Rescue on Roberts Ridge

The mission, known as Operation Anaconda, was set to launch in early March 2002, less than six months after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

It was time for American forces, both conventional ground troops and Special Ops, to take the fight to al Qaeda.

Gen. Franklin Hagenbeck: The mission of “Operation Anaconda” was to attack and defeat foreign al-Qaeda that were located in the Shah-i-Khot Valley in Afghanistan.
General Franklin “Buster” Hagenbeck was the two-star general in command of the operation.

Stone Phillips, Dateline correspondent: What did U.S. intelligence tell you about the numbers you should expect to encounter out there?

Gen. Hagenbeck: There was an expectation there would be between 150 and 250 foreign al Qaeda in the Shah-i-kot Valley and that that’s what we would fight. And it was clear that there were some high value targets, if you will, on our “hit list” that we wanted to go after.

Phillips: Some fairly high level people?

Gen. Hagenbeck: That’s right, Osama bin Laden had basically gone silent since Tora Bora. And we did not know if he was if he was alive.  And if he was, if he was in Pakistan or potentially in the Shah-i-Khot Valley.

The valley is located in the southeastern corner of Afghanistan. For the last 2,000 years, Afghan fighters there had successfully resisted some of the world’s most formidable armies—from Alexander the Great in 330 B.C., to the British in 1800’s, to the Soviet Army in 1980.  

Now, 1,400 American troops, joined by coalition forces from Canada, Australia and Europe, were about to enter the valley.

It was to begin with a ground attack by friendly Afghan militia, accompanied by a small group of U.S. Special Forces. 

Gen. Hagenbeck: If the al Qaeda chose to stand and fight, we would support them from firing positions and air support. If al Qaeda chose to run, we would cut em off literally at the pass. We were going to strangle them in the valley, hence the name “Anaconda.”

“Anaconda” for the giant snake that kills by strangling its prey. That was the plan.   But the field of battle presented major obstacles.

Gen. Hagenbeck: The Shah-i-Khot Valley is one of the nastiest pieces of terrain on the face of the earth. We were asking our soldiers to go into excruciatingly difficult terrain in just unimaginable weather.

In the weeks leading up to Anaconda, Nate Self, Oscar Escano and the Rangers trained intensely.

1st Platoon, Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment

Pictures show their unit conducting a live fire exercise just days before the battle.
The rangers would not be going in with the rest of the forces.  Their role was to stay back, ready to respond, if soldiers were in trouble.

Phillips: In Operation Anaconda you led a “Quick Reaction Force.” Tell me about that unit and what you were prepared to do if called upon.

Nate Self: For the most part the connotation is they’re going in to fix something that’s gone wrong. Or to make a bad situation better. To recover downed aircraft, personnel in the aircraft. Or hasty attacks, if necessary.

Oscar Escano: You could be called up at a moment’s notice, not know what you were going into, but still be expected to perform.  Which, as it just so happens, is exactly what rangers are trained to do.

Phillips: Rapid response.  Rescue.  Whatever the mission called for.

Escano: Just the classic go, swoop in, kick in the door, take care of business and get your people out as quickly as possible.

Less than 24 hours into Operation Anaconda, that’s exactly what the rangers would be called upon to do. And it would plunge them into the bloodiest fight of the battle.

March 1st, 2002: The day before launch.  This was the staging area, Bagram airfield. 150 miles from the Shah-i-Khot valley.

This base would serve as headquarters for commanders and a launching pad for the troops. 

Brigadier General Frank Wiercinski was a colonel during Anaconda and one of Hagenbeck’s key architects of the battle plan.

Phillips: This was a pretty complicated operation, You had to plan for a lot of different contingencies.

Brig. Gen. Frank Wiercinski: Absolutely—weather and terrain were also the enemy. The temperature ranges could go from minus zero to about 50 degrees in no time.  And from great visibility to zero visibility.

In the final hours leading up to the mission, memories of the 9/11 attacks were fresh in the minds of the troops.

Sgt. Michael Peterson: All we could think about was, “Get a little payback, and stop those folks from hurting any more Americans.”

Among those heading into the fight was a mortar team from New York’s 10th Mountain Division.

Peterson: We all had a mission.  And our mission was to stop clowns from killing Americans. To do the best we can to knock these guys off the face of the earth. 

Sgt. David Hruban: We were a unit from Fort Drum, New York. So, it was a bunch of New Yorkers really pissed off at what happened to our city.  And we’re coming to get you. 

The men were prepped and morale was high, despite the heavy casualties their platoon leaders warned them to expect.

Joseph Cook: Our PL told us we had a big fight.  And he didn’t expect a lot of us to come back.

Phillips: What was your reaction?

Cook: was ready to go.

They felt ready, but the reality was the troops were all pretty green.  Most of the soldiers were just out of boot camp, many barely out of high school.

Phillips: Have you ever been in combat before?

Cook: No, never.

Phillips: How much combat experience had your unit had?

Self: Not a whole lot. I had never been shot at before, and I had never shot at anyone before

Even the men in Captain Nate Self’s Quick Reaction Force, all elite Army Rangers, had not been battle tested.

Self:  We had participated in a few missions at that point in time, but we had never been shot at. I don’t think anyone in the platoon had shot at anyone up to that point.

Half-a-world-away in Texas, Julie Self could not imagine what her husband was about to face. But she knew when he left for Afghanistan that he had spent the last seven years preparing for this moment.

Julie Self, Nate’s wife: I was a little uneasy. Afghanistan seems so foreign, you know? You just picture him in these mountains, and I’m like, “How do you fight these people—that’s their terrain, and how do you train for that?” And he didn’t tell me a whole lot about it, but I felt secure in that he was prepared to go, and he was ready to go.

On the eve of the battle, Colonel Weircinski rallied the troops.

Wiercinski Speech: Every one of our generations, has been called on to do something for it’s country.  We are no different.  We’ve been called on to fight the war on terrorists.  You are part of that fight.

Phillips: What do you remember about that speech?

Mauzy: Jumped up on that Humvee and started talking to us. Everyone was pumped and ready.

Wiercinski Speech: A lot of us have two questions, always going through our minds. Why, and how will I do? For me it’s 9/11. For those families that watched as their loved ones never came home. It’s for them.  We do this for them.”

Phillips: What did you see when you looked in their faces?

Brig. Gen. Frank Weircinski: I actually saw thoughtfulness.  I did not see fear.  And I thought at some point I would see a few scared faces.  I did not see any of that. 

FREE VIDEO Rallying his troops Brigadier General Frank Weircinski gave his troops an inspiring speech on the eve of battle. Dateline NBC

“We have two missions tonight: One is to defeat an enemy.  The second one is a goal, to bring everybody home! Never leave a fallen comrade.”

Brig. Gen. Weircinski: They had confidence in themselves. It wasn’t braggadocios, and it wasn’t overly confident.  But it was a sense that we’re soldiers, we’ve got a job to do. This is our moment.

“Do not be afraid to squeeze that trigger, you will know when, you will know why. Take care of one another. Today is your climb to glory. Today’s our rendez-vous with destiny.  Y’all be proud of yourself.  God bless each and every one of us.  I’ll see you when we come back.  Remember our motto: Let valor not fail! Rakassan!!”

Weircinski: We live by our warrior ethos.  Mission always comes first. Do not accept defeat. Never quit. And never leave a fallen comrade. If our soldiers can’t believe that that’s gonna happen,  I don’t see how men could go into combat.

Cook: All I remember is after he got done speaking, like he said, I was never more proud and ready to go than I had been in my life.

Escano: You just live the creed. You will risk your life to bring back, even if he’s dead, the body of one of your comrades, even if you haven’t met him before.

At 4 a.m. on March 2nd, 250 soldiers from the Army’s 101st airborne and 10th mountain divisions boarded their helicopters.

In less than two hours they would face an enemy far greater in strength and numbers than any of them suspected, despite a late intelligence warning that al Qaeda had reinforced its positions.

Phillips: A CIA report is said to have indicated, a few days before the operation began,  that there were, “triple the number of al Qaeda fighters in the area.  That they were well armed, well trained, dug in at higher elevations and ready to fight.”  Did you see that report?

Gen. Hagenbeck: I did see that report.  In fact, we ended up sending in people to try to verify and confirm this.  We could not verify those. It turned out to be the CIA report was closer than I was on that.

Phillips: A lot more than you thought?

Gen. Hagenbeck: Yeah.

U.S. forces lifted off into the night sky, the first wave of the assault. The soldiers headed into battle, most for the first time, believing they could handle whatever lay ahead.

Peterson:  It was just quiet.  There was no boasting. There was no pounding your chest and, “I’m just gonna go whack a bunch of al-Qaeda guys.”  No, it’s just, “Let’s get it done.”  Everyone wanted to get it done.

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