Wisdom became consumed with the report. He wanted to know every last detail. For example, the role of joint tactical air controllers (JTACs) is critical in any battle. They are the pilot’s eyes on the ground, leading them to targets and, in many cases, away from civilians. But Walton had an inexperienced JTAC on his team. And when the shooting started, they had to turn to the JTAC on ODA 3312, Robert Guttierez, to help call in the danger-close strikes.
As Wisdom examined the course of the battle, he discovered other mistakes: The command structure, for example, had downplayed the intelligence. Walton, the mission’s ground force commander, was too close to the front lines.
It was a case where you had one ground force commander leading three ODAs, and you had two-thirds of an Afghan commando company spread out over four locations, over extremely rough terrain. How do you maintain command and control? Walton was leading the charge. And when the ambush occurred, he found himself immediately cut off. He became, for the most part, combat ineffective. He had to rely on the radio, and that’s not something you want to have to do in that type of terrain.
Finally, Wisdom completed a draft of the report, which detailed every aspect of the mission. What went right? What went wrong and how had they avoided a complete disaster? Luck played a major role.
Then he presented his findings to his deputy commander.
“Tell me what really happened?” the man asked.
It was an open invitation to be candid, and Wisdom took advantage of it. The deputy commander listened intently as Wisdom spent an hour talking about the mission. He noted the lack of enthusiasm the soldiers had felt about the operational soundness of the mission.
“Well, when things finally get to our level, they have been so sanitized, so whitewashed, we often don’t know really what happened,” the commander said.
He added that the operation had come across as a huge success. Wisdom was shocked. “The team didn’t get the objective of the operation,” he told the commander. The deputy commander told Wisdom that while they didn’t catch the bad guy, they “disrupted the enemy.” He took a deep breath. “You’re not going to change the report, right?”
Wisdom was worried. He knew that the soldiers were pretty upset and some had expressed concern that he was going to whitewash the mission.
The deputy commander looked Wisdom in the eye and said, “Write it up. Warts and all.”
And that was what Wisdom did.