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Camp Bastion, known as the BLS (Camps Bastion-LeatherneckShorabak) Complex was the largest and most important coalition base in southwest Afghanistan, hosting the Regional Command Southwest headquarters, the main hub of U.S. Marine Corps and British forces in Afghanistan. An Army/Afghanistan National Army (ANA) training facility; a sizeable contingent of Afghanistan soldiers and other coalition forces; thousands of contractors; critical logistics functions; and the primary airfield to support U.S. Marine and coalition air operations across southwest Afghanistan also were present on the base. The BLS Complex covered approximately 40 square miles and could accommodate almost 30,000 personnel. The perimeter of the BLS Complex was composed of approximately 25 miles of fence line.
At approximately 2200 on Sept. 14, 2012, 15 heavily armed Taliban insurgents dressed in U.S. Army uniforms breached the eastern perimeter of Camp Bastion undetected, split into three teams of five men each and commenced a coordinated attack on Camp Bastion's airfield. The resulting friendly casualties and damage included two Marines killed in action, eight U.S. personnel wounded, six AV-8B Harriers destroyed, and two Harriers and a C-130E severely damaged. Four more aircraft received minor damage, three fuel bladders were destroyed and several aircraft sun shades (hangars) were either destroyed or damaged. Fourteen attackers were killed, and one was captured.
Explosions on the Flight Line
Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Lightfoot, Commanding Officer, Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron (HMLA) 469, was sitting at his desk when the first explosion shook the walls of his office. He thought it might be explosive ordnance disposal detonating unexploded munitions. "Sergeant Major Massi and I went outside," Lightfoot said, "And within 15 seconds there was another explosion. That's when we saw the flames on the Harrier flight line ... 50 to 100 foot flames billowing thick, black smoke ... there was an aircraft on fire and a couple other areas were on fire as well. We yelled out for everyone to get to the bunkers on our compound." He initially thought it was an indirect fire attack by rockets or mortars.
Lightfoot ran back to the headquarters building and gave directions to the operations duty officer: notify the Tactical Air Control Center about the attack; sound the "Troops in Contact" alarm-the signal to launch the alert aircraft-and get alert aircraft...