MND-B Soldiers, ISF, local residents discover multiple caches
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO
BAGHDAD – Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers, Iraqi Security forces and local Iraqis discovered multiple weapon and ammunition caches Feb. 27 northwest of Baghdad.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, discovered a 68mm mortar round, a French-made rocket and a 68mm mortar tube during a combat patrol at approximately 10:30 a.m.
SPC Orlando A. Perez
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Spc. Orlando A. Perez, 23, of Houston, TX, died Feb. 24 in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered from small arms fire during dismounted operations. He was assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, Vilseck, Germany.
All of us here offer our sincere condolences to the loved ones Perez leaves behind.
Related Articles:
2nd Stryker Cavalry soldier killed in Iraq - Stars & Stripes
Sunni Forces Losing Patience With U.S.
A Stryker commander is quoted in the following article.
By Sudarsan Raghavan and Amit R. Paley, Washington Post
BAGHDAD, Feb. 27 -- U.S.-backed Sunni volunteer forces, which have played a vital role in reducing violence in Iraq, are increasingly frustrated with the American military and the Iraqi government over what they see as a lack of recognition of their growing political clout and insufficient U.S. support.
Since Feb. 8, thousands of fighters in restive Diyala province have left their posts in order to pressure the government and its American backers to replace the province's Shiite police chief. On Wednesday, their leaders warned that they would disband completely if their demands were not met. In Babil province, south of Baghdad, fighters have refused to man their checkpoints after U.S. soldiers killed several comrades in mid-February in circumstances that remain in dispute.
SPC Kevin Mowl
Friends of Spc. Kevin Mowl let us know that he passed away yesterday at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. An entry at the CaringBridge website maintained by his family confirmed his passing. Mowl, 22, of Pittsford, N.Y., was injured by an IED attack in Baghdad last August and was receiving treatment for his injuries at Bethesda. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (SBCT) based at Ft. Lewis, WA.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and fellow soldiers.
Paul McLeary Dispatch
Paul McLeary has published another dispatch titled "The Sunni and the Shia are like the Tigris and the Euphrates” from his time with the 2/25 SBCT. Excerpt:
A slim, slightly weathered-looking man with flecks of gray in his hair, Colonel Ehssan—leader of the local Sons of Iraq group—sat behind his desk, looking unhappy. We had driven from COP Courage this morning to his “office”—a first floor room in an old building set far back from the main road on a narrow dirt strip, only a few miles from the American base. The room, and the building, is typically Iraqi, meaning typically shabby, with sand-caked windows, peeling yellow paint on the walls, and a few long couches turned toward the colonel’s desk. A space heater sits in the middle of the room, providing whatever heat it can muster.With Charlie company’s Stryker vehicles idling out in the courtyard, where I had accidentally kicked a rusted AK-47 clip laying in the dirt on the way in, Captain Helberg and his interpreter settle in for their meeting with the colonel. On the surface, things really aren’t all that bad for Ehssan: his 250 SOIs are all under contract, meaning the American military pays them each $300 a month to man checkpoints in their area and his men have all been entered into the HYDE system, which American forces use to take their biometric information and enter them into a central database. If any prospective SOI member is already in the system, that means that they’d been fingerprinted and photographed doing something that made the Americans unhappy at some point in the past, making them ineligible.
Stryker troops warm up for exercise in South Korea
By T.D. Flack, Stars and Stripes
RODRIGUEZ RANGE, South Korea — Sitting high in an observation tower on a ridge above the sprawling Rodriguez Range, Capt. Jeremiah Hurley watched his soldiers pour steady streams of deadly accurate .50-caliber fire from their Stryker light armored vehicles.
“It’s an awesome, awesome machine,” said Hurley, commander of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, as his troops worked through gunnery training.
Coalition forces kill 7 terrorists in firefight near Khan Bani Sa’ad
Multi-National Division – North
TIKRIT, Iraq – Multi-National Division – North Soldiers killed seven terrorists during a firefight east of Khan Bani Sa’ad, Iraq, in the early morning hours of Feb. 25.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., were ambushed while conducting an operation to capture a known al-Qaeda in Iraq operative. When the Soldiers closed within 30 feet of the target house, they came under attack by small arms fire and grenades. Three MND-N Soldiers were injured in the initial attack.
IA, CF Work Together to Clear Village Near Turki
BALAD RUZ, Iraq – Coalition force Soldiers recently worked with Iraqi army soldiers to coordinate and execute a mission near Balad Ruz, Iraq, Feb. 17.
Iraqi army soldiers from 4th Company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division stationed at Turki Patrol Base were helped by Soldiers from Troop G, 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, to conduct a reconnaissance mission to gather intelligence about the area and people wanted for questioning.
MND-B Soldiers Find Weapons Cache
By Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Soldiers from Multi-National Division – Baghdad discovered a significant weapons cache, Feb. 24, northwest of Baghdad.
During a combat operation, soldiers from 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, found nearly 200 artillery projectiles of various sizes; two 82 mm mortar rounds; 70 empty 107 mm rocket tubes; 10, 107 mm empty rockets; 15, 120 mm empty shell casings; five 5-inch rockets and a 105 mm artillery projectile.
Bloodhound 17 Nabs 16 Caches in 10 Weeks
By 2nd Stryker Cav. Regt. PAO, MND-B
BAGHDAD, Iraq – His call sign is Big Dawg 17, but you might as well call him “Bloodhound 17” after he and his 30-man platoon sniffed out a total of 16 buried ammunition and weapons caches over a 10-wek period.
Sgt. 1st Class Connell, 40, a native of Polson, Mont., has the reputation of being tough, but fair, on his men. He is on his fifth consecutive year as a platoon sergeant, and he runs his platoon one way – his.
Connell is currently assigned to 1st Platoon, Battery B, Fires Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, Multi-National Division – Baghdad. His current tour of duty in Iraq marks his second stint, and he barks out orders like a drill sergeant.
National security cited in Hawaii Stryker report
Gregg Kakesako, Honolulu Star Bulletin
Schofield Barracks is the preferred Army post to house its fifth Stryker Brigade Combat Team because "it is best able to meet the Army�s strategic defense and national security needs in the Pacific theater," according to an environmental study.
"The rapid deployment capabilities of the SBCT (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) currently represents the Army's most credible threat of projecting forces in the Pacific region to shape U.S. strategic national security interests," according to the report's executive summary.
"Stationing the 2/25th (2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division) in Hawaii provides the military commanders of the Pacific with two distinct acts of deployment facilities (Alaska and Hawaii) from which to deploy a SBCT to support national security requirements and contingency operations."
Photos: 2/25 SBCT
Paul McLeary has posted a set of photos from his time with the 2/25 SBCT.
6,000 Guardsmen put on alert for Iraq assignment
By BRAD RHEN, Lebanon Daily News
As many as 6,000 Pennsylvania National Guardsmen could be deployed to Iraq at the same time next year.
The 2,000-member 28th Combat Aviation Brigade received an alert order late last year for a possible one-year deployment to Iraq, according to Capt. Cory Angell, a National Guard spokesman.
The aviation brigade received the alert order shortly after the 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team received a similar order in late October.
“We anticipate the Stryker brigade will go at the end of the year, and then a few months after that, we anticipate the aviation brigade will go,” Angell said.
MND-B Soldiers detain 2 suspected Special Groups criminals
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO
BAGHDAD – Multi-National Division – Baghdad soldiers detained two suspected Special Groups criminals near Saba al-Bour, northwest of Baghdad, Feb. 22.
Soldiers with 2nd Battalion, 14th Cavalry Regiment, and 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, both from 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, detained the suspects, who are accused of financing Special Groups.
The suspects are being held for questioning.
“The activities of Special Groups criminals who continue to disobey the just-renewed ceasefire pledge by al-Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr will not be tolerated,” said Lt. Col. Neil Harper, MNC-I spokesman. “Iraqi and Coalition forces are working to disrupt the networks of these criminal elements and bring them to justice.”
Iraqi Businessmen Attend Exposition
4th BCT PAO, 1st Inf. Div., MND-B
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Iraqi businesses got their chance to impress national and international customers at a business exposition held Feb. 15-18 in the International Zone.
The Iraqi –American Chamber of Commerce and Industry hosted the “Baghdad to Baghdad Business Exposition” for local businesses at the Al-Rasheed Hotel in order to highlight the city’s economic growth over the past year.
“The event was the first of its kind in greater Baghdad,” said Maj. Patrick Garrett, a native of Hillsborough, Ore., a governance advisor with Multi-National Division – Baghdad’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division’s Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team, assigned to work with the 2nd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment. “More than 300 Iraqi companies participated, drawing in about 1,000 Iraqis.”
GOI, MND-B Continue to Make Progress on 60th Street
By Cpl. Ben Washburn, 4th BCT PAO, 1st Inf. Div., MND-B
BAGHDAD, Iraq – During the past few months, Iraqis and Multi-National Division – Baghdad soldiers have been working hard to make sure the economic resurgence thrives throughout Baghdad.
The soldiers of 2nd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, attached to the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Inf. Div., have been working with the Iraqi government on major restoration projects in the southeastern part of the Rashid district.
Texas Soldier Makes Difference Helping Rid Iraq of Terrorism
By Staff Sgt. J.B. Jaso, III, 2/25 SBCT PAO
CAMP TAJI, Iraq – The deployment to Iraq marks the first time Pvt. William Gentry has been out of the United States.
The Austin, Texas, native, said he was nervous and anxious to see what Iraq was like when he received his deployment notice.
“My heart was beating so fast that I thought it was going to come out of my chest,” he said.
Soldier Dreams of World Series of Poker Bracelet
By Spc. Aaron Rosencrans, 2/25 SBCT PAO
CAMP TAJI, Iraq – The inherent right of every American to follow his or her dreams, in however they want, is part of what makes the U.S. envied by people around the world. For one Multi-National Division – Baghdad officer, his dream extends beyond his commitment to serve his country into a life that is perhaps somewhat off the beaten path.
1st Lt. Jon Still, a native of Union City, Penn., and medical officer with 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team “Warrior,” 25th Infantry Division, said he dreams of finishing his commitment to the Army and becoming a World Series of Poker champion.
Iraqi Sunnis and Shiites work together, distrustfully
2-23 INF, 4/2 SBCT Commander quoted in the following article.
By Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times
MUQDADIYA, IRAQ -- The room seethed with anger as Sunni Arab members of a neighborhood guard force brought in a freed captive, who stood mute amid the raised voices and swirling cigarette smoke.
Eyeing a visiting U.S. Army officer, the burly gunmen in camouflage coaxed the man to raise his arms and display the brown shoelaces that bound his wrists. The man, a fuel vendor, said he had been stopped by Shiite guards who demanded to know his sect. When he told them he was Sunni, he said, "they tied my hands, they slapped and kicked me. They stole fuel from me too."
Suspected Special Groups criminal cell leader arrested in Abu T’shir
Multi-National Division – Baghdad
BAGHDAD – Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers captured a suspected Special Groups criminal cell leader in the Rashid District of the Iraqi capital Feb. 19.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, attached to Task Force Dragon, noticed a man fitting the description of a suspected cell leader during a routine patrol of Abu T’Shir and detained him without incident.
It is believed the alleged Special Groups cell leader had taken over the day-to-day direction of the criminal cell after its previous leader was arrested by Coalition forces in the same area.
The suspect was taken to a Coalition forces detention facility for further questioning.
“The criminal activities of those who choose to dishonor the ceasefire pledge of al-Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr will not be tolerated,” said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, MND-B spokesman. “We will continue to work with Iraqi security forces to identify these criminals and bring them to justice.”
Stryker Soldier Serves Proudly in Iraq
By Staff Sgt. J.B. Jaso III, 2/25 SBCT
CAMP TAJI, Iraq – A long way from his family, friends and hunting, Pvt. Benjamin Raulerson, a native of Jacksonville, Ala., is here helping his unit, Company A, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment “Wolfhounds,” 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team “Warrior,” 25th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, rid the northwest Baghdad area of terrorism and criminal activity.
In his first month in Iraq, the 22-year-old infantryman has participated in more than 50 patrols, where he has assisted in identifying and seizing enemy cache sites and helped secure the area in order to provide the government of Iraq the opportunity to provide essential services to the people.
Soldier gets 6-month sentence for refusing to deploy
By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
VILSECK, Germany — A soldier who refused to deploy with his unit to Iraq because of a “deeply held personal belief” that he should not take a human life will spend the next six months in jail before being thrown out of the Army.
Spc. Benjamin Stewart, 25, of the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, pleaded guilty Wednesday to missing movement on Jan. 7, 2008, when he was scheduled to deploy to Iraq. Stewart had already been convicted — and reduced in rank from sergeant to specialist — of being absent without leave when the bulk of the regiment deployed last summer.
Stryker Soldiers Capture IED Cell Member
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO
BAGHDAD – Soldiers with Multi-National Division – Baghdad captured a suspected key member of an improvised explosive device ring Feb. 19.
Soldiers with 1st Battalion, 14th infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, “Warrior,” 25th Infantry Division, detained the suspect near the Nassir Factory, northwest of Baghdad.
The suspect is allegedly an al-Qaeda member and IED facilitator that is part of a terrorist IED ring.
He is suspected of multiple IED attacks against Coalition and Iraqi Security forces.
The suspect is being held for further questioning.
Paul McLeary Dispatch
Embedded journalist Paul McLeary has a new dispatch on his site called, "The Rejected". Excerpt:
“They’re gonna see us going out, and know that we have to come back this way,” Cpt. Helberg cautioned his men as we walked out of Courage just before nightfall. The message was simple: the enemy studies habits, trends and patterns just as any other military outfit does; so as the platoon left the base, he wanted to make sure that they would not be complacent on the way back in.It was a hell of a way to walk to a neighbor’s house for dinner, but that’s just what we were doing. Sheik Munder, a prominent Shia in the area had invited the captain over for dinner, and despite the fact that his house was less than a mile from the base, we would be walking across open road, with flat, open land on either side, so every precaution would be taken. The area had been an al Qaeda stronghold until just a few months ago—before the Sons of Iraq came out in force—and caution was the name of the game.
SPC Luke S. Runyan
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Spc. Luke S. Runyan, 21, of Spring Grove, Pa., died Feb. 17 in Diyala Province, Iraq, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his dismounted patrol using small arms fire. Runyan was assigned to 2nd Battalion 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the loved ones he leaves behind.
SPC Chad D. Groepper
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Spc. Chad D. Groepper, 21, of Kingsley, Iowa, died Feb. 17 in Diyala Province, Iraq, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his dismounted patrol using small arms fire. Groepper was assigned to 2nd Battalion 23rd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Our thoughts and prayers are wit his family, friends and fellow soldiers during this difficult time.
MND-B Soldiers seize munitions northwest of Baghdad
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO
BAGHDAD – Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers seized munitions northwest of Baghdad Feb. 18.
Soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, MND-B acted on a tip from an Iraqi citizen and found the munitions.
The munitions consisted of two 132 mm, two 105 mm artillery rounds, one 120 mm round, 17 18-pound bombs, two 90 mm artillery rounds, one 30 mm artillery round and seven speed bump improvised explosive devices.
An explosive ordnance disposal team conducted a controlled detonation of the munitions.
“Finding and destroying these caches continue to degrade terrorist operations,” said Maj. Al Hing, a 2nd SBCT spokesperson. “Every operation we execute brings increased security for the Iraqi people.”
Life in Iraq: ‘Just doing my job’
By JESSE DUARTE, St. Helena Star
John Principe says he’s spent the last 10 months “just doing my job.”
But that job entails dodging bullets from al-Qaida members and evading suicide bombers.
A Ranger-qualified captain in the U.S. Army, Principe leads 35 soldiers in Iraq as part of a Stryker brigade combat team.
“We’re responsible for general security,” Principe said during a visit to his father Paul’s St. Helena home. “We check up on people’s quality of life and maintain a presence there to push out al-Qaida. Our mission is pretty much to save people’s lives and keep insurgents out.”
IA, CF Clear AQI Strongholds South of Baqubah
Story by Staff Sgt. Russell Bassett
BAQUBAH, Iraq – The Iraqi army, supported by coalition partners, cleared two former al-Qaida in Iraq stronghold villages, south of Baqubah, Feb. 10-13.
Soldiers from the 3rd and 4th Battalions, 2nd Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division with support from Troop B, 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division cleared the villages of Arab Jabar and Hussein al Hamadi during Operations Lions Attack and Bandog Rodeo.
SOI hand over two suspected criminals
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO
BAGHDAD – Members of the Sons of Iraq (Abna’a al-Iraq) handed two suspected criminals over to Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers in East Rashid Feb. 16.
The SOI turned the men in to “Cougars” of 2nd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, attached to Task Force Dragon, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, because they were in possession of homemade explosives.
Coalition forces explosive ordnance disposal personnel safely destroyed the munitions.
During a patrol in Abu T’Shir, Cougars also seized an explosively formed penetrator, 10 60 mm mortar rounds, and arrested three men, including two Iraqi policemen near the ordnance.
All detainees were taken to a coalition forces detention facility for further questioning.
The drive for combat
Standing at the end of a double line of parked Stryker combat vehicles at the National Guard armory in Phoenixville, Capt. Anthony Passero watched the road. Four more of the green, eight-wheeled, 19-ton Strykers had just arrived from Fort Indiantown Gap, Pa.
"Winter is coming, and we're going to be called up for state missions," Passero said. "There's snow here, there's a flood here.'. . . When the governor sees a state of emergency, he calls the 56th Stryker Brigade."
But the roughly 4,000 soldiers of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard's 28th Division 56th Stryker Brigade - including the 150 soldiers of Passero's Bravo Company, 1st battalion, 111th infantry, who operate out of the West Chester and Phoenixville armories - are equipping themselves for more than just snow.
Thousands to make accelerated staff sergeant
Multiple Stryker soldiers are quoted in the following story.
By Jim Tice and Matthew Cox, Army Times
Pressed to increase the number of staff sergeants on active duty, the Army will automatically place several thousand additional sergeants on the servicewide E-6 selection list April 1.
The Army also will accelerate staff sergeant primary-zone promotion opportunities for soldiers who appear before local selection boards, and who compete for advancement to E-6 under the cutoff-score system.
The new system is targeted at sergeants who have not appeared before a local selection board but who have been on active duty for six years and 11 months or more, and who have spent at least 11 months in the grade of E-5.
Disabled Iraqi children get wheelchairs, big smiles
Stryker soldiers helped establish this project originally.
By Carol Jordan and Arwa Damon, CNN
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Mothers cradle children in their arms. Fathers smile softly at the helpless bodies they hold. Other parents are bent over from the weight of their teenage kids whose legs fall limp, almost touching the ground. In the absence of basic medical equipment, these parents do this every day.
Khaled is a father of three. On this day, his young daughter, Mariam, is getting fitted for her new wheelchair. Her arms and legs are painfully thin, little more than skin and bone. She's 7 years old, but looks barely half that. She and both her siblings, a sister and brother, suffer from varying degrees of polio. None of them can walk.
Joint Operation Helps Displaced Families Return Home
Multi-National Division – North Public Affairs Office
BAQUBAH, Iraq – Families displaced from a town near Baqubah, Iraq, were escorted back to their homes by the Iraqi army and coalition force Soldiers, Feb. 13, during Operation Fierce Thrasher.
Soldiers from Company F, 52nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., helped 39 families dislocated due to fear of terrorist attacks return to their homes in the town of Durah, Iraq.
Paul McLeary Dispatch
Journalist Paul McLeary, who is embedded with the 2/25 SBCT, has published a new dispatch on his site called, "The LTC and the Sheik." He let us know that updates from his time with the brigade should become more regular. Excerpt:
In a dim, chilly tent, lit by a single fluorescent tube and the gray winter light creeping in through the flap, Lieutenant Colonel Mario Diaz sits across the table from sheik Hussein al-Tamimi, an influential Shia sheik in the rural region northwest of Baghdad, sipping Pepsi and trading pleasantries.Diaz made the drive to combat outpost Courage for this meeting from his headquarters at Camp Liberty, which is part of the staggeringly vast Baghdad airport military complex southeast of here. The string of American camps that abut the airport house a number of American bases kept running by an army of civilian contractors who are protected by Ugandan guards, all of whom live in a world carved into shape by rows of high concrete T-walls that separate the complex into discrete cells of activity. The place is so cut off from the country that surrounds it that it could be anywhere—Kosovo, Korea, Afghanistan, or Alaska—but out here, at Courage, there’s no such separation. Plopped down in a farm field and ringed simply by a row of T-walls no more than two city blocks in size, Courage is unmistakably part of today’s Iraq.
Soldier is forever changed
By Jennifer Phillips-Holden, Daily Press
Larry Clark is a changed man after being caught in a roadside bombing last spring in Iraq.
"I take things a lot more seriously now," he said. "I realize that there was no way I could have seen the device."
Clark is a 27-year-old specialist in the Army. He survived the roadside bombing while assigned to Alpha Company, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, but his seven friends with him were all killed.
Army Announces Environmental Impact Notice for Stryker Unit Stationing
Public Affairs Office, U.S. Army Environmental Command
The Department of the Army announced Feb. 15 its intention to release the Final Environmental Impact Statement that evaluates the potential environmental and socioeconomic effects associated with the permanent stationing of the 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division as a Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The Final EIS will be transmitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for publication of a notice of availability in the Federal Register, anticipated to occur on Feb. 22.
This Final EIS identifies Schofield Barracks Military Reservation in Hawaii as the Army's preferred alternative for the stationing location of this brigade. A Record of Decision document will announce the final location decision no earlier than 30 days from the date the EPA notice of availability of the Final EIS appears in the Federal Register.
Wolfhounds capture brigade’s #1 high-value individual
CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Elements of 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team “Warrior,” 25th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, detained the brigade’s number-one high-value individual and his brother early Feb. 14.
The two are suspected al Qaeda in Iraq as improvised-explosive device facilitators and are allegedly linked to a fatal IED attack Jan. 29.
“The capture of these individuals will greatly contribute to a safe and secure Iraq,” said Col. Todd McCaffrey, commander, 2nd SBCT.
Five others suspected of facilitating improvised-explosive device activity in Taji Qada, northwest of Baghdad were also detained.
All seven suspects are being held for further questioning.
Cody soldier injured
By Buzzy Hassrick, Cody Enterprise
Pfc. Wes Hixon of Cody is in critical condition after his vehicle was struck by a bomb Feb. 8 near Baghdad.
Four other soldiers with him in the cab of the vehicle died. Six others who were in the vehicle's transport area are in critical condition, according to family friend Brenda Marchese and other members of Families on the Frontline.
“We'll just keep praying for him,” said Marchese, who has two sons in the military.
Soldiers Visit Town to Show They Care
By Spc. Aaron Rosencrans, 2/25 SBCT PAO
CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team “Warrior,” 25th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, conducted a consequence management mission and visited local leaders of Fourteenth Ramadan, northwest of Baghdad, Feb. 8.
The mission was in response to the recent assassination of one of the town’s local leaders.
“We visited to show our condolences for the loss of their local leader,” said 1st Lt. Marc Dudek, a native of Midlothian, Texas, platoon leader, 2nd Platoon, Company B, 1st Bn. “We did this to let them know we care and want to continue to work with them to bring security and stability to the town.”
Resupply Missions Provide Huge Boost in Morale
By Spc. Aaron Rosencrans, 2/25 SBCT
CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Sodas, sweets and fresh chemical toilets are coveted items here.
Making sure Soldiers who live outside the wire within the Taji Qada, which is northwest of Baghdad, get what the need and want is an important mission of the Soldiers of Company A., 225th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team “Warrior,” 25th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad.
4-9 Manchus ‘Stryke’ Enemy
BAYJI, Iraq – Sand, dust and enemy scatter as the lethal, wheeled vehicles of 4-9 Infantry Battalion “Manchus” maneuver through the fluid terrain of northern Salah ad Din province in February with a few months left before their redeployment.
After serving with their parent brigade, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, the Manchus are now fighting extremists with the 1st Brigade Combat Team “Bastogne”, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).
As part of Operation Iron Harvest, the Stryker vehicle battalion conducted a search of the vast desert areas of Salah ad Din province, using their futuristic Land Warrior System to maintain situational awareness.
The Weary Army: Strains Show in Various Ways
BAGHDAD—At Combat Outpost Aztec, the Company D (Dog Company) platoons of the Army's 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment spend eight hours a day patrolling the tough, rural roads of their palm grove-rich stretch of southeastern Baghdad. They search for militia thugs and keep an eye on the new civilian neighborhood watch patrols. Then, they have another eight hours a day of duty guarding the old meatpacking plant where they live. And in rare quiet hours, the soldiers have spent time literally counting sheep, in an effort to gauge local livestock health.
Dog Company has been deployed for three of the past five years, with stints in Mosul and Germany, in addition to their time in Iraq. This kind of operational tempo, optempo in military parlance, has taken its toll throughout the armed forces. Capt. Doug Willig, the Dog Company commander, reports that of his six closest friends at West Point, five have left the military.
3/2 SBCT Memorial
Mike Gilbert of The News Tribune has a nice photo and brief overview of the final version of the 3/2 SBCT's memorial for the soldiers who died during its two deployments to Iraq.
Iraqi Political Summary - Part 3
The Long War Journal has published Part 3 in its series of articles examining the current state of Iraqi politics. Excerpt:
Understanding the constitutional structure and current composition of Iraq’s legislative branch is a prerequisite to analyzing the much-maligned progress of key legislation. As with the executive, the political diversity of Iraq’s legislature presents many significant challenges and a few opportunities to meeting the legislative benchmarks considered important to stability and reconciliation.
SGT Gary D. Willett
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Sgt. Gary D. Willett, 34, of Alamogordo, N.M., died Feb. 8 in Taji, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. Manibog was assigned to 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
We hope his loved ones find some measure of comfort in the thoughts and prayers shared by the Strykernews community.
SSG Jerald A. Whisenhunt
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Staff Sgt. Jerald A. Whisenhunt, 32, of Orrick, Mo., died Feb. 8 in Taji, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. Whisenhunt was assigned to 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
All of us here extend our deepest sympathies to his family during this difficult time.
SGT Timothy P. Martin
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Sgt. Timothy P. Martin, 27, of Pixley, Calif., died Feb. 8 in Taji, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. Martin was assigned to 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
We would like to offer our sincere condolences to the loved ones he leaves behind.
SPC Michael T. Manibog
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Spc. Michael T. Manibog, 31, of Alameda, Calif., died Feb. 8 in Taji, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. Manibog was assigned to 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and fellow soldiers.
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4 Hawaii-based soldiers die in Iraq explosion - Honolulu Advertiser
Fallen soldier dedicated to family - The Daily Review
Michael Manibog of San Leandro killed in Iraq - San Francisco Chronicle
Michael Yon: Dinner with General Dubik
Journalist Michael Yon recently sat down with General Dubik in Iraq. Dubik was the top commander at Ft. Lewis while the first Stryker brigades were being formed there and is now in charge of the coalition effort to train Iraqi Security Forces. One of the topics of their conversation was the Stryker concept. Excerpt:
Years ago, LTG Dubik was chosen to form the first Stryker brigades from scratch. The Stryker has been a subject of controversy. I’ve spent about eight months on combat operations in Strykers, and perhaps a year in other modes of transportation such as Humvees, Bradleys, and boots. Over the course of that time, I became a firm believer in Strykers because what a lot of Stryker critics don’t seem to understand—presumably because they have spent little time in combat with numerous units—is that it’s not all about the vehicle. Yes, the Stryker itself is fantastic. (History might be less kind to the new MRAP.) But the biggest factor in its effectiveness is not in the vehicle, but in the way that soldiers who use it have learned to fight. The critiques I read all focused on the Stryker vehicle and totally missed the fact that Stryker brigades fight Kung Fu-style, while Humvee fighting is more like street brawling. Stryker brigades fight faster and with greater agility. Soldiers have more information. As a consequence, decision-making is distributed and responsibility pushed farther down the chain of command during fighting.
Land Warrior Needs Work, Soldiers Say
By Christian Lowe, Military.com
CAMP ABLE X-RAY, Iraq --- It was billed as a revolutionary new tool that promised to give Soldiers an added edge in the fight, with a heads-up displayed map, a see-around-corners rifle sight and speed-of-light communications.
And on its first deployment to combat, the decades-old Land Warrior system did win over many of its detractors. But as the Soldiers carrying Land Warrior's burdensome boxes and wires on their backs labored into their seventh month of deployment, some are beginning to question whether this version of a system the Army worked so hard to get to the field is worth the price.
DoD News Briefing with Maj. Gen. Hertling
Maj. Gen. Hertling briefed reporters (view full transcript) on the situation in Iraq. Diyala was cited specifically. Excerpt:
About six weeks ago, I informed all of you in the press room that we had started Operation Iron Harvest in Diyala province and the rest of our three provinces here in the north, and that's part of the MNC-I Operation Phantom Phoenix -- don't mean to confuse you on that, but two different names for operations that are ongoing. I've been asked to give you an update on that, as well as answer your questions on what is going on in the four northern provinces of Diyala, Salahuddin, Nineveh and Kirkuk. And when I talked to this group last month, we were in the early stages of the campaign throughout the province. To date, coalition forces and Iraqi security forces have had successful operations throughout the north, but especially in Diyala. Diyala is much safer today than it was a month ago. Citizens are less afraid to go out on the street, and markets are opening. Al Qaeda has gone to ground. We are hunting them out, where they have gone to ground, or they have dispersed and we are pursuing them to new areas. But there is still much work to be done to bring normalcy to Diyala province.
Hopes, fears run high for Fort Lewis troops who served in Mosul
By Mike Gilbert, The News Tribune
Fort Lewis soldiers and their families could be forgiven for feeling uneasy about the news lately out of Mosul. They made a steep investment in whatever security and stability has taken hold in the northern Iraqi city of 1.8 million.
Thousands of Fort Lewis soldiers have served there; 700 members of a helicopter squadron are stationed in and around the city now.
And of the 176 who have died in Iraq since the war’s beginning, more fell in Mosul – 46 – than anywhere else.
Operation Rock Thrasher Clears Al-Saiyid, Windiyah
Follow the link for a handful of related images.
BAQUBAH, Iraq – The early morning mission conducted by Iraqi army and coalition forces on Feb. 8 brought them into an area that was believed to be a former al-Qaida in Iraq stronghold to look for weapon caches and to kill or capture any remaining AQI.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., working side-by-side with Iraqi army soldiers cleared the towns of Big and Small Windiyah along with al-Saiyid, Iraq, a village to the south.
Grants soldier injured in IED explosion
It's not clear from the article which Stryker brigade SGT Martin is from.
By Gadi Schwartz, Eyewitness News 4 & Reed Upton, KOB.com
A New Mexico soldier is being treated for a spinal fracture after being wounded in the explosion of an improvised explosive device, or IED, in Iraq.
Sergeant Caleb Martin of Grants was among the fighters in a Stryker personnel carrier when the IED, which was buried beneath a road in Iraq, exploded.
Six other soldiers were wounded and four were killed din the incident.
Ironhorse 6 Kickstarts Business in Iraqi Market West of Baghdad
Multi-National Division - Baghdad PAO
FIRA SHIRA, Iraq - Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, the commanding general of Multi-National Division - Baghdad and the 4th Infantry Division, who is a native of Hattiesburg, Miss., along with Hammond's executive officer, Maj. Andy Gordon, a native of Hueytown, Ala., and Command Sgt. Major Anthony Diamond, Fires Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, a native of Cedartown, Ga., listen attentively during a patrol brief Feb. 7 before moving out to the Fira Shira Market, which is located west of Baghdad.
Maj. Gen. Hammond, talked to locals, including a local barber, about security concerns and business needs.
1st Sgt. James Grove and a fellow Soldier from Battery B, Fires Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, Multi-National Division - Baghdad, joked around with local residents. Recently, the unit provided a micro-grant to a local Iraqi businessman to jump start a bakery in the market. A week later, a restaurant opened across the street as a direct result of the bakery opening.
MND-B Soldiers capture suspected terrorist, high-value target
BAGHDAD – Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 21st Infantry, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, captured a suspected al-Qaeda in Iraq leader in the Abu Ghuraib region of the Iraqi capitol Feb. 9.
This suspected AQI operator is believed to be a key facilitator of terrorist activities in southern Baghdad. He is the regiment’s number-one, high-value target and is being held for questioning.
It is believed the detention of the suspect will significantly contribute to the continually improving security situation in Abu Ghraib. Due to its proximity to major highways and northeast Baghdad, security and stability in Abu Ghraib is significant. Stability allows the economy and quality of life for local residents to improve and accelerates the improving security situation in the Iraqi capital.
“The detention of this terrorist suspect demonstrates that we continue to aggressively pursue Al-Qaeda in Iraq,” said Maj. Jon Pendell, spokesperson for 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment.
Coalition, Iraqi Commanders Discuss Successes in Diyala
By Pfc. Kirby Rider, 2nd Infantry Division Public Affairs
BAQUBAH — A joint press conference with a Coalition and Iraqi Army (IA) officer was held recently at Forward Operating Base Warhorse, to discuss the success of Iraqi security forces (ISF) in Diyala province. Lt. Col. Marshall Dougherty, commander of 2nd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division from Fort Lewis, Wash., and Gen. Rasheed Abed al-Kareem Abed al-Qader, executive officer of the 5th Iraqi Army Division, started with comments on the reopening of a key road linking Baqubah with Baghdad.
The road had been closed for 16 months due to be it being heavily planted with improvised explosive devices (IED) by al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI).
“The highway is now open for travel,” Dougherty said. “After the operation was over, Iraqi and U.S. engineers worked to repair the highway that was damaged by roadside bombs.”
A new mission for Staten Island vet
Staten Island native Lt. Ryan Miller often dreams he is back in Iraq, patrolling the streets of southern Baghdad with his buddies in the Second Stryker Cavalry Regiment.
When wakes in his bed on the West Point Army base, he is greeted by a sobering reality: A steel contraption that holds together a shattered left leg, and a myriad of scars across his abdomen and buttocks where searing shrapnel once tore through body.
Miller, an Elm Park native, is a 24-year-old wounded war veteran who now has a new mission: Heal.
Standoff in an Iraqi province
By Garrett Therolf, Los Angeles Times
BAGHDAD -- A potential security crisis loomed Saturday in troubled Diyala province as significant numbers of a U.S.-funded force of Sunni fighters left their posts, demanding the ouster of the provincial police chief.
"You can imagine what danger will face the region in the next days," said Abu Talib, commander of 2,000 to 3,000 so-called Sons of Iraq fighters. His men, many of them former insurgents, turned against the militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq last year under the Awakening banner.
Face of Defense: Infantry Soldier Takes Pride in Iraq Service
By Staff Sgt. J.B. Jaso III, Special to AFPS
CAMP TAJI, Iraq - A long way from his family, friends and hunting, Army Pvt. Benjamin Raulerson, a native of Jacksonville, Ala., is helping his unit rid northwestern Baghdad of terrorism and criminal activity.
In his first month in Iraq, the 22-year-old infantryman has participated in more than 50 patrols, in which he has helped identify and seize enemy weapons cache sites and secure the area to provide the Iraqi government the opportunity to provide essential services to the people.
"(It) feels good knowing that I'm assisting in removing items that can harm the U.S. and (Iraqi citizens)," said Raulerson, who serves in Multi-national Division Baghdad with the 25th Infantry Division's Company A, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, after a patrol that yielded several mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and other items that could be used in improved explosive devices.
Joint patrol arrests six, find munitions
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO
BAGHDAD – Multi-National Division -- Baghdad Soldiers arrested six suspected extremists and seized munitions in support of Operation Phantom Phoenix in the Rashid District of the Iraqi capital, Feb. 8.
During an early morning joint patrol in northwest Rashid, Iraqi soliders from 1st Infantry Division, and 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 11th Iraqi Army Division as well as Soldiers of Company B, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, detained six men believed to be connected to Al Qaeda.
Operation Phantom Phoenix
Multi-National Division – North PAO
TIKRIT, Iraq – The Iraqi Army found two kidnap victims and Coalition Forces killed three al-Qaeda in Iraq operatives and detained seven suspected AQI during Operation Blackhawk Thrasher near Qubah, approximately four miles northeast of Zaganiyah, Iraq, Feb. 7. This is part of the countrywide Operation Phantom Phoenix.
During the joint operation, which involved the Iraqi Army, Iraqi Police and Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, Coalition Forces detained seven suspected AQI during village clearing operations. One AQI was killed by an Air Weapons Team and two more were killed in a firefight with CF in palm groves directly west of Qubah.
New Dispatch
Independent journalist Paul McLeary has another dispatch from his time with the 2/25 SBCT. Excerpt:
On one bitterly cold night patrol run out of COP Courage, we made the usual stops at several SOI-manned checkpoints to see how things were going. Almost every trip outside the base requires stops at the checkpoints to try and gather intelligence and provide some visibility, in order to show the SOI and those potentially watching them that the Americans and their astonishingly mobile Stryker vehicles are around, and can and will drop in anywhere at any given time.The checkpoints run the gamut from nicely constructed HESCO S-turns in the middle of the road to concrete barriers to little more than piles of dirt with shivering Iraqis standing nearby. In the entire 233 square kilometers that falls under Stryker Task Force Gimlet’s control, there are 1580 SOI on the payroll, with 75 checkpoints breaking up the roadways, denying the use of the roads to anyone carrying explosives, heavy weapons or bomb-making materials.
Iraqi Political Summary - Part 2
The Long War Journal has published Part 2 of its look at the Iraqi political system. Excerpt:
The Government of Iraq’s executive branch has several goals central to maintaining security gains and achieving sectarian reconciliation: effective hiring and management of the highly publicized Concerned Local Citizens (CLCs), the auxiliary security forces greatly responsible for the significant reduction in violence; the delivery of reconstruction resources, including basic services, to Baghdad and the provinces; and the creation of jobs and economic opportunity for average Iraqis.
Thanking the veterans
It's great to have an update on Michael Oreskovic. You can read much more about his story here. His father, Mike, was one of the founders of this site.
By Rebecca Taylor, The Register-Guard
Five young veterans injured in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq stood before a small gathering on Wednesday and heard two words they don’t hear often enough: Thank you.
“We’re here to say thank you to these young men today because they laid it on the line, as have veterans of other generations,” said Richard Casey, district commander for the American Legion and a veteran of the Korean War. “These young people are members of a very large organization — American veterans.”
Casey presented the men with American Legion membership cards and $500 checks, courtesy of the Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping seriously injured veterans of the war on terror. The group awarded 1,000 grants to disabled veterans across the country on a first-come, first-served basis.
Extremists continue hit, run attacks
Multi-National Division – Baghdad
BAGHDAD – Baghdad Soldiers conducting mounted patrols near Sadr City came under fire from criminal militia extremists from inside the district during two separate incidents Feb. 2-3.
Both incidents involved Soldiers with the 1st Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, working under 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. The Soldiers were not able to positively identify the shooters in either case, and consequently did not return fire in order to avoid harming Iraqi civilians.
There have been six attacks on Coalition Forces in the Thawra 1 and Jamilla neighborhoods of Sadr City through the first three days of February. Rogue militia forces appear to be behind many of the attacks, said officials with the 2nd BCT, 82nd Abn. Div.
Two ton explosives cache found in Salah ad Din province
Multi-National Division – North PAO
BAYJI, Iraq – Iraqi Police, Sons of Iraq and Coalition Forces discovered a 4,400 pound cache of explosives, in Salah ad Din province during a joint operation, Feb. 6.
Iraqi Police and SOI noticed freshly disturbed dirt off an unimproved road. Coalition Forces investigated the site with IP and SOI assistance. Buried under a hidden tarp were 40 bags filled with a mixture of ammonia nitrate and cocoa powder, each weighing approximately 110 pounds or 50 kilograms. This mixture is commonly used as a homemade explosive commonly used by al-Qaeda in Iraq.
“The Iraqi Police and the Sons of Iraq are committed to bringing stability to their country,” said Lt. Col. William W. Prior, commander of the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment. “They prove this on a daily basis. Today they were able to make a significant impact in securing their country, their homes and their families.”
Additionally, IP, SOI and CF consisting of 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment and 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment cleared several villages in the area.
Sons of Iraq turn in cache
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO
BAGHDAD – Members of the the Sons of Iraq, turned in a weapons cache to Coalition Forces near Mushada Feb. 6.
The contents of the cache included 67, 80mm projectiles; eight 90mm projectiles; miscellaneous ordinance; four speed-bump-type unfinished improvised-explosive devices; and five homemade rocket launchers.
The contents of the cache were turned over to Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
An explosive ordnance disposal detachment was able to successfully recover and destroy the contents of the cache.
This is part of Operation Phantom Phoenix -- the on-going offensive operation to kill or capture al-Qaeda and Shia/Sunni extremists, to deny them rest and sanctuary in Baghdad, and the surrounding rural areas.
Iraqi and Coalition Forces Target Criminal Elements
Multi-National Division – Baghdad PAO
CAMP TAJI, Iraq – Iraqi and coalition security forces conducted an operation targeting special group criminal elements today in eastern Baghdad. Sixteen criminals were initially detained, one died later from wounds received during the operation.
The operation involved Iraqi forces and coalition soldiers from 1st Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, part of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Multi-National Corps – Iraq.
Day in the life - Personal security for 'the man'
By Spc. Aaron Rosencrans, 2/25 SBCT PAO
The mission sounds simple: Protect the colonel and his entourage at all cost.
It may seem easy enough to some, but when you factor in the dynamic battlefield Soldiers face in Iraq - such as moving by foot in a town or city with plenty of buildings for the enemy to hide in and attack from or numerous other unknown variables that threaten the security of a walking patrol - the challenge can prove somewhat daunting.
Accomplishing the mission is just another day at work for Multi-National Division - Baghdad's Sgt. Tyrel Tierney, a native of New Orleans, who serves as a brigade commander Personal Security Detachment shift leader with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team "Warrior," 25th Infantry Division.
Iraqi Political Summary
The Long War Journal turns its analytical eye on the state of Iraqi politics in this in depth article. While not specifically Stryker-related it is worth sharing. Excerpt:
Security gains in Iraq have maintained momentum for five months and the focus has turned to spurring and gauging the country’s political progress. The ultimate goal of the troop surge executed by the military was for improved security to provide “breathing room” for such progress, which can be simplified to three fronts: “ground-up” political progress, executive political progress by the federal government, and federal legislative progress.
Soldier Update
Mike Gilbert of The News Tribune has a nice update on his blog about CPT Damon Armeni, a 3/2 SBCT soldier who was seriously wounded during the brigade's first deployment in 2003-2004. Congratulations! Here are a few stories we've linked to previously regarding CPT Armeni.
U.S. aid helps ease Iraqi minds
By Richard Tomkins, Washington Times
HIMBUS, Iraq -- Hundreds of Iraqis lined up in the dirt outside an elementary school in Iraq"s northern Diyala River Valley last month to be seen by U.S. and Iraqi military doctors — the first free medical clinic for residents of the town of Himbus and its surrounding villages.
In the village of al-Hib a day earlier, children lined up behind Stryker armored vehicles and carried armloads of U.S.-donated notebooks, pencils and other materials into their school.
"I"m trying to build human intelligence," said Army Lt. Col. Rod Coffey, commander of the 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment.
Soldier injured while saving comrade
Heroic acts by soldiers can happen off of the battlefield, too.
Staff Sgt. Larry Teakell will be honored at a ceremony today for saving the life of another soldier when she was engulfed in flames during a generator refueling accident.
Teakell will be awarded the Soldier's Medal, presented to any U.S. service member for heroism not involving combat.
He was nominated for the award for his actions on July 18 in Iraq.
[...]
Mobile Gun System brings the heat in Iraq
Here's another article regarding the new MGS Stryker variant. See previous article as well.
CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Iraq — The Stryker Mobile Gun System’s automatic loader clinks and clanks as it feeds a high-explosive shell into the breech.
A few seconds later, the menacing cannon fires with a thunderous crack, sending a 105mm round downrange, where it blows a big hole in a dirt berm.
The new direct-fire weapon arrived in Iraq for the first time when the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, deployed 10 months ago. The MGS is one of 10 variants of the Stryker series of wheeled and armored vehicle.
Militants stake claim on Diyala River valley
Strykers are mentioned near the end of this article - it's unclear which unit the reporter is referring to, however.
By Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times
DIYALA RIVER VALLEY, IRAQ -- They first appeared about 18 months ago: masked gunmen in speeding cars and scooters that kick up the mud along the canals weaving through lonely villages here.
The invaders pinned notices on the walls of mosques informing residents that they now lived in the Islamic State of Iraq.
Embedded in Iraq
Paul McLeary is an independent journalist currently embedded with the 1-21 INF, 2/25 SBCT in Iraq. He is beginning to post dispatches on his website.
On patrol with the US army in Iraq
With the 1-38 INF, 4/2 SBCT in Diyala. Follow the link for video clips as well.
Until recently Baquba, the provincial capital of Diyala, was held by the Sunni militant group al-Qaeda in Iraq.
The US military have broken their hold and are now clearing houses of arms caches and supporting both the Iraqi army and the Sunni militia - known to the US military as Concerned Local Citizens - in their attempts to hold the city.
The Desert Raider - February Edition
Update: Fixed the link.
The Desert Raider magazine is a monthly publication distributed by the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (SBCT) public affairs office. It features photos, articles and other items of interest to the 4/2 SBCT community.
Provided below is a link to the most recent edition. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to open the document, but it is available for free if you need it.
- The Desert Raider - February 2008 Edition (PDF, 4.3 MB)
State Senate honors Stryker brigade
BY CHRISTIAN HILL, THE OLYMPIAN
The state Senate unanimously passed a resolution today honoring the bravery of a Fort Lewis-based Stryker brigade that served 15 months in Iraq.
Col. David Funk, commander of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, and six of the 10 soldiers who received the Silver Star for heroic acts during the deployment were honored guests in Senate chambers as the resolution was read.
Sen. Rosa Franklin, a Tacoma Democrat and a sponsor of the resolution, said this is the first time in her memory that the Senate has “recognized these brave men and women in this way.”
“This day is long overdue,” Franklin said. “We want to thank you for your service.”
[...]
Winlock Grad Awarded Silver Star
TACOMA -- Staff Sgt. Jon Hilliard, a Winlock native, was one of two Fort Lewis soldiers awarded the Silver Star medal Wednesday afternoon in a ceremony in the base’s Sheridan Gym. They will be honored again Friday in ceremonies at the state capitol.
Hilliard, 26, and Sgt. 1st Class Ismael Iban were given the award for combat action while serving with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division in Iraq. The 3rd Brigade returned from Iraq in September of 2007.
The Silver Star is the nation’s third-highest military award for combat heroism, and is inscribed on the reverse with the phrase “for gallantry in action.”
According to information from Fort Lewis, on the morning of March 24, 2007, Hilliard, a weapons squad leader, was in a Stryker combat vehicle patrolling Baqubah when the vehicle was attacked by a powerful improvised explosive device. He was thrown onto the roof of the vehicle by the force of the blast and, in spite of multiple injuries to his left leg, he exposed himself to enemy small arms and machine gun fire to free a machine gun and ammunition from the burning wreckage.
[...]
536th Maint. Co. Soldiers Make Vehicles More Secure
CAMP TAJI, Iraq – The 536th Maintenance Company, which is based out of Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, has been in Iraq for about two months and during that time they have been working to help protect the lives of the warfighters.
The Hawaii-based unit is the only direct support maintenance company located on Camp Taji, and they have been tasked to make, at times, life-saving modifications to warfighters’ vehicles – namely, the Stryker and mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles.
