MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- “There I was… we were moving into a location that we were suppose to check out, to see if any enemy strongholds were there. As soon as we came into the location we started taking fire on our vehicles, RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades), rifle rounds, small-arms fire. They were beating on us,” said Gunnery Sgt. Michael Perella as he recalled the epic battle in October 2007, which led to him receiving the Bronze Star Medal with combat distinguishing device Nov. 25, 2009.
Perella was deployed to the Helmand, Province, Afghanistan as an assault team leader and joint terminal attack controller with 2d platoon, Company G, 2d Marine Special Operations Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Special Operations Command in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
The company had the mission of disrupting areas of interest as part of a larger mission to eventually take down a Taliban stronghold.
“We went out of the wire 28 times and 28 times we were in a gun fight,” Perella said.
The Marines moved to re-clear an area of interest on Oct. 27, without warning, the Marines came under intense fire from rocket-propelled grenades and recoilless rifle rounds.
“After we pulled up to the edge of the town we dismounted our vehicles and moved east toward the riverbed about 100 meters into the village,” said Gunnery Sgt. Alexander Neil, who served with Perella in the same platoon during the deployment and also received a Bronze Star Medal with combat distinguishing device from the deployment. “We started to receive small-arms fire from a small ridgeline, so we assaulted through, clearing a couple compounds, returning fire while on the move, until we got to a small hill.”
The Taliban fired on the Marines from a fortified position at the top of the hill and ridgeline. Perella and Neil each took a six man team and maneuvered to defensive positions while fighting their way up the hill.
“When we got on the hill we could see recoilless rife rounds hitting 10 feet on the other side of the helm (village) from us,” Perella said. “They were planted all around us.”
The two teams covered each others’ flanks and cleared out the enemy positions until they finally reached the top of the ridgeline. Along the top of the ridgeline the Marines found empty fighting positions where Taliban had previously dug in.
“Once we got to the top the fire became heavier. We started to receive mortar fire, RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades), we were still receiving small-arms fire, but it was more pin-point,” Neil said.
In fact, the fire had become so heavy the Marines received the order to pull back. Trucks moved into position to create suppressive fire with M2 .50-caliber machine guns and MK-19 grenade launchers. Once the teams had reached a safer location a special operations team bombarded the enemy positions with mortars while Afghan National Police engaged them with rockets (Multi-Role Anti-Armor Anti-Personnel Weapon Systems.)
Perella took the opportunity to radio the enemy grid coordinates back to the rear and was soon greeted by friendly aircraft screaming overhead, raining down a barrage of bombs no less than 400 meters away.
The Marines in Perella and Neil’s team walked away unscathed that day, while the Taliban suffered heavy casualties.
At the deployments end, the main enemy stronghold was destroyed during a combined-joint operation, which removed the Taliban from the area.