More pockmarks from decades of warfare.
This place was like crawling around an MC Estcher sketch.
The approach up to the entrance.
The edge of the compound.
This should give you an idea of the kind of terrain you encounter in this part of the world. Off road driving skills are a must.
Team picture. Myself on the far left with the SR-25 and spotting scope at my feet. Next to me is a sniper buddy with the .300 WinMag and two other team members with suppressed M4 rifles.
Reflexive Fire 
Pretty wild, and even though we may laugh at the idea of a “castle” in the 21st century, unless you’ve got heavy artillery, powerful air support, or a company of tanks loaded with ammo, you’re not going to knock that place down any time soon, and the only way to take it with infantry (without suffering horrendous casualties) is to knock it down.
Definitely. As a former light infantry and Special Forces guy, I cringe at the thought of having to assault a compound like this. With pre-assault fires you can just level the place and then go in to do a BDA. Without them…well, I would mortar the place for several days straight to wear them down before even attempting an assault but of course it depends on intel and what your chances are of catching them by surprise.
On that note, watch for more of this down the line when I write PROMIS: Afghanistan. I haven’t plotted it out yet but have some pretty good ideas I think.
Yeah, and you never know how the defenders will respond to “shock and awe” mortar fire. Maybe you’ll wound half of them and scare the other half shitless…or maybe they’ll just hunker down, wait it out while you exhaust your mortar rounds, and then play possum until you’re in the interlocking fields of fire.
I’m telling you, the approach up to the entrance would be a nightmare. You would be taking fire from the castle walls all the way up there.