Berkoff, Ross A. Beyond the Outpost

An Army Cavalry Officer’s War Diary on the Frontlines of Afghanistan, 2003–2007

In 2003, cavalry officer Lieutenant Ross Berkoff led his reconnaissance platoon of the 10th Mountain Division on more than 10,000 miles of reconnaissance missions through the dangerous southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand the birthplace of the Taliban over a period of nine months. After transferring to military intelligence, Captain Berkoff returned to Afghanistan in 2006 and was reassigned to the 10th Mountain Division's light cavalry. By this time, the Taliban insurgency had become even more sophisticated and deadly. Beyond the Outpost is the first and only unvarnished daily chronicle from the perspective of a young officer reporting on this delicate and hostile initial phase of the US Army's 20-year campaign against the Taliban. In the two years following 11 September 2001, the strongholds of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan were largely deserted. Months of intensive raids and bombardments by US special forces resulted in large numbers of enemy fighters being displaced and disorganised. However, when the first US Army brigade combat teams were stationed in Afghanistan, the enemy's tactics and dynamics began to change and intensify. Lieutenant Berkoff's deployment in 2003 was the first use of light cavalry units in Operation Enduring Freedom on a modern battlefield. His second deployment in 2006 supported the pursuit of Osama Bin Laden by US intelligence agencies in the mountainous border region near Pakistan. Berkoff's diary unadulterated and unvarnished takes us on the bumpy ride as the army attempts to destroy extremists and separate them from the beleaguered Afghan people in its mission to combat insurgents. A large part of Jake Tapper's bestseller The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor is devoted exclusively to this mission from 2006 to 2007. Beyond the Outpost documents the early years of the US conflict in Afghanistan. Berkoff's daily first-hand accounts of the 10th Mountain Division's campaigns and battles in the sand dunes of Kandahar and the mountains of the rugged Hindu Kush offer unique clarity and detail from the perspective of a private soldier, about the evolution of Taliban insurgent tactics and how the US Army cavalry fought to defeat them. After the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, many war veterans are faced with profound questions about the meaning and legacy of their service. Berkoff's stories of courage, sacrifice, adaptability, resilience and leadership, supplemented by original maps, illustrations and previously unpublished photos, help to bear the weight of the collective experiences of Afghanistan veterans.