Battle of Ganjgal The Battle of Ganjgal was a battle in the War in Afghanistan fought between American and Afghan forces and the Taliban in Kunar Province , Afghanistan on September 8 , 2009 . Complaints that the coalition casualties were avoidable and caused by a failure of the chain of command to provide fire support for the team triggered an official investigation and a series of reprimands to several US military officers . Army Captain William D . Swenson and Marine Corporal Dakota Meyer received the Medal of Honor for their actions during the battle . Cpl Meyer is the first living Marine to receive the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War , and CPT Swenson is the fifth living Soldier to receive the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War . Two other Marines at the battle , Staff Sgt . Juan Rodriguez - Chavez and Capt . Ademola Fabayo , received the Navy Cross . Background . On September 3 an Embedded Training Team ( ETT ) led a combined group of Afghan Army and National Police forces on a patrol operation around Dam Dara , a village about a mile from Ganjgal . The villagers reacted cordially but the ETT and its Afghan allies took small arms fire upon leaving Dam Dara from a small group of men on a ridge outside the village . After the brief attack the village elders of nearby Ganjgal renounced the attackers and requested that the coalition forces return to their village to conduct a census of military age males and assist in the rebuilding of the local mosque . The original date of September 7 was pushed back by the ETT at the last minute in order to ensure that their National Police forces were adequately prepared for the coming operation . Engagement . The following day , on September 8 , an alternate Training Team , ETT 2 - 8 , set out with their allied Afghan forces to Ganjgal . During their mission planning , it was made clear that no dedicated close air support would be available for the mission but commanders promised artillery support from nearby forward bases . In addition , ETT 2 - 8 was told that , in case of emergency , helicopter support could be redirected from an operation in a neighboring valley within five minutes . Initial intelligence available to the team indicated that Taliban forces were aware of the pending mission and were setting up ambush positions within the village with a forward force of at least 20 fighters . Concerned with both losing the initiative and the safety of the anti - Taliban village elders , ETT 2 - 8 decided to proceed with the mission and engage the Taliban forces . Just after dawn , after inserting into the valley and approaching Ganjgal , the Task Force came under heavy machine gun , small arms and RPG fire from at least 100 entrenched Taliban fighters , far more than indicated was present by intelligence reports . The Task Force soon found itself pinned down in a three - sided ambush and being taunted over open radio channels by Taliban fighters . Initial calls for artillery support were rejected by the command post due to new rules of engagement put in place by the commander of the International Security Assistance Force , General Stanley McChrystal , in an effort to reduce civilian casualties . Both an Army artillery NCO and an Air Force Joint terminal attack controller took immediate action to provide the ambushed US - Afghan unit with fire support but were overruled by the command post . ETT 2 - 8 informed their command post that they were not near the village but were again denied fire support . ETT 2 - 8 began calls for emergency helicopter support but the adjacent helicopter assets were tied up and taking fire in support of another operation . The coalition forces were taking increasing fire and could observe women and children shuttling fresh ammunition to Taliban fighting positions . Within 30 minutes of making contact , the ETT called back to the command post to provide an artillery barrage of smoke canisters to cover their withdraw . Told that no standard smoke was available , the team requested white phosphorus rounds be used instead to screen their retreat . Nearly an hour later , the white phosphorus rounds landed and the coalition forces retreated under heavy fire a short distance before being pinned once again . By this time , three U . S . Marines , their Navy Corpsman , their Afghan interpreter and several Afghan soldiers had been killed and an Army Soldier in the ETT had sustained mortal wounds . Taliban sniper s were moving into flanking positions when helicopter support arrived and began to attack Taliban positions . This arrival allowed the wounded to be pulled out and for three Marines to fight their way back up the hill to retrieve fallen comrades . By the time Task Force Chosin had totally disengaged , the firefight had lasted for nearly nine hours . The position occupied by the three dead Marines and the Navy corpsman had been overrun by the enemy , who stripped the bodies of their gear and weapons . The bodies were recovered after their comrades , including Meyer , braved enemy fire to return to the location . Aftermath . After the battle coalition forces speculated that elements within the Afghan National Police forces and local villagers had informed nearby Taliban forces of mission ' s timing and location . In addition an investigation was launched into the lack of requested fire and air support . While members of the task force publicly blamed McChrystal ' s new rules of engagement , which were also cited by personnel at the command post , the investigation placed most blame on the battalion leadership concluding it had been " negligent " . The investigation found that three US Army officers at nearby Forward Operating Base Joyce , from Task Force Chosin , a unit comprising soldiers from 1st Battalion , 32nd Infantry Regiment , 3rd Brigade Combat Team , 10th Mountain Division , out of Fort Drum , N . Y , had exhibited " negligent leadership " which had directly contributed to the loss of life in the battle . Two of the three officers , Major Peter Granger and Captain Aaron Harting , were given formal reprimands . In September 2012 , a McClatchy journalist interviewed nine Afghan soldiers from the Afghan National Army ’ s 1st Kandak , 2nd Infantry Brigade , 201st Corps who had been present at the battle . The Afghan soldiers disputed portions of the USMC ' s account of the battle , stating that the Taliban did not charge Meyer ' s vehicle and that only two dead Taliban were found after the battle . The Afghan soldiers stated that it was the belated arrival of attack helicopters which finally chased away the Taliban , not the actions of any of the U . S . Soldiers or Marines on the ground . The Afghans added that the three Marines and naval corpsman , Johnson , Kenefick , Johnson , and Layton , were killed after remaining behind to cover the withdrawal of the Afghan soldiers from the ambush site . Several members of ETT 2 - 8 were cited for valor with several Bronze Stars and a single Medal of Honor was awarded to Meyer . Two Marines , Captain Ademola Fabayo , 30 , and Staff Sergeant Juan Rodriguez - Chavez , 34 , were awarded the Navy Cross for their actions during the battle . William Swenson . Due to his actions during the battle former Army Captain William D . Swenson was recommended to receive the Medal of Honor by Marine General John R . Allen ; having been critical of the officers superior to him during the battle he left the Army in February 2011 . A 2012 investigation by McClatchy News Service concluded that the justification for Meyer ' s decoration may have been inflated and that the nomination for Swenson ' s Medal of Honor may have been intentionally lost . Meyer disputes McClatchy ' s allegations in his book , " Into the Fire : A Firsthand Account of the Most Extraordinary Battle in the Afghan War " . In August 2012 , California Representative Duncan D . Hunter wrote to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta regarding the Medal of Honor nomination of Swenson , comparing his case to that of Sgt . Rafael Peralta . In January , 2013 , Representative Hunter said Swenson ' s nomination had been awaiting President Obama ' s approval at the White House since at least July , 2012 and , due to the delay , Representative Hunter stated he was considering seeking an inspector general inquiry . Swenson was awarded a Medal of Honor on October 15 , 2013 .