SF team sgt. lauds Afghan aid in Shok Valley - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

SF team sgt. lauds Afghan aid in Shok Valley

A Special Forces team sergeant paid tribute to his Afghan counterparts and their role in a now legendary battle high in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan during a talk at the annual Association of the U.S. Army symposium in Washington, D.C.

The soldiers from the 201st Afghan Commando Battalion “did an excellent job” in the April 6, 2008, battle in Shok Valley, said Master Sgt. Scott Ford, the team sergeant of Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha 3336 at the time of the battle, in which one Afghan commando and one Afghan interpreter were killed and several Special Forces soldiers, including Ford, were seriously wounded.

“They stayed with us all day,” said Ford, who is now the noncommissioned officer in charge of 3rd Special Forces Group’s sniper detachment. “They helped carry our wounded. They helped each other. Continually, they stepped up to the plate doing numerous heroic acts themselves.”

Ford’s 15-man A-team — ODA 3336 — was deployed to Afghanistan from October 2007 to May 2008, and was the second A-team to partner with the 680-man 201st, which was the first Afghan commando battalion U.S. forces had trained up to “combat operational” status, he said. Five similar battalions have since become combat operational, he added.

“Each of these battalions is partnered with a Special Forces ODA throughout the most dangerous regions in Afghanistan,” Ford said. “Since the inception of the commandos, Special Forces has been their partnered force and will remain with them throughout the war.”

The commando battalions are “elite infantry battalions equivalent to U.S. Ranger battalions with additional special operations capabilities,” Ford said. “Our focus was to train, mentor, advise and fight alongside the commandoes, going with them wherever they went, and in return, they always were willing to go with us wherever we went.”

By the time ODA 3336 began working with the 201st, the Afghan troops had already been through the commando training course and conducted what Ford described as a “confidence target” mission. Ford’s team then conducted more advanced training with the Afghans.

Read the entire story in Monday’s print edition of Army Times.