Stryker Brigade News

Meanwhile, commander Capt. Kevin Sharp and NCOs from Co. B were in 1st Bn., 17th Inf. conference room, debriefing the battalion S2 on their mission that day. Their sweat-streaked faces and disheveled uniforms spoke as clearly as their words about the action the men and their Strykers had encountered in another village.

A long day for the Buffalos here at the Joint Readiness Training Center was about to get longer.

This is Operation Iraqi Freedom, rewound at the JRTC May 16. Missions gone badly like Co. B encountered. Mission support, like Ellis was waiting on, was lacking, tardy, or nonexistent. And always, the unexpected turn of events, like Sharp ran into.

Just like the year’s worth of days the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team can anticipate when they arrive in the real country this August.

“I was in Iraq in March on a recon of the area we’ll be responsible for what we’re doing here at JRTC is as realistic an environment as it can be,” said Lt. Col. Charles Webster, commander of 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment. “Our soldiers are interacting with native speakers, people who understand the culture and act like the people we are going to meet in Iraq.”

Sharp’s foray into a village began the previous day and unfolded with the uncertainty the brigade faced the entire three weeks it trained at JRTC. Who is friendly? Who’s not? Who’s telling the truth?

“We went into the town to assess the services in the town, their basic needs. The leaders told us it was a safe town,” Sharp said. “Then we noticed some anti-coalition forces on the walls of the town.”

He shows propaganda posters that were collected by Co. B. “Fight America, they are evil.” “Do not accept their water; do not accept their schools for the children.” “10,000 dinars for the killing of an American Soldier.”

“The town was neutral but very adamant about getting our help,” Sharp said. “I was really looking forward to working with the mayor to get those needs met until I saw these.”

Co. A’s mission to assist a village was stalled again as three mortars arced out of the nearby tree line. Two of these pyrotechnic fakes burst close together 20 meters inside the perimeter of the FOB, home to the 1-17. The other sailed into the heart of the village Ellis intended to visit with the tardy engineers.

Moments before the attack, Co. A commander Capt. Richard Willbanks explained why platoon leader Ellis would be making today’s trip.

“I went in there yesterday and didn’t get too far with the mayor,” Willbanks said with a smile. “So we’ll send Ellis in today. He’s got the gift of gab.”

Co. A’s plan was to have the engineers replace the water tower, which the mayor indicated wasn’t adequate for the village’s needs. The engineers were nowhere to be found and now there had been an attack. After the Co. A officers huddled, they decided to get into the village to check for wounded. A motley crew piled into one Stryker: a medic, infantrymen, Ellis, two journalists.

The vehicle crept towards the FOB exit but jerked to a stop before leaving friendly soil. It rolled back to company HQ, idled again as Ellis disappeared into the tent. Five, 10, 15 minutes tick by. The lieutenant is back and the vehicle rolls again. Radio contact had not been present between the company and Stryker but was now restored. Another delay.

The Stryker stops at the farthest edge of the village. The short trip was a respite thanks to the vehicle’s cooling system that protects its battlefield network computer. Upon dismount, dense humidity covers the group like the affection of a mustachioed aunt at Thanksgiving. They make the 200-meter trek to the mayor, waiting impatiently at the village’s highest point.

Ellis’s gift of gab doesn’t seem to placate the perturbed Iraqi leader. No one is injured. The exchange gets heated as the mayor insists on knowing when the assistance is coming for the water tower. Ellis makes a bold step that quiets the Iraqi. He and his men take several five-gallon water jugs, vowing to return soon with fresh water. The fresh-faced lieutenant tells the mayor he will always honor his appointments to the best of his ability. The placated mayor softens and Ellis takes the opportunity to have a journalist speak to the leader.

The group makes their way back to the Stryker. Despite the rapprochement, the eyes of each in the group move back and forth from the distractions of the landscape: burned out vehicles, the bazaar where women sit with the wares they hawk, the outlying buildings, and a truck that rolls by on the road a few hundred meters away.

The mayor says he isn’t aligned with insurgents but the group is small with one vehicle. The mortars came from some bad guys that no one will find.

Later Ellis prefers to remember the Arabic script he wrote on one of the Iraqi’s hands and the personal money he gave to the mayor as acts of contrition rather than the leader’s anger.

“It is absolutely necessary that U.S. forces be sensitive to the culture,” Ellis said. “They’re very concerned with the here and the now.”

Contact the writer at brian.lepley@us.army.mil