Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:09 | After his second tour was done, so was he. Kyle Wise was pretty torn up. He had a traumatic brain injury, bad migraines and significant problems with his legs that required surgery. He has gotten some relief with acupuncture that has reduced his need for some of the many medications he has to take each day.
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His father had told him the Air Force or the Navy would give him the best chance to see the world, but when Kyle Wise saw the poster in front of the Marine recruiter's office, he walked right in.
Former Marine Kyle Wise was looking to get back into the military, but it seemed no one would let him keep his one stripe from the Corps. The Army National Guard was the one option that let him retain the rank so he joined and became a counterintelligence specialist. The attacks on 9/11 accelerated the training for everyone.
The training was accelerated. The counterintelligence school was getting National Guard elements ready for whatever would come after the 9/11 attacks. Kyle Wise was getting good at the trade craft, thanks to instruction from a legendary figure in the intelligence community.
After final training in some questionable facilities, Kyle Wise deployed to Kuwait with a Military Intelligence component of the Georgia National Guard. His unit was responsible for all security screening of individuals and for any investigations that became necessary.
As part of a Military Intelligence unit, Kyle Wise wore civilian clothes, was always armed and was part of the only outfit allowed off base in Kuwait. Sometimes his missions took him into Iraq. Sometimes he was acting on bogus information provided by a civilian, who was after either money or prestige.
Kyle Wise had already been to Iraq and Afghanistan with his National Guard Military Intelligence unit. When another deployment was imminent, he went to Fort Dix for more training where he noticed something odd. Hardly any of the instructors had any patches that indicated combat experience.
While he was training up for his second big deployment, Kyle Wise began having some trouble on the gun range with blurred vision. This was just the beginning of some strange health problems that would cause his unit to leave without him.
It was called Logistical Support Area Anaconda and it was huge. Kyle Wise couldn't believe it. On his previous tour in Iraq, he had been stationed in small facilities. This place had neighborhoods. One thing was the same, the heat. But this time around, there was at least a little more air conditioning.
When he finally joined his intelligence unit in Iraq, the teams had been reworked and sent to the units they were supporting. Kyle Wise was then sent to a brand new team where, although he was only the assistant NCOIC, he was clearly the most experienced agent.
His first night at FOB Warhorse, counterintelligence agent Kyle Wise was looking for where he was supposed to bunk. He had his laptop bag and his M-16 slung over his shoulder and was walking along, minding his own business, when he heard the challenge word. What? Why here in the middle of the base? Then he heard a .50 cal charged.
It was during a firefight in Afghanistan that his head had a chance meeting with the grill of his truck. Kyle Wise was knocked out for a minute but he gathered himself and returned to the business at hand. When he was being retired, he found out that the injury was Purple Heart eligible.
Kyle Wise has one piece of advice for all veterans. Seek out other veterans and talk to them. Use the organizations that are out there, like the VFW, Disabled American Veterans, the American Legion and the like, to connect with your peers and contemporaries.
Kyle Wise was chief of a human intelligence collection team based in Kabul. This meant he had to question a lot of locals, including one who provided some excellent information on some high value targets. In an unusual move, Wise accompanied the Special Forces team which set out with the source to bring in the terrorists. Part 1 of 2.
One guy got away. During the capture of several terrorist targets, one intrepid Afghani escaped on foot but the rest were captured. Some interesting materials were found in the compound, including blueprints of the Guantanemo Bay facility. Kyle Wise saw the stature of his intelligence unit rise after this operation, although the embassy was definitely through loaning them vehicles. Part 2 of 2.
In the intelligence game, you often find good information at places that are outside normal daily life. For instance, Kyle Wise was able to do exactly that in a case involving an Afghan officer and the local house of ill repute.
Kyle Wise was working out of Gardez with a new intelligence team that supported the Special Forces. During the investigation and demolition of a huge IED, bullets began flying and the team returned fire. During the battle, he received an injury not from a weapon, but from his own vehicle. Then, he saw something approaching on his periphery. Part 1 of 2.
Kyle Wise couldn't believe it. A child had wandered into the middle of a firefight. Once that part of the drama was over, help arrived and he was able to go back to base and get treatment for a nasty blow to the head. Then it was right back to the field where the team encountered an Afghan "man dance." The reason for the celebration was quite ironic. Part 2 of 2.
Kyle Wise discusses the interplay between various Afghan warlords and how the American forces tried to deal with the difficult and chaotic scenario. His intelligence gathering team was responsible for a whopping forty percent of all information collected in the entire theater. This got them noticed.
It was much more difficult and dangerous working with warlords and tribes than with government entities. Counterintelligence agent Kyle Wise had a huge area of operation that encompassed several provinces. Developing sources was a big part of his work and he sometimes provided them with cameras and recorders. His team managed to bring down one of the most most notorious warlords in Afghanistan.
Before he left Afghanistan, Kyle Wise was subjected to one more blast when the building he was searching was hit by a rocket attack. When he was back stateside, his wife noticed some changes in him. Eventually, he was diagnosed with traumatic brain injury, a condition that was occurring more and more in that conflict.
