WEBVTT - Afghanistan's Most Wanted 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:09.920 Nobody joins the infantry to be the bad guy. Nobody 0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:13.360 joins the army after September eleventh to be the bad guy. 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:19.880 The war in Afghanistan has been made a lot more 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:23.000 complicated by that massacre of seventeen civilians. 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:28.120 I wish, you know, things would be different. I saw 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:32.280 the aftermath firsthand. You know, the idea of hurting a kid, 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:33.880 of killing a kid. 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:38.360 Come on, in the middle of the night, Robert Bales 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:43.640 left his combat outpost alone and murdered sixteen Afghan civilians 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:44.680 in cold blood. 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:47.360 Nine of them were children. 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:51.960 Maybe I am wrong, but you have to understand the 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:52.720 way it went down. 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:56.640 The United States has formally apologized for the killings, and 0:00:56.680 --> 0:00:59.880 the families of the victims were paid a total of seven. 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:04.800 Before they even announced my name. The Secretary of Defense, 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:08.120 Leon Panetta, he said, you know they're gonna give me 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:13.400 the capital punishment. That's a pretty outstanding thing. I thought 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:14.720 I was doing the right thing. 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:18.880 The soldier is to face multiple murder charges, but we 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:22.480 are learning compelling details about his troubled life and his 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:24.800 four deployments to war zones. 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:26.840 You can continue to get blown up, and you continue 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:28.640 to get shot at, and you can't do anything about it. 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:31.679 Had I not been in the Army, had I not 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:35.760 been through the countless engagements. I don't think there's a 0:01:36.240 --> 0:01:38.720 way possible that I could have done anything like that 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:41.240 had it not been for all the experiences laid up 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:41.400 to it. 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:43.679 The United States Army are going to have to look 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:44.280 at this again. 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:47.440 Are we pushing our troops too far, too fast? 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:49.520 And are they exposed to too much combat? 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:51.800 You get post traumatic stress disorder from being in a 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:54.400 car accident, and so you imagine what it would do 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:57.760 to you if you're dragging parts of your friend's bodies around. 0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:01.000 The head trauma of the PTSD come back, and you say, 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:04.120 almost how could it not have happened? How could I 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:05.640 not have done this? 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:09.920 His wife, Carolyn said, what has been reported is completely 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:13.280 out of character of the men I know and admire. 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:16.919 If you've met you at love and most people are 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:21.120 blown away at how real he is, how caring he is. 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:24.840 In a deal, Bailes pleaded guilty to premeditated murder. 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:27.360 The judge then asked him, what was your reason for 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:30.560 killing them? Bals replied, there's not a good reason in 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:32.840 this world for why I did the horrible things I 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:34.359 did I understand. 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:34.760 Why I'm here? 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:37.360 You know, I know our by mistakes. 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:39.400 I know. 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:55.240 Because my nightmares tell me every day. 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:00.840 My name is Mike McGinnis. This is the war within 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:15.280 the Robert Bayles story. Between the years of twenty twelve 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:18.000 and twenty thirteen, the story of US Army staff Sergeant 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:20.280 Robert Baylees was well covered by the mainstream meeting. 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:21.600 Let's get you chucked up? 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:24.440 Get on all right, Yeah, I'm by as long as 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:24.840 he's okay. 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:27.240 Yeah, oh man, thanks for having me. 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:30.400 Several years ago, Robert Bayle sat down for a series 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:34.320 of exclusive interviews with a documentarian, Paul Plowski. He's the 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:36.600 guy with the deep voice in New Jersey accent. 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.240 Just through and just on top. All right. 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:44.560 Well, if I say something stupid, you look good. The 0:03:44.600 --> 0:03:48.440 other voice is John Mayer, Bail's appellet lawyer Mars, trying 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:50.680 to help Baals get home to his wife, Carrie and 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:51.680 their two kids. 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:57.040 Any other situation is this To manage from the state forward, 0:03:57.080 --> 0:04:00.200 You're always going to have the tractors critics, but it's 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:01.480 not critic account. 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:04.320 Bales and mahar are having one of their regular attorney 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:08.400 client meetings. Paul is sitting in and asking questions. They're 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.000 in a private office of the United States Disciplinary Barracks 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:14.720 and Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Military Prison has been Bail's home 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:18.520 for the past ten years. Unless something dramatically changes, he'll 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:19.000 never leave. 0:04:19.120 --> 0:04:21.800 He's already have supporters in those value what you did. 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:24.560 In those recognize, understand, can see that way, passed it. 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:26.400 Whatever they have to do to get the mindset to 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:28.320 support right, that's what we need to cast. 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:32.800 In total, Paul collected eighteen hours worth of commentary from Bales. 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:36.000 They discussed his case, what transpired on the night of 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:40.360 the murders, and plenty of other revelations. Until now, nobody 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:46.279 has heard the unfiltered story straight from the source. As 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:49.080 for me, I spent sixteen years in the US Army, 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:52.280 serving as an infantryman, spending thirteen of them in the 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:56.320 eighty second Airborn in March of twenty twelve, I was 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:59.400 in Afghanistan, about thirty miles from Bob Baals when he 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:03.120 committed what's now known as the kandaharm Masaker. I never 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:07.000 knew Staff Sergeant Bales, but I know this world. I 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:09.880 know what it's like to deploy three, four, five times 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:13.640 to fight the enemy. I was certainly no pacifist out there. 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:16.120 But I'm also not the kind of veteran that thinks 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:19.919 America is always the good guy. Sometimes we are, sometimes 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:23.960 we aren't. In a situation like Robert Bals, kanaharm Masker 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:27.479 exposes the moral ambiguities that so many soldiers face admit 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:31.640 the fog of war. Over the next twelve episodes, we're 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:33.360 going to take a deep dive and explore one of 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:37.200 the most controversial, impolarizing war crimes in recent memory. Our 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:40.279 team has conducted exhaustive interviews with Robert Bayle's fierce as 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:43.520 supporters as well as as big as detractors. You will 0:05:43.520 --> 0:05:45.719 hear from the soldiers who's served on that faithful deployment. 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:49.320 Everything we did was you're in bal splatoon, like that's 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:50.560 how you identified yourself. 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:52.920 Robert Bayales's prominent legal team. 0:05:53.040 --> 0:05:56.719 Whether or not Bob Bales shot and killed those seventeen people, 0:05:57.320 --> 0:06:00.160 he pled guilty to that to save his life, had 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:03.080 guilty to that to take the death penalty off the table. 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:05.880 This case smacks of institutional bias. 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:08.960 Experts who attest this state of Bales's. 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:14.000 Brain Baile's deployment is merely a symptom of a broken army. 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:18.240 Its leadership was fully aware that it was scraping the 0:06:18.240 --> 0:06:21.480 bottom of the barrel and sending injured and ill service 0:06:21.480 --> 0:06:22.440 members overseas. 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:25.200 Bals's wife Carrie. 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:27.880 He's not just my husband, he is my best friend. 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:30.560 My goal is to get him hold so that we 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:31.320 can be a family. 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:33.839 Their fifteen year old daughter, Quincy. 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:36.680 I think that we have a great relationship. 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:39.800 Of course, he can't be involved physically, like he's not 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:42.440 at home and I don't wake up seeing him every morning. 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:45.919 And even the Afghan families whose lives were forever changed 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:47.960 by Baals' actions. 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:52.160 When the American troops came and night, they committed brutal 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:55.840 atrocities on us. You see, they took my whole families 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:56.479 away from me. 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:00.479 August twenty twenty one marked the official end the US 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:05.200 Afghan War. Almost immediately after the Americans evacuated, Kable fell 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:09.080 and the Taliban reclaimed control of the country. After two 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:12.360 decades of conflict and tragedy, Almost everything is as it 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:17.040 was after all. Geopolitically, Afghanistan is known as the land 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:18.560 where history repeats itself. 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:24.120 Afghanistan, it's known as the Graveyard of the Empires. Whether 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:26.320 it was a British Empire, and then the Soviet Union 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:27.480 and now the Americans. 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:31.040 Kathy Gannon lived in Kable, Afghanistan for thirty five years, 0:07:31.200 --> 0:07:33.360 working as a journalist for the Associated Press. 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:36.800 And it's not that Afghanist don't like foreigners, because they 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:39.960 do like foreigners. They like foreigners very much, but they 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:43.920 do not like foreigners who come in to subjugate them. 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:48.840 Then the resistance has historically jailed together and they have 0:07:48.960 --> 0:08:01.400 resisted that attempt by whomever to impose their will on them. 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:04.240 History tells us that if you're a global superpower trying 0:08:04.240 --> 0:08:08.640 to conquer Afghanistan, you're probably not going to win. So 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:09.840 I did the US. 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:13.720 Invade, You were attacked on nine to eleven. That's very 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:14.960 my name to Afghanistan. 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:20.640 Afghanistan didn't topple the Twin Towers. It was Osama bin 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:24.160 Laden and al Qaeda who committed that unthinkable act. But 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:27.120 the Bush administration wanted to find bin Laden and he 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:31.000 was hiding in Afghanistan. The Taliban ruled the country at 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:33.600 the time, and they refused to cooperate with the search. 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:39.400 The US government Post nine eleven said to Mullah Omar, 0:08:39.480 --> 0:08:42.439 the head of the Taliban hand over Osama Bin Lauden 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:45.440 closed down all the training camps that might exist in 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:49.040 Afghanistan and continue to exist, and we won't go in. 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:50.600 That's what we want. 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:53.800 From you, and we wanted from you. Now, willo Omar 0:08:53.960 --> 0:08:58.640 returned with you, give us the evidence of Osami's involvement 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:01.200 in nine to eleven, and we will. 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:01.959 Try him here. 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:03.840 Now. 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:06.640 Saudi Arabia should have been real one that America should 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:09.240 have gone to because all the hijackers were soundly for 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:13.200 Pete six. But with Sadiya Abia I Vandosam bin Hunt 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:15.160 to be tried and vound guilty and Sadia Arabia the 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:20.400 greement and uprising. So on October seventh, two thousand and one, 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:23.479 the US at Town, Afghanistan. 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:28.320 Ten years later, in twenty eleven, Seal Team six finally 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:33.599 took out Bin Laden he was in Pakistan, but the 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:37.319 war in Afghanistan continued. The US had already deposed a 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:40.240 government propped up a new one. They couldn't just leave 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:41.040 whenever they wanted. 0:09:41.400 --> 0:09:47.160 I think the situation in Afghanistan was and remained so complicated, 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:52.560 and Robert Bales is a depiction of the complexities of this. 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:56.800 Conflict, decorated journalist yealde Hakim was also on the ground 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:58.200 in Afghanistan at that time. 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:02.840 It was a twenty year war that was fought twenty 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:06.559 times every year. The policy seemed to shift and no 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:10.520 ground was ever gained, and no real understanding outside of 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:14.480 Cardboll of what the games were. And I am sure 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:19.199 for Robert Bales that platoon, the servicemen who were there, 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:22.040 that would have crossed their minds. 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:24.720 Daily, what are we doing here? Why are we fighting 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:25.160 this war? 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:29.520 And that kind of conflict between your duty and what 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:32.599 you think you're fighting for, and then all of the 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:35.240 misunderstandings around that. And I think that's what war brings. 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:47.120 So here's the thing. Every time we go through this 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:50.079 and we talk about it, all the events are led 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:53.559 up to that night, I feel it again on my 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:58.760 chest right and You're like, how the hell could anyone 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:02.640 do that? How the hell could I go that far 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:07.720 off track? And then I go back and I relive 0:11:07.800 --> 0:11:10.800 those days up to that, and I'm like, oh my god, 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:12.200 I can't believe I was still alive. 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:12.840 To drew that. 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:17.679 I understand how I got where I was as I 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:21.280 stepped back weeks months coming back to the United States, 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:24.199 not being surrounded by the culture of the environment. You know, 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:27.880 it's a heinous act that is very difficult to judge 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:32.560 with American eyes in America. When you're in the middle 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:36.640 of Afghanistan, in the birthplace of the Tablat, where every 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:39.400 day you're in a firefight, when every day you think 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:41.000 that you or your friends are going to be shot 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:44.320 or killed, you look at things differently. 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:50.480 The year was twenty ten, two years before the incident. 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:54.520 Bob Bales was finishing his third tour in Iraq. Like 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:58.400 many soldiers who saw that much combat, who was mentally exhausted. 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:00.679 I thought I was just gonna have some time to 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:05.760 kind of relax a little bit, reset, retool, and to 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:07.520 be honest with you, I thought about being a recruiter 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:10.360 and wanted to move down to Tampa just take a break, man. 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:13.120 I mean, you know, in nine years, I'm deployed, you know, 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:15.720 three times in nine years, you know, I mean. 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:18.439 That's a lot. At the same time, the US was 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:21.760 in the middle of a military surge in Afghanistan. They 0:12:21.800 --> 0:12:24.679 needed all the manpower that could muster and began asking 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:28.480 decorated Iraq vets to redeploy. So it was less than 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:30.959 a year before Bob Bales was tapped to lead a 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:35.520 squad for Tour number four. By then, he had already 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:40.280 seen over three full years of deadly combat. Bales might 0:12:40.320 --> 0:12:42.800 have been an old pro, but the people placed under 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:48.800 his command weren't nearly a season. Take Private James Alexander Man, I. 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:51.240 Have been waiting ten years to talk about this. I'm 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:53.319 shocked at nobody's come forward before. 0:12:53.880 --> 0:12:56.120 As Robert Bales was getting home from his third year 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:59.719 in Iraq, James was going into basic training. He was 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:01.040 in for a rude awakening. 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:03.199 Twenty ten. I went to the recruiting station and I 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:04.319 was like, I want to be in the action. I 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:06.679 wanted the hardest job that you guys could give me. 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:08.920 And so they were like perfect infantry, you know, and 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:11.079 I was like, okay, perfect sounds great, you know, like 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:13.280 another another dumb one signed up kind of thing. 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:16.840 Going into enlistment. What did you think about the Afghan War? 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:18.760 Because you know, you said you joined in twenty ten, 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:22.079 we'd already been in Theeeder for nine years. What were 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:24.800 your feelings about the war, you know, going into it? 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:26.319 Did you think it was a good war? 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:28.319 I'm trying to think of when we got been laden 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:29.839 March of twenty eleven. 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:31.840 I think, yeah, that's what was May of twenty eleven. 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:33.800 Yeah, and so that's when I first joined the unit. 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:36.439 So I thought like, okay, boys, war's over. We've done 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:36.839 our thing. 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:37.679 For me. 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:40.160 The whole purpose was we're going to go to Afghanistan. 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:44.079 We're gonna make this place inhospitable so that terrorists can't 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:46.240 go there and we could protect the homeland, but also 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:49.760 there's real problems there that we can help, like the 0:13:49.800 --> 0:13:52.199 women and children of Afghanistan and all that stuff. I 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:54.439 thought that we by going there, we'd be doing some 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:55.360 level of good. 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:58.120 Bales is a platoon star when you first get there, right, Yeah, 0:13:58.440 --> 0:13:59.880 what kind of platoon sergeant was WASI? 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:06.000 Bales was mom, dad, brother, uncle, sister, everything, Every single 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:08.040 part of that platoon was him. He had been there 0:14:08.080 --> 0:14:11.040 for quite a while, I think, but more so, he 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:13.280 had really good relationships with all of the other squad 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:15.840 leaders and so he kind of ran the thing as 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:20.280 he wanted to. And his job basically was to take 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:22.760 the toughest mission, and that's the mission that we got. 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:32.040 Bales and his squad were deployed to Panjue, Afghanistan. The 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:35.160 region is known as the birthplace of the Taliban. There 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:37.320 are no easy deployments in such a kinnectic area. 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:41.200 On that fourth tour, you know, we're heading to Bellum 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:44.120 by Afghanistan, and we know it's bad. 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:44.760 You know. 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:48.160 We talked to the SF guys back in Candhor and 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:50.120 they're like, oh, where are you going, And we're like, oh, 0:14:50.120 --> 0:14:52.520 we're going to Belibay and they're like, oh, man, good luck. 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:54.560 You know, it's one of those things like oh, you 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:55.240 got cancer. 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:55.920 Good luck. 0:14:56.680 --> 0:15:00.880 Their base was known as VSP Belumbai. In the military, 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:04.840 everything is shortened to an acronym. Special Forces becomes SF, 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:11.040 Improvised explosive device becomes IED, so VSP is short for 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:14.880 Village Stability Platform. They tended to be placed in areas 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:16.840 where the Taliban had a major presence. 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:20.520 This is one of my all time great stories. We 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:22.880 were getting the brief and there's an SF major who's 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:25.160 giving us the brief and he's very young. So this 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:27.520 SF major is pointing at this board is a map 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:30.800 of Afghanistan and basically pointing at the different vsps that 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:33.120 we're all going to go to. And each VSP has 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:35.520 different icons next to it, and some of like you know, 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:38.280 small arms fire icon and you look at Bellabay and 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:41.640 it has all the icons, just all of them, and 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:43.760 he saved it for last, and I'll never forget. He 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:46.080 kind of pointed at it and was like, this is 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:48.760 VSP Ballaby. It's a big fuck you to the Taliban. 0:15:48.800 --> 0:15:51.400 That's why it's there. This is their home, this is 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:55.000 their spiritual place. And we set up this VSP at 0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:57.920 the end of the line as a big like we 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:01.120 are not leaving kind of situation like, Okay, I'm going 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:03.480 to the place where the Taliban really want to take Okay, 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:04.480 good to know, thanks sir. 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:10.640 Check understand that originally I didn't want to go, but 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:15.040 you have one or two choices. You either cowered out 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:18.520 or you cowboy up. And nobody wants to go to 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:22.920 war with a pussy. So put my head down and 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:26.760 went as hard as I could, trying to live as 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:30.080 much life at home as you possibly could, making sure 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:32.760 my wife and kids knew I love them, making sure 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:36.360 the guys told their families that, hey, you know, understand 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:38.320 that we are being told that this was a completely 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:43.800 different fight. The Taliban was a completely different monster than 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:48.360 anything we had experienced in Iraq. And when in Iraq, 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:49.840 you know there were a lot of ambush There's a 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:52.640 lot of firefights here and there, but they would always flee. 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:57.400 These guys, the Taliban would engage, flank and maneuver. 0:16:59.280 --> 0:16:59.880 They were different. 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:03.120 They're good warriors. Let's just say it like that. I 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:03.560 hate them. 0:17:04.359 --> 0:17:05.080 Don't get me wrong. 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:07.680 I don't like them. I don't want to say anything 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:10.760 positive about them. But they grew up fighting and they 0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:17.159 knew what they were doing. So going into this, you know, 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:18.720 I don't want to tell you I was scared, but 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:21.359 I was scared of death, not just for myself, but 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:22.480 for all these new guys. 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:27.119 James Alexander was one of those new guys. Gavin Jones 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:30.920 was another. Sporting a thick mustache in an acoustic guitar. 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:33.520 Gavin presents himself more like a guy who would have 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:37.359 been protesting Vietnam decades ago and that way. In others, 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.680 he couldn't have been more different than his squad leader Bails. 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:43.960 He seemed all right, like in the beginning, a little 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:47.560 weird like, for example, I know, even before we shipped off, 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:51.119 he took us aside and had a conversation with about men. 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:52.480 You know, war as hell. 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:54.840 I know it gets weird out there I've had plenty 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:57.959 of other deployments in Iraq, basically saying that like, if 0:17:58.000 --> 0:17:59.680 you need to make that shot and they're so in 0:18:00.240 --> 0:18:01.920 you that doesn't need to be shot, you can make 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:03.760 that shot and know that we've got your back on that. 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:05.800 So basically saying that we can do whatever we want 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:08.119 as long as we can claim that we're protecting someone, 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:09.479 or basically a blank check. 0:18:09.520 --> 0:18:12.080 Stuff like that, basically big boy rules, as he would 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:12.320 put it. 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:14.080 I just assumed that was just like a normal talk 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:16.120 anyone was gonna give, you know, assuming that you're infantry, 0:18:16.240 --> 0:18:18.639 like you know, you're probably gonna do questionable things in 0:18:18.720 --> 0:18:20.200 order to make sure that your buddy, the guy next 0:18:20.200 --> 0:18:22.320 to you comes home. So I didn't really think too 0:18:22.400 --> 0:18:25.000 much of that conversation at the time, besides the fact like, hey, 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:26.520 I'm not to go to like Afghanistan about to go 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:28.679 into war like this, you know, weird shit happens. 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:39.840 In early December of twenty eleven, Bails and his squad 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:43.800 shipped off for VSB Ballumbay. There's another quirk you should 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:46.280 know about the military's naming system. It can be kind 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:49.040 of like the book nineteen eighty four where the Ministry 0:18:49.040 --> 0:18:51.800 of p sandels war and the Ministry of Love deals 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:55.040 with torture. In other words, if you were going to 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:58.480 a village stability platform, you could expect the environment to 0:18:58.560 --> 0:18:59.600 be pretty unstable. 0:19:00.200 --> 0:19:03.720 Our mission was Village Stability Operations, and you know what 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:08.760 that means is effectively, you send smaller units out into 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:12.520 the rural population to live with the locals, live like 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:16.080 the locals in an effort to build trust and confidence 0:19:16.160 --> 0:19:16.679 and rapport. 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:19.639 As the person tasked with overseeing the soldier station at 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:23.080 VSP Bellam by Special Forces, Captain Danny Fields was in 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:25.800 charge of stabilizing the area. It was a green berry 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:28.320 on his third tour, a rising star by all accounts. 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:34.080 Once that local populace trust you, essentially you partner with 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:38.400 them to secure their own area. BEFOREVSO or Village Stability 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:41.600 Operations was a thing, typically you had the military would 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:44.719 all be located on a big base, right and they 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:49.200 would go out and do maybe an overnight mission, kill 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:52.560 some bad guys, and then come back. Problem with that is, 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:55.760 well it's a vacuum. Bad guys would come right back 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:58.280 into that spot. The local population didn't have any trust 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:02.240 because they felt that the American forces were just going 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:04.840 to show up, damage some things, get rid of some 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:05.439 bad guys for. 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:06.880 A little bit, and then go back home. 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:08.920 So Vso kind of flipped that on its head. Where 0:20:09.040 --> 0:20:11.280 you live with the locals like the locals. 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:14.800 Private Alexander didn't get a full sense of what living 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:17.240 like the locals really meant until he was on the 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:19.080 ground and panishway Afghanistan. 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:22.199 Probably the moment I knew that I made the biggest 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:26.480 mistake was the trip out. So we're leaving Camp Brown 0:20:27.080 --> 0:20:30.480 and they're driving us to bell and Buy. The guys 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:32.919 in the back of the truck were like, make sure 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:37.600 you put your seat belt on. There's IED's everywhere, and 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:41.520 I'm just like, uh shit, okay. And so we start, 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:44.000 you know, we're going out. We're turning down roads and 0:20:44.080 --> 0:20:46.160 we keep making like different turns, and I'm looking out 0:20:46.160 --> 0:20:49.200 of these bulletproof windows and I just see poverty on 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:51.680 a scale that I've never seen before. And as you 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:54.600 got further further from the city, you would see just 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:58.280 outposts with blown up vehicles next to him, and we 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:02.639 kept going past those, like, oh my god, where are 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:03.080 we going. 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:07.680 I don't think people can understand what it's like to 0:21:08.800 --> 0:21:12.800