Stryker Brigade News

Roddy commands Company C, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, of the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, from Fort Lewis, Wash. Soldiers of Co. C officially took responsibility for coalition efforts in the town May 15. The Stryker brigade is part of the “surge” of troops into the Baghdad area.

Roddy’s Soldiers have heard of the attack on the previous unit, but the Stryker Soldiers are ready to start afresh with the people. They know they are in for a tug-of-war with insurgents in the town — the people of Tarmiyah are the rope, but the Soldiers believe they can win.

Army 1st Lt. Gerald Wynn, a platoon leader with Co. C, approached some local men who sat outside their shop during the patrol, trying to get a feel for the area and assess their needs.

A curious Iraqi girl peeked her head out from a gate to look at the men talking.

“We are going to have as much interaction (as needed) with the people, to get them to be on our side, instead of the insurgent’s side,” Wynn said.

Since the beginning of the war the population in the town has had mixed interaction with coalition forces. Troops have been in and out of Tarmiyah, but up to about year ago there was no constant presence, Roddy said. The cavalry Soldiers who were responsible for the area before the Stryker Soldiers took over did a good job inhibiting the insurgents’ freedom to maneuver, but were unable to fully engage the population, because they did not have the dismounted Soldiers that a Stryker unit brings to the fight in Tarmiyah, Roddy said,

“We have a lot more people to put on the ground,” he said.

Wynn and Roddy both agree that the Stryker Soldiers face a complex challenge. The predominantly Sunni town – only about five percent of the population is Shia – harbors resentment for the Shia-run government in Baghdad. Insurgents favor the town for its prime location, with links to supply routes that run to Mosul, far north, and Baqubah to the east. The town is just 30 miles north of Baghdad.

“It’s a good place to funnel weapons, fighters and equipment for use in Baghdad,” Roddy said.

The town also has a large homeless Sunni population pushed out of Baghdad by Shia militias, said Roddy.

The poor economic situation makes the town a recruiting ground for terrorists.

“They need the money,” Roddy said. “A guy who has no money and is offered $50 to put a roadside bomb, all of a sudden, whether they like us or not, is very attracted to that option.”

Wynn knows the history of violence in the town and takes a realistic approach to his Soldier’s mission in Tarmiyah.

“It’s going to be a lot of hard work,” he said, “I can’t say we expect (change) to happen in a day, or a couple of months.”

To win the faith of the people he plans to follow through on promises and help establish basic services in the town.

“Just being on the ground, actually talking to the people every single day, actually helping them with their problems, instead of giving them empty promises and empty wishes,” Wynn said.

He hopes that his Soldiers can have a big enough impact on the people that they will revolt against al-Qaida, as other Iraqis have done.

As of now, Roddy believes the people are on the brink, and have not decided whose side they are on.

“My observations are that the people here are scared, they are getting sick and tired of the terrorists, but they don’t know what their options are,” Roddy said.

Roddy said he believes the average person in Tarmiyah has reached the point where they are thinking: “I’m scared to death of the insurgents, I’m scared of the Americans, and I’m not sure who I’m scared of more.”

Before Wynn’s platoon heads out on a patrol a sergeant reminds the Soldiers that the people are the key, and they must walk a fine line as they seek to eliminate the insurgents who hide in the town, but also to gain the trust of the people.

“Our goal is to make them look at us as a far better option than the insurgents,” Roddy said.