Chapter 5 -Visits to Patrol Base Detroit

Previously known to us as "compound 98", the Patrol Base (PB) Detroit, was established after multiple clearing missions in the Trek Nawa area in the northeast of Marjah. Whenever we came to this group of small villages at the edge of "Mir Beland Dashat" we stayed in this abandoned compound. The area was significantly kinetic and on every mission we experienced contact with the anti-government elements. The village, next to the PB was "Pakistani Village" located on the north-east of the BP Detroit. Areas in west and southwest of the PB were secured due to the presence of other patrol bases manned with International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) and Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). However, Taliban fighters were present in the areas on the east and northeast of the PB. Most of them were from Marjah and Nawa hiding in the area due to the presence of security forces in the town.

During our visit in April 2011, the PB Detroit was established to validate a sustained presence of security forces in the area. We started our journey on May 15, 2011, from Marjah via outpost Wakil Wazir (OP WaWa). We stayed for a night at Wawa. As no space was available in the tents so we unfolded our cots and set our beds behind our truck in the parking area. We always felt more comfortable when travelled with our MRAP-ATV, because it was easy to carry items like cots, mats, sleeping bags, MREs, water, mosquito nets, Wag bags and even a plastic bucket which we used as a toilet after suspending a wag bag in it. However, we never tried to use the bucket toilet when the truck was moving. It was an important piece of equipment during our travelling and during emergencies. I remember one time there was an outbreak of foodborne diarrhea in FOB Marjah. More than 80 of the 200 marines and civilians including the team I was working with, were sick. Hesco walled toilets were not close enough to our tents to reach quickly when there was an urgency. So, we parked our MRAP next to our tent for quick access to the bucket toilet.

It was late afternoon when we arrived at WaWa. We were hungry and were reluctantly making up our mind to have a MRE dinner. Suddenly James saw a Marine, munching on a beef burger, he became so excited that he threw his MRE on his cot and approached the marine and asked him "is it real"? In other words, he was requesting him to let him know the source of this sacred food. The Marine was kind enough to take us to a small room where they were keeping a bag of thawed ground beef, which someone had brought from Camp Dwyer. A makeshift grill was already set outside the room. We grilled beef patties and relished our burgers. It had been a long time since we had enjoyed such food.

The weather was not bad at night, also our appetite was well satisfied, so we slept well. Early in the morning a convoy came to the WaWa, producing a lot of dust and noise which forced us to wrap up our beds and hide in the truck. After three or four hours we started rolling with the same convoy toward PB Detroit. There was a small road leading to the OP Detroit. Instead of taking the normal road, our convoy drove through a brown, flat, and dusty landscape of the desert. It took us about two hours to arrive at PB Detroit. This time the PB looked entirely different than I saw a month ago. In addition to its original mud walls, it was also surrounded by an earth filled Hesco wall from three sides. While the south side was protected by a berm topped with razor wire. Other additions were watch towers, three tents, pee tubes, a wag bag toilet, shower room and a burn pit. The open area in the front of three tents was used as a gym where a press bench, few weights, a truck tire, and an iron chain were available for workout. Last month when we came here engineers were busy leveling the land and erecting boundaries.

Only bottled water was available inside the PB. However, a small irrigation water channel was running outside of the northern and western walls of the PB. It was a hot summer and after our desert ride and then a foot patrol around the PB we were covered with a visible layer of dust and sweat. In such conditions I was reluctant to take a shower with a few bottles of water, so I requested sentries posted on the front watch tower to provide me with a cover so I can lower in the canal to take a soothing bath in the running water. Both ANA and Marine posted on the tower very happily agreed to it. The water was not deep enough to dip myself in the water, so I used my metallic canteen cup to pour water on myself. For the remaining days of my stay, I made it my daily ritual to take a late afternoon bath in the canal after every patrol.

On the first afternoon we went to the Pakistani village to meet local elders. More than 30 elders from the surrounding villages were gathered in one of the compounds in the village. The meeting went well. All the elders were cooperative and agreed to work with Marines and ANA to bring peace and security in the area. They also discussed area problems and their possible solutions with the civil affair Marines. Elders from the Pakistani village pointed out that the PB should have been established on the east side of the village to better secure the village from threats. We also collected some biometric data and distributed radios. After the meeting, we patrolled the village and came back to the PB without any incident.

On the second day we learned that some families from the Pakistani village left the village. In the afternoon when we patrolled the village, it was almost abandoned. At the outskirts of the village, we found an old man milking his goats. He told us that last night the Taliban sent them a threatening message to leave the village and not to cooperate with the ISAF security forces. Intimidation worked, and poor people left their homes in the village and became refugees in their own area. Next day we met a farmer who also moved his family from the “Pakistani village". We inquired about the reason for leaving his home. He denied any insurgents intimidation, instead he attributed his movement to the farmland which he had rented in a different area. Apparently, what he was saying was not true, because the compound where his family moved in was just across the road, about 10 minutes’ walk from his previous home. Also, his new residence was in a very poor shape as compared to his own house in the village. However, his new place was behind the OP, thus more protected from the harassment or any attack of Taliban fighters.

The task of the Marines posted at the PB was not only to tame the area but also to convince the local villagers to believe and support their government and security forces. It was a difficult job especially when the poppy crop was in its harvesting stage and the government was pursuing to destroy their illegal crop. We saw many fields which were destroyed by the Afghan Local Police during their recent poppy eradication campaign. Many farmers whose poppy fields were targeted during the campaign were very angry and blamed ISAF for snatching their sole source of bread. A very difficult atmosphere to work and achieve objectives.

On our third day at noon while we were resting after morning patrol, insurgents started shooting at the PB. One round hit a tent and other rounds were absorbed by a Hesco at the ECP watch tower right next to our truck, but no one got hurt. Marines also returned fire. After the announcement of "all clear" we were ordered to patrol the area from where the shots were fired at us.

During our seven days stay at the PB we intensively patrolled the area along with an Afghan National Army platoon stationed at the PB. Sergeant Ali Hussein, a short stature man, was the ANA platoon leader. He was very smart and led most of our patrols in the area. He was very careful while selecting a route for patrol to avoid land mines, a common and a very effective weapon of insurgents. He used to carry his long gun which he also used to swivel while jumping over wide irrigation channels and ditches. During these patrols we searched some suspected compounds, visited various mosques, shops, farms and talked to many people.

Like other parts of Helmand, farming was the mainstay in the area. Poppy was the most important crop followed by corn, cotton, and cumin. Many lands in the area were declared state lands after their previous allotments made by the Taliban before the year 2001 were cancelled by the Karzai government. However, many plots were still occupied by the same farmers or land-grabbers. These state lands did not have water rights from the irrigation canal passing through the area. The illegal pumping of water from the canal in the area had significantly reduced the water flow to Marjah, adversely affecting agricultural production in Marjah. Interestingly, most of the water pumps were provided to these farmers under a US funded program.

All Marines and ANA soldiers posted at PB Detroit were very friendly. It is the beauty of a small base that you have more freedom compared to a FOB or a large base. Most of the disciplinary rules were usually relaxed. You can wear whatever you want to, you can yell, shout, dance, get free open-air tanning and many other things. But this freedom comes at the cost of air conditioning, chow hall, MWR, showers and cold drinks because these facilities are not available on a PB. For many deployed service members and civilians, it is a high price for the sort of freedom a small PB in Afghanistan used to offer.