GIs Battle 'Ghosts' in Afghanistan

More details began trickling in. Fetterman was up, as were most of his top staff members. There was nothing for them to do but seethe. They had no vehicles for chasing the assailants and, besides, intelligence reports indicated that the rockets were generally set several hours before going off, meaning the enemy was almost certainly long gone.

Several of the soldiers offered their ideas, which mostly revolved around putting more men on the ground. Smith focused on the rules of engagement, which prevent soldiers from shooting unless they are being threatened. The three suspicious men they saw did not qualify.

"The only way is to say, if they act stupid, take them down," he said. "Problem is, you can't do that. Not in this country. 'Cause everyone acts stupid."

"[Expletive] bastards!" fumed Leach, the intelligence officer.

"Life was a lot easier when everyone wore a uniform," Fetterman said.

"Then you know who you can kill and not kill," Smith agreed.

Fetterman got a report from aides. Not a single car came through the two roadblocks overnight. "We had no movement in here last night. That means their 'intell' is better than ours. They know where we are and we didn't know where they are."

Fetterman sat back and reflected some more. "It's very much like Vietnam -- partial success," he said. "We pushed them out but they're smart enough to figure out how to react to what we're doing."

"It's one of those times when you accomplish your task but fail the mission," added Capt. Daniel Kidd, 28, a top aide to Fetterman.

Smith did not like that assessment. "We didn't fail our mission," he retorted sharply. "Our mission was to search and clear Operation Area Crocodile. We did that."

But he did not sound all that convinced. He scrunched up his face in frustration. "Well, it could have been worse. They could have launched from right over there."

The sun began to creep above the horizon. The soft dawn light revealed a field filled with rustling soldiers with no enemy to fight. The temperature began to rise, hinting at the broiler to come. And the infantrymen continued to hash out what had happened.

Smith was still perturbed. How could they do their job, he wanted to know, if the military was not prepared to do what was necessary? "Our job is to close with and destroy the enemy," he said. "You can drop bombs on them all [expletive] day. But until we're ready to accept putting out squads -- "

"We're not willing to do that," interjected Fetterman.

"I know that."

"We got into their decision cycle," Fetterman offered, again searching for the positive outcome. "We made them do something they didn't want to do. We got some more intell."

"But bottom line, we didn't kill the [expletives]," Smith said. He scowled again. The conversation faded to grim silence. Off in the distance, they suddenly heard a burst of machine-gun fire. And then another. It came from the direction of the city, miles away, possibly factional fighting among the locals. Nothing related to their mission. Nothing for them to do. They sat down again and waited for the helicopters to take them back to their base.

"Ah, this sucks," Smith sighed. "Didn't get to kill nobody and they still got to fire their rocket."

Then he posed the ultimate question to the group. "When have we completed our mission in Afghanistan?"

No one had an answer.