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australian special forces units have the longest presence in Australia's longest
more they were there soon after United States forces drove al Qaeda from these
mountains 10 years ago and they are here in Afghanistan still but for all of
those 10 years
what they do and how they do it has been kept largely secret the core of every
every garden sis are at stirred in part to strive for excellence in in
everything i do at all times whether there's someone watching or not whether
it is going to be recognition on are kept secret until now
here we join australia's elite Special Air Service regiment the SAS are not a
bear talking themselves up or anything like that it's just a bit getting on
with the job
their brothers in arms the commandos also overcome acute camera shiners
taking us with them in pursuit of a Taliban commander
I was out there were five television every dive with me in front of a camera
shoot myself on the way here
plans changed they heard on the radio that the Taliban commander was confirmed
to be here in this motorcycle shop so plans changed and the combat forces rush
this location there now searching her whole range of her local fighting age
miles
they say that they've already identified an IED facilitator
I think in the trade that's called a jackpot
I get the part complementing the commanders and the SASR is the incident
response regiment the combat engineers out in front
who uncover the weapons caches booby traps and hidden minds
Oh over that force were off thought I honestly thought to myself is that next
step the step worth taking
the different force elements merge to make up rotation 16 of Australia's
special operations task group a truly unique band known throughout Afghanistan
as task force
66 in protecting if they're expecting that way and in the day we are just
everyday people
we come to work we do our work and then we got our families
it's not like the movies we do a job and we just get on with the job
we can eat for me to mission
it's like the ceiling and shoes
Oh
the Afghanistan home for Australia's special operations task group is a
Terran caught in the sparse rugged and largely primitive or his gun province
Special Forces is secreted in a fortress with in a fortress at camp Russell named
in honor of sergeant andrew russell the first Australian soldier killed in
afghanistan
we are allowed to move freely among the soldiers and ask what we like with no
one looking over the shoulders but there are restrictions for the most part we
can't identify them
we also agreed to avoid exposing trade secrets
what they call their tactics techniques and procedures and the fact that was so
secretive one city for Harry do business means it a lot of a lot of speculation
canyon
but you will be taken to the battlefield
you will see what they see and you will hear their views on the war they fight
this is not like any or with any previously and we're trying to do it
right
some of the soldiers we join of veterans of multiple rotations this commando one
a middle of gallantry for an action that saw the death of a comrade
Luke Wars Lee in November 2007 the contact one of thousands exemplifies the
complexity of a war with no frontline or neutral space
041 take it for one we just guys too many me in the in the alley wife
stand by for sport
in 10 years of operations Special Forces has accumulated 40 bravery medals
including to Victoria Crosses in 2007 this young corporal scaled a mountain to
enter the lion's den in this case a cave of a television commander
now when I locked eyes and he locked eyes and made approximately nine ten
days
I could not a study had a weapon down the sort of him and I was essentially
out life weapons up and it was it was the quickest to the trigger
this soldier is one of many to return to battle bearing the scars of previous
combat
they'll each get one shot and i also received around hit my personal weapon
and in fragments
went through my face through my e there was a lot of blood obviously your head
injuries played a lot more than anywhere else on the body
I crawled over to them to the medic just to make sure that it was nothing bottle
and once you give me the thumbs out we continued over the floor all the
battlefields changed significantly
I believe the threat has become far more complex the the the Taliban and
insurgent commanders have have accurately realized that their strength
is their ability at times to move within the population and you've also saying
the emergence of the id3 over the years and that ID for it provides and provides
a lot of challenges as much for the local population
the local law enforcement as it does for us
the sis head out attending to their main business counter leadership or what some
of come to term kill capture you look at our processes and we felt that kill
capture were was inappropriate and it was inaccurate and in fact
and employees that it is it's a simple and black and white as that we seek to
neutralize a commander and we remind you know what we do a lot of analysis into
what the best method of that neutralization market
the helicopter enables further reach two cars or is gone which has seen a lot of
fighting in August an Australian soldier private Matthew Lambert had been killed
by an IED
in the following weeks the SAS return to Carthoris gun and on sep tember 10
they hit what they call the jackpot killing three further insurgents and a
master bomb-maker mullah Abdul Qadeer the Taliban leader had commanded a cell
of 30 fighters in the area that particular insurgent commander had been
active in ER is gone for about two and a half three years and had a lot of
linkages to the customers Garden District the fourth element had
interrupted a surer or meeting returning also with a cache of weaponry the
significance of this particular weapon is it's an AK 74 and AK 74 Soviet your
weapon and in Afghanistan there recently uncommon
so those in certain commanders have come across the position of them
it's an indication of this injury is seen as a status symbol and they're also
with a lot of money so therefore a low-level insert it is it's very
unlikely to be in position one of these weapons to the Taliban leader codenamed
JDM had been on the JPL or joint priority effects list the effective hit
list has attracted criticism that hardens and further radicalize is the
Taliban and that the coalition gets it wrong if there's ever an allegation that
comes through that that we've done the wrong thing is something that not only
the regiment but that the individual soldiers type very seriously and it was
very heavily on guys minds
while most of the fighting takes place outside the wire
it's not as if the main base escapes attack from the closer range of Hills
insurgents regularly fire rockets largely aimed at the coalition's terror
weapon
the helicopter the 107 Rockets are generally said on a crude timer so the
insurgents can be gone before the coalition's immense firepower turns on
them and now we've got a year
I can rocket mortar and devices out there which has got 360 degree and 24
hours a day coverage of the incoming rockets and mortars
in the early evening sensors pick up signs of an imminent rocket attack
we are near the flight line as we hit the ground
- rocket strike generating more noise than harm
ok
there's some close calls stories about people who decided they needed to go for
a piece in the middle of an idol got up got up to go for a smoke and the rocket
lands and it's landed in their bed space so it's a few close calls the Special
Operations task group is mostly male and mostly it works outside the wire
it's small enough to be close females make up five percent of the company of
300 headquarters remains in close contact
look it's just if another video game it's not you know this is this is life
and death sort of stuff so it's not it's not something that you can you can pause
and replay
the prospect of not coming back has to be on the minds of some of these men as
they board to australian ch-47 so as tense when there's an incident going on
outside the wire I think everybody picks up on that emotion
the Taliban has been heard on radio relay mornings to not fire at the
elephants as they call the Australian Chinooks which can reply with 4,000
rounds a minute
next we see for ourselves the immense responsibility that accompanies the
immense fire power in the hands of young soldiers the dawn breaks the next
morning on a significant day the dominant event that brought Australians
to afghanistan in the first place was of course
sep tember 11 the dominant a lie that keeps Australia here is the United
States and for the US 10 years on it is still personal our army went through a
transformation that that's unlike any that that it
we've ever seen before since since world war two it brought a lot of nations
together you know the anniversary is no quiet day for the Australians out in the
charge in a valley
the sniper teams already secreted as part of a large afghan national security
force push to clear the valley of Taliban one of the team's identified by
a number of insurgents that were operating in the area and obviously you
know i mean in self-defense
I called an idea and helpful a distraught
an unmanned us drone locks on the target and releases once launched soldiers spot
children moving into the area
that's when the teams in the grants identified our children had to actually
moved into the engagement area and that's when i made the call to pull that
rocket off station and put it into a safe area
they do measure up they're all very where they are mature they know what
we're here to do and they know what we're here to avoid on the following
afternoon
further reinforcements board to army Chinooks it takes 15 minutes to fly
what in a Bushmaster would have taken days
the problem of approaching on the ground also means the active Taliban spotter
network can relay warnings as they touch down from the distant tree line there is
sporadic shooting
i also just product and hitting the dick
now we had like multiple packages and I see also 25 landing in winter and he
lies of that talk about more than a ground already tight but not too tight a
native format left guard covering the commandos often in larger numbers than
the SAS work on disrupting areas where there are higher concentrations of
insurgents
children against the wall
that's good good good
they certainly move out to the periphery areas that we found rather than
remaining in the area to attempt to to try and deny us from carrying an
admission the successes that we had in that area of the two guys were
significant enemy carry any kind
yep the commandos between in the charge in a valley now for two days with local
Afghan forces and the incident response regiment
they searched largely empty compounds Joe the explosive detection dog hunt for
caches of weapons and hidden minds
you're nothing cries in which is good at most of their dogs need to be fairly bow
to the SAS r & commandos the incident response engineers are brothers in arms
YW i was out there in front of us every day never rest like always clear in a
way for us
you know we're at the actively taking the enemy their act they're actively
finding the unseen enemy of ideas and booby traps
now just such cool calm collected dudes look you in the face every day
just get on with it in March 2009 the Special Forces incident response
regiment lost its first member killed in action
the guys all know the guys within a unit very well
and we're fairly taught units any sort of lost like that it's it's everyone
pretty hard
take brit tool for example he had you know obviously his family at home and
you know when you when you have a family I guess you seem to understand that a
little bit more
yeah
when we join rotation 16 as the footballs final season approaches at
home
the fighting season here is already underway
yeah I don't absolutely pumped around a little for durable
we received a significant amount of intelligence regarding a Taliban drug
lab in a northern Helmand over 120 soldiers mostly commanders alongside
teams of Afghan police from the narcotics interdiction unit and local
Special Response Team will fill to us
c-130 'he's they will cross into a neighboring province where previous
fighting has been far fiercer is estimated that we had up to 4,000 our
insurance against this which was out which was there I'm to draw on that tour
so this religion place could happen that indirect for support we had in direct
fire support that heavy machine guns where heavy machine guns it was a
large-scale offensive 40 and Australian commando is dead and another soldier
seriously wounded after battling the Taliban
I extend my deepest sympathy to sergeant and his family his friends and comrades
earlier in Helmand was the beginning of a savage run for Special Forces these
steps prove the last for an experienced and decorated commando
sergeant brett would
meanwhile you want
within weeks in the same area separate row and Robinson and Sergeant Todd
Langley were also lost every spike in casualties challenges the rationale for
being in Afghanistan as well as extending risk by moving outside or his
gun
the lines on the maps here were drawn generally by us or by our nation's that
that that came before us lines on maps don't mean a lot to the Taliban and
particularly insurgent commanders in fact if anything ones on that so where
they locate themselves because it's something that something that we don't
exploit and i use to their advantage
the keltyr nexus mission as it's known as driven by intelligence gathered by
the US Drug Enforcement Agency for the DEA the earlier incursions into hillman
have also been costly this agent just one to have suffered a gunshot wound
the shared losses have helped form a unique partnership with task force
66 it's something that we've been striving as the EA to get a strong
partnering relationship with military entities the relationship is remarkable
overnight commandos move in one blocking force commanding the higher ground
I have two could have slept in either there the mood in there are no I did you
know that you're going into a fairly hostile sort of area
yeah you get really yeah Jade up for it in the dark
commando assaulters bump the enemy this soldier forced to the hand-to-hand
combat upon our moving back to our block and we came across another two
insurgents how to come back as a tiny the other one was killed
that's right in the observation post to the west as dawn breaks further targets
present and it's seven more insurgents are killed by the spotter and are
scaling networks are moving into policy but all eyes on a friendly disposition
is further down the valley also or position a little bit further out we
also got our eyes on them and they're now
yeah I neutralize targets stay in accordance
the operation is monitored back at base by a range of eyes in the sky at dawn
the DA Afghans and Australians overwhelm the drug lab thousands of kilograms of
opium base and precursor chemicals plus refined heroin is found the engineers
quickly read the chemicals and equipment for destruction
the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars is not taken easily closer to
the drug lab and insurgent marksman gets into position to direct accurate fire
everybody up there by 11am the task force is beginning to take casualties
we're gonna casually coming around came in and it seemed quite close to me it
felt a pinch initially I didn't think any think anything of it
forced five seconds later i try to move my leg my leg was paralyzed
then I started getting a stomach pains and that's what i call the guy say I'm
being hit I can't be like three coalition members have received gunshot
wounds
the Australian among them is category A which means getting treatment within
what they call the golden hour
they had everything I've been inside looking for fragmentation where engine
light going through all my intestines
this is the haters dead
the stretcher bearer is definitely expose themselves to get me to that bird
so I you know I think it was probably about 10-15 minutes of running with me
the Prime you get the tudors boiling your going to secure the
let's push back
the Australian soldiers retaliate suppressing the marksman the comrade is
soon evacuated by helicopter to a British Hospital especially in helmet
the insurgency and narco-trafficking is you're not able to separate it
one from the other
in a conflict we're clear measures of success don't come easily
the counter at Nexus mission delivers serious pain to the Taliban as well as
demonstrates a smarter approach to targeting by avoiding alienating the
poppy growers and the reason we do this of course he said that we're not having
an adverse effect on the general population and their ability to have a
had a livelihood
so we tend to try and target between the selling and the distribution which we've
been able to do extremely effectively this year the profit off of the
narcotics production themselves in this country does fund the insurgency which
leads to additional ideas additional ammunition and the capability for the
insurgency to put up a larger fight for coalition forces
in the next segment we return to a Taliban hot spot to see how the piking
has evolved
yeah
that obviously pro3 one score on the mission this time is to another Taliban
sanctuary closer to home in advance by the Afghan National Security Forces in
the mirror bed valley has pushed the Taliban into one of their centuries in
the chin erkalay valley
back up in the help
yeah
what
Victor our weekly one possible k IA the other one to be confirmed we are moving
back to the sound establish NHL's that over there dead plus plus plus it was
here in 2008 when commanders from Delta Company returning from a two days patrol
saw the hills light up like a Christmas tree
yeah
yes we can we get those Apaches a drone identified we walking
the ride
not one of those points out there
the ambush demonstrates the vulnerability of the long-range vehicle
patrols of old the fighting continued for two hours
Dutch Apaches eventually rocketing the hillside
we are moving into the village itself and we came under four were ambushed
then we have the first 10-15 minutes
Jason's killer unfortunately and about another four or so members were wounded
it was two days after and zach day we lost colleagues that we use mannerisms
we can still remember things like that yeah I they're not just not just a
statistic and they're not something that sound we're here to avenge your hero
I suppose more or less on what they're out here in the first place
the mission to the same location begins with a mixed objective partly to win
hearts and minds and partly to hunt Taliban
on the way in the atmosphere amps up when fresh intelligence indicates a
target is present
they did it sounds great from I soccer shop pretty quick on my blood and nobody
covered by a cross the day
the compound is 500 meters from the landing zone
there are shouted instructions to follow the footsteps of the man in front
essentially all during the Florida where he serves arm more intelligence
indicating that of thousands of interested in these are certain
compounds are better just a plane to arcata for that one target has as they
put it squirted on a motorbike
but a second target as suspected I ed facilitator is detained
the locals have in turn also made a discovery a sniper team in the hills
above has been spotted and suspected Taliban are attempting to encircle them
nikon suggested a bad i come in the green and i'll share this at me
I keep probably younger than that ten years after we know I years old six
I was that easy little brother I guess you could say that my start departing
from the village with a herd of goats
I and it came pretty clear that that that herd of goats is probably going to
make contact with the opposition quite often those children the children come
up into their positions within the grain belt
come up just have a look at us
then I walk off a report and we're seeing them you can see him walk off and
then report adults
yep you found any
in an office back in the compound caches are found but they are empty
not finding weapons locations within that all in
Jason fields local nationals who have seen it all before seem to take the
intrusion in their stride and what about the back people how do they treat you
through an interpreter
I asked for their reaction he said I know bad people have ever even came
friends even know how to answer that question
he says are you will be lucky if you even so we're in the mountain right now
yeah we can keep them inside there are no Taliban hear that they are farmers
trapped in the middle of soldiers skeptically will deal with asking these
people which side they're on
can often seem to be pointless they're obviously going to be on the side of
their family their tribe and whichever powerful force happens to be around on
any given day
it's an extraordinary difficult question to answer
which side they're on and of course that's the problem that the soldiers
face every single day
soon after the men had attained when ammunition and detonators have found by
the Afghan partner force that's a very good though they cannot afford stuff
that we can't afford before their technology more and more operations and
now like this with no shots fired and suspected Taliban taken into custody
next today with Australia's elite SASR
one of the biggest changes to occur on the battlefront is revealed through this
mixed unique experience what targets are we likely to be able to prosecute today
and what effects we can achieve on the network by targeting these people to
have there been any developments and yes
yeah last night we had a favorite of information and community and I want us
to develop a series of and mission plan to guess you could say
and there are basically sitting on the Shelf waiting for this morning
so that's what we're about to see yes we are entering the special operations
command and control center to start a day with the essay is this is where the
battle is monitored where the intelligence accumulates and where what
matters even more than the fighting the thinking is done we had plenty of
occasions where we've had down intelligence that's that's given us a
start . and then we start bringing outliers infusing other forms of
intelligence over the top
it might be
you know an initial rumor that starts from from eating the local population
and then we use some senses to confirm whether whether that is true or not in
the ready room alongside is another practical asset the US Army Air Wing in
a large area
morning a vehicle in addiction package up towards our collapse with we've got
some reliable intelligence suggesting a field the field the clean certain
commands from up that way it's time to be a be pushed back in to respond
swiftly to intelligence alerts the SAS need helicopters
everybody's playing for helicopters
everybody wants helicopters so for these guys to have the amount of if you will
dedicated assets for the rotary wing package is is almost unheard of anyone
anywhere you go
and it's it's because of that relationship that we established early
on out on the flight line at this one base is the equivalent of the entire
Australian rotary wing fleet
yeah
the two areas that we're focusing on is creatively and the clutch valley there
is reports that
and so the command is coming into the area and we're going to restrict their
freedom of movement like ducking out vehicle introduction 19 ratlines pretty
much in this sort of area between the two valleys in this very channel is
trying the black walls will head north
the modern approach to long-range patrolling is a long way from the days
when vehicles would roll out for weeks at a time into areas where you did not
need to be Taliban to oppose all invaders
it said I silly instances of coalition being caught in the middle of crossbar
between warring trouble factions that that that is a feature of this
battlefield and that's what makes the job that there
I think the guys do is so much more admirable
in modern warfare is version of random breath testing one
Black Hawk swoops down a smoke grenade fired to warn the vehicle to stop
improving my bike with 15 mile right buh-bye proving for self-government
as with random breath testing
there's a lot of tedium and the occasional jackpot
among the intelligence gathered at tests for indications of explosive residue and
fingerprints which can help convict bomb-makers asking me from he knows of
any Taliban in the area where the bottom of the mother is this is in the shower
market
yeah I like it when Master Splinter much last night was just in the moment that
was quick it took was back a few days ago and they would walk around the
village and everything for right now they're disappeared
the search is undertaken while a second black walk with snipers at the ready
offers above in a wake of interdiction missions one rifle is recovered nine
suspects detained and one insurgent is killed while the results appear slight
to the SAS there is a positive
usually at this time the fighting season peaks but now fewer targets and
presenting some of another very senior levels who I feel that they've done
their did and that i have no desire to come back and risk their lives anymore
next we go to the vexing question of trust
following a series of fatal attacks on Australian soldiers by their Afghan
partners
yeah
the SAS is going out again you have to be here to get a sense of this year
relentless of all this you'll see them in in the morning in the mess with the
camouflage paint still on having come back from a mission and then soon after
like now another crew is going out and what is also have to get your head
around is the fact that going out is what they'd rather do every mission must
be conducted with a representation of at least thirty three percent of the
partner force in this case
afghan police from the local Special Response Team who are different we catch
a television armed who come back here and get a job for a few years but if
he's caught
he will you know they'll kill him regardless with his arms on the mound
we come by rules where the boys have their rules their slightly different
where else but we had 12 prisoners are 12 to tinys the other day and was my
knew that they were Taliban and he wanted to kill them right then and there
and I said no you can't
there is no denying the degree of difficulty in November three Australians
were killed by an enemy masquerading as a friend
this followed an earlier murder of an Australian Army cook by an Afghan a lie
afghan police in particular have had a poor reputation for collaborating with
the Taliban for extorting the local population and for drug use
I haven't seen him smoke marijuana at all but in the early days they used to
and a lot of strange would refuse to go out on patrol with them because they
were on the influence of marijuana
I guess at the end of the dice if I prefer not to work with and then
Afghanistan on everybody
it's like country I'm happy to work with in there
I've been left align with him to for them providing the security will have
been doing some bits and pieces
Obama pack 1500 the coalition's gains do have a way of becoming shrouded in the
dust of the latest IED blast or suicide bomb attack
you've been here eight times now is that right is right
yeah so is it getting better
it's a difficult question Chris when we first got here backing out when i first
got back here in 2002 you could drive around in a non armored cars just
civilian cars driving around tearing care was quite safe but now you wouldn't
step the other guy tissue an armored vehicle like a Humvee or like a
bushmasters because the ID threat is quite bad
now whether we brought that into town because we're here or because we've
decided to partner with the SRT boys
I don't know
this is our month with special forces draws to a close
it is grand final weekend back at home
it seems fitting prominent among the soldiers reasons given for being here is
you don't train all your life to sit in the dressing room on the big day
of course I believe in the effort that are more believe in the box next to me
I don't want him to verify with them a pretty much nothing that take the time I
think it would be a wrong doing for us to walk away half way through the
operation
I think it would be very honest tryin not to finish the job that you started
yeah
we can't simply going to are going to a conflict instantly leave after cause
damage and and we're trying to do the right thing in stabilize the country
before we leave I think that's the right thing to do
there are a thousand ways to tell the Afghanistan story and not one of them
would be perfectly accurate but this story told largely from the soldiers
perspective is important not just because they're here and risking their
lives but because they are good witnesses and what is consistently
intriguing is the difference between what they see and the view
back home we begin tonight with the australian defence force and its chief
hitting back at growing calls for the withdrawal of our troops from
Afghanistan you know if you're sitting next to someone at airport or I just
having a conversation with another friend back at home
I was say that my question I get asked is that are we really making progress
over there
what do you say I'll say yes yes we are making progress
quite often the only thing that the public my here is that when there is a
unfortunate and it which has occurred as opposed to many very good missions that
are completed that do have a significant effect on the battle space so i think
it's a it's a great concept that we're we're opening our doors a little bit
august so to allow the public to you know probably understand that what's
happening out here for by their own perspective and the rest of the
Australian forces as well I think now that we've got that trust and there is
established government there's established procedures are think you
know it's going to start moving forward
australian Special Forces actively avoid recognition they are practiced at
keeping their secrets
a curious consequence is the ugly games of their enemy can be better known than
their own measured disciplined and often magnificent endeavors Subtitles End: mo.dbxdb.com