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Yon, embedded with the 3/2 SBCT, has published a new dispatch titled Bread and a Circus, Part I of II. Excerpt:
The people of Baqubah learned to hate and be terrified of al Qaeda. On the evening of the 18th, just hours before the attack scheduled for 0100 on the 19th, C-52 gathered around the back of the Strykers. Men and machines were loaded for toe-to-toe combat with al Qaeda. But they were not going in alone. Local enemies, who previously were deeply entwined with al Qaeda and had blown up and shot Americans, had turned on al Qaeda, and their help would lead to the death and capture of many of our now common enemy.The attack was on.
Jets, gun ships, helicopters and UAVs were in the air. A helicopter air assault was preparing to launch. Cannons steadied on their targets. Large MLRS rockets dozens of miles from Baqubah were dialed in. Special Forces, spies, lies and tricks of all sorts were arrayed against those who would stand and fight. And those who would stand had prepared massive ambushes for us.
Related Information: If you enjoy Yon's reporting be sure to check in with another independent journalist embedded in Iraq - Michael Totten. He's with the 82nd Airborne in Baghdad right now.
This is a huge deal in Iraq. See Mike Gilbert's blog for a bit of background.
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Iraq delivered an inspirational victory Sunday by winning the Asian Cup with a 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia, a beacon of hope for a nation divided by war.
It was an extraordinary triumph for a team drawn together from all parts of the Gulf and with its players straddling bitter and violent ethnic divides.
When a Fort Lewis combat brigade hit the ground in Iraq this spring, it was already showing the strains of a volunteer Army in the fifth year of war.
Some 700 soldiers had injuries, illnesses, legal problems or other issues that prevented them from joining the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, which has been tapped for a frontline role in this year's expanded military campaign.
By Jennifer H. Svan, Stars and Stripes
Capt. Pete Johnson used to spend part of his workday in the cockpit of an F-16, flying in the skies of northern Japan.
Now, he’s more likely to be holding a cup of coffee than a flight control stick while on the job. But his days are still long and arguably more intense.
Johnson, 27, is an air liaison officer in Iraq. His job is to advise Army brigade commanders on the use of close-air support, the kind provided to ground troops by F-16s deployed to Iraq from the 13th Fighter Squadron at Misawa Air Base, Japan, and other aircraft.
Blog-Ah! has published its most recent column from David Hardt, a soldier serving with the 3/2 SBCT in Iraq.
By William Cole, Honolulu Advertiser
Even though the Army has identified two possible alternative locations for Hawai'i's Stryker brigade, some members of the state's congressional delegation and a leading national defense expert say the fast-strike unit of 328 armored vehicles likely will remain here.
U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawai'i, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Subcommitee on Readiness and Management Support, said he has encouraged the Defense Department to be good stewards of the land.
A Fort Lewis brigade in Iraq has been battling Shiite militias in Husseiniyah, where a bomb blast last week claimed the life of a soldier and triggered a tense standoff as U.S. troops set up a blockade around this city on Baghdad's northern outskirts.
"Overall, I think al-Qaida is the major problem, but I have Shiite extremists that cause me problems and kill my soldiers," said Col. Jon Lehr, brigade commander, in a telephone interview Wednesday with The Seattle Times.
Lehr said the Shiite extremists' attacks have included the use of explosively formed projectiles, known as EFPs. U.S. military officials allege those explosives have come from Iran.
[...]
While U.S. military commanders — and President Bush — have in recent weeks spotlighted the threat of Sunni extremists linked to al-Qaida, 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division officials say they have been waging a separate campaign against the Shiite militias who have laid ambushes from behind dirt walls.
Yon, who is embedded with the 3/2 SBCT, has published a new dispatch on his site called Bird's Eye View. Excerpt:
The 3-2 is combat seasoned—many 3-2 soldiers have served three or more combat tours—but if such relaxed rules were extended to a brigade without a similar depth, the results might be muddier missions from commanders whose soldiers had either sticky trigger fingers, or were too quick on the draw. Either extreme could result in catastrophe.A week after serious fighting began on 19 June, I watched as Michael Gordon of the New York Times and Alexandra Zavis of the Los Angeles Times tried to tally civilian deaths. After being out and seeing the battle first-hand, Gordon and Zavis were a few feet away from me, talking with Major Robbie Parke and comparing notes, trying to figure out the civilian deaths, and finally arriving at a consensus of about 7. Their earnestness was not an agenda-driven hunt for collateral damage victims. A number that low—and five of those deaths were from a single explosion that locals said had come from a US bomb—is almost unbelievable, considering the amount of firepower that had been used. Except when commanders have made avoiding civilian casualties a primary part of the battle plan, which is a basic tenet of counterinsurgency warfare. It’s hard to build civic relationships out of body parts.
By Kay Stephens, Altoona Mirror
The state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs plans to build an armory near North Juniata Street where soldiers will train on the mechanics of the Army’s newest troop-carrying vehicle.
The new building will replace the Frankstown Armory and provide space to accommodate the 19-ton, eight-wheeled Stryker, a military combat vehicle that’s been described as “a Humvee on steroids.” Stryker training at the new facility will be limited to the vehicle’s state-of-the-art computer system and related mechanics.
Fort Lewis’ commanding general said Wednesday that the Army post will not hold monthly memorial services for its fallen soldiers, calling the current ceremonies “dignified, personalized and fitting tributes” that will continue with some changes.
The announcement by Lt. Gen. Charles H. Jacoby Jr. would appear to conclude an emotional and controversial debate about how best to honor the sacrifice of local soldiers who die in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Each Stryker brigade and other individual units will continue to determine the frequency of the services, and they will plan and conduct them for their soldiers with support from post leaders.
By Pfc. Benjamin Gable, 7th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
BAGHDAD, Iraq – The Stryker moves in formation down route Irish, engine softly humming, tempting the Soldiers to fall fast asleep in the darkness of the early morning. All is well, until the odor of the city creeps in the hatch, filling the nostrils of the troops. Senses are alarmed; eyebrows rise. The stench means the Soldiers are now deep into the city, and enemy contact could come at any time, but their experience and camaraderie helps ease their nerves after all they have been through together.
Roughly 30 Soldiers from Company B, 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, have been together since the company’s inception in 2004. When they arrived at their newly formed unit in Fort Lewis, Wash., they found they had no supplies and no equipment, only themselves.
The debate over group vs. individual memorials at Ft. Lewis has reached the front page of the NYT.
By WILLIAM YARDLEY, The New York Times
FORT LEWIS, Wash. — Twenty soldiers deployed to Iraq from this Army base were killed in May, a monthly high. That same month, the base announced a change in how it would honor its dead: instead of units holding services after each death, they would be held collectively once a month.
The anger and hurt were immediate. Soldiers’ families and veterans protested the change as cold and logistics-driven. Critics online said the military was trying to repress bad news about deaths. By mid-June, the base had delayed the plan.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Cpl. Rhett A. Butler, 22, of Fort Worth, Texas, died July 20 of wounds suffered when his vehicle struck an improvised explosive device in Khan Bani Sa'd, Iraq.He was assigned to 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Washington.
We would like to offer our condolences to his family, friends, and fellow soldiers he leaves behind.
Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Scott Taylor
KHAN BANI SA'AD, Iraq - As part of his morning routine, Corporal Ron Waldo shaves at a water buffalo at Joint Combat Outpost Alamo. Cpl. Waldo is assigned to Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash.
Soldiers of Alpha Battery enjoy breakfast at Joint Combat Outpost Alamo prior to a mission with the Iraqi Army. Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., and units of the Iraqi Army conducted a cordon and search mission near Khan Bani Sa'ad to clear the area of insurgents and cache sites.
By Audrey McAvoy - The Associated Press
HONOLULU — A draft environmental impact statement by the Army on the basing of a Stryker Brigade in Hawaii says keeping the unit in the islands would significantly impact threatened and endangered species.
The Army prepared the document released Friday to comply with a federal appeals court order from October. The judges said the Army violated environmental law by deciding to base the Stryker brigade in Hawaii without first adequately considering a variety of alternatives.
The study examines the effect the 4,000-soldier Stryker brigade and its 320 armored Stryker vehicles would have on Hawaii and two other possible locations: Alaska and Colorado.
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO
BAGHDAD — Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers detained five suspected militia members during a combined operation with Iraqi Security Forces in central Baghdad July 17.
Soldiers from Troop C, 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, working with Iraqi troops from 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division conducted searches of targeted homes in the central Baghdad Karkh District, detaining five suspected militia members.
by Staff Sgt. Jon Cupp, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs
CAMP TAJI — Sunni and Shia tribal sheiks from Iraqi villages of Aqar Qaf, Bassam, Salamiyat and Fira Shia moved closer to reconciliation Monday here during a meeting facilitated by the 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment.
The sheiks put aside their differences to end violence in their villages and met to discuss ways of starting neighborhood watch programs made up of volunteers to protect their communities.
According to U.S. Army Lt. Col. Kenneth Kamper, commander of 1st Bn., 37th FA Regt., the sheiks are tired of attacks on innocent civilians and Coalition forces in their neighborhoods and want to put an end to the presence of al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups operating there.
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Pfc. Brandon M. Craig, 25, of Earleville, Md., died July 19 in Husayniyah, Iraq, of wounds sustained from an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash.
We would like to offer our sincere condolences to the family and friends Craig leaves behind. Please check back for additional articles as they are published.
Yon has published a new embedded dispatch with the 3/2 SBCT in Diyala. Excerpt:
Today marks D+30 since the start of Operation Arrowhead Ripper. The initial goal of Arrowhead Ripper was to clear Baqubah of al Qaeda, and then attempt to “jump start” the city back into civic life, which had all but ceased while the terrorists were in control. Though relatively minor clearing operations are still underway, there is little combat in the city.Today Colonel Steve Townsend, the American commander of the 3-2 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, presided over a meeting with Iraqi Army officers and former insurgent leaders. The insurgent leaders who seem to be sincerely working toward peace are now collectively referred to as “the Baqubah Guardians.” I was allowed to attend the meeting, but was—understandably—not permitted to photograph or videotape the proceedings.
Provided below are links to a couple recent news articles we just found.
In a recent briefing from Iraq Gen. Odierno mentioned operations in Diyala (read full transcript). Excerpt:
Late last week while I was visiting Diyala province, a citizen in Baqubah relayed to Colonel Townsend, the Stryker Brigade commander there, "You have liberated us from the hold of al Qaeda." Baqubah joins a growing list of cities like al Qaim, Haditha, Hit, Ramadi, Habbaniya, Fallujah, Abu Ghraib, and Arab Jabour area that have been liberated from al Qaeda control over the past seven months. Additionally, as you see in the bottom left corner, greater than 50 percent of Baghdad is currently in control of coalition or Iraqi security forces. With Baqubah's liberation, I can think of no major population center in Iraq that is in an al Qaeda safe haven today. The Iraqi people are clearly rejecting the Taliban-like mentality that offers no hope to Iraqis or their families. In Mosul, Tall Afar and Kirkuk the Iraqi security forces are in charge of their security executing independent operation with coalition force oversight.
By Staff Sgt. Jon Cupp, 1st Cavalry Division Public Affairs
FIRA SHIA — The Soldiers of Battery B, 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment are reaching out in operations to build relationships and trust with people living in the areas in which they patrol.
In one outreach project, the troops from the battery conducted a census to gather an accurate assessment of population size and statistics on the area while at the same time interacting with the local populace recently.
“We grew accustomed to doing these types of operations in our last area and now we’re in a place that is a farming village that hasn’t had a lot of direct coalition interaction,” said Capt. Robert Callaghan, the battery commander, who hails from Winterpark, Fla. He explained that interacting with the people of Fira Shia also helps in getting information that leads to finding insurgents as well as weapons caches. “We’ve been very successful in the area so far and the people have been very nice and cooperative.”
Multinational Division-North PAO
BAQOUBA, Iraq – Iraqi and Coalition Forces continued operations in the eastern part of Baqouba, known as Old Baqouba, in renewed efforts during Operation Arrowhead Ripper July 18.
Throughout the day Soldier from the 5th Iraqi Army Division, along with the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, and 1-12 Combined Arms Battalion made several arrests and discovered several weapons caches as they moved through the neighborhood.
In one incident, 5-20 IN Soldiers arrested a man suspected of being an improvised explosive device builder. A search of his home revealed various IED components and two other individuals were arrested at that location.
Blog-Ah! has published its latest column from David Hardt, a soldier serving with the 3/2 SBCT in Iraq.
Here's hoping for a full and speedy recovery.
BY DON WALTON / Lincoln Journal Star
If all goes well, there’s a chance Army Specialist Eric Raymond will be heading back to the United States on Tuesday.
In time for his 23rd birthday next Monday.
Raymond, a 2003 graduate of Wisner-Pilger High School, was shot in the back when his patrol was hit by enemy fire on the streets of Baghdad a week ago.
In an instant, he became one of the 26,000 soldiers and Marines who have been wounded in Iraq.
The Defend America website has a new album featuring photos of the 4-9 INF, 4/2 SBCT delivering supplies. Description:
A fleet of cargo trucks from Tarmiyah follow behind the security of U.S. Army Stryker vehicles assigned the to 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division to a food warehouse located in Taji, Iraq, July 8, 2007. After six months without food rations, bags of rice are set aside by Coalition Forces to help feed the population of Tarmiyah, Al Mushahida, Sheik Hammad, and Al Abayachi in response to the increased insurgent violence in the area. U.S. Military Reserve, active duty and civilian contractor personnel are forward deployed with 4 Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division to Central Iraq in support of Operarion Iraqi Freedom.
Multi-National Division – North PAO
BAQOUBA, Iraq – Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition Forces expanded their efforts to secure Baqouba by surrounding one eastern portion of the city and beginning a deliberate, house-to-house search there for al-Qaida operatives July 17.
Elements of the 5th Iraqi Army Division, along with the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, and 1-12 Combined Arms Battalion, are searching the neighborhood known as “Old Baqouba,” during this next phase of Operation Arrowhead Ripper, which began June 19.
The Department of Defense approved today a policy change to the U.S. Central Command Rest and Recuperation Leave Program, increasing the time provided to military service members for rest and recuperation in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
The policy change, signed by David S. C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, increases the R&R leave period from 15 to 18 chargeable days for those service members deploying to the OEF and OIF area of operations for 15 months.
The amended policy became effective July 13, 2007, applies to military personnel only and is not retroactive. Only service members who took leave on or after July 13, 2007, may take 18 days of leave.
Yon just published a new dispatch titled Superman. Excerpt:
Back in 2005, when I hardly knew the name “Stryker,” I came into combat with the 1-24th Infantry Regiment. I believe it was SFC Robert Bowman who told me that his soldiers so disliked the idea of the Stryker, that when they finally got Strykers at Fort Lewis, the soldiers tried their best to break the machines in training. SFC Bowman might refute this, and I’m not sure he was the man who told me, but Bowman is certainly the man who told me that all his soldiers were converts even before they finished training.Those soldiers learned that the human body is not tough enough to break a Stryker without destroying the people inside, too. The Stryker is just too tough, too well-designed and too well-built. Before long, many soldiers began naming their Strykers, though I’ve never heard of anyone naming a Humvee. Even an up-armored Humvee is just a machine, a necessary carapace. But a Stryker gets treated like a member of the platoon. Soldiers take extra care of them.
When a Humvee is badly damaged, it gets turned in to the mechanics with nary a further thought. But when a Stryker gets badly damaged, the soldiers visit it and hang around it and volunteer to help the mechanics and technicians nurse it back to life. I couldn’t make up anything this bizarre.
Provided below are links to recent albums at DVIDS featuring Stryker Brigade soldiers.
The Army website has an album featuring photos of A Co., 1-38 INF, 4/2 SBCT on patrol. Description:
Soldiers from Company A, 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, conduct a combined cordon and search operation with Iraqi police in the West Rashid district of Baghdad, June 26.
Multi-National Division – North PAO
BAQOUBA, Iraq – Baqouba residents are returning to work and coalition and Iraqi ground forces continue to make significant seizures twenty-four days into Operation Arrowhead Ripper.
More than 100 workers and 50 security guards returned to work July 11 at Diyala Electrical Industry because of increased security. DEI repairs and manufactures a wide variety of products essential for power distribution and is Baqouba’s largest company, capable of employing nearly 3,000 people. The company has already repaired a generator for the local government to install and use.
By John J. Kruzel, American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, July 13, 2007 – Now at full strength, the U.S. troop surge in Iraq is showing “definitive progress” and the number of forces serving in Iraq’s Multinational Division North could be halved by summer 2009, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon said today.
A reduction of U.S. forces under the general’s command could begin as early as January 2008, he told Pentagon reporters via videoconference.
Mixon, commander of both Multinational Division North and the U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry Division, is responsible for six Iraqi provinces in northern Iraq, including the city of Baqubah -- site of the ongoing Operation Arrowhead Ripper.
A great slideshow!
Defend America has a new album featuring photos of the 3/2 SBCT delivering supplies in Baqoubah.
BAGHDAD — Iraqi Army and Coalition Soldiers from Task Force Lightning continued offensive operations in and around the capital of Iraq’s Diyala province Monday, as Operation Arrowhead Ripper continues to deny resources to al -Qaeda terrorists in the area.
Soldiers from 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, and 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division, discovered and disabled five vehicles being prepared as car bombs and caches containing pipe bombs, sniper rifles, and other explosives and bomb-making materials.
Here's a list of articles we missed during our absence.
By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
GRAFENWÖHR, Germany — Less than a year after arriving in Germany, the 2nd Cavalry (Stryker) Regiment already is on its way out of town.
Last weekend, Cav soldiers began loading the more than 300 Stryker armored personnel carriers onto trains at Grafenwöhr for the long land and sea journey to Kuwait. Final destination: Iraq.
By MELANTHIA MITCHELL, ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SEATTLE -- Scott Smiley lives life a little differently since being blinded by shrapnel that ripped through his eyes in a suicide bombing in Iraq, but it's a challenge he has embraced.
Two days before the 27-year-old Army captain was to be honored as Army Times' soldier of the year, he reached the summit of Mount Rainier in the latest of what has been a whirlwind of adventures since losing his eyesight in the 2005 bombing in Mosul.
Smiley reached the top of the 14,411-foot peak south of Seattle early Tuesday along with several other climbers, including a half dozen guides from Rainier Mountaineering Inc.[...]
The majority of our news contributors will be on vacation for the next week, so new entries will be sparse during that time. In our absence we invite you to stop by our forum to connect with others, or visit the following sites to keep up on the latest Stryker news. Have a great week.
SBN Crew
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Spc. Victor A. Garcia, 22, of Rialto, Calif., died July 1 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered from enemy small arms fire.He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash.
We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the loved ones he leaves behind. Please check back for any related articles we find.
We'll keep Joe in our thoughts and prayers as he recovers.
By JUDY MASTERSON, Lake County News-Sun
WAUCONDA -- Robert and Melissa Cook had just begun to relax in the knowledge that their youngest son Joe, 22, was nearly done with an extended tour in Iraq -- 30 more days and he would be back on American soil after 15 long, dangerous months in the desert.
Then, last Wednesday, the young infantryman called.
"He said, 'Dad I've got some news,'" Robert Cook said. "I could tell from his voice that something was wrong. I said, 'How bad?' and he said 'Pretty bad. I lost part of my left leg and my foot.' And I said 'Can it be fixed? And he said 'No dad. It's gone.'"
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
The day-to-day boss of the Army came to Fort Lewis on Monday to pump up the troops, listen to their spouses and check in on new measures aimed at improving care for wounded soldiers.
Gen. Richard Cody fielded tough questions from soldiers’ wives who are holding up despite extensions to their husbands’ combat tours. And he heard from wounded and injured soldiers who said they are still struggling with the bureaucracy of the Army’s disability evaluation system.
Multi-National Division – North PAO
BAQOUBA, Iraq – Iraqi Security Forces and Coalition Forces continued to methodically clear booby-trapped structures on July 1st as Operation Arrowhead Ripper entered its 13th day.
As ISF and CF continue to clear al-Qaeda out of Baqouba, they have discovered many booby-trapped structures in the Mujema section of town that were left behind by al-Qaeda as they attempted to flee. These structures, many of which are houses, pose a great threat to the local residents and are too dangerous to be disarmed.
“The house-borne IED threat here is unlike anywhere else in Iraq at the present,” said Col. Steve Townsend, commander of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. “We have encountered 24 HBIEDs in the past 11 days.”
Provided below are links to recent albums from DVIDS featuring Stryker Brigade soldiers.
Michael Yon has a rather gruesome dispatch from Baqubah, although he was not with any Stryker soldiers. Excerpt:
On 29 June, American and Iraqi soldiers were again fighting side-by-side as soldiers from Charley Company 1-12 CAV—led by Captain Clayton Combs—and Iraqi soldiers from the 5th IA, closed in on a village on the outskirts of Baqubah. The village had the apparent misfortune of being located near a main road—about 3.5 miles from FOB Warhorse—that al Qaeda liked to bomb. Al Qaeda had taken over the village. As Iraqi and American soldiers moved in, they came under light contact; but the bombs planted in the roads (and maybe in the houses) were the real threat.The firefight progressed. American missiles were fired. The enemy might have been trying to bait Iraqi and American soldiers into ambush, but it did not work. The village was riddled with bombs, some of them large enough to destroy a tank. One by one, experts destroyed the bombs, leaving small and large craters in the unpaved roads.
The village was abandoned. All the people were gone. But where?