broke loose. Although the Taliban sentries
had been dealt with the rest weren’t giving
up without a fight and opened up with
everything they could – but it was too late.
TF soldiers breached the building from all
directions, making short work of everyone
inside and capturing Panther in the process.
He was extracted back to the FOB for
interrogation without fuss, while those that
remained behind prepared for the inevitable
counter-attack.
It was four hours later, just as the sun
was coming up, that the first murky figure
was spotted moving through the early
morning mist, and then another – and
another…
Wave after wave of Taliban fighters fell
upon the building and, despite a huge effort
from the defenders (fighting in clouds
of choking smoke), by sheer weight of
numbers the Taliban forced an entry and
systematically wiped them out. This was a
heavy defeat for the Task Force, but they
at least captured Panther and who knows
what information he might be able to
supply?
Conscious of what might happen to the
villagers, Townhouse decided on a fullfrontal, high-speed assault, using all means
to find Chaplain, wipe out the remaining
Taliban and prevent any reprisal killings.
In vehicles and on foot, TF squads poured
into the village only to be met by a barrage
of heavy machine gun fire and IEDs. The
vehicles were disabled by the blasts while
the Taliban cleverly wheeled their defence
to isolate individual squads before mowing
them down.
With nearly 90 per cent of their number
dead or wounded, Task Force Viper
withdrew from Ali Sherzai – for now.
The cost had indeed been very steep
048
December 2011
but with Panther captured, the Taliban had
been considerably weakened at a high level.
Together with the recent success in Yemen,
they will find it hard to recover from their
losses.
It had been a seriously hard 36 hours and
I can honestly say I have never experienced
anything like it before. I slept all the way
back to Bagram where, following a hot
shower and some food, I climbed aboard
my flight back to the UK and was asleep
again before the wheels left the ground. ■
Operation Rolling Thunder was part of an ongoing scenario
developed and executed by Tier 1 Military Simulation.
Tier 1 prides itself on producing events that are as close to the
real thing as possible. You don’t get a serial number and you
don’t actually die – but in every other respect the experience
simulates what soldiers face on a day-to-day basis.
Contact Tier 1 Military Simulation:
www.tier1militarysimulation.com