The 92nd Engineer Battalion, "Black Diamonds," recently expanded its construction sphere of influence to approximately 50 kilometers northwest of the battalion headquarters in Sharana, Afghanistan, to the Deh Yak District of the eastern Ghazni Province.
Continuing the mission to build additional infrastructure for the surge of coalition forces in the Regional Command-East, the Black Diamonds dispatched two platoons, 3rd Platoon, 554th Engineer Company (Vertical), and 2nd Platoon, 984th Engineer Company (Horizontal), to construct a new combat outpost in Deh Yak. By constructing this outpost, the engineers extended coalition influence deeper into the Ghazni Province, which had been subject to the brutal attacks and coercive activities of its small, but relatively powerful, population of Taliban fighters. Out of necessity, the engineers emphasized speed of construction of Deh Yak in order to curb the trend of violence before the end of Ramadan and in time to provide additional security for elections. Furthermore, coalition forces could further deny the freedom of movement that the Taliban had long enjoyed within the Ghazni Province.
A reconnaissance revealed that the site consisted of a barren, rolling tract of land situated next to a small Afghan National Army outpost and a small Afghan National Police station. Several mountains rose to the north, and the village of Deh Yak lay to the south and east. When the main body of Black Diamond engineers arrived several weeks later, Angel Company, 3/187th Infantry Battalion, was already conducting full-spectrum operations on a daily basis from an extremely austere COP Deh Yak. They did not have any guard towers yet, so they secured the perimeter with their blast-resistant vehicles, and from behind 11-foot-high HESCO barricades that 2nd Platoon, 984th Engineer Co., 92nd Engineer Bn., had built only days before. Their Soldiers lived in a shantytown of improvised hooches made from a quilt-work of random tarps. They had one burnout latrine with only three stalls. The ambient, brownish-yellow moon dust coated everything and everyone. Needless to say, Angel Company was eager to provide security so that the engineers could go to work.
First Lieutenant Robert Wald and Sgt. 1st Class Kelvin Hall, platoon leader and platoon sergeant for 2nd Platoon, 984th Engineer Co., led the horizontal construction effort. First Lieutenant Anton Faustmann and Staff Sgt. Demetrius Moore led 3rd Platoon, 554th Engineer Co.'s vertical construction mission. When the Soldiers of 3rd Platoon, 554th Engineer Company arrived, they immediately began constructing four guard towers, a burnout latrine, a B-Hut, and 24, 22-foot x 34-foot wooden structure tent decks.
When the engineers finished, the COP had running water, functional guard towers, tents with air conditioning and electricity, gravel to control the moon dust, and a hardened command and control structure.
Despite the sporadic efforts of the local enemy, the Black Diamonds completed construction on time. Thanks to these engineers, an American infantry unit can operate more effectively in support of the "surge" in Afghanistan.
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