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Interview with MAJ Chris Wells

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As a member of 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group and commander of ODA 324, Major Chris Wells played a lead role in the July 2005 battle of Siah Chow, fought in southern Afghanistan's Uruzgan Province. Having its genesis in the suspected presence of local Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Wali and perhaps as many as 200 of his fellow insurgents, Wells explained that "we decided to act on Siah Chow getting this intel, realizing he was there with his core fighters and probably hadn't had the time to go around and gather anybody else up. We wanted to go ahead and take care of him and his core fighters." As such, Wells continued, "We quickly task organized and knew there was probably going to be a fight, but we weren't positive. Our mission statement was a reconnaissance patrol to confirm or deny their existence in that town. It wasn't a movement to contact on paper but we planned it that way. We planned for the worst, hoped for the best." Indeed, what began as a combat reconnaissance patrol into a Taliban sanctuary area ended up being a successful execution of the battalion commander's strategy of constantly pressuring, pursuing and punishing the enemy, an outcome made all the more possible by the integration of various Afghan security forces and coalition close air support. In this interview, Wells - the overall ground force commander that day in charge of two ODAs and multiple coalition elements - provides an exhaustive, often harrowing account of this daylong fight, recounting everything from friendly and enemy tactics and employment of weapons systems to the key dilemmas and decision points he faced throughout. "You could see they were prepared to fight: they took their turbans off and tied them around their waists. Upon talking with one of my interpreters, they have a saying like our 'Pull up your boot straps' when you're getting ready to work. Well, they say 'Tie your turban around your waist' when they're getting ready to do some hard work. That was a clear signal - that all of them were dressed like that - that they knew they were there to fight the whole day." Wells and his men obliged them and, in the end, inflicted some 40 enemy kills and captured 15.

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As a member of 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces Group and commander of ODA 324, Major Chris Wells played a lead role in the July 2005 battle of Siah Chow, fought in southern Afghanistan's Uruzgan Province. Having its genesis in the suspected presence of local Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Wali and perhaps as many as 200 of his fellow insurgents, Wells explained that "we decided to act on Siah Chow getting this intel, realizing he was there with his core fighters and probably hadn't had the time to go around and gather anybody else up. We wanted to go ahead and take care of him and his core fighters." As such, Wells continued, "We quickly task organized and knew there was probably going to be a fight, but we weren't positive. Our mission statement was a reconnaissance patrol to confirm or deny their existence in that town. It wasn't a movement to contact on paper but we planned it that way. We planned for the worst, hoped for the best." Indeed, what began as a combat reconnaissance patrol into a Taliban sanctuary area ended up being a successful execution of the battalion commander's strategy of constantly pressuring, pursuing and punishing the enemy, an outcome made all the more possible by the integration of various Afghan security forces and coalition close air support. In this interview, Wells - the overall ground force commander that day in charge of two ODAs and multiple coalition elements - provides an exhaustive, often harrowing account of this daylong fight, recounting everything from friendly and enemy tactics and employment of weapons systems to the key dilemmas and decision points he faced throughout. "You could see they were prepared to fight: they took their turbans off and tied them around their waists. Upon talking with one of my interpreters, they have a saying like our 'Pull up your boot straps' when you're getting ready to work. Well, they say 'Tie your turban around your waist' when they're getting ready to do some hard work. That was a clear signal - that all of them were dressed like that - that they knew they were there to fight the whole day." Wells and his men obliged them and, in the end, inflicted some 40 enemy kills and captured 15.

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