On the morning of September 11, 2001, millions watched their television screens mesmerized as events unfolded in New York City. In the early morning hours, a passenger jet had ploughed into the top stories of the World Trade Center (WTC) in the financial core of the city. As most were trying to absorb what happened, a second large commercial airliner came into view and slammed into the twin tower of the WTC. It would only be a short time later that both towers collapsed onto themselves and crumpled to the ground, killing all those inside. A third aircraft slammed into the Pentagon, killing and injuring hundreds more, and a fourth hijacked jetliner, heading for Washington, D.C., slammed into the ground in Pennsylvania, short of its objective, failing on its mission due to the bravery of its passengers. In total, almost three thousand people were killed in the attacks .
Within days, it became clear that the Americans would take military action to strike at the terrorists who planned and conducted the attack and those that supported and abetted them. Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist organization, sheltered in Afghanistan by Mullah Omar and his Taliban government, quickly became the centre of attention. Not surprisingly, the Americans, through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), paramilitary forces, and US SOF, in conjunction with the Northern Alliance, an anti-Taliban resistance movement, quickly launched an offensive to oust the Taliban and capture bin Laden and his associates.
The Canadians quickly moved to support their American allies. The CAF mobilized to send ships, aircraft, and ground forces in support of the U.S. mission, titled Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). Part of the CAF force package was a special operations task force (SOTF) that deployed as part of OEF and was under operational control of the American commander of the Combined Joint Forces Special Operations Component Command. Their tasks included direct action, special reconnaissance, and sensitive site exploitation.[100]
The JTF 2 based SOTF was deployed in theatre from December 2001 to November 2002.[101] At the time, JTF 2 was largely an unknown quantity and its role in theatre was initially marginalized. “They were curious because they [Americans] didn’t really know us,” conceded one member of the Task Force. He explained, “At the beginning, people said, ‘Who the f--- is JTF2?’”[102]
However, it took only one mission to demonstrate their skill sets, and very quickly they became a force of choice. According to U.S. military officials, the JTF 2 SOTF had conducted “[forty-two ] reconnaissance and surveillance missions as well as [twenty-three ] direct action missions.”[103] Tasks included “snatching senior Taliban officials,” manning high-altitude observation posts, and combing mountain cave complexes.[104] Their performance earned them the trust and respect of the U.S. commanders in theatre. As stated earlier, the American SOF commanders at first were, quite frankly, reluctant to use them. By the end of the tour, the JTF 2 SOTF had become the designated coalition theatre direct-action reserve force, with American sub-units allocated to it under tactical control (normally Rangers or 82nd Airborne and aviation assets). In the end, the JTF 2 SOTF executed more missions than any other coalition SOF force assigned to the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force — South (CJSOTF-S ).
In fact, U.S. Navy commander Kerry Metz, director of operations for CJSOTF-S , told Congress, “We were fortunate to have the finest special operations … and we challenged our operators to conduct missions in some of the most hostile environments ever operated in.” He explained, “We had special reconnaissance teams operating in the mountains of Afghanistan above 10,000 feet for extended periods without resupply.”[105] The CJSOTF-S commander, Rear Admiral Bob Harward, simply acknowledged, “his JTF 2 team was his first choice for any ‘direct action’ mission.”[106]
Unquestionably, JTF 2’s participation in OEF was a critical turning point in its evolution and CANSOF history. JTF 2’s participation, or, more important, impact in theatre bolstered Canadian credibility. “We had to shoulder our way into the international SOF community,” explained Colonel Clyde Russell, the CO of JTF 2 at the time, “but once we got our seat at the table, now we can hold our own.”[107]
Participation in OEF also finalized the debate back at Dwyer Hill in Ottawa. JTF 2 was now a Tier 1 SOF organization. One JTF 2 detachment commander explained, “9/11 put us full throttle into the warfighting game and allowed us to pass a number of hurdles that would have taken years in a peacetime environment.”
Lieutenant-General Michael Day, one of the Canadian OEF SOTF commanders and a former commander of Canadian Special Operations Command (CANSOFCOM) assessed, “We progressed the unit in maturity decades that first year [in Afghanistan].”
Quite simply, the operation planted the seeds of CANSOF growth and maturation. “It allowed us to move into a kinetic mode,” asserted Day, “it showed the connection of the counterterrorism/hostage rescue piece to the expeditionary capability.” It not only revitalized the unit, but it also revealed a very potent international capability.[108]
“Stepping out onto the world stage was our first big show,” commented Colonel Russell. “From a strategic perspective,” he added, “it opened the eyes of the grownups [to] how SOF can be used as a bit of a strategic place marker in a crisis.” Russell explained, “we had a small footprint but a large impact. The country got a lot of credit.”
Consistently, CANSOF leadership attest to the fact that JTF 2’s participation in OEF in 2001–2002 was a seminal event for the unit and CANSOF. “9/11 and Afghanistan allowed CANSOFCOM to grow into a mature combat capable force,” explained Lieutenant-General Day, “It was instrumental in shaping our ability to field kinetic forces, which we now use to leverage our ability to shape a theatre.”[109] He concluded, “our first deployment will remain the defining moment of who we are.”
The CANSOF commanders were not the only ones who recognized the importance of JTF 2’s first combat deployment. On December 7, 2004, George Bush, the president of the United States, awarded the JTF 2 component of the CJSOTF-S (later called Task Force K-Bar ) a Secretary of the Navy, Presidential Unit Citation. American officials sent the request for Canadian approval prior to its actual presentation to the CAF members. DND issued a press release the following day to announce the presentation. The Canadian governor general congratulated JTF 2 on the award on December 10, 2004, through a media advisory.
The narrative of the citation read:
For extraordinary heroism and outstanding performance of duty in action against the enemy in Afghanistan from 17 October 2001 to 30 March 2002. Throughout this period, Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force — SOUTH/Task Force K-BAR , operating first from Oman and then from forward locations throughout the southern and eastern regions of Afghanistan successfully executed its primary mission to conduct special operations in support of the U.S. efforts as delegated to Commander US CENTCOM through the JFSO Component Command JFSOCC to destroy, degrade, and neutralize the TB and AQ leadership and military. During its six month existence, TF K-Bar was the driving force behind myriad combat missions conducted in Combined Joint Operation Area Afghanistan. These precedent[-]setting and extremely high-risk missions included search and rescue, recovery die ops, non-compliant boarding of high interest vessels, special reconnaissance, hydrographic reconnaissance, SSE [Sensitive Site Exploitation], DA missions apprehension of military and political detainees, destruction of multiple cave and tunnel complexes, identification and destruction of several known AQ training camps, explosion of thousands of pounds of enemy ordnance and successful coordination of UW operations for Afghanistan. The sailors, soldiers, [a]irmen, Marines, and coalition partners of CJSOTF (S)/TF K-Bar set an unprecedented 100 percent mission success rate across a broad spectrum of special operations missions while operating under extremely difficult and constantly dangerous conditions. They established benchmark standards of professionalism, tenacity, courage, tactical brilliance, and operational excellence while demonstrating superb esprit de corps and maintaining the highest measures of combat readiness.[110]
In the