Joseph R. Chenelly - Military Career - Operation ENDURING FREEDOM

Operation ENDURING FREEDOM

Forward deployed during 9/11 as a member of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), Chenelly was in Darwin, Australia, when the infamous terrorist attacks rocked the United States.

After a brief stop in East Timor to provide humanitarian relief, Chenelly and the 15th MEU(SOC) steamed north toward Pakistan, arriving off the Pakistani coast days before Operation Enduring Freedom began.

Early October 7, 2001, Chenelly was on one of the first helicopter lifts from the USS Peleliu (LHA-5) into Pakistan’s Pasni Airfield. From there, his detail headed north to Jacobabad, Pakistan. When the first bombs began dropping on Afghanistan, later that same day, Chenelly was with a Marine security element protecting an airbase in Jacobabad. He was documenting the Marines’ actions as they worked with Pakistani military forces, providing a secure airstrip and hangar for American jets and combat search and rescue teams in place in case their services were needed in or over Afghanistan.

After several weeks in Pakistan, Chenelly was among the initial wave of Marines November 25, 2001, using CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters refueled in mid-flight to conduct the longest amphibious landing in modern military history, traversing more than 400 miles (640 km) from the Indian Ocean to establish a forward operating base, dubbed Camp Rhino, in southern Afghanistan. Camp Rhino was the United States' first base in Afghanistan and was used to launch several follow-on operations, including route interdictions outside of Kandahar.

Chenelly documented the initial seizing of Camp Rhino, which was a desert outpost believed to have been built for use as a drug distribution hub. In the first hour of dawn the morning Camp Rhino was secured, a platoon of Marines raised an American flag in a fashion reminiscent of the famous World War II flag rasing at Iwo Jima. The Marines raising the flag were with the 1st Platoon of 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Photograph and video taken by then-Sgt. Chenelly were sent to media outlets and broadcast worldwide soon after. Around the same time, Brig. Gen. James Mattis, who had just been put in charge of newly stood-up Task Force 58 that included the 15th MEU, told reporters the Marines now "own a piece of Afghanistan." The photos, video and general's comments did not sit well with the U.S. State Department, which immediately stated the United States had no intention of owing any part of Afghanistan. A directive was sent from the Pentagon to all troops in Afghanistan, ordering the Marines to no longer raise American flags in Afghanistan.

Chenelly photographed and video recorded a firefight between suspected Taliban fighters and a Marine Force Recon team. The Marines, along with a sniper located next to Chenelly, killed at least four suspects in the recorded fight. The Marines then called in airstrikes on other enemy forces headed their way, kiiling an estimated 60 more. The video, along with many of Chenelly’s photographs taken in Afghanistan, appeared on television news broadcasts and in various forms of print and electronic publications.

Chenelly quickly became a primary source of visual coverage for the international press corps in covering the operations of the only U.S. conventional force on the ground in Afghanistan.

In the wee hours of December 13, 2001, as a de facto member of Task Force 58, Chenelly was a part of the raiding team that secured Kandahar International Airport.

After spending Christmas and New Year’s at the airport, during which Chenelly was highlighted in a nationally televised “Christmas with the Troops” piece, the 15th MEU(SOC) turned the airport over to the 26th MEU(SOC) and the incoming U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division.

Once back aboard ship and headed for the states, several media organizations keyed on the video Chenelly shot while in country. The footage was used extensively by NBC and CNN.