if I just put two of
your guys at each position?

Because we'll have, like, different
spots around.

You know what I'm saying? They'll be
spaced out. No problem.

Speaking.

You speak English? Very good, my friend.

Working with them, establishing that
rapport, that relationship, is going to

off when you get on the ground.

I can't wait.

It's going to be great.

And as night falls, final preparations
get underway.

Wheels up at 0250.

So really what the company's going
through is final PCIs, PCCs.

Squad leaders are checking them in,
making sure weapons, everything's good,

have everything we need.

Me, personally, I review the plan.

I make sure everything is synchronized.
I do back briefs with my platoon leader,

go around and talk to squad leaders,
make sure everybody feels comfortable

it, everybody knows the plan.

And it's really making sure all our
assets are tied in together.

I got every fucking thing possible.

Do you have bubble gum?

Actually, no, I don't have bubble gum.

Do you have cigarettes?

That's good for you, though. At least
you brought that for your lungs.

What keeps me not acting like an idiot?

Seven beers.

Damn it, I keep thinking about drinking.

I want a barbecue right now.

Want a barbecue?

Drinking, food, stuffed jalapenos.

Tell them it's my birthday.

Boy, yesterday.

What was it?

19.

That's right. We're doing it on me.

Right here, sir.

All right, let's do it.

You get them on helicopters going into
an objective under the hours of

it's something magnificent to see.

and what those guys do and how they
orchestrate it and execute it.

It's phenomenal.

We got on the helicopters around 2, and
we flew in to our HLZ, which is always a

little scary because you don't know
whether they're going to shoot an RPG at

when you're coming in.

I'm going to be right behind you guys.

You know, you land somewhere and you
step off, the Taliban get a vote.

So no matter what kind of plan you have,
it could go to complete shit.

And, you know, you've got to be able to
fight the fight and not fight the plan.

First one, let's go.

To isolate the village of Soxhai so the
ANA can capture Arctic Fox, Charlie

Company must quickly reach their
positions before the Taliban can flee.

Jamshad, hey, can you guys get up in
front of my guy up there? Okay. So you

pick him up and then move up to him.

We put the ANA up front because it's
their fight now. They're supposed to

it every time, and we just directed them
to exactly where we needed to go.

First platoon reaches their battle
position and settles in. We're just

put your team and the gun one over here.
We're going to have gun one over on

this side of the road that I'm on right
now, and then we keep the rest of the

platoon on the other side.

We got to our location, and then we
found a rundown compound, basically,

could use for cover.

which was big because we were expecting
to just be completely wide open.

We're going to clear all these little
broken down walls so we can use them as

fucking cover.

Taliban always think of places the
Americans might use to fight, so that

definitely a spot that they could have
potentially booby -trapped.

Good? All right.

But as soon as one Taliban threat is
eliminated, another appears.

That building they just lazed, there's
four to five individuals cycling to a

ladder, and they just keep coming over
the ladder. They're watching us.

Okay.

EW has confirmed 10 packs in the
compound that was lazed earlier,

of our location.

You can see them moving and shit? Yeah,
I see them.

You guys are seeing them coming through.

They're walking around on the roof.

All right.

We got eyes on.

There's males in the compound, and it
looks like there's three guys sitting on

the roof.

None of the rest are just consolidated
around that motor.

Roger. Stand by.

Roger.

Do you see any weapons or anything?
Probably not.

No.

Hey, check it out.

Apparently, EW has already picked up
calls from them, and they're instructed

whoever their fucking leader is to not
move from their location until they hear

the F -16s leave, so... Okay. We started
picking up their ICOM chatter, and it

was tense. You can just tell that...

Same as it's going to be today. It was a
good day to fight.

They're not trying to draw any
attention, but they do know where all

locations are.

All right.

We're about to lose birds, too.

Fuck.

Did you hear that?

Oh.

Mic check.

Mic check.

It's not prayer time. They already did
prayer.

That's not the prayer time. I wish we
had a terp.

That's not a prayer call.

Yeah, no, I want to talk to the ANA, see
what the fuck's going on.

Good or bad?

What is that?

Is that good or bad?

It's good?

It's fun?

Prayers at 3 .30 and 5 .30, right?

No Taliban?

No,

no, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That was prayer, but there's Taliban in
there.

Okay, it is a time.

Lots of Taliban in there.

Adams conducts final coordination with
the ANA forces before they push into the

village.

We're just looking for weapons, IDs,
radios, anything that facilitates their

communications as a commander or a squad
leader or a platoon leader.

You have to think about what the enemy's
going to do and how you're going to

react to it when it happens.

We'll be here if you need this. We'll be
here if you need this. Good.

Yeah.

Let's go. Break it down.

Friendly forces will be holding back.

Yeah.

Commander pointed the ANA in the
direction they needed to go into the

They went into the village, and then the
commander came and linked up with us.

Put EOD over here with these guys.

Okay.

And then I'll put the JTAC and all these
guys over here in the room until they

have some cover to set up TACFAB and
everything.

Okay, roger.

So we got set in, and once we started
getting set in, I just looked at where

were at, and it was bad juju, man. We
were between two villages.

Once daylight broke, we found a berm, so
there was some cover there.

While the Afghan forces clear the
village, the White Devils wait and

Today we're under a threat of a complex
attack throughout the day.

In Kabul, Colonel John Graham and his
team advise and support the Afghan

National Police in their effort to keep
the city safe for the elections, now

just three days away.

This country has been at war for 35
years.

Every child in this country to adult has
been in nothing but a state of war.

And now they know when this vote
happens, they've chosen the path, the

they will go in a peaceful transition.

Each of these candidates represents
different tribes.

Each of these candidates have different
support from different parts of the

country and different ethnic groups.

As we're going into these elections,
we're only a couple of days out.

The belief is that the enemy is trying
harder and harder to get in. They've not

been very successful.

They've tried a lot of things.

but they've not been able to get through
the Afghan defences. But as we get now

to the last few days, the expectation is
that they will take increased risk on

their side to get through, into Kabul,
to make that catastrophic attack that

will stop the elections.

This is a challenge for Zahir. His job
is to oversee a secure election.

Many folks think that all the attacks on
Kabul come from outside Kabul to the

inside. What we don't always account for
is the number of bad guys, the number

of insurgents that now live inside the
city.

This is a significant threat because
what can happen is a checkpoint is

out. but the bad guys are behind them.

Last night an alert came in that there
was some type of a threat at KMPC, the

Army headquarters.

There was no additional information
other than there was a threat of some

but the roads parallel to that base was
black, which means we can't travel on

that.

A massive explosion rocks the street
outside the Ariana Hotel.

General Zahir's quick reaction force is
the first unit to respond.

It's an assassination attempt on
Abdullah Abdullah, a presidential

Across the city at Camp Phoenix, task
force volunteer raises their alert

to become a quick reaction force for U
.S. and coalition forces.

Okay, we got to go.

Initial report of an explosion in a
hotel.

It hit Abdullah Abdullah's convoy.

It was big.

If they got him, this country will
fucking light the fuck up.

Outside of Soxhai, three platoons from
Charlie Company await word from their

Afghan counterparts, who have advanced
into the village to capture or kill

Arctic Fox.

Be advised, the ANA are in the village
at this time. I'll copy it. The whole

purpose of this mission is to find a
high -value target that we're expecting

be in the area. We're going to do that
by setting up security outside of the

village we expect them to be in.

We'll have the ANA push through and
clear the village.

Any Taliban in the village attempting to
flee the ANA will find U .S. forces

waiting for them.

They're setting up the TCP now, right
here. Right here on this corner, roger.

shut down that main avenue of approach
once they're set in.

Then I'll send your guys out and you can
pick them and set up where to pull

security from. Okay.

So if anybody gets pushed out of the
village, they're either going to go

or south through the green zone.

and travel down these roads.

You'll be right here with us. This is
where we're going to interdict him.

White double nine one, white double nine
one, convict six Romeo, radio check,

over.

Yeah, he said I have you live and clear.

One of my biggest pet peeves is
communication.

You have to be able to talk, you know,
and what happens if we take contact and

boom, you don't have comms anymore. I
mean, nobody knows where you're at,

knows what's going on, you know, I mean,
you have to be able to talk.

You should try a different hand mic,
too.

It's not the hand mic.

I don't know. The Italian would suggest
trying the hand mic. It's not the

fucking hand mic. I can talk to
everybody else. It's fine.

White 991, convict 6 Romeo, radio check,
over.

Being in my RKO is never an easy job.

Roger, I acknowledge that you guys can
hear everything 6 Romeo is passing, but

we still can't hear you.

Oh, God.

It was other people.

We found out later. It wasn't our side.
We were able to talk to everybody.

It was somebody on the other end.

If I can't talk to the platoons, or I
can't talk back to the battalion, you

know, my RTO is the guy.

That pays the price.

It certainly wasn't me. Right, it's
always somebody else.

It fucking is.

I just blame your generation for that
bullshit.

Go for it, sir. Fucking millennials,
man.

Never take responsibility, always
looking for the out. I gave him a hard

just to mess with him.

As the daylight increases, so does the
Taliban radio chatter.

536, over. Our ANA forces report of
arming a remote IED, over.

Roger. They're sending out personnel to
arm IEDs that are in place.

If it's anything outside of the village,
we'll be able to see it.

So the only thing I can imagine is
they're trying to arm something inside

village. Over.

But IEDs are not the only threat
revealed by the constant radio chatter.

9 -1. The LLVI is picking up chatter
that they're trying to get more fighters

into the village.

Reinforcements will come via Kerez
system. Over.

A Kerez is basically just an irrigation
tunnel.

So you'll have a bunch of Kerez holes.
It leads the water underneath into more

of an irrigation process.

Kerez systems are vital agricultural
infrastructure, so coalition forces

never get clearance to destroy a Kerez
system, even if the Taliban exploit the

underground tunnels to move fighters and
weapons.

Hey, one element, this is one six.

Their plan is to use wells and caresses,
so keep an eye on any caresses in our

area.

Like that one right there?

Yeah. That would be fucking hilarious.

That's fucking bottomless.

They use these caresses to traffic
lethal aid, fighters, weapons.

Some of them you actually get into and
ride motorcycles in, but...

Some of them are hundreds of feet deep,
like that one there.

Yeah, they're not using that for shit.

It's an old well.

But back at Fab Sweeney, the White
Devils have eyes on a different Perez,

with visible activity.

Hey, that's it, man.

Hey, can we, like, post that directly in
front of the screen, please?

What is that?

We need Onlook to ID that.

Right now, the initial report is saying
it's a possible communication device.

No, the thing that he just dropped at
his feet?

That was definitely... And now he's
wrapped in a shawl.

Okay.

The fact that what they pulled out of
the Kerez system was clearly identified

a prestige weapon system immediately
clues me into the fact that he has the

potential to act against our troops.

A prestige weapon system like an RPG is
relatively scarce, highly lethal, and de

facto proof of hostile intent.

First thing that we have to do is
identify what it is that we think his

is, where he's going, what kind of
actions that he's showing.

While the operations center tracks the
enemy on screen, the members of 1st

Platoon improve their position.

There's some villages around the target
village that are known to have some

Taliban guys in them too.

My platoon will be in between that
village and then the other village we're

expecting the enemy to be in.

So we kind of have some risk being in
that spot. But my biggest concern is the

safety of my dudes.

There's nothing worse than, you know,
the potential of losing your guys.

Hey, sir, you see that tall, the tallest
building in the village?

Yeah.

There's been a dude popping up in all
black.

There's two of them. There's two of them
now. On the right side of the tallest

part of the building.

They've been popping up and down.

On the south side of the village, the A
&A have current intel for 3rd Platoon.

They're using this wadi to go up, right?

Sit rep to report.

Our ANA forces have discovered the
Taliban are using phase line cluster and

wadi system to move from the village
right north of us over.

They come here, they come here.

That's the best way I can put it.

Okay.

We're ready, so that's all that matters.

You know,

we started hearing the traffic of, we
don't care how many there are. Go out

there and God be with you. So we knew,
it's game time, let's go.

They don't know how deep we are. They
might think it's like fucking ten dudes

here and ten dudes there.

Yeah, they don't know.

They're about to get fucked up. Yeah,
they don't know. They don't know how bad

their day's about to be.

But there is surprising news from the A
&A in Soxside Village. There's no man

inside of the village. Just there's two
guys, and all of the others, they're

women, and there's no male. What
happened to them reinforcing Soxside?

You know, that's how they, like, disrupt
our operations, right?

They know we listen.

So they just say random bullshit on
there to disrupt us, what we're doing.

That's their way of disrupting us.

Like the other day when they straight up
said we have stinger missiles.

Fucking really?

I have a fucking battleship back at
fucking CAF.

Sometimes this shit happens, sometimes
it doesn't.

The fire isn't coming from the village.

It's coming from an orchard behind First
Platoon.

The first thing that went through my
mind was, well, this is real. And I just

had to figure out exactly where I need
to be to control the fight.

Hey,

look for movement.

Yeah, they were impacting really close
to us. So, like, damn, this is the act

fire.

2 -6, Convict 6. White Devil 3, Convict
6.

Attention to the top. We're taking
contact now. There are two 6 -elements

contact from the green zone to the
northwest.

We're taking machine gun fire north of
our location.

This is Holes Brown.

Rogers.

An attack on Dr. Abdullah has destroyed
his convoy, and the presidential

candidate's fate is unknown.

Colonel

Graham and

his team are on the streets of Kabul
when they get the news.

So the decals are just coming in. What
we understand is that Abdullah is the

target. And the explosion happened on
his event happening at the Ariana Hotel.

Absolute huge attack right in the middle
of the city.

They got an IED vehicle and a suicide
vest to get through the checkpoints.

Actually, this checkpoint we're passing
through right now.

Look at this.

Shit, they're even looking the other
way.

This is significant because this is the
innermost part of the city.

This is the part of the city that
nothing should be able to ever get to.

But now we've had an attack on a
presidential candidate inside the center

city. We don't know if he's okay.

What we do know is that if he's killed,
this election is done. By Constitution,

they have to start over.

This is a big deal.

The candidates, Abdullah and Ghani,
represent different ethnic groups.

If Dr.

Abdullah has been assassinated,
Afghanistan could erupt into a civil

destroying everything the coalition
forces have fought for.

Across Kabul at Camp Phoenix, the
leaders of Task Force Volunteer are

the attack.

They're a quick response force, but only
for coalition casualties or if their

help is requested by the Kabul police.

Push out of Warno, explosion at Ariana
Hotel.

They hit Abdul Abdul's convoy. They
initially reported two magnetic IEDs,

we're thinking it's actually a VBID. It
was pretty huge.

So it could be a mass cow situation?

If they actually got him, it will be
huge implications for this country.

He's dead.

It's about to get rid of him. Yeah.

Are we going?

Once we start getting casualty estimates
and if there is any Westerners

involved, we'll most likely roll.

Do you want him to stay there?

No, just give him a Warno, kind of
Raycon 2 right now.

Listen up.

We're in an election window right now,
all right?

Do not get complacent.

This is when things start to pick up.

I'm not going to get too far ahead here,
but we had a guy downtown.

Keep this in mind.

Everybody stays as sharp as you have
from day one.

Just bring the kit down, lock the trucks
up, leave your gear out here.

Everybody copy?

They have not been called out, but task
force volunteers prepare to leave at a

moment's notice.

On the other side of the city, Graham
and his team have received intel of

another potential attack.

PD -5 has an active threat. It's a
suicide vest looking for a target in PD

Police District 5 is where all the
schoolhouses are for the Army, for the

police, for the military academy.

Potentially what this suicide vest is
looking for is a student population to

blow itself up on.

They're looking for a soft target of a
lot of people.

They're looking for a crowd.

opportunity yeah so far uh so far so
good though i haven't seen uh when we

about sketchy behavior what we're really
looking for is there somebody that's

obviously surveilling us or is there
somebody that is just providing a lot of

scrutiny to us whether it's not natural
or normal the threats are

higher than the first election

This time, Pakistan has emptied the
madrasas. That is, they've shut down

schools that train kids in what we
consider radical Islam. The purpose that

put to that is that it's to release
those kids that want to be suicide

to come back to Afghanistan to unleash
on the Afghan security forces that are

trying to conduct the elections.

And according to the intelligence that's
working, we've got a lot.

Two hours after the attack destroyed Dr.
Abdullah's convoy, task force volunteer

remains on standby.

Scary thing for me was, if you see the
pictures, it was a big -ass fucking

Hundreds of pounds.

Probably. What do you think the odds are
we're going to roll?

If Abdullah Abdullah is hurt or dead,
it's going to be about a 24 -hour grace

period where everybody tries to figure
out what's going on.

Constitutionally, the election, let's
put, if he falls back, the cars die and

they start all over again.

That's convenient.

Isn't that interesting?

Because Abul Abul is the guy who almost
beat Tarzai last time. I think it would

be imperative for him to get on TV
immediately and say, hey, I'm alive.

Yes.

There's been a little lull in the fire
that we've been taking. Outside Sox Eye

Village, Captain Adams takes advantage
of a break in the firefight to update

white devil talk.

I'll give you a sit rep over here.

Roger, standing by.

It's fucking stupid.

They were just fucking lobbing rounds,
man. It's just in our direction, though.

Well, at least my 240 gunners are a
little lighter now for the walkout.

Everybody went down.

Instantaneous, the 240 gunners just
started returning fire.

Just land lead all over the wood line.

He was rocking that thing.

It's a little scary because when you're
on the machine gun, everybody can sit

down on the hole and pop up and fire up
a couple rounds, but I have to be on the

gun at all times, so my head's up the
whole time.

I have to be seeing where the muzzle
flashes are coming from, and I have to

suppressing fire.

Without that gun, it cripples the
platoon.

I know at one point I sat back and kind
of laughed because it was just like the

rounds are tracking pretty close, and
you're just like, man, crazy.

My job is an FO, so I got to go up there
and call for fire.

The rounds are kicking up around, downed
it up, ran through, hopped in a hole.

All right, now you see where the fucking
herd of goat sheep are? I'm just trying

to identify where it was coming from,
but...

It blew my mind. Hey, that high ground
where that goat herder is, that's where

the fuck we're taking it from. Like
where that little fucking compound is

the trees?

The high ground, sir. See where the
green zone is? Yeah. Now come to the

of the fucking green zone. Okay. There's
the fucking, the highest high ground.

That's not on the ridge?

All right, got it. See it?

Yeah. You saw him fucking shooting from
that compound right there?

That's where the fuck we're taking it
from. All right. Because every time me

DeVoe pop up, they're cracking off at
us. All right.

Hey, tell them. No.

Hey, you call that in the mortar? Yeah.

Let's do it. 81.

We good on TDE?

Yeah, that area is all open. Okay, let's
go.

As a commander, I have to make sure the
conditions are set to take away the risk

or the tactical advantage to the enemy.

Guidance is, hold your ground, engage
the 81 -millimeter mortars, and use your

weapons to take them off the station.
Roger, I'm tracking.

Hey, get the fucking mortars going.
Let's go. Roger.

Just like, all right.

We'll go ahead and get a grid to that,
and we'll call it up.

Let's do 2 -8 -8 -0, 0 -9 -2 -0, 0 -9 -0
-5, with a direction of 5 -700.

I know.

2 -9 -4 -0 -1.

Roger, that was a good readback on grid.

Stand by for refinement.

You hear me?

So they're clearing air right now.

Roger. It's absolutely critical that we
make sure that the ground and the air

are clear of any friendly forces,
because even though you're shooting a

round that's maybe like the size of a 2
-liter bottle of soda, You're putting

that thing in the air, there's always a
risk of hitting an aircraft.

While

they

wait for the airspace to clear, one
Afghan soldier decides to make a stand.

Jamshik, he's the leader of the 10 ANA
that were working with us for the

mission. He carries an RPG with a
backpack full of like five more rounds,

was bragging to us beforehand about how
he killed five Taliban or something the

week before with his RPG.

What's he doing?

Uh -oh.

What is he doing?

He wants to shoot that fucking thing.

So we're in the middle of our firefight,
and all of a sudden we see Jamshid just

walking up like a boss.

He didn't give a fuck, dude. Not scared
of anything. Rounds coming around him,

like everyone else is down, you know,
behind cover.

And he's just walking up in the wide
open. Go get him, brother!

With his RPG over his shoulder.

He's gonna go fucking get up.

He just stands up, posts up, and starts
aiming at the green zone where we're

taking fire from.

Hey, A &M's gonna fire an RPG, just...

Because.

Oh, my. What the fuck?

Damn.

Damn.

Good shot.

American motherfucker.

Perfect.

You couldn't get a more perfect RPG shot
than he had. Here we go, Jim, shot.

Yeah, looking better.

Afterward, he had a huge smile on his
face, like, giving a thumbs up.

Everyone was, like, yelling for Jamshid.
He's like, oh, you Americans, just

laying in the dirt.

So he proved to be a boss, like he said
he was before the mission.

Hollywood!

Hollywood cinema!

Finish! One RPG, Taliban!

But that one RPG round isn't enough to
stop the attack.

Captain Adams finally received the long
-awaited clearance.

Clear to use mortars on the enemy,
Sergeant Letnam works the firing

How far do you think that green zone is?
17, sir.

1 -2, it's 1 -6. It's about 1 ,700 from
our location.

We got a grid yet? My favorite fire
mission is just a grid method.

0 -9 -5 -5.

It's quick, concise, and there's no way
you can screw it up. Long shot, this is

convict 9 -5.

I just gave him the distance and
direction.

2 -9 -er -1 -3.

And he refined it on the net, started
getting the rounds in.

No, I don't see it.

It's got to be fucking... Unobserved?

Yeah, unobserved.

There's no smoke at all.

Hey, Hall!

Hey, that's unobserved, man. I don't see
it.

The mortars are like 100 meters south of
the green zone break

Two Niner one three great nine five five
how copy

Guys

are pretty bald. They stuck

around with the mortar fire coming in.
They kept the fire coming We had called

for two more rounds.

Yeah, I see him. I see him. There was a
guy. He walked out of the tree line.

That guy was probably trying to stand up
to see what had happened, where that

had come from.

I made a pretty significant correction
back to the west.

I wanted to fix on that one guy.

Hold my ACOG up. I'm watching, watching,
watching.

The dude started to walk to his right,
our left, and then boom.

You know,

that's at least one.

that we can chalk up to the effects of
our fires if we're able to take him out

of the fight.

Fucking right.

That's one left guy that can harm one of
my friends.

If he's gone, he's off this earth, he
can't do no more harm.

In Kabul, police have confirmed that Dr.
Abdullah survived the assassination

attempt, and task force volunteer stands
down.

They told us they need absolutely no
coalition support.

Well, this could be a good thing. You
know, they're taking this big one

themselves now.

The attack on Abdullah Abdullah, I'm
sure everybody's heard about it.

Abdullah Abdullah, of course, made it,
but several of the PSD were killed.

This is our expectation of the AI right
now. The vast majority of conflict that

we think we're going to see is going to
be very similar to that.

People basically trying to improve their
own situation through violence, not

necessarily targeting us.

Dr. Abdullah finally appears in public.

The assassination attempt was
unsuccessful, but the attack was deadly.

20 civilians and security forces were
wounded and 12 were killed.

The enemy did not respect Zaheer when we
got here.

But I'll tell you that today, he
actually stood up and said, we can't

to continue to happen. We're going to
sort it out ourselves without...

Any coalition forces, General Zaheer is
positive, he's demanding, and he is

decisive.

What are the photos of the bomb?

The car that was hit.

Man.

Transmission. Transmission.

That guy was loaded down.

Yeah, that's a lot of damage. Eight feet
across with the... The blast?

The hole.

The hole.

Man.

Team is feeling a little bit angry and
also a little bit bummed.

The reason for this is this attack got
deep inside security, and that's caused

lot of concern.

Yeah, S -Beth, you ever seen it? S
-Beth, the head just popped straight up.

But the police are at the heart of this
thing.

General Zaheer stepped up as we found in
this incident.

They had everything organized.

Their top investigators went to work on
it. They figured out who the guy was,

where he was from, and they were
interviewing his family and everybody

looked out for him.

We're going to work hard to figure out
who was his controller.

Who is the person that put them up to
it? Who is the network behind this?

Because that's who we want.

Charlie Company Mortifier has created a
break in the firefight as the hunt for

the Taliban leader, codename Arctic Fox,
continues.

I think they were trying to kill me.

But if they catch their breath, there's
new intelligence in the tactical

operations center.

Right now, it looks like the enemy is
probably going to engage you from

locations. So you just need to be
patient and don't get sucked in.

Hey, hold your ground. Be prepared to be
engaged on multiple fronts.

They're getting intel that they're going
to try and smash on us on three sides,

so we'll keep you posted. Over.

Do you have movements on, Deval? No,
we're just pressing the cell. We're just

doing something.

All right. Yep.

Hey, man, you guys need to have that
mortar fire point.

I'm getting intel from ISR that they're
going to try and hit us on multiple

fronts.

Don't blow all your load on that ammo.

Hey, control the gun.

Dick says control the gun.

Watch this, too. Hey, watch this, too,
all right? If you get in a firefight and

people start pulling the trigger way too
much, then you don't have enough ammo

to continue fighting afterwards, so.

The NCOs did a good job of making sure
their dudes were conserving their ammo.

We're just suppressing the greens on
you. Hold what you got.

While 1st Platoon returns fire, 3rd
Platoon, kilometers away to the south of

Soxhi, can only watch and wait. 1st
Platoon and 2nd Platoon are reporting

contact from the orchards.

They're trying to adjust fire. They
don't know exactly where the fire is

from in the orchards. Orchards tend to
be big, as you can tell by these fields.

So it's kind of hard to pinpoint them
when they're underneath the cover.

Yeah.

Get down.

Klein, get your head down, bro. You're
scaring me.

Hey, we're taking contact from two
separate locations. The first location

green zone.

The second location is that compound.

Roger,

we're taking fire from the left. The
green zone to the left of the compound I

just described to you. Over.

Copy. Now you're taking contact.

Just confirm that's a different area
that you're taking contact from. Over.

So they are at 295097.

Hey, 2905 Grid Square, 5 personnel.

5 personnel atop the ridge line moving
back and forth.

We're trying to ID weapons right now.

Possible spotters on our positions and
locations.

They were determined to fight, to
distract us, to keep us out of that

So that's when our JTAC, Tom Meehan,
brought in the close air support.

Hey, Tom!

A JTAC, or Joint Terminal Attack
Officer, is the liaison between the Air

and the Army, who directs combat
aircraft engaged in close air support.

All right, she's tallying with those
walls up front and the orchard trees

behind it.

Okay. What do you want? You want them
gone?

Yeah. All right.

We use close air support to help the
commander achieve his objective for

whatever the mission is, and it really
depends on what he's looking for out of

me.

Close

air

support in this case is a B -1 bomber
known as Bone.

It's not just a clever name, B -1.

Bone.

Hey, let the RPAs know we're going to
drop.

White Devil 3, BSI, Bone will be on
station in about 13 minutes.

Great for Moss.

Make sure we have the same spot.

Shooting pop shots at us from the tree
line.

Engaged with 81mm mortar. Currently
right now on ground, JTAC is talking to

Bone. to get Bone talked on to
engagement area. First platoon holds

waiting for the B -1 bomber to arrive on
station.

Hey, Tom, is Bone on?

Yeah, they're on.

They want to get... I'm trying to talk
them on. They think they have it, but

they don't know for sure. I got to make
sure they bomb the right thing.

Yeah. So... That usually helps. Yeah.

Hey, can you give me ordinance they're
dropping?

Getting that now. We can fire a 60 from
marching round. Do you want to?

Yeah, we can.

Okay, let's do it.

Whenever you want it. Huh? Want it now?

Yeah. Let's do it.

Roger. Fire it. They're going to shoot a
marking round.

We shot one round of illumination that
burst on the ground. Hey, there it is.

And we used that to mark for the bomber
to come through and drop their bomb.

We just fired a 60 -millimeter round to
mark for bone.

You know, from the sky, it's hard for
them to tell what's on the ground. We

to kind of paint that picture for them,
us being the eyes on the ground. It was

awesome that in this situation we were
able to range it, we had the ammunition

for it, and we were able to do it.

to where we could coordinate with our
JTAC, Tom.

Recommending 2x38s, one per clump of
trees.

Got it.

2x38 is approved, one per clump of
trees.

What's a 38?

It's a big -ass bomb.

They have 38s, which are 500 -pound
bombs, and they're usually pretty

the pilots that they have.

They practice just as much as we do, so
their accuracy is usually pretty

reliable. Five minutes?

Yep, I'm pushing it, but they told me
five.

Three 500 -pounders, they're about to
level this shit.

Hey, Tom, they got target, right?

Copy. They got everything.

Confirmed through JTAC, on the ground,
with bone.

They have target identified.

Relocation. Over.

They're coming in in less than three
minutes. 432, Zombie 64, airspace is

Guns are told. I need you guys to come
in.

I don't see a fucking three -line burn.

They're coming in this way.

Probably won't see him, though.

I don't care. It's just a bird.

Oh, you'll pick bombs. Don't worry about
that.

Look right ahead.

They're getting ready to drop bombs.

Yeah, less than two minutes.

35 seconds.

1 -2 Alpha, 1 -3.

Oh,

there we go. Nice.

Looks like good effect.

The B -1 bomber put the bombs, like,
perfect in the little squares, and

when, you know, the fire stopped.

Birds came in, dropped three 500
-pounders on these fuckers.

Silenced them.

Bone drop, three rounds, 38.

Direct hit on enemy locations and
positions.

Yeah, that's fucking awesome, Tom.

Oh, yeah.

You're in that beret, brother.

That's what it's all about.

Man, this is all we do. This is all I
train for, so to be able to actually put

it into practice is priceless. I can't
even tell you how it feels.

That's what it's all about. That's what
I came over here for, man. That's what I

reclassed for.

That's what I came to Afghanistan for.
It was everything that I'd been training

for this past year and a half.

The bombs may have stopped the gunfire,
but enemy survivors are likely

regrouping for a renewed attack.

I would imagine them trying to exfil out
of that orchard in case that happens

again, and then fleeing to the door.

They're watching for them to exfil now,
the birds are.

Probably the Apaches will take care of
them as they're trying to run away.

But the Apaches report no movement,
which means the most dangerous part of

mission lies ahead, clearing the orchard
from which the White Devils took

contact. They've been able to track guys
with weapons and everything into like a

crevice, a crevice system, but they're
hiding from the Apaches.

We've confirmed that they do have
weapons systems that they've moved down

there, and basically they're just
waiting on us to advance on the village,

then they're going to open up on us.

From the green zone to try and keep us
out.

The contact's pretty likely, which is
the situation we're in exactly right

On the season finale of the fighting
season.

We had a crossover.

1 ,100 meters, just open ground.

I was expecting to get shot. The White
Devils come face to face.

with the Taliban.

I'm talking.

That guy wouldn't even look us in the
eye. You'll be looking for the talker,

huh? While in Kabul and across
Afghanistan.

Elite on checkpoints is where the
casualties happen.

They're sitting at the edge of the
battlefield.

The Taliban make their final push to
disrupt elections.

These elections cannot fail.

We've been here for 13 years just for
this moment.