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5 unusual facts about Operation Anaconda


Operation Anaconda

Throughout the day, the TACP forward air controllers and Special Forces recce teams that had infiltrated into the area the previous day called in airstrikes from B-1, B-52, F-15, F-18 and F-16 aircraft, inflicting heavy casualties on the Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters, but by no means silencing them.

The five-man team, including MCpl Graham Ragsdale, MCpl Tim McMeekin, MCpl Arron Perry, Cpl Dennis Eason, and Cpl Rob Furlong, killed over 20 enemy fighters during the operation and were awarded Bronze Star medals by the United States for their service.

The record for the longest combat kill by a sniper was set during Operation Anaconda by Canadian Army sniper Corporal Rob Furlong of the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and held for seven years until surpassed in 2009.

Richard Kugler

Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan: A Case Study of Adaptation in Battle.

Sean Naylor

Naylor spent almost four months covering the War in Afghanistan, including several days in the Shah-i-Kot Valley at the start of Operation Anaconda.


Barber–Layden–Power effect

The phenomenon is so named after the lead researchers from a joint team drawn from NASA Ames Research Center, the Field Artillery Training Center at Fort Sill, Oklahoma and instructors from the USAF Air Weapons School at Nellis AFB in response to a formal request for assistance from United States Central Command, MacDill AFB, Tampa, Florida, framed following events during Operation Anaconda.

Francis J. Wiercinski

During Operation Anaconda (2002), in Afghanistan, Wiercinski (then a Colonel) was commander of the 187th Infantry Regiment (a. k. a. "The Rakkasans"), 3rd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).

McMillan Tac-50

Two Canadian snipers of the same Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) regiment sniper team made at the time the longest recorded sniper kills in history with this weapon in Afghanistan, during Operation Anaconda, in the Shah-i-Kot Valley.

Takur Ghar

The peak of Takur Ghar was the location of fierce fighting between US Special Operations Forces and al-Qaida terrorists and Taliban fighters during Operation Anaconda in March 2002 as part of the larger US war in Afghanistan.


see also

Delta Force

In Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda, Army Times staff writer Sean Naylor describes Delta as having nearly 1,000 soldiers.