Former Stryker Soldier Missing
Please follow the link below for photos and contact information.
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WCPO News
Eight months after returning from Iraq, a Hamilton, Ohio, Army sergeant has gone missing.
Garry Jones, 24, was last seen leaving his apartment last Saturday morning, driving a late 1980's maroon Chevrolet Cavalier.
Janice Jones, the sergeant's mother, said when she went inside his apartment, she instantly knew there was a problem.
"All his clothes are there. His duffel bag, his luggage, nothing was missing," Janice Jones told 9News.
Janice Jones said she doesn't know anyone who would want to hurt her son and she can't rule out that he might try and hurt himself. She said her son had been demonstrating classic signs of post traumatic stress disorder since returning from his tour of duty. [...]
Hamilton Police are handling Jones' disappearance as a missing persons case. If you have any information about his whereabouts, please call the police at (513) 868-1241.
The Big Hammer
Michael Yon has published a very moving tribute to 1SG Michael J. Bordelon on his Frontline Forum. Bordelon was a member of the 1-24 INF, 1/25 SBCT who died in May 2005 from wounds received in Iraq. The tribute was written by Michael Cutrone, a lifelong friend of Bordelon.
IKAI’KA (strength) House
Written by Spc. Yolanda Moreno Leon
MOSUL, Iraq (July 3, 2006) --The 274th Forward Surgical Team held the grand opening of Ikai’ka house on Forward Operating Base Diamondback, Mosul, Iraq June 26.
The house is named in honor of 1st Lt. Nainoa K. Hoe, platoon leader, 2nd Plt, Company C, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, (Tropic Lighting), Stryker Brigade Combat Team. Hoe paid the ultimate sacrifice when he lost his life in June 2005.
1st Lt. Sara Horak, executive officer, 274th FST, went out her way to insure the memory of her friend is carried on forever.
“This house is dedicated to Hoe, who was a close friend of mine,” said Horak. “I feel a sense of closure, for me to be able to dedicate it to my friend, it is kind of a healing process.”
Ikai’ka which means strength, is a house where patients who have been treated at the 47th Combat Support Hospital can stay anywhere from a few hours to a few days. It gives them a place where they can relax and begin the healing process from their injuries.
“I feel good now that Soldiers have a place to stay and be comfortable, they get tremendous world class patient care from the hospital and now they can come here to Ikai’ka house and that care will continue,” said Horak.
The house took just over a week to finish and several Soldiers helped to make it a reality including Soldiers like Sgt. 1st Class Rejan Robinson, and Staff Sgt. Paul Keel, 872nd Maintenance Company, who helped with the carpentry.
“I can’t thank everyone enough for helping out and what this means to me,” Horack said. “It just shows you that everyones heart is in the right place.”
According to Horack she has three months left in theatre and hopes that the new team replacing her unit will keep up with the care of the facility.
Sgt. 1st Class Jomo Anderson, 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 172nd SBCT was the first Soldier to stay at Ikai’ka, and finds the accommodations very respectable.
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“It is very comfortable with all the accommodations,” said Anderson. “It is a whole lot better than sleeping in one of those cots, or staying in one of those combat housing units.”
Hoe was one of those individuals that left an impact on people,” said Horack. “This is our way of saying thank you to him for paying the ultimate sacrifice and helping to free the Iraqi people.”
Hoe also had an assault course renamed in his honor back in Fort Lewis, Wash. That dedication was conducted on the same day as Ikai’ka House.
“Even though we are separated by thousands of miles and three continents we were still brought together by the type of person Hoe was,” said Horack. “We want to leave his memory and our memories all over the world”.
Two historic units reflag during ceremony
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By Don Kramer, Northwest Guardian
Two respected military units conducted a joint reflagging ceremony at 2 p.m. on Thursday at Gray Army Airfield.
The 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division deactivated to be reflagged as 2nd Cavalry Regiment; 2nd Cav., in turn, joined the 2nd Infantry Division, activating as the Indianhead Division’s 4th Brigade.
In its history that began in 1917, 2nd Inf. Div. has never included a 4th Bde. The former 2nd Cav. Regt. will begin a fresh set of traditions as a brand new Stryker brigade combat team in the Indianhead Division.
The newly constituted 2nd Cav. Regt. will complete a move to Germany this summer. Already rich in history, the 2nd Cav. Regt. is the oldest regiment of any kind serving on continuous active duty in the U.S. Army.
It was organized in 1836 as the 2nd Regiment of Dragoons to fight in the Seminole Campaigns in Florida. It landed on Utah Beach in 1944 and led Patton’s Third Army advance across Europe. The then 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment later patrolled more than 730 kilometers along the Iron Curtain for much of the Cold War. More recently, 2nd Cavalry began the U.S. ground offensive in Desert Storm in 1991, leading the VII Corps advance into southern Iraq, and deployed to Bosnia in 1997. It earned two Presidential Citations for actions in Iraq in 2003-2004, after which it was designated a Stryker brigade and relocated to Fort Lewis from Fort Polk, La.
The article also provides a complete list of units in each brigade (4/2 SBCT & 2nd CR).
A Piece Of Cake
Michael Yon, who covered the 1/25 SBCT extensively from Mosul last year, provides a new update on the status of Walt Gaya. It's a must read.
SGT Gaya was previously the subject of a profile by Associated Press reporter Antonio Castaneda.
One Year Later - A Parent's Perspective
Thank you to Michael Yon for this article. Your online magazine provides great information and insight into the lives of our soldiers.
Soldier Honored By Tacoma Police
SGT Timothy Phillipson was recently awarded a Medal of Courage by the Tacoma Police Department for assisting those wounded during a shooting at the Tacoma Mall last November. The award ceremony took place on April 27, 2006. Congratualtions to SGT Phillipson and the others who were recognized for their efforts.
Plumondore Railcar Dedication
One of Adam Plumondore's relatives alerted us that five railcars will be dedicated in his honor this Saturday, May 20, in Portland, OR. If you live in the area and are interested in attending the dedication, it will take place at 10:00am at Northwest Container Services located on Burgard Road in Portland (Google map). The railcars will operate between Seattle, WA and Portland, OR, so perhaps you'll see them in operation.
SGT Plumondore, a member of 1-24 INF, 1/25 SBCT, was killed in Mosul on February 16, 2005.
First of 3,200 Stryker soldiers arrive at Vilseck
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By Seth Robson, Stars and Stripes
VILSECK, Germany — The first big influx of soldiers who will become the 2nd Cavalry (Stryker) Regiment arrived Wednesday, charged with paving the way for hundreds more who will arrive over the next month.
A total of 180 soldiers, accompanied by family members and pets, got off the bus at Vilseck after a 10-hour charter flight from Fort Lewis, Wash. Ultimately, the regiment will include 3,200 soldiers.
The soldiers still wore the patch of 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, which is due to inactivate and reform as 2nd Cavalry next month.
Army public affairs officials blocked Stars and Stripes’ efforts to interview the new arrivals and their families about the trip and their new home.
Maj. Jon Pendell, a spokesman for the Stryker brigade, said the regiment was concentrating on getting soldiers and families settled in after the long flight and that none would be available for interviews.
“Today they will get their keys and move into their quarters,” Pendell said, adding that the troops would spend two weeks adjusting to life in Germany before starting a reception operation to receive the rest of the unit.
“We are going to receive the brigade from Fort Lewis as they get here and at some stage we are going to get ready for training,” he said.
South Sound recognizes Real Heroes
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By Lisa Pemberton, The Olympian
Military Hero: Sgt. Walt Gaya
Sgt. Walt Gaya’s love and pride for his country is undeniable, but it has come at a high price and much self-sacrifice.
Last July, while he was deployed in Iraq, a roadside bomb tore apart the hull of Gaya’s combat vehicle wounding all nine men inside. As he rushed to help the other soldiers escape from the burning vehicle, Gaya felt a deep throbbing in his leg. The explosion had lodged pieces of shrapnel in his leg and shredded ligaments in his knee.
Despite his incredible pain, Gaya helped secure the perimeter around the damaged vehicle.
He was so thankful to have survived the bombing. Then his vision began to blur and he felt a sharp pain in his left eye as he tried to focus. Bits of bomb fragment from the explosion had pierced his eye.
While Gaya was transported to a hospital in Germany, the possibility that he might lose his vision became a reality.
After several surgeries and doctor’s visits, Gaya’s vision is still impaired in his left eye but he is determined not to let it deter him from living out his dream as a photographer.
Gaya is proud to have served in Iraq for eight months with the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment of the Stryker Brigade. [...]
This is the 10th year the Mount Rainier Chapter of the American Red Cross — which serves Thurston, Mason and Pierce counties — has held a Real Heroes breakfast.
The event usually draws about 600 people and raises tens of thousands of dollars in donations. Organizers set a goal of $60,000 for this year, which will go toward South Sound disaster relief and emergency preparedness programs, according to spokeswoman Karen Kim.
The honorees were nominated by community members for their bravery, selflessness and quick thinking during emergencies that took place in 2005.
‘Deuce Four’ unit salutes its ‘let’s-go-get-’em’ leader
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MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
A lot of Fort Lewis units have made their way to Iraq and back, but none has endured as much pain – or attracted as much acclaim – as the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment.
The fortitude of its soldiers against a raging insurgency brought fame to the battalion known as “Deuce Four.”
On Friday the man who led the unit’s 800 soldiers through its trials in Mosul relinquished command.
Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, 39, wounded twice during his year in Iraq, will soon move on to command the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Lewis – one of the Army’s most elite combat units.
“The accomplishments of this battalion are well-known not only in the Army but across the country and across Iraq,” Kurilla’s boss, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division commander Col. John RisCassi, said at the change-of-command ceremony Friday.
Deuce Four took over the densely populated, mostly Sunni Arab western half of Mosul in October 2004 just as the insurgency was reaching full bloom. U.S. and Iraqi troops were attacked an average of 20 times a day by guerrillas who moved freely.
The battalion under Kurilla employed aggressive tactics, setting up outposts around the city and drawing insurgents out to fight. The January 2005 elections went on as scheduled, U.S. forces rebuilt the Iraqi police and by the spring attacks fell to an average of five a day. ...
War Without End
This week the San Francisco Chronicle is publishing a four-part series of articles chronicling the recoveries of two 1/25 SBCT soldiers - SGT Mike Buyas and SGT Brent Bretz. The newspaper has created a homepage for the series, called War Without End, featuring supplemental information (photos, videos etc.). Parts one and two have already been published, with parts three and four following later this week. Check the link above for additional information.
UPDATE 3/28/06: Part three is now available.
Priory-made dolls a big hit in Iraq
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By Suzanne Roig
Army 1st. Lt. Nainoa Hoe of Honolulu hoped rag dolls made by students of a local school could bring joy to some children in war-torn Iraq.
Although he was killed by a sniper before the dolls arrived, his fellow soldiers ensured the dolls got to the right little hands.
Yesterday, a soldier and Hoe's father came to St. Andrew's Priory, where the dolls are made, to tell the students about the power of a little cloth and thread.
"We were getting ready to send him the dolls when he was killed," said his father, Allen Hoe, who served in Vietnam as an Army combat medic in 1967 and 1968. "His men picked up the ball during the rest of their tour."
His son was a 27-year-old platoon leader when he was killed in Mosul, Iraq, on Jan. 22, 2005.
With Allen Hoe yesterday was Command Sgt. Maj. Hector Davila, who told the students that the Iraqi children — even the boys — loved the dolls.
Davila, who is in Honolulu on R&R, serves in the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry out of Fort Wainwright, Alaska. In Iraq, his unit replaced Nainoa Hoe's 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry, which is out of Fort Lewis, Wash....
From Fort Lewis to Germany, here they come
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By MIKE BARBER, P-I REPORTER
FORT LEWIS -- For two days this week, Stryker armored infantry carriers were abandoned for strollers, diaper bags replaced combat rucksacks, and military intelligence homed in on housing and schools.
An entire population of 6,000 to 7,000 people, roughly the size of Duvall or Gig Harbor, is packing up and moving permanently -- jobs, equipment, spouses, kids, cars, even pets -- to Germany this summer.
Fort Lewis' 4,000-member 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division Stryker Brigade Combat, nicknamed the Lancers, will become the 2nd Cavalry Regiment in June and will be transferred to Vilseck, Germany. The unit was in Mosul in northern Iraq from 2004 to 2005.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, an advance guard of 300 soldiers in camouflage and their families took the first steps to leave the United States. They will depart for Germany soon. The rest of the Stryker brigade will go through the same process that took place this week -- which soldiers call the "Lancer family rodeo" -- next month and will leave in June.
This week, soldiers reconnoitered their way with spouses and children through the post's big Battle Command Training Center, bivouacking occasionally to fill out paperwork.
"You must be very patient -- very patient," said Mitchelle Garrett, 29, an Army wife, artfully bracing her 18-month old son, Ayden, on her hip while stressing the words.
Fallen hero's memory lives on
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By Tracy Dang
t's been a year since Spec. Clint Gertson of Eagle Lake was killed while serving in Iraq, and Gayle and Susan Gertson are beginning to heal from the loss of their youngest son.
“When they first told me, I wanted to fall on the ground and die,” Gayle said. “It takes everything out of you.”
“Sometimes you wonder how you're ever going to get through this,” Susan said. “But you take one day at a time. What really hits you is when you hear people that don't agree with the war, and you hope that the war is not in vain. My biggest nightmare is that we forget what they die for.”
Clint, 26 at the time, was a member of the U.S. Army 1st Battalion 24th Infantry Regiment 1st Brigade 25th Infantry Division, also known as the Stryker Brigade Combat Team or Deuce Four.
He was done for the day Feb. 19 of last year but had volunteered to fill in for one of his comrades and go on patrol duty again.
“We were loading up to go back when a guy pulled up in a car about 200 meters away and shot a single shot,” Captain Jeff Van Antwerp said. “Clint was standing about a foot from me, and the bullet hit him right above the left shower, went all the way through his chest and came out the other side. We rushed him back to hospital and tried to resuscitate him, but it was too late.”
The Coming Normalcy?
The following is a lengthy article decribing the efforts of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (1/25 SBCT) during its year in Mosul. Written by Robert Kaplan for the upcoming issue of The Atlantic magazine, this is likely the most detailed profile of the brigade's operations since Michael Yon published his dispatches. The link provided below will give you full access to the article for 3 days, after which time it will only be available to subscribers. So, follow the link and print it out. There is an accompanying interview with Robert Kaplan that is available to everyone.
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by Robert D. Kaplan
The Iraqi city of Mosul is an age-old caravan crossroads whose history defies the concept of the twentieth- century nation-state the kind of nation-state the U.S. military occupation of Iraq is trying to hold together (if not create), and to keep from imploding into full- scale civil war.
Historic trade routes have linked Mosul to cities in Syria, Turkey, and Iran, bringing cultural as well as commercial exchanges. The Arabic language in Mosul bears Kurdish and Syriac influences. There is a large community of Chaldaeans—descendants of Christians who were converted (eons ago) from Nestorianism to Catholicism. For a long time, this city was a seat of Catholic missionary activity. Seljuk Turks held Mosul in the Middle Ages and Ottomans held it in the modern era, with a Persian occupation in between. Mosul's degenerating old quarter, with its beetling Ottoman walls and elegantly stuccoed twelfth-century Seljuk minaret, is testimony to this cosmopolitan lineage.
After the fall of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, the oil-rich Turkish vilyet of Mosul was incorporated into a newly created Iraq, ensuring that the mostly Arab polity of Sunnis and Shiites would include a large (one-quarter) share of non-Arab Kurds, Turcomans, and Assyrians. Mosul emblemizes the ethnic and sectarian divisions that have made modern Iraq so untenable, helping it to fall victim to the most suffocating of dictatorships.
I came to Mosul, a city of more than 2 million, after one set of national elections; I would leave just before another. The former had ratified the new Iraqi constitution; the latter would select political parties for parliament. In the Mosul region, the first election had seen a voter turnout of more than 80 percent. Mosul is a success story, although the success is relative, partial, and tenuous. The credit for what success there has been belongs to one of the U.S. Army's Stryker brigade combat teams that recently departed Iraq: the 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, based out of Fort Lewis, Washington.
When the 1-25 "Lancers” arrived in Mosul, in September of 2004, the city and its environs were a violent no-go zone, having seen several thousand insurgent attacks, not to mention more than a thousand explosions from improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. The local police had largely deserted, dropping from an on-paper force of 10,000 to an irrelevance of 300. But by the time 1-25 left Mosul, a year later, mortar attacks alone had fallen from 300 a month to fewer than ten. Other forms of insurgent activity dropped to the point where international journalists no longer considered Mosul an important part of the ongoing Iraq story—a fact evidenced by their thin presence in the city. Meanwhile, the local police force was now back up to 9,000, and the number of police stations had expanded from five to twenty-four. More important, the number of intelligence tips called in by the local population had risen from essentially zero to some 400 per month.
The kind of chaos that 1-25 had alleviated in Mosul has been an abiding interest of mine. Twelve years ago in this magazine, I published an article, "The Coming Anarchy,” about the institutional collapse of Third World countries owing to ethnic and sectarian rivalries, demographic and environmental stresses, and the growing interrelationship between war and crime. Was it possible that Iraq, of all places, might offer some new ideas about how situations of widespread anarchy can be combated? It certainly was the case that, despite a continuing plague of suicide bombings, significant sections of the country were slowly recovering from large-scale violence, as well as from the effects of decades of brutal dictatorship. The very U.S. military that had helped to bring about the anarchy in Iraq was now worth studying as a way to end it, both here and elsewhere in the Third World.
The 1-25 Lancers' shaky achievement does credit to the brigade-level transformation of the U. S. Army, the institution known derisively to the Green Berets of the Special Forces as "Big Army” or "Mother Army.” And they are right: Big Army is still too much of a vertical, dinosaurian, Industrial Age organization. Yet that is changing, partly because of the new emphasis on brigades.
A brigade is only a third or half the size of a division. Its headquarters element is less bureaucratic and top-heavy with colonels than that of a division (to say nothing of a corps). The very size of a brigade can be custom-fitted to the situation. Putting brigades first represents an organizational means for dealing with a more chaotic, unconventional world. It is the kind of bureaucratic reform that the military is embracing faster than the financially starved State Department or the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The credit for this radically changed emphasis belongs to successive Army chiefs of staff, particularly Eric Shinseki and Peter Schoomaker.
New hardware, such as the Stryker combat vehicle, also plays a big role, facilitating a change in the relationships between captains in the field and majors and lieutenant colonels back at battalion headquarters. The Stryker—with its added safety features that drastically reduce casualties from IEDs and suicide bombs, its ability to travel great distances without refueling, and a computer system that gives captains and noncommissioned officers situational awareness and the latest intelligence for many miles around—has helped liberate field units from dependence on headquarters.
Autonomy is further encouraged by the flat "intelligence architecture” of the Stryker brigades. Information now comes to captains less and less from battalion headquarters, and more and more from other junior officers in other battalions, via informal e-mail networks, as well as directly from Iraqi units. The lieutenant colonel who commands an infantry battalion, and the major who is the captain's executive officer, do not always have to be consulted. Given the results, the commanding officers like it that way.
That is page 1 of 7.
Veteran one step closer to normalcy
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Edward Stoner, Vail Daily
VAIL - Dennis Walburn kept interrupting his own story. He did it on Chair 4 and at Mid-Vail. He was shifting attention to the 23 other Iraq war veteran amputees who are skiing at Vail this week - and the many more who are not.
"All these other guys' stories are the same," said Walburn, who skis with one ski and two outriggers. "This is just an example of what many guys have gone through."
So here is an example.
Walburn didn't have to go to Iraq. He had a desk job with the National Guard at the Pentagon, and another officer from his group was chosen to go to Iraq. But Walburn talked to his wife, Brenda, and decided he should be the one to go.
"It got to my heart a little bit that I was sitting at a desk and (other soldiers) were going over," he said.
Walburn, a 47-year-old lieutenant colonel from Woodbridge, Va., went to Iraq on a six-month deployment in March 2005 as part of a group that was introducing new battlefield equipment to troops.
On May 28 in Mosul, he went out on patrol with an infantry unit, testing a new Stryker armored vehicle. The troops found a vehicle on an offramp matching the description of an insurgent's car, but it wasn't the right car. Still, the commander decided to search all of the cars that were stopped on the offramp.
"That's when the bomb went off," Walburn said.
He felt the blast wave and then intense pain. Eight Iraqis and one U.S. soldier were killed in the explosion. When Walburn woke up in Germany, he found out he had lost his leg.
"It didn't surprise me," he said.
Walburn said he doesn't second-guess his decision to go to Iraq in someone else's place.
"It was the right thing to do," he said. "I wish I still had my leg, but I don't regret my decision."
Blinded in Iraq, skiing in Vail
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By Edward Stoner, Vail Daily
VAIL - Scott Smiley has learned many things over again since April 10, when a suicide blast in Iraq sent shrapnel into his brain and left him blind.
He has learned to walk again. He has learned to read again. He's learned to use a computer again, and how to wash dishes.
This week, he's skiing again.
Smiley, a 25-year-old first lieutenant, is skiing with Vail-based Foresight Ski Guides, which provides guides who help him down the mountain. Smiley and his wife, Tiffany, will ski five days before they go home to Fort Lewis, Wash. on Saturday.
"At first it was very scary, but then it's exhilarating and fun," he said.
On Thursday morning, Smiley took three runs down Northwoods, an intermediate run, at times moving surprisingly fast. He didn't fall once. [...]
Iraq blogger let E.M. man do the driving
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By Whitney Carnahan, Quad Cities On-Line
It's unlikely that a local community college student from East Moline and a former Green Beret blogger would have much in common. But just a year ago, the two met up in the most unlikely place: Iraq.
Michael Yon, 41, had decided in 2005 to go to Iraq as a freelance journalist to report on the war. Self-funded and self-taught, Mr. Yon ended up in Mosul, Iraq, with the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, under the command of Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla.
It was there he met the student, then Spc. Dale Prickett, who was in charge of driving a Stryker Army vehicle each day.
Mosul, a city of 2 million located in northern Iraq, is split by the Tigris River. The east side is where the wealthy dwell, Mr. Prickett, 23, said. The battalion was based on the west side, where many of the have-nots live.[...]
Lost friends
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By Christopher Loh, Watertown Tab & Press
Sgt. Robert Connors remembers two friends lost in battle:
Staff Sgt. Donald D. Griffith of Iowa, killed in action March 11, 2005
Specialist Clinton "Big Country" Gertson, killed in action Feb. 19, 2005.
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Brigade details
Sgt. Robert Connors belonged to the First Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, Stryker Brigade Combat Team, Second Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment.
The brigade faced:
- 3,056 enemy attacks
- 1,335 improvised explosive devices
- 84 suicide vehicle-borne explosive devices
- 1,513 direct-fire attacks
The brigade helped to:
- Detain 3,050 enemies, including 179 high-level terrorist leaders and al-Qaida commander Abu Talha and five successors, the most of any brigade
- Medically screen more than 2,000 Iraqi children
- Produce 415 projects dedicated to building a nation totaling $72.5 million, including schools, hospitals, health clinics, bridges, roads, and water and sewer systems.
Hometown kid serves country in Iraq
Flying to Iraq in a C-130 from Kuwait, Sergeant Bobby Connors said the ride was the quietest plane ride he had ever been on. That changed, however, when he landed at the Forward Observation Base.
"When you get there, you hear explosions," Connors said, explaining that to leave the FOB it was mandatory that there be a three-car convoy.
But after a year in war-torn Iraq, Bobby Connors of Bradford Street is home, having served nearly eight months in Tall'Afar, two months in Mosul and another two in Rawah.
Connors, a sergeant in a Stryker Brigade Combat Team, is a Watertown native and Catholic Memorial graduate. [...]
Former soldier draws praise for frontline blog
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By Mitch Stacy, Associated Press
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — He didn’t have to go, it wasn’t his job and nobody paid him to do it. But Michael Yon says he went to Iraq because he wanted to see for himself what was going on.
The 41-year-old former Army Green Beret, self-published author and world traveler didn’t know exactly what he was going to do when he got to the war zone last year, nor did he have any particular plans to report what he saw to the world at-large.
But that’s what he did.
After getting himself embedded as a freelance journalist with troops last year, he used his Internet blog to report on the car bombs, firefights and dead soldiers. But he also wrote descriptively about acts of compassion and heroism, small triumphs in the country’s crawl toward democracy and the gritty inner workings of the military machine. [...]
Soldiers honor deceased in videos
First reported here on 1/27, this article has now been reprinted in the Baltimore Sun. The story mentions SSG Juan Solorio, MSG Brian Mack, SGT Christopher Pusateri, and SSG Zachary Wobler
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By Dionne Searcey, The Wall Street Journal
Electronic records create a powerful, raw new wave of war memorials
The night his buddy was killed by insurgent gunfire in Iraq last March, Army Spc. Mitchell Bass hopped out of his bunk and grabbed his laptop. He searched his computer for every digital photo he could find of the friend, Staff Sgt. Juan Solorio, and then wandered around the camp in Mosul with his portable hard drive asking other soldiers whether they had any photos or video clips.
They gave him shots of Solorio sporting a newly shaved head and leaning against a burned-out truck on an Iraqi roadside. They found footage of Solorio reaching for his pistol, dropping it in the mud and laughing. Bass strung all the images together into a video and added a soundtrack, "The Night That the Lights Went Out in NYC" by punk band the Ataris. Then he played it at a memorial service in Iraq. [...]
A dusty tent in Mosul served as Army Capt. Kevin Latham's studio, where he made videos to honor the four soldiers in his unit who had died just before Christmas 2004 when a suicide bomber detonated explosives in the camp's mess hall. Mortars boomed in the distance as he worked long past midnight to carefully select music to go with the videos. [...]
In another memorial video, Army Master Sgt. Brian Mack, who died in Mosul a year ago this month, is shown in photos riding in a Blackhawk helicopter and in a short video clip rushing a stationary target during gun practice, shooting repeatedly while friends laugh. It's set to the melancholy song "Clocks" by Coldplay.
"Every time someone was killed, we put together a little thing like that," said Sgt. Emmet Cullen, a sniper who fought alongside Mack. "It helps the grieving process putting them together. Talking about them, seeing them with a big goofy smile on -- it helps." [...]
Lt. Col. Christopher Gibson, who has completed two tours in Iraq as commander of an 82nd Airborne battalion, said he watched the videos for two of his troopers -- Sgt. Christopher Pusateri and Staff Sgt. Zachary Wobler -- several times in advance of their memorial services "so I could keep myself together when I delivered my remarks," he said.
When Pusateri was shot to death last winter, Gibson turned to members of his communications team to make his memorial video because they were familiar with computer equipment. One of them was Capt. Jerrold Castro, who met with fellow troopers and laid out a storyboard of sorts, to select the order of the photos and video clips. On his laptop, he used Microsoft's Movie Maker to fiddle with the photos, changing some to a sepia tint and adding special effects. [...]
SB High grad earns Silver Star for bravery in Iraq
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Michel Nolan, Staff Writer
Staff Sgt. Shannon Kay recalls the fireball as the suicide car bomber rammed the rear of his Stryker armored infantry vehicle.
The massive explosion and subsequent firefight are seared in the Rancho Cucamonga native's memory.
"It was a huge physical force - the biggest I ever felt," said Shannon, 29. "Some of the guys inside were kind of unconscious, so we dropped a ramp and dragged people out. It was just a natural reaction - any soldier would have done the same."
Shannon's actions that day, his courage under fire as he saved the lives of seven members of his squad on a bloody road in Western Mosul, Iraq, earned him the Silver Star.
According to the military report, "The fireball was enormous and the Kevlar blankets, tires and other components of the Stryker were on fire. The entire area was littered with burning debris."
Shannon, who was bleeding from shrapnel wounds to his head, shoulder and hand, refused medical attention and helped put out the vehicle fire while under ambush attack from small arms, rocket-propelled grenades, or RPGs, and mortar fire.
"I wanted to live up to what I thought a soldier is," said Shannon by phone from Fort Benning, Ga., where he is now an instructor in the Army Squad Designated Marksmanship Program.
"I've seen multiple firefights before, but they do kind of surprise you. Once you're over there, you say 'this is the drill now' and just do your job."
Gritty Iraq Blog Gained Freelancer Fame
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (AP) - He didn't have to go, it wasn't his job and nobody paid him to do it. But Michael Yon says he went to Iraq because he wanted to see for himself what was going on.
The 41-year-old former Army Green Beret, self-published author and world traveler didn't know exactly what he was going to do when he got to the war zone last year, nor did he have any particular plans to report what he saw to the world at-large.
But that's what he did.
After getting himself embedded as a freelance journalist with troops last year, he used his Internet blog to report on the car bombs, firefights and dead soldiers. But he also wrote descriptively about acts of compassion and heroism, small triumphs in the country's crawl toward democracy and the gritty inner workings of the military machine.
Yon's dispatches have been extolled by loyal readers as gutsy and honest reporting by a guy who's not afraid to get his hands dirty. He has been interviewed and his blog quoted by major newspapers and TV news networks, and he has drawn comparisons to Ernie Pyle, the renowned World War II correspondent who shared the trenches with fighting soldiers. [...]
"Deuce Four is an overwhelmingly aggressive and effective unit, and they believe the best defense is a dead enemy," Yon wrote in one dispatch. "They are constantly thinking up innovative, unique and effective ways to kill or capture the enemy; proactive not reactive."
In May, a poignant photo he shot of a soldier cradling a dying Iraqi girl after an explosion in Mosul was printed in major U.S. newspapers and brought even more attention to his unpaid mission. A subsequent appeal for donations on the Web site brought in thousands of dollars. [...]
The slant of Yon's blog is unflinchingly pro-military, but he has frequently criticized Army public affairs officers in print over how news out of Iraq is managed. He hasn't shied away from describing the horrors of war, and he once wrote about an Iraqi taxi driver killed by U.S. troops during a fire fight.
"They know I don't follow the party line," says the soft-spoken Yon, whose broad, solid physique makes him seem taller than his 5 feet and 6 inches. "Like when our guys get killed, I'll write about it and I'll write about it the way it really happened, which sometimes is pretty graphic."
Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, the Deuce Four commander who was wounded in the downtown Mosul battle, says Yon was effective because he stayed with the unit longer than most embedded reporters.
"Mike, by spending five months with us, understood the unit, the idiosyncrasies, the good and the bad, and how we made decisions," Kurilla says. "You don't get that from coming in for 48 or 72 hours."
The article continues, and mentions that Yon is working on a book based on his time with 1-24 INF.
On Iraq's Front Lines, Digital Memorials For Fallen Friends
SSG Solorio, who is mentioned in the following article, was a member of the 1/25 SBCT. You can follow the link to download the memorial video. Thanks to Paul North for providing a link to this article.
Link to Full Article
By DIONNE SEARCEY, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
The night his buddy was killed by insurgent gunfire in Iraq last March, Army Spc. Mitchell Bass hopped out of his bunk and grabbed his laptop. He searched his computer for every digital photo he could find of the friend, Staff Sgt. Juan Solorio, and then wandered around the camp in Mosul with his portable hard drive asking other soldiers whether they had any photos or video clips.
They gave him shots of Sgt. Solorio sporting a newly shaved head and leaning against a burned-out truck on an Iraqi roadside. They found footage of Sgt. Solorio reaching for his pistol, dropping it in the mud and laughing. Spc. Bass strung all the images together into a video and added a soundtrack, "The Night That the Lights Went Out in NYC" by punk band the Ataris. Then he played it at a memorial service in Iraq.
"As a joke he grew this huge, disgusting mustache," Spc. Bass said of his friend. "I made sure to add a few of those photos in there."
Digital photography, video and Internet access have let soldiers in Iraq stay closer to distant friends and family than troops in any other war. Now, these electronic records are also creating a powerful and raw new wave of war memorials.
A dusty tent in Mosul served as Army Capt. Kevin Latham's studio, where he made videos to honor the four soldiers in his unit who had died just before Christmas 2004 when a suicide bomber detonated explosives in the camp's mess hall. Mortars boomed in the distance as he worked long past midnight to carefully select music to go with the videos. [...]
For Spc. Bass, the process of creating Sgt. Solorio's video was therapeutic, he said. "He was like a dad to me," said Spc. Bass, 20 years old, who was with 32-year-old Sgt. Solorio when he was killed.
After he put the finishing touches on the video, Spc. Bass offered an advance screening to a few members of his platoon, who gave their approval. The video finally had its premiere on the big screen in a darkened auditorium where soldiers gathered for Sgt. Solorio's memorial service in Mosul.
"The whole time I was working on it, it didn't really hit me what it was. I just wanted to get it done," said Spc. Bass. "When it started playing at the actual service, it got pretty sad."
Operation Iraqi Children
Link to Full Article
By Michael Yon
Soldiers love to visit Iraqi schools. The teachers are welcoming, and the kids are always excited. The children burst into smiles and waves, but seem to be almost nailed to their seats: they do not get up without the teachers’ permission.
The soldiers often arrive just to say hello, but at other times they unload trucks full of supplies: pencils, paper, and books. I visited a school far out in the boondocks near the Iranian border, where the villagers told me no Americans had ever been. In one of the classrooms, children were studying to identify mines and bombs, so they would not get blown up. [...]
Benning sergeant earns Silver Star
Link to Full Article
BY MICK WALSH, Staff Writer
The citation accompanying Thursday's award of the Silver Star to a Fort Benning soldier for his heroic actions in Iraq reads more like an action movie script.
But for Staff Sgt. Shannon Kay, now a member of the 2nd Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment, what transpired on Dec. 11, 2004, was far from Hollywood fiction.
Then a squad leader of a Fort Lewis, Wash., Stryker outfit stationed near Mosul, Kay was manning the left-rear air guard hatch of his vehicle at a traffic stop when, without notice, a car broke the traffic pattern and accelerated toward the Stryker. Kay's gunner alerted him to the approaching car, prompting him to fire a warning off the front of the vehicle.
The vehicle did not stop, accelerating instead. Kay shot the driver, but the car was still able to impact the rear of his Stryker, exploding into a massive fireball. The fireball was enormous and the Kevlar blankets, tires and other components of the Stryker caught fire.
The entire area was littered with burning debris. Kay was wounded in four places and had six other casualties on the Stryker. Despite being wounded, he got his back ramp open and began evacuating his crew from the burning vehicle. Immediately, the position came under heavy fire from enemy small arms, rocket-propelled grenades and indirect mortar fire. Kay was bleeding from shrapnel wounds to the head, arm and hand, but he refused medical attention, instead focusing his efforts on ensuring all his men were evacuated and on extinguishing the fire on the Stryker.
The Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., native, who lives with his wife, Julie, and son, Killian, in Phenix City, then turned his attention to the enemy and moved through the perimeter, engaging and destroying an RPG team that attempted to maneuver on the disabled Stryker.
Good deed doesn't go unnoticed
This article was originally published two weeks ago, but we just came across it recently.
Link to Full Article
Jim Souhan, Star Tribune
Today, we will watch Mike Tice stalk the sideline in his customary black garb.
Some of us will see a gridiron Johnny Cash dancing in a vocational ring of fire.
Some of us will see a lame-duck coach slogging through his contractual duties.
Somewhere in the Metrodome today, though, there will be four sets of eyes viewing Tice as a man with a heart as big as his Long Island accent.
"It's a long story," said Riikka Jacobsen.
She was happy to tell it.
Jacobsen's husband, Captain Bill Jacobsen, was killed by an insurgent's bomb in Iraq a little more than a year ago. He was 31.
A friend of Tice's saw a story produced by a reporter embedded with Jacobsen's unit, and noticed a reference to the Vikings.
The friend contacted Tice, who contacted Riikka, who lives in Charlotte, N.C.
Today, Riikka and her three sons will attend the Vikings-Bears game, courtesy of Tice.
Today, Santa Claus wears black.
"By doing this for my boys, he's honoring my husband," Jacobsen said. "And that means the world to me, that people remember him, and think of him, and understand what he was doing for his country.
"What better way to honor my husband than to pay attention to his children? This is very touching to me."
This is a story that reminds us that the whiny, wacky world of sport can unify far-flung people.
"My husband was killed in Iraq a year ago," Riikka said. "He was with the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment out of Fort Lewis, Washington. He was killed in the mess-hall bombing on the 21st of December [2004].
"It's kind of complicated, but one of his soldier's family is good friends with Mike Tice. One soldier came home on R-and-R, and he was very concerned about my children and myself, and he just wanted to do something. They found out that my oldest son, Billy, is a great fan of the Vikings, and also my husband's battalion commander, Col. Erik Kurilla, is a Vikings fan.
"Even before they deployed my husband, he would take my three boys to Col. Kurilla's office and they would see all these Vikings decorations.
"My son, Billy, collects football cards, and after my husband was killed, he wrote a letter to Col. Kurilla and sent him some Vikings cards. A reporter that was embedded with the unit in Iraq saw the letter and wrote about it."
A friend of Tice's saw the story and contacted the coach, who began exchanging e-mails with Riikka.
"If this thing goes off, I'd rather go off with it"
Link to Full Article
By Alex Fryer, Seattle Times
For soldiers in Iraq, three letters translate into terror: IED, shorthand for improvised explosive device, the homemade bombs that have taken hundreds of American lives.
During an intense firefight in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, Staff Sgt. Wesley Holt faced this fear. Touched it. Straddled it, in fact.
The encounter took place on a section of blacktop leading to an apartment building occupied by U.S. forces called Camp Outpost Tampa.
On Dec. 29 last year, with their video cameras rolling, about 50 insurgents hit the outpost with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and the biggest suicide truck bomb ever seen by soldiers from the 1st Stryker Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, a Fort Lewis-based combat team.
The insurgents' goal, say Army unit commanders, was to overrun the position and videotape the celebration, airing the images across the Middle East as a symbol of U.S. defeat.
To keep reinforcements from the beleaguered fort, the enemy spread IEDs — artillery shells connected by detonation cord — across a major roadway.
Holt, 28, was told to clear the road by putting plastic explosives on each live round, by hand, under fire, and then blowing them up. [...]
Vote for Michael Yon Photo
You now have the opportunity to vote for Michael Yon's gripping photo from last May as Time Magazine's photo of the year. Visit his site for the details.
Reporting From Iraq
Fairbanks News-Miner reporter Margaret Friedenauer is embedded with 172nd Stryker Brigade in Iraq. Her blog can be found at this URL.
Birds Of Baghdad
Link to Blog Entry
By Michael Yon
His latest blog entry contains some references to soldiers of the 1-25 SBCT.
Bruce Willis comes out fighting for Iraq’s forgotten GI heroes
Link to Full Article
By Sarah Baxter, The Sunday Times, London
ANGERED by negative portrayals of the conflict in Iraq, Bruce Willis, the Hollywood star, is to make a pro-war film in which American soldiers will be depicted as brave fighters for freedom and democracy.
It will be based on the exploits of the heavily decorated members of Deuce Four, the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry, which has spent the past year battling insurgents in the northern Iraqi town of Mosul.
Willis attended Deuce Four’s homecoming ball this month in Seattle, Washington, where the soldiers are on leave, along with Stephen Eads, the producer of Armageddon and The Sixth Sense.
The 50-year-old actor said that he was in talks about a film of “these guys who do what they are asked to for very little money to defend and fight for what they consider to be freedom”.
Unlike many Hollywood stars Willis supports the war and recently offered a $1m (about £583,000) bounty for the capture of any of Al-Qaeda’s most wanted leaders such as Osama Bin Laden, Ayman Al-Zawahiri or Abu Musab al- Zarqawi, its commander in Iraq. Willis visited the war zone with his rock and blues band, the Accelerators, in 2003.
“I am baffled to understand why the things I saw happening in Iraq are not being reported,” he told MSNBC, the American news channel.
He is expected to base the film on the writings of the independent blogger Michael Yon, a former special forces green beret who was embedded with Deuce Four and sent regular dispatches about their heroics. [...]
Home for the Holiday
Link to Full Article
By REBECCA ADLER, The Daily Democrat
Brandon Huff making plans for his future
Wounded Army Sgt. Brandon Huff said he has nothing to be more thankful for this Thanksgiving than being home with his family.
"I'm grateful to be home," he said. "It's pretty simple, I know, but it's just nice to sleep in my own bed again."
Huff, 23, made his first trip home Saturday night after spending the past six months in physical therapy at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., recovering from losing his left leg in April after a roadside bomb exploded in Mosul, Iraq.
Huff said last April 20 he and his unit responded to a report of a car bomb in Mosul but when he got out of his vehicle to place cones around the area he saw an explosion from the corner of his eye. Someone had placed a bomb in a transformer box at the base of a light pole. [...]
Operation Steel Curtain concludes
CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, AR RAMADI, Iraq –Iraqi Army Soldiers and Marines, Soldiers and Sailors with Regimental Combat Team –2 wrapped up Operation Al Hajip Elfulathi (Steel Curtain) today near the Syrian border.
The 17-day offensive, which took place in the cities of Husaybah, Karabilah and Ubaydi, was part of the larger Operation Sayaid (Hunter) designed to prevent al Qaeda in Iraq-led terrorists from operating in the Euphrates River Valley and throughout al Anbar province. The operation made way for the establishment of a permanent Iraqi Army security presence in the al Qaim region and set the conditions for local citizens to vote in the upcoming Dec.15 elections.
Operation Steel Curtain ushered in the first large-scale operational employment of the Iraqi Army, approximately 1,000 Soldiers, in western al Anbar province. The Iraqi Soldiers conducted detailed clearing missions alongside Coalition counterparts and began establishing permanent bases within these three cities. Forces at these outposts will prevent the al Qaeda in Iraq-led terrorists from regaining a presence in these cities and threatening local residents with their murder and intimidation campaign.
Integration of locally recruited Iraqi Army Soldiers in al Anbar was introduced by the arrival of the Desert Protectors. The Desert Protectors were recruited from the al Qaim region and worked alongside the Iraqi Army and U.S. units throughout the course of the operation. Their familiarity with the area and its people was crucial in identifying friend from foe and enabled their Iraqi and Coalition partners to better understand the geographical complexities of the region.
Ten Marines were killed in fighting during Operation Steel Curtain. Since the operation began 139 terrorists were killed and 256 processed for detention.
The porous Iraq-Syria border was identified as a main route for men, material and money to be transited into Iraq. The western Euphrates River Valley region was known to be a major artery for al-Qaeda in Iraq terrorists. Iraqi Soldiers and U.S. forces moved in on Husaybah the morning of Nov. 5, followed shortly thereafter by Karabilah, Ubaydi and winding up clearing the Ramana region.
Iraqi Army Soldiers and U.S. forces will continue to maintain presence and increase efforts in securing the Iraq-Syria border.
A Vision of Iraq
The Associated Press has put together a very nice multimedia presentation regarding SGT Walt Gaya (previous entry) of the 1/25 SBCT. It features photos and audio content from Gaya, who suffered an eye injury while serving in Iraq.
The Punishers' Ball
Link to Blog Entry
By Michael Yon
After a hard year of fighting and nation-building in northern Iraq, the Deuce Four has finally and completely returned home to the United States, where they threw a party to mark the occasion. Distinguished guests flew in to attend what was officially called the Redeployment Ball. [...]
Family proud even as they cry
Link to Full Article
By MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
The Fisher brothers – Robert and Donald – spent much of the past year in Iraq with separate Army units from Fort Lewis.
They hoped their paths would cross over there, but they never quite managed it, and Robert returned home in late September.
Now Robert is on his way to meet his kid brother, but under circumstances their Army family hoped would never come to pass.
He’s going to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the waypoint for returning U.S. casualties, and he will escort Donald’s remains home to Parkland.
“It’s a hard thing I’ve asked him to do,” their father, Donald, said Tuesday, as he and his wife, Sheryl, made plans for their son’s burial at Tahoma National Cemetery.
Cpl. Donald Fisher, 21, was killed Friday when his convoy vehicle was involved in a collision in Kirkuk in northeast Iraq, according to a Pentagon news release.
Also killed was Pfc. Antonio Mendez Sanchez, 22, of Rincon, Puerto Rico. Both men were truck drivers with the 40th Transportation Company, a fuel-hauling unit from Fort Lewis.
The Army lists Fisher’s home of record as Avon, Mass., but family members said they’ve been in the Tacoma area for more than 20 years. [...]
Americans Among Us
Link to Blog Entry
By Michael Yon
I had yelled goodbye to Walt just before the mission, and some hours later when a bomb tore through the bottom of his Stryker vehicle, every man in it--including Walt--was wounded.
Lying in the hospital, still in Iraq, Walt Gaya was in the United States Army, but he was not an American. Not on paper, anyway: Walt was born in Argentina. He survived the blast, but his new wounds would preclude his flight from Mosul to Baghdad in time to participate in a swearing-in ceremony that would have been his official welcome as a new American. [...]
Returning veterans face new challenges
Link to Full Article
By Michael Gilbert, The News-Tribune
Fresh from a year in Iraq, Staff Sgt. Daniel Garcia and his fellow soldiers went to Boze Elementary School in Tacoma on Thursday to meet students who were their pen pals.
Garcia’s unit was among dozens of Fort Lewis troops that have fanned out all week to meet the more than 40 requests for soldiers to appear at Veterans Day events.
“It’s great. There’s definitely a lot of warmth,” said Garcia, 33.
“People around town, at restaurants, they’ll say thank you for everything. It feels really good to hear that.”
There’s a deeper level, though, than cheering kids, balloons and yellow ribbons. Veterans of the urban guerrilla war in Iraq have to cope with difficult things they saw and did in combat.
It’s hard to rejoin a family that’s been getting along for a year without them.
Guardsmen and reservists rejoin co-workers and bosses who have no idea what they’ve been through. [...]
Stryker brigade to split
Link to Full Article
BY CHRISTIAN HILL, THE OLYMPIAN
FORT LEWIS -- Soldiers with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, who returned last month from a yearlong deployment to Iraq are preparing for a move to Germany.
Between 1,000 and 1,500 brigade soldiers and their families would begin leaving next spring to form the nucleus of a new Stryker brigade forming in Vilseck, Germany, suggested Brig. Gen. Mark Hertling, operations officer for U.S. Army Europe.
The exact number isn't yet known, he said.
The brigade has about 4,000 soldiers.
About 200 soldiers and family members attended a meeting Wednesday night in which Hertling presented information and answered questions about the upcoming move. The first meeting was Tuesday night.
Germany is a great place to live, said Hertling, who told soldiers they'd find the same quality of housing, child care and medical care that they have here.
The session included a quirky two-minute promotional video produced by a Bavarian tourism agency, and one soldier won a certificate for a free weekend at a resort near Vilseck.
The purpose of the sessions was strictly to ease anxieties and let families know how military stationing in Germany has changed in recent years, Hertling said after the meeting.
More information is included regarding the remaining Stryker Brigades at Ft. Lewis.
War blog rings true for many
Link to Full Article
By Hal Bernton, Seattle Times
Back in February, one month into his stay in Iraq, writer Michael Yon almost ended his attempt to chronicle the war in an online blog. He lacked the backing of a newspaper, magazine or book publisher, and grew weary of the risks of life in a combat zone as he embedded with U.S. troops.
"I was ready to get out. I wasn't getting paid, and it was damn dangerous," Yon said. "Every day I was thinking 'Is this the day I might get killed or get my legs blown off?' "
Yon hung on, emerging as one of the best-read bloggers of the war (his site is michaelyon.blogspot.com), as he chronicled a tumultuous spring and summer in Mosul with the "Deuce Four," a battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment, part of the Fort Lewis-based 1st Brigade (Stryker), 25th Infantry Division.
Yon's words and photos offer a sometimes gut-wrenching view of the war and its toll on U.S. soldiers, insurgents and civilians.
The blog emerged as a powerful example of the platform that the Internet offers a lone writer, and Yon as a high-profile voice who believes the U.S. military in Mosul has made substantial progress in quelling in the insurgency.
Yon is part of a broader network of war bloggers that include U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians such as Riverbend, a young Iraqi woman. She posts an often bleak view of an occupation gone sour in her blog, Baghdad Burning, riverbendblog.blogspot.com.
Collectively, these blogs offer alternate portals through which readers around the world can gain insights into Iraq. Yon says his best-read dispatches have attracted more than 80,000 viewers. And last summer, after he started posting a solicitation for money to help pay for the dispatches, thousands of people responded; the smallest donation was $2; the largest, $2,000.
Last week, Yon was taking a brief break from Iraq, returning to the United States for the first time this year for a welcome-home ball in Tacoma for the Deuce Four. The formal event on Saturday drew hundreds of battalion members as well as actor Bruce Willis, who touts Yon's blog as the "real deal" in a post on his own Web site.
There's more...
Fort Lewis soldiers to be sworn in as U.S. citizens
By MELANTHIA MITCHELL, ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE -- As far as Nicaraguan immigrant Jean Zamora is concerned, the United States has always been his home. So after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he wanted to serve and fight for a country that, legally, was not his own.
Until now.
Zamora and at least 20 other Stryker Brigade soldiers are to be granted citizenship during a ceremony Thursday at the Army's Fort Lewis, 40 miles south of here.
Specialist Zamora is a gunner with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division - one of three Stryker Brigade Combat teams based at the post. The 4,000-member brigade began returning from Iraq in September after a year-long tour.
"This is a great way for soldiers, many of whom have already served with the U.S. Army in Iraq and elsewhere, to show they want to continue serving the United States in an even larger capacity by being a citizen," said Joseph Piek, a Fort Lewis spokesman.
Piek said Fort Lewis does not track how many non-citizens soldiers are based at the post, or how many are currently seeking citizenship.
Heroics on two other days earned Silver Stars for ‘Deuce Four’
Link to Full Article
Silver Star goes to Stryker soldiers tested in Iraq
MICHAEL GILBERT
Massive truck bomb had turned much of the Fort Lewis soldiers’ outpost to rubble. One of their own lay dying and many others wounded.
Some 50 al-Qaida fighters were attacking from several directions with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
It was obvious that the insurgents had come to drive the platoon of Stryker brigade troops out of Combat Outpost Tampa, a four-story concrete building overlooking a major highway through western Mosul, Iraq.
“It crossed my mind that that might be what they were going to try to do,” recalled Staff Sgt. Robert Bernsten, one of 40 soldiers at the outpost that day.
“But I wasn’t going to let that happen, and looking around I could tell nobody else in 2nd platoon was going to let that happen, either.”
He and 10 other soldiers from the same unit – the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment – would later be decorated for their valor on this day of reckoning, Dec. 29, 2004.
Three were awarded the Silver Star, the Army’s third-highest award for heroism in combat.
When you combine those medals with two other Silver Star recipients involved in different engagements, the battalion known as “Deuce Four” stands in elite company. [...]
The Stryker brigade infantry battalion known as “Deuce Four” had five Silver Star and 26 Bronze Star for valor recipients during its year in Iraq.
Silver Star
Maj. Mark Bieger
Staff Sgt. Wesley Holt
Staff Sgt. Shannon Kay
Sgt. Joseph Martin
Command Sgt. Maj. Robert Prosser
Bronze Star for valor
Staff Sgt. Richard Bernsten
Lt. John Bourque
Pfc. Joseph Bourne
Sgt. 1st Class Robert Bowman
Spc. Dennis Burke
Sgt. David Carlton
Sgt. Sebastian Chrzanowski
Spc. Henry Flanagan
Sgt. Roy Freeman
Spc. Mark Fuerbringer
Sgt. Nicholas Furfari
Sgt. 1st Class Mark Gallegos
Sgt. 1st Class Eugene Hicks
Sgt. Brandon Huff
Sgt. Christopher Manikowski
Sgt. 1st Class David McDaniel
Sgt. Ryan Mitchell
Sgt. Benjamin Morton*
Lt. Raub Nash
Spc. Jason Okon
Sgt. Adam Plumondore*
Staff Sgt. Joseph Robeson
Lt. Jeremy Rockwell
Pfc. Oscar Sanchez*
Spc. Steven Sosa
Staff Sgt. Ofa Tali
* Awarded posthumously
‘Die Hard’ actor makes a cameo at ball honoring Fort Lewis troops
Actor Bruce Willis attended a formal homecoming ball Saturday night for members of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center.
Willis praised the soldiers of “Deuce Four” and sat at the head table with Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, the battalion’s commander, and Col. Robert Brown, the departing commander of Fort Lewis’ second Stryker brigade.
“Regardless of your feelings about the war in Iraq, at the very least there are young men and women who are asked every day to make the ultimate sacrifice and are not getting the respect back home they deserve,” Willis said in a brief interview. “Until that changes, I intend to keep talking about it.”
Later, he pumped up the troops in an unscripted address. As the “Die Hard” star spoke, several soldiers and their wives creeped forward to take pictures with their cell phone cameras.
Veterans share military experiences with Argo students
Link to Full Article
By Jim Hook, Daily Southtown
The military came Friday to Argo Community High School in Summit.
They weren't recruiters hoping to persuade seniors uncertain of their futures to sign on the dotted line.
These were proud military veterans who spent time serving their country in wars from Korea to Iraq.
And they shared their experiences with Argo students as part of the school's 16th annual Veterans Day observance. [...]
Robert Metcalf, who recently returned from a 14-month deployment in Iraq as a member of the Army's 25th Infantry Division, said his unit experienced its first firefight two days into its tour.
Metcalf, of Frankfort, is both Airborne and Ranger qualified and currently training to be a Green Beret, and he said he enlisted in the military two days after Sept. 11, 2001.
"I felt it was my turn to serve and protect this country," he said. "These proud gentlemen took a turn, and I felt it was my turn."
Metcalf said the war in Iraq has taken its toll.
"We've lost a lot of good soldiers," he said. "We lost some 6,000 Americans in 35 minutes on Sept. 11.
"We're fighting the war on terror on their turf," Metcalf said. "In the last four years since 9-11 there have been no terrorist attacks here."
Argo students were moved by the veterans' experiences. [...]
Stryker brigade gains new leader in ceremony
Link to Full Article
The Olympian
A Stryker brigade that recently returned from Iraq has a new commander.
Col. John S. RisCassi assumed control of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, on Friday during a change of command ceremony at the post. He replaces Col. Robert Brown, who is being reassigned to U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii.
RisCassi joined the Army in 1984. His previous assignments include tours in Germany, Operation Desert Shield/ Desert Storm where he served as a company commander, and in the Pentagon as a Joint Chiefs of Staff intern.
At Fort Lewis, he commanded the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, during the transformation of the first Stryker brigade.
Hero hailed by men he saved
Link to Full Article
By ROGER W. HOSKINS, Modesto Bee
"We had an angel watching over us, and his name was Oscar."
That was the sentiment of the buddies Oscar Sanchez saved and of their families, who gathered about 500 strong at the Fort Lewis amphitheater in Washington state to honor their fallen comrade one more time last week.
Sanchez's cousins, Vincente and Martha Padilla of Modesto, and their three children were the guests of honor for welcome-home and medals ceremonies for members of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, just back from Iraq.
Sanchez's commanding officer, Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, cited the fallen soldier's bravery. He related how on Dec. 29, Sanchez had stood up from behind the protection of a barrier in order to fire his weapon at a suicide bomber bent on crashing an explosives-laden truck into the Army compound in Mosul, Iraq.
Sanchez kept firing and the bomber blew up virtually in front and below him. But the bomb was outside the barrier instead of inside the base. Fourteen soldiers were wounded. Sanchez died.
Padilla said one part of Kurilla's tribute always will be etched in her mind and heart.
"He said how 'Oscar chose to give his life to save his buddies knowing he had another choice' where he could have saved himself." [...]
Paying Respect to Those Who've Earned It
Link to Full Article
By Michael Yon
Bruce Willis is one of the finest and most successful actors in the world. Further introduction would be redundant. Mr. Willis has been to Iraq with his band and the USO, and has been following the events in Mosul through my dispatches. He has expressed his desire to support our troops to me on numerous occasions. One need only read his website to see how strongly he feels about this: www.brucewillis.com.
And so, Mr. Willis wanted to personally thank American soldiers for their successes and sacrifices in Iraq, and made plans to fly to the Fort Lewis area and thank soldiers who fought so well. Mr. Willis will attend the “Deuce Four” Ball near Fort Lewis, on November 5th, 2005. [...]
Vet who photographed Iraq loses some sight
Link to Full Article
ANTONIO CASTANEDA, Associated Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. - Army Sgt. Walt Gaya spent his time in Iraq peering - through the scope of his sniper rifle and through the lens of his camera, snapping black-and-white pictures of his unit and of life in the turbulent city of Mosul.
Becoming a professional photographer was his dream. Losing his sight was his nightmare, which he sometimes mentioned in long-distance phone calls to his wife, Jessica, in Washington.
Then on a routine patrol last July in Mosul, with his trusty Leica wedged among the gear in his backpack, a roadside bomb ripped open the hull of Gaya's Stryker combat vehicle, wounding all nine men inside.
Gaya felt his leg throbbing as he helped the others escape the 19-ton vehicle. Shrapnel had torn through the leg and shredded a knee ligament.
Then he felt a sharp pain in his left eye. His vision began to blur.
While attention has focused on the more than 2,000 American soldiers who have died in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in March 2003, another 16,000 have been wounded, nearly half so severely they didn't return to duty. Their injuries have altered their lives, in some cases leaving hopes and plans in tatters - or futures uncertain like Gaya's.
Evacuated back to a U.S. base in Germany and then to the United States, Gaya had to leave behind his camera, still tucked in a backpack inside the crippled vehicle on a Mosul street.
In the first moments after the explosion, Gaya was just grateful to be alive. He had survived an earlier roadside bombing with burns on his lower back and some hearing loss.
But then, with each painful blink as he helped set up a security perimeter around his disabled vehicle, his mind raced with fears that the blurred vision would never clear.
Gaya, 30, had pursued his passion for photography in Iraq not only to relax but also to help document life in a country in turmoil. [...]
Gaya says he won't let his injury define his life. On his lunch breaks at Fort Lewis, he uses a camera he bought from a pawn shop, venturing into the morning mist to snap shots of soldiers training.
His old Leica was retrieved from the blast site in Iraq, but he chuckles when he thinks of its battered condition. He still takes black and white shots, but now he sometimes uses color film to take pictures of his children.
Gaya's enlistment is up next spring, and he's busy compiling a portfolio of his photographic work. He hopes news agencies or magazines will look past the dark patch he wears over his left eye and hire him as a photographer.
"I feel like I'm going to have to work extra hard to demonstrate that it's not going to be a problem," he said. "I never even considered stopping. It's not me to just quit."
1/25 SBCT Homecoming Ceremony
We'll list all articles we find regarding yesterday's Homecoming Ceremony for the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (SBCT) at Ft. Lewis.
UPDATE: We fixed the link to the Seattle Times story.
Related Articles:
Stryker Brigade Combat Team Welcomed Home - KOMO News
Strykers take time to rest, reflect - The News Tribune
Flags fly as soldiers return home - The Seattle Times
Photo 1, Photo 2 - Frontline Photos
Present in spirit, if not in body
Link to Full Article
By Hal Bernton, Seattle Times
TACOMA — At the ball to welcome them back from Iraq, a circle of soldiers gathered around a short, slender woman in a long black dress bedecked with silver sparkles.
They reached out to touch her hand. They clasped her in bear hugs. They shared tears. And they all asked Sema Olson a question:
How is Bobby?
Cpl. Bobby Rosendahl, Olson's 24-year-old son, was grievously wounded last March in a bomb explosion in Talafar, Iraq. He has been at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., for eight months. Olson has been there, too, helping him survive the amputation of his leg and more than 30 operations.
Olson had hoped her son would join her for the brief trip to Washington to celebrate the fall return of the rest of the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, of the Strykers' 1st Brigade. There would be cocktails, a white-tablecloth dinner, then dancing in a huge hall at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center.
But Rosendahl, still largely confined to a wheelchair, had balked. So Olson flew here alone. She arrived for cocktails carrying a big framed picture of her son in uniform — before the bomb. She sat down for dinner and placed it by her side. [...]
Dispatches From Iraq
Even though his friend Matt has returned safely from Iraq, Dave has posted a Dispatch he's held in reserve. If you're interested he has links to previous Dispatches as well.
Little Rhma tickled pink after successful heart surgery
Link to Full Article
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
Little Rhma has a new color about her.
Pink.
Because of a congenital heart defect, the tiny 5-year-old Iraqi girl hasn't had that healthy glow that comes with well-oxygenated blood circulating through the body.
But on Monday, Rhma underwent heart surgery in Albuquerque that saved her life and put her in the pink.
"She no longer is the color of a blueberry!" exclaimed Debbie O�Rourke, president of the New Mexico chapter of Healing the Children, a nonprofit organization that played a role in a huge mission that started with a few motivated infantry soldiers and progressed to involving Healing the Children, U.S. Embassy staffs, Capitol Hill, and a hospital and surgeons who donated to the life-saving effort.
Rhma was born with two holes between the upper and lower chambers of her heart, and a ventricle that fails to properly circulate her blood.
Her lips had a bluish tint, and the tips of her hands and feet were swollen and turned purplish-blue, a symptom called "clubbing" caused by poor blood circulation, explained Dr. (Maj.) Dave Brown, surgeon for 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, who first examined Rhma in May.
If the problem is left untreated, her limbs might have been amputated, and the pressure imbalance eventually would have worn out her heart.
Brown and Capt. Paul Carron, Company C commander, were instrumental in making the right connections that got Rhma from Mosul to Baghdad, then to the U.S. Embassy in Jordan and on to the U.S. for treatment. Her last name is not being published because her family fears retaliation for accepting help from Americans. [...]
Thanks to Terry for the tip on this article.
Greenwich soldier earns Bronze Star
Link to Full Article
By Hoa Nguyen
On an April Sunday in Mosul, Iraq, a vehicle carrying a suicide bomber came racing toward Lt. Nate Raymond's platoon, exploding and injuring several soldiers inside an armored vehicle.
Raymond didn't hesitate.
"I organized a perimeter around the vehicle," said the 24-year-old Greenwich native.
The other Strykers surrounded the hit one, providing cover so the injured soldiers could be evacuated. His actions during that attack as well as other combat situations earned him a Bronze Star Medal, which will be awarded at a battalion ceremony later this month at his base in Fort Lewis, Wash.
A Bronze Star Medal, which is given for meritorious service in the face of an enemy of the United States, is not only a first for Raymond but a first for a Greenwich family with a long military tradition, including a grandfather who was a colonel and a great-grandfather who served as an Army dentist in World War I.
"It's the first one in the family," said Raymond's 52-year-old father, Richard, who served in the military reserves. "We're certainly very proud of him and pleased that he's been recognized and very glad that he's home safe."
Nate Raymond, who served as rifle platoon leader of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, returned to Fort Lewis on Sept. 26, after spending eight months in Mosul....
All party, no pity
Sgt. Brent Bretz, who was seriously injured in Mosul last year, makes the trip to Ft. Lewis to welcome his company home.
Link to Full Article
The Arizona Republic
PUYALLUP, Wash. - The boys of Charlie Company are finally home, and they want steak.
In a tiny apartment near Fort Lewis, Wash., they knock back bottles of Rolling Rock and Budweiser, fire up the patio grill and try to outdo each other with pickled one-liners.
These are the simple things you can't afford to do when you're fighting a war half a world away, where it's hotter than hell and you spend most days guessing if the people in the next village are going to greet you or shoot at you.
So on this Wednesday night, just days after getting back from Iraq, these 23- and 24-year-old Army sergeants eat and drink their long overdue fill.
The young sergeant in the wheelchair is Brent Bretz, who flew to Washington from his home in Mesa to see his guys. [...]
Twenty-three-year-old Bretz is cracking the bulk of the jokes tonight, sipping on Rolling Rocks and answering his cellphone, which seems to ring every five minutes.
This is Bretz's homecoming, too.
The last time his boys saw him was December.
Bretz was barely alive, clinging to life after a makeshift bomb blew up his truck and shattered most of his body on a road outside Mosul, Iraq.
The first one in his company of 160 to be seriously injured, Bretz lost most of both legs, shattered his left arm, ruptured his spleen, fractured his face and suffered severe burns.
"You hear about it, but it doesn't really set in until it happens to you or your family," confides Kryder, 23, who helped rush Bretz to the hospital after the explosion. "It makes you take a step back."
These guys are tight. When they were stationed at Fort Lewis, they would drive down to Portland most Wednesday nights to see some rock-and-roll band and almost miss work the next morning.
And when their infantry unit shipped out to Iraq last October, they watched each other's backs.
"It's beyond a friendship," Bretz says. "We're like brothers."
'The Brigade Made A Huge Difference In Northern Iraq'
Link to Full Article
By Keith Eldridge, KOMO News
FORT LEWIS - President Bush warns that al-Qaida is still plotting against America as he seeks to revive support for the war in Iraq. But what do the soldiers say? We had a chance to talk with the commander of the Stryker Brigade that just returned from Iraq.
For a year, the 4,000 soldiers from Fort Lewis have been battling the insurgents in Iraq. Today, the president says it's a fight that is nowhere near over: "We will never back down, never give in and never accept anything less than complete victory."
The Strykers are all back home here at Fort Lewis now and have had a chance to think about what they accomplished in Iraq. Their top commander says they left Iraq in much better shape than when they got there.
"This is a different type of war in a counter insurgency where sometimes it's not as clear what is accomplished," said Stryker brigade commander Col. Bob Brown. "But the brigade really did a fantastic job and in fact made a huge difference in Northern Iraq."
Col. Brown has been back only a few days. Iraq is fresh on his mind. "One of the things you can measure is 80 percent of al-Qaida in Northern Iraq were either captured or killed. That's not our term, this came from the al-Qaida leaders themselves."
The Stryker Brigade, known by its specialized vehicles, spent much of its time around Mosul.
"We captured the No. 2 al-Qaida leader in Iraq and the No. 1 in Northern Iraq and after he was captured, the next 7 guys to step up to take over were captured." [...]
The Battle For Mosul IV
Michael Yon has posted his latest dispatch, The Battle For Mosul IV, which, as always, is a must read. In his email he mentions that after a brief respite in the States he is on his way back to Iraq, presumably to cover the upcoming elections.
Fort Lewis revolving door keeps turning
Link to Full Article
By Michael Gilbert, News-Tribune
Nearly all the Stryker soldiers are home, but Fort Lewis still has some 3,000 soldiers either in Iraq or Afghanistan, or on their way soon.
The post has military police, medics and engineers spread across the Middle East and Central Asia. More engineers and support troops are bound for locations all over Iraq in the next few weeks.
Meantime, all but the last few flights of soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division have returned from their year in combat. About 200 more returned Tuesday morning, with another 130 or so due late Tuesday night.
“You remember this day for the rest of your life,” the brigade commander, Col. Robert Brown, observed as soldiers and family members reunited at Soldiers Fieldhouse.
Beaming parents stopped on their way out of the building to shake the colonel’s hand and thank him for bringing their loved one back home. Brown in turn thanked each of the parents. [...]
Outpost in the Sand
Link to Full Article
By CRAIG S. SMITH, The New York Times
RAWA, Iraq - A few miles outside this sleepy river town, marked in many places with black spray-painted scrawls hailing the network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, called Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, American troops are building a desert outpost of plywood huts protected by dirt-filled blast barriers and surrounded by a high berm.
American military commanders see this effort as a crucial step in their strategy of cutting off the supply of foreign fighters that has fed the insurgency and threatens to tip the country into civil war.
Attention has focused recently on the northern city of Tal Afar, another entry point for foreign fighters, where 8,500 American and Iraqi troops have been fighting insurgents since early September.
But the greater battle lies ahead, in the towns in the Euphrates River valley, where for nearly two years Mr. Zarqawi's fighters have had free rein, blowing up police stations and building a network of safe houses to stockpile weapons, make car bombs and move fighters into the country from Syria.
Foreigners who infiltrated Iraq through the network are believed to have carried out most of the suicide attacks in Baghdad and elsewhere that have become among the most visible and destabilizing tools of the insurgency.
Now, American and Iraqi forces are trying to change that by occupying towns like Rawa and installing Iraqi Army battalions to keep insurgents at bay. They engaged in heavy fighting with insurgents recently in Ramadi, a major city on the river, and they continued to carry out airstrikes and ground raids against insurgent safe houses along the Syrian border. But American military officials say the strategy, which residents say is killing civilians, is not enough. [...]
Rawa did not exactly send out the Welcome Wagon after the Stryker Brigade Combat Team from the Second Infantry Division arrived in late July. In little more than a month, the unit was hit by two dozen roadside bombs and eight suicide car bombs. It has been backed by two airstrikes; one on an armor-hardened safe house with a large weapons cache and another on a building booby-trapped with artillery shells.
I believe the author meant the 25th Infantry Division, not the 2nd ID.
Dispatches From Iraq
Dave has posted a new Dispatch From Iraq on his site from his friend Matt with the 1/25 SBCT.
Town bonds with brigade
Link to Full Article
By EIJIRO KAWADA; The News Tribune
It was around midnight, and Puyallup Mayor Kathy Turner was trying not to fall asleep as she sat with her husband, Gary, in the bleachers of a Fort Lewis gymnasium. [...]
In March 2000, Lt. Gen. James Hill, then-commander of I Corps and Fort Lewis, began Community Connections, a program designed to build closer ties and mutual understanding between Fort Lewis and its neighbors.
The program partners 15 colonels – commanders of units stationed on the post – with area municipalities.
In 2002, Lt. Gen. Edward Soriano, then-commander of Fort Lewis, told Brown to go to a meeting in Puyallup held by the Chamber of Eastern Pierce County.
Brown was puzzled.
“I thought, ‘What the heck am I doing at a Chamber of Commerce meeting when I’m trying to get my brigade ready for combat?’” Brown recalled.
But he was struck by the enthusiasm of Mayor Turner, who had never been around things military, as she sought to learn what a brigade of soldiers does.
Brown began attending community meetings and events. He came to the opening of the Puyallup Public library in 2002. He was the keynote speaker at the city’s Memorial Day event last year, shortly before his troops left for northern Iraq.
In turn, Brown invited Puyallup officials to an open house and other events at Fort Lewis. His soldiers volunteered, cleaning city cemeteries and taking retirement home residents to the Puyallup Fair.
When the Strykers deployed overseas a year ago, Puyallup beefed up its efforts to support them. [...]
State, Army tailor popular program to military women
Link to Full Article
By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER, News-Miner
Since Denise Goldstine's husband deployed with the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team to Iraq last month, she's had to take on extra roles. She's mother and father, student, caregiver, breadwinner and more. This weekend she decided to add another title to her name. She is becoming an outdoors woman.
Goldstine and about 50 other military spouses, active-duty soldiers and Department of Defense employees took part in the first All Military Becoming an Outdoors Woman Workshop held at Fort Wainwright.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and The Hunter Heritage Foundation of Alaska has been hosting the Becoming an Outdoors Woman Workshops for 10 years in the Interior. According to Fish and Game spokeswoman Cathie Harms, about two years ago several people began talking of bringing the workshop to Fort Wainwright specifically for the military community. [...]
600 teams to run Army Ten-Miler
Link to Full Article
Army News Service
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Sept. 28, 2005) – More than 20,000 runners and 600 teams from around the world are registered for the 21st annual Army Ten-Miler beginning at 8 a.m., Oct. 2 at the Pentagon. [...]
‘Ponch’ Avila inspiring Lewis team - While assigned to 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division operating near Mosul in Iraq less than a year ago, Sgt. 1st Class Gerardo Avila was hurt in an Improvised Explosive Device blast.
The vehicle’s driver lost both legs while Avila was injured in the face, eye, and has lost much of his hearing in one ear. Several operations are still pending, yet he has maintained his fitness and his training, inspiring a very fast men’s team from Fort Lewis, Wash., as its fastest runner.
Stuffing Irag's Ballot Boxes
With the referendum on Iraq's draft constitution coming next month, a 1/25 SBCT soldier recounts irregularities in the previous election process.
Link to Full Article
By Gareth Porter, Asia Times
WASHINGTON - If the referendum on Iraq's draft constitution next month is conducted fairly, it now appears very likely that the document will be defeated by a two-thirds majority in the three Sunni-dominated provinces of Anbar, Salahadeen and Nineveh, plunging Iraq into a new political crisis.
However, one way such a defeat could be averted is by massive vote fraud in the key province of Nineveh. According to an account provided by the US liaison with the local election commission, supported by physical evidence collected by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI), Kurdish officials in Nineveh province tried to carry out just such a ballot-stuffing scheme in last January's election. [...]
In the January election, the Kurds dealt with the problem of being a relatively small minority in the province by stuffing the ballot boxes, as recounted by Major Anthony Cruz, an US Army reserve civil affairs officer assigned to work with the province's electoral commission.
Cruz, now back in Los Angeles, provided a detailed account of the election in Nineveh to IPS in interviews.
The 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division ("Stryker Brigade") was responsible for getting ballot boxes and ballots to polling places on the Nineveh Plain in January's election. But it relied on battle-hardened Kurdish Pershmerga militiamen to maintain security in the towns and villages, and did not know its way around the area well enough to deliver ballot boxes there without Kurdish help, according to Cruz. [...]
This interesting tale continues.....
Operation Rhma: Final Mission
Link to Blog Entry
By Michael Yon
Much world travel has convinced me that the “average American” is a good person. But even a good person needs information in order to act effectively on their best impulses. Oftentimes, good things do not happen simply because information does not make it to the right people.
I believe this was the case for a sick little Iraqi girl named Rhma. American “Deuce Four” soldiers found Rhma one night in Mosul. She needed serious medical attention. Doctors, nurses and others back in America, along with the soldiers in Mosul, worked diligently on behalf of this child, and eventually they generated the support required to get Rhma the treatment she desperately needed. But it wasn’t just Americans: I also saw offers come in from the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, among others. [...]
Area soldier graces cover of TIME
Link to Full Article
By Patricia Wolff, of The Northwestern
POY SIPPI – U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Joseph Anderson stepped off a plane from Iraq Friday and saw his face on the cover of TIME Magazine.
“He just got off a plane in an airport in Maine and his buddy said, “Isn’t that you?’” said Laura Heeren, Anderson’s mother.
The picture shows an intense, though tired, Anderson on guard duty. The caption identifies him as a U.S. soldier with Alpha Company 3-21 Stryker Brigade searching for insurgents in Mosul, Iraq. Anderson, 22, did not know he would be pictured. [...]
Local soldier slowly heals from Iraq blast wounds
Link to Full Article
By SHAWBONG FOK, Democrat staff Writer
Sgt. Brandon Huff of Woodland, whose left leg was taken by a hidden explosive in Mosul, Iraq last April, is still being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
He has been receiving physical and occupational therapy five times week. The physical therapy has strengthened him to walk again while using a prosthetic leg. And the occupational therapy addresses his weaknesses incurred from a stroke he suffered as a result of blood clots. Doctors haven't yet figured out precisely when the blood clot happened.
So far, he has seen the support of many friends and family. Friends have flown in to Washington, D.C., where the hospital is based, to see him.
"That was the best emotional support he could have had," said Marcia Hammill, Brandon's mother, a speech therapist for the Yolo County Office of Education.
Donations have helped pay for housing and flying friends back to see Huff.
Huff has even gotten a dose of national media attention. The "Today Show" of NBC interviewed him last week during a hospital-based kayaking program he's participated in. The class helps soldiers for re-entry into the real world. The segment is scheduled to air in the near future.
Driving has also become a possibility.
For that, he has signed up to take a driving test again to reinstate his license.
BBN turns its focus to new technologies for use in wartime
Link to Full Article
By Robert Weisman, Boston Globe
CAMBRIDGE -- BBN Technologies built the forerunner of today's Internet, employed the @ sign to send the first e-mail, and even designed the acoustics for the UN General Assembly Hall in Manhattan. But the company didn't get rich off of any of those milestones. [...]
But military research still represents more than 80 percent of BBN's revenue, and most of the cutting-edge technologies coming out of its labs today, from distributed software to artificial intelligence, are focused on aiding the US armed forces fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
One research effort is dubbed Ambush, a multiplayer military training program for personal computers that simulates a convoy moving on a desert highway.
''Over the past five years, because of what's going on in the world, their technologies have become ever more relevant," said David Fialkow, the General Catalyst managing director who sits on the BBN board.
The software and artificial intelligence agents create a series of virtual scenarios (sniper fire, improvised explosive devices, car bombs, rocket-propelled grenades) requiring quick decision-making by troops in the convoy.
''It throws you into situations," said Bruce Roberts, scientist at BBN's distributed systems and logistics division. ''The goal is to make day one like day three, to make sure that when you go on a convoy you're up to speed with the environment and the skills you need."
The program, part of the computer-based training initiative funded by Darpa, was tested at the Pentagon's Joint Readiness Training Center in Louisiana as a supplement to physical training. It was fielded by the Army's 1st Stryker Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, which was deployed to Iraq from Fort Lewis, Wash. [...]
Homecoming Photos
One of the nice things we were able to do last year when the 3/2 SBCT redeployed was create an album in the gallery with various photos of the homecoming ceremonies. If you attend one of the 1/25 SBCT ceremonies and have pictures it would be great to share them with other family members that perhaps were not able to attend in person.
If you are already a gallery contributor you can simply create a new album on the main photo page and we will consolidate them in one album. If you have photos to share, but need an account, you can send an email to photos (at) strykernews (dot) com and we will forward instructions.
A joyful homecoming at Fort Lewis
Link to Full Article
By Alex Fryer, Seattle Times
Amid the handmade "Welcome Home!" signs, low-cut jeans and high expectations, there was Jamie Dillard in a white sweater and floral dress, waiting for her husband in a Fort Lewis gymnasium yesterday.
It had been a year since Spc. Charlie Dillard left for Iraq, along with about 3,800 others in the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. Thirty four weren't coming home, the victims of enemy fire, roadside bombings and other violence.
The Fort Lewis-based Strykers — so named for their eight-wheeled combat vehicle — saw some of the hottest action in Iraq, chasing insurgents while rebuilding schools, hospitals and bridges.
Now they are slowly filtering back.
Yesterday, 291 men, including Dillard's husband, reached the last leg of a journey that began in Mosul, Iraq. The troops were late arriving and the morning ceremony had been delayed, leaving families waiting for hours.
Dillard, 25, held her 2-year-old son, Charles Jr., dressed in khaki pants, a white dress shirt and blue sweater.
Her daughter, Katelyn, 6, trotted around, talking to friends as hundreds of families lined bleachers and sat on fold-out chairs.
Dillard preferred to stand.
Soldiers and families rejoin, rejoice at Fort Lewis
Link to Full Article (Updated w/ photos)
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Nearly 300 Stryker soldiers got a loud, joyous welcome home Friday afternoon at Fort Lewis as the first waves of troops from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division returned from their year in Iraq.
By late Friday – when two more flights were due – more than 1,000 of the Lancer Brigade’s 4,200 soldiers were expected to have made it home. The rest will arrive daily through next weekend.
More than 700 family members and friends crowded into Soldiers Fieldhouse for Friday’s midday return. Maj. Andy Allen, a staff officer-turned-emcee, did his best to whip up the excitement – not that anybody needed much help.
“I can’t sit down, I’m so excited,” said Liz Zamora of Tacoma, waiting for her husband, Sgt. Jorge Zamora. “I’ve been doing laps around the house. … It’s taking forever.”
Allen revved ’em up anyway.
“We’ve got 291 soldiers that spent a year in Iraq!” Allen said.
“Wheee!” screamed the crowd.
“Now, we’ve had some loud reunions, but this one has to be the loudest,” Allen said.
“Wheee!” screamed the crowd.
Allen quickly ran through the instructions. The troops will march in, they’ll stand in formation for a minute or two while a top Fort Lewis officer says a few words. Then they’ll be dismissed.
“That word – dismissed – is your key,” Allen said. “Do not trample the little children! Do not trample your soldier – they have made it this far! And if you do, we’ve got the media here, so you’re going to see it on the 10 o’clock news!”...
Strykers come home safe after year in Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Michael Gilbert, The News-Tribune
Nearly 300 Stryker soldiers got a loud, joyous welcome home Friday afternoon at Fort Lewis as the first waves of troops from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division return from their year in Iraq.
By late Friday – when two more flights were due, including one with the brigade's commander – more than 1,000 of the Lancer Brigade's 4,200 soldiers will have made it home. The rest will arrive daily through next weekend. [...]
Battle For Mosul III: Prelude
Link to Blog Entry
By Michael Yon
“Deuce Four,” is on its way home.
I attended their departure ceremony, presided over by the much respected Brigade Commander, Colonel Robert Brown. Purple Hearts were awarded to soldiers wounded in action. The commander of the Deuce Four, LTC Erik Kurilla, was not there to pin the medals on his soldiers; Kurilla was the last Deuce Four solider wounded in Iraq, and was recovering from three gunshot wounds. All told, the 1-24th infantry regiment earned over 157 Purple Hearts during their mission in Mosul. [...]
Schofield welcomes last unit from Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Audrey McAvoy, Associated Press
SCHOFIELD BARRACKS — The last unit of Schofield-based soldiers to return from Iraq flew home yesterday after spending the past year fixing trucks and escorting supply convoys in the Middle East.
Hundreds of family members and friends greeted 151 soldiers of the 536th Maintenance Company with loud cheers during a welcome ceremony at a Schofield Barracks gymnasium.
"I've been waiting for this moment. Too long, way too long," said Spc. Christina Mariscal, as she looked at her 21-month-old son and her husband.
Sent to Iraq last September, the company repaired trucks, radios and other communications equipment around the northern city of Mosul.
They were among the 4,000 soldiers with the 25th Infantry Division (Light) sent to Iraq since the start of the war in 2003. An additional 5,000 soldiers from the division were sent to Afghanistan. [...]
Forces Bolstered In Western Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Bradley Graham, Washington Post
BAGHDAD, Sept. 20 -- U.S. and Iraqi commanders have begun bolstering forces in western Iraq's Euphrates River valley, hoping to choke the flow of foreign fighters along what intelligence officers say has become the primary infiltration route from Syria toward Baghdad.
The buildup, called Operation Sayaid, is aimed at securing the border area around the restive town of Qaim and suppressing other insurgent activity in the villages that hug the winding banks of the Euphrates west of Baghdad.
In recent public remarks, Iraqi Defense Minister Sadoun Dulaimi signaled plans to step up military operations in the valley. Gen. George W. Casey, the senior U.S. commander in Iraq, said in an interview that his forces were intent on "restoring Iraqi control of its border by the end of November, before the December elections." Iraqis are expected to vote for a new parliament by Dec. 15, following a referendum Oct. 15 on the country's draft constitution. [...]
Unknown when new Stryker armor will be available
Link to Full Article
By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
ARLINGTON, Va. — New armor for the Army’s Stryker fighting vehicles is still being developed and it is not known when it will be made available, military officials said.
The equipment is “taking some time” in development, with the aim being to keep the weight down while maintaining effectiveness, said Col. Robert B. Brown, commander of the 1st Brigade 25th Infantry Division Stryker Brigade in Iraq.
The Army decided in 2003 that the Stryker should have “reactive armor,” a high-tech surface that explodes on impact deflecting the blast and the projectile.
Currently, “cage” armor, designed to protect Strykers from rocket propelled grenades, is effective but makes the vehicle as wide as an M1 tank, limiting its agility, Brown told Stars and Stripes on Sunday.
Strykers first saw combat in late 2003, in northern Iraq. Prior to deploying, the light-armored fighting vehicles were equipped with a cagelike “slat” armor designed to catch RPG rounds so they explode away from the vehicles. [...]
Stryker troops face big task
Link to Full Article
By MARGARET FRIEDENAUER, News-Miner
Col. Robert Brown gave some insight Wednesday into what the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team may face during the next 12 months of its deployment in Iraq.
Brown is the commander of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, which will return to Fort Lewis, Wash., after 11 months in Iraq. The 172nd is taking over operations and duties in northern Iraq from the 1/25th.
Brown spoke from Mosul via teleconference during a special Defense Department operational update briefing at the Pentagon on operations in northwest Iraq.
Brown said that during the last year, the 1/25th has fought from Fallujah, Baghdad and the Euphrates River valley, up the Tigris River valley, in Mosul and out to the Syrian borders.
U.S. Army Alaska said Friday that the 172nd is already operating in northern Iraq, primarily in the Mosul area. Four soldiers from the 172nd sustained minor injuries last week in skirmishes around Mosul and Rawah.
Brown's soldiers faced tumultuous times and suffered 33 fatalities. The brigade experienced both pre-election and post-election Iraq and weathered the changing tide of public opinion.
"Prior to the elections last January, we faced a very well-trained foreign fighter and some very intense battles. And what we've seen is a population that was on the fence at that time, to post-election, a population that has absolutely understood that their government, their Iraqi security forces support them and the terrorists offer no hope for the future," Brown said.
Dispatches From Iraq
Dave has posted a new Dispatch From Iraq on his site written by his friend with the 1/25 SBCT in Mosul. Previous Dispatches are linked to as well.
Grafenwöhr PX complex to be largest in Europe
Link to Full Article
By Ben Murray, Stars and Stripes
Workers at the Grafenwöhr, Germany, training area, home of Europe’s biggest Army base expansion, put spade to dirt Friday on a key element of the garrison’s building projects: a sprawling $38 million shopping center.
Set to include a large post exchange, expanded commissary, food court and auxiliary stores, the new mall will take about 1½ years to build before it is ready to service the area’s about-to-explode population.
“We’re really excited about having this thing under one roof,” said Matt Mennona, Army and Air Force Exchange Service general manager for the Grafenwöhr-Vilseck-Hohenfels area.
Currently, many of the major shopping and food centers are at Vilseck, former home of the recently departed 3rd Brigade Combat Team. The main PX there will close but some services (including an expanded furniture store) will remain as the area repopulates with a Stryker Brigade over the next several years. [...]
Stryker colonel says men made progress in Iraq
Link to Full Article
By MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
Down to his last days in Iraq before his troops return to Fort Lewis, Stryker brigade commander Col. Bob Brown gave a final interview Wednesday via teleconference from the Pentagon. Among his subjects:
Homecoming: Brown’s 4,200 troops from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division are due to begin arriving early next week, officials at Fort Lewis say. They’ve been in Iraq since October, operating mainly in and around the northern city of Mosul.
Who’s replacing them: The 172nd Infantry Brigade from Fort Wainwright, Alaska.
The insurgents: Early on, Brown’s men fought well-trained foreign fighters, but since February they’ve been capturing poorly trained teenagers from Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Algeria and elsewhere.
“We’re at the lowest number of attacks by far over the last three months. … Clearly, the foreign network is disrupted,” Brown said.
Many holdouts from Saddam Hussein’s old regime have been killed or captured or have decided to take part in the political process, he said. [...]
Related Article:
U.S. wages war of words in Iraq - AP
Operational Update Briefing on Operations in Northwest Iraq
Portions of the previous article were based on a recent press briefing from Iraq by Colonel Robert Brown, Commander of the 1/25 SBCT in Mosul.
UPDATE: There is video of his briefing available at The Pentagon Channel website as well.
MR. WHITMAN: I can hear you fine here in the Pentagon briefing room in the Pentagon. Thank you very much for joining this morning. We know that you're very busy, but we also know that you're about to come to the end of your tour in Iraq with your unit, and we appreciate the opportunity to get some perspectives from the commander that's been on the ground for some time now.
Colonel Brown joins us from Mosul. He is the commander of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. It is Stryker-equipped. It's a Stryker brigade. And as I said, they're in the process of wrapping up a yearlong deployment there in Iraq, where the unit's been assigned to the Multinational Forces-Northwest up in the Mosul area.
He's going to give you a brief overview of what they've been doing, and then we're going to take some questions. So with that, let me just turn it over to you, Colonel Brown.
COL. BROWN: Okay. Thank you very much for this opportunity.
The Stryker brigade has fought from Fallujah, Baghdad, Euphrates River Valley and then up in the Tigris River Valley and all the way up to Mosul in northern Iraq and out to the border out in Syria over the last year. We're very proud of the soldiers' performance. And two different situations that we faced in our time here -- pre-election and post-election. Prior to the elections last January, we faced a very well-trained foreign fighter and some very intense battles. And what we've seen is a population that was on the fence at that time, to post-election, a population that has absolutely understood that their government, their Iraqi security forces support them, and the terrorists offer no hope for the future.
One of the great pieces of information we got recently is 80 percent of the al Qaeda network in the north has been devastated. And those are not our figures, those came from the last six leaders in Mosul, al Qaeda leaders that we captured; they informed us of that. We also had a letter that was captured from Abu Zaid (sp) going to Zarqawi. We recently killed Zaid (sp) and we had that letter, and it also talked about the desperate situation for the al Qaeda and the insurgents in Mosul and in the north. And then also, sources we have inside the al Qaeda network up here have also informed us of that.
So we're very proud. We have a situation where the Iraq army is being rebuilt. The Iraqi police that ran away in November are standing and fighting. In fact, they recently found one of the largest caches certainly in the north, and maybe all of Iraq. And they're doing a very good job.
And then we have the population, I think is the most significant change I've seen over the last 11 months, from a population clearly on the fence, not sure -- they want freedom, but they weren't really sure what freedom was, and they were clearly intimidated, to a population that clearly understands they want freedom; they are absolutely sick and tired of the terrorists, the brutal acts against innocent civilians, and they want a brighter future for their children. And we've got a lot of statistics to back that up. Like when we first got here in October, there was -- no hotline existed. We opened a hotline; we got about 40 calls a month prior to January. The last six months, we're up to 400 calls a month. Every day the citizens are stopping us on the street telling us where a potential suspicious individual is who may be a terrorist, and telling us where they tried to plant IEDs and those type of devices. So the population is clearly very confident.
Also, I'm out -- I was out every day over the last 11 months on the ground, and great news about elections up here. You know, we went from last January we weren't sure if we could even have elections. Right now, 80 percent of the folks on the street in Mosul and Nineveh province in the north here say that they will vote. And very interesting -- these are -- many of the folks I talked to are Sunnis who are very upset that they were lied to last election, told not to vote, and they were very excited to vote this election. And I think the biggest challenge is going to be getting enough ballots to the polling sites because so many people want to vote up here.
Finally, the government has really improved their legitimacy. They've had significant economic recovery up here, excellent political participation in Nineveh province from a security council where no one would meet before the last elections to now we recently had a regional security conference with some-300 participants and 400 in the southern part of Nineveh province, so a lot of folks participating, very excited about the future.
So we're very proud of the year here, and our soldiers have worked hard. It has come at a very high cost. We've lost 33 soldiers in the brigade over the past year. Those fallen heroes paid a very big price for liberty, but I will tell you that we are very proud of all our soldiers and how hard they've worked and the great efforts of the whole team up here. And we see the Iraqi forces getting better and the situation improving on a daily basis in Mosul, and it's really the most normal I've seen Mosul since I've been here. The city of 2 million is really at the lowest level of attacks over the last year, and normalcy has come back to the city.
So thanks for this opportunity, and I'm willing to take any questions you have on anything and from my perspective that I can possibly answer for you.
Al Qaeda Declines in Northern Iraq, Military Officer Says
Link to Press Release
By Gerry J. Gilmore, American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 14, 2005 – Eighty percent of al Qaeda's network in northern Iraq "has been devastated" since January due to the capture or killing of key leaders and the outrage of Iraqi citizens, a U.S. troop commander told Pentagon reporters today.
Army Col. Robert B. Brown, commander of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division's Stryker Brigade Combat Team, reported from Mosul, Iraq, during a videoteleconference that things are looking up in northern Iraq, where "the Iraqi army is being rebuilt" and citizens clearly "want freedom."
The situation in Mosul is "improving on a daily basis," Brown said. "Normalcy has come back into the city."
That wasn't the case prior to the Iraqi elections held in January, Brown recalled, when his soldiers "faced a foreign fighter that was very well-trained." However, the situation has changed significantly since then, he said.
several events caused the decline of terrorist influence in Mosul over the past year by, Brown said. For one, Mosul's citizens, who'd had enough of the murder of innocent women and children by al Qaeda-sponsored terrorists, began supporting their new government after the elections.
Carnage wrought by foreign terrorists also has caused Iraqis who used to favor the return of the defunct Saddam Hussein regime to change sides and support the new Iraqi government, Brown said.
Today, Mosul's citizens routinely identify insurgents and provide other information to U.S., coalition and Iraqi security forces, Brown said.
Battle for Mosul: Progress Report
Michael Yon has updated his blog and has changed the format of his entries. It is worth the time to read the latest entry and look around the new site.
Al-Qaeda 'link to 7/7' found in Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Antony Barnett and Mark Townsend, The Observer
British intelligence officials in Iraq are questioning an al-Qaeda operative after information relating to the 7 July London bombings was allegedly found on his computer drive.
The man, who has not been named, was captured by US forces last month. He is understood to have had a portable computer drive on him that showed 'knowledge' of the attacks that killed 56 people.
Colonel Robert Brown, commander of 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, in Mosul told a reporter in Iraq working for the news agency UPI about the arrest, but refused to discuss the specific nature of the information.
However, a spokesman for US forces in Iraq confirmed that the information on the drive 'related to the London bombings and showed knowledge'. Lieutenant-Colonel Steven Boylan confirmed that both British and US intelligence are questioning the individual. Boylan said he was not yet in a position to confirm if the information on the computer amounted to plans of the intended attack drawn up prior to the bombing.
If it does emerge that the al-Qaeda operative in Iraq had detailed plans of the Tube bombings, it could provide an important breakthrough in the investigation and provide more evidence of a direct link between the attacks and al-Qaeda in Iraq. [...]
Thousands march to support military families
Link to Full Article
By Heather Woodward, The Olympian
LACEY — It’s nearing the end of a long year for Misty Robinson, whose husband has been deployed to Iraq since last September as part of a Fort Lewis-based Stryker Brigade.
He’ll be coming home in a few weeks, making today's Military Family Support March an emotional but festive occasion.
“I’ve got a lot of joy in my heart today,” said Robinson, who carried a sign above her head during the march that read, “I love my soldier.”
“I know my husband is coming home so we can be a family again. So this means a lot to us, to all the wives in general. The support for our husbands touches our hearts.”
This is the third year for the Hawks Prairie Rotary Military Family Support March, which was sponsored in part by The Olympian.
The event raised at least $50,000 this year, up from $37,000 in 2004.
“This is by far the most successful march ever,” said Andrew Oczkewicz, Hawks Prairie Rotary director of community service. “No question about it.”
Donations go to help military families for things such as support groups, military scholarships and the Fort Lewis Food Bank. [...]
Security forces wrap up more terrorists and weapons caches
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (September 10, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 44 suspected terrorists and seized weapons caches Friday and today.
Iraqi Police along with Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment seized a rocket launcher during a raid in Mosul Friday.
Iraqi Police Commandos along with Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained 24 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in Tal Afar. The unit also seized a mortar system with multiple rounds of ammunition. Iraqi Police detained 15 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in Tal Afar. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment seized a cache consisting of hundreds of rounds of ammunition in Tal Afar. Soldiers from 2/3 ACR detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in Tal Afar today. Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in Tal Afar Friday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
TF Automatic Articles
Provided below are a number of articles written by 1LT Dana Scott highlighting recent operations by the 2-8 FA, 1/25 SBCT.
Headlines:
Iraqi Army Preserves Security of Ninewah Province, MNF-NW DCG Meets with Local Leaders from the Tigris River Valley, Local Leaders from Al Hadr Meet to Discuss Issues in their Village, Medical Clinic Treats 30 Iraqis, NCO Academy Completes Room Clearing Phase, Civil Affairs Team Continues CMOC Opportunities for Iraqis, Qayarrah Begins Construction of Medical Clinic
Full Articles:
Iraqi Army Preserves Security of Ninewah Province
NINEWAH PROVINCE, Iraq – On September 8, Lieutenant Colonel Ra’ad Naif Haroosh, 2/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion Commander, and his personal security detachment traveled to Baghad for the MNSTC-I Commander, Lieutenant General Petraeus’, change of command ceremony. While in the nation’s capital, he captured a battalion high value individual, demonstrating an unusual degree of alertness and ingenuity.
Mid-afternoon, Ra’ad’s soldiers observed a man who resembled a high value individual Essa Abas Khalif, active in Task Force (TF) Automatic’s area of responsibility as well as in Mosul, in an Asi Hiah district copy store. Ra’ad approached the man and asked him to identify himself. The man replied with a false name, but Ra’ad seized the original document that the man had been photocopying.
The paper revealed the individual’s real name and he then confessed to being Essa Abas Khalif. Essa is wanted for financing terrorist activities and conducting a rocket attack against Q-West Base Complex in 2003. Upon arrival at Q-West Base Complex yesterday, Essa identified himself in a picture shown to him by the battalion intelligence officer.
TF Automatic recently received intelligence that Essa resurfaced in the Qayarra area. TF Automatic conducted an Automatic and Lancer operation in August with 1/3rd IA Battalion, but was unable to detain the suspected terrorist.
The 3rd (IA) Brigade has proven its ability to maintain a secure Tigris River Valley time and time again.
The three IA battalions – led by Brigadier General Ali Atala Malow, Ra’ad, and Lieutenant Colonel Hogar Salahaddin Abdul – have conducted operations leading to the capture or neutralization of numerous high value individuals, the discovery of a vehicle-borne IED factory and countless AIF weapons caches.
The IA’s 28 permanent traffic control points along main supply route Tampa, alternate supply route Atlanta and other routes heavily used by Coalition forces have reduced the incidence of IED attacks down to virtually zero.
Partnered with Coalition forces, the IA has provided a safe environment for the successful outcome of the January 2005 elections.
Ali, 1/3rd IA Battalion Commander, has assisted with hosting seven successful Ninewah Province Regional Security Council meetings, whose attendance has grown to over 500 local government, tribal, and religious leaders.
The IA battalions had conducted joint operations with coalition forces long before the establishment of the 3rd IA Brigade headquarters on Q-West Base Complex, setting the conditions for the brigade to make an immediate and lasting impact in the Ninewah Province.
MNF-NW DCG Meets with Local Leaders from the Tigris River Valley
QAYARRAH, Iraq – “The religious, tribal and local leaders of Qayarrah set the standard in demonstrating unity and friendship between Iraqi citizens and Coalition forces,” said Brigadier General Kevin Bergner, Multi-National Division – Iraq – Northwest (MND-I-NW) Deputy Commanding General, at yesterday’s confab in Qayarrah.
After receiving a transfer of authority brief from Task Force (TF) Automatic and TF Thunder on Q-West Base Complex, Bergner traveled to the residence of Brigadier General Ali Atala Malowh, 2/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion Commander, for lunch.
In concurrence with MNF-I and TF Freedom Commanders, General George Casey and Brigadier General David Rodriguez, Bergner noted that the sheiks, mukhtars and imams of Qayarrah have set the example for all other Iraqi leaders by working with Coalition forces and Iraqi Security forces to build a safer, more prosperous Iraq.
Bergner also spoke to local religious leaders about the upcoming Ramadan. The imams vowed to encourage their fellowship to observe and celebrate Ramadan in a peaceful manner.
One of the leading sheiks of the area, Sheik Abdul Razaq from Al Hawd, raised some issues concerning his village. Too many large logistics convoys on the roads, not enough water flowing into the village and a recent death of sheik in Mosul yesterday were a few of his concerns.
TF Automatic Commander Lieutenant Colonel Bradley Becker expressed the same frustrations traveling behind the convoys. He assured that the number of Coalition vehicles would minimize in coming months as the IA establishes a self-sustaining force. Water will be provided to the villages as frequently as possible. Becker emphasized there are 27 projects ready to start as soon as TF Thunder completes their requirements to draw money, which is September 8.
Becker expressed the need for Iraqis to assist in building their economy. He explained to the leaders about USAID, in which enterprising individuals can have up to $20,000 matched to start up a business.
The funeral for the sheik killed in Mosul will be held for the next three days. Becker and TF Automatic will pay a visit to the family of the deceased.
On behalf of the town of Qayarrah and surrounding villages, Ali presented parting gifts to Bergner and Becker. The gifts signify the unity and friendship developed over the past year. While Iraqi Army and Tigris River Valley leaders expressed sorrow at the impending departure of TF Automatic, they were eager to support TF Thunder and its mission of helping Iraqis build hope and democracy.
Local Leaders from Al Hadr Meet to Discuss Issues in their Village
HATRA HOTEL, Iraq – The weekly Al Hadr City Council meeting took place on September 5 at the Hatra Hotel. Local Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and Task Force (TF) Automatic leaders covered several issues during the meeting, including election sites, electricity and civil affairs projects.
The meeting lasted just over an hour. Over 20 local sheiks, mukhtars and civic leaders attended as well as Iraqi military and police personnel.
Lt. Col. Ra’ad Naif Haroosh, 2/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion Commander, opened the meeting, welcoming everyone who had come. Ra’ad then directed the audience’s attention to Captain Matt Yost, C/2-8 Field Artillery Commander.
Yost outlined the many shared successes that 2/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) and TF Automatic have had, working with the local leaders over the past several weeks. After discussing some on going projects in the Al Hadr district, Yost then opened the floor to questions.
The first few questions pertained to improving the electricity supply in Al Hadr. The remaining issues were on on going civil affair projects.
Al Hadr citizens have been concentrating on finding 20 artesian wells and completing the village’s water tank. School repairs and a new computer center are also some of the local leaders’ main concerns
Yost and his battery continue to work with the IA, the local police stations and key leaders of Al Hadr, Tal Abtah and surrounding villages to improve the region’s security, economy and living conditions.
Medical Clinic Treats 30 Iraqis
ALIBAH, Iraq – Task Force (TF) Automatic and TF Thunder medics conducted a medical screening visit in Alibah, a village located 20 kilometers southeast of Q-West Base Complex, with A/2-8 Field Artillery on September 6.
The visit lasted over two hours and over 30 men, women and children were treated.
“We brought eight medics to treat the local Iraqis,” said senior medic Staff Sergeant Chuck Lahnam. “Three were from TF Automatic and five were from TF Thunder,” continued Lahnam.
The medics treated most of the patients for upper respiratory problems. The staff provided medicine and inhalers to the young boys and their families. TF Automatic and TF Thunder soldiers also provided stuffed animals and candy to the kids.
“This was the first medical visit we conducted with the incoming task force. Hopefully, the medical staff replacing us will conduct such visits as frequently as we were able to this past year,” said Lahnam.
TF Automatic has conducted medical screening visits to local villages about four to five times a month. These visits not only provide necessary medical attention to local Iraqis, but they also strengthen the bond between Coalition forces and local Iraqis.
NCO Academy Completes Room Clearing Phase
Q-WEST BASE COMPLEX, Iraq – On September 4, the Task Force (TF) Automatic Non-commissioned Officer (NCO) Academy completed the room clearing phase of the academy, which is led by TF Automatic Command Sergeant Major Martinez and Master Sergeant House on Q-West Base Complex (QBC).
“Forty-four soldiers from 3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Brigade began the course on August 20,” said NCO Academy instructor Staff Sergeant Pratcher. “The room clearing phase of the course is two days long.”
Following morning prayer and physical training, the soldiers studied tape drills on room clearing in a classroom setting. TF Automatic instructor, Staff Sergeant Alvarez and IA instructor Sergeant First Class Hamed talked through the tactics, techniques and procedures demonstrated in the videotapes.
The soldiers broke for lunch before beginning Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT) training. TF instructor Sergeant Phillips and IA instructor Sergeant First Class Alaa led phase one, titled Shoot House.
TF instructor Sergeant Ortega and IA instructor Sergeant First Class Neshwan led phase two, titled Target House.
“The soldiers performed very well today,” said Pratcher. “We completed the training and finished the day with weapons cleaning and maintenance.”
Tomorrow, the soldiers will begin classroom sessions on Roles of the Military and Government in a Democratic Society, as well as WARNO/OPORD and Troop Leading Procedures.
Training begins at 0800 hours and ends no earlier than 1600 hours seven days a week for sergeants and staff sergeants at the NCO Academy. Recent training events include the obstacle course and first aid. MOUT training was the major event of the NCO Academy. The soldiers will graduate from the course on September 12.
Civil Affairs Team Continues CMOC Opportunities for Iraqis
Q-WEST BASE COMPLEX, Iraq – “…97, 98, 99…” the day begins at 0830 hours with the paying agent of the team, Sergeant Daniel Otero, counting and recounting the ½ million dollars about to be paid to Iraqi project contractors later that morning.
By 0900 hours, Task Force (TF) Automatic’s four-man civil affairs (CA) team, including Otero, Sergeant First Class Ray Coggins and interpreters Tawfeek and Mohammad, drive their two HMMWVs through the gate of the Civil Military Operations Center (CMOC). Already, there are more than 30 Iraqi citizens waiting at the door for the team to open the CMOC for business.
The team has been operating the CMOC for TF Automatic, opening its doors every Monday and Thursday for the past year. Earlier this summer, the team, led by Major Robert Reiner, handed its civil affairs duties over to the new team team, led by Major Andy Ingalsbe.
While Coggins and Otero man the CMOC for the day, another team member Staff Sergeant Fabrice Dussud and Reiner are filling other demanding civil affairs duties. The team members are either in their office on Q-West Base Complex (QBC) or accompanying TF Automatic units on missions off QBC that require their civil affairs expertise.
Setting up the CMOC for a full day of dealing with customers requires the same routine almost every time. Tawfeek gets the generator going, so the team has electricity for the lights, refrigerator and fans. In the group of Iraqis is the “Chai Guy.” For a $5 tip on some days, and nothing but thanks on most days, the Chai Guy provides continuous servings of chai tea for the team throughout the morning. Americans may not be inclined to drink boiling hot tea in 120-degree weather, but for Iraqis, chai is a staple.
The CMOC provides local Iraqis with the opportunity to improve their economy. Locals come to the CMOC to submit project proposals for their villages, enter bids on approved projects, hire contractors to assist with the funded projects and draw funding from Coalition forces to pay for the ongoing projects’ labor and material costs. The typical project array includes: road improvement, water supply, electricity, and building or renovation of schools, medical clinics and police stations.
One thing the CMOC is not intended for is a place to hire help. “If anyone is here looking for a job, you must leave,” announced Coggins. In order to encourage locals to use the services provided by local municipalities, CA team members tell such interlopers to go see their local leaders.
Vastly outnumbered and 50 meters outside QBC’s front gate, one would assume security might be a constant concern. However, these Iraqis represent a growing population that wants to make Iraq a better place. These men have high hopes that their villages will receive project assistance and find work for their young men. Furthermore, Iraqi Army soldiers from 1/3rd Battalion man a traffic control point 2 miles from the front gate.
Although the men pose minimal threat, their words cannot always be trusted. Other than coming to the CMOC for projects, locals come to request their brothers, fathers and uncles be released from the QBC detention facility. No matter how many sworn statements such visitors are willing to write, claiming the innocence of their relatives, detainees will stay confined if Coalition forces have reasonable proof of guilt. “I like seeing people leave the CMOC happy, but that can’t happen all the time,” said Otero.
Another case of a local Iraqi attempting to take advantage of Coalition forces involved a woman shot in the leg. The woman’s husband came to the CMOC and claimed that Coalition forces were responsible for the gunshot wound. Monetary compensation would be paid to the family if Coalition forces were liable. However, after TF Automatic medics tended to the injured woman, it was apparent she was shot by an AK-47.
“People come to the CMOC for all kinds of requests,” said Dussud. “The main reason is because the CMOC is off QBC and accessible to the locals.”
One of the first individuals to come into the CMOC requested that electricity be supplied to his village. “For two years we have had no transformers and no circuit breakers, only wires and poles,” said the local.
The minister of electricity is pretty good about making himself available to the CA team at the CMOC. “There must be a minimum number of houses in a village for the Iraqi government to provide electricity,” he explained to the team as well as the local Iraqi. “Four houses, and the government will provide electricity, but the people of the village must pay. Twenty houses, and the government will pay for it. Priority will go to the least expensive project.”
The CMOC and TF Automatic’s CA team provide Iraqi locals the opportunity to become increasingly self-reliant. The CMOC is also a medium through which the TF gauges the needs of those that live in Ninewah Province.
The CMOC and CA team will continue to play an important role as Iraqis rebuild their country and their future. From offering potential projects for their villages, submitting bids on the projects, hiring contractors to build the projects and drawing funding from Coalition forces to pay for the project’s labor and materials, the CMOC is there for the Iraqis.
Qayarrah Begins Construction of Medical Clinic
QAYARRAH, Iraq – On September 1 Task Force (TF) Automatic and representatives of the civilian construction firm IAP joined local leaders of Qayarrah and 1/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion Commander Brigadier General Ali Atala Mallowh yesterday for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Qayarrah Freindship Medical Clinic.
Each year IAP donates a school or medical clinic to a village from a worldwide pool. Last June, PetroLand, a Turkish sub contractor of IAP, accompanied TF Automatic to assess needs of the villages in Ninewah Province. PetroLand successfully lobbied for Qayarrah to receive this year’s donated project.
IAP representative Danny Terrell, upon revisiting the site of the new medical clinic, said, “The most beneficial aspect of this project is we hire local skilled and manual laborers, local engineers, architects and carpenters, as well as local suppliers.”
Once complete, the medical clinic will stand at 6,400 square feet, one of the largest in the region. More importantly, the clinic will provide valuable medical services to hundreds of local citizens who would otherwise seek help from a distant care provider.
Elimination of terrorists steady in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (September 8, 2005) –Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed seven terrorists and detained another seven Wednesday and today.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in Tal Afar. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment killed four terrorists who they observed with weapons on a building preparing an ambush in Tal Afar Wednesday. Soldiers from 2/3 ACR killed three more terrorists after receiving small arms fire in Tal Afar today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in Mosul Wednesday.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
At last, a U.S. counterinsurgency strategy
Link to Full Article
By PAM HESS, UPI
QAYYARAH, Iraq, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- When Lt. Col. Bradley Becker stepped forward, it was to offer a valedictory message to a room full of Sunni and Kurdish shieks and imams gathered at Forward Operating Base Key West for a regional security meeting.
It was, in some strange way, very much like a graduation.
Becker's 2nd Battalion of the 8th Field Artillery Regiment has been in Quayyarah in northwestern Iraq for 11 months and they are preparing to hand over to a new unit from Alaska.
"I was new to this area and I thought I had come to rebuild the infrastructure and rebuild your villages," he said from the podium, an interpreter at his side. "I found myself in a fight with a very determined enemy."
In November, just a month after arriving in Iraq, Becker, along with battalion commanders across the northwest, found his troops defending against an insurgent attack that was stunning for its organization and breadth.
In two days, insurgents conducted nearly simultaneous attacks on 44 Iraqi police and army posts. Almost all of them folded, many of them with a single shot being fired.
The Iraqi police went from about 7,000 members down to 300 in two days.
The Iraqi army disintegration across the region was nearly as dramatic.
"I only had seven platoons. I thought, I can't cover this," Becker recalls.
He had a little unexpected help.
One former Ba'ath party official, a man known as Shiek Rahd, climbed to the top of his local police station and with some neighbors manned guns and drove off attackers.
Rahd is now a highly respected Iraqi army battalion commander, and an early target of insurgents. They blew his car up; he lived. A rocket-propelled grenade meant for him tore his driver's leg off; he lived.
"He's the second baddest man in Iraq," smiles Becker. "I have to remind him I'm still here."
Becker is teasing the mustachioed Sunni Shiek, but his jest holds a nugget of truth. While American battalion commanders will argue this is a war fought by platoons and sergeants, it is in fact one that hinges on battalion commanders. [...]
Becker's meeting with the shieks last week is the tenth he's had in his 11 months here. He called the first meeting for those in securing stability for Quayyarah in November 2004, a couple of weeks after the Iraqi security forces disintegrated.
Seven shieks showed up.
Today, the meeting on the base has attracted more than 200.
"We haven't had a rocket attack in more than eight months," he said.
As of this week, his battalion has not had a single soldier killed-in-action, although there have been several close calls. Some of that record he attributes to luck, but most to the patient application of a counter-insurgent strategy that emphasizes personal relationships and mutual benefits.
"There were hundreds of terrorists on my black list when I got here and I only have three left (not captured or killed)," Becker says proudly. "Of the 400 I caught, 93 percent went out to Abu Ghraib (the prison that holds the most serious offenders). That very high accuracy comes from working with shieks."
After a traditional Iraqi lunch -- legs of lamb and whole chickens with rice -- the shieks and mayors alternately made last-minute requests and complaints to Becker and took pictures with him.
"I will keep a beautiful picture of you in my head," says one shiek.
"All of us are really sad you are going home. We know you have a family waiting for you, but we are all sad because we are losing a great friend," says another, a deeply religious Sunni man with the unkempt beard that marks him so. "I invite you to my house for dinner."
"I will be honored to go," says Becker.
Relentless security forces continue to battle terror in Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (September 7, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained eight more suspected terrorists and seized weapons caches today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in Mosul today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache consisting of rocket propelled grenades, an anti-tank hand grenade, ammunition, a machine gun, rocket propelled grenade sights, rifle grenades, a block of TNT, and improvised explosive device making material. An Explosive Ordinance Disposal team reduced the cache without incident. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity in Tal Afar today. Soldiers from 2/3 ACR also seized a cache of ammunition. The suspect is in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
ISF and CF continue to whittle away at terror
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (September 7, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained three suspected terrorists and seized weapons caches Tuesday and today.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in northern Mosul today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache of mortars in eastern Mosul Tuesday. An Explosive Ordinance Disposal team reduced the cache without incident.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavlary Regiment seized a weapons cache consisting of rocket propelled grenades and mortar rounds in Tal Afar Tuesday. EOD reduced the cache without incident.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
US fights in northern Iraq as charter readied
SBCT Operations in Rawah
Link to Full Article
By Maher al-Thanoon, Reuters
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - The northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar was on edge on Tuesday after at least seven civilians were killed during an operation by Iraqi and U.S. troops against insurgents there.
In Baghdad, a parliamentary panel drafting a new constitution said last-minute efforts to fine-tune the text to overcome objections from minority Sunni Arabs had failed.
Five million copies of the new document will go into print starting on Thursday, in time for a referendum due by October 15.
At least seven civilians have been killed and 13 wounded in violence in Tal Afar, a hospital source told Reuters, and the U.S. military said one U.S. soldier had died when his vehicle was struck by a bomb there on Monday.
Iraqi police and troops backed by U.S. forces launched the operation some days ago in Tal Afar, which they say is a conduit for foreign fighters slipping into the country. [...]
Marin man takes talk show to Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Dave Albee
After returning from his visit to Iraq last week, Ron Barr was safe and sound but not sedentary back home in Strawberry. He was limping noticeably around the kitchen. His right ankle was badly swollen and in a splint and he was in plenty of discomfort.
A war wound? Not exactly.
Barr, longtime Marin County resident and host and founder of the national Sports Byline USA radio program, broke his right ankle when he stepped off an 18-inch ledge on the deck of Saddam Hussein's private pool in a palace in Mosul after enjoying a leisurely swim on a 125-degree afternoon.
The freak accident happened 90 minutes before the 60-year-old Barr was to broadcast the first of three days of sports talk radio shows from Forward Operating Base Courage in the war-torn country.
"I heard it snap," Barr said.
He heard lots of other terrible things in Iraq as well as he listened to stories that made a broken ankle pale in comparison.
Barr listened to stories about how Saddam had the right hands of his enemies cut off, forcing them to use their left hand, which in Islam is associated with the "dwellers of hell." Barr was was told how insurgents shot a six-year-old Iraqi boy in the chest simply for accepting a chocolate bar from an American soldier.
Barr learned that when U.S. troops stormed Saddam's palace in Mosul they found bodies floating in the the swimming pool Barr had used. Officials believe one of Saddam's sons, in a fit of rage, unloaded his gun on his own people. [...]
Michael Yon Q&A
Embedded freelance journalist Michael Yon was kind enough to particpiate in a question and answer session via email from Mosul. Provided below is the full transcript of our conversation. These questions were submitted prior to the publication of his recent dispatch, Gates of Fire.
We would like to thank Michael for taking time out of his busy schedule to respond. If you would like to support his efforts you can sponsor his dispatches by making a donation via PayPal.
SBN: As a freelance journalist, what was your primary motivation for visiting Iraq?
MY: I wanted to know the truth and felt like I was not getting it from the news.
SBN: You have traveled extensively throughout the country, but seem to have found a home with Deuce Four in Mosul. Can you explain why?
MY: Yes: Mosul is critical to the success in Iraq, and our forces were fighting some of the most serious battles here. I wanted to see how our forces were doing, and I wanted to see what was happening on the big picture. Were we winning, or losing? I can answer all of these questions now. Our forces are well equipped and morale is high, and definitely are winning in Mosul. When the Iraqi government is sufficiently empowered, the Iraqi people will once again be able to take control of their lives, and we can go home.
SBN: What has been your best day?
MY: That day has not come yet. But it will be the day when I know that we can start pulling out troops because the Iraqis are taking control of their own lives. I have not had any great days in Iraq, except for perhaps Election day in January. Actually, that was an incredible day. I was astonished at the turn out. That was my only fabulous day here. The rest of the days, I wish I were somewhere else. But this is important and we need to see this through.
SBN: What has been your worst day?
MY: The days that I have seen Iraqi children killed have been the worst. Those days bother me more than when I see our own soldiers killed, and those are themselves horrible days. Seeing American soldiers killed or grievously wounded, I just try to put that out of my mind. Children screaming from burns caused by terrorists is most distressing.
SBN: In your experience, what is the disposition of the majority of Iraqis towards Americans?
MY: This depends on the part of the country. In some areas, the put up with us as a temporary inconvenience, but they are happy the Coalition uprooted the old government. In other places, they will kill us if given the chance. But in yet other places, Americans are treated as honored guests, almost as royalty. Such as in the Kurdish areas. It's hard to eat a meal in a restaurant there without a Kurdish man paying the tab. Taxi drivers often refuse to take money. They just say, "Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. No money please. Bye Bye!" So grateful!
SBN: Are you aware of how important your reporting has become to the families back home, and how has that affected you?
MY: I have become increasingly aware. I have to be careful that the families do not see me as a lifeline, for I am apt to up and move to a different sector. We have a lot troops in harm's way, and not all are in Stryker Brigades.
But knowing that the families read my work has definitely added responsibility to the task.
SBN: What has been your favorite experience observing the Stryker troops interacting with locals Mosul?
MY: That our soldiers are making progress! One of my favorite things to see with soldiers is that they can be in a full-on lethal fight with terrorists, then maybe five or ten minutes later, some Iraqi kid is waving at a soldier and the soldier waves back and smiles. The Iraqi kids are great, and they definitely boost morale. They definitely boost my morale.
SNB: How has your prior military service benefited you in your current assignment?
MY: I know the names of the weapons and all the ranks.
SBN: Have you developed any long-term friendships while you've been there? If so, do you find it difficult to distance yourself from your subject at times?
MY: Yes and yes. This is war and it's important. I am American writing about Americans at war. I do not pretend not to have bias. I am certain that I have made some friendships that will last through the years.
SBN: Will be returning to the States when Deuce Four re-deploys?
MY: For a short time. I need to re-outfit. Much of my gear needs to be revamped, and I want a good meal.
SBN: If so, what are your future plans? Can we look forward to a book based on your experiences with the Stryker Brigade?
MY: You look forward to a book. I will return to Iraq for the elections, and over to Afghanistan.
More terrorists taken off the streets in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (September 6, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed three terrorists and detained 11 more Monday.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in northeastern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity during another raid in western Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in southeastern Mosul Monday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment killed three terrorists after receiving small arms fire in Tal Afar.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Barstow soldiers survive in Mosul
Link to Full Article
By TRAVIS DUNN,Daily Press
You could think of Army Spc. Angelo Jaramillo as a kind of an exotic truck driver.
But first consider that the cargo he carries is human, that the vehicle he drives is armed to the teeth, and that hidden in the villages he visits are insurgents who want nothing more than to kill him.
Jaramillo, or J. Lo, as his Army buddies call him, drives a Stryker armored vehicle in Mosul, Iraq, for the Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) of the 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division. He deployed here in October of 2004, after about two years of training at Fort Lewis in Washington state. Last January, Jaramillo and his unit had a brush with death when their Stryker hit a roadside bomb. Although the Stryker was virtually destroyed by the blast, no one was killed.
Jaramillo, however, got the worst of it. He broke his left arm and suffered a concussion, and another soldier suffered a burn from battery acid. Everyone else got bumps and bruises.
The Press Dispatch recently spoke in separate phone calls with Jaramillo, a Barstow native, as well as Army Staff Sgt. Brent Koenig, who married a Barstow girl and now considers Barstow his home. Both men are stationed in Mosul.
Jaramillo, 23, recovered from his bomb-injuries in Germany, then back here in the United States. When his arm was healed, he was sent right back to Mosul.
Jaramillo's recovery and return to the battlefield may be remarkable in itself, but even more incredible is Jaramillo's attitude about his injuries. [...]
Dispatches From Iraq
Dave has posted a new dispatch on his site from his friend Matt, a SGT with the 1-25 SBCT in Mosul.
Suppression of terror continues as main effort in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (September 5, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed a terrorist and detained 12 others Sunday and today.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in eastern Mosul today.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment killed a terrorist after receiving small arms fire in Tal Afar. Soldiers from 2/3 ACR also seized a cache consisting of multiple rounds of ammunition in Tal Afar Sunday.
Soldiers from 3-21 Infantry also detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity at a check point in Rawah. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment seized a cache consisting of black powder, detonators, M203 rounds, and various other items in Rawah Sunday.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in Mazra Sunday. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and knock in Aitha Sunday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Al-Qaida link to London blasts in Iraq
Link to Full Article
By PAMELA HESS, UPI
MOSUL, Iraq, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- A man captured in August north of al-Qaim, Iraq, had a computer "thumb drive" that contained planning information about the July 7 London suicide bombings, a U.S. military officer has revealed.
Col. Robert Brown, commander of the 1st Brigade 25th Infantry Division in Mosul told United Press International the man was connected to the al-Qaida terrorist network.
He declined to discuss the specific nature of the information on the small computer drive, variants of which store between 8 and 256 megabytes of data, but said it indicated al-Qaida involvement in the attacks on London's bus and subway system.
The drive is the latest piece of information linking the al-Qaida leadership to the bombings, in which four British Moslems killed themselves and 52 others
The Arabic language satellite channel Al-Jazeera last week aired parts of a videotape in which al-Qaida's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, claimed responsibility for the near-simultaneous blasts, believed to have used a potent but easily manufactured home-made explosive called TATP.
The video -- which was sent to al-Jazeera by al-Qaida's al-Sahab media production arm -- also contains the now-traditional martyrdom message from one of the bombers. [...]
"I don't think anyone's done a good enough job explaining" the nexus between Iraq and al-Qaida, Brown said.
U.S. Central Command estimates about 100 to 150 "foreign fighters" cross Iraq's porous borders each month. These men by and large man the suicide bombs, "martyring" themselves in the most devastating weapon the insurgents and terrorists have in their arsenal.
Lt. Col. Mike Gibler, commander of the 3rd battalion of the 21st Infantry Regiment, said the suicide bombers are comprised of two kinds of people. Some are jihadists who think they are coming to Iraq to fight Americans with guns or bombs and don't know they have been recruited for suicide missions. They are isolated, forced to watch videotapes of propaganda to brainwash them, and finally told if they refuse their mission their families will be killed.
He said a number of would-be bombers have been captured during raids and interrogated.
The second group, says Gibler, "is blind with rage, blind with anger for just what America stands for. It's the 'haves' and the 'have-nots,' and a lot of the 'have nots' believe it's our fault.
"They are usually college kids who have a degree and want to make a million dollars. They know it can be done but they are not gonna be offered the opportunity because 'America is preventing it.'"
Operations ramping up against terror in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (September 4, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed 13 terrorists, detained 18 suspected terrorists, and seized a weapons cache today.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained 13 individuals suspected of terrorist activity in Tal Afar today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment killed seven terrorists after receiving small arms fire during three separate incidents in Tal Afar. Soldiers from 2/3 ACR also detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity during separate operations in Tal Afar. Soldiers from 4th Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment killed six terrorists after being engaged by rocket propelled grenade and small arms fire from a mosque in Tal Afar today. Soldiers from 4/3 ACR reported a secondary explosion from the mosque after engaging the terrorists. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache consisting of rocket propelled grenade propellants, a sniper rifle, a mortar tube, improvised explosive device initiators, and a mortar base plate in northern Mosul today. The cache was confiscated for future destruction.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Why We Must Stay in Iraq
This editorial contains references to a 1/25 SBCT soldier.
Link to Full Article (Opinion)
By Victor Davis Hanson
Vietnam is once again in the air. Last month's antiwar demonstrations in Crawford, Tex., have been heralded as the beginning of an antiwar movement that will take to the streets like the one of 30 years ago. Influential pundits -- in the manner of a gloomy Walter Cronkite after the Tet offensive -- are assuring us that we can't win in Iraq and that we have no option but a summary withdrawal. We may even have a new McGovern-style presidential "peace" candidate in Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold.
America's most contentious war is being freely evoked to explain the "quagmire" we are supposedly now in. Vietnam is an obvious comparison given the frustration of asymmetrical warfare and savage enemies who escape our conventional power. But make no mistake, Iraq is not like Vietnam, and it must not end like Vietnam. Despite our tragic lapses, leaving now would be a monumental mistake -- and one that we would all too soon come to regret. [...]
The New York Times recently deplored the public's ignorance of American heroes in Iraq. In fact, there are thousands of them. But in their eagerness to view Iraq through the fogged lens of Vietnam, the media themselves are largely responsible for the public's shameful lack of interest.
A few days ago, while the networks were transfixed by Cindy Sheehan (or was it Aruba?), the United States military, in conjunction with Iraqi forces, was driving out jihadists from Mosul -- where the terrorists are being arrested and killed in droves. Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, who had worked for months to create an atmosphere of mutual understanding on the city's streets, was severely wounded as he led his men to clear out a terrorist hideaway. The jihadist who shot him -- who had recently been released from Abu Ghraib -- was not killed, but arrested and given medical care by U.S. surgeons.
Not long before he was wounded, Lt. Col. Kurilla had delivered a eulogy for three of his own fallen men. Posted on a military Web site, it showed that he, far better than most of us, knows why America is there:
"You see -- there are 26 million people in Iraq whose freedom we are fighting for, against terrorists and insurgents that want a return to power and oppression, or worse, a state of fundamentalist tyranny. Some of whom we fight are international terrorists who hate the fact that in our way of life we can choose who will govern us, the method in which we worship, and the myriad other freedoms we have. We are fighting so that these fanatical terrorists do not enter the sacred ground of our country and we have to fight them in our own backyard."
Amen.
Author's e-mail:
Victor Davis Hanson is a military historian at
Stanford University's Hoover Institution and the author of the forthcoming "A War Like No Other" (Random House).
SPC Jason E. Ames
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
SPC Jason E. Ames, 21, of Cerulean, Ky., died on Aug. 31, 2005, in Mosul, Iraq, from non-combat related injuries. SPC Ames was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, WA.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and comrades he leaves behind. We will add any future articles to this entry.
Stryker soldier dies in tour’s last few weeks - The News Tribune
Trigg soldier, 21, dies of injuries in Iraq - The Courier Journal
Offensive operations continue to suppress terror in Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (September 3, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 21 suspected terrorists and seized a weapons cache today.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Division detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity in Rawah. Iraqi Police detained 20 individuals suspected of terrorist activity after being engaged with small arms fire from a vehicle in Mosul.
Iraqi Police along with soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment seized one hundred blasting caps during a cordon and search in Mosul. Soldiers from 1-24 Infantry also seized mortars, multiple rounds of ammunition, a box of fuses, and a mine in Mosul today. The cache was confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment seized a cache consisting of numerous rounds of ammunition and AK-47’s in Rawah today.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Operations continue to net major gains against terror
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (September 3, 2005) –Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed one and detained ten more suspected terrorists Friday and today.
Iraqi Police killed a terrorist and detained six other terrorists after receiving small arms fire while securing a weapons cache in eastern Mosul Friday. The cache consisted of a vehicle borne improvised explosive device, rifles, shotguns, AK-47’s, shape charges, multiple rounds of ammunition, an anti-personnel mine, and a grenade launcher. The cache was destroyed.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache consisting of 60 dynamite sticks, 60 hand grenades, a shotgun barrel, rocket propelled grenade rounds, and a bag of blasting caps which was destroyed. Soldiers from 1-5 Infantry conducted a search for terrorists after receiving information from an Iraqi citizen and detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity while confiscating an AK-47 and an RPG sight in eastern Mosul Friday. Soldiers from 1-5 Infantry also detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment seized hand grenades, improvised explosive device shape charges, and ski masks during two separate cordons and searches, then destroyed the cache in Tal Afar Friday.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in Rawah Friday.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
TF Automatic Articles
Provided below are a number of articles written by 1LT Dana Scott highlighting recent operations by the 2-8 FA, 1/25 SBCT.
Headlines:
Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police Work Hand in Hand, Joint Operation Unearths Caches and Detains Nine, NCO Academy Goes to the Range, TF Automatic and 917th CSG Deliver School Supplies, 3/3rd Iraqi Army Detains Four Suspected Terrorists
Full Articles:
Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police Work Hand in Hand
ASR CHARLESTON, Iraq – On August 28, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Iraqi Army (3/3rd IA) Brigade, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Hogger Salahaddin Abdul, were conducting patrols along alternate supply route Charleston when an IED detonated.
Just after sunrise, the local Iraqi Police (IP) reported the IED to the IA. Task Force Automatic believes this IED may have been the completed IED mentioned in recent intelligence reports, which AIF was planning to place in the area.
The IP discovered the detonated IED at 0830 hours and reported it to 3/3rd IA directly. Coalition forces were not involved at all, and there were no casualties. Both IA and IP demonstrated ability to work and communicate with each other to meet the common goal of a safer, more secure Ninewah Province.
Joint Operation Unearths Caches and Detains Nine
MUHALLABIYA, Iraq – On August 27, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Brigade conducted a cordon and search operation in Muhallabiya with the support of Task Force (TF) Automatic and 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (2-3 ACR), discovering several weapons caches and detaining nine suspected terrorists.
Lieutenant Colonel Ra’ad Naif Haroosh, 2/3rd IA Battalion Commander, led two of his companies with a total of 300 soldiers in the operation. The IA established the outer cordon and also executed the door-to-door search of the village.
2/3rd IA, TF Automatic and 2-3 ACR approached the village, divided in three objectives, from three different directions. The three units were on the objectives before sunrise and within 30 minutes of each other.
At 0730 hours, Task Force (TF) Automatic discovered an IED and a buried anti-tank mine with tilt rod in the northern section of the village. TF Automatic’s explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) team reduced the ordinance.
Thirty minutes later 2-3 ACR, a unit adjacent to 1/25th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, discovered a weapons cache in the southern section of Muhallabiya. EOD reduced the cache, which consisted of 8 x 122 mm rounds and 3 x 152 mm rounds.
At 0900 hours, TF Automatic discovered a large cache consisting of 1 x RKG-3 potato grenade, 5 x 107 mm rockets, 27 x 152 mm artillery shells, 2 x 2.75 mm rocket warheads, 1 x 2.75 mm rocket loaders with rockets inside, 83 x 120 mm mortar rounds, 1 x 81 mm, 24 x RPG warheads, 100 x triple tip rounds, 2 x RPG launchers with over 500 57 mm rounds, 10 x artillery fuses, 6 x Motorola IED detonator kits, 6 x boxes of BKC rounds (3 x boxes contained armor piercing rounds), 1 x roll of copper wiring, 1 x drum 7.62 mm, 1 x anti-aircraft gun with spare barrel, 1 x 60 mm mortar system complete, 5 x 60 mm tubes, 1 x 81 mm tube, 2 x 81 mm bi-pods, 1 x 120 mm bi-pod, 5 x shape charges, 15 x 60 mm rounds complete with fuse/shell and 1 x SA missile. 2/3rd IA and 2-3 ACR assisted in reducing the cache.
The joint operation resulted in nine detainees. Five individuals were relatives of a high value individual and tested very high for bomb-making materials. Four individuals were on 2/3rd IA or TF Automatic’s black list.
Detainees included Mostafa Mohammed Abed Al Rahman, Hazim Mohammed Abed Al Rahman, Mohammed Abed Rahman Mustafa, Abed Al Mawjood Mohammed Abed Al, Abed Al Hakeem Mohammed Abed Al Rahman, Hussein Ali Mustafa, Shakir Ibrahim Abdullah, Hussein Ali Mohammed Mohammed Ismael and Yahya Abdul Rahmin Amin.
TF Automatic returned with all the detainees to Q-West Base Complex for further questioning. All elements departed the objectives before 1530 hours.
2/3rd IA demonstrated exceptional planning and executing procedures throughout the operation. The IA worked closely with TF Automatic and 2-3 ACR to achieve yet another success in the Tigris River Valley.
NCO Academy Goes to the Range
Q-WEST BASE COMPLEX, Iraq – On August 26, Iraqi Army (IA) soldiers completed the rifle range portion of the 3-week Non-commissioned Officer (NCO) Academy course on Q-West Base Complex.
“Forty-four soldiers from 3rd IA Brigade began the course on August 20,” said NCO Academy Chief Instructor Sergeant First Class Thomas Trott.
On Day 1 of the rifle marksmanship training exercise, IA soldiers zeroed and practiced qualifying with AK-47 rifles. On Day 2, the soldiers qualified and conducted reflexive fire training learning the basics of clearing a room.
“Seven soldiers qualified as expert today,” said Trott. “Shooting at a 50 meter target, they were able to fire 30 rounds inside the center circle.”
Training begins at 0800 and ends at 1600 seven days a week for sergeants and staff sergeants. Upcoming training events include the obstacle course, first aid, and a cumulative mounted operations exercise. The soldiers will graduate from the NCO Academy on September 12.
TF Automatic and 917th CSG Deliver School Supplies
JEDELLA ANUK, Iraq – Over 15 schools in the surrounding villages of Q-West Base Complex were restocked with school supplies yesterday for the advent of the new school year, expected to commence on September 1. Task Force (TF) Automatic joined efforts with 917th Command Support Group (CSG) to deliver school supplies to several villages, including Argubah and Jeddella Anuk.
TF Automatic began the day at 10:00 AM, delivering the last supplies just after 9:00 PM. The team consisted of Sergeant Major McCormick, Staff Sergeant Dale Horn, Specialist Steven Nichols, and Private First Class Chris Hill, supported by two interpreters.
“We delivered over 70 boxes of school supplies to four schools today,” said Hill. “One box has enough notebooks, pens, pencils, and other supplies for 8 Iraqi children.”
TF Automatic and 917th CSG have stocked the shelves of over half the thirty schools in the area. The TF is planning a hefty school supply distribution operation just before the start of school, hopefully filling up the remaining schools.
3/3rd Iraqi Army Detains Four Suspected Terrorists
MAKUK, Iraq –Early on August 24, a platoon from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Brigade, led by Lt. Mansur, detained four suspected terrorists while conducting combat operations east of Qayarrah.
The IA stopped two individuals in a vehicle at a traffic control point in Osweja. After conducting a thorough search of the vehicle, the IA found a great deal of Jihad propaganda promoting the AIF.
The IA soldiers questioned the men because one of their names closely resembled a known terrorist on the black list. Both men tested very high for bomb-making materials. The IA confiscated the Jihad propaganda and detained the suspected terrorists for further questioning.
Later on the same night, the unit detained two more individuals in a home on the southern edge of the town Makuk. The individuals also tested high for bomb-making materials. The IA also seized over three thousand dollars. The individuals are currently in the IA’s custody for further questioning.
This is just the latest example of Iraqi Security Forces making great strides in capturing terrorists, which either live in or are passing through their area of operations. With the help of the local citizens, Iraqi Security Forces are making much progress in establishing a more secure Iraq.
Citizen’s tip leads to weapons cache discovery
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 31, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom discovered a weapons cache in Tel Kheif Sunday.
An Iraqi citizen led Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment on a suspected cache in Tel Kheif Sunday. Soldiers from 3-21 Infantry confirmed the cache, discovering rocket propelled grenade launchers and rounds, a mortar system, 20 grenades, many rifles, thousands of rounds of ammunition, hundreds of fuses, flak vests, and nuclear, biological and chemical protective masks. The items in the cache appeared to be brand new, as they were sealed in plastic shipping containers. The cache was confiscated for future destruction.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
In Mosul, the Stryker shows its worth
Link to Full Article
By Pamela Hess, United Press International
Reader advisory: The text of this article contains very frank descriptions of military operations in Mosul.
MOSUL, Iraq (UPI) -- The men of Alpha Company wash burned oil and human flesh from rails of their Stryker vehicle. To their satisfaction, it was not any of theirs.
They were riding through the east side of Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq and last November the scene of some of the most pitched battles with the insurgency, when a suicide car bomber cut through the median between the second and third Stryker vehicles in the convoy and exploded.
Sgt. J. Robinson, 27, of Altheimer, Ark., was in the gunner position, exposed to the ball of fire and shrapnel. He didn`t have time to duck back into the vehicle when the car bomber veered.
"It knocked me back but I`m a pretty big dude," he said.
Shrapnel took a chunk out of his helmet, and small pieces lodged in his finger and in his lip. This is his third car bomb -- or IED, for Improvised Explosive Device -- two of them in a Stryker and one in an up-armored Humvee.
"Around here everyone wants to ride in a Stryker," Robinson said.
The Stryker, a new, wheeled combat vehicle, is designed to move troops quickly into battle, but it is proven especially useful in Mosul. It can turn more quickly and in a smaller area than a tank, it is faster, and because it has no tracks it doesn`t tear up the streets and curbs -- avoiding inconvenience and expense to local residents.
The vehicle, built by Sterling Heights, Mich.-based General Dynamics Land Systems, was named for two Medal of Honor recipients: WWII Pfc. Stuart Stryker and Spc. Robert Stryker, who served in Vietnam.
It boasts a digitized sensor suite that gives it much better access to intelligence information than older combat vehicles. A newly added steel cage looks ungainly - the Stryker is much wider on top than its wheel base -- but grenades bounce off before they explode.
Most importantly, it is proving to be very protective of the people it carries inside. According to the brigade`s statistics, as of June, Strykers had been involved in nearly 700 direct engagements with the enemy -- among them IEDs, car bombs, and rocket-propelled grenade attacks. There have been around 250 injuries, but just over 200 of the injured returned to duty within three days, like Robinson. [...]
Town rallies to buy gifts for Stryker families
Link to Full Article
By Adam Lynn, The News Tribune
Dave Bliss of Packwood hopes the gifts and party supplies he delivered Tuesday to Fort Lewis do as much to boost the morale of Stryker brigade families as collecting the loot did for his neighbors and him.
Bliss drove in from the small Lewis County town to drop off a van-load of toys, games, sporting goods, soda pop, sports drinks, barbecue grills and other merchandise purchased with money from a benefit concert he organized earlier this summer. The stuff is being donated to the families of soldiers of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Regiment, which is deployed in Iraq.
“I wanted to do something to help the troops. They really don’t get the respect and recognition they deserve,” Bliss said. “But then I realized I didn’t know what the troops needed or if I’d even be able to get the stuff to Iraq. That’s when I decided it might be better to try to help their families.” [...]
Another terrorist down and more detained
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 30, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed one terrorist and detained nine other terrorists today.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity in western Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment killed a terrorist who was attempting to attack Coalition Forces in Tal Afar. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity in central Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
TF Automatic Articles
Provided below are a number of articles written by 1LT Dana Scott highlighting recent operations by the 2-8 FA, 1/25 SBCT.
Headlines:
A/2-8 Conducts Interdiction Operations, D/52 IN Detains Two Suspected Terrorists, 1/3rd Iraqi Army Detains Five and a Cache, Botha Rogee Celebrates New Road Bridges
Full Articles:
A/2-8 Conducts Interdiction Operations
KILAT SHIN, Iraq – Before sunrise on August 21, A/2-8 Field Artillery (FA) conducted interdiction operations near the village Kilat Shin, discovering a caravan of shepards leading A/2-8 to a camp possessing several illegal firearms.
A/2-8, led by Cpt. Cherokee Parks, approached the camp when they caught sight of a man with a bundle in his arms scurrying away. A/2-8 stopped and questioned the individual.
Inside the bundle was a BKC rifle. A/2-8 then conducted a thorough search of the entire camp. Within the camp A/2-8 discovered several illegal weapons, to include 1 x BKC, 1 x AK-47, 1 x bolt action rifle, 14 x AK magazines (full), and 100 rounds of linked 7.62mm armor-piercing BKC ammunition.
Task Force Automatic confiscated and returned all items found to Q-West Base Complex. The owner of the BKC, Hussein Ubayd Ashwan, was detained for further questioning.
D/52 IN Detains Two Suspected Terrorists
ASH SHURA, Iraq – Early this morning, D/52 Infantry (IN) Company, led by Cpt. Thaddeus Wotjusik, detained two individuals suspected to be part of a shooting in Mosul yesterday.
Mahmood Thiyab Baz and Ahmed Thiyab Baz were detained during Task Force (TF) Automatic’s cordon and search operation in Ash Shura. Ahmed Thiyab Baz tested positived for TNT and both individuals are relatives of Abdul Kareem Al Baz. Abdul Kareem Al Baz was detained with Khalid Jasim Nohe by TF Automatic last December 21st and has recently been released from Coalition forces custody.
Nohe is the terrorist responsible for shooting and wounding the 1-24 IN Battalion Commander within TF Lancer yesterday. Nohe was shot and detained at the scene, but the unidentified passenger that was with Nohe escaped.
Due to Mahmood Thiyab Baz and Ahmed Thiyab Baz’s association with Abdul Kareem Baz, they may have information leading Coalition and Iraqi forces to the identity and location of the unidentified passenger from yesterday’s attack.
1/3rd Iraqi Army Detains Five and a Cache
AITHA, Iraq – On August 20th 1/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion, led by Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Malowh, conducted a cordon and search of a house in Aitha, with the help of C/2-8 Field Artillery (FA). They found a weapons cache and detained five suspected terrorists who were brought back to FOB Endurance for further questioning.
The night prior to the mission, Ali had received information from a concerned Iraqi citizen that a suspected arms dealer, Abdulla Asfoor, was at his house in Aitha. Furthermore, Ali was notified that there was also a weapons cache in Sharqat.
The local citizen was willing to go along on the mission and positively identify the house and the cache location.
The mission was planned and executed successfully. Five suspected terrorists were detained, to include Abu Abdul Rahman, Ramathan Shahban Asfoor, Hussen Shahban Asfoor, Ahmad Shahban Asfoor, and Hussen Hameed Mahmood Hadvy. All individuals tested positive for explosives with high readings.
The local citizen also positively identified the location of the cache in Sharqat, which consisted of approximately 400 lbs of TNT rods and a box of 1.5 anti-aircraft rounds. The cache was located on an island on the Tigris River. Ali requested a boat from a local citizen, and with his soldiers, he retrieved the cache. All were reduced on site by Task Force Automatic’s EOD team.
Botha Rogee Celebrates New Road Bridges
BOTHA ROGEE, Iraq – Headquarters Support Battery (HSB) of Task Force (TF) Automatic and local Iraqis joined together today August 17th, to celebrate the opening of Botha Rogee’s two new road bridges.
The original plan was to build one bridge over a wadi that carried 90% of the village’s rainwater during winter months. With the funding received from Coalition forces, however, contractors managed to build a second bridge over a separate wadi system. Both bridges are five meters wide and will enable the villagers to come and go as they please, regardless of how much water fills the wadis.
“Following a late lunch and chai with the local villagers, we began the ceremony,” explained Staff Sgt. Dale Horn. “The bridges turned out very well and the locals were pleased.”
Botha Rogee, just five minutes from Forward Operating Base (FOB) Endurance, has been working diligently on improving the conditions of their village. With the help of TF Automatic, the local Iraqis have completed nine other civil affairs projects to include electricity and water projects, a chicken farm and school renovations.
No slacking in offensive operations to rout terror in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 29, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained eleven suspected terrorists Sunday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized weapons from a vehicle during separate operations in southern Mosul. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in northern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a cache of improvised explosive device making materials during a raid in northern Mosul. The cache was confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity Sunday.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
ISF and MNF continue to net terrorist suspects and weapons
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 28, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained six additional suspected terrorists and seized another weapons cache today.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache in Mosul today consisting of a one 60 millimeter mortar, several rifles including AK-47’s, rocket propelled grenade launchers, rocket propelled grenades, rocket propelled grenade fuel rods, a box of grenades and ammunition in western Mosul today. Soldiers confiscated the cache for future destruction.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during separate operations in Tal Afar. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity in southern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Security forces continue to rally against terrorism in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 28, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 18 suspected terrorists and seized a weapons cache Saturday and today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual during a raid in central Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity in separate operations in southern Mosul Saturday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in eastern Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity in northern Mosul today.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery detained nine individuals suspected of terrorist activity during operations in Mulhallabiyah Saturday. Soldiers from 2-8 FA also discovered a weapons cache consisting of rocket propelled grenade launchers, 20 rocket propelled grenades, six improvised explosive device detonators, mortar systems, an anti-tank mine with a tilt rod, 20 hand grenades with 100 fuses, and ammunition. Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a weapon south of Baranah today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported. Soldiers confiscated weapons for future destruction.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Insurgent sniper hits Jefferson soldier
Link to Full Article
BY CARA HOST, Observer-Reporter
JEFFERSON – The sniper in Iraq had Sgt. Daniel Lama of Jefferson in his sights. He probably took aim at one of the most vulnerable parts of the soldier's body, his neck, and pulled the trigger.
Lama, who helps operate a heavily armored Stryker vehicle, came within a fraction of an inch from almost certain death or debilitating injury on Aug. 19
He was shot while on patrol in the Yarmouk Traffic Circle, Mosul, Iraq. Lama was examining his surroundings in the air guard position, from a hatch in the tanklike vehicle, when the sniper shot him.
The bullet went straight through Lama's neck, but instead of severing the young man's spine or an artery, it apparently cut only muscle – a flesh wound.
"We've been praying. This community has been praying for not just Daniel but for all of our soldiers," the soldier's mother, Connie Lama, said Friday. "We're so thankful he's OK. ... Jesus has been very kind to us."
Daniel Lama, 24, is being treated at Madigan Army Medical Center in Fort Lewis, Wash. He is expected to make a full recovery and should be home by December. His parents, along with his sister, Anna, made the cross-country trip to Washington earlier this week.
"He's able to walk. He's in a lot of pain and he's getting some of the movement (in his neck) back," said Dan Lama, Daniel Lama's father. "He has a hole in the neck that you can put your finger through." [...]
"We have a good story but not everybody does and that's very heartbreaking," said Connie Lama, who added that she prays regularly for the families of slain service members.
Since being deployed to Iraq last fall, 34 members of the Stryker Brigade have died, including another area soldier, Pfc. Nils G. Thompson, 19, of Confluence, who was shot and killed by a sniper earlier this month. [...]
Security forces sweep away more weapons and a terrorist
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 27, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed one terrorist and seized a weapons cache Friday and today.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment discovered a weapons cache consisting of rockets, grenades, a machine gun, five mortar tubes, six explosives, a rocket, and hundreds of various rounds while conducting operations in Mulhallabiyah today. Soldiers from 2/3 ACR also killed one terrorist during operations in Tal Afar Friday. Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment confiscated several weapons and ammunition while searching homes from Rabiyah to Avgani Friday. Weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
The good fight: Forging bonds in the community
Link to Full Article (subscription; available in the 8/29/05 paper edition)
By Matthew Cox, Army Times
RAWAH, Iraq — Soldiers are beginning to think fighting off suicide car-bombers here was easy compared to convincing the locals to trust coalition forces.
The troops with B Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, patrol the streets daily here in search of insurgent activity, but they also spend a lot of time trying to convince the residents of this town near the Syrian border that they no longer live under the control of terrorists.
The lull in the fighting since U.S. forces arrived here in mid-July has prompted many locals to return to their homes. People are beginning to cooperate with coalition forces in small ways, such as spilling the locations of enemy weapons caches.
Still, progress is slow and some residents are boldly defiant of U.S. troops.
During an Aug. 11 patrol, a 20-year-old Iraqi man tore up a coalition flier in the face of Capt. Mark Ivezaj, Bravo Company commander. U.S. forces have been handing out the single sheet of paper explaining why American and Iraqi forces are in Rawah and how residents can cooperate.
“Ask him why he thinks it’s OK to tear up our stuff in front of us!” Ivezaj shouts in a stern voice to his interpreter, while questioning the man. The young man’s demeanor changes quickly. Fear and a touch of regret spread across his face.
“I’m just a kid,” he replies through the interpreter.
Ivezaj orders his soldiers to detain him. The frustration is clear in his voice.
He tore it up “right in front of me and smiled about it,” he said, shaking his head. A few minutes later, Ivezaj turns the man over to nearby Iraqi forces for questioning.
Attacks still a fact of life
The steady enemy attacks on Stryker vehicle patrols have eased since 3-21 and other U.S. forces arrived here in mid-July. Nevertheless, they remain a moment-to-moment threat.
Troops with Bravo Company’s 2nd Platoon got a violent reminder of that Aug. 12 when the Stryker they were riding in rolled over a homemade bomb, fashioned from an anti-tank mine and a 155mm artillery shell. The blast rocked their vehicle and although no one was killed, one soldier suffered a cracked pelvic bone, another had cuts to his face and a third complained of chest pains. The three were flown out by medevac helicopter to the combat support hospital in Balad for more advanced medical treatment. Three other soldiers suffered minor injuries and later returned to duty. [...]
Blog brings the war home
Link to Full Article
by Aaron Blake and Rob Hotakainen, Star Tribune
WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Army Lt. Col. Michael Erik Kurilla had just been shot three times and his thigh bone had snapped. He came firing -- and shouting orders at the soldiers behind him.
Kurilla, 39, formerly of Minneapolis, was wounded in a firefight in an alley in Mosul, Iraq, on Aug. 19. On Friday, the battalion commander had surgery and was recuperating at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash.
In a sign of how technology is changing the way in which the war is reported, anyone with access to the internet can see the graphic episode that put Kurilla in the hospital.
The entire incident was captured on film by independent photojournalist Michael Yon, an author and blogger. His photographs, published Thursday at michaelyon.blogspot.com, show Kurilla taking the three bullets from insurgents in Mosul.
His family is expecting him to recover fully.
"He's doing good," said Tommy Raye, 42, a brother-in-law from Bogart, Ga. "I mean, that guy's a warrior, dude."
Raye described Kurilla as "extremely bright, on the scary side of the spectrum." He said he was not surprised when he saw the photographs.
"There's no surprise when he's out front," Raye said. "That's just who he is. Some guys are born leaders. This guy's a born leader. ... He's smart, tough and compassionate, all rolled into one. He is the guy you're happy is on your side, straight up."
For months, Yon has been documenting the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment -- nicknamed "Deuce-Four" -- that Kurilla commands. Yon casts Kurilla as a tough and heroic figure with a sixth sense about the enemy. He is described as a commander who calls the families of wounded soldiers before the Army does so that loved ones can get a direct account. [...]
Michael Yon Interview Transcript
Michael Yon was interviewed today by talk show host Hugh Hewitt. You can read the full transcript at the Radio Blogger site. Excerpt:
HH: Michael Yon, yesterday I got a letter, or actually today, from Lamonte Long, whose son is Specialist Craig Killian with your unit. He has said, Lamonte told me, that your dispatches have been crucial lifelines for families of the soldiers you're serving with. Was that your intention starting out? Or what was the intention of the Deuce 4 reporting?MY: No, I never really intended to be, for instance, a lifeline to units, or to families. Although I'm very flattered by that remark. Basically, I just wanted to come over and tell what was going on. But now I realize, too, that there's truly nobody telling the day to day stories. Or if they do, it's very, very rare. Mostly, you know, obviously, we're just getting body counts and bombings and that kind of thing. But it doesn't tell what's going on here on a day to day basis.
(via Blackfive)
The grip on terrorism gets tighter
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 26, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed another terrorist and detained an additional 16 suspected terrorists Thursday and today.
Iraqi Police killed one terrorist after receiving small arms fire in Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity in western Mosul Thursday. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity and discovered weapons, ammunition, and explosives during separate operations in eastern Mosul Thursday and today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained nine individuals suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint in Rawah. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid east of Tal Afar Thursday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Storied Iraq soldier recuperating
Link to Full Article
By Alex Fryer, Seattle Times
Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla is out of Iraq, recovering from gunshot wounds in a Tacoma hospital.
Although not well-known, Kurilla — the highest ranking soldier from the Fort Lewis-based Stryker Brigade to be seriously wounded in battle — has a dedicated following on the Internet.
For more than eight months, a blog written by independent journalist Michael Yon has chronicled the battles, strategies and sorrows of Kurilla's unit, the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry ("Deuce Four").
Yon's periodic dispatches often describe details and tactics of the Iraq war not found in the mainstream media. Kurilla is portrayed as tough, dedicated and possessed with an uncanny ability to avoid enemy bullets.
That changed last Friday when Kurilla was shot during close combat.
In a harrowing series of photographs, Yon captures the moment Kurilla fell. The images along with Yon's narrative are posted on his Web site: http://michaelyon.blogspot.com.
Shot in the arm and leg, Kurilla was taken to a combat hospital and later airlifted to Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma.
Yesterday, he declined to release the status of his condition.
Military-related sites on the Internet lighted up with news of Kurilla's injuries, indicating national interest in the fate of the 49-year-old Tacoma resident. [...]
SBN editorial comment: This is the link to Michael Yon's specific blog entry for this story.
Related:
Jefferson soldier injured - The Observer-Reporter
Stryker Soldiers Secure Iraqi Neighborhoods
Link to Full Article
By U.S. Army Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp
MOSUL, Iraq, Aug. 25, 2005 – They’re loaded to the hilt with weapons, armor and ammunition. They roll out in their Stryker Light Armored Vehicle to beat the 120-degree-streets, smiling, waiving, and keeping rapport with the locals. They are also searching, detaining, confiscating. Anything to accomplish the mission.
"We’ve had vehicles hit with IEDs, have all 8 tires blown off, and still the vehicle drove back to camp on just the rims. You can hardly do damage to the Stryker."
Pfc. Casey G. Little
They are Weapons Squad, a battle-hardened group of soldiers who are working to secure Iraq, one neighborhood at a time.
Whether it’s on foot, or from the vantage point of a Stryker, the squad – from 3rd Platoon, Company C, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash., – puts their boots to the ground with patrols designed to “check out certain hot spots,” said Staff Sgt. Kelekolio P. Paresa, platoon sergeant for 3rd Platoon.
“(Observation posts) are a big thing we like to do,” Paresa said. “That’s when we watch over an area and catch people trying to set up (improvised explosive devices).”
Along with setting up observation posts, the soldiers conduct knock and search operations, allowing for communication with the residents about what is happening in the neighborhoods. This can prove helpful in apprehending suspects.
“When we’re out patrolling, we’ll go into the houses and talk to the people to find out how things are in the area,” said Staff Sgt. Benjamin G. Emery, squad leader. “We usually find somebody who wants to talk and tell us what’s going on and whether or not there are (anti-Iraqi forces) in the area.”
A touch of kindness can go a long way in these operations, Paresa said.
“We always try to put the residents at ease once we get down and go in a house,” Paresa said. “The residents seem scared sometimes, so we always try to shake hands, wave at them and say hello.”
This genuine strategy has seemed to work when it comes to finding contraband or the bad guys.
“You name it, we’ve found it,” said Emery, who hails from Laconia, N.H. “We’ve found some big weapons caches, and we’ve done countless missions at night where we’ve received intelligence from citizens that there is a bad guy at this place, and we’ll go hit the house, search it, get confirmation that that’s the guy we’re looking for and detain him. We’ve taken quite a few bad people off the street that way.”
And the troops from Weapons Squad are getting some help in their efforts. The Iraqi army has started patrolling with the squad, a partnership that will continue until the soldiers redeploy in October
.“(In early July) we did our first dismounted patrol with the Iraqi army,” said Paresa, a 12-year veteran from Mauai, Hawaii. “They had one street and we walked another paralleling them.
“We help them out, show them the correct way to do things, and they’ve picked that up and will eventually do it on their own,” he said.
This includes handling the cordon and search operations.
A recent raid at a suspected terrorist’s house found the Iraqi army handling the take down, while the soldiers from Weapons Squad set up a perimeter.
“The IA(Iraqi Army) is doing everything inside,” Paresa said during the predawn raid. “They’re taking down the building, but if they need help, then we’ll go in and help them. Right now we are just trying to get them confident and up so they can take over.”
While the squad works to involve the IA more, their missions still require them to be ready to go at any time, with or without their Iraqi counterparts. Getting the squad to the field quickly with firepower, at any time, is the job of their heavily-armored and agile vehicles, the Stryker.
The vehicle has 14.5-millimeter armor piercing round protection, including 152- millimeter artillery airburst protection.
With improvised explosive devices being set off at the squad regularly, this armor, along with the Stryker’s resiliency, has kept the soldiers in the fight, said Pfc. Casey G. Little, the newest infantryman to the squad.
“When we first got here, we tested ourselves and the Strykers,” Little said. “We’ve seen them get hit a lot and take minimal damage thanks to the armor. We’re pretty snug when we’re in the Strykers, and it’s not that scary when something goes off at us.
“We’ve had vehicles hit with IEDs, have all 8 tires blown off, and still the vehicle drove back to camp on just the rims,” Little said. “You can hardly do damage to the Stryker.”
Although attributing some of their success to the Stryker, it’s the bond the troops share with each other that has kept them motivated and alive, Paresa said.
Each member has been with the squad for the past year in Iraq, and some have known each other for several years.
There is constant chatter among the group; a jarring, humorous biting at each other like loving brothers. A bond where each man is ready to lay their life down for another without thought.
As the troops head out on the last mission of a hot Mosul day, they talk of what they’re going to buy when they get home and how much they miss their wives, girlfriends, and the wonderful Fort Lewis weather. When they reach their destination though, the focus shifts back to the mission at hand.
“Back it up to the wall so we’ve got cover!” Paresa yelled to the driver.
The ramp drops – “GO! GO! GO!”
Gates of Fire
Michael Yon had posted the story describing the wounding of Deuce Four soldiers last week. As usual it is a must read. See his blog for this and other reports from Mosul. Excerpt:
When Kurilla woke in recovery a few hours after surgery, he called CSM Prosser and asked for a Bible and the book: Gates of Fire. Kurilla gives a copy of Gates of Fire to every new officer and orders them to read it. He had given me a copy and told me to read it. In my book, there is a marked passage, which I thought rather flowery. But I have it beside me on the table by the map of Iraq.
"I would be the one. The one to go back and speak. A pain beyond all previous now seized me. Sweet life itself, even the desperately sought chance to tell the tale, suddenly seemed unendurable alongside the pain of having to take leave of these whom I had come so to love."
A short time after he gave me the book, following the death of one of his soldiers,when Kurilla said to me, "I want you to write about my men. You are the only one who might understand," the passage finally registered in my mind.
Efforts to halt terrorism are non-stop
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 25, 2005) – Multi-National Forces of Task Force Freedom killed three terrorists and detained four suspected terrorists Wednesday and today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment killed three terrorists and seized explosives and other material used to demolish an Iraqi Army vehicle in eastern Mosul Wednesday. Soldiers from 1-5 Infantry evacuated the bodies to a local hospital. Explosives were confiscated for future destruction with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during separate operations south of Tall Ath Thawr and in Rawah Wednesday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
U.S. Soldiers train Iraqi leadership at academy
Story by Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp
MNC - I PAO
August 10, 2005
FORWARD OPERATING BASE Q-WEST, Iraq – In the U.S. Army, noncommissioned officers are known as the “backbone of the Army,” and a group of these Soldiers has set up an academy to help the Iraqi army produce its own rigid corps of NCOs.
The Iraqi NCO Academy here is a new training ground for Iraqi troops, and is the brainchild of U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Victor Martinez, sergeant major, 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Upon arriving in country last fall, Martinez noticed the Iraqi NCO corps didn’t have a training academy. The first thing on his to do list was to change that.
Using a handful of specially selected NCOs from his subordinate units, Martinez and his cadre found a training area, barracks and time to devote to a much needed group of up and coming Iraqi leaders, he said.
“We started the academy in November with the intent to strengthen the Iraqi NCO corps,” he said.
The academy is conducted on a revolving schedule with a basic training program the regiment runs. The three-week course is designed to improve leadership skills, marksmanship and army values within the Iraqi NCO corps. Each course has roughly 45 soldiers, and the “day starts early for these guys,” Martinez said.
Wake-up is 5:30 a.m., with 30 minutes for daily preparation and prayer. Physical fitness training ensues at 6 a.m., followed by a day filled with road marches, obstacle courses, drill and ceremony practice, marksmanship training and classroom instruction.
At 9 p.m., it’s time to call it a day for the Iraqi NCOs.
“By the time it’s lights out, these guys are ready to go to bed,” said Martinez, who places army values and leadership skills above all others in the training regimen.
“The bottom line is – if the leaders don’t know how to do the tasks, if the leaders aren’t trained and they’re not confident, then their soldiers aren’t going to be able to do the job asked of them,” he said.
With the focus on leadership training, the first group of soldiers attending the academy included the top echelon of the senior NCO ranks.
“I told all three Iraqi battalion commanders that my intent was to start off with the senior ranking soldiers first,” Martinez said. “In the first class, we had three sergeants major, eight first sergeants, and a lot of sergeants first-class. We wanted to get the senior guys first so they go through the same training that a lower-ranking sergeant goes through.”
Doing this caused a solid relationship between Martinez and the senior Iraqi enlisted personnel, he said.
“I see one of the sergeant majors on the FOB all the time, and he went through the very first class,” he said. “He knows what’s going on over here, so when I tell him to send me his sergeants and his platoon sergeants, he has no problem doing it.”
After the NCOs are chosen to attend the class, the cadre wastes no time getting the ball rolling. An in-processing brief kicks off the training where Martinez –
the academy’s commandant – welcomes the newest group of soldiers to the academy.
“I make sure to let them know this isn’t going to be easy, but if they stick with it they will be very proud,” Martinez said.
The soldiers that do stick with the program will graduate in a ceremony held in their honor at the camp’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation movie theater. The newly trained NCOs are presented with graduation certificates in front of their peers, along with a congratulatory speech by Martinez.
One graduation ceremony in particular had a lasting effect on the 22-year veteran from Los Angeles.
“The night before graduation, one of the Iraqi soldiers insisted that he talk to me,” Martinez said. “He came up to me, and he said, ‘Sergeant major, I speak on behalf of all the sergeants here in this class when I tell you we are very grateful to you for the training you have given us, and may Allah bless you and protect you and your family.’ I was touched that he felt that way, and you could see it in his face how happy he was.”
The newly trained NCOs go back to their respective units upon graduating from the academy, with one exception. Select Iraqi NCOs have the opportunity to become part of the cadre.
The academy currently has eight Army personnel conducting training alongside a group of Iraqi sergeants. The Iraqi soldiers chosen to be part of the cadre were honor graduates from previous classes at the academy, said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Diego Alvarez, an academy instructor from the 98th Division, Rochester, N.Y.
“We’ve mentored three of the Iraqi cadre who are graduates of the NCO academy,” Alvarez said. “We want them to take a proactive role so we can step back, and with more Iraqi cadre they can eventually run the academy themselves.”
As a former drill sergeant who is used to training and taking care of Soldiers, Alvarez knows the importance of the academy.
“It’s important for the Iraqi army to have a strong NCO corps,” Alvarez said. “The NCOs are the caretakers of soldiers and set the standards.”
Although the 8th FA will begin redeployment in September, the NCO academy will continue to operate under the regiment’s successors, Martinez said.
“We can spend all the time in the world trying to catch terrorists,” Martinez said. “But we need to train the Iraqi Army, trust them, and help equip them. We have to build these guys up and give them the confidence to take over the missions. That’s what we are doing with the NCO academy.”
Toll on terror continues to climb
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 24, 2005) –Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 27 suspected terrorists Tuesday and today.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division detained three individuals at a checkpoint in Makuk today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained twelve individuals suspected of terrorist activity in southern and eastern Mosul Tuesday and today. Soldiers from 1-5 Infantry also wounded three suspected terrorists and seized a weapon from their vehicle while responding to small arms fire in Mosul Tuesday. The wounded suspected terrorists were transported to the Combat Support Hospital, and one uninjured suspected terrorist was detained.
Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in southern Mosul. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity in northern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity in central Mosul today. Weapons were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity in Rawah today.
The toll on terror continues to climb as ISF and MNF show resolve in tracking down terrorists responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
ISF and MNF persist in the fight against terrorism
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 23, 2005) –Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed one terrorist and detained 26 suspected terrorists Monday and today.
Iraqi Police killed one terrorist in central Mosul today. Iraqi Police and Soldiers from 4th Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment responded to indirect fire, and detained six suspected terrorists in Tal Afar today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals during a raid in western Mosul today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals at a checkpoint and found improvised explosive device making material in their vehicle in eastern Mosul. Soldiers from 1-5 also detained six more individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized many weapons at a checkpoint in separate operations in southern, northern, and eastern Mosul Monday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint in northern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained an individual during a raid in Tal Afar today. Soldiers from 2-3 ACR also detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint in Tal Afar. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment discovered weapons and ammunition in Rawah Monday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported. Weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Commander returns home with injured legs, arm
Link to Full Article
The News Tribune
Army Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla arrived at Madigan Army Medical Center late Monday for treatment of wounds he suffered Friday in a firefight in Mosul, Iraq.
Officials said Kurilla, commander of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, was shot in the arm and leg and suffered a broken leg.
He was reported in stable condition.
He is the highest-ranking officer in Fort Lewis’ second Stryker brigade to be seriously wounded in Iraq.
News that Kurilla was wounded came first via the online journal of freelance writer Michael Yon, who is embedded with the battalion known as “Deuce Four” and has written extensively about its operations – and its colorful commander. (Yon’s blog is at michaelyon.blogspot.com/)
He wrote Kurilla “was shot three times in combat yesterday in front of my eyes. Despite being seriously wounded, Kurilla immediately rejoined the intense and close-quarter fight that ended in hand-to-hand combat.
“Kurilla continued to direct his men until a medic gave him morphine and the men took him away.”
The brigade’s rear detachment commander, Maj. Nicholas Mullen, confirmed Monday that Kurilla had been shot near the elbow and in one leg.
It was the other leg that was broken, he said. [...]
Related:
Attacks injure two Fort Lewis battalion leaders - The Olympian
Security forces continue pressure on terrorism
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 22, 2005) –Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained eleven suspected terrorists Sunday and today.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity in northern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion 5th Infantry Regiment also detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized several weapons from their vehicle while at a checkpoint in southern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained four individuals at a checkpoint in Tal Afar Sunday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Dispatches From Iraq
Dave has posted a new dispatch on his site from his friend with the 1/25 SBCT in Mosul. He's provided links to the four previous dispatches as well.
ISF and coalition forces press to halt terrorism
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 20, 2005) –Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained nineteen suspected terrorists Saturday and today.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 2nd Division detained an individual at a checkpoint and seized a shotgun and ammunition from their vehicle. Iraqi Intervention Forces from 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Division detained another individual suspected of terrorist activity in Rawah Saturday with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in western Mosul. Soldiers from 1-24 also detained six more individuals and seized weapons and magazines. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint in southern Mosul Saturday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in northern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity and seized weapons, magazines, and rounds from their vehicle near Saltan Abdallah. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained an individual suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint in Tal Afar today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Proximity Delays
Michael Yon has posted a new entry to his blog.
Rodriguez offers details of Mosul dining hall attack
Link to Full Article
By Gordon Trowbridge, Times staff writer
A December suicide attack at an Army dining hall in northern Iraq was likely the work of an Ansar al-Sunna terrorist group member who somehow sneaked through the base perimeter, a senior U.S. officer said Friday.
The comments by Army Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez, commander of coalition troops in northwest Iraq, were the most detailed explanation yet as to how the bomber made his way into line at the dining hall and blew himself up, killing 21 others in one of the deadliest and most worrisome insurgent attacks of the war. Military officials had not released significant details of the investigation before now.
Rodriguez said the investigation, which is complete, was unable to determine whether the bomber was a member of the Iraqi army, though he was wearing an Iraqi uniform during the attack. It is also unclear whether the man was an Iraqi native or had come from outside the country, Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez, who briefed Pentagon reporters by video conference from Iraq, said investigators believe the attacker somehow penetrated the perimeter without passing through a base gate.
The Dec. 21 attack at Camp Marez, near Mosul, worried military commanders not only because of its lethality, but because it demonstrated insurgents could penetrate heavily protected U.S. bases. Previously, attacks on U.S. installations in Iraq had been limited to occasional and generally ineffective mortar and rocket launches from outside a base.
Security was tightened at bases throughout the country after the blast, and some analysts feared the attack would dissolve any trust between U.S. and Iraqi troops working side-by-side against the insurgency.
Ansar al-Sunna has operated in northern Iraq since well before coalition forces invaded the country in 2003. The Sunni Muslim extremist group has been responsible for dozens of high-profile attacks not only on coalition troops, but on officials of Kurdish ethnic political parties. The group is strongly linked to terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and to the al-Qaida network.
Rodriguez discussed other aspects of the counter-insurgency fight in northwest Iraq: [...]
Related:
Military: Mess tent bomber who killed Stryker troops wore Iraqi uniform, sneaked onto base - The Olympian
TF Automatic Articles
Provided below are a number of recent articles written by 1LT Dana Scott highlighting recent operations by the 2-8 FA, 1/25 SBCT.
Headlines:
Third Iraqi Army NCOA Class Graduates, Over 50 Shieks Gather to Meet with TF Automatic and the IA, Successful Cordon and Knock by Iraqi Army, Khalif is Elected as Mayor of Ash Shura
Full Articles:
Third Iraqi Army NCOA Class Graduates
FOB ENDURANCE, Iraq – On July 25th Task Force (TF) Automatic began the third Iraqi Army (IA) Non-Commissioned Officer Academy (NCOA) class on FOB Endurance, enhancing leadership capabilities of the IA and preparing them to assume the counter-insurgency fight. Today, those 45 soldiers graduated.
The ceremony opened with the US and Iraqi National Anthems and the invocation, delivered in Arabic by one of the graduates. The guest speaker, Command Sgt. Maj. Lawrence V. Mione, from the 2/101 Aviation Battalion, then spoke to the graduates.
At the NCOA, soldiers are given the opportunity to learn general NCO duties such as map reading, guard duty, first aid and basic rifle marksmanship. They also learn leadership responsibilities such as Iraqi Army values, Law of War, equal opportunity, effective communi-cations and ethics and professional standards. Military decision making process (MDMP), mission analysis and mission essential task list (METL) concepts are also taught during the 3-week course.
“You will begin to see your new found leadership unfold once you return to your respective battalions. You have been given the tools necessary to help train and lead those soldiers under you,” said Mione.
“While performing your duties you will face many difficult decisions. You must always remember to do what is right. Never forget, you are an NCO, a sergeant, a leader.”
Mione was followed by the presentation of awards and certificates. Awards included the Distinguished Honor Graduate Sgt. Hamdan Dais Humdan (3/3rd), Honor Graduates Sgt. Sallah H. Mohammed (1/3rd), Corporal Amar Ibrahim Mustaffa (3/3rd), and Corporal Khalil M. Hussain (3/3rd), and Distinguished Leadership Award Sgt. Maj. Shairzad Asaad Mohie (3rd).
TF Automatic has graduated several IA basic training and NCOA classes at its IA training facility on FOB Endurance since the beginning of 2005. Forty-five soldiers from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd IA Battalions, as well as soldiers from Hammam Al Alil outside of 3rd Brigade, graduated today to join the fight against terrorism.
Over 50 Shieks Gather to Meet with TF Automatic and the IA
HAJJ ALI, Iraq – Today Task Force (TF) Automatic, led by Lt. Col. Bradley Becker, and Iraqi Army (IA) battalion commanders Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Mallow and Lt. Col. Hogger Salahaddin Abdul met with local shieks east of the Tigris River in order to discuss civil affairs projects in their area.
Shieks from Hajj Ali and Awsijah had requested to meet with TF Automatic and the IA. They met at the house of Sheik Nazhan Sakar Salman, along with over 50 other local leaders. Mayor Saleh of Qayarrah and the D/52 Infantry Company Commander, Cpt. Thaddeus Wojtusik, were also there.
“Several civil affairs projects were discussed at the meeting,” said Cpt. Daniel Florey, TF Automatic Economics Officer. “The local leaders wanted to discuss project bids to ensure local contractors would get the opportunity to work on them.”
The meeting was entirely successful for TF Automatic. The TF is striving to develop the eastern side of the Tigris River for Sheik support and assist 3rd Battalion (IA) in the recent expansion of their area of operations
Cpt. Thaddeus Wojtusik and his company continue to work with the IA, the local police station and key leaders of villages east of the Tigris River to improve their safety, economy and living conditions.
Successful Cordon and Knock by Iraqi Army
AL ZAWIYAH, Iraq – Earlier today, 1/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion, led by Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Mallow, and Task Force (TF) Automatic, led by Lt. Col. Bradley Becker, conducted a cordon and knock operation in Al Zawiyah in order to detain battalion target Abdul Rahman Hassan Shaheen.
Also playing an integral part in the mission was Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA). One of the three targets was executed unilaterally by the IA, accompanied by their military transition team (MiTT). The mission was well timed with all three assault elements at the objective simultaneously.
While enroute to the objective, Ali received a call from a concerned citizen that a terrorist arrived to their village from Mosul. IA soldiers quickly located the individual and detained him. He and two other detainees all tested positive for TET.
Shaheen was not at the objective, but three of his associates were detained. 1/A/2-8 Field Artillery brought the detainees to Forward Operating Base (FOB) Endurance for further questioning.
Cpt. Cherokee Parks and his battery continue to work with the IA, the local police and key leaders of Al Zawiyah to improve their safety and living conditions.
Khalif is Elected as Mayor of Ash Shura
ASH SHURA, Iraq – Yesterday in Ash Shura, local Iraqis met in order to hold their village mayor elections. The two top runners were former Mayor Sabah and current Mayor Khalif, with Khalif winning the election.
“Ever since former Mayor Sabah was relieved from his position last February, he had wanted to regain his status,” said Cpt. Tony Mitek, former officer in charge of Task Force Automatic’s combat outpost in Ash Shura.
Khalif originates from Hammam Alil, while Sabah is from Ash Shura. Last February, following the Iraqi Elections, terrorists kidnapped Sabah’s brother. Sabah could no longer hold the position of mayor for fear of his family’s and his own security. His brother has since returned to Ash Shura alive and well.
“We knew it would be a close election,” explained First Lt. Drew Godwin, 1/D-52 Platoon Leader. “Sabah performed well while in office. However, there are a select few families in Ash Shura who are very influential. The Obaid family is the largest and favored Khalif.”
Electing a mayor is an intricate process. Sheiks and muhktars nominated councilmen. The city council was then elected and approved by the provincial council election committee. The mayor was then selected by the city council.
Mayor Khalif has been filling the position for five months without pay. The effective execution of electing the mayor demonstrates competent democracy in action with efficient provincial oversight.
Cpt. Thaddeus Wojtusik and his company continue to work with the IA, the local police station and key leaders of Ash Shura to improve their safety, economy and living conditions. Mayor Khalif has proven supportive over the past several months and TF Automatic expects to continue their positive working relationship with him and his people.
Stryker soldiers return
Link to Full Article
Associated Press
FORT LEWIS, Wash. — More than 60 Stryker soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, have returned home after being deployed to Iraq in October. They’re the first of 4,000 Stryker soldiers scheduled to return home from Iraq over the next several weeks.
“The light is definitely on at the end of the tunnel,” said Maj. Nicholas Mullen, the brigade’s rear detachment commander. “The Lancer Brigade has done such a great job, and we’re leaving Mosul a safer place than it was when we got there.” [...]
But despite Tuesday’s return of some soldiers, it’s possible that other brigade members could be held over in Iraq to provide security for Iraq’s national election in October.
But “it’s one step closer to getting everybody else back,” Mullen said.
Since the brigade was deployed to Iraq, 34 members have died and hundreds more have been wounded.
Just hours after the homecoming Tuesday, the Pentagon released the identity Spc. Jose L. Ruiz, a brigade member who died Monday during a driveby shooting in Mosul.
ISF and MNF detained 85 suspected terrorists
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 17, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 85 suspected terrorists Tuesday and today.
Iraqi Police detained 48 individuals suspected of terrorist activity in Shimshiyat. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division and Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division also detained 17 individuals suspected of terrorist activity in Afghani Tuesday.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity south of Mosul. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity in southern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment also detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity southeast of Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Troopers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained eight individuals suspected of terrorist activity in Segar today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi citizens and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
SPC Jose L. Ruiz
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
SPC Jose L. Ruiz, 28, of Brentwood, N.Y., died on August 15, 2005, in Mosul, Iraq, when he was conducting security operations and enemy forces using small arms fire drove by his position in a civilian vehicle. SPC Ruiz was assigned to the Army's 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, WA.
We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the loved ones he leaves behind. This entry will remain at the top of the page today, please scroll down for other recent news.
Soldier from Brentwood killed in Iraq - Newsday
Sminklemeyer pays tribute to SPC Ruiz.
School's 4th lost hero - New York Daily News
Another LI soldier lost - Newsday
Plans for soldier's funeral - Newsday
Fort Lewis Soldiers Say Goodbye To One Of Their Own - KOMO-TV
Soldiers remember bond with comrade - News-Tribune
New Yorker Killed In Iraq Is Remembered Here At Home - NY1 News
Family, Friends Gather To Remember New Yorker Killed In Iraq - NY1 News
Community says goodbye to 'hero' - Newsday
Hero G.I. buried - New York Daily News
Tears for a local hero - Newsday
Lives Blown Apart
The following editorial profiles Sema Olson and her son, CPL Bobby Rosendahl. CPL Rosendahl was a member of the 1/25 SBCT who was seriously injured in Mosul in March 2005. He is still recovering at Walter Reed and Sema has moved back there to be with him. The struggle described by this family is one that I've heard many times before, unfortunately. We've put together a list of organizations that offer direct support if you're interested in helping families in similar situations.
Link to Full Editorial
By BOB HERBERT, The New York Times
Sema Olson was in the living room watching television when the phone rang. It was the Department of the Army calling. A voice asked if she'd heard from her son in the past 24 hours.
Ms. Olson tried to ward off the panic. "Is he still alive?" she asked.
After verifying her identity, the man on the phone assured her that her son, Bobby Rosendahl, who was stationed in Iraq, was still alive. But he'd been badly wounded.
With that Saturday night phone call, life as Ms. Olson had known it came to an end. Her family's long, long period of overwhelming sacrifice was under way.
Bobby Rosendahl, a 24-year-old Army corporal (and avid golfer) from Tacoma, Wash., was literally blown into the air last March 12 when an improvised explosive device detonated beneath his Stryker armored vehicle. He remembers landing on his back, with fuel spilling all around him and insurgents firing at him from the roof of a mosque. [...]
Ms. Olson, who is 45 and divorced, gave up everything - her work, her rented townhouse, her car - and moved from Tacoma to a hotel on the grounds of Walter Reed to be with her son and assist in his recovery. [...]
Ms. Olson is a paralegal who did work for several lawyers in Tacoma. She also worked as a claims analyst for the city's transit system. With that work gone, she is now living on the $48 per diem she receives from the Army for food and lodging, along with money that she has reluctantly been drawing from her son's Army pay, and assistance she is receiving from another son, Keith, who is 27.
She has also received help from charitable organizations that assist military families.
Be sure to read the full story. Thanks to M Baker for the link.
A small, sweet homecoming
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
They call it the torch party – a small group to go ahead and light the way for others to follow – and Tuesday it touched down at Fort Lewis.
Sixty-two Stryker soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division arrived home from Iraq to begin making way for the rest of their 4,000 comrades over the next several weeks.
Their first arrival is no insurance against the prospect that the brigade might be held over to provide security for Iraq’s national election in October.
But, “it’s one step closer to getting everybody else back,” Maj. Nicholas Mullen, the brigade’s rear detachment commander, said at Tuesday’s buoyant welcome-home ceremony.
“The light is definitely on at the end of the tunnel,” Mullen said. “The Lancer Brigade has done such a great job, and we’re leaving Mosul a safer place than it was when we got there.”
About 200 spouses, kids, soldiers and other well-wishers were on hand at Wilson Gym for the advance party’s return. A second group of about 60 soldiers is due in today.
The first wave initially was scheduled to arrive Sunday night, then early Wednesday, then Tuesday night, and finally, Tuesday afternoon.
First batch of Stryker soldiers return home
Link to Full Article
By Christian Hill, The Olympian
FORT LEWIS — As she watched more than 60 soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 25th In-fantry Division, reunite with their families Tuesday, Lynnette Beagle lamented that her own husband’s homecoming is weeks away.
“I’m excited for the girls who get their husbands home, but we’ve got a month or so before we get our husbands,” said Beagle, whose spouse, Kevin, a troop commander in the unit, is set to return in mid-September. “I just hope we get the rest of the guys home safe and quick.”
Hours later, the Pentagon released the identity of the 33rd member of the brigade to be killed since it deployed to Iraq in October. Spc. Jose L. Ruiz, 28, of Brentwood, N.Y., died Monday during a drive-by shooting in Mosul.
His death brought a sad conclusion to what Col. John Pepper described as a great day for Fort Lewis in brief remarks to the returning soldiers before he released them to their families.
The soldiers who returned Tuesday make up half of the advance team that will pre-pare for the arrival of the remaining soldiers. The advance team’s remaining soldiers are set to return today.
Their arrival signifies that the brigade’s deployment is coming to an end. The bulk of the brigade’s soldiers will return next month and into October.
The brigade, more commonly known as the nation’s second Stryker Brigade Combat Team, is based in Mosul and conducted security and stability operations throughout northern Iraq. [...]
Bank a re-up bonus when you pick a brigade combat team
The 1/25 SBCT and some of its soldiers are highlighted in this story.
Link to Full Article (Subscription; Available in the 8/22/05 paper edition)
By Jim Tice and Matthew Cox, Times staff writers
Specific assignment opportunities also available
Re-enlistment bonuses and specific assignment opportunities are available to soldiers who volunteer for brigade combat teams at three stateside locations.
At Fort Lewis, Wash., certain specialists, sergeants and staff sergeants of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, can net $10,000 or $15,000 bonuses if they re-enlist and stay with the unit at least four years.
Ultimately this Stryker unit will be stationed in Vilsek, Germany, but not before returning from Mosul, Iraq, later this summer to its home base at Fort Lewis. The brigade will reset at Lewis and be reflagged the 2nd Cavalry Regiment before moving to Germany in 2006. Under the brigade stationing plan announced by the Army in late July, the unit currently organizing at Lewis as the 2nd Cavalry Regiment will be reflagged as one of three Lewis-based Stryker brigades of the 2nd Infantry Division.
The good word on Selective Re-enlistment Bonuses has made it to the combat zone, where Sgt. William Samuelson, with Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, a 1-25 unit, is going through the re-enlistment process and will net about $13,000 tax-free. The 25-year-old from Spanaway, Wash., has been in the Army for six years and is waiting to sign his final re-up paperwork.
“Even though the op tempo is really high now … it’s basically a good, secure job,” he said during an interview near Rawah, Iraq, a small town near the Syrian border. “You have to make sacrifices, but it’s worth it in the end.”
Spc. Matthew Beaudette, who, like Samuelson, is an 11B infantryman with 3-21, raised his right hand in Mosul on July 12 to sign on for four more years with the 1-25.
He knows he’ll stay with the unit all the way to Germany.
“The main reason was I really wanted to see Europe,” he said. “I’ve been to Korea. I’d like to see Germany, and it also gives me some time before I have to come back to Iraq.”
Col. Robert Brown, commander of the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry division, said the 1-25th was chosen to go to Germany because it will be ready before the current 2nd Cavalry Regiment, which has just begun its conversion to Stryker.
“The Army needs a Stryker brigade in Germany that will be ready to deploy,” he said.[...]
Video Of Stryker Homecoming
Local TV station KING 5 has a video clip of the homecoming tonight at Ft. Lewis for the advance team of the 1/25 SBCT. Registration is required to access most content on the site, but it might be worth it. If you are already registered you can follow this direct link to the clip. Otherwise, visit the home page to register, then navigate to the video section of the site.
Welcome home!
In Mosul, a shaky Iraqi police force tries again
Link to Full Article
By Richard A. Oppel Jr., The New York Times
MOSUL, Iraq The Five West police station, erected over four days in July on a gravel-covered hill in the most violent part of this violent city, is little more than concertina wire, concrete barriers, gun towers and portable sheds. Police officers mill about, some in street clothes or gym shorts, sorting through Glock pistols and machine-gun belts.
It may not look like much, but garrisoning police so deep inside the insurgency's home turf would have been inconceivable a few months ago, say American officers, who credit the police with gathering intelligence leading to the capture of terror suspects even as attacks against police officers have soared. [...]
Many soldiers believe the police could crumble unless the American troops stay for years.
"Without that security blanket, the Iraqi police will be scared, and a scared Iraqi is a useless Iraqi," said First Sergeant Keith Utley of the First Battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment, which patrols western Mosul.
The executive officer of one company in the battalion, First Lieutenant Dan Kearney, said Mosul could see gang-style civil war no matter when troops leave. "While we're here, it's like they have Big Brother looking over them," he says of the police. "I don't think the police are the kind of people who will stick it out." [...]
In addition, the Iraqi police suffer from widespread corruption. A $5,000 to $10,000 bribe can spring a prisoner from jail, says the American battalion's commander, Lieutenant Colonel Erik Kurilla. Many police officers terrify residents, shooting automatic weapons wildly to clear traffic or intimidate bystanders.
The police are also known to "arrest" people to serve as day laborers and to steal money during searches, say American officers.
And much of the intelligence the police gather comes from beating information out of detainees, Iraqi and American officers say - tactics some fear could hurt Mosul in the long run.
Kurilla said the police might be ready to replace U.S. troops next year - if their improvement continues and the flow of foreign fighters is stopped.
The police now shoot back at attackers instead of fleeing, and undercover officers are arresting insurgents, he said. "There are lots of issues," he said. "But where they are now versus where they were in November is night and day."
Early in the occupation, Mosul enjoyed relative peace despite its volatile ethnic mix of two million people, mostly Sunni Arabs on the west side of the Tigris River and Kurds on the east. At the outset, the American military based an oversized division of 30,000 here, but it cut the number of troops last year by two-thirds.
As the Marines invaded Falluja in November, Mosul was seized by an insurgent revolt. More than 200 Iraqi corpses, many of them soldiers and policemen, turned up along side streets or traffic circles, their heads sawed off or riddled with bullets.
For months Mosul had no police. Then, on March 23, five dozen men showed up at a police station near the Tigris called Four West, named for its status as one of the principal stations on the west side. Kurilla e-mailed his boss with the heading: "The west Mosul police are back…..for now."
Arriving in October, Kurilla's battalion endured some of the most violent urban warfare of the war. In 10 months, the 700-soldier unit has been awarded 153 Purple Hearts and seen a dozen men die, including one killed Aug. 4 by a sniper near Four West.
It is calmer now: Attacks against troops in western Mosul fell in July to their lowest level of the year. Commerce has returned, and vegetable and finished-goods markets bustle. But attacks against the police have risen as fast as attacks against Americans have declined, doubling in two months, Kurilla said.
About two of three insurgent attacks are now directed at Iraqi police officers or soldiers, he said. Even so, violence against American troops probably will never decline much further, he said.
"It's foolish to think there will be a nirvana where American soldiers can carry flowers down the street," he says. "There will always be somebody willing to pick up an AK-47 and shoot Americans."
Much of the police force's routine is still guided by American troops, who visit western Mosul's 10 police stations up to a half-dozen times a day and supply guns, barriers, computers and other needs, while inundating the police with constant direction on tactics and strategy. [...]
The story continues with more detail on the interaction the police and the Deuce Four in Mosul.
Eight suspected terrorists detained during operations in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 16, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained eight suspected terrorists Monday and today.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st Division detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity in western Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion 24th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion 21st Infantry Regiment also detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity in northern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi citizens and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Iraqi and MNF net terrorist suspects and weapons
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 15, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed two terrorists, detained 16 individuals suspected of terrorist activity, and seized weapons and ammunition during operations today and Sunday.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity, seized three weapons and a large amount of ammunition during a raid in northern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment killed a terrorist attempting to fire a rocket propelled grenade in northern Mosul. Soldiers from 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment also killed a sniper in Tal Afar Sunday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity in western Mosul Sunday. In two separate operations Sunday, Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity in northern and southern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity east of Ajamiyah. Soldiers from 2-14 also seized a weapon and ammunition during a raid in Rawah Sunday. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction and the suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom and Iraqi citizens continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Local leaders and Iraqi citizens respond positively to medical care for children
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 15, 2005) – Over 600 Iraqi children received medical and dental screenings from Multi-National Force Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) and the 113th Engineer Battalion with security support from Coalition Forces during two separate operations in western Mosul Friday and Sunday.
Soldiers, doctors, nurses, medics and dentists from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment and the 113th Engineer Battalion conducted the screenings and handed out stuffed animals and hygiene products to the local children. This is the fifth and sixth operation of its kind in the last four weeks. Local citizens and leaders responded positively to the care and security provided by medical team and Coalition Forces.
Unit finds possible chemical laboratory
Link to Full Article
By Matthew Cox, Times staff writer
MOSUL, Iraq — The contraption looks like a homemade moonshine distillery fashioned from junk-yard parts, but the Army suspects it is a “clandestine” chemical plant .
Army officials today took reporters here on a brief tour of the facility, which was captured during an Aug. 9 raid along with 1,500 gallons of suspicious chemicals.
Initial testing by chemical teams from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) found no evidence of chemical warfare agents, but more detailed tests are being conducted in Baghdad as well as the United States, said Maj. Michael Petrunyak, chemical officer for Task Force Freedom.
Petrunyak said the home-made equipment found at the chemical plant could be used for mixing these industrial chemicals into some type of weapon such as an accelerant for explosives. He said there was no evidence as to whether the plant existed before the start of the U.S. war in Iraq in March 2003.
Michael Yon Interview - Recording
For those of you who were not able to hear the Michael Yon interview live last night, you can hear the entire hour-long interview in recorded format at this URL. The recording is courtesy of Pundit Review.
The good fight: Forging bonds in the community
Link to Full Article
By Matthew Cox, Army Times
RAWAH, Iraq — Soldiers are beginning to think fighting off suicide car-bombers here was easy compared to convincing the locals to trust coalition forces.
The troops with B Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, patrol the streets daily here in search of insurgent activity, but they also spend a lot of time trying to convince the residents of this town near the Syrian border that they no longer live under the control of terrorists.
The lull in the fighting since U.S. forces arrived here in mid-July has prompted many locals to return to their homes. People are beginning to cooperate with coalition forces in small ways, such as spilling the locations of enemy weapons caches.
Still, progress is slow and some residents are boldly defiant of U.S. troops.
During an Aug. 11 patrol, a 20-year-old Iraqi man tore up a coalition flier in the face of Capt. Mark Ivezaj, Bravo Company commander. U.S. forces have been handing out the single sheet of paper explaining why American and Iraqi forces are in Rawah and how residents can cooperate.
“Ask him why he thinks it’s OK to tear up our stuff in front of us!” Ivezaj shouts in a stern voice to his interpreter, while questioning the man. The young man’s demeanor changes quickly. Fear and a touch of regret spread across his face.
“I’m just a kid,” he replies through the interpreter.
Ivezaj orders his soldiers to detain him. The frustration is clear in his voice.
He tore it up “right in front of me and smiled about it,” he said, shaking his head. A few minutes later, Ivezaj turns the man over to nearby Iraqi forces for questioning.
Attacks still a fact of life.
The steady enemy attacks on Stryker vehicle patrols have eased since 3-21 and other U.S. forces arrived here in mid-July. Nevertheless, they remain a moment-to-moment threat.
Iraqi and Multi-National Forces net terrorist suspects and weapons
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 15, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed two terrorists, detained 16 individuals suspected of terrorist activity, and seized weapons and ammunition during operations today and Sunday.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity, seized three weapons and a large amount of ammunition during a raid in northern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment killed a terrorist attempting to fire a rocket propelled grenade in northern Mosul. Soldiers from 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment also killed a sniper in Tal Afar Sunday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity in western Mosul Sunday. In two separate operations Sunday, Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity in northern and southern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity east of Ajamiyah. Soldiers from 2-14 also seized a weapon and ammunition during a raid in Rawah Sunday. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction and the suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom and Iraqi citizens continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
TF Automatic Articles
Provided below are a number of recent articles written by 1LT Dana Scott highlighting recent operations by the 2-8 FA, 1/25 SBCT.
Headlines:
Iraqi Army Conducts Combined Operation with TF Automatic, Iraqi Army Delivers IED Detonating Device, Iraqi Army and C/2-8 Conduct Combined Cordon and Search
Full Articles:
Iraqi Army Conducts Combined Operation with TF Automatic
NINEWAH, IRAQ – Task Force (TF) Automatic conducted two simultaneous raids in Ninewah Province yesterday in conjunction with 3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Brigade in order to capture Ali Hussein Bahkr and weapons caches.
At objectives Delhi and Rome, the IA and TF Automatic were able to track down the targeted individual, as well as a small illegal weapons cache. Bahkr was detained with 1 x glock, 1 x small pistol, 1 x shotgun, 4 x AK-47 and 1 x 75 round drum (7.62 mm) full. Bahkr also tested positive for both TNT and TET.
The IA and TF Automatic continue to maintain pressure against the AIF in order to ensure a successful RIP/TOA with 4-11 Field Artillery.
Iraqi Army Delivers IED Detonating Device
AL HAWD, IRAQ – Task Force (TF) Automatic’s explosive ordinance demolition (EOD) Team 6, led by Master Sgt. Charles Lee, responded to an IED related call from the front gate of FOB Endurance on August 3rd.
An Iraqi Army (IA) officer had delivered an IED detonating device to the front gate. The device was from an IED that had already detonated behind an IA convoy the day prior in Al Hawd.
The device consisted of one silver Senao LRCT base station, model 3310N with modified antenna and one gray washing machine timer. There was no power source with the device, however.
The team recovered the device from the IA officer for exploitation. The process demonstrated another example of the IA and Coalition working together.
Iraqi Army and C/2-8 Conduct Combined Cordon and Search
AKRAT, IRAQ – Task Force (TF) Automatic’s C/2-8 Field Artillery (FA), led by Cpt. Matt Yost, conducted a combined operation with 1/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion, led by Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Mallow, on August 5th in Akrat.
The units conducted a well-planned cordon and search, involving both a ground and air assault element, in order to detain suspected terrorists Fadl Raifa’I Essa and Abdullah Mohammed Sadoon. The operation also led to the capture of 23 other suspected terrorists.
The cordon and search operation demonstrated another example of the IA and Coalition working together.
There's good news, too, to be had in Iraq
Link to Full Article (Opinion)
By DEROY MURDOCK, Chicago Sun-Times
Amid roadside bombs, constitutional squabbles and even a blinding sandstorm on Monday, one wonders if anything is going right in Iraq. Plenty is, actually, although the mainstream media rarely mention such good news. [...]
Civic-affairs work by uniformed personnel may have persuaded average Iraqis to furnish useful information. On Aug. 5, GIs and medics from the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Division, plus Iraqi police, performed health screenings on 200 Mosul children. They also gave these kids soccer balls.
During five such missions since mid-July, some 1,000 kids in Mosul received basic medical attention. [...]
Fort Lewis postpones Stryker ceremony
Link to Full Article
The Olympian
A welcome home ceremony for about 75 Stryker soldiers assigned to the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, was postponed Sunday, Fort Lewis officials said. The new date and time for their arrival ceremony have not been announced.
The soldiers are part of the 4,000-member Lancer Brigade, which has been deployed in Iraq since October.
About 75 more Lancers are expected to arrive at the post Wednesday. [...]
Offensive operations press against terror
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 14, 2005) –Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces of Task Force Freedom detained 21 individuals suspected of terrorist activity today and Saturday.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division along with soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity in separate cordon and knock operations north of Qayyarah Saturday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained eight individuals attempting to cross the border south of Rabiah Saturday. Soldiers from the 3rd ACR also detained two individuals, suspected of terrorist activity, during a raid west of Tal Afar today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Security forces continue on the offensive to suppress terror operations. Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Coordinated efforts continue to strike out against terrorism
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 13, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom killed one terrorist, injured another four, detained seven suspected terrorists and seized weapons during operations in northern Iraq Friday.
Iraqi Police detained one individual after being attacked with small arms fire in northeastern Mosul Friday. The suspect is in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment killed one terrorist and injured four after being attacked with small arms fire in northern Mosul. Two individuals suspected of involvement in the attack were also detained. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals and confiscated weapons during a cordon and search in eastern Mosul Friday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron 14th Cavalry Regiment seized weapons from a school during a raid in Rawah. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi citizens and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
TF Automatic Articles
Provided below are a number of recent articles written by 1LT Dana Scott highlighting recent operations by the 2-8 FA, 1/25 SBCT.
Headlines:
DEO Meeting Held on FOB Endurance, Iraqi Army Reports Partially Detonated IED to TF Automatic, 1/3rd Iraqi Army Battalion Detains 11 Suspected Terrorists, Makhmur Plays IA-TF Automatic Team in New Stadium, Ash Shura Comes Together for Area Security Council Meeting, Third Iraqi Army NCOA Class Begins
Full Articles:
DEO Meeting Held on FOB Endurance
FOB ENDURANCE, IRAQ – Task Force (TF) Automatic met with District Election Officials (DEO) from five of the most populated villages in Ninewah Province on Forward Operating Base (FOB) Endurance yesterday, August 5th, to discuss the advent of Iraqi voters registration and elections.
The meeting, lasting just under an hour, discussed the security plan for the local polling sites during voters registration. All Iraqi’s, ages 18 and above, will be eligible to register from August 8th to the 31st. Local schools will be used as polling sites and will be secured by the Iraqi Army (IA) and Iraqi police.
“The meeting went very well,” said Cpt. Richard Crosby, TF Automatic Plans Officer. “The officials are ready to get the process underway as soon as a security and protection plan is well established.”
“What we’re concentrating on most is that the registration and voting process displays an Iraqi face, where Coalition forces play only a support and supervisory role,” said Crosby.
The villages present at the meeting were Gware, Ash Shura, and Al Hadr, represented by Khaled Ratou Bahue, Najim Hasan, and Ali Akhmed Saleh. Qayarrah and Jedda also had a representative present at the meeting.
Iraqi Army Reports Partially Detonated IED to TF Automatic
TAL AZBAH, IRAQ – Task Force (TF) Automatic’s explosive ordinance demolition (EOD) Team 6 responded to a post blast yesterday in Tal Azbah along ASR Richmond, which was reported by Iraqi Army’s 1/3rd Battalion.
Team 6, led by Master Sgt. Charles Lee, confirmed that an IED had detonated earlier that morning but there were two remaining explosives that had not detonated.
TF Automatic’s quick reaction force (QRF) established security while Lee and his team conducted an initial recon using the Talon robot. The recon identified two partially detonated 130 mm illumination projectiles in a pile of gravel. After removing both projectiles from their emplacement, they searched the area for possible secondary devices.
The team remotely placed a 5-pound drop charge on the gravel pile in order to possibly find another device. No other devices found, the leader donned the bomb suit and was driven to the site. Lee recovered the projectiles and conducted a hasty search for secondary devices with negative results.
The team returned to FOB Endurance and placed the projectiles in a holding area pending disposal.
1/3rd Iraqi Army Battalion Detains 11 Suspected Terrorists
NINEVAH, IRAQ – 1/3rd Iraqi Army Battalion, commanded by Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Mallowh, conducted flash TCPs along route Atlanta yesterday, detaining 11 suspected terrorists, two of which tested positive when vapor traced for IED remnants.
Due to a recent increase in IED activity in Ali’s area of operations, he collected several intelligence reports and executed the direct action mission accordingly. He and his soldiers conducted a hasty planning session and executed the unilateral mission successfully.
Adjacent unit coordination was made between 1/3rd IA and 1-5 Infantry (IN) Battalion. The two units shared intelligence that led to a joint target being captured by Ali for 1-5 IN.
“It was a perfectly timed and executed operation,” commented Maj. Chris Cardoni, Task Force (TF) Automatic’s Operations Officer. “Brig. Gen. Ali properly positioned his men at the necessary TCPs, directing them to commence their target searches at the specified time.”
The 11 individuals were from the villages of Az Zawiyah, Tal Azbah, Al Hawd, Ar Rasif, and Surits. All are currently in Task Force Automatic’s detention facility for further questioning.
Makhmur Plays IA-TF Automatic Team in New Stadium
MAKHMUR, Iraq – Task Force (TF) Automatic and soldiers from the Iraqi Army joined together against a Makhmur team in a soccer match yesterday August 1st, celebrating Makhmur’s brand new sports stadium opening.
The new $46,000 sports complex consists of a leveled playing field, bleachers, covered patio, and several cement buildings to include bathrooms, showers, and a snack bar.
“Before the stadium was built, the area was just a pile of large rocks and rubble,” explained Capt. Jon Jacobson of the TF Automatic civil affairs team. “The construction was done by a local contractor. That’s something we try to do with most projects: hire local contractors and local help.”
Several people attended the celebration. 3rd Iraqi Army Battalion Commander and Executive Officer, Lt. Col. Hogger Salahaddin Abdul and Lt. Col. Dildar Jameel Mohammed Doski were there with their soldiers. Mayor of Makhmur Abdul Rahman also attended, as well as several members of the city council.
“It was a great time spent in Makhmur,” said Lt. Col. Bradley Becker, TF Automatic Commander. “We always enjoy spending time there because they take care of their village and their people, it’s very clean, and the food is great.”
Ash Shura Comes Together for Area Security Council Meeting
ASH SHURA, Iraq – The monthly Ash Shura Area Security Council meeting took place on July 31th in Ash Shura. Topics covered during the meeting included the security, civil affairs projects, and schools.
“Over 40 local leaders were in attendance, with additional military and police personnel,” said Second Lt. Joe Swisher, 2/D-52 Platoon Leader.
D-52 Infantry Company Commander, Cpt. Thaddeus Wojtusik, opened the meeting discussing the many good things that have happened in the region during the past month. Successes included the local law enforcement making headway in the fight against terrorists, as well as several civil affairs projects in the works.
The first litigious issue raised during the meeting concerned security. Ash Shura Mayor Khalif spoke of the importance of local leaders working hand in hand with the Iraqi Army and Iraqi police force.
Former Mayor Sabah also spoke at the meeting. “Recently relieved of his position last February, he was hoping to be re-elected as Mayor in the upcoming months,” explained First Lt. Drew Godwin, 1/D-52 Platoon Leader.
The remaining issues brought up during the monthly meeting involved civil affairs projects. Many of the local leaders were not there to discuss security, as has been the case in the past, but to ensure their consideration and status for project funding. There were many questions concerning money paid and money to be paid.
The meeting was laconic, only lasting 45 minutes, but very effective with numerous issues resolved. Wajtusik and his company continue to work with the IA, the local police stations and key leaders of Ash Shura to improve their safety, economy and living conditions.
Third Iraqi Army NCOA Class Begins
FOB ENDURANCE, Iraq – On July 25th Task Force (TF) Automatic began the third Iraqi Army (IA) Non-Commissioned Officer Academy (NCOA) class on FOB Endurance, enhancing leadership capabilities of the IA and preparing them to assume the counter-insurgency fight.
At the NCOA, soldiers are given the opportunity to learn general NCO duties such as map reading, guard duty, first aid and basic rifle marksmanship. They also learn leadership responsibilities such as Iraqi Army values, Law of War, equal opportunity, effective communi-cations and ethics and professional standards. Military decision making process (MDMP), mission analysis and mission essential task list (METL) concepts are also taught during the 3-week course.
TF Automatic has graduated several IA basic training and NCOA classes at its IA training facility on FOB Endurance since the beginning of 2005. Just over 50 soldiers from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd IA Battalions, as well as soldiers from Hammam Al Alil outside of 3rd Brigade, will graduate from the NCOA next month. The eleven TF Automatic trainers will relish in their 1-day off before they begin their next IA basic training course.
“The Iraqi soldiers begin their training with three days of rifle marksmanship followed by a three-day first aid field training exercise,” says NCOA Chief Instructor Sgt. First Class Thomas Trott. “This coming week’s main event will be the obstacle course.”
Iraqi Cops: These Are Street Fightin' Boys!
Link to Full Article
Jim Kouri
In two staggered columns, one on each side of a busy Mosul street, a group of Iraqi Police Commandos file on foot away from the safety of Forward Operation Base Blickenstaff and into the uncertainty of mid-afternoon rush hour. They make foot patrols through the streets of Mosul a few times a week, wearing body armor vests, weapons always at the ready.
“These are the street fightin’ boys,” says US Army Staff Sgt. Chris Paschel, who works with the commandos of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade with US Army Sgt. 1st Class Carl Paris. “They are combat tested.”
On a recent patrol, a group of 25 commandos covered roughly three miles, navigating spots of heavy traffic along a commercial district. At one point, gunshots ringing out in the distance forced them to take cover until it was safe to continue. Along the route, several motorists and passersby waved hello or stopped to shake the hands of the commandos and their US advisers, Paris and Paschel. On a street with a local elementary school, a cluster of children ran to shake their hands and ask for candy.
The patrols serve several purposes, Paschel and Paris say. It lets the citizens of Mosul see their security forces at work, and it sends the commandos out in search of enemies. A couple of months ago, the group of commandos captured a high-value insurgent who was identified as having beheaded several people in a business they pass by on foot patrols.
When they go out with the commandos, Paschel and Paris do not give too much direction. The authority for the foot missions is in the hands of the ranking Iraqi officer.
The commandos also go out on coordinated missions. One recent night they set out after dark in search of a man suspected of aiding insurgents. They didn't find him, but they'll keep trying until they do, the advisers say.
“They love missions, they love to capture the bad guys,” says Iraqi Police Commando Maj. Heider. Heider says he is not only proud of his men, but emotionally connected as well.
“They aren't my company, they are my family,” says Heider.
Michael Yon Interview
Michael Yon, who is currently embedded with Deuce Four in Mosul, will be a guest on the WRKO Pundit Review radio program this Sunday. Details:
Michael will be on live from Mosul, Iraq this Sunday evening at 9pm EST. You can stream the show live at WRKO and you can call us toll-free with questions at 877-469-4322.
Visit the Pundit Review site for more information.
UPDATE 8/14: Michael Yon has posted a brief entry on his site regarding the interview as well.
UPDATE 8/15: For those of you who were not able to hear the Michael Yon interview live, you can hear the entire hour-long interview in recorded format at this URL. The recording is courtesy of Pundit Review.
Local man hurt in Iraq by explosion
Link To Full Article
By JENNIFER SICKING, Gainesville Daily Register
An Army soldier from Cooke County was injured Monday when his vehicle hit an explosive device in Mosul, Iraq.
Staff Sgt. William "Bill" J. Shaw, with the Striker Brigade out of Fort Lewis, Wash., suffered shrapnel wounds to his left thigh and leg, his mother, Carlotta Barron said Thursday.
Shaw was transported to the 228th Combat Hospital in Mosul, Iraq, for emergency treatment. He was released from the hospital Friday and is on light duty while he recovers.
His wife, Sarah, said she received a call on her cell phone from her husband's platoon sergeant Monday about 5 p.m. Texas time.
"I knew it was something bad," she said. "They don't call you unless something happened. I was scared and worried. It terrified me."
The family received official notification of Staff Sgt. Shaw's injury on Tuesday.
"He was in a Striker (tank) going down a street in Mosul when his vehicle hit an IED (improvised explosive device)," Barron said.
Barron said it was "hard" to hear of her son's injuries and for him to be in a hospital so far away.
"This is his second tour with the Army," she said. "He's a proud soldier, but he's ready to come home. I'm ready too."
He's scheduled to return from Iraq in September to Washington and to be discharged from the Army in December. [...]
Clarification on 1st Brigade's move to Germany
The following information was approved for release by Stryker Brigade News by 1st Brigade Commanders.
There is much confusion over the Brigade/Battalion’s move to Germany based on some articles in local newspapers. Much of the confusion is from the decision to re-flag (re-name) units.
Here are the simple facts to clarify for everyone:
1. The majority of the Brigade will move to Germany in summer 2006 between June and August. This includes 1-24 Infantry and all assigned battalions.
2. 1st Brigade, 25th ID will most likely re-flag (change unit designations) to become the 2nd Cavalry Regiment. All this means is the patch on the shoulder changes and the name of the Battalion designation changes. Think of when the Houston Oilers moved to Tennessee and became the Tennessee Titans – same players, different name. This will happen either right prior to the deployment to Germany or upon arrival in Germany.
3. Soldiers can re-enlist here in Iraq to stay with the Brigade and go to Germany. A nice bonus is available.
4. New soldiers, NCO’s, and officers who are assigned to the 1st Brigade at Fort Lewis upon redeployment all the way until April 2006 will deploy with the Brigade to Germany.
5. Some current soldiers, NCO’s and officers will be re-assigned to other units or other posts based on needs of the Army (Drill Sergeant School, Recruiter duty, etc.), professional development schools, or individual soldier/NCO requests. Some soldiers that do not have enough time on their current enlistment will move to other units, either on Fort Lewis or throughout the Army to finish out their enlistment. The exact amount of time required to deploy to Germany is still being worked.
I hope this helps and I have not muddied the waters even more but exact timelines and ETS dates for those who deploy to Germany are still being worked.
Suspects captured, weapons cache seized during operations
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 12, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained three suspected terrorists and seized a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in western Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint north of Qayyarah. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint in Tal Afar. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a cordon and search operation in Tal Afar. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom and Iraqi citizens continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Welcome home, pack your bags
Additional reorganization details provided in this article.
Link to Full Article
MICHAEL GILBERT; The News Tribune
The first returning 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division soldiers are due in from Iraq on Sunday night, but they and their families might not be at Fort Lewis for long.
Many will move to Germany next year under an Army-wide shift of its 43 combat brigades.
When all the moves are complete over the next couple of years, Fort Lewis will still be home to three of the Army’s leading-edge Stryker brigades. But two of the three will have a new name and military identity – and many new faces.
Still, much uncertainty and speculation remains following the July 27 announcement of the Army’s restationing plan.
“This is where we’re going to wind up,” said Joseph Piek, a post spokesman. “Exactly how we get there and what the time frame is, stand by.”
The plan was announced at the Pentagon by Gen. Richard Cody, the vice chief of staff of the Army, and Raymond Dubois, special assistant to the secretary of the Army. In addition, Secretary of the Army Francis Harvey spoke briefly about the moves during his visit to Fort Lewis on Wednesday, and Fort Lewis spokesmen added some details Thursday.
Here’s what they’re saying:
Be sure to read the details.
First contingent of Stryker soldiers returns Sunday
Link to Full Article
BY CHRISTIAN HILL, THE OLYMPIAN
FORT LEWIS -- Nearly 150 soldiers from the Army's second Stryker Brigade Combat Team return home next week to prepare for the arrival of the unit's remaining soldiers from Iraq.
Planes carrying the rest of the soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, should begin arriving within three to six weeks, said Joseph Piek, a civilian spokesman at the Army post.
About 75 soldiers from the unit's "Torch Party" are expected Sunday, with about the same number set to arrive Wednesday.
The soldiers returning Sunday will be reunited with family members after a brief ceremony at Wilson Gym.
The group represents a small number of soldiers from each of the brigade's units.
"They basically need to come here and get acquainted with where their representative units are located and open things back up to receive the unit," Piek said. [...]
Relentless Security Forces continue pace against terror
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 11, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained one suspected terrorists and seized three weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq today.
Iraqi Police alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment seized two weapons caches during raids in western Mosul. The caches included several mortar and rocket propelled grenade rounds, a mortar tube, several blasting caps, and other improvised explosive device making material. Iraqi Intervention Force troops from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Division seized a weapons cache during a search operation in Rawah. The cache included various rifles, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and various grenades. All weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from the 1-24th also detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in central Mosul. Suspect is in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom and Iraqi citizens continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
‘Then it blew’
Link to Full Article (Opinion) (Subscription. Available in the 8/15/05 news stand edition)
By Matthew Cox, Army Times
Army Times reporter Matthew Cox and photographer James J. Lee have been patrolling the Syrian border with troops from Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment.
The 3-21 and 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, are part of a task force under 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division that has been operating in the area since mid-July in an effort to cut off insurgent infiltration routes.
The troops have been targeted regularly since arriving. On the afternoon of Aug. 1, a suicide bomber detonated a taxi packed with explosives in front of their stopped Stryker combat vehicle.
This is Cox’s account of getting a taste of what for the troops has become a common experience.
AL BU HARDEN, Iraq — I heard the two shots from Spc. Eddie Martinez’s M16, but I had no idea he was firing at a suicide car-bomber steering straight for us.
There was the “pop, pop” of the soldier’s weapon — though at the time, I did not know where the gunfire was coming from — then a deafening roar as a tremendous force knocked me to my hands and knees.
The suicide bomber had detonated his explosives-packed taxi fewer than 25 feet away.
Dust, earth, gravel, car parts and shrapnel flew everywhere; the air stank of scorched rubber and petroleum.
Moments before, photographer James J. Lee — we call him J. Lee — and I had been standing near the rear ramp of the Stryker combat vehicle we were riding in.
Now we were on the ground, trying to mentally process the chaos that enveloped us in an instant. I knew something had exploded, but I was in a daze. My first instinct was to crawl for cover, but I was so disoriented I didn’t know where to go.
J. Lee already was taking photographs.
A sharp, tingling pain bit into my lower left leg. A shrill ringing reverberated in both ears.
The next thing I remember was standing up and looking at J. Lee, now in the Stryker waving me over. I got inside, and it seemed as if everyone was yelling.
Martinez was holding out his bleeding hand and shouting something.
“He needs a bandage!” J. Lee said, handing me his scarf. I grabbed it and started wrapping it around Martinez’s fingers. My hands were shaking.
Cpl. Michael Wachowicz, B Company’s medic, came up and told me to come with him so he could look at my leg. I looked down and saw blood on my left pants leg and decided that was a good idea. [...]
Security Forces continue the fight against terrorism
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 12, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained seven suspected terrorists and killed three terrorists today and Wednesday.
Iraqi Security Forces detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in eastern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 2nd Squadron 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment engaged and killed three terrorists armed with rocket propelled grenades in Tal Afar yesterday. Multi-National Forces also detained one individual at a checkpoint north of Tal Afar yesterday. No MNF injuries were reported during the operation.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion 21st Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in northern Mosul yesterday. The suspect is in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity in Rawah yesterday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom and Iraqi citizens continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Such Men
Provided below is an email sent by SSG Holcomb to his family and friends, which we are sharing with his permission.
Dear Friends and Family,
It has been quite some time since I last wrote anything of significance. My creative spirit has been dampened by the poverty and destruction that I face daily. Part of the reason I write now is because it is nearing the end of my time here and I find that I must begin to express myself if I am to be able to make the transition from combat back to the normal world.
The primary factor in this is that last night I attended the memorial service for the sixteenth fallen "Deuce Four" soldier in our ten months in this hell that is Mosul, Iraq. His name was Private First Class Nils Thompson and he had only been in Iraq for four months, because he had completed basic training just this past winter. All of eighteen years old and fresh out of high school, Nils decided that the right thing to do was to serve his country. So, he enlisted as an Army infantryman, a job that he knew almost guaranteed that he would be sent to the front lines within a year, be it Iraq or Afghanistan. Still, he raised his right hand and swore to defend his country against all enemy's. Where do we find such men?
Last week, the day after his nineteenth birthday, Nils was out on patrol with his platoon. He was standing in the back hatch on his Stryker, pulling security while his leader's were in a meeting at an Iraqi police station here in Mosul. Suddenly, and without warning, a single shot rang out and Nils dropped to the floor of the Stryker. The bullet had struck him in the head and he breathed his last before he hit the ground. We are still looking for the shooter and we will get him.
In a Battalion of more than six hundred, I never had the privilege to meet Nils, who was in C company while I am in B company. But at his memorial, all of us that didn't know him learned what a great man and soldier he had become in his few years on this earth. We learned that he was a wonderful friend to his comrades. We also learned that he was a very spiritual man who attended both Protestant and Catholic services weekly. The Chaplin told about how excited he was that he had given a friend a Bible.
Seeing the anguish and sorrow that Nils death brought to his friends, I was reminded of my own grief at the loss of good friends and brothers. Of the fifteen that preceded Nils, three names instantly leap into my mind: Captain Bill Jacobsen, my company commander and workout partner, who was killed on December twenty-first in the chow hall bombing. Specialist Clint Gertson, a dear friend that lived within four doors of me in the barracks for more than two years, who was killed on February nineteenth by a drive-by shooter. First Sargent Mike Bordelon, a true example of a warrior, who's Stryker was hit by a suicide car bomb on April twenty-third and yet he fought for nearly three weeks, through wounds that most thought would be his end within the hour, before succumbing to those injuries.
This is the first death in the Battalion since Specialist Sayles was killed at the beginning of June. On that day, one died, two lost limbs, and ten others suffered assorted injuries. The most memorable of the assorted injuries was a soldier who decided to lay in the prone and pull security while the more seriously injured were being treated. He was found shortly thereafter, passed out due to loss of blood with his weapon still in hand. No one knew until that moment that he had even been injured. Where do we find such men?
We are down to the home stretch, and yet we must always remember that we are at war. [...] I pray that we bring all who remain back home.
All my love,
Dustin
Previous Letters from SSG Holcomb:
Citizen’s call-in tip prevents IED attack
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 10, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained nine suspected terrorists and defused an improvised explosive device thanks to an Iraqi citizen’s tip during operations in northern Iraq today.
An Iraqi citizen’s call-in tip to the Joint Coordination Center lead Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment to defuse an improvised explosive device in western Mosul. No civilian or MNF injuries were reported during the operation.
Iraqi Security Forces detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity after an attack on a Multi-National Force convoy in eastern Mosul. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Division detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint north of Tal Afar. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 1-24th detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during separate operations in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi citizens and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Effective operations in northern Iraq curtail terrorists
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 10, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 13 suspected terrorists and killed one terrorist during operations in northern Iraq today and Tuesday.
Iraqi Police killed one terrorist and detained three terrorists in western Mosul Tuesday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion 24th Infantry Regiment and Iraqi Police detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in Mosul Tuesday.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion 21st Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search in eastern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF or ISF injuries.
Soldiers from 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint north of Tal Afar Tuesday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi citizens and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Headed home, down another
Link to Full Article
By Michael Gilbert, The News Tribune
The 4,000 or so Stryker brigade soldiers in Iraq are still on track to return home to Fort Lewis next month. At least for now.
A brigade official said Tuesday there have been no changes in redeployment plans that will see the Fort Lewis Stryker soldiers swap out with a Stryker brigade from Alaska over the next several weeks.
A Pentagon official on Monday said some units due to return from Iraq will likely be held over longer to provide extra security for the national constitutional referendum in October. The Defense Department spokesman, Lawrence Di Rita, said details of the plan were still being worked out.
Stryker brigade officials have not been notified of any extension of the unit’s mission in Iraq, said Maj. Nicholas Mullen, rear detachment commander with the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division.
“We’re still on track to have people start coming home,” Mullen said Tuesday.
He acknowledged that plans can change quickly, however.
Meantime, the post gathered Tuesday to pay tribute to its first soldier to die in Iraq in more than two months.
At a day over 19, Pfc. Nils Thompson was the youngest of the 1st Brigade’s 33 service members to be killed in the unit’s yearlong deployment to Iraq. He died Thursday in Mosul, shot by a sniper as he stood in the hatch of his Stryker.
Officials said his unit was scouting out polling places for the Oct. 15 referendum in which Iraqis will vote on a new constitution.
Thompson joined the Army last August after high school in Confluence, Pa., and arrived at Fort Lewis in January. After a couple of months of training, he was off to Mosul in March as a replacement.
Soldiers who knew him said he was deeply religious and spent his spare time reading the Bible and attending chapel services. His relatives told the hometown newspapers he always wanted to be a soldier, and didn’t trouble them with complaints about conditions or his experiences in Iraq. [...]
Soldiers praised his willingness to enlist in an Army at war. He is the 63rd service member from Fort Lewis to die in Iraq, and the 12th from his unit – the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment.
Soldiers who spoke Tuesday said it seemed as though Thompson had been with them all along, even though he arrived in Mosul seven months into the brigade’s deployment.
Like others who spoke at Tuesday’s memorial, Sgt. 1st Class James Grove admitted he didn’t know Thompson at all. He said he guessed, though, the young soldier might have been nervous about measuring up with his battle-hardened squad mates, afraid he might let them down.
“Rest easy, young soldier,” Grove said. “Mission accomplished.”
Jungle Law
Michael Yon has posted another detailed description of SBCT action. If you haven't read Michael's blog yet, you are missing the most detailed information available about our soldiers' experiences in Mosul.
Offensive operations in northern Iraq net terror suspects and weapons
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 9, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 22 suspected terrorists, killed two terrorists, and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today and Monday.
Iraqi Intervention Force troops from 3rd Battalion 1st Brigade 1st Division alongside Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion 21st Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation near Rawah Monday. Iraqi Police alongside soldiers from 1st Battalion 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul Monday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 3-21st killed two terrorists while patrolling in northeastern Mosul Monday. The terrorist was seen setting up a mortar tube when engaged by 3-21st Soldiers. The unit also seized a number of weapons including rifles, a mortar firing system, and several mortar rounds. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion 24th Infantry Regiment detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul Monday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion 21st Infantry Regiment detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity during separate operations in Mosul today and Monday. Soldiers from the 1st Battalion 5th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southeastern Mosul today. Soldiers from the 3rd Armor Cavalry Regiment detained one individual at a checkpoint north of Tal Afar Monday. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in Tal Afar today Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi citizens and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Stryker soldiers coming home
Link to Full Article
BY CHRISTIAN HILL, THE OLYMPIAN
Soldiers from the 3,600-member 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division are scheduled to begin trickling home soon, said Joseph Piek, a civilian spokesman at Fort Lewis.
"We expect sometime within the next few weeks to a month for the soldiers to begin flowing in," he said.
But he cautioned that timeline could be pushed back -- and is dependent on the progress of its replacement unit, the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team out of Alaska.
Meanwhile, the yearlong deployment has had its share of casualties.
Today a bugler will once again play taps -- this time to honor the memory of Pfc. Nils Thompson, killed Thursday in Mosul when he came under fire during a patrol.
Thompson, 19, is the 62nd Fort Lewis soldier killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion began in March 2003.
It's been two months since mourners last gathered at a Fort Lewis chapel for the memorial service of one of its soldiers.
The Mosul area, where the bulk of a Fort Lewis-based Stryker unit is deployed, has been relatively calm recently.
Attacks persist, the Associated Press reported, but the U.S. military has noted a 50 percent drop in attacks in the western part of the city over the past eight months. [...]
Citizen’s tip leads to end of terrorists’ IED attacks
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 8, 2005) – An Iraqi citizen’s tip lead Multi-National Force Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) to the location of terrorists who had attacked their patrol in eastern Mosul Sunday.
The terrorists had attacked Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment earlier with an improvised explosive device. A citizen identified the vehicle the terrorists were traveling in to Soldiers from the 3-21st. Upon locating the vehicle the terrorists threw an explosive device at the 3-21st Soldiers’ armored vehicle. The Soldiers engaged and killed the two terrorists. No MNF injuries were reported during the attack.
Concerned Iraqi citizens continue to provide valuable information leading to the detention of terrorists. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Soldier's spirit
The following story profiles Brent Bretz, a soldier recovering from injuries sustained in Mosul last December.
Link to Full Article
Justin Juozapavicius, The Arizona Republic
Brent Bretz has a Purple Heart.
He also has a small plastic cup with some of the stitches, staples and screws that held his broken body together for months. Even the shard of glass shrapnel doctors took out of his lower lip is rattling around in there someplace.
That cup is his other badge of honor.
At 23, he has been a state wrestling champ, a husband, a father and an Army sniper.
Now he is working on being a survivor.
In December, a makeshift bomb stole parts of his body on a road outside Mosul, Iraq.
It cost him most of both legs and the hearing in his left ear and shattered his left arm, ruptured his spleen, fractured his face and burned the left side of his body.
It also cost him months of agony.
It's early July, and 40 surgeries later, Sgt. Bretz is back home in Mesa to rest, just briefly, before returning to the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.
When he returns in late July, doctors will determine if he's strong enough for more surgeries. If he isn't, he'll be sent home for another month.
It is a waiting game.
"It's the not knowing," Bretz's mom, Kathy Pearce, says a day before they flew to Texas. "Do we stay? Do we go?"
Pearce, 52, left her job working for two attorneys to be at her son's side around the clock.
The prospect of more hurry up and wait is making Bretz impatient, too.
He wants to be whole again. To stand 6 feet tall again.
He wants to get his prosthetic legs and ditch his wheelchair for his hulking, black F150 truck, the one with the tinted windows, mammoth tires and Bush-Cheney decals.
"I just want everything done and over with," he says. "It's been taking too long already."
The article goes on to discuss his injury and recovery.
US troops see gains in Mosul
Link to Full Article
By ANTONIO CASTANEDA, Associated Press Writer
MOSUL, Iraq -- There's one clear sign that life in the Sunni Arab-dominated western half of this city is changing for the better -- children are again playing soccer at night. The reason: fewer insurgent attacks.
The US military says there were fewer bombings and mortar attacks in the Iraqi city of Mosul in July than any month since October.
A 50% drop in attacks in western Mosul in the past eight months is a marked improvement from the days when US troops routinely had to call in airstrikes and repel synchronised attacks.
But that doesn’t mean violence has been eradicated. Though attacks in July were noticeably down, western Mosul still endured over 50 shootings and roadside bombings, the US military said.
Soldiers say they’re close to solidifying gains and making further progress - if the flow of foreign fighters can be blocked so that insurgent ranks are not quickly replaced. US commanders say they have nearly uprooted the top insurgent network that steered the city towards chaos last November.
US officials attribute the recent gains to the thousands of patrols and raids mounted since Saddam Hussein’s regime collapsed in 2003. They contend that nascent local Iraqi forces could be ready to face the insurgency on their own in six to 12 months, though residents remain wary about a force that relies so heavily on the US military.
But American officials say soldiers are now engaging the local population more than before.
“If you’re out there just driving around, you’re wasting gas,” Army Lt. Col. Michael Kurilla, who commands the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment that oversees the area, told two new soldiers. “If you’re not talking to (civilians), the terrorists are.” [...]
Army unit offers weekly medical screenings for Iraqi children
Story, photos by Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp
MNC-I PAO
August 2, 2005
MOSUL, Iraq – U.S. Army medical personnel conducted medical screenings for more than 200 Iraqi children at a schoolhouse in Western Mosul July 28th.
Soldiers from the 1st Styker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash., arrived in the neighborhood at daybreak with doctors and medics in tow.
For three hours, mothers and fathers brought their children in to have them checked out for everything ranging from bug bites to coughs to dental work.
“This is the fifth week our battalion has been doing medical screenings for the locals,” said Capt. Paul D. Carron, commander, Company B, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st SBCT. “It is the other side of our infantry mission.”
The operation – dubbed Kalamas 5 after a river in Washington – is a way to “show the people of the area that we truly care about their welfare and the health of their children,” said Carron, who came up with the idea to begin doing the screenings.
“It’s too easy to just drive through a neighborhood on patrols,” he said. “We get out, talk with the kids and show the families we care.”
The Army doctors and medics providing care for those few hours bring only basic medical supplies. Vitamins, band-aids, over-the-counter pain relievers and topical ointments to relieve itching are the basic extent of items issued, other than advice given to the mothers of the children.
“We have a limited ability to help, and we don’t want to make promises we can’t fulfill,” Carron said.
“What we recommend for further treatment is for the citizens to use the Iraqi medical system,” he said. “We want to continue to use the Iraqi infrastructure and government to help.”
Iraqi families lined up around the walls of the school to have their children seen. A total of 287 children were screened, along with many mothers and a few fathers.
The eager families were signed in upon entry to the school and then handed papers to give to the medical personnel.
Once the patients were screened, information was written down on the piece of paper to keep track of who was seen. If the condition was urgent, the medical personnel had the ability to refer the patients for additional care.
“This way if it is something serious, we can refer them to the Iraqi Ministry of Health so the system starts working,” said Maj. David L. Brown, battalion surgeon, 1st Bat., 24th Inf. Reg.
Brown, who is a family practice doctor at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash., said he “sees kids all the time,” and relishes the opportunity to do the same in Iraq.
“I really enjoy it,” he said. “I was on the team when the medical screenings first started, and it has been really rewarding to come out here and do this.”
The screening turnouts continue to grow, and part of that is attributed to using the “neighborhood’s watchman.”
“We try to empower the Iraqi Mukhtars,” Carron said. “He does the advertising for us, and it also shows the people of the area that we have a good relationship with him.”
Doing this also keeps the Soldiers and neighborhood residents safe. Carron and his crew won’t let anyone know the time or what day they will arrive to do the screenings. The Soldiers just show up and let the Mukhtar know they are there to do the screenings, and within minutes the families begin lining up.
After many thorough medical and dental checkups, the Soldiers wrapped things up and the families headed back to their homes, although this wouldn’t be the last time the families see these Soldiers for the day. Since Company B patrols the areas they screen in, Carron makes sure his teams head back out on patrol later in the afternoon to gauge the reaction from parents.
“Everyone is always very positive after the screenings,” he said.
This includes Carron, who took the time to ask an Iraqi mother if he could hold her infant child for a while. Full body armor, an M4 assault rifle over his shoulder, Carron bounced the baby in his arms while humming a tune.
“It feels good to see a child and parent walk out of here with a smile on their face,” he said.
A U.S. Soldier from the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash., takes time to play with Iraqi children at a medical screening July 28, 2005, in Mosul, Iraq. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp.)
Maj. David L. Brown, surgeon, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash., checks an Iraqi girl's throat for infection during a medical screening July 28, 2005, in Mosul, Iraq. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp.)
No let up by Security Forces
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 8, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 18 suspected terrorists, killed three terrorists, injured another, and seized two weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq today and Sunday.
Iraqi Intervention Force troops from 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Division detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in Rawah Sunday. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 3rd Division injured one terrorist and detained two suspects after they were attacked with small arms fire while patrolling in Tal Afar Sunday. The injured terrorist was detained following treatment. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Iraqi Security Forces engaged and killed three terrorists after a small arms fire attack on their compound in eastern Mosul today. No ISF injuries were reported in the attack.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache from a vehicle at a checkpoint in western Mosul. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
In another operation, Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion seized a weapons cache during a search operation in Tal Afar Sunday. The cache included numerous mines and various other weapons. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade alongside Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid near Qayyarah Sunday. Suspect is in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity during separate operations in Tal Afar and near the Syrian border today and Sunday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul Sunday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi citizens and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Dispatches From Iraq
Dave has posted a new dispatch on his site from his friend Matt in Mosul.
God's Will
Michael Yon has a new dispatch, God's Will, posted on his site. In it he talks about the recent loss of PFC Nils Thompson. Excerpt:
PFC Nils Thompson had just celebrated his 19th birthday the day before. Nils was deeply religious, and would go to Catholic and Protestant services. He was a great kid and everybody liked him; but we were in downtown Mosul searching for the sniper that killed him, and had to stay focused.
Security Forces continue offensive operations
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 7, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 32 suspected terrorists, killed one terrorist, injured another three, and seized a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today and Saturday.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained eight individuals suspected of terrorist activity following an attack on their checkpoint in northern Mosul Saturday. Iraqi Police detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity during separate operations in Mosul today and Saturday. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Division detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in Rawah Saturday. Iraqi Intervention Force troops from 3rd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 1st Division detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in Rawah Saturday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Iraqi Police alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment killed one terrorist and detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no IP or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment engaged and injured three terrorists after they had attacked Iraqi Army Soldiers with a drive-by shooting in Tal Afar Saturday. The injured terrorists will be detained following medical treatment. No ISF or MNF injuries were reported in the attack.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity following an attack on civilians in Tal Afar Saturday. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in eastern Mosul Saturday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a weapons cache during two separate operations in Rawah today and Saturday. The cache included a number of mortar rounds and a mortar firing system. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts and offensive operations of Iraqi Security Forces, Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom and Iraqi citizens continue to lead to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
PFC Nils Thompson
Task Force Freedom has announced the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.
PFC Nils Thompson, a Soldier with 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, was killed during a terrorist attack in Mosul Thursday.
We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to his family, friends, and fellow soldiers. We will add any subsequent articles we find to this entry.
God's Will - Michael Yon
Soldier, 19, killed in Iraq; aspired to military service - Post Gazette
Pa. soldier killed in Iraq the day after his 19th birthday - The Associated Press
Stryker Brigade GI killed a day after 19th birthday - Seattle P-I
Somerset County soldier killed by sniper while stationed in Iraq - Tribune-Review
Stryker soldier killed in Iraq always wanted to be in military - The News Tribune
Pa. soldier killed in Iraq remembered by his comrades - The Associated Press
War kills Confluence soldier - The Herald Standard
Comrades Remember U.S. Soldier, Just 19 - The Guardian
Sniper in Iraq kills soldier, 19, from Western Pa. - Philadelphia Inquirer
Headed home, down another - The News Tribune
Such Men - A tribute from SSG Holcomb of Deuce Four
Fort Lewis mourns soldier - The Olympian
Family, Friends Hold Staten Island Service For Young Soldier Killed In Iraq - NY1 News
Tears for brave, kind-hearted G.I. - The Daily News
Hundreds gather to remember slain GI - Post-Gazette
A community mourns - Daily American
Joint Security Force operation provides medical care
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 6, 2005) – Over 200 Iraqi children received medical screenings from Multi-National Force Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) with support from Iraqi Police during an operation in western Mosul Friday.
Soldiers and medics from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment along with Iraqi Police conducted the screenings and handed out soccer balls and hygiene products to the local children. This is the fifth operation of its kind in western Mosul over the last three weeks; over 1,000 children have received medical screenings during those operations, with local citizens providing an extremely positive response to the care and security provided by Soldiers and their police force.
Three weapons caches seized as part of successful day of operations
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 5, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained eight suspected terrorists and seized three weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq today and Thursday.
Iraqi Commandoes from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul today. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 2nd Division detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Iraqi Security Forces alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southeastern Mosul today. In a separate operation, Iraqi Police alongside Soldiers from the 1-5th detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southeastern Mosul Thursday. The suspect is in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 1-25th (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) seized a weapons cache during a search operation in eastern Mosul today. The cache included several artillery rounds. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation in Rawah Thursday. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation in Rawah Thursday. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
TF Automatic Articles
Provided below are a number of recent articles written by 1LT Dana Scott highlighting recent operations by the 2-8 FA, 1/25 SBCT.
Headlines:
Iraqi Police Works Hand in Hand with Iraqi Army, Locals Request to Have Rocket Removed, 9th Monthly Regional Security Council Meeting
Full Articles:
Iraqi Police Works Hand in Hand with Iraqi Army
QAYARRAH, IRAQ – 1/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion, led by Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Malowh, worked in conjunction with the Qayarrah Iraqi Police yesterday in detaining a suspected terrorist and his IED supplies.
Ali reported that his soldiers, along with the Iraqi Police, noticed a suspicious man near a schoolyard, face covered and carrying a box. The IA called for the man to stop but he started to run. They eventually caught the individual and he is currently being held at the Qayarrah Police station.
In the box Task Force Automatic’s explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) team revealed 1 x 1.6 anti tank landmine, 1 x washing machine timer, and 1 x 12-volt rechargeable battery. The timer and battery was recovered for exploitation and the landmine was reduced by EOD.
Locals Request to Have Rocket Removed
TALL HUMM, IRAQ – Task Force (TF) Automatic’s explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) team responded to an unidentified explosive object (UXO) south of Tall Humm on July 25th.
The TF’s operational detachment alpha (ODA) reported a green missile container was lying in a wadi and the local residents asked to have it removed.
Upon arrival the EOD team, led by Master Sgt. Charles Lee, ascertained that the missile was still inside the container. With the help of C/2-8 Field Artillery, EOD removed the container from the wadi.
The container was opened and the missile was extracted. The missile was identified as a USSR SA-3 GOA, surface-to-air guided missile. It was severely water damaged and was destroyed on site.
9th Monthly Regional Security Council Meeting
FOB ENDURANCE, Iraq – “I would first like to have a moment of silence for the men recently killed in action,” began Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Malowh, 1/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion Commander, at this month’s Regional Security Council meeting.
The meeting, taking place on Forward Operating Base (FOB) Endurance on July 26th, gathered together over 400 key leaders of Ninewah Province and Mosul.
Ali and Lt. Col. Bradley Becker, Task Force (TF) Automatic Commander, handed out folded Iraqi flags to the families of eight Iraqi Police officers and IA soldiers who recently lost their lives in the fight against terrorism. The most touching moment was when a family member kissed the flag and touched it to his forehead.
A short video demonstrating the progress Coalition and Iraqi forces have made around the local villages was then played. The video touched upon the March Against Terror, water projects, medical visits, sheik meetings, IA Basic Training graduation, IA operations and missions and the upcoming elections.
Following the video, Becker announced the topics to be discussed at the meeting “The few things we’ll discuss this month include schools, gas prices and security, as well as the upcoming elections. Following the meeting we will have tables set up to discuss detainees, projects, and weapons cards on an individual basis.”
There were several distinguished speakers to include Mr. Khalid from the Iraqi Elections Council, Mr. Zubari to discuss fuel distribution, and Mohammad Suleiman from the Provincial Council Sports and Education Committee.
The Mosul Chief of Police Maj. Gen. Khalif Ahmed spoke of the elections. “I want to talk about two things. The families of the gentlemen who lost their lives recently received an Iraqi flag. Both our security forces and civilians fight and live under one flag. We must not forget we are one nation.
“The second topic I want to discuss is the elections. They will be on October 15th and we must encourage all to become involved.”
Following comments from Ahmed, Ali and Becker opened the floor for questions.
Each month’s Regional Security Council meeting involves more key leaders of the area. It is an opportunity for the local sheiks and mukhtars to come together and discuss concerns of their villages. The meeting also serves as a chance for Coalition and Iraqi forces to learn about what needs attention in their area of operation.
Stryker brigade to return in early fall
Link to Full Article
By MIKE BARBER
Alaska group to replace Fort Lewis troops in Iraq
The deployment of nearly 4,000 Army Stryker Brigade troops from Alaska to Iraq this month heralds the beginning of the return of Fort Lewis' Stryker Brigade this fall.
An advance team of 200 soldiers from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Forts Richardson and Wainwright in Alaska are in Iraq.
They're laying the groundwork for the rest of the brigade's 3,800 members to deploy this month.
The Alaska unit is replacing Fort Lewis' 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division, known more commonly as the nation's second Stryker Brigade Combat Team.
"We expect in the next couple of weeks to start seeing some of the early, early returnees" from Fort Lewis' Stryker Brigade now in Iraq, said Fort Lewis spokesman Joe Piek. ...
The Alaskan brigade will go through a transition with the Fort Lewis Stryker troops, literally cross-training by working and riding side-by-side for several weeks, Piek said.
The Stryker brigades, based in Mosul, have been assigned to operate in northern Iraq.
The return of Fort Lewis' Stryker soldiers will draw down Washington's commitment to the war, at least for a spell.
Since the initial invasion of Iraq in March 2003, military bases here have sent to the war zone the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier from Everett with a crew of nearly 5,000, both 4,000-member Stryker units from Fort Lewis and last year 4,000 citizen-soldiers of the state National Guard's 81st Brigade Combat Team.
Michael Yon Dispatch
Michael Yon has posted a new dispatch, Monday, on his website. Excerpt:
The three most dangerous places in Iraq are Baghdad, Mosul, and Al Anbar province. While most of Iraq is functioning peacefully, a civil war sizzles and pops in these important areas.The key to long term stability in Iraq is the Iraqi Security Forces, which are comprised of the Police, Army, Navy, Border Police and similar organizations. From a ground’s eye perspective, the ISF progress is remarkable. In Mosul, for instance, the ISF is fielding increasing personnel, and operations. Their success has had a few unanticipated consequences. US Army Captain Paul Carron recently reported that so many undercover police are operating in Mosul, that they have been arresting each other, sometimes accusing each other of possessing fake ID cards.
Be sure to read the rest.
Iraqi Police and Multi-National Forces team up to provide medical care for children
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 3, 2005) – Over 200 Iraqi children received medical screenings from Multi-National Force Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) with support from Iraqi Police during an operation in western Mosul Tuesday.
Soldiers and medics from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment along with Iraqi Police conducted the screenings and handed out soccer balls and hygiene products to the local children. This is the fourth operation of its kind in the last three weeks with local citizens providing an extremely positive response to the care and security provided by Soldiers and their police force.
Iraqis make U.S. soldier honorary sheik
This is a great story regarding a soldier serving with the 2-8 FA, 1/25 SBCT near Mosul.
Link to Full Article
By ANTONIO CASTANEDA, The Associated Press
QAYYARAH, Iraq — Sheik Horn floats around the room in white robe and headdress, exchanging pleasantries with dozens of village leaders.
But he's the only sheik with blond streaks in his mustache — and the only one who attended country music star Toby Keith's recent concert in Baghdad with fellow U.S. soldiers.
Officially, he's Army Staff Sgt. Dale L. Horn, but to residents of the 37 villages and towns that he patrols he's known as the American sheik.
Sheiks, or village elders, are known as the real power in rural Iraq. And the 5-foot-6-inch Floridian's ascension to the esteemed position came through dry humor and the military's need to clamp down on rocket attacks.
Late last year a full-blown battle between insurgents and U.S. and Iraqi forces had erupted, and U.S. commanders assigned a unit to stop rocket and mortar attacks that regularly hit their base. Horn, who had been trained to operate radar for a field artillery unit, was now thrust into a job that largely hinged on coaxing locals into divulging information about insurgents.
Horn, 25, a native of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., acknowledges he had little interest in the region before coming here. But a local sheik friendly to U.S. forces, Dr. Mohammed Ismail Ahmed, explained the inner workings of rural Iraqi society on one of Horn's first Humvee patrols.
Horn was intrigued, and started making a point of stopping by all the villages, all but one dominated by Sunni Arabs, to talk to people about their life and security problems.
Moreover, he pressed for development projects in the area: He now boasts that he helped funnel $136,000 worth of aid into the area. Part of that paid for delivery of clean water to 30 villages during the broiling summer months.
"They saw that we were interested in them, instead of just taking care of the bases," Horn said.
Be sure to read the rest.
Army Times reporter Matthew Cox describes attack
Embedded reporter Matthew Cox was injured today during a suicide car bomb attack. Photographer James J. Lee took a number of pictures of the scene following the attack. Start here and scroll forward through the gallery.
Link to Full Article
By Matthew Cox, Times staff writer
AL BU HARDEN, Iraq — I heard the two shots from Spc. Eddie Martinez’s M16 rifle, but I had no idea he was firing at a suicide car-bomber steering straight for us.
It was about 4:30 p.m. Aug. 1 and Army Times photographer James Lee and I were standing near the rear ramp of B Company commander Capt. Mark Ivezaj’s Stryker combat vehicle.
I heard the “Pop, pop” of Martinez’s weapon and then a deafening roar before a tremendous force knocked me to my hands and knees. The suicide bomber had detonated his white Suburban packed full of explosives fewer than 25 feet away from the front end of the Stryker.
It was hard to see anything. Dust, earth, gravel and car parts flew everywhere.
I knew something had exploded, but I was in a daze. My first instinct was to crawl for cover, but I was so disoriented I didn’t know where to go.
A sharp, tingling pain bit into my lower left leg. And I kept hearing a shrill ringing noise in both ears.
The next thing I remember was standing up and looking at James, who also had been knocked off his feet but now in the Stryker waving me inside.
I got inside. Ivezaj, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment company, stopped on his way out the door make sure James and I were OK. It seemed like everyone was yelling.
Outside the Stryker, blackened vehicle parts littered the road. James yelled for me to check the back of his neck for burns. It looked OK, I told him.
Then Martinez, who had been standing in the left rear “air guard” hatch, began holding his bleeding hand outstretched and yelling something.
“He needs a bandage!” James shouted, handing me a cravat he’d been using as a sweat rag.
I grabbed the rag and started wrapping it around Martinez’s fingers. My hands were shaking.
His account continues...
Related Article:
Army Times reporter Matthew Cox wounded in Iraq - Army Times
Operations in northern Iraq continue
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (August 1, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 49 suspected terrorists, killed six terrorists, injured another, and seized two weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq today and Sunday.
Iraqi Police killed three terrorists after being attacked with small arms fire while on patrol in northeastern Mosul Sunday. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division alongside IA Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade killed one terrorist, injured another, and detained three suspected terrorists after being attacked with small arms fire while on patrol in eastern Mosul Sunday. Iraqi Commandoes from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in Mosul today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment killed two terrorists and detained two terror suspects during a cordon operation in western Mosul today. Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained 35 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two raids northwest of Tal Afar today. In two other separate operations Soldiers from the 1-24th detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity in western Mosul Sunday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a weapons cache during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul Sunday. Soldiers form the 401st Civil Affairs Battalion seized a weapons cache while conducting missions west of Dahuk. All weapons were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
U.S. Relies on Local Leaders in Rural Iraq
Link to Full Article
By ANTONIO CASTANEDA, Associated Press Writer
QAYYARAH, Iraq (AP) - Last fall, insurgents overran police stations and Iraqi army bases in this northern rural region, scaring off nearly all 2,000 Iraqi troops and keeping people locked inside their homes at night.
Last month only two attacks took place in this Rhode Island-sized area mostly populated by Sunni Arabs and Kurds, according to U.S. commanders in the area.
The difference, they say, stems from a new approach of relying on sheiks and mukhtars - the tribal and local leaders who wield enormous influence among some 75,000 people in hundreds of villages and small towns south of the city of Mosul.
``Sheiks are the real power here,'' said Lt. Col. Bradley Becker, commander of the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment. ``Mayors just aren't as good as sheiks on security matters.''
Becker says he now meets with 50 to 100 sheiks a week, and holds monthly confabs with them in a base auditorium that usually shows movies for relaxing soldiers. Sheiks and mukhtars, most in white robes, some walking gingerly with canes, flow into the room and listen to U.S. and Iraqi officials talking about security as well as local issues such as electricity supply.
About six people showed up for the first meeting early this year - but the latest, on Tuesday, drew about 300. Much of it took a townhall tone, hearing complaints about gasoline shortages and inquiries about arrested fellow tribesmen.
``After November, what happened was bad, but they came to us,'' said Sheik Nief Saleh said of the Americans. ``I try to help as I can.''
In return for the sheiks' help, Becker says he has spent close to $1 million on reconstruction jobs employing hundreds of tribesmen.
Rebels on the Run, Locals Too
Link to Full Article
U.S. forces appear to have driven militants from a safe haven near the Syrian border, but most of the town's residents have also fled.
By John Hendren, Times Staff Writer
RAWAH, Iraq — In the barren streets of this dusty town, Iraqis say the U.S. Army has chased away the foreign fighters who for two weeks staged sporadic battles with the Americans.
Also gone are nearly all of the town's 20,000 residents. The sheep munching shrubs on the outskirts appear to outnumber people.
Over the last two weeks, three out of four residents fled the town, which military strategists say was an insurgent safe haven. A few have since returned, but many have sought temporary shelter with friends and relatives across the Euphrates River in the village of Anah....
Since arriving in mid-July, the 2nd Infantry Division's 2nd Squadron of the 14th Cavalry Regiment has defeated the fighters here and will now spread out to seal the border with Syria, said Lt. Col. Mark Davis, the unit's commander.
U.S. strategists say insurgents led by Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab Zarqawi have used this town and a smuggling route along the Euphrates to train and ferry foreign fighters, weapons and explosives southeast to Baghdad and north to Mosul.
Under a plan ordered by Gen. George W. Casey, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, American units are trying to gain control of Iraq's ill-guarded border with Syria.
Having wrested control of Rawah, the division's Stryker Brigade Combat Team now hopes to press westward toward the border and, for the first time, gain control of a broad swath of the land north of the Euphrates that has eluded the U.S.-led coalition for more than two years....
Security Forces detain nine during overnight
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 31, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained nine suspected terrorist and seized weapons during operations in northern Iraq Saturday night.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained seven individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southeastern Mosul. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity while on guard in northern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a search operation in southern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported..
Base Set Up to Curb Rebels
Link to Full Article
The U.S. military hopes its first long-term presence near Iraq's border with Syria will help stem the flow of suicide bombers.
By John Hendren, Times Staff Writer
BAGHDAD — American troops have established the first long-term military base along a major smuggling route near the Syrian border in a new effort to block potential suicide bombers from reaching targets in Baghdad and other major Iraqi cities.
A force of 1,800 U.S. troops, responding to continuing concerns that foreign fighters are crossing the Syrian border into Iraq, recently began an operation that includes setting up the base, three miles from the crossroads town of Rawah....
The 2nd Infantry Division's Stryker Brigade Combat Team is leading the operation and is the first to take up a permanent presence in the area. Officials say it has been difficult, if not impossible, for U.S.-led forces to control the region without such a commitment.
"It's a huge, desolate place and if somebody wanted to hide out it would be a good place to hide out," Marine Maj. Gen. Stephen T. Johnson, commander of coalition forces in western Iraq, said in an interview in Fallouja.
As the operation unfolds, Marines would continue to hold the region south of the Euphrates, while the Stryker Brigade, which has been based in Mosul, pushes south, putting insurgents in a "vice," a senior U.S. military strategist said.
The unfamiliar whoosh of helicopter rotors and the sight of the Army brigade's Stryker vehicles engaged in battles along largely rural roadways have prompted hundreds and possibly thousands of the estimated 20,000 people in Rawah to flee in fear of an attack similar to the one in Fallouja, officials said.
Local media have reported that as many as 80% of the residents have left. American military leaders say that the actual number appears to be far lower.
U.S. military surveillance photos said to be of the area near the town of Qaim separating Syria from Iraq show breaks in a massive berm. U.S. military strategists say the photos also show "personnel loading trucks" and a lookout point atop one building with a view across the border.
Troops from the Stryker Brigade recently chased a suspected car bomber across the river at Rawah and forced him out of the car, a senior military officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. A second car arrived and apparently detonated the first vehicle, killing the bomber before driving off.
War as entertainment
This is a very long article, but well worth reading in full.
Link to Full Article
Reality meets fiction on a new show about Iraq conflict
By Kirsten Scharnberg, Tribune national correspondent. Reporter Kirsten Scharnberg was embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq and has reported extensively on the war
NEW YORK -- A much-touted television drama about the war in Iraq made its debut in living rooms across America last week. In the show's final scene, a convoy of military vehicles rolls over a roadside bomb, and a young man who had joined the Army with the hope of eventually being able to afford college writhes in pain, one leg nearly severed.
About the same time, in a very real war zone several thousand miles away, in a place where no director can yell "Cut!" or request another take when something goes wrong, an explosion shook a northern Baghdad neighborhood. According to news reports, fire and searing shrapnel ripped through Humvees and flesh, and two U.S. soldiers lay dead when the smoke and chaos had cleared....
On televisions in Seattle on Wednesday, actor-soldiers detained a dozen insurgents; on the streets of Mosul, Iraq, soldiers from the base in Ft. Lewis, Wash., detained 11 suspected terrorists. On TV screens in America, a young Army wife cheats on her deployed husband; on bases all across Iraq, troops are finding that time away from home has contributed to divorce rates among Army officers and enlisted personnel nearly doubling. On previews for this week's "Over There" episode, a panicked wife gets the dreaded call that her husband was gravely wounded in combat; in Indiana last week, the family of Spec. Adam Harting received the visit every military family prays will never come--from grim-faced Army officials informing them that their 21-year-old son had been killed in Samarra...
The first episode of "Over There"--a series produced by Steven Bochco, the famed writer and creator of such television stalwarts as "Hill Street Blues," "NYPD Blue" and "L.A. Law"--was all about the action of war, the horrible moments when soldiers lose comrades and question what ever made them volunteer for such a profession.
But ask your average soldier to tell you about Iraq, and he or she will very often weave a much quieter narrative--of delivering supplies to Iraqi schools, of working with Iraqi soldiers eager to learn from their American counterparts.
There is no doubt that trust is built in trenches, under fire. But camaraderie--that is established under more pleasant circumstances.
On Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul, the snipers of the 1st Battalion of the 24th Infantry Regiment gather almost every night to play Texas Hold 'Em poker. A drama like "Over There" would surely depict these young infantrymen talking with haunted emotion about the fact that in the past 10 months, 5 of their 15 snipers have been killed and nearly all the rest of them wounded.
But in reality the men don't talk about grief as they lay down their red, white and blue chips and smoke the cigars they've ordered on the Internet. Their memories are private. Without fanfare, one young man wears a baseball cap sent to him by the mother of a killed sniper....
Throughout the first episode, the squad members are shown getting to know one another, learning the backgrounds of each other's nicknames, asking about families. Not since Vietnam, when drafted soldiers were assigned to whatever unit needed a new body, would most U.S. soldiers be getting to know each other on the ground in a war zone. Most active-duty soldiers have trained together for months--if not years. They don't need to ask the origin of nicknames; they gave them to each other.
In May, when Sgt. Benjamin "Rat" Morton, 24, was killed in Mosul, his fellow soldiers gathered to mourn him. One friend stood in front of the hundreds of somber soldiers and told the story of how Morton once spent so long inside a Humvee during a weekend training exercise that when he finally got out, the litter-covered seat where he had been sitting looked "like a little rat's nest."
Bochco's Iraq shows soldiers agonizing over whether they have permission to return fire at attacking insurgents; in the real Iraq, no G.I. would dream of not firing back to save his life or the lives of those around him. In Bochco's Iraq, soldiers eat Meals Ready to Eat in makeshift field tents; in the real Iraq, the days of MREs are largely over because million-dollar mess halls--that serve lobster and crab legs once a week--have been built on bases throughout the country. In Bochco's Iraq, living conditions are austere; in the real Iraq, some bases have Harley-Davidson reps who promise to have your new bike waiting when you get home....
Security Forces seize weapons, detain 11
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 30, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 11 suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today and Friday.
Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation northwest of Tal Afar today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a number of weapons during a cordon and search operation in southeastern Mosul Friday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul today. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint in Rawah today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2-14th Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a weapons cache during a search operation near Rawah Friday. The cache included rifles and ammunition. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Security Forces seize two weapons caches and detain 12 suspects
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 29, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 12 suspected terrorists and seized two weapons caches during operations in northern Iraq today.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained 10 individuals suspected of terrorist activity at a checkpoint in northern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in Rawah. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity while patrolling in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment seized two weapons caches consisting of mortar rounds during search operations west of Tal Afar. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens.
Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Welcome Aboard
Michael Yon has a new dispatch from Mosul posted on his site. This time he covers the recent ceremony that welcomed 12 members of Deuce Four as American citizens.
Security Force operations lead to capture of terror suspects and seizure of weapons
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 29, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 10 suspected terrorists and seized a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today and Thursday.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in Tal Afar Thursday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity while patrolling in Rawah today. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in southern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation in Rawah Thursday. The cache included AK-47s, a shotgun, and small arms ammunition. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
U-S troops arrest al-Qaida cell leader in Iraq
International press are attributing this arrest to the 1/25 SBCT.
Link to Full Article
Associated Press
MOSUL, Iraq U-S troops say they've captured an al-Qaida cell leader in northern Iraq.
Ammar Abu Bara was arrested Wednesday in Mosul, according to a U-S statement. He was picked up during a 'cordon and search' operation in a neighborhood in northern Mosul. No U-S or Iraqi soldiers were injured in the operation. [...]
Operations continue to net security gains in N Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 28, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 49 suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq today and Wednesday.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained 10 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southeastern Mosul today. Iraqi Police alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained 10 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in southern Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 1-24th detained 11 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during four separate operations in Mosul today and Wednesday. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained 10 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two cordon and search operations in Mosul today. Soldiers from the 1-5th detained seven individuals during three separate operations in Rawah today. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in Tal Afar Wednesday. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Successful operations lead to capture of terror suspects
(TFF PRess Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 27, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 12 suspected terrorists during operations in northern Iraq today.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained 11 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during three cordon and search operations in eastern Mosul. Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in Rawah. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
TF Automatic Articles
Provided below are a number of recent articles written by 1LT Dana Scott highlighting recent operations by the 2-8 FA, 1/25 SBCT.
Headlines:
Medical Visist in Jedellah, Local Leaders from Al Hadr Meet to Discuss Issues in their Village, Da Bombs, Sewage Treatment Plant Completion Ceremony
Full Articles:
Sewage Treatment Plant Completion Ceremony
AL HURIYAH, Iraq – Task Force (TF) Automatic met with local leaders of Al Huriyah yesterday to celebrate the completion of renovations to their village’s sewage treatment plant.
The plant had been unusable for over seven years. “The local leaders were very grateful for Coalition forces’ assistance, since they were certain it would take a great deal of time for their government to make the necessary renovations,” explained Maj. Andy Ingalsbe, Civil Affairs Officer for TF Automatic.
Lasting just over an hour, the ceremony allowed for all involved to join in one location and appreciate the work that was done. Present at the completion ceremony with Ingalsbe were several local leaders, two local Iraqi police officers, a city councilman and A/2-8 Battery Commander, Cpt. Cherokee Parks.
The locals were very pleased with the finished product and are looking forward to working with Iraqi and Coalition forces on future civil affairs projects.
Da Bombs
TIGER SOUTH, IRAQ – The evening of July 18th revealed 4 x 500 pound, 6 x 1000 pound and 2 x 2000 pound bombs in Task Force (TF) Automatic’s area of operations.
1/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion Commander Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Mallowh reported from Tiger South his soldiers finding 4 x 500 pound bombs.
TF Automatic’s quick reaction force and explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) team headed to the site where IA engineers guided them to an old bunker. EOD reported that the bunker looked to have been reduced from past Coalition forces attacks.
Further investigation by the EOD team, led by Master Sgt. Charles Lee, uncovered 6 x 1000 pound bombs. Later that evening, 2 x 2000 pound bombs were discovered under three feet of water.
All ordinance was collected and destroyed by EOD on July 21st with no incident.
Local Leaders from Al Hadr Meet to Discuss Issues in their Village
HATRA HOTEL, Iraq – The monthly Al Hadr Area Security Council meeting took place on July 20th at the Hatra Hotel. Topics covered during the meeting included water and road projects, teacher concerns and police pay.
The meeting began at 1045 hours and lasted just over and hour. Over 30 local leaders were in attendance, with additional military and police personnel.
Lt. Col. Ra’ad Naif Haroosh, 2/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion Commander, opened the meeting, welcoming everyone who had come. He then directed their attention to Cpt. Matt Yost, C/2-8 Field Artillery Commander.
Yost addressed the many successes that 2/3rd IA and Task Force (TF) Automatic have had, working with the local leaders over the past month. After discussing some projects still on going in the area, Yost then opened the floor to questions.
The first several questions pertained to the Al Hadr and Shekan water projects. According to the local leaders, illegal taps and pressure on the water plant manager to divert the water elsewhere are two of the greatest problems. Yost said that he and Ra’ad would be sure to look into the issues very soon.
Other issues addressed were the road to Slobi village and a school in Dewaliah. Tal Abtah Mayor Rachman and Al Hadr Police Chief Lt. Col. Agab spoke of the importance of working with the village mayors.
“As one team, the leaders of the area need to help gather information and develop project priorities,” said Rachman. “The better projects are those that will help many people, and not just one or two people.”
Also present at the meeting were TF Automatic intelligence represent- atives and civil affairs (CA) team representatives. Following the meeting, shieks and mukhtars were able to ask questions individually of the intelligence and CA personnel concerning detainees and projects. Meanwhile, C/2-8 personnel opened a weapons card issue table for those in need of weapons cards.
Yost and his battery continue to work with the IA, the local police stations and key leaders of Al Hadr, Tal Abtah and surrounding villages to improve their safety, economy and living conditions.
Medical Visist in Jedellah
JEDELLAH SOFLA, Iraq – Task Force (TF) Automatic medics conducted a medical visit in Jedellah Sofla, home of 1/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion Commander Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Mallowh, on JUL 20th.
The visit lasted over two hours and more than 60 men, women and children were treated.
“This was the second time we’ve visited Jedellah,” said Cpt. Jon Christiansen. “This visit was especially helpful for the locals because we brought a dentist from one of the other units on our FOB.” With the help of Christiansen, dentist Cpt. Mark Van Tessle pulled teeth out for six patients.
After Christiansen and his medics treated all patients, Ali’s family provided dinner for TF Automatic.
Medical visits are conducted about four to five times a month around the local villages. They not only assist in improving the health and welfare of the citizens, the visits also strengthen the relationship between TF Automatic and the local Iraqis.
Carver turns art to aid of soldiers
Raffle will help troops now in Iraq
Link to Ful Article
By THERESA HOGUE, Gazette-Times
CORVALLIS — When retired Army Col. John Komp looks at a piece of wood, he sees more than just the subtle colorations and swirls in the grain. He sees smiling faces, wide eyes and hooked noses, cascades of hair and the fringe on a cowboy's chaps.
Komp, 82, is a wood craftsman whose steady hands make wood come alive under the steady pressure of his blades. Whether it's a one-sided relief of an American Indian or a fully three-dimensional sculpture of a swaggering Viking warrior, Komp has learned to bring out the life hidden in the depths of the wood.
Now, Komp is combining his passion for wood carving with another passion, the support of American troops. Komp is currently the honorary colonel of the First Battalion 24th Infantry of the First Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, including soldiers from all over the country. While his role is largely ceremonial, he takes a keen interest in the lives of the 1-24th soldiers, who are currently serving in Iraq.
The regiment will be returning in early October, and their commanding officer, Lt. Col. Michael Kurilla, wants to throw them a welcome home ball. However, the cost will be quite steep, and Komp hopes to raise some of the ball funds by raffling off a piece of his work, a piece he calls "Buffalo Hunter." [...]
Retired Army Col. John Komp is selling raffle tickets at $10 apiece or three for $25 to raise money for a ball to honor soldiers in the First Battalion 24th Infantry of the First Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division. The ball will be held at Fort Lewis, Wash., when the soldiers return in the fall. To purchase raffle tickets from Komp, call him at 758-6702.
Dust storms, lack of showers make outpost a real beach
Link to Full Article (Subscription) On news stands in the 1 August print edition.
By Matthew Cox, Army Times
RAWAH, Iraq — Living is hard here at this fledgling combat outpost near the Syrian border.
The soldiers of B Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, arrived at their new home July 16 to find none of the comforts they left behind at Forward Operating Base Courage in Mosul.
No air-conditioned housing units, no showers, no flush toilets, no running water, no phones and no chow hall — just a barren but defendable stretch of desert sand on the north side of the Euphrates River.
B Company, 3-21, is the infantry portion of 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment’s task force sent here to crack down on insurgent forces coming across the Syrian border about 60 kilometers to the west.
“The whole point is to get some combat power into this area,” said 2-14 commander Lt. Col. Mark Davis. “Nobody likes sucking down dirt, but ... we are certainly willing to endure a few hardships to take the fight to the enemy.”
Spartan living for B Company and the other 2-14 units began right after they left Mosul on July 13.
B Company’s 21 Strykers had no problem traveling the 230 kilometers on the country’s less than perfect roads. But they did have problems when some of the other vehicles in the convoy suffered from overheating, mechanical problems and equipment damage.
The hours of delays resulted in the trip taking more than a day to complete.
“The Strykers can go everywhere, but the heavy equipment trucks and fuelers can’t,” said Col. Robert Brown, commander of 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (SBCT), parent to the 2-14.
The weather took its toll, too. Back-to-back dust storms took visibility down to less than 50 feet at times.
“We didn’t expect the dust storms to be as bad,” Davis said.
Leaders actually abandoned the original site they had picked for the outpost because the open desert offered no protection from dust storms. The current location is surrounded by several pieces of high ground that provide wind buffers in addition to making the terrain easily defendable. [... ]
The story continues.
Wild, wild west
Stryker units move to cut off insurgents entering Iraq — and find trouble on the way
Link to Full Article (Subscription) On news stands in the 1 August print edition.
By Matthew Cox, Army Times
RAWAH, Iraq — The two homemade bombs exploded to the front and rear of the three Stryker combat vehicles.
As with the dozen or so previous attacks over the past week, soldiers from B Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, were quick to report that no one had been hurt in the blasts.
But as the two rear Strykers were about to back up, another enemy attack ended that record.
A rocket-propelled grenade streaked through the darkness and blasted a grapefruit-size hole in the combat vehicle, driving chunks of shrapnel into B Company 1st Sgt. Joseph Alexander’s lower body.
The shot apparently was a lucky one, finding a small gap in the vehicle’s protective armor.
“I knew it had penetrated because the first sergeant was talking on the radio and then I started hearing screams,” recalled Spc. Craig Young, who was driving the rear Stryker.
The Stryker drivers pushed the vehicles as hard as possible to rush their wounded comrade to the aid station as Cpl. Michael Wachowicz, B Company’s senior medic, applied first aid.
From the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment’s aid station, Alexander was loaded onto a Black Hawk helicopter and flown east to a nearby forward surgical hospital in Tikrit.
The 35-year-old Los Angeles native was in stable condition and is expected to recover, said 1st Lt. James Duncan of 2-14’s Combined Aid Station.
This was welcome news to the soldiers of B Company, but it was clear the attack had momentarily shaken the unit. The enemy had penetrated the vehicle that, up until now, had been a safe haven from countless close calls over the past 10 months. The attack had also wounded a soldier who had been an enduring symbol of gritty resolve in a harsh and dangerous environment.
It had been tough week.
The early morning ambush July 22 came after five days of fighting in this small city just north of the Euphrates River near the Syrian border.
Insurgent forces here have attacked combat patrols from B Company and other elements of 2-14 every day, using homemade bombs, suicide car bombers, RPGs and machine guns.
B Company, 3-21 and 2-14 are part of a battalion-size task force under 1st Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, based in Mosul, roughly 230 kilometers north of here. [...]
The feature article continues. Photographs support the story.
Security Forces relentless against terrorists in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 26, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 45 suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq today.
Iraqi Police detained 40 suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons following two separate attacks in western Mosul. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity after they were attacked while patrolling in western Mosul. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity and seized weapons during a cordon and search operation south of Tal Afar. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Security Force operations net terror suspects and weapons cache
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 26, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained seven suspected terrorists and seized a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq Monday.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two cordon and search operations in eastern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 1-24th also seized a weapons cache during a search operation in western Mosul. The cache included artillery rounds, rocket propelled grenades, and grenades. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Empty Jars
Link to Blog Entry
By Michael Yon
Michael Yon has posted a new entry to his blog. In his invitation to this new posting he said,"We happened to come in from a combat patrol just in time to see the final countdown for the Space Shuttle Discovery. Was great to see the Shuttle go back to space!
Interesting developments in Mosul. Have nabbed some serious terrorists in last few days. I woke up to the sound of a large IED explosion that shook the walls, and the day started from there. IEDs are a daily occurrence here. But apparently as reprisal for capturing the bad guys, there were some attacks on several of the police stations today, but the cops held their ground. Was no chance of getting overrun like the old days. A couple police were wounded but nothing too serious. We brought them more ammunition, and there was even an American General out there with us. (Good way to lose a General, but at least he can see what's going on.)
There is a definite shift in the soldiers here at Deuce Four. They talk more and more about their families and children and getting home; the return draws nearer. I plan to come home with Deuce Four before returning to Iraq.
But for now, we continue here in Mosul while the astronauts circle the earth!"
Security Forces continue to pressure terrorists, seize weapons
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 25, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained seven suspected terrorists and seized a large weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq today.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 2nd Division detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment seized a large weapons cache during a search operation in Rawah. The cache included 40 rockets, a number of rocket propelled grenade launchers, artillery rounds, various explosives and explosive charges, hundreds of rounds of small arms and machine gun ammunition, and a machine gun. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction.
In a separate operation Soldiers from the 3-21st detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Pressure continues to route terrorists in northern Iraq
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 25, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 42 suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq Sunday.
Iraqi Police detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 2nd Division alongside Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained 18 individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid northwest of Tal Afar. Soldiers from 1st Squadron also detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity while patrolling near the Syrian border. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid west of Tal Afar.
In other operations, Soldiers from the 3-21st detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized weapons during two separate operations in Rawah and Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two separate operations in western Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid west of Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a cordon and search operation in Rawah. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Successful Security Force operations net terror suspect and weapons cache
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 25, 2005) – Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained one suspected terrorist and seized a weapons cache during operations in northern Iraq Saturday.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northeastern Mosul. Suspect is in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation in eastern Mosul. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Dispatches From Iraq
Oh his site Dave has posted the third Dispatch From Iraq written by his friend with the 1/25 SBCT in Mosul.
Operations continue, in the north, to suppress terrorists
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 23, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 17 suspected terrorists and defused a mine during operations in northern Iraq today and Friday.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northeastern Mosul Friday. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division detained one individual after they dropped a box with a mine in it near their checkpoint in Qayyarah Friday. The IA Soldiers had the mine defused. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Brigade also detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity while patrolling in Qayyarah Friday. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 2nd Division alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul today. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment detained three individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in northeastern Mosul Friday. Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two cordon and search operations in Rawa Friday. Soldiers from 4th Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity while patrolling near the Syrian border today. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Long Rehabilitation Ahead for Wounded Lodi Soldier
Link to Full Article
KXTV, Sacramento
Family and friends of a Lodi soldier seriously wounded in Iraq are coming together Friday to help raise money for the 23-year-old's costly rehabilitation.
Army Specialist Nick Beintema with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment was one of six soldiers aboard a Stryker armored vehicle in northern Iraq last April when a roadside explosion tore through the vehicle.
Four soldiers died in the blast. Beintema, who was serving his second tour of duty in Iraq, sustained massive injuries, including losing part of his jaw and extensive damage to both legs.
"The kid sitting right next to him was killed. The kid sitting across from him was killed. Nick gets away with just serious injures and, why? I don't know," said Nick's father and San Joaquin County Sheriff's Lt. Randy Beintema.
Doctors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. anticipate several more surgeries for Beintema in the coming months, including bone grafts from Beintema's hip to repair his jaw. Rehabilitation for Beintema are expected to take several years.
Family members are holding a fundraising dinner at the Linden Lion's Club at 5041 N. Market in Stockton Friday to help offset medical costs.
Anyone interesting can also contribute to a special fund for Beintema established through the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department. Contributions can be sent to the Nick Beintema Fund through the San Joaquin County Deputy Sheriffs' Association, P.O. Box 1224, Stockton, 95201.
Note: The fund raising activities are to help defray the travel expenses of his family, not the medical or rehabilitation treatments for SPC Beintema. It is explained better in this news story.
Fund-raiser for soldiers family - The Valley Herald
JC & Friends: Corporal Matthew Hast
Link to Full Aticle
by JC Hayward, WUSA-TV
America Supports You campaign is designed to show love and appreciation to those who put their lives on the line each day fighting on behalf of our country.
J.C. And Friends is joining this effort to support our troops in Iraq by featuring some of the men and women from the metropolitan Washington area.
We salute Corporal Matthew Hast from Hagerstown, Maryland. [...]
I'm from Hagerstown, Maryland. My job is I'm an infantry soldier on one of the striker vehicles in the striker brigade combat team. And right now I am a squad leader for one of the motor squads", says Corp. Matthew Hast.
September 11, 2001 was a fateful day when many Americans would search for answers that somehow seemed elusive. The solution for Matthew Hast was to join the Army. He was only 17 at the time but with his parents' signature he enlisted, less than one month later.
Corporal Hast is a member of Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment. He's been in Mosul for nine months and ready to come home.
When asked who he left behind, Hast responds "I left behind my mom, my dad, my brother some of my friends, but most of all my family. I'd like to send to them that I lov'em, I'll be home in a couple months and that I'd love to see them", he says.
"When I get home to Hagerstown the first thing I'm going to do is take a week off and spend it in my pj's and probably not leave the house and just rest”, says Hast.
TF Automatic Articles
Provided below are a number of recent articles written by 1LT Dana Scott highlighting recent operations by the 2-8 FA, 1/25 SBCT.
Headlines:
Doctor Mohammad Brings in Hachow, TF Automatic Captures High Value Target, Successful Mission Conducted by Iraqi Army, 3/3rd IA Detains Three Suspected Terrorists, Iraqi Army BCT Graduates Over 60 Soldiers, Automatic 6 Meets with Local Shieks, Qayarrah Comes Together for Area Security Council Meeting
Full Articles:
Qayarrah Comes Together for Area Security Council Meeting
FOB ENDURANCE, Iraq – The monthly Qayarrah Area Security Council meeting took place on July 17th on Forward Operating Base (FOB) Endurance. Topics covered during the meeting included the Qayarrah hospital, security and civil affairs projects.
Over 30 local leaders were in attendance, with additional military and police personnel.
A/2-8 Field Artillery (FA) Company Commander, Cpt. Cherokee Parks, opened the meeting discussing the many good things that have happened in the region during the past month. Successes included the local law enforcement making headway in the fight against terrorists, as well as several civil affairs projects in the works.
The first issues raised during the meeting concerned manning of the Qayarrah hospital. Police Chief Gen. Aziz explained the doctors and medical staff have been neglecting the hospital.
“A number of times, I’ve gone there and there is no one there and trash everywhere,” says Aziz.
Fuel stations are another issue among the locals. They’re requesting security forces to be present at fuel stations during operating hours. Many say the fuel stations are dishonest, conducting illegal acts such as selling fuel to friends, increasing prices and selling to terrorists.
The police present at the meeting raised the issue concerning the traffic control point (TCP) living conditions. They were built in the few months and are of poor quality, too small and are not predicted to last very long.
There are two TCPs in particular needing new buildings. The police force also requests concertina wire be placed around the buildings to improve security.
The remaining issues brought up during the monthly meeting involved civil affairs projects. Many of the local leaders were not there to discuss security, as has been the case in the past, but to ensure their consideration and status for project funding. There were many questions concerning money paid and money to be paid.
Parks and his battery continue to work with the IA, the local police stations and key leaders of Qayarrah to improve their safety, economy and living conditions.
Automatic 6 Meets with Local Shieks
FOB ENDURANCE, Iraq – On July 18th the 1/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion Commander Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Mallowh hosted a dinner at his battalion compound for Automatic 6, Lt. Col. Bradley Becker, to meet with and over 20 sheiks from the Tigris River Valley.
The sheiks talked mostly of civil affairs projects, jobs, security and the New Ba’ath Party.
“The meeting was very successful,” said Becker. “It promoted the unifying of local leaders. More will be accomplished if everyone works as one team.”
Iraqi Army BCT Graduates Over 60 Soldiers
FOB ENDURANCE, Iraq – On July 18th Task Force (TF) Automatic graduated the fourth Iraqi Army (IA) Basic Combat Training (BCT) class on Forward Operating Base (FOB) Endurance, enhancing leadership capabilities of the IA and preparing them to assume the counter-insurgency fight.
The ceremony opened with the US and Iraqi National Anthems and the invocation, delivered in Arabic by one of the graduates. The guest speaker, 1st Sgt. Stephen Winters, was then followed by the presentation of awards and certificates.
Since the beginning of 2005, TF Automatic has graduated four IA basic training classes and two NCOA classes at its IA training facility on FOB Endurance.
At BCT, soldiers are given the opportunity to learn general soldier duties such as map reading, guard duty, first aid and basic rifle marksmanship. They also learn leadership responsibilities such as Iraqi Army values, Law of War, equal opportunity, effective communi-cations, ethics and professional standards.
Over 60 privates and privates first class from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd IA Battalions completed the BCT on July 18th. The ten TF Automatic trainers will relish in their 1-day off before they begin preparing for their next non-commissioned officer course.
Awardees included distinguished honor graduate Rizgar Abdulghafoor Mohomed (3rd BN), 1st Platoon honor graduate Badraddin Kamal Hamad (3rd BN), 2nd Platoon honor graduate Badir Mohammed Hassan (1st BN), distinguished leadership award Fahad Khalil Salih (1st BN), physical fitness award Amer Rumdan Saleh (2nd BN), and distinguished marksman Mohammed Khalaf Aysa (2nd BN).
The FOB Endurance BCT academy is led by Commandant Command Sgt. Maj. Victor Martinez, his Deputy Commandant Master Sgt. Christopher House and his Chief Instructor Sgt. First Class Thomas Trott.
“I couldn’t help but see the pride in each of these graduates’ eyes as I shook their hands,” said Martinez. “Today we do not only recognize you because of your accomplishments, but also for the positive impact you will have on your family and children.”
3/3rd IA Detains Three Suspected Terrorists
DUYAYZAH, Iraq – Lt. Col. Hogart Salahaddin Abdul led his 3/3rd Iraqi Army (IA) Battalion in a unilateral operation in Duyayzah As Sufla on July 14th, detaining three suspected terrorists.
Two individuals were believed to be associated with high value individual Abu Muthama. The third individual detained is a suspected member of the New Baath party.
Earlier this week, Task Force (TF) Automatic and 3rd IA Brigade began planning a large operation in order to capture these three individuals. After discussing the plan with Hogart, Hogar felt he had the ability to conduct the operation and capture the individuals on his own, without the assistance from Coalition forces. This being a much quicker and simpler plan, Lt. Col. Bradley Becker, TF Commander, agreed to adjust the original plan accordingly.
The three individuals were detained by sheiks from Duyayzah As Sufla and handed over to Hogart. Hogart then transported them to Forward Operating Base Endurance and handed them over to TF Automatic. They are currently being held in the TF’s detention facility for further questioning.
Hogart’s method of operation demonstrated the value of local shieks and mukhtars. Local leaders encourage men of their villages to turn themselves in to Iraqi security forces. If the individuals are proven innocent, they are returned to their respective local leaders, therefore boosting their standing in the community. This technique also increases the trust between local leaders and the Iraqi Army leaders.
Successful Mission Conducted by Iraqi Army
TAL ASHIR, Iraq – On July 10th Task Force (TF) Automatic received a priority mission from 1/25th Brigade. A source from 1-24 Infantry (IN) would positively identify a house in Tal Ashir to retrieve sensitive intelligence. The source arrived at TF Automatic the afternoon of July 11th. He accompanied the TF and identified the house, resulting in retrieval of important items and three suspected terrorists being detained.
A/2-8 Field Artillery (FA) searched five other houses around the target house, while the TF Automatic TAC attempted to find suspected terrorists on the blacklist.
The northern outer cordon element, consisting of a platoon of 1/3rd Iraqi Army, left Forward Operating Base (FOB) Endurance at 1300 hrs. They drove to Tal Ashir compound, north of the objective, in order to stage while they awaited the southern cordon’s arrival. The southern cordon element, led by Maj. Saddam, left FOB Endurance at 1630 hours.
The search element consisted of the TAC, A/2-8 FA and 1/3rd IA. The element followed 30 minutes behind the cordon element, ensuring they would not alert traffic control points along alternate supply route Charleston of anything other than normal activity.
The outer cordon was established by 1730 hours. The search element arrived on the primary objective and the TAC engaged the muhktar, who assisted in locating and identifying two suspected terrorists.
A/2-8 FA retrieved the intelligence and detained one suspected terrorist from the objective.
The cordon and search was complete by 1920 hours and all elements returned to FOB Endurance without incident. The source was flown back to 1-24 IN.
Successful crisis action planning and execution of this mission demonstrated excellent teamwork between two separate Coalition forces battalions and the Iraqi Army.
TF Automatic Captures High Value Target
JURN, Iraq – On July 6th 2/C/2-8 Field Artillery conducted a successful cordon and search against Abu Yaman, an IED expert and assassin active in Mosul.
Abu Yaman, IED expert and active assassin.
The platoon, supported by F-16s and AH64Ds, conducted the search between the villages of Jurn and Amrini. Led by First Lt. James Upson and Staff Sergeant James Harpell they detained both Abu Yaman and his host, Kineaim, without any incidents.
Abu Yaman hid under a hay stack to avoid capture. The search element, however, conducted a thorough investigation leading to the capture of Yaman and his companion.
Doctor Mohammad Brings in Hachow
AITHA, Iraq – July 9th marked the end of a 2 ½ month search for suspected terrorist Hachow from Aitha. With the help of Brig. Gen. Ali Atala Mallowh, local leader and close friend Doctor Mohammad is credited with bringing Hachow into Task Force (TF) Automatic’s custody.
On April 23rd TF Automatic was attacked with RPG and small arms fire between Jamissa and Aitha. There were at least three terrorists involved in the attack. One was captured, one was killed and one got away. The terrorist who got away was reported to be Hachow.
Mohammad and Hachow have had a friendly past. At TF Automatic’s request, Mohammad invited Hachow to his home. Ali was also there and asked Hachow to come with him to TF Automatic’s headquarters on FOB Endurance. Upon arrival and after initial questioning, TF Automatic detained him.
Local leaders have become more and more supportive in the Tigris River Valley. The assistance TF Automatic receives from people like Doctor Mohammad greatly improves their ability to locate suspected terrorists, making the area a safer place day by day.
1/25 SBCT Good News Links
Provided below is a note from the brigade that includes a long list of stories highlighting the good work the brigade is doing in Iraq. Many of the articles we've featured before, but it's nice to have them all in one spot.
Dear 1/25 Stryker Brigade Friends,
We've compiled a series of Internet links below that capture just a small portion of the many great things the 1/25 SBCT - Lancer team does each day for Iraq and its citizens. The links are divided into five sections: Lancer Operations, Life as a Lancer, How Lancers are Influencing Iraqis, the Lancer Truth about Strykers, and Photos of the Lancer Team. In each case we have selected articles that reveal the great things Lancer soldiers are doing and refute much of the negativity specific to the larger media forums. Each of these articles is available through one link. We did not include any article links that required a webpage membership or a subscription.
The large media networks so often focus on tragedy at the expense of the progress we and the Iraqis witness every day. I hope that these links will illustrate for you and your friends the rest of the story. These amazing Lancer soldiers, and the equally amazing Iraqi security forces and Iraqi people, are fighting fiercely together to defeat these insurgents and bring peace to this country. The Lancers' physical and emotional investment in this noble mission is often overwhelmed by the media reports that confine their coverage to violence, when stories of courage and progress are happening on every street corner in Mosul and the Ninevah Province. The Lancer team is grateful for your constant support and prayers. Best wishes from Mosul!
LANCER OPERATIONS
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002386093_sunnis17.html
* Qabr Abed, an insurgent hideout, turned around by SBCT troops.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,159763,00.html
* Fox News covers the capture of Abu Talha, a Zarqawi Lieutenant.
http://www.navytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-980445.php
* An embedded reporter in the recent SBCT operations at Rawah.
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/local/story.asp?ID=59669
* LT Kenneally describes Mosul and election success for the (Spokane) Spokesman-Review
LIFE AS A LANCER
http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/webx?14@345.VcLUaaWubjh.0@.ee85c59
* Tacoma journalist Matt Misterek describes his two-week experience with SBCT soldiers.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/4942608p-4522619c.html
* Tacoma journalist Matt Misterek on “The Life and Times of Lancer 6.”
http://www.67cshdocs.com/Daily_Journals/November/nov07.htm
* Soldiers run ½ marathon at Mosul Airfield.
http://michaelyon.blogspot.com/
* Michael Yon describes in detail the life of Lancer Soldiers in combat.
HOW LANCERS ARE INFLUENCING IRAQIS
http://www.backfive.net/main/2005/07/iraqis march ag.html
* Short summary with photos of the Iraqi March against Terror
* Iraqi Police rescue a kidnapped child and uncover a large weapons cache.
* A brief example of one of many operations to aide local Iraqis.
http://1-25sbctmosulupdates.blogspot.com/2005/06/visit-to-girls-orphanage-school.html
* A Lancer Platoon Leader describes his unit’s visit to an Iraqi girls’ orphanage.
http://1-25sbctmosulupdates.blogspot.com/2005/05/102nd-iraqi-army-leads-successful.html
* An example of a Lancer-trained Iraqi Army unit conducting independent operations.
THE LANCER TRUTH ABOUT STRYKERS
http://www.dailyhome.com/news/2005/as-iraq-0406-0-5d05v3431.htm
* Soldiers’ opinions of the Stryker in combat in The Anniston (AL) Star.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22009-2005Apr2.html
* Soldiers’ opinions of the Stryker in combat detailed in The Washington Post.
PHOTOS OF THE LANCER TEAM
http://community.theolympian.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album145
* Photos of 1-25 SBCT in The Olympian
http://www.thenewstribune.com/images/galleries/iraq/photos/gunsight2.htm
* Photos of 1-25 SBCT in The News Tribune
http://www.strykernews.com/gallery/smilesfromiraq
* Photos – “Smiles from Iraq” – a photo compilation of Iraqi civilians with Lancer soldiers.
Respectfully,
Lancer 6
Robert B. Brown
Commander, 1/25 SBCT
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Security Forces detain nine suspects, seize weapons
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 22, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained nine suspected terrorists and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq Thursday.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 2nd Division alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a number of weapons while patrolling south of Tal Afar. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Iraqi Police repel terrorist attack
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 21, 2005) – Iraqi Police traveling in civilian clothes and a civilian vehicle were attacked with small arms fire by terrorists in western Mosul today. Iraqi Police alongside Multi-National Force Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) repelled the attack killing one terrorist and detaining six others. No IP or MNF injuries were reported in the attack.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
Security Forces uncover two more weapons caches and detain 29
TFF Press Release
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 21, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) detained 29 suspected terrorists and seized two weapons caches in northern Iraq Wednesday.
Iraqi Police detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a weapons cache during a cordon and search operation in northern Mosul. The cache included a number of improvised explosive devices and detonators. Suspects are in custody with no IP injuries reported. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 1st Brigade, 2nd Division detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a number of weapons during two separate operations in eastern Mosul. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division detained one individual suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation south of Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported.
Iraqi Police alongside Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained five individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid southwest of Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF or MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from the 1-24th detained 12 individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a weapons cache during a raid in western Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in southeastern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
The Devil's Foyer
Michael Yon has posted another story about the activities of the Deuce Four in his blog.
Calling all 1-24 INF Family and Friends
The 1-24 INF Family Readiness Group (FRG) is planning Homecoming events. We would like to keep all of our Deuce Four friends and family up-to-date on all the homecoming events and projects. Please e-mail us at deuce4FRG@hotmail.com. We will provide you with battalion updates and put you in contact with your company FRG for their updates as well.
We look forward to hearing from you soon!
Security Forces detain 36, seize three weapons caches
(TFF Press Release)
MOSUL, IRAQ (July 20, 2005) – Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom detained 36 suspected terrorists, killed two terrorists, and seized a number of weapons during operations in northern Iraq Tuesday.
Iraqi Police detained 19 individuals suspected of terrorist activity and seized a weapons cache during three separate operations in and near Mosul. Iraqi Army Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division Iraqi Army detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a raid in western Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no ISF injuries reported. Weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Soldiers from 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment killed two terrorists, detained three suspected terrorists, and seized a large weapons cache after being targeted for an attack in Rawah. The individuals had aimed a weapon at the 3-21st patrol from a van. The cache was hidden inside the van and contained numerous mortar and rocket propelled grenade rounds, fuses, RPG launchers, a mortar firing system, and over 2,000 rounds of small arms ammunition. The weapons and ammunition were confiscated for future destruction. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
In other operations Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment detained six individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two separate operations in eastern Mosul. Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment detained four individuals suspected of terrorist activity during two separate operations in western Mosul. Soldiers from the 3-21st detained two individuals suspected of terrorist activity during a cordon and search operation in eastern Mosul. Suspects are in custody with no MNF injuries reported.
Soldiers from 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment seized a weapons cache during a search operation north of Tal Afar. The weapons were confiscated for future destruction.
Coordinated efforts of Iraqi Security Forces and Multi-National Forces from Task Force Freedom are leading to the arrest of terrorists and criminals responsible for attacks against innocent Iraqi citizens. Anyone with information on anti-Iraqi insurgent activities should call the Joint Coordination Center’s telephone numbers at 513462 or 07701623300.
A Co., 1-24 INF Announcement
(From the A Co. FRG)
The Alpha Company, 1-24 Infantry's Family Readiness Group (FRG) has created an email account for all Apache families and friends to contact in order to receive official updates regarding homecoming information, including upcoming fundraisers, The Single Soldier Project and various other activities. For more information, please contact apaches1_24@msn.com.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Italian police break up ring they say was sending steroids to troops in Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
Italian police have busted an international drug ring that had been sending steroids and performance-enhancing drugs to U.S. soldiers in Iraq who, Italian investigators say, were ordering them via the Internet.
But for unknown reasons — possibly security precautions — the packages and envelopes of drugs were not reaching some of the troops, said Mario Bo, head of the criminal division for the Trieste, Italy, police department. [...]
Unit leaders and soldiers contacted in Iraq said the issue was news to them.
“We do not have this problem in Deuce Four,” Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla, commander for 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, now serving in Mosul, said in an e-mail. “We do 100 percent health and welfare checks often, basically lock down a unit and go through everything looking for anything illegal. We have never found drugs or steroids.
“I have heard of only a few cases of drugs in other battalions supplied by interpreters, but this has never surfaced in Deuce Four. Our mail clerk also handles every package that arrives in the battalion and he has not seen strange European addresses either.” [...]
Stryker units again clash with insurgents in western Iraq
Link to Full Article
By Matthew Cox, Army Times
RAWAH, Iraq – U.S. forces destroyed a suspected terrorist safe house with a 500-pound bomb today after shooting dead two insurgents during a brief gun battle.
This is the third day of violent clashes between insurgents and soldiers from the 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division (SBCT), since the U.S. troops set up a camp Sunday outside this remote city in west-central Iraq near the Syrian border.
Insurgents have attacked soldiers here every day, planting roadside bombs and steering explosives-packed cars into U.S. patrols. Today was no exception.
At 9 a.m. this morning, an insurgent detonated his car bomb near a Stryker combat vehicle with B Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment. The explosion punctured two of the Stryker’s eight tires, but no soldiers were hurt.
Thirty minutes later a burnt-out car, packed with explosives, blew up near another Stryker in the same unit but caused no damage.
This city of some 20,000 was quiet for about 90 minutes, until B Company commander Capt. Mark Ivezaj’s Stryker surprised a handful of insurgents sitting in an idling van.
This long article continues...