Chapter 16 -A Hike to OP “Bull Run”

Named after an American civil war battle ground, the observatory post "Bull Run" was located on a mountain top in the northwest of the forward operating base (FOB) Wright near Asad Abad town of Kunar Province. It was about 2400 feet above sea level. Bull Run was the highest OP among the series of three OPs located on this hilly track.

On March 14, 2014, I accompanied my team for an overnight mission to the OP. We started our hike before dawn. Moonlight was enough to see the zigzag track we were following. It took us almost two hours to reach the OP. In addition to our brief stops at two other OPs, Sarbaz and Shaheen, we made frequent stops to catch our breath on the way. The passage was very scenic, especially the view of Asad Abad town with the river and snow capped mountains in the background, was very mesmerizing. Observatory Post Bull Run was originally constructed by the Russians to protect their "Topchi" Base or FOB Wright (a name given during the presence of ISAF). In Pashto, "Topchi" means "Gunner" or “Artillery man".

At the time of our visit, the OP Bull Run was manned with the soldiers from Afghan Security Force, who were well trained and equipped to protect FOB Wright and Asad Abad town, from the north-west and west directions. The OP Bull Run could not be seen from FOB Wright; however, it could be seen from Asad Abad town.

During our 24 hours at the OP, we stayed in a guard tower which was about 20 feet higher than the OP. It was cold and rain poured throughout the night. We were protected from the rain by the roof, but there was no way to hide from the cold and wet gusts hitting us from all open sides of the tower. However, soldiers at OP treated us very well. Not only, they provided us with food, but also with the much-needed hot and excessively sweet tea, which kept us warm and awake all night. The next day we started descending back to our FOB early in the morning. The sun was up, and the weather was very pleasant. The return walk was very smooth and quick.