As the Nation's first responders overseas, the Green Berets of the 5th SFG (A) were given the mission to hunt down those responsible for the 9/11 attacks and bring them to justice. The Special Forces teams faced enormous operational challenges and were required to rapidly adapt 21st century combat technologies and tactics into age old Central Asian models of guerilla and tribal warfare as they partnered with the Afghan tribes of the Northern Alliance. Needing suitable transportation to navigate the difficult mountainous terrain of Northern Afghanistan, the Special Forces Operational Detachments – Alpha (SFOD-A), or A-teams, were provided horses by the Afghan tribes they were supporting. The Green Berets readily accepted this superior form of mobility and proceeded to assist and advise the Northern Alliance fighters from horseback, similar to the cavalry days of old. Coordinating military operations while on horseback with local tribal warlords, the Green Berets accomplished in weeks what many thought would take months, if not years; defeating the Taliban and pushing surviving members of al-Qaeda into the mountains of Pakistan. Soon thereafter, the Green Berets would adopt the familiar title of Horse Soldiers. In honor of the victims of the 9/11 attacks each Green Beret A-Team carried with them pieces of steel recovered from the rubble that was the World Trade Center. At the site where each A-team completed their mission they respectively buried a piece of the World Trade Center steel and a properly folded American flag. As the first unit to invade Afghanistan and take the fight to those responsible, the burial ceremonies in Afghanistan would forever bond the Green Berets of the 5th SFG (A) to the New York City first responders. It was a bond formed from an understanding and an ability to relate to those first responders who risked their lives to go to the aid of others - Maj. Brandon Bissell, 5th Special Forces Group (A)