Neponset's Mike Kenneally, above on horseback, is a member of an elite Army Special Forces unit that was among the first Americans on the ground in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001. Kenneally was awarded the Bronze Star for his service, which included action in Mazar-e-Sharif, where this picture was taken.

By Bill Forry

They came in by helicopter on a snowy, moonlit November night in central Afghanistan: a small team of highly trained, grizzled soldiers, armed to the teeth with the latest weaponry of modern America. Once on the ground, they double-timed it to a prearranged rally point, where friendly locals handed them the reins of their decidedly low-tech transport: pack mules and horses, the only "vehicles" capable of navigating the unforgiving mountainous terrain then known as Taliban country.

It had been just six weeks since terrorists hijacked four American airliners and slammed them into our way of life.

Now, the Americans were coming for them.

One of the first to hit Afghan soil was a man whose first steps in life were taken right here in your neighborhood: Staff Sergeant Mike Kenneally, a 39 year-old Neponset native. The son of the late State Senator George Kenneally and his wife Carol, Mike went to Saint Ann's and Don Bosco before joining the Army out of high school. After a tour of duty on the Korean DMZ, Mike came home and studied the Far East at UMass Boston before jumping into a 1993 campaign for an open city council seat that was won by Maureen Feeney.

"It's the only battle Mike Kenneally ever lost," says Tom Doherty, a friend who also ran for the same city council seat in '93- and is now connected to Mike through marriage.

Right: Mike Kenneally in a 1993 campaign photo.

Rebuffed by the voters, but hardly discouraged ("I did it to get my name out there," he says) Mike looked back to the Army for a career. He trained for four years to earn a spot in the Special Forces. Right now, Mike Kenneally is at Fort Bragg, Kentucky, awaiting orders that are certain to come within weeks, if not days.

"You can imagine we're going to be real busy, real soon," Kenneally told the Reporter in an interview this week.

The Calvalry Is On Its Way
The day-to-day particulars of Mike Kenneally's four months in Afghanistan are still pretty spotty- and that's no accident. Kenneally is part of the Army's elite Fifth Special Forces unit. It's the kind of outfit where people say things like, 'I could tell you what I do for a living, but then I'd have to kill you,'- and are only half-joking.

One thing is quite clear: Mike Kenneally and his brothers-in-arms accomplished their objective and did their duty. And, the Army says they did it well. Last August, Mike received the Bronze Star for "exceptionally meritorious service... for operational detachment Alpha 534 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom."

Translated loosely, the service medal puts Mike in the company of guys- numbering less than 100- who slipped into Afghanistan in the fall of 2001 and helped rout the Taliban regime in a matter of weeks. Task Force Dagger, as they were called, was given the task of training and backing-up the Northern Alliance, a beleaguered confederation of anti-Taliban Afghans who were on the ropes until Americans showed up.

"My impression, even while planning the mission, was that the Taliban was still on a push and if the U.S. didn't get involved the (Northern Alliance) would have had to capitulate or get out of the country," Kenneally says.

An explosives specialist who speaks Arabic, Kenneally had the job of "calling in the birds"- B-52s and other attack aircraft which turned the tide of Afghanistan's civil war and sent much of the Taliban scurrying for the borders. Kenneally was an advance man, assigned to scope out the Taliban positions and, using sophisticated equipment, direct U.S. planes to their targets.

"The B-52 strikes, that was the real show," Kenneally says. "The most powerful visual was to see the contrails of B-52s - you couldn't even see the plane - and everybody knew what it was. Everyone underneath knew we were there and it scared the heck out of them."

Kenneally says he had strict orders to avoid civilian targets, especially mosques. Even if Taliban soldiers took shelter inside the mosques, they were off-limits to U.S. bombing missions, for fear that their destruction would cause an international incident.

Kenneally and his "team" spent their nights camped out in mountain villages with Afghan allies, and their days on the prowl for Taliban positions. They assumed local customs, grew beards to try and blend in better and largely lived out of the saddle. They also maintained a complete "blackout" from friends and family at home- who, officially, had no word of Mike's whereabouts.

"We don't even ask," says Doherty, who served in the military himself. "It was pretty clear from press reports that he was on line to go somewhere. His unit is the unit for that area of the world.

"And I think Mike was fairly pumped up to go on that mission and do what he'd been training to do for a long time.

Doherty acknowledges, "We were worried every time we heard about someone getting killed. It took a tremendous amount of courage to go hundreds of miles into hostile territory to meet foreign forces they didn't know and weren't sure they could trust."

One of the flashpoints of the brief war to dislodge the Taliban came at Mazar-e-Sharif, a prison fortress where Taliban prisoners- many of whom had not yet been disarmed by the Alliance- rose against their captors in a bloody day-long battle. Two American special forces men- not part of Kenneally's team- were killed in the surprise attack before Mike and others helped suppress the uprising.

It was not the only time Kenneally was in the line of fire. On more than a few occasions, he was engaged in gun battles and, while he offers no specifics, it's clear that Kenneally saw more than his share of bloodshed. He also helped many of the wounded get the treatment that, without U.S. help, would have been sorely lacking.

"Personally, the medical support and the logistical support, the clothes and the food that we provided was what I remember the most," Kenneally says.

The Americans would routinely call in "bundle drops"- relief aide parachuted in on 1 1/2 ton palettes- with drugs, food, and warm clothes for the impoverished people of Afghanistan who were in constant need. It's one of the highlights in a four-month adventure that Mike Kenneally says he is proud to have been a part of. In January 2002, he and his team was relieved by other special forces units who went on to hunt the Taliban and Osama bin Ladin in the mountains along the Pakistani border.

"I was so lucky to go on a mission like this," says Kenneally. "There are guys who spend their entire time on special duty and never get to do what I did. This was the real thing, from start to finish, it was like a Mission Impossible episode."

"I'm just extremely lucky that I was in the right time and in the right place. It's really a good feeling in the end to have served the country and not have anything go bad for you or your teammates.

"In the end- that's my feeling towards the whole thing," Kenneally says.

When the current, unspoken mission that lies ahead is complete, Mike dreams of returning to Boston, or a base nearby, so he can spend more time with friends and family. When he makes it back to Dorchester, he loves to bike ride along the new Neponset parklands, especially Pope John Paul II Park. Afterwards, he's partial to a pint at the Eire Pub or the VFW Post, where he can hang his hat with guys from other generations, with whom he now has a bond that won't break.

When he makes it back, Tom Doherty says they'll be a long line of people ready to buy him a round.

"I'm proud to have a guy from Dorchester among the few that did this thing," Doherty says.