From the beginning, Wurzbach didn’t like the mission. Too many obstacles. Fighting uphill. Landing in a valley. It felt all wrong, and had the potential to be a “really bad day.”
Now, pinned down as he was by heavy enemy fire on a hill, his dire feeling was looking like a prophecy. We’re never going to get out of here, he thought. He hoped he was wrong. But with everything that had already gone awry from the time they jumped off the helicopter, he wasn’t sure.
First, when the Chinook pitched forward, Wurzbach fell out of the bird and almost landed on his head. After scanning the landscape, he saw that the intelligence was all wrong. They said the weather was “quite pleasant” in the valley. It was icy and cold. They said the wadi was dry. But they ran into a river and Wurzbach had to wade through the water to get to the other side. And when they got to their positions, the satellite imagery was inaccurate. All bullshit, he thought.
His team had to find a new route to get to their blocking position. That was critical. A blocking position denies the enemy access to a given area or prevents the enemy’s advance in a given direction. Essentially, Wurzbach’s team would have to seal off the valley and protect the rest of the unit. But first, they had to find a way to get in position.
When a pilot reported that he had glimpsed a path that led up into the northeastern part of the canyon, they took it. They humped up that route until Wurzbach could no longer see the assault team. At that point, he began moving his team, which included his interpreter, Noodles, and several commandos, into position.
His goal was to get his team to higher ground, where they would be midline or above the village. That way they would have a clear vantage point. So if something happened—a firefight erupted—his men would be shooting on a more even plane, rather than shooting up. It would enable them to see better in general—a critical factor for a blocking team.
Wurzbach pushed forward about three hundred meters and found a patch of rocky ground. It wasn’t perfect, but at least his team would be able to cover the assault team and help close off the valley during the operation. Just as he was ready to radio the assault team to tell them he was in position, dirt kicked up around him.
“Did anybody see that?” he asked his men.
They all looked at Wurzbach like he was crazy. Nothing.
Wurzbach grew uncomfortable with the location. He glanced up and tried to decide whether to move up to even higher ground. Before he had a chance to make up his mind, he noticed more dirt flying up—and he realized what was happening.
“They’re fucking shooting at us,” he shouted.
“I know. I’ve only been saying that for ten minutes,” Noodles said to him
“Why didn’t you say it to me?” Wurzbach asked.
“The commandos thought I was being a girl.”
He was stunned. What the fuck? he thought. “I don’t care what they think. I’m the fuckin’ one you have to talk to.”
Wurzbach ordered everyone to take cover behind a shoulder-high rock wall. It wasn’t great, but it was better than being out in the open. Wurzbach crouched and scanned the terrain. He could see people up in the village about six hundred meters away. But they quickly disappeared in a building. One man was carrying a backpack with part of a warhead sticking out—a telltale sign he was carrying an RPG. Wurzbach pulled the trigger of his M4. He was unsure whether he hit him. Without warning, other men began running between buildings. He opened fire on them. Again, he wasn’t sure if he hit anyone.
Wurzbach turned and stared at his team: Noodles and three commandos. Another member of his team, Staff Sergeant Dan Plants, was set up about two hundred meters down the canyon by a big tree. His job was to cover Wurzbach’s team, to make sure nobody could sneak up on them.
Sitting behind the rock wall, Wurzbach radioed the assault team. He told them what happened and that the HIG fighters had disappeared in the buildings and rocks.
But then more rounds began impacting the dirt surrounding his position. At one point, the bullets landed inches in front of him, and the dirt and rocks kicked up in his face. Wurzbach was irritated. I have to move to a better position where I can scan and try to find them, see where they are shooting from. He didn’t see any muzzle flashes. Wurzbach pushed forward to a spot where the canyon dropped down, and found a broken-down goat shed. He crawled into it and used it for cover. His eyes scanned the compound, trying to figure out from where they were shooting. “Where the fuck are they?” he asked. He stayed there for several minutes. When he crawled out, he heard gunfire reverberating in the valley.
Wurzbach sprinted to a small tree at the apex of the rock wall that he had been using for cover, and then turned his attention back to the compound. That’s when he discovered what appeared to be a bunker complex—with at least three different openings for firing ports. He kept his eyes on the target, trying to identify muzzle flashes coming from the openings. Wurzbach also was scanning the village itself, staring into the dark windows and doors to see if he could see something. But whoever was there, they were on their game.
He could tell from the radio traffic that his friends were in trouble. Behr and Morales were wounded. He heard Walton’s voice frantically telling commanders they were stuck. They had nowhere to maneuver. Wurzbach was pinned, too. Plus, he couldn’t just abandon his position. With no way to reach his teammates, the only thing he could do was wait.