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Winds of Change has published its weekly Iraq Report, with links to news and analysis of recent events.
First reported here on 1/27, this article has now been reprinted in the Baltimore Sun. The story mentions SSG Juan Solorio, MSG Brian Mack, SGT Christopher Pusateri, and SSG Zachary Wobler
Link to Full Article
By Dionne Searcey, The Wall Street Journal
Electronic records create a powerful, raw new wave of war memorials
The night his buddy was killed by insurgent gunfire in Iraq last March, Army Spc. Mitchell Bass hopped out of his bunk and grabbed his laptop. He searched his computer for every digital photo he could find of the friend, Staff Sgt. Juan Solorio, and then wandered around the camp in Mosul with his portable hard drive asking other soldiers whether they had any photos or video clips.
(TF BoB Press Release)
TIKRIT, Iraq – The 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Iraqi Army Division is the latest Iraqi unit to gain control of its own battle space.
The unit commander, Brig. Gen. Ali Mullah, accepted the responsibility of protecting the area, south of Mosul, during a transfer of authority ceremony with a unit from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team Saturday and said, “The terrorists are taking their last breaths and the end is near…there is no place for them [to hide].”
Link to Full Article
Anchorage Daily News
The Daily News has invited Alaska troops serving in the Middle East to write us. Stryker brigade 1st Lt. Mark Brogan, a platoon leader with Fort Wainwright's 2-1 Infantry Regiment, works in and around Mosul and says Iraqi children are among his biggest supporters. We are publishing these dispatches every Monday. Previous installments can be found at www.adn.com.
Link to Full Article
Michel Nolan, Staff Writer
Staff Sgt. Shannon Kay recalls the fireball as the suicide car bomber rammed the rear of his Stryker armored infantry vehicle.
The massive explosion and subsequent firefight are seared in the Rancho Cucamonga native's memory.
"It was a huge physical force - the biggest I ever felt," said Shannon, 29. "Some of the guys inside were kind of unconscious, so we dropped a ramp and dragged people out. It was just a natural reaction - any soldier would have done the same."
Link to Full Article
By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER
MOSUL, Iraq--When 1st Lt. Rob Murdough found out he and soldiers in his platoon were being moved from Mosul to Rawah in western Iraq for the remainder of their tour, he asked his parents to send him an electric razor.
"We heard water for shaving can be scarce at times," he said.
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (AP) - He didn't have to go, it wasn't his job and nobody paid him to do it. But Michael Yon says he went to Iraq because he wanted to see for himself what was going on.
The 41-year-old former Army Green Beret, self-published author and world traveler didn't know exactly what he was going to do when he got to the war zone last year, nor did he have any particular plans to report what he saw to the world at-large.
But that's what he did.
Link to Full Article
The Daily Item
TAMPA, Fla. — Army Sgt. Wayne Landis, 25, a Middleburg, Pa., native, will receive his Purple Heart during a ceremony today at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, 13000 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., Tampa Spinal Cord Injury Center.
He is a 1998 graduate of Middleburg High School, where he was a varsity soccer player and a wrestler.
Link to Full Article
"Pen pals teach third-graders about friendships and giving."
BY LAUREN WILLIAMSON, Record Staff Writer
LONG VIEW -- Jaleel Ussery shuffles through his desk in Christine Brock’s third-grade class at Longview Elementary.
He tosses aside crayons, loose sheets of paper and his textbook. After a few minutes of shuffling, his scowl transforms into a grin.
“Here are the cards my soldier wrote to me,” Ussery said. “He even sent me some pictures.”
Link to Full Article
By Michelle Cuthrell
Jim Kuhnert and his buddy smiled at me as they opened the gate to the pickup truck sitting outside my office Monday morning. Anticipating a few boxes, or maybe just a bag or two, I casually unlocked the side door to my tiny Corolla. I figured I could squeeze a couple items into my back seat with no problem. But as they pulled down the gate, I realized I had a lot more unlocking to do.
There, crammed into the bed of the truck, were thirteen bulky Priority Mail boxes stuffed with my favorite cuddly fleece knot-style blankets.
It may be cold in Mosul but its not this cold.
Link to Full Article
Sgt. Michael Hamlin
C/2-1 Inf.
MOSUL, Iraq — When the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team deployed from Fairbanks to Iraq in August, it was my first deployment since joining the Army in 2003.
Since our arrival five months ago, our unit has worked continuously with training, daily patrols and numerous missions throughout the city of Mosul.
The letters and packages received by Soldiers from friends and family prove our labors are not overlooked.
Occasionally, letters of support are received from people we have never even met. Now, after five months, our platoon is being rewarded by being sent on leave.
Link to Photos - from USARAK e-post.
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM — Capt. Thomas Kurtz carried his camera on patrol with the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, Monday, documenting a days’ worth of action for the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team Soldiers.
Link to Full Article with Photo
1st Lt. Benjamin Tiernan
A/4-14th Cav.
MOSUL, Iraq — The previous week has seen A Troop, 4th Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, preparing and packing equipment for our latest move.
We have continued with our normal patrols and mission requirements while at the same time ensuring we are ready to leave Task Force 2-1 and return to 4-14 Cav.
Link to Full Article with Photos
PAO staff report
MOSUL, Iraq – Two Task Force 2-1 Soldiers were recognized recently for their actions during a fierce firefight that claimed the life of one of their compatriots and left several others injured.
Staff Sgt. Jamie Johnson and Sgt. Kenneth Plantz, both from the 2nd Platoon of Company C, received bronze star awards with “V” devices to signify valor for combat actions that occurred Nov. 19, 2005 in the al Sukar section of Mosul.
SSG Solorio, who is mentioned in the following article, was a member of the 1/25 SBCT. You can follow the link to download the memorial video. Thanks to Paul North for providing a link to this article.
Link to Full Article
By DIONNE SEARCEY, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The night his buddy was killed by insurgent gunfire in Iraq last March, Army Spc. Mitchell Bass hopped out of his bunk and grabbed his laptop. He searched his computer for every digital photo he could find of the friend, Staff Sgt. Juan Solorio, and then wandered around the camp in Mosul with his portable hard drive asking other soldiers whether they had any photos or video clips.
They gave him shots of Sgt. Solorio sporting a newly shaved head and leaning against a burned-out truck on an Iraqi roadside. They found footage of Sgt. Solorio reaching for his pistol, dropping it in the mud and laughing. Spc. Bass strung all the images together into a video and added a soundtrack, "The Night That the Lights Went Out in NYC" by punk band the Ataris. Then he played it at a memorial service in Iraq.
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
On Lt. Damon Armeni’s last trip to Iraq, they weren’t sure he’d survive the medical evacuation flight home.
Shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade had ripped into his abdomen. He lost his spleen and sections of his colon and intestines.
He spent long stretches in the hospital to fight infection. Doctors broke four of his toes and fused the bones together to counter the nerve damage that was causing them to curl up like a claw.
(TF BOB Press Release)
TIKRIT, Iraq – Three men and two women were detained in Mosul Wednesday in two separate searches.
Task Force Band of Brothers Soldiers from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team detained two men during a raid on a suspected terrorist house Wednesday morning. The raid uncovered weapons and Al Qaeda propaganda.
Another 172nd SBCT patrol detained a man as he attempted to flee from an Iraqi Army patrol. The Soldiers searched the man’s home and his two sisters’ adjacent home, where they discovered a cache of artillery shells and a propane tank rigged to explode.
The explosives were taken to a nearby field and safely destroyed by an explosive ordnance disposal team.
Link to Full Article
By Michael Yon
Soldiers love to visit Iraqi schools. The teachers are welcoming, and the kids are always excited. The children burst into smiles and waves, but seem to be almost nailed to their seats: they do not get up without the teachers’ permission.
The soldiers often arrive just to say hello, but at other times they unload trucks full of supplies: pencils, paper, and books. I visited a school far out in the boondocks near the Iranian border, where the villagers told me no Americans had ever been. In one of the classrooms, children were studying to identify mines and bombs, so they would not get blown up. [...]
Link to Full Article
Anchorage Daily News
Stryker Brigade Staff Sgt. Joshua Lothspeich 1/23/2006
The Daily News has invited Alaska troops serving in the Middle East to write us. Stryker Brigade Staff Sgt. Joshua Lothspeich, a squad leader with Fort Richardson's 4-23 Infantry Regiment, is serving in Mosul and says things are different there than he expected. We're publishing these dispatches every Monday.
Link to Full Article
By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER, Staff Writer
MOSUL, IRAQ--Strains of "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd resonated through the belly of this armored Stryker vehicle rolling early Friday morning along the streets of Mosul. The southern rock anthem was meant to shake the sleep from soldiers inside and help steel them against a rainy, chilly patrol ahead.
(BOB Press Release)
TIKRIT, Iraq – Task Force Band of Brothers Soldiers captured a terrorist gunman after a brief car chase through Mosul Sunday afternoon.
Soldiers from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team were securing an IED they had discovered while patrolling in the city, when they started receiving small arms fire from an unknown source. As they searched the area for the shooter, the patrol took more gunfire from a nearby car.
The Soldiers pursued the car through the city and engaged it with well-aimed rifle fire, causing the driver to lose control and crash. The suspect fled the scene on foot and tried to hide among a group of local men, but the troopers identified the gunman and took him into custody.
Soldiers searched the gunman’s vehicle which tested positive for explosives residue, possibly linking him to the IED which was safely destroyed.
Winds of Change has published its weekly Iraq Report, with links to news and analysis of recent events.
Link to Blog Entry
By Margaret Friedenauer
I was scheduled to leave Sunday from Mosul to begin my journey home. Further investigation revealed that in order to make my commercial flight on Tuesday from Kuwait I had to take a military flight TODAY. It was hustle and bustle and a quick goodbye. [...]
Ms. Friedenauer has concluded her on-site reporting on the 172nd SBCT. I've enjoyed her stories from Iraq and look forward to her continuing reporting on the activities of the Arctic Wolves. You can read all her blog entries and the full stories at this URL.
MAJ South's unit served as part of Task Force Freedom alongside the 1/25 SBCT in Mosul.
Link to Full Article
LOU MUMFORD, Tribune Staff Writer
COLOMA -- As manager of the Coloma Transportation Service Center for the Michigan Department of Transportation, Paul South knows a thing or two about roads.
Now, he knows something about road-side bombs as well.
A major with the National Guard, the 37-year-old South just returned with his Gary, Ind.-based 113th Engineer Battalion from a year-long military mission in Iraq. He's believed to be the highest-ranking official in Michigan state government to serve with the military in Iraq. [...]
Link to Full Article with Photo
The photo shows 2-1 INF soldiers helping recover the downed Kiowa on Jan. 13.
Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon is seeking answers as to why three U.S. helicopters have crashed in Iraq within the past two weeks, a senior Defense Department official said here today.
Link to Full Article
By Jennifer Edwards, Odessa American
It was a routine day and a routine duty for 22-year-old Army Cpl. Earnie Terrell — randomly checking vehicles at a checkpoint in Mosul, Iraq.
But the vehicle driven by the short-haired, heavy-set man with a broad nose was not an ordinary one.
“I looked down and saw a switch or toggle,” Terrell said Friday.
What had aroused his interest, he recounted, was that the switch “definitely looked like an add-on.”
What, he asked the man, was the switch for?
“He reached for it,” Terrell said.
Quickly, Terrell and officers from the fledgling Iraqi Army pinned the man.
“We didn’t hit him or shoot him,” he said.
“It could have been his radio or his gas tank. We found out later it was a car bomb.”
Link to Full Article with Photo
Sgt. Rachel Brune
101st Sustainment Brigade
MAKHMÛR, Iraq — Coalition medical personnel conducted a medical civil action program, or MEDCAP, with medics from the Iraqi Army 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, here in December.
Capt. Michelle Moore, brigade surgeon, 101st Sustainment Brigade, and Capt. Charles Roberts, physicians assistant, 172nd Brigade Support Battalion, led the team examining, diagnosing, treating and advising family members of Iraqi soldiers.
Link to Full Article with Photo
Story and photo by Sgt. Ashly Rice
101st Sustainment Brigade
Q-WEST BASE COMPLEX, Iraq — Fifty-four trainees graduated from the Iraqi Basic Combat Training program, taught by 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team Soldiers, at the NCO Academy here Dec. 16.
“The graduated class, 05-06, was the first class to end with all of its original soldiers who attended,” said Sgt. Maj. Walter Murrell of the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment.
Murrell is the Noncommissioned Officer Academy commandant for the program.
Link to Full Article with Photo
Task Force Band of Brothers PAO
TIKRIT, Iraq – Three raids in northern Iraq led to five captures of anti-Iraqi forces, including one that was turned in by a cohort, Jan. 13.
Soldiers from Alaska’s 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team received a tip that led them to a terrorist cell member. Once the troops caught the terrorist, he turned informant and gave up another member of his cell.
Maj. Gen. Thomas Turner II, commander of Multinational Division North (MND North), explains the transition of control from Task Force Freedom to Task Force Band of Brothers. The 172nd is operating as part of MND North.
GEN. TURNER: Good morning. I'd like to thank you all for being here today and for this opportunity to address the great work that our soldiers are doing in Iraq.
I'd like to begin by giving you a little background on our task force, our battlespace, our mission, and finally, some areas where we're seeing progress.
The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) first assumed responsibility for the area known as Multinational Division North Central from the 42nd Infantry Division on November 1st. On December 30th, we assumed responsibility for Task Force Freedom's Multinational Force Northwest, which combined constitutes our current area of responsibility, known as MND North.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
PFC Kasper A. Dudkiewicz, 22, of Mangilao, Guam, died in Mosul, Iraq, on Jan. 15, when his HMMWV was involved in a vehicle collision. Dudkiewicz was assigned to the 511th Military Police Company, 91st Military Police Battalion, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.
We'd like to offer our sincere condolences to his family, friends and fellow soldiers. We will include any future articles in this entry. This will remain at the top of the page today - scroll down for recent news.
Link to Full Article
By Gary Sheftick
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Jan. 20, 2006) – Among more than 900 Soldiers watching the Washington Capitals beat the St. Louis Blues, 5-4, Thursday night in an overtime shootout, was a wounded warrior who aspires to one day play competitive hockey again.
Spc. Tim Taylor played hockey 14 years in high school and city leagues before most of his left hand was blown off in Iraq. Now he says Walter Reed Army Medical Center will provide him with an adaptive hand so he can compete again....
Link to Full Article
BY MICK WALSH, Staff Writer
The citation accompanying Thursday's award of the Silver Star to a Fort Benning soldier for his heroic actions in Iraq reads more like an action movie script.
But for Staff Sgt. Shannon Kay, now a member of the 2nd Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment, what transpired on Dec. 11, 2004, was far from Hollywood fiction.
Then a squad leader of a Fort Lewis, Wash., Stryker outfit stationed near Mosul, Kay was manning the left-rear air guard hatch of his vehicle at a traffic stop when, without notice, a car broke the traffic pattern and accelerated toward the Stryker. Kay's gunner alerted him to the approaching car, prompting him to fire a warning off the front of the vehicle.
Link to Full Article
by MICHELLE CUTTHRELL
It had been a long day.
A really long day.
I had no food in the house, my lower back killed, my baby brother and I were fighting and I was craving pineapple I didn't have. The minus 30 degree Fairbanks weather didn't help my pregnancy woes any, either. All I wanted at the end of my day was to come home and just nuzzle under a blanket with my husband, who would let me know that everything would be all right.
Link to Full Article
By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER, Staff Writer
MOSUL, Iraq--The darkened city appeared dormant after curfew Monday night. No people on the streets, shops closed, sheep huddled and sleeping, entire neighborhoods swathed in blackness from sporadic power outages. No vehicles on the road.
None, except for a convoy of armored U.S. Army vehicles hustling through the city. The big-rigs, flatbeds and Humvees weaved through town, accompanied by escorts to protect their cargo of tires, a Stryker engine, mail and a variety of other supplies coveted and needed by soldiers at bases situated around Mosul.
Link to Full Article
By MARY BETH SMETZER, Staff Writer
Army Spc. Derek Reese is running two miles a day, building his strength and endurance after receiving a serious leg wound in Iraq. The 25-year-old hopes to rejoin his unit in Iraq next month.
After eight surgeries--and counting--to repair a broken femur and compound fracture of the ankle, Sgt. Reginald Cundy's military career is over. He plans to go to college and be "a desk jockey" once he's discharged.
Link to Article
By Troy Griffin / 25th Infantry Division Public Affairs
SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii , Jan. 17, 2006 – The New Year brings yet another change to the Tropic Lightning Division – the elimination of the designation "Light" from the 25th Infantry Division's name.
This change is but the latest of many impacting the 25th Infantry Division as part of the Army's overall transformation efforts that, when complete, will result in an Army modular force that involves the total redesign of the operational Army into a larger, more powerful, flexible and rapidly deployable force.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Mitchell K. Carver, Jr., 31, of Charlotte, N.C., died near Al Sukar, Iraq, on Jan. 13, when his OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter came under attack by enemy forces using small arms fire. Carver was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 10th Aviation Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends, and fellow soldiers he leaves behind. We will add any subsequent articles we find to this entry.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kyle E. Jackson, 28, of Sarasota, Fla., died near Al Sukar, Iraq, on Jan. 13, when his OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter came under attack by enemy forces using small arms fire. Carver was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 10th Aviation Regiment, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.
We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to his loved ones. Additional articles will be added to this entry.
Link to Full Article
NICK WADHAMS, Associated Press
MOSUL, Iraq - When Capt. Pat Flynn and his squad knock on doors in Mosul in search of intelligence tips, Iraqis often welcome them inside with chocolate candy and tea in tiny glasses. When he asks if they have been intimidated or threatened, they emphatically shake their heads "no." That's a bad sign.
"Ninety percent of them say it's the safest place in the world to live," said Flynn, 29, a platoon commander in the 172nd Stryker Brigade's 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment. "But we know that's a lie because it's that 10 percent that comes and tells you what's really going on."
TFBOB Press Release
TIKRIT, Iraq – Iraqi civilians in Mosul led Iraqi Police and a patrol from 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team to the house of an AIF man wanted for a drive-by shooting Sunday evening.
Iraqi Police reported a vehicle approached them and began to fire at the policemen with an automatic rifle.
Winds of Change has published its weekly Iraq Report, with links to news and analysis of recent events.
Link to Full Article
Anchorage Daily News
The Daily News has invited Alaska troops serving in the Middle East to write us. Stryker brigade 1st Lt. Darrell Stepter, with Fort Richardson's 4-23 Infantry Regiment, writes about how his platoon grew from nine to 22 soldiers shortly after arriving in Iraq and how they quickly learned to work together.
Link to Full Article
NICK WADHAMS, Associated Press
MOSUL, Iraq - The Iraqi informant is a new source, but his tip seems solid: The chief financier of a Mosul terrorist cell, a gas station owner, lives in the neighborhood. He is wealthy enough to afford two armed guards to accompany his son to Mosul University.
Now, at 1:13 a.m., under a light drizzle, 25-year-old Lt. Mark Brogan and 13 men from his platoon crouch behind a wall, waiting for the signal to storm the house. The informant claims the financier and his son are inside. The two bodyguards, almost certainly armed, might be there as well.
Link to Full Article
The Walton Tribune
WALTON COUNTY — Some soldiers in Iraq had their own Santa Claus for the Christmas holidays.
Jackie Cash, Patsy Thomas and Wanda Griffioen, who are charter members of Southern Belles, a non-profit organization with people whose roots are firmly in the South either by birth or by choice, asked businesses for donations to help send Santa to Iraq.
The group campaigned local businesses within Walton County to help with their endeavor of adopting 160 soldiers for Christmas.
“The adoptees are stationed out of Fort Wainwright, Alaska, but of course are originally from all over the U.S.,” Southern Belle Shelia Scarbrough said. “They are from the 172nd Stryker Brigade, U.S. Army.”
Steve Thorne sent a few recent photos of Scott. Three were taken during a visit to Walter Reed MC, and the other is of Scott and daughter Aly. Steve has promised an update in the near future.
This article was originally published two weeks ago, but we just came across it recently.
Link to Full Article
Jim Souhan, Star Tribune
Today, we will watch Mike Tice stalk the sideline in his customary black garb.
Some of us will see a gridiron Johnny Cash dancing in a vocational ring of fire.
Some of us will see a lame-duck coach slogging through his contractual duties.
Somewhere in the Metrodome today, though, there will be four sets of eyes viewing Tice as a man with a heart as big as his Long Island accent.
Link to Full Article with Photo
Story and photo by Sgt. Ashly Rice
101st Sustainment Brigade
Q-WEST BASE COMPLEX, IRAQ — Battery C, 4th Battalion, 11th Field Artillery Regiment and Rakan Daille, a local contractor, dedicated the Shukran Water Treatment Project in a ceremony recently, marking the payoff of a long-term project.
Water serving the area outside of the Q-West southeast gate was unsatisfactory until Oct. 12, when the first fresh water pumped out of the Shukran Water Treatment Project.
Link to Full Article with Photos
Story and photos by Sgt. Rachel Brune
101st Sustainment Brigade
Q-WEST BASE COMPLEX, Iraq — A fire support team from Company A, 52nd Infantry (Anti-Tank), traveled outside the wire recently to act as forward observers during a live-fire artillery certification.
“We’re the eyes of the artillery,” said Capt. Patrick Shepherd, fire support officer.
The team supported the Battery C, 4th Battalion, 11th Field Artillery Regiment, exercise, which the unit must perform every three months. The same team earlier supported Battery A, 4-11th FA.
Link to Full Article with Photos
Sgt. Rachel Brune
101st Sustainment Brigade
Q-WEST BASE COMPLEX, Iraq — In April 2003, an elder from the small farming village of Jedallah Sofia appeared at the gates here with a handwritten request.
Sent by Dr. Mohammed, the local physician, the note asked for help in stopping random shots landing in the village and solving a water shortage.
Link to Full Article
By NICK WADHAMS - Associated Press
MOSUL, Iraq — When Capt. Pat Flynn and his squad knock on doors in Mosul in search of intelligence tips, Iraqis often welcome them inside with chocolate candy and tea in tiny glasses. When he asks if they have been intimidated or threatened, they emphatically shake their heads ‘‘no.’’
That’s a bad sign.
Link to Full Article
By JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY, Knight Ridder Newspapers
MOSUL, Iraq - In the eyes of the infantrymen, the patrol Friday afternoon was going great. Not merely quiet and routine but positively peaceful.
The streets of Mosul were festive, filled with children dressed in their best frilly dresses and neatly pressed trousers. This week Muslims are enjoying the festival of Eid al-Adha, or the feast of sacrifice.
TFBOB Press Release
TIKRIT, Iraq – Three raids in northern Iraq led to five captures of AIF, including one that was turned in by a cohort, Friday morning.
Soldiers from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team received a tip that led them straight to a terrorist cell member. Once the troops closed in and caught the terrorist, he turned informant and gave up another member of his cell. The Soldiers were able to track down one of the terrorists from the information given.
Link to Full Article
NICK WADHAMS; The Associated Press
MOSUL, Iraq – By the time the two pilots were removed, the helicopter was little more than a tangled mass of wire and shredded metal. The cockpit was upside down, the seat belts dangling and bloody. Nearby lay a muscled action figure with Velcro taped to its feet – a trinket from inside the aircraft.
The U.S. Army reconnaissance helicopter crashed in a muddy trash-strewn clearing in central Mosul after coming under small-arms fire Friday. It was the second fatal helicopter crash in Iraq in less than a week....
Soldiers from the 172nd respond to a downed helicopter near Mosul.
Link to Full Article
Associated Press
MOSUL, Iraq — A U.S. Army reconnaissance helicopter went down near Mosul in northern Iraq on Friday while aiding Iraqi police who came under hostile fire, and its two pilots were seriously injured, military officials said.
Both pilots of the OH-58 Kiowa, which is armed, were alive but unconscious when they were evacuated, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Joel Burger, of the 172nd Stryker Brigade 's 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, said at the scene of the crash. [...]
"It was responding to small arms fire being taken by Iraqi police. The gunmen fled to a nearby mosque," said Maj. Richard Greene, executive officer of the 2-1.
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Amid a rush of Iraq war soldier memoirs making their way into print, Brian Turner’s new book stands out.
His “Here, Bullet” is a collection of poems he wrote while deployed with the Army’s first Stryker brigade, from Fort Lewis, in 2003-04. His publisher believes it is the first book of poetry about the war.
Here are several new photos we found on various sites:
4-11 FA Photo
2-1 INF Photo
MNF Photos - the Jan. 11 photo depicts Pfc. Christopher Abbney of the 2-1 INF
Link to Full Article
By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER, News-Miner
MOSUL, Iraq--At the bottom of his sign for OIF Tattoos, Staff Sgt. Justen Folda wrote the words: "Welcome to your new addiction."
The sign is not a welcome but a warning, a caution that once you feel the sting of the needle during your first tattoo, you'll want more.
Link to Full Article
By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER, News-Miner
MOSUL, Iraq--On Wednesday's agenda for Team Tomahawk were a visit to a school in order to assess needed improvements, time to mingle with locals outside a mosque, reimbursement to a woman for four cows killed in crossfire and a moment to check out anti-Iraqi army graffiti.
(TFBOB Press Release)
TIKRIT, Iraq – Three weapons caches were discovered and 21 anti-Iraqi forces suspects were detained in northern Iraq Wednesday.
Soldiers from the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment conducted a raid against a suspected AIF cell in Tal Afar just after midnight Wednesday. The unit discovered two mortar rounds, a large supply of small arms ammunition and a home-made mine. Seven men were detained at the site.
Link to Full Article
By Shawn Macomber
MOSUL, Iraq -- At times the shoots and leaves of the new (hopefully) democratic order in Iraq can partially obscure the deeply entrenched psychological effects of three decades of brutal totalitarian rule. A series of successful elections have gone off well and a sort of amnesia about the past, egged on by desire for a peaceful future, sets in. And then an Iraqi waste management businessman, completely open and willing to work with Americans, suggests litter bugs should be jailed or even shot. Suddenly you remember that this isn't Peoria. It is Mosul.
Link to Blog Entry
By Margaret Friedenauer, News-Miner
We were just sitting there, waiting for the explosive guys to come check out and dispose of what the soldiers figured was an IED when the darn thing just blew up.
Lt. Col. Jeffrey Kelly and others with the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry regiment stationed in Mosul with a large portion of Alaska’s 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team were tipped off to a possible improvised explosive device on the side of a busy Mosul road when I was on patrol with them. [...]
(TFBOB Press Release)
TIKRIT, Iraq – Task Force Band of Brothers Soldiers are continuing to have success tracking down and seizing weapons and explosives before they can be used by terrorists and anti-Iraqi forces throughout northern Iraq. Five caches were uncovered in the area Monday.
Here are a number of recently released photos of the 2-1 INF conducting operations in Iraq. These were taken by U.S. Army and Marine Corps photographers and posted on the DVID site.
One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven
Here are three photos of the 172nd SBCT that recently appeared on Army Images.
4-11 FA Photo #1, Photo #2
2-1 INF Photo
USARAK provides a look at the photos of 2005 in this slide show review. A number of these are images of the 172nd SBCT.
Link to Full Article
By Margaret Friedenauer, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner / Associated Press
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — The going rate for a duck in this northern town is about $5. That’s what Sgt. 1st Class Michael Steffey and his platoon found out while patrolling the neighborhood of Al Ahmil on Friday.
As Steffey walked the street with the 2nd Platoon, Alpha Co. of the 1st Battalion, 17th Regiment, asking about the safety of the neighborhood, a woman came out of a gate and said a Stryker vehicle had run over one of her ducks recently.
Margaret Friedenauer explains an interesting aspect of reporting from Iraq.
Link to Blog Entry
By Margaret Friedenauer
Some people have asked if my stories are censored by the military.
The short answer is no.
The long answer is no, but my stories are “censored” by myself.
No one in the military reads any of my writing or sees any of my photos before they hit the paper or Web site. No one has asked to see them either. Sometimes they are sent over Internet lines provided by the military but most of the time I have used connections that are private lines. [...]
Link to Full Article
By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER, Staff Writer
MOSUL, Iraq—Sciatica, ear infections, swollen tonsils, worms from playing with dogs, cold, fever and asthma.
That's a short list of ailments that might be found at any U.S. walk-in clinic, except this clinic is taking place with an armed detail in a damp and chilly schoolhouse in a poor Mosul neighborhood.
The 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry on Saturday conducted its seventh clinic in the five months it has been deployed in Iraq as part of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
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By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER, The News-Miner
MOSUL, Iraq--The going rate for a duck in this northern town is about $5.
That's what Sgt. 1st Class Michael Steffey and his platoon found out while patrolling the neighborhood of Al Ahmil on Friday.
As Steffey walked the street with the 2nd platoon, Alpha Co. of the 1st Battalion, 17th Regiment, asking about the safety of the neighborhood, a woman came out of a gate and said a Stryker vehicle had run over one of her ducks recently.
USARAK provides us with this photo essay of the 4-14 CAV at the Dar Al Zando Kindergarten and Orphanage in Mosul.
U.S. Army Photos by Spc. Clydell Kinchen
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MOSUL, Iraq — Soldiers from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team detained more than 50 suspected terrorists and seized two weapons caches in northern Iraq, Dec. 17-29.
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By TATABOLINE BRANT, Anchorage Daily News
Published: January 6, 2006
Last Modified: January 6, 2006 at 01:31 PM
Alaska’s largest unit serving in Iraq has lost a $35,000 remote-control flying device used to take pictures of hotspots from afar, the Department of Defense reported today.
(TFBOB Press Release)
TIKRIT, Iraq – Six Iraqi citizens, including three children, and four Iraqi Police were injured when a suicide bomber attacked an Iraqi Police patrol in Mosul today with a vehicle-borne IED.
An Iraqi Explosive Ordnance Disposal team searched the terrorist’s destroyed vehicle and found 12 mortar rounds that failed to detonate. The unexploded mortars were taken to a nearby military base for disposal.
Soldiers from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team assisted in providing security around the site and helped to drive off a group of terrorists who were firing at the Iraqi police and rescue units trying to aid the victims of the blast.
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Tracey Murray
Fort Wainwright PAO
FORT WAINWRIGHT — At 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 19, Enid Rosario Rivera received a phone call from Iraq.
It was Command Sgt. Maj. Hector Davila calling to tell Enid her husband had been injured.
Staff Sgt. Javier Rosario Rivera, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, was shot in the hand in an ambush on Sept. 19.
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Maj. Michael Smith
172nd BSB
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM — In January of 1945, the Department of the Army authorized the Combat Medical Badge to recognize those medics who served alongside the infantry in combat.
The requirements have changed over the past 60 years, but one thing has remained constant.
To earn the Combat Medical Badge, the medic must perform his medical duties under fire while assigned to a ground combat unit.
Spc. Fernando Mendoza, a medic with the Brigade Support Medical Company, 172nd Brigade Support Battalion, of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, performed those duties on the evening of Nov. 30.
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Capt. Marcus Grimes
172nd SBCT
MOSUL, IRAQ — There was an anticipatory buzz in the atmosphere at the Al Amel Institute for the Deaf and Mute as the Soldiers of the 172d Stryker Brigade arrived to help celebrate the grand re-opening of this unique school Dec. 12.
As the Soldiers came in, the teachers could not contain their pupils’ excitement. All the children in this small school, which is situated high above the Tigris River in downtown Mosul, craned their necks and pasted their faces against the windows in their classrooms to see what the Soldiers brought.
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By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER, The News-Miner
MOSUL--At 2,000 years old and counting, the city of Mosul has a legendary history of cultural and ethnic diversity. It has seen the rise and fall of countless dynasties, regimes and conquerors. Now, with a population of more than 2 million and years of unrest and insurgent activity, Mosul holds historic significance in yet another war for the history books while still being referred to as the "Pearl of the North."
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National Public Radio
Morning Edition, January 6, 2006 · Brian Turner is a soldier-poet who served for seven years in the U.S. Army. Beginning in November 2003, he was an infantry team leader in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division.
His book, Here, Bullet, reflects his war-time experiences in graceful and unflinching poetry. Turner tells Steve Inskeep about the military tradition in his family and why he joined the Army when he was almost 30. He reads selected poems from his collection and reflects on what inspired them. One poem, Eulogy, was written to memorialize a soldier in his platoon who took his own life. [...]
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By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER, The News-Miner
MOSUL, Iraq--When an improvised explosive device exploded near a group of four U.S. Army Stryker vehicles Wednesday, it wasn't the pulsing boom as much as the timing that surprised the soldiers.
The group included Lt. Col. Jeffrey Kelly and others with the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry regiment stationed in this northern city with a large portion of Alaska's 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
Here are several recent photos of 172nd soldiers plus two of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld at FOB Courage.
4-14 CAV photo
4-11 FA photo
2-1 INF photo
Secretary Rumsfeld at FOB Courage - Photo #1, Photo #2
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By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER, The News-Miner
FORWARD OPERATING BASE Q-WEST--Americans live on the road and take their cars to mechanics for a myriad of reasons to keep them road worthy. In Iraq, vehicles come to the shop to remain "battle ready."
Here at the home of the Combat Repair Team for the 4th Battalion, 11 Field Artillery, a group of ingenious mechanics keeps a battalion worth of Humvees and Army vehicles running and battle ready. The place cycled 16 Humvees in and out of the shop by noon on Friday.
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Associated Press
FORT LEWIS — Fort Lewis grew by nearly 5,500 soldiers in 2005, and it will continue to grow in coming years, with an additional 3,300 soldiers expected by the end of 2007.
The active-duty population at Fort Lewis is projected to top 30,000 in the next several years.
The Army post is facing other changes, as it works toward aligning with nearby McChord Air Force Base, a merger ordered by the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission. [...]
The following is the first page of a ten page article. Thanks to those of you who sent the link to us.
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By Julian E. Barnes, US News & World Report
MOSUL, IRAQ--It is 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, December 10, five days before Iraq's national elections. A red four-door sedan carrying four men cruises through the western half of this freewheeling oil town. The old beater of a car doesn't attract any particular attention before the driver, an 18-year-old called Nashwan, pulls over near a gaggle of campaign workers hanging political posters. A man known as Abu Mahmoud steps out of the car. He draws a handgun. Two other men with guns follow quickly. The campaign workers step back, then begin shouting angrily. Abu Mahmoud points his gun at one of the workers. He fires. The man falls to the ground, dead.
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BY CHERYL L. REED, Cicago Sun-Times
An Elmhurst family is homeless after a candle left burning on a shrine to their son -- a soldier killed six weeks ago in Iraq -- set their house on fire.
A picture of Christopher Alcozer marching in a Fourth of July parade and other memorabilia caught fire on the homemade shrine Tuesday night, and flames spread quickly. Many members of the family -- including kids and grandkids -- were upstairs watching a movie at the time. Smoke detectors alerted them and they were able to escape safely.
Task Force Band of Brothers Press Release
TIKRIT, Iraq – Tips from local residents led to the discovery and disarming of four IEDs and the capture of five suspected terrorists Sunday in northern Iraq.
The first report was received by the 101st Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team early Sunday morning. A tip led a 1st BCT patrol to an area near Kirkuk where they discovered two IEDs.
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By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER
FORWARD OPERATING BASE Q-WEST--Following a tip from a resident of a nearby village, Capt. Robert Rossi of Fort Wainwright's 52nd Anti-Tank Unit led his team to search a farm near the site of a recent explosion.
He was interested, he said, because the farm was several hundred meters from one of what have been many improvised explosive device explosions in the past three days. While the place was several hundred meters from the farm, it was in direct line of sight. Most IED's are detonated by a triggerman who is within sight of the explosion, Rossi said.
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By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER, Staff Writer
ADIAH, Iraq--They are infantrymen who carry big rifles and are trained to fire a mobile missile system to destroy enemy tanks. But, like most soldiers in the Mosul area, they have found they spend more time making peace than mayhem.
Their Humvee and two Stryker vehicles--one with "Pest Control" stenciled in black near its missile turret on top--rolled into this village on a sunny, breezy Friday afternoon. The soldiers had driven nearly 45 minutes from base, past miles of dusty fields lying dormant for the winter, waiting for the rainy season to bring spring crops.
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BY CHRISTIAN HILL
Fort Lewis welcomed nearly 5,500 soldiers in 2005 and will continue to grow this year, with an additional 3,300 soldiers expected by December 2007.
The post faces other changes as well, as it continues a march to create Joint Base Lewis- McChord, a merger ordered by the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission.
For Fort Lewis, the changes are driven by the ongoing demands of the war effort and the Army's initiative to transform itself into a more efficient, responsive fighting force. McChord also is being called on to deliver troops and equipment to and from the Middle East....