Remember Keating: A Five-Year Retrospective, Part 1

This is the first part in a six-part series commemorating the Battle of COP Keating. 

Half a decade ago the war in Afghanistan raged on in climactic fashion: 

On 3 October 2009, Soldiers of Bravo Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry, repelled an enemy force of 300 Anti-Afghan Forces (AAF) fighters, preserving their combat outpost and killing approximately 150 of the enemy fighters. US forces sustained eight killed in action and 22 wounded, all but three of whom returned to duty after the attack. The Soldiers distinguished themselves with conspicuous gallantry, courage, and bravery under the heavy enemy fire that surrounded them.

—Excerpt from AR-15-6 Investigation re: Complex 

Attack on COP Keating - 3 Oct 09 Executive Summary

COP Keating from above. Photo by 1LT Brad Larson

Throughout the day I'll post five additional vignettes about the battle and its implications for the Army, all taken from a paper I submitted in a graduate seminar on organizational communication. 

As U.S. Forces continue their withdrawal, it is important to remember those who have borne the heavy costs of standing up a democracy in such an inhospitable place. It is important because we still have a mission here, and that mission will require much more resolve than during the years of fierce fighting and American casualties. It is important also because the U.S. Army will fight other wars, and lessons wait to be discovered from those already concluded. 

Read "Remember Keating: A Five-Year Retrospective, Part 2."