June 2010 – September 2011 · Helmand Province Theater
June 2010 – September 2011
Sangin, a district center in northern Helmand Province, was handed from British to US Marine control in 2010 after the British — who had lost more casualties per-capita there than anywhere else in their deployment — could no longer sustain it. Marines from 3/5 'Darkhorse' suffered catastrophic losses in the IED-saturated poppy fields and mud-walled compounds, losing 25 killed in five months. The district sat astride the Taliban's primary opium-trafficking route and was defended fiercely for economic as much as ideological reasons.
Commanders