Stryker Brigade News

Soldiers believe al-Qaida terrorists had a tight grip on Tahrir and were desperately trying to maintain a hold on east Baqubah after being pushed out from other neighborhoods in the area. During the last few battalion size operations by the 5-20 Inf. Regt., the Stryker Soldiers had faced little resistance, with most insurgents fleeing before their advance. Tahrir was different.

“This is by far the most significant enemy contact we have had,” said Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Labrosse, a platoon sergeant with Company B. Labrosse engaged an insurgent fighter only about 50 meters away from him at one point in the operation. He said insurgents had a reason to want to stay in Tahrir because of stashed “caches and how deeply rooted they are in the neighborhood.”

“It makes it, to them, a very valuable piece of terrain that they don’t want to give up,” Labrosse said.
“We’ve already cleared the other neighborhoods, they had to stop and fight somewhere,” said Staff Sgt. Robert Woodring, a squad leader with Co. B.

The fight by the insurgents lasted for only the first two days, with the heavy firefights waning on the second day. For the rest of the week, the Stryker Soldiers only made sporadic contact.

“They put up a fight for a little bit, a lot of them died, so they ran away,” said 1st Lt. Colin Layne, a platoon leader with Co. B.

Soldiers of 1st Platoon said they personally confirmed three insurgents killed, while they reported another company in the battalion had more.

The battalion reported that during the Tahrir operation Soldiers also found caches consisting of mortar tubes, hundreds of mortar rounds, DSHKA machine guns, rocket propelled grenade launchers, sniper rifles, AK-47s, thousands of rounds of ammunition, 30 pre-rigged bombs, bomb making materials and terrorist propaganda.

“We’ve taken a lot of equipment off the enemy’s hands,” Woodring said.