SAN DIEGO. A major battle from the war in Afghanistan hit the air waves at Talk Radio Europe (TRE) a few days after the U.S. honored its fallen warfighters on Memorial Day, 2024. The world wants to know about U.S. Marines in action. They’ve heard the legends; they’ve watched the films depicting the rigorous clashes as Marines blazed their way to military victory. Giles Brown, a veteran journalist, has contributed to an impressive array of British news organizations including BBC and Radio 5. He currently hosts seven weekly shows at TRE radio, an English-speaking radio station that broadcasts nationally throughout Spain – from Gibraltar to Mallorca. Brown heard about Jeanne McKinney’s new book, Triumph Over the Taliban: The Untold Story of US Marines’ Courageous Fight to Save Camp Bastion, and hit send on an email ‘let’s get her on the show.’ The podcast premiered May 31, 2024.
Brown wanted to know about this mysterious battle that occurred on Sept 14, 2012, 3 days after the attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. Something as big as the Taliban getting inside an American airfield with plans to destroy jets and helicopters and kill Marines should have been a big story at the time. Here, once again, Marines carry their infamous Esprit de Corps into fiery frays to own the ground. Why wasn’t that big news?
On the show Brown and McKinney bring to light the time-tested tenacity 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW) delivered against their attackers across the flight lines at Bastion, where these aviation experts acted as infantry to save lives and aircraft. Camaraderie and courage marked the night as Marines led other Marines in an indomitable response to defeat the Taliban.
Triumph Over the Taliban unveils a gripping air/ground fight.
3rd MAW mobilized their might against a Taliban onslaught, but these extraordinary frontlines of heroism never made it to the history books in any detail until now. Instead, it was embroiled in a nasty coverup that targeted two USMC generals who in truth had fought their own battle (before the attack) to fix the blaring security lapses present on the British base. With over 75 years of combined experienced, impeccable conduct, and a keen knowledge of Taliban character who stop at nothing, MajGen Mark Gurganus and MajGen Gregg Sturdevant set about to mitigate existing threats to the base. In a historical first, MajGen Sturdevant speaks out twelve years later in a new video.
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He talks about the battle and how he and Gurganus were denied time and again to make it safer for all those operating on the Bastion airfield. Meanwhile the Taliban proceeded with their secret and devious plans. If only their superiors would have listened.
With a charming British accent Brown crafts an engaging interview determined to satisfy his own curiosity and please Talk Radio Europe listeners. “The station has been featured on numerous British factual TV shows and maintains a long-standing association with the British and Foreign press working closely with the BBC, ITV, SKY and RTE (Ireland),” according to TRE. All these outlets bring us news we wouldn’t otherwise have here at home about their part of the world. Many nations had a stake in deterring Taliban terror in Afghanistan. It means something deep down to document this battle history.
Fifty coalition countries made their own arduous boot prints in Operation Enduring Freedom.
“NATO’s mission in Afghanistan has been the Alliance’s largest and one of its longest-running military operations,” stated President Barack Obama in July 2016. America’s involvement ended in a poorly planned, catastrophic withdrawal August 30, 2021. Joe Biden and top military chiefs under his direction allowed the Taliban to take control of the nation’s capital, Kabul. This ended the Republic of Afghanistan government and endangered Afghan national forces, Afghan allies and citizens, and U.S. forces trying to get U.S. personnel out of the country.
How the war in Afghanistan ended was no indicator of how it was fought over the years. It’s time to tell these legacy stories so people know what happened. On September 14, 2012, it was another true cliffhanger of Marines at their best refusing to give in through the crucible of combat. Many faces of valor claim hearts in Triumph Over the Taliban.
Brown said McKinney “blows the lid off this story.” He springboards off McKinney’s answers to describe the environment of Camp Bastion (covering forty square miles with twenty-five miles of fence line) in the middle of wide-open desert. She explains their presence in Helmand Province was due to it being one of the most violent regions in Afghanistan, primarily because of poppies grown there and the opium that fueled the insurgency. The Brits allowed poppy fields to grow right up to the airfield perimeter fence blocking clear fields of view and fires. U.S. generals tried to get rid of them but were held back. The breach occurred along the chain link fence where the poppy fields lay the night Camp Bastion was attacked.
Brown generously promises at the end of his show that the book “is a brilliant read.”
