The Elusive Kandahar Cougar and Murphy's Laws of Combat

Sergeant TJ Vowell insists he’s seen the mysterious big cats of Kandahar many times. Recently, Sergeant Vowell got shot.

06 September 2011

Kandahar Province, Afghanistan

Task Force Spartan

4-4 Cav, Bravo Troop, 2nd Platoon 2nd Squad

There is much talk about “jaguars” or “cougars” among the troops here. At least a dozen American Soldiers claim they have seen gigantic cats in these flatlands. “Gigantic” being defined as roughly the size of a German Shepherd. During a mission, I asked about these mysterious big cats. Several US Soldiers insisted–completely insisted–they were eyewitnesses. The Afghan soldiers chuckled, saying their American counterparts were hallucinating. The Americans remained adamant. The inevitable follow-up questions came. “How do you know what a cougar even looks like? Have you ever seen one before?” An Afghan commander said to a particularly persistent American, “You saw a sheep.”

“No, it was a big cat!” replied the American.

“You maybe saw a donkey,” conceded the Afghan.

Everyone laughed.

We know there are big cats in Afghanistan. This is widely accepted as fact, yet big cats are not reported living in the Zhari District of Kandahar Province. We know there are polar bears in the United States. But if you find yourself stumbling out of the Florida Everglades, ripping moss from your hair while mumbling that you saw a polar bear, locals might ask you to sit under a shade tree and enjoy an iced tea and a nap. A polar bear in Florida is as likely as an alligator in Alaska.

Snow Leopards have been photographed this year in Afghanistan, but the climate and geography in the Wakhan Corridor is extremely dissimilar, and far less populated than Zhari. We are in hot, dry country, just a short drive from the Dasht-i-Margo or “The Desert of Death.” I visited this desert in the spring of 2006 and dozens of times since.

The Afghan Soldiers refute any suggestion that there are big cats here in Kandahar. “No way,” they say, “impossible.” American Soldiers insist they have seen them by naked eye, by weapon optics, and by thermal optics that can zoom with amazing clarity. I look through these kinds of optics almost every day, and to be sure, they are so precise it’s hard to conceive anyone mistaking a sheep or donkey for a big cat. But even when Soldiers agree another Soldier may have seen a big cat, the discussion turns to, “How long did you see it? A second? Ten seconds? A minute?” Sometimes they see it for minutes at a time. Two Soldiers in separate locations claimed they saw large cats jump over high walls. One Soldier told me he saw two cats at the same time. Troops in different outfits who are miles apart are reporting seeing these cats from around Panjwai and Zhari.

Sergeant TJ Vowell, from McKinney, Texas, had spotted one. LTC Katona, commander of 4-4 Cav was visiting the small base called Pashmal South where TJ and his unit are stationed. They seem to get attacked every day and are dishing out the same. While LTC Katona studied a map with Captain Danny Sjursen, B-troop commander, I was asking TJ about the cats. TJ reported that sees them “plain as day” almost every morning at the same time and place. (Finally a “bingo” moment.) But then LTC Katona took a break from the map to say that TJ had recently been shot. Actually, the Commander was trying to brag about TJ, which is something you commonly see with American and British commanders. They spotlight good fighters as if they were cherished sons. LTC Katona was flagrantly bragging about TJ getting shot and returning to the fight. (Look at my son the warrior!)

Well, when you run with the big dogs in combat, you meet a lot of warriors who’ve been shot, but you don’t meet a lot of warriors who see big cats here. I wanted to ask more about the cats, but to be polite I first asked about how TJ got shot. And besides, there’s never a boring way to get shot.

Murphy’s Law of Smoke Grenades

TJ and his buddies were on a search and destroy mission in Zhari district near Mollyan Kalache Village. About 14 of our men were out there with about eight Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers and one interpreter. TJ and team were closing in on the enemy. Suddenly (firefights often begin with a “suddenly”) our Soldiers started taking potshots and returned fire. Apparently the enemy was also on a search and destroy mission. Many of the enemy are (or have become) respectable fighters so these skirmishes can go any direction. The ANA quickly fired about eight RPGs and the engagement was full on.

TJ and another Soldier were using their grenade launchers to mark enemy positions with red smoke. Two Kiowa Warrior (KW) helicopters rolled in and went to work with rockets and machine guns. The KW crews are just about the deadliest people who have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you were to somehow add it all up, and see who killed the most enemy per capita, the KW pilots might leave our Special Operations people in the dust. Maybe killing so many of the enemy is not something to brag about, but that’s just the facts. Or at least the facts as I think of them, true or not, based on my time in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Anyway, TJ and gang were in a no-kidding firefight when the KWs rolled in attacked enemy at the red smoke.

WHAM! An RPG hit between TJ and an ANA Soldier and they both went down.

TJ’s weapon appears to have stopped a small frag.

Bullets were flying and TJ was hit in a calf with a through and through, meaning the bullet hit only meat and kept on going. He felt a burning in his calf and ended up on the ground. Suddenly he was engulfed in red smoke. The KWs had been cleared hot to attack any areas they saw red smoke. TJ carries red smoke grenades in pouches and one had been fragged by the RPG or shot by a bullet. A grenade in TJ’s pouch was burning red smoke marking TJ and the ANA soldier.

TJ’s grenade pouches with red smoke stains.

“What happened next?” I asked. TJ tried to pull the red smoking grenade from his pouch to throw it away but it burned his hand even through his glove. He couldn’t get a firm grasp.

“Bad news!” I said, “So the KWs were rolling in to attack on your smoke grenade?”

TJ said that a KW came in and was hammering away with the .50 caliber and bullets slamming the ground. The helicopter was close and very loud.

“How did you make them stop?”

Raisin hut surrounded by grape rows in Kandahar Province.

TJ said Specialists Zachary Newberry and Justin Earle both got the idea to jump up on a grape row and wave an orange VS-17 panel, hoping to catch the attention of the KW pilots and not the enemy or a bullet. (Soldiers often use brightly colored VS-17 panels, marking their vehicles and such, so that they can be identified from the air.) And so Specialists Newberry and Earle courageously jumped up and began waving their panels in the middle of the fight. It’s a wonder the enemy didn’t shoot them flat. The KWs immediately broke off the attack.

Read the rest of the post here.