Thursday, March 14, 2013
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Kelly Alwood's article in "The Counter Terrorist Magazine" Security Contracting in Afghanistan
Security Contracting in Afghanistan
You gotta be kidding me! The GPS tracker is down too? Kushhal, we got a problem. We are in the middle of Jalalabad Highway, halfway between death and hell. This place is merceyless and unforgiving. Cell phone has no signal, Sat phone is taking the day off, radio signal wont punch out of this valley, and now my GPS tracker with panic button batteries have died. No one knows where I am and no one will come if this goes ugly. Of course I have extra batteries, it’s a four to five hour drive from Kabul to Jalalabad and I brought six packs of two. Im scrambling trying to speed reload batteries into the gps and they are all dead. Brand new, purchased the day prior in Kabul. I should have known. My only hope is that pieces will be put in motion if I don’t check in. But that is not for another six hours. A lifetime in Indian country.
I tell Kushhal, my Terp and driver to find the nearest place to buy batteries. He is now very concerned, and tells me it is too dangerous to stop. “Taliban controls this whole area Mr. Kelly” he replies. “If they recognize you, they will start shooting immediately”. Decision time, do I stop to get tracking gear back online, or keep pushing on and hope we have no more face to face encounters. We have had three already in the first two hours. Fighting with drivers stuck in a one lane tunnel.
I’m dressed in complete indigenous clothing, and mix daily with locals on the streets, so I’m quite confident in my disguise. My armament consists of a Krinkov, five mags, a Makarov with three mags, and a SERE kit in a backpack. Not enough to put up a fight, just the bear minimum to escape and evade until Troy comes. Troy is a close friend of mine from Fort Bragg. The absolute definition of a Green Beret. He has spent his entire 20+ years Army career in SOF. He has enough metals to sink a small boat, and the most training and skill sets of any operator that I have ever met. He is a treasured friend and mentor to me. But he cant come get me if he doesn’t know where I am. We have to stop for batteries.
This week has been steady with attacks all over these neighboring provinces. Yesterday in Kabul I watched five UN workers get gunned down in their SUV marked “humanitarian, NO WEAPONS inside”. The day before was a shooting in front of my hotel on the street, two more killed. I am on my way to a SOF camp in Jalalabad to meet up with my bud Troy. I needed intel and equipment as I am scouting routes and movements for a civilian audit team. I usually go as a singleton or with one other American. This time its just me. Lower profile. Driving in a local Toyota Corola with local plates and driver. As I leave Kabul, I call Troy to confirm my departure and expected arrival time. He tells me his camp was hit by a VBIED, and they are still engaged. “Its pretty sporty here right now, but come on in if you want.” He also warns me of attacks on the highway this week, and the many kidnappings happening on the road. “Whatever happens don’t stop, shoot your way through” were his final words of advise. I could hear the firefight raging in the background as I spoke with him. He was referring to the illegal road blocks set up to kidnap passerby’s’.
We roll into a small town along the highway. “Here Kushhal, stop here. There has to be batteries in one of these shops.” He did not want to stop the car. I told him we must. He asked me how many to buy, I gave him $20usd worth of Afghani and said all of them. I waited in the car.
We rolled out without incident, and proceeded down the dangerous stretch of road to Jalalabad. Just outside the city limits, the cell signal came back, and I called Troy. He asked what I was driving, and said to come on in. I told him I was more than a little nervous about driving up to the back gate of the compound, as everyone was extremely on edge as they had just had the suicide attack by a vehicle running into the wall with explosives, and I was dressed in man jammies and in a local car. He said, “no worries, I will meet you at the gate myself and let you in, they wont fire until I do”. I instructed Kushhal to drive our predetermined movements to establish bonefitis for easy distinction of our vehicle vs. another suicide bombers. Our driving pattern worked, we were identified and as we drove through the front gate, Troy looked in and stared at me. It took him a minute to recognize me in my disguise. He broke a smile and nodded his head for us to proceed to the next gate.
I got inside, Kushhal waited outside the camp. I removed my man jammies and got a brief AAR and sitrep from Troy and his team.
We went to the armory with Joe to resupply our medical kit, top off magazines and try out a few indig weapons and reconfirm zero on my Krinkov.
We then had dinner, and then attended a meeting of various ABC units to discuss and debrief the days events and how they effect current operations in play.
We returned to our compound, I had a shower and sat in Troy’s hooch to catch up on personal events since we had seen each other last at Fort Bragg.
We felt a shake, and then heard a boom. “that’s a rocket” I told Troy. I could not mistake that sound for anything else after six months of relentless almost nightly attacks on our position in Iraq. The siren sounded about thirty seconds later and a pre recorded voice came over the p.a. system. Confirmed, it’s a rocket attack. I was exhausted from nearly 30 hours without sleep and the treacherous trip to get here. I just wanted to lay back and get some rest. We ran outside the hooch, looked around and everyone was gearing up for another frontal assault on the compound. Joe ran up to me, handed me my tac vest and said “get ready Kelly”. I knew I wasn’t going to sit this one out. Comms are up and everyone is being accounted for. We are at 100% manning on camp as per SOP. With the wall of the compound 50 meters off the highway, we were highly vulnerable to explosives being thrown over the wall and prepared to repel insurgents climbing over the wall. As the team gathered near a solid wall, Troy directs his Afghani guards as to their stations for the attack. Then appears Chuck, a chisel chested Green Beret in pt shorts, tank top, flip flops, and a 10” suppressed M4, his favorite. Half of us had Kalashnikovs and half M4’s. Nods out, we watched the walls for a breach, as we ducked more incoming rockets.
The rockets seized for maybe 15 minutes when we heard an even bigger explosion just south of our position. It was another suicide bomber detonating at the front gate of the ANA (Afghan National Army) compound just down the street killing eight and taking out the front entrance.
More rockets pour onto the camp and we brace ourselves for every explosion, never knowing where each will impact, on constant watch for Taliban coming over the walls and breaching our camp. We now see the Predators launch. They are blacked out, going in search of the attackers. We are all hoping for the chance to put these illusive fighters in our sights. Lets get it on and put the boots to ‘em! This one-sided engagment sucks. Now we are thinking that at least the Predator will put it on them, even if we don’t get a shot. I take time to make two fast phone calls. One to do my check in as I’m not convinced my GPS is really sending GTG signals yet, and I’m already late doing so, and the other to my father to tell him I am good to go, as the SOF Seargant Major (Ret) will be waiting by the phone for sure. He was less than impressed with the idea of driving here in the first place, especially alone. If not for Troy, I would not have attempted this trip at all. He could hear the rounds impact in the background as we spoke, so I reassured him that I was not alone, and in fact was in the best company I could be with. This camp is a small compound of pipe hitting SOF guys. Troys hand picked team. Some of the best in the world at dealing death. I couldn’t be safer than being here with them.
The PA system keeps yelling out “threat over”, and then a few minutes later more rockets. The team makes a decision to call it over around 0100. The attacks were indeed finished for the night. I was exhausted from this long days event and racked out in a concrete shelter.
I awoke at 0430, hungry, fully awake and refreshed. I walked the perimiter and talked to the gaurds till breakfast was ready. I ate a quick bite of rice and chicken prepared by the indigenous cook. I started to gather my gear and do my checks in preparation for my drive back to Kabul. I wanted to leave early, as there are prime hours of travel on this highway for sure. Between certain hours, it is Taliban attack rush hour. I talk with Troy as I pack and he plusses up my gear. He tells me I should stay another day as today will be very dangerous to travel. But I had to leave. I was supposed to return yesterday actually, but that didn’t happen as the attacks halted all movements in or out. Kushhal was not in camp, as he was out getting the car repaired. Not a good sign. Our departure in now delayed to an uncomfortable time frame. But at least our vehicle will be reliable for the trip. Kushhal returns with the car and news that the repairs cannot be made. “Can anything else go wrong or break down in a 24 hour time period?” I thought to myself. I call my boss in Kabul to tell him the news. He advises me that we have meetings in Kabul this evening and cannot delay them. I have to go now. At peek attack hour or Ill never make my window on the other side. Troy and I took a few pics with each other, said goodbye and I left the gate with my Terp in our Corola.
We get to the tunnel at the Jalalabad city limits, and boom. Just on the other side of the tunnel, just a few vehicles in front of us, a truck takes an RPG. A firefight ensues as we turn the vehicle around and head back to Troys camp. I call him to tell him I’ll be having lunch with him after all. We return and hang out until the fighting on the road ends and the road becomes passable. We make it back to Kabul just in time to pick up the principle and get him to his meetings.
Animal Tracking article by Kelly Alwood "The Backwoodsman Magazine 2010"
By Kelly Alwood, Pipe Hitters Tactical
Most of us have learned what we know about the outdoors and tracking from our Dads or friends, who learned it from their Dad’s or friends, or picked up a trick or piece of knowledge somewhere along our trail of experience. Though this can be greatly beneficial at times, tracking like any other skill set, is best learned from a formal course setting. Tracking is the art of looking, finding, interpreting, and following. There are many parts to tracking. Finding and following the tracks is only a piece of it. Other pieces include scat, (that’s poop) identification, sign tracking, and animal behavior, track patterns, and track aging.
Scat identification can be of great importance to us in the woods. From the scat of an animal, we can tell the diet, general health, awareness level and travel patterns. If we break these down a bit you will see how they can help us. We can look at the scat of an animal and determine what it is eating, then we would have a better understanding of what bait we need to use to trap it, what kind of food is in the area for our consumption, and where that source of food might be. For example, we see a coyote run and identify the scat as such. We study and find that the coyote has been eating berries. We now know that there are berries in the area, not more than three feet off the ground, and that small game may be scarce as he is eating fruit vs. protein. This bit of information also tells us the general health of the coyote. It may not be running its usual 30-40 mile range if only functioning off berries. His territorial hunting may be quite smaller now till he starts to pick up more protein for energy. That can tell us that our chances of catching a rabbit for food may be slim in this area. As we are examining the scat, we also look to the tracks next to it. We will see from this a glimpse of the animal’s awareness level. When we see that he is very alert and aware even while he is pooping, then we know he is on his game and it will take great attention to detail and preparation to catch or hunt him. The scat is also a marker for a dominant animal. All dominant animals will "mark" their territory with scat. They will also urinate as well sometimes, but scat is the most dominant way to mark. This can tell us that more of that animal are in the area as well. They may be fighting for land, and competing for diet.
Sign tracking is a large part of your overall tracking skills. Sign tracking is finding any sign of an animal’s presence. This includes a host of signs or clues left behind as evidence of the animals passing. Some of these include, hair, leaf rock web disturbances, carcasses, chewed gnawed vegetation, beds and lays, rubs, scratching, broken twigs, and so on. Basically, everything else sign wise, except the footprint.
For instance, if you were to find a partial eaten rabbit carcass in the woods, you could know by how it was eaten what animal was eating it. Even after the snow melts, or his tracks are eroded away, the carcass will tell. the way vegetation is chewed and gnawed will tell you what animal is eating that plant. The fir left behind on a twig, branch, or fence will tell you what has been there and the path they take, and its size. The fir recognition takes a lot of practice. animals like deer, have different colors and types of fir on different parts of their body . So whenever you get close to any animal or carcass, be sure to thoroughly look and memorize all the fir and where it is. The wilds are filled with spider webs, so a disturbance or absence of these would be a sign to us as to the passing of an animal. When you start to study this closely, you can determine what kind of animal it was. Beds and lays are another giveaway of the animal. All animals have a different bed or lay. Most often hair will be present in them as well. By paying close attention to the shape, material, location, and hair in the bed, you can determine what animal beds down there. Scratches are a way of marking for animals. Many animals do this. Dogs, cats, deer, and most every animal in the wild will scratch. Some, like dogs, will scratch to get to something, others like cats will scratch to leave a scent, and deer will scrape to shed the velvet off their antlers. Paying attention to these and learning what each animal scratch looks like will quickly let you know what has been there.
Animal behavior is our next set of clues. This is an important part of tracking, as it can help us to predict behavior. For instance, if I look at the tracks and determine the animal is left foot dominant, then I can use this with my knowledge of the animals behavior to help me track it down. I must know how a frightened deer will behave if I want to track it after a shot while hunting. Which way will it run? Which side of the fence will it go? Which direction will it ultimately be heading for escape? How far will it go? In general, what exactly is this animal going to do? This basic concept is what most hunters rely on every year to harvest a deer. You go out and look for signs of presence, and set an ambush. But after your ambush, and the shot is taken, now what will he do? Blood is another part of sign tracking. And you can now see how all of these are coming together to enhance our abilities in the woods. Learning to determine the extent of the injury from the blood is another useful skill. This will help predict immediate behavior, and length of the track.
Track patterns will help us make an immediate determination of our target animal and save us time. If you can look at a set of tracks in the snow for instance, from maybe 20 yards away and determine whether it is the animal you are looking for or not, this will save you time. Animal track patterns vary by species, and sometimes sub species. Example, dog, fox, cat, and deer are diagonal walkers. The track patterns are all the same. The size, shape, pitch, and so on may be different in the individual track, but the pattern is the same. Some animals are diagonal walkers, some bounders, some hoppers, some waddlers. By knowing and recognizing the patterns readily, we can quickly determine the tracks we wish to follow. This helps us make up time when tracking a wounded deer, and can even be done from a vehicle without having to get out and follow step by step.
Following footprints left behind becomes much easier after learning a few basics. Several disciplines must be involved. You must be able to see the tracks. This is the hardest part for most people. I’m not talking about seeing tracks in snow or mud; I’m talking about in the field, woods, and yard. We have a series of drills we have designed to help new trackers start seeing tracks. Once you can see them everywhere, you must branch out and be well rounded. You need to learn to see them in short grass, leaves, debris, woods, pine needles, and even the dark. Many times folks end up tracking our deer in the dark, yet no one ever goes out and practices this skill. Learn what kind of lighting is needed, learn how shadows work, and learn what kind of light you need for blood and the angles you need. When you get to the level that you can see tracks in all environments, then you can start dissecting the tracks and pull more behavior detail from them. An example would be, you are tracking a deer and you lose the trail. It just ends. You can’t find the next track. Well if you know how to read the details out of the individual tracks, then it will tell you where the next track is. The clue is always in the last track. You can look at the track and determine whether it is male or female. Scared, pregnant, what it was looking at, many things can be told from a single track.
Track aging is another useful tool for us. If we were out scouting for a place to hunt or trap, and came across tracks matching our quarry, we need to be able to know how fresh they are. Or, how many times have you been tracking a deer, only for your deer to run through a path used by many deer. Then they split. How do you know which one is your deer? Track aging plays an important role in collecting track data. This is another part that just plain takes a lot of practice. We have developed a system to help learn how tracks age. Just think of how useful this could be if you could actually tell the age of the track, and even sign. Putting all of these parts together gives us a full view and understanding of the landscape around us, and how our quarry works.
So you can see how all of the tracking skills are coming together to give us more ability and speed. By seeing blood, track pattern, brush disturbance, and the animals behavior, we can quickly track down our wounded deer. Know where and what to set our traps for. Know what is in my woods that is eating or scaring away my pheasant. Even know why my honey bees left, and so on. By learning how to track, proficiently, we can determine exactly what is going on in the places we love to spend our time.
Hope to see you in the woods, Kelly Alwood
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)