Does anybody need photos? I was there from the start of OEF(301stFW)

The Misawa AB website released another photo relating to the article published Misawa pilots honored for 'most meritorious flight'

Thanks for your comments, guys!

Today, on Misawa´s public website the following two shots were relased (for first time):

<a href="http://www.misawa.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/072108-F-9322E-002.JPG">mid-res</a>

Damn! They provide no hi-res version of this rare shot!

Notes:
- Click the picture to read the names and ranks of all six pilots.
- The original photo caption states: "Misawa pilots prepare for combat mission BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq -- From left: Lt. Col. Steve Williams, 13th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron commander (name unknown) the 332nd Expeditionary Operations Group commander, Capt. Larry Sullivan, 13th EFS pilot, Capt. Chris Struve, 332nd EOG F-16 pilot, Maj. Mike Briggs, 13th EFS pilot and Capt. Kevin Hicock, 13th EFS pilot prepare for a combat mission Aug. 12. All are deployed from Misawa Air Base, Japan. (U.S. Air Force photo)"
- According to Balad´s public website, current 332nd EOG commander is Col. Charles L. Moore, also called Charlie "Tuna" Moore. And he´s not from Misawa AB. See his public bio: http://www.balad.afnews.af.mil/library/ ... p?id=10059
- It´s unknown to me from which unit Capt. Chris Struve, 332nd EOG F-16 pilot, is deployed.
- This shot is also the very first public photo proof that Misawa´s F-16 fighter package at Balad AB already use the BRU-57 Smart Rack (visible on station 7 with two GBU-38 JDAMs). In this case, the 13th EFS (or already the 14th EFS) is (were) the second F-16 EFS which used this bomb rack in combat - after the 23rd EFS during their "surge deployment" to Al Udeid AB, Qatar, in summer 2006 to fulfil a "carrier gap" because of the temporary absence of an U.S. Navy aircraft carrier in the CENTCOM AOR. During this remarkable deployment the 23rd EFS flew missions both for OIF in Iraq and for OEF in Afghanistan (see above).

<a href="http://www.misawa.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/072108-F-9322E-003%20copy.JPG">hi-res</a>

Tora Bora Offensive Continues Against Taliban, Al-Qaeda

Friday, August 17, 2007

JALALABAD, Afghanistan; August 17, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- Hundreds of Afghan and U.S.-led coalition troops are continuing a major offensive against Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters in eastern Afghanistan.

The battle is close to Tora Bora -- a part of Afghanistan that was the last known refuge of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in late 2001.

The offensive at Tora Bora began with air strikes launched on August 14 by U.S.-led coalition aircraft.

Radio Free Afghanistan's corresponent Daud Wafa traveled to the Pacheragam district of Nangarhar Province, south of Jalalabad, to speak with some of those displaced by the fighting.

A villager forced from his home in the area, Allah Dad, tells Wafa that the coalition ground and air operations have been incessant.

"Planes are flying over during the night," Allah Dad says. "We can see the U.S. troops coming and going during the daylight hours."

Militants And Terrorists

Vanessa Bowman, a spokeswoman for U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan, says the mountainous border region near the border with Pakistan has been an ideal environment for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda to conceal support bases and training sites.

Bowman says attacks aimed at terrorizing innocent civilians -- both inside and outside of the area -- have been planned and launched from the Tora Bora region of Nangarhar Province.

Afghan and U.S. troops also have been carrying out a ground assault on militants' positions -- which include labyrinths of cave complexes thought to have been used by bin Laden and hundreds of his fighters to flee into Pakistan in late 2001 or early 2002.

Thousands of Pakistani troops were deployed on Pakistan's side of the border this month to block escape routes for militants trying to flee from Afghanistan.

Afghan media have quoted local officials who claim hundreds of militants were killed during the first few days of the joint Afghan and international offensive.

But there has been no independent confirmation of casualty figures. U.S.-led coalition officials say they will not release details on casualties until after the operation has been concluded.

Fleeing The Area

Meanwhile, hundreds of villagers have been fleeing the fighting.

One elderly resident, Sayed Nabi, tells Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent Wafa that coalition forces have prevented civilians from traveling into the battle zone.

"The bombing has been going on for several days," Nabi says. "[Coalition forces] do not let people get close to the area [of the fighting]. And from our vantage point, we can't get further information about what is happening."

Another resident of the Pacheragam district, Mir Dad, says villagers fear attacks by Taliban as well as being mistakenly targeted by coalition air strikes.

"The operation has been going on at Tora Bora since [August 14]," Mir Dad tells Radio Free Afghanistan. "The [foreign] troops are coming and going, and the bombing has been severe. Civilians have been killed, too. [Residents] are afraid of both the Taliban and the Americans."

Public Perceptions

Nuragha Zwak, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar Province, confirms that some innocent civilians have been hurt by the fighting. But Zwak claims the Taliban and its sympathizers are exaggerating the extent of civilian casualties.

"Only three children have been injured. And because this operation is continuing, there is no exact information about casualties," Zwak says. "This information will be released as soon as the operation concludes. But [supporters of the Taliban] are spreading rumors of civilian deaths as propaganda."

A purported Taliban spokesman, speaking by telephone to Radio Free Afghanistan from an undisclosed location, has claimed that the Taliban shot down one coalition helicopter and destroyed at least two armored vehicles.

U.S.-led coalition officials have neither confirmed nor denied that report, saying they will not provide further information about the battle to the media until the operation is finished.

(Contributors to this report include RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan correspondents Daud Wafa in Nangarhar Province and Mustafa Sarwar in Prague)

Source: http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/20 ... E576C.html

U.S.-led forces pound Tora Bora

August 16, 2007 -- Updated 1812 GMT (0212 HKT)

KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) -- U.S. and Afghan air and ground forces pounded al Qaeda militants for a second day on Thursday in the Tora Bora mountains close to the Pakistan border where Osama bin Laden once fled in the wake of the 2001 invasion.

The steep slopes of the mountains are riddled with cave and tunnel complexes built by Afghan and Arab fighters during the 1980s struggle against the Soviet occupation and provide an ideal hideout for guerrilla fighters.

"It is a joint operation conducted by Afghan and U.S. forces, divided by ground and air assets," said Captain Vanessa Bowman, spokeswoman for U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan.

"Afghan and U.S. forces engaged al Qaeda and other violent extremist fighters in the eastern Afghanistan region in Tora Bora," she said, adding that the operation began on Wednesday.

Pakistan has deployed a "limited number" of regular army troops in Kurram tribal region in its side of the Tora Bora range, a security official said.

"It has been done over the past three days and it was done in coordination with allied forces in Afghanistan," he said. "We have made all arrangements to block any infiltration of militants from the other side. So far there has been no attempt of any infiltration."

Afghan media quoted local government officials as saying some 50 militants had been killed in the fighting.

Local residents said dozens of families have fled the area and three villages had been bombed by U.S. and Afghan forces and up to 30 civilians had been killed in the fighting.

The U.S. military said it had no substantiated reports of any civilian casualties.

"We are not targeting any villages and the operation are specifically being conducting away from populated areas," a U.S. spokesman said.

It was not possible to independently verify any casualties.

Aid organization had suspended projects in the Tora Bora region, said a Western security official in the city of Jalalabad, some 50 km (30 miles) north of the mountains.

"We see a lot of air activity going towards that region, it looks like it's quite intense today," he said.

Three coalition soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb in the Khogiani district near Tora Bora on Sunday and a U.S. base in the area also came under rocket attack in the last few days.

U.S. soldiers and Afghan militia forces launched a major assault on Tora Bora in late 2001 in pursuit of al Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, who was thought to be hiding in the mountain range after the toppling of the Taliban government.

But U.S. military leaders allowed the Afghan militiamen to spearhead the assault and bin Laden managed to escape.

Al Qaeda forces and their Taliban allies use the rugged and semi-lawless border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan to plan, train and launch attacks in both countries.

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europ ... index.html

Return to Tora Bora

By David Tate
August 15, 2007 8:31 PM

US-led troops in eastern Afghanistan kicked off a major offensive Sunday designed to root out Taliban, al Qaeda, and Hizb-i-Islami-Gulbadin fighters hiding in southeastern Nangahar province. So far, the fighting has killed at least three American GIs, two of whom were Green Berets. Local government officials say up to 50 militants are dead with another 40 "under siege." The fighting has forced as many as 100 families in the area to flee. Early reports say at least seven civilians have been killed. The US troops, augmented by the Afghan National Army and close air support, are targeting "hundreds of foreign fighters" who are well-entrenched.

The showdown has been brewing since February when fragmented militant groups reorganized under the name "Tora Bora Mahaz (Front)." The group is led by Unus Khan, eldest son of the famous mujahadeen leader from the Soviet-occupation, Anvarul Hak Mujahid. The Taliban forces, backed by al Qaeda, began to reoccupy the extensive underground complex that saw heavy fighting during the opening months of the war. By late May, the Taliban had declared the opening of the "Tora Bora front."

The group's first declared attack on Coalition forces came in March when a Marine Special Forces unit was targeted by a complex ambush outside of Jalalabad. The Marines returned fire, killing up to a dozen civilians. The incident precipitated the newly commissioned unit's early departure from the country.

Countering the move, in preparation for the current operation, paratroopers and engineers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team began work on Forward Operating Base Lonestar in Par Wa Agam district in early July. The new FOB, 20 kilometers from the border, overlooks the foothills of the Tora Bora Mountains, where Taliban and al Qaeda operatives are known to cross over from Pakistan.

Nangarhar province is one of the most dangerous in Afghanistan. According to data compiled by Vigilant Strategic Services Afghanistan, there were 620 security incidents reported in the province from January 1 through August 12, making Nangarhar second only to Kandahar, with 774 security incidents. Kunar finished third with 613 security incidents over the same time period.

Nangarhar borders Kunar province to the north, which has been the scene of major battles between the Taliban and US and Afghan forces over the past year. Nangarhar also borders the Pakistani tribal districts of Kurram and Khyber to the south, and Bajaur to the east. The TNSM openly run Bajaur province after the Pakistani government negotiated a peace deal in March, while the Taliban maintain a strong influence in Kurram and Khyber.

Source: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/ ... a_bora.php

i dunno how to upload pics on this forum plz help, i got pics from OEF 2001