 The Marines and sailors of Regimental Combat Team 6 and its Board of Battalions have been conducting Operation Jaws in the Helmand Province for three months. I would describe Operation Jaws as Regimental Combat Team 6's bid for success in AOEE, the area of responsibility that we have in Northern Helmand Province of Afghanistan. Out in Washear, we don't really have enough people to garrison that full time, so it's a major safe haven for the Taliban. Major Jonathan O'Gorman was tasked with executing the most recent phase of the operation, where Marines with Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, cleared several villages of insurgents in the Gaston Valley in Northern Helmand. The Taliban are still talking about the things we did up there and demanding that some of their commanders, who now they see as incompetent, get fired because they either fled the battle or didn't give them good enough advice and the amount of insurgents that were killed was a huge morale blow to the insurgents that were left behind. So I would say it was a pretty big success. The execution of an operation is no easy feat. Major O'Gorman had to manage more than 1,000 people in multiple units and different sections to ensure the success of the mission. We did, from each section of the regiment, between admin, intel, operations, logistics and communications. We pulled a lieutenant out of there with me and overall charge of it and had to get up there a couple days early and kind of train to figure out how to be a battalion like configuration. Once the Marines started working together in the Combat Operations Center, they immediately went to work practicing efficient unit-to-unit communication in order to better control the mission. Corporal Ed Gallo, Forward Operating Base, Dalaram II, Afghanistan.