Combat· Afghanistan War (Op ENDURING FREEDOM)
Op Southern Gambit
Operation Southern Gambit was a Marine operation in Helmand Province, one of the named pushes in the sustained campaign to clear insurgents from the contested districts and extend Marine and Afghan control across the river valley.
The Marines moved into Taliban-held ground to disrupt the enemy, clear the improvised explosive devices that laced the area, and establish a presence among the population. The operation was part of the period of intense Marine activity in Helmand, the steady work of taking and holding terrain from a resilient and elusive enemy. Southern Gambit contributed to the cumulative effort to push the insurgency back from the population centers and assert control over the Helmand districts during the height of the Marine commitment to the campaign. It was one of the building-block operations of the broader effort, part of the grinding, incremental advance that characterized the Marine war in the province in its most active years.
Record no. 790