A cowardly attack on our troops in Afghanistan two days ago once again pointed out the green-on-blue attacks as one of the biggest threats to our soldiers out there. The Green-on-Blue incident means that U.S. troops were engaged by friendly forces.
A Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) from 7th Special ForcesG roup was ambushed in Afghanistan by a rogue Afghan policeman in the Sherzad district of Nangarhar Province, which is located in eastern Afghanistan. It resulted in the deaths of two American operators and six wounded. In addition, at least eight Afghan soldiers have died as a result of the attack.
The Greens Berets of Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 7313 and the company command team of A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (A/3/7) had just finished a Key Leader Engagement (KLE) with local leaders when they were ambushed. The American element, which was accompanied by a partner force of Afghan Special Operations Forces (ANSOF) had moved to a nearby field to wait for extraction by helicopter. While they were in a Pickup Zone (PZ) posture, the rogue Afghan policeman attacked. The individual essentially mowed down the Special Forces operators and their partner force element with a heavy machinegun, the SOFREP reported.
A Green Beret and a Special Operations Team-Alpha (SOT-A) soldier, who was attached to the team, were killed on the scene. The company commander was shot in the chest and is in critical condition; the company Sergeant Major was shot in the head. The rest of the American warriors who were wounded in the incident have gunshot wounds to the limbs. All casualties have been evacuated to U.S. medical facilities and their condition is stable.
The fallen soldiers were identified as a Sergeant 1st Class Javier Jaguar Gutierrez of San Antonio, Texas and Sergeant 1st Class Antonio Rey Rodriguez of Las Cruces, New Mexico, according to the Department of Defence (DoD).
According to the United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC), Sgt. Gutierrez enlisted in the Army in 2009 as an infantryman (11B). In 2012, he successfully completed the three-week Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS). He graduated from the follow-on Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) in 2015 as a communications sergeant (18E). This was his third combat deployment (he had two combat rotations to Afghanistan and one to Iraq).
Sgt. Gutierrez was the senior communications sergeant of ODA 7313.
Please consider supporting the families of the fallen. You can support Sgt. Rodriguez’s family by donating here; and you can support Sgt. Gutierrez’s family by donating here.