A Battlefield Tourist

A Battlefield Tourist – Operation El Dorado/Oruzgan Province

Jan 28 at 9:09am by David Tate

I had been embedded with the 22nd MEU for just a few days when I punched out with the Marines from BLT 1/6 as they continued their first named operation of the 2004 surge named, “Operation El Dorado”. 

“I hate those stupid names…,” quipped 1/6’s charismatic leader Lt. Col Asad Khan.  That name would soon be associated with the MEU’s only combat death of 2004 when it’s Light Armored Recon unit gets ambushed in the pre-dawn hours of May 7.

What followed was arguably the largest Quick Reaction Force to ever be launched during Operation Enduring Freedom as Khan and his Leathernecks air assault into Taliban-country looking for those responsible.

Operation El Dorado