Getting Out: Exfiltration
Even before the start of their mission, the members of ODA 551 had suspected that the planned 3 to 5 day wait for V Corps to get to Karbala might be somewhat optimistic. Since their arrival, the team captain and warrant officer had “stretched” their consumables. Food, water, and most importantly, battery power were carefully rationed to maximize their time on station. However, when days became a week, concern began to become outright worry.
A U.S. Navy F/A-18 circles above the Karbala Gap. The heavy Iraqi air defenses made the area dangerous for coalition air forces and required ODA 551 to exfiltrate by land. U.S. Army photo
The problem was that V Corps had been in front of Hillah for days. And the air-defense situation in the Karbala Gap had proven most hostile, given the Iraqi AAA guns and SAMs, along with the American Patriots. A few days earlier, several battalions of AH-64 Apache attack helicopters had been badly shot up near Karbala, losing an aircraft. This meant that an extraction by the helicopters of the 160th SOAR was out. For days, the CENTCOM leadership, Col. Mulholland, and the ODA 551 team captain considered their options as supplies and power ran out.
On their 10th day of the mission, ODA 551 packed up their gear and prepared to leave. Then every member of the team felt their blood run cold when none of the GMVs could be started. The decision not to run the motors of the GMVs, combined with powering radios and other gear from the vehicle’s batteries, had run them down to the point that none of them could crank up.
In the end, the best extraction option was the simplest: ODA 551 would drive out. Specifically, they would wait until the last of their supplies were consumed, retrace their infiltration route south of the lake, and break for the V Corps lines approximately 50 miles away. Meanwhile, they continued to call in targets for airstrikes.
ODA 551 Ground Mobility Vehicles (GMVs) sheltered in the wadi at the Karbala Gap. When it came time to leave, the GMVs refused to start until quick-thinking team communications sergeants came to the rescue. U.S. Army photo
On their 10th day of the mission, ODA 551 packed up their gear and prepared to leave. Then every member of the team felt their blood run cold when none of the GMVs could be started. The decision not to run the motors of the GMVs, combined with powering radios and other gear from the vehicle’s batteries, had run them down to the point that none of them could crank up. For a little while, it looked like they were going to have a very bad day.
Eventually, the team communications sergeants decided to wire all of the GMV batteries together, along with every power source they could find. Then crossing their fingers, they used the battery series to crank one GMV engine to life. Using the one running GMV, they reinstalled batteries in the other vehicles, and “jumped” those from the running one. As the team exited the wadi and headed south, they found that their original infiltration route had taken them through a live minefield!
With the battery and minefield crises behind them, the rest of the trip to the V Corps lines went smoothly. They reported in to the V Corps SOF coordination element and stood down for a decent meal and some well-deserved rest. They also turned in their load of ammunition, which included every round they had been issued back in Kuwait. ODA 551 had executed their mission without a shot fired. After a bit of rest and new orders, ODA 551 moved into Karbala, where they spent several months conducting unconventional warfare and sustainment operations. But by the time they returned, the tale of their mission was already part of the SF lore of OIF. They truly had conducted “the immaculate mission.”
This article was first published in The Year in Special Operations: 2005 Edition.