SGM Richard C. Kimmich nd CSM Christopher W. Abel at the access gate of Camp Abel

SPECIAL FORCES HISTORY

There’s No Place Like Home

Creating a CJSOTF-A Headquarters in Afghanistan

By Michael E. Krivdo, PhD

From Veritas, Vol. 12, No. 2, 2016

NOTE

*IAW USSOCOM Sanitization Protocol for Historical Articles on Classified Current Operations, pseudonyms are used for majors and below who are still on active duty, unless names have been publicly released for awards/decorations or DoD news release. Pseudonyms are identified with an asterisk. The eyes of personnel in photos are blocked out when not covered with dark visors or sunglasses, except when the photos were publicly released by a service or DoD. Source references (end notes) utilize the assigned pseudonym.

When formed on 1 March 2002, the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force – Afghanistan (CJSOTF-A) faced several simultaneous challenges. The first was to provide command and control over units spread across Afghanistan and support them in the field. The second was to create a base to house the headquarters and its personnel. Its third challenge was to manage the incoming flow of food, water, ammunition, and supplies needed to sustain CJSOTF and all of its elements. The CJSOTF-A headquarters staff had to accomplish all of these tasks at a former Soviet Union airbase about twenty-five miles northeast of the Afghanistan capital of Kabul, while engaging the Taliban and al Qaeda throughout the rugged country.1

Map of Afghanistan showing the location of Bagram Airbase.
Map of Afghanistan showing the location of Bagram Airbase.

In 2002, Bagram Airbase was still a hostile and austere environment with no modern features. Just months prior the base had been fiercely fought over by Taliban and Northern Alliance forces. A Special Forces Operational Detachment-Alpha (ODA) from 5th Special Forces Group under Task Force DAGGER operated out of Bagram as early as 21 October 2001, controlling close air support (CAS) missions for friendly indigenous forces still fighting entrenched Taliban dug into the plains around the airbase. When American combat support forces moved in soon after, there were only rudimentary defensive works, sporadic power, no potable water, and no sewage treatment. Landmines, ‘booby traps,’ and other unexploded ordnance from decades of conflict littered the area. The few buildings still standing, neglected for years, were damaged from the fighting. It took a concerted effort by the allied forces to make it habitable; more than 200 Soviet-era bombs and landmines were detected and safely destroyed in December 2001 alone.2 That was the situation faced by the 3rd Special Forces Group (SFG)/CJSOTF-A staff in mid-March 2002.

While the new CJSOTF-A commander, Colonel (COL) Mark V. Phelan, and his staff focused on fighting the Taliban and al Qaeda terrorists, his Command Sergeant Major (CSM), Christopher W. Abel, concentrated on making the base habitable and functional. A long-time Special Forces non-commissioned officer with a wealth of deployments ‘under his belt,’ CSM Abel knew what needed to be done. The Group Support Company personnel staked out their claim near the runway and surrounded it with concertina wire. From this humble beginning they fashioned ‘Camp Abel.’ Procuring the services of the only functional bulldozer in Afghanistan, berms were formed, roads cut, and areas for tents were levelled. Allied Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technicians ‘cleared’ the area of mines and explosives before construction could begin. 3rd SFG Engineers replaced generators with electrical lines that enabled the Group Signaliers to install radios, telephones, and computers. CJSOTF enlisted personnel erected tents, poured concrete slabs, and built makeshift plywood facilities. One of the top priorities involved setting up the large ‘Circus Tent’ to house the Joint Operations Center (JOC). In addition, CSM Abel designated areas for a motor pool, supply center, dining facility, billeting area, and an aid station. In short order, the CJSOTF HQ had “a better setup than even the 10th Mountain [Division],” Abel said.3

Because of the still present threat of enemy ground attack or indirect fire, the command placed special emphasis on force protection measures to counter those actions. In addition to laying protective wire and constructing fighting positions, plans and procedures were formulated for base defense. Although soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division (MD) assumed overall responsibility for protecting the Bagram area, the CJSOTF-A headquarters organized its own local security force from available support personnel and it operated around the clock. The security force guarded access points to the camp and escorted civilian laborers who had been cleared by the 10th Mountain Division to work on Bagram during daylight hours. In addition to household functions like filling water containers, emptying trash, and pumping waste, contract labor supervised by soldiers filled collapsible wire and heavy-duty fabric HESCO containers with sand and gravel and sited them to provide cover from direct fire weapons. Engineers excavated bunkers at key positions to give personnel shelter from indirect fire. Emergency procedures were published, rehearsed, and refined throughout.4

On 28 May 2002, COL Joseph D. ‘Joe’ Celeski assumed command of 3rd SFG and the CJSOTF-A in a simple ceremony held in the main street of the new camp. Attention then turned back to fighting the war and sustaining units in the field. In the months that followed, soldiers labored steadily to improve the camp facilities to meet the challenges as the war while still performing their normal daily duties. Each rotation worked hard to leave the camp in better condition than they had received it. In 2004, the CJSOTF headquarters moved to a new site on Bagram Airbase, but the old camp continued to serve special operations elements until the CJSOTF was deactivated on 31 October 2014.5

ENDNOTES

  1. Website, “Bagram Airbase in Parwan Province, Afghanistan, Military Bases.Com, 1998-2015, on Internet at: http://militarybases.com/bagram-air-base-air-force-base-in-parvan-province-afghanistan/, accessed on 5 May 2015. [return]
  2. Histories Division, Center of Military History, The United States Army in Afghanistan, Operation ENDURING FREEDOM, October 2001-March 2002 (CMH Pub 70-83-1) (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office), 14-15; International Campaign to Ban Landmines, “Afghanistan,” Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor, Key Developments Since May 2002, on Internet at http://www.the-monitor.org/index.php/publications/display?url=lm/2003/afghanistan.html, accessed on 5 May 2015. [return]
  3. Email correspondence, COL Joseph D. Celeski (Ret.) to Dr. Michael E. Krivdo, 25 March 2015, USASOC History Office Classified Files, Fort Bragg, NC; Document, “Home is Where the JOC Is: CJSOTF-A Compound, April-May 2002,” CJSOTF-A, Camp Abel, Bagram Airbase, Afghanistan, SOCOM History Office, MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, FL; COL (Ret.) Joseph D. Celeski, interview with Dr. Michael E. Krivdo, 10 April 2015, USASOC History Office Classified Files, Fort Bragg, NC; Command Sergeant Major (CSM) (Ret.) Christopher W. Abel, interview with Dr. Michael E. Krivdo, 3 August 2015, in USASOC History Office Classified Files, Fort Bragg, NC, quote from interview. The CJSOTF-A compound was called Camp Abel by the soldiers in recognition of the close and continuous supervision that CSM Abel applied during the camp’s construction and operation. [return]
  4. Brief, “Security Operations Overview CJSOTF-A Compound,” Bagram Airbase, Afghanistan, 17 July 2002, SOCOM History Office, MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, FL; Celeski email to Krivdo, 25 March 2015; “Home is Where the JOC Is.” HESCO is a registered trademark of HESCO Bastion Ltd. [return]
  5. “Home is Where the JOC Is”; Celeski interview, 10 April 2015; Abel interview, 3 August 2015. [return]
  6. Text cleared by USASOC G-3X and SSO 12 Aug 2015. [return]