Military Review English Edition November December 2016 | Page 132

Hammerhead Six was a national guard ODA from
the 19th Special Forces Group (SFG) that included an
intensive-care nurse, a police officer, a gem dealer, an
engineer, and several entrepreneurs. The unique occupational diversity of Hammerhead Six provided multiple
perspectives to problem solving. Additionally, several
members were devout Latter-day Saint adherents who
had served as missionaries providing humanitarian aid
and community service to foreign communities. These
missionary experiences proved to be invaluable with
respect to understanding culture and the development of
personal and professional relationships with the populace of the Pech Valley.
Fry’s detailed and entertaining account of how
Hammerhead Six pacified what was to become
Afghanistan’s “Valley of Death” is provocative. It is an
account of the true value of mutual respect, understanding, and the importance of relationships in an effective
counterinsurgency strategy.
Hammerhead Six: How Green Berets Waged an
Unconventional War Against the Taliban to Win in
Afghanistan’s Deadly Pech Valley details a thought-provoking account of how Hammerhead Six established
the first Special Forces “A” camp since the Vietnam War.
Their exploits are both educational and entertaining. It
is important to understand the perspective from which
Fry relates his experiences in the Pech Valley. The Army
has since come to take some of Hammerhead Six’s tactics,
techniques, and procedures (TTP) as doctrine. However,
during the winter of 2003–2004, doctrinal TTP did not
exist. Hammerhead Six executed the clear-hold-build
methodology before it