Chapter 25: Rangers Step Up in Afghanistan

1 After Operation … new president. A senior JSOC officer; a senior Team 6 officer.

2 … Corporal Pat Tillman … The Army promoted Tillman from specialist to corporal posthumously.

3 … knew immediately … Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, by Jon Krakauer (New York: Doubleday, 2009), p. 277.

4 Around 2005 … military skills. Two senior Team 6 sources; a special operations source familiar with the Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams; No Easy Day, p. 67.

5 During the decade’s … chain of command. Several task force sources.… Niland II … Niland, California, is home to a SEAL training facility.

6 Even with … aircraft. Two senior Team 6 sources; a military intelligence source.

7 In 2008 … 1,000 people. Top Secret America, p. 251.

8 “… our actions were…” Top Secret America, p. 229.

9 Despite the vastly … platoon to Afghanistan. A Team 6 source.

10 Team 6 … whenever possible. No Easy Day, pp. 137, 168; Team 6 sources.

11 No JSOC … “grooming standards.” Ranger sources.

12 Several factors … and Yemen. A senior Team 6 source.

13 By mid-2009 … “least important.” Ranger sources.… shut down their entire networks … “Taliban Cut Cellphone Service in Helmand,” by Ray Rivera and Sangar Rahimi, from The New York Times’s “At War” blog, March 24, 2011, accessed at: http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/taliban-cuts-cellphone-service-in-helmand/.… on his twelfth combat deployment … “Frederick Army Ranger Killed in Afghanistan,” by Megan Eckstein, The Frederick News-Post (Maryland), October 5, 2010, accessed at: http://www.fredericknewspost.com/archive/article_fdf2922a-9548-52a0-85e5-de940165f1cc.html?mode=jqm.

14 (The ISAF … JSOC operations.) A military public affairs officer.

15 In the most notorious … of the event. Dirty Wars, pp. 334–47.… Rangers … A JSOC source.

16 … tremendously unpopular … A senior Team 6 source; No Easy Day, p. 141.

17 Two years … the engineer. “Exclusive: Inside a U.S. Hostage Rescue Mission,” by Sean D. Naylor, Navy Times, November 7, 2008, accessed at: http://www.navytimes.com/article/20081107/NEWS/811070315/Exclusive-Inside-U-S-hostage-rescue-mission; a senior Team 6 source.

18 The Norgrove mission fell … into the new squadron. A senior Team 6 source.

19 Unlike … to the ground. A 160th SOAR source; a Team 6 source.

20 A manned ISR … redeem itself. Team 6 sources; official investigation into the Norgrove mission, available in redacted form on the Central Command website at: http://www2.centcom.mil/sites/foia/rr/default.aspx.