If you’re interested in military history or special operations warfare then this book is a must read:

This is the story of America’s horse soldier’s who were the first to go into theatre after 9/11 as part of Task Force Dagger.

ODA 595 from 5th Group, US Army Special Forces were the Green Berets who were chosen to go behind enemy lines and link up with the Northern Alliance units of Afghanistan to disrupt, stop and terminate Taliban operations.

Their story was retold and dramatised in the Hollywood film 12 Strong.

So I first heard about the mission that ODA 595 when news about the unit filtered through to press conferences held by Donald Rumsfeld who was US SecDef at the time.

I saw the movie and I was inspired to find out more, the more I learned about this mission the more inspired I became.

Some time after the movie was released I read the book Swords of Lightning by Mark Nutsch and Bob Pennington who led the mission.

What impressed me about these US Army Green Berets was their courage, attitude, professionalism and adaptability. They truly are the quiet professionals they claim to be.

They were both warriors and diplomats holding together a fragile coalition in the mist of calling in air strikes and being split into two sections that would be put to the test at every turn. My respect for these men is immense.

I wanted to make a vignette in tribute to the team and their mission and in my minds eye I imagined a scene with US Special Forces soldiers on horseback on a mountain pass somewhere in Afghanistan.

Turning an idea into a model

In order to portray horse soldiers I needed some horses!

After browsing my favourite online hobby stores I came across two sets of figures, one made by Black Dog and the other by CMK. Both sets were 1/35 resin figures of US SF soldiers on horseback:

While I was working on the figures, my mind wondered to thoughts of mountain passes and how recreate them. I spent much time studying photographs of Afghanistan’s mountain terrain and eventually thought of a way to compose the scene I had imagined in my head.

I began work on my scenery by carving the display base plinth and the mountain pass from a block of styrofoam. Then with a basic layout designed I had this:

I then added a healthy dose of diorama accessories to create mountain scenery by utilising AK dry ground terrain paste and a mixture of stones and small cuts of slate to create a rocky ground.

Not too long after this I had finished work on the figures and put them into place on the finished display. Mounted in its own base, the plinth was decorated with the US Army Special Forces 5th Group flash and the Task Force Dagger mission patch.

Here then, is my tribute to the men of ODA 595.

I hope you like this vignette and maybe it will encourage you to learn more about the men of ODA 595.

In the meantime, thanks for stopping by and Happy Modelling!

Darren.